Peditatric ENT Updates

On Thursday, January 26th, my mom and I took Jackson back to the pediatric ENT in New Orleans. Jackson had a pretty rough month between the end of December and January, so I knew we needed to do something. We ended up in the urgent care twice and pediatrician's office a handful of times during that period. The last time we visited the pediatrician he pretty much demanded that I take him back to the specialist in New Orleans. Jackson's right ear was draining maple syrup looking puss that was not the result of an ear infection, but his sinuses trying to drain - disgusting!

Well of course, since our last trip to the doctor Jackson has gotten a huge antibiotic shot and been on a week of oral antibiotics before the ENT could see him. So it was pretty much a well baby visit. Not that I really wanted my kid to be sick and pitiful for the appointment, but I kind of did...This specialist is under the impression that I take my kid to the doctor for a green snot nose - um no, I take him to the doctor when his fever gets above 101 and he gets his "sick eyes". I'm no doctor, but I'm a momma who knows that this is our sweet spot. If I don't rush him to the doctor at that point we end up having a hyperactive airway attack and it takes weeks to get him back to normal.

Does this look like a kid with just a runny nose?!? No, it's almost hard to believe that this is even Jackson!

 Anyway, Jackson got a complete work-up which included having his left tube pulled out of his ear (it was just sitting on the eardrum and ready to fall out on it's own).  His right tube is working it's way out as well.  Jackson's left ear has fluid/is infected, even with all the antibiotics in his system.  His right ear stopped draining the nasty puss a couple of days before his appointment.

Jackson had to have his sinuses scoped again, this is really not pleasant for anyone.  I had to hold him down while they put the tube up his nose and looked all around.  Good news was that his sinuses are free of green puss, bad news is that they are full of mucus.  Poor kid is just a mucus producing machine! The absence of puss means that the antibiotics are clearing his infection, so we're going to continue with another 6 weeks to try and keep him well for an extended period of time.  The doctor said this round would be "successful" if Jackson stayed well for 4-6 weeks after stopping the medicine...Jackson has never made it past 10 days.  He also said that a child his age should be sick about 90 days out of the year, again I don't think Jackson has been well 90 days since this all started last winter!

Our last topic of discussion was what to do next:

1. Sinus surgery: This would be hard on both the doctor and Jackson.  His sinuses are so tight that it would be hard for him to get in where he needs to - also risking additional scare tissue causing Jackson to heal even tighter.  At this point in time, this is still not really an option for us.  Maybe in another year, but not now.

2. Extended antibiotics: Keeping Jackson on antibiotics for an extended period of time, and doing so a few times a year.  We did this in the fall, and again now.  We'll see how it goes! Thank God for probiotics.

3. Booster shots: We have a list of vaccines/booster shots that may help boost Jackson's immunity and help him fight the common cold better.

4. Tubes: We go back in 3 weeks to see if the antibiotics cleared up the fluid in Jackson's left ear and asses the need to do tubes again.

And an hour later, we were back on our way home with a lot to process and pray about!

Read more...

Jackson and the terrible, horrible, very bad day

If I could redo a day in our lives, I think last Friday would totally be one of them...

It all started a few weeks ago, when we all got sick on our anniversary. Par for the course, as soon as Jackson finished up his antibiotics he got sick again. We went to his allergist and he was given the official label of an asthmatic toddler. Jackson got another round of steroids to help him breath, but besides his nebulizer medicine - there wasn't much else to do. He has allergies and asthma and we live in South Louisiana.

Fast forward to last week. Jackson was no better, no worse. Just totally irritable and throwing fits left and right. I tried to remind myself that I'd be cranky too if I couldn't breath. We counted to 10 a lot and drank lots of wine after bedtime.

Thursday night was unbearable. Jackson cried from the time I picked him up from school until he finally passed out around 9. During his bath the cries turned in to screams and shaking from pain. I could not figure out what was causing him so much pain. He wouldn't even let me wash the shampoo out of his hair...and that's when I saw it.

Jackson had a marble sized lump behind his left ear and it was red and tender to the touch.

right after Jackson's bath, when I first noticed the lump

I took this pictures and sent it to my mom and mother-in-law, who were both as dumbfound as I was. We couldn't tell if it was a bite or a bruise - certainly the farthest thing from what he was diagnosed with!

Around midnight, Jackson was sleeping but momma was up worrying...

Of course, the timing of this lump couldn't have been any worse. We were flying to St. Louis Friday afternoon and Mr. went up for work the day before us. I had an out of town meeting all day on Friday, that I would have canceled had I known what was about to happen...

I called Jackson's pediatrician first thing Friday morning and arranged for my mom to take Jackson to have his lump looked at. I went on with my boss to Baton Rouge and met with a client all morning. We took a quick break at noon and I had numerous missed call from not only my mom, but two doctor's offices as well.

Thank God my mom is so well connected with the medical community where we live, she took him to a few doctors Friday morning to address the multiple issues with Jackson.

The mysterious lump behind Jackson's ear was diagnosed as mastoiditis, which means that he has such a bad ear infection, the infection went into the bone behind his ear and the lump was his bone. The link has much more information about what it actually is.  Serious shit.

Jackson never ran fever or tugged at his ears, and never had drainage.  We've had no trouble with his ears since he got tubes last December.  Jackson was given an antibiotic shot, another round of steroids, and two additional antibiotics that he takes orally for 10 days...we're averaging at least one massive diaper blow out a day.  Oh and if you've lost count, that would be his third round of steroids this month!!!

On top of the mastoiditis, Jackson has an ear infection, server sinus infection, and tonsillitis.  So that nasty eye drainage and "allergy eyes" were because his sinus were so infected, not because his allergies were acting up - thanks Mr. Allergist for missing the boat on that one! And now his ENT wants to talk about taking out his tonsils...it's always something...

If you're still reading this post, our day doesn't get much better after this.  This all happened before noon.

After excusing myself from my meeting to call everyone back, my boss agreed that we needed to end our meeting early so that I could see about Jackson.  So nice right?!? Well it's a darn good thing we left when we did.  Our hour ride home took nearly three hours because of road construction!

Did I mention that we had a 5 o'clock flight to catch - yep, we came dangerously close to missing our flight...until it got canceled! So between seeing about my sick baby, picking up all of his medications, now I had to call the airline to see what the heck we were supposed to do!

Since our flight was canceled due to mechanic issues, they were able to put me on another flight with a different airline.  Great news, I had an extra hour to get to the airport and I'd get in to St. Louis a little earlier!  In theory, this was great news.  The reality was that our connecting flight in Houston was delayed almost 5 hours.

Does he remind you of Dennis the Menace - he should!

If you've never spent 5 hours in an airport with a severely sick child, totally jacked up on steroids, running wild - all while trying to keep you bags in tow and not lose your shit - well then consider yourself blessed!

Thankfully, Jackson was so worn out that he slept the whole way to St. Louis and I was able to recharge as well.

We finally made it to my sister's house in St. Louis around 1AM...more on that next!

Read more...

First week back to work & the sitter's

I don't know about the rest of you, but this past week was hard. After almost two straight weeks without bedtimes, alarm clocks, and 24/7 emails it was back to reality.  During my time off I did some "unplugging" and soaked up my time with my boys. I feel like Jackson has grown up so fast and I'm missing it. Every time I turn around he's changing!

Speaking of change, the new year meant back to work for Momma and new arrangements for Jackson. Amidst our crazy unsuccessful search for a new nanny our neighbor offered up her services to us. Like I've said before, she has three children of her own and has started watching a couple others as well. So, the situation was perfect! Jackson loves her and her kids, they are all sweet blond babies as well:) Anyway, I was really happy that Jackson would be able to interact with kids his own age. He is such a social little boy!

I packed a box full of food, toys, diapers and wipes to take with Jackson so that we wouldn't have to bring that sort of stuff everything.  Monday came early, and I was running around like a crazy woman.  Mr. ended up walking Jackson over to the sitters so that I wouldn't be too late for work.  He said that Jackson never looked back and was ready to play.  When I got home that evening, Jackson was so not ready to come home.  I know that he missed me, but it made my heart so happy to know that he was having fun!

Tuesday was a little crazy, which was all my fault.  Jackson had his follow-up appointment with his ENT and I totally forgot to set my alarm.  I woke up at 7:45, brushed my teeth, put on some sweats and we ran out the door.  Jackson's appointment was at 8:15! After his appointment we dropped him off and I ran through a quick shower before heading to work...I'm sure my co-workers appreciated that:)

Wednesday and Thursday went pretty well.  Jackson is cutting all four of his eye teeth which has given his little bottom the worst case of diaper rash I've ever seen.  He has also caught a little cold, so my poor boy was a mess by Friday.  I got him in to see his pediatrician Friday morning, oh how I thought these days were going to be in our past! He gave him some medicine for his butt, the diaper rash has turned into a yeast infection?!? He's also on medicine to dry up his nose and breathing treatments as needed...Jackson just can't catch a break.  I'm tried, really really tired.

Did I mention that I weaned Jackson down to just nursing before bed over the holidays?!? My sick boy just woke up from his nap...more on that later.  Happy Saturday loves:)

Read more...

prayer request

I cannot believe Jackson's surgery day is here, well almost. I'm a ball of emotions right now, praying that this routine surgery will be just that.

Tonight I let Jackson play in the tub until his hands looked like raisins. All the while, knowing that this would be the last care free bath he'll have for the next 12-18 months. I know keeping ear plugs in his ears and the water out is going to be a struggle.

He also may or may not have eaten the entire jar of homemade cookies at Loli's today, just because:)

I have much to blog about, but for now I just ask that you keep our sweet Jackson in your thoughts and prayers. Please pray for his doctor and the nurses with him during his procedure. I know that tubes and adenoid removal is such an easy surgery, but that is also what makes me the most nervous.

Please pray for Jackson to have a speedy recovery and relief from his ear pressure. Please also pray for this Momma, as I'm feeling as any mother would the night before her child gets put under anesthesia.

Hopefully, tomorrow will bring lots of new updates and some pics of our little man in his new Pajamas and cuddle toys...one that happens to be red and laughs when you tickle his tummy:)

I'm looking forward to what tomorrow brings for us.  I'm dreaming about what his little voice will sound like and hearing him say Momma again!

Loves

Read more...

Tubes & Adenoid Removal

Just a quick post to update y'all on Jackson before we head North. Our appointment went wonderfully with the ENT this morning. I really loved her, and so did Jackson...or maybe not her, but her toy collection;)

I did not realize this, but Jackson has had over 6 ear infections within the past 11 months. Holy cow!!! 4 of those infections have been in the last 6 months. The antibiotics have done their job in killing the bacteria.  However, the fluid has not drained from the infections, and is quite built up.

So, basically Jackson can hear us but we're very muffled. The fluid doesn't cause Jackson pain, but pressure. She related the feeling to flying and not being able to "pop" your eardrums. Um no wonder Jackson isn't a great sleeper and frequently wakes up pissed at the world. Laying down makes the pressure worse.

The doctor wants to put in tubes and remove Jackson's adenoids as well. She described the process of removing the adenoids as more of a scraping. This will helps with his ever running nose and allergies. Decreasing fluid build up and infection.

Now I'm just waiting for the surgery scheduler to call me with our options for dates. We're looking at having everything done before Christmas!

I can't thank you enough for all of your emails, comments and messages about tubes. I know this is the best option for Jackson and I'm looking forward to him being back to "normal" and feeling well!!!

Keep the prayers coming though:)

30 more minutes to enter to win $30 from Pear Tree, don't forget to enter!

Read more...