Why today is a great day...

Here are 5 reasons that I'm having a good day...

1. Today marks the 1st time since Andrew started daycare that he will make it an entire week! I'm thrilled about that. I'm taking it to mean that some of these battles we have had over the last 3 months are going to come to an end. Goodbye Ear Infections!

2. I had an appointment with my hairdresser today and have a new "do" - no more roots and I can actually see without having to move hair out of the way to do so. It's amazing how having your hair done can instantly make you feel better. Thanks Peyton!

3. The daycare is hosting a 'date night' this evening to make up for all the snow days that they were closed. So, we have 'free' childcare tonight from 7pm-10pm. Not sure what we will do and if we will do anything, but I'm still excited about it.

4. 98% of our laundry is done - that's a really good thing considering that it's been piling up quite a bit these days. Scratch that - getting excited about that is like getting excited that the dishes are done - I can keep that status for about 5 minutes. So, I'm changing this one to be ... IT'S FRIDAY!!!

5. Jeff got his test grade back for the first official test in nursing school and my genius husband made a 92!

There are tons of things to be thankful for, even in these very stressful times. We have a sign in our house that says:

"Remember The Day's Blessings - Forget The Day's Troubles" 

Today, I intend to do that.

Andrew's Tube Surgery - A Success!

Andrew's tube surgery was finally scheduled for Friday, February 11th at 7:30am. We were instructed to get to the surgery center at 6:30am and we made it in perfect time. Mamaw came along with us as we toted our sleepy baby from Plano to Dallas in the dark of the early morning.

This was a long time coming considering we had postponed the surgery multiple times due to ice, snow and complete frustration on my part. The battle of insurance and health care costs is enough to write a book about, but not worth getting in to on the blog. The bottom line is that for the exact same procedure, same doctors and same anesthesiologists, one facility wanted over $800 more than another. I threw a fit - we are not in a position to throw around $800 - not that anyone ever should be. I'm self-employed which means that I'm not part of a "group" so my insurance costs per month are crazy expensive and that expense provides our family with very high deductibles, high co-pays and about 70/30 coverage. So, an $800 difference on top of the several thousand we were going to have to pay for the rest of the procedure brought me to tears of frustration.

But the day was here - all the cost concerns were placed to the side and we were focused on getting my sweet baby boy well. We spent more time in the waiting room than the entire surgery took. But, Andrew was having fun so we were fine with it.

When we got to the room, Andrew got his own pair of "scrubs" and we waited for the doctors.  Minus one small breakdown when he saw some nurses coming in to the room, Andrew did great. With the several rounds of Rocephin shots in his legs, he is now officially terrified of nurses and needles. Understandable if you saw the needles he had to bear 6 times in 3 days. After his small breakdown, he was fine. The Doctors came in and took him back to the operating room.

The procedure took about 15 minutes and they brought Andrew back to us. Groggy, but doing fine and happy to see us. We waited around for about 30 minutes and made sure he was going to be ok. Then we all piled back in the car and were home by 9am.

 

The surgery was a great success! Andrew is feeling better, obviously hearing better and trying to talk to us more now. It's just wonderful and I'm really glad that we have done this for him.

Hopefully my kiddo will be well enough now to enjoy life longer than a few days at a time. We are back in school now and I've got my fingers crossed that we will make it an entire week.

Andrew and "The Chef"

Andrew was introduced to Chef Boyardee the other day. You be the judge on whether he liked it or not.

Snow, Ice, Snow, Ice, Superbowl, Snow, Ice

Wow - the last week has been rough. We have had such cold weather with ice and tons of snow - well, at least tons for us. School was canceled for Jeff and Andrew almost every day last week - all but Monday. Andrew's tubes were scheduled for Friday and they were canceled due to the snow. It's a good thing because we could not even get the car out of the driveway to get there.

We finally got a reprieve from this bad weather just in time for Dallas to host Superbowl XLV. The weather on Sunday was gorgeous. Kinda cold, but not a cloud in the sky and perfect football weather. We decided to host a party and invite a few friends over to enjoy the Superbowl with us in the "cheap seats" known as our house. It was crazy to know that this huge event was going on in our city and we stayed in and watched it with friends at home. We had about 20 people who joined us as we enjoyed the commercials, cheered on the Packers, ate way too much and enjoyed the break from the freezing weather. It was nice and a very much needed stress relief.

Just when we thought the bad weather was over, it's back with a vengeance. Last night, we enjoyed a 50 degree night and woke up to ice, snow and canceled school again. The wind chill is making things feel like we are in the single digits. It's crazy and most of us are not cut out for this. There was a graphic going around Facebook last week of how we react to Snow and Ice after a day or two. It's too true to not post. Totally.Stir.Crazy. And, this is coming from someone who works from home. But usually, working from home does not include: 1) Dogs too cold to go outside so they keep "going" in the house right next to my desk, 2) No eggs, no milk, no bread, no imagination and definitely no desire to cook. 3) A child with double ear-infections who is not in the mood to nap. 4) A husband freaking out about missing school and getting time to study. 5) A cold that I've had for about 10 days that just won't let go...guess it's the stress.

Bring on the Spring! I've had about all the snow and ice that I need for this season.

One last thing - A huge thank you to my mother-in-law for coming over and rescuing us with child care assistance, cooking assistance and wine-drinking assistance (that one is with me, not Andrew. ;-) )

Tubes - Canceled

We went last week to meet with Dr. Evan Bates regarding Andrew's chronic ear infections. We had this feeling that it was fate for us to use Dr. Bates for Andrew's tubes. When Andrew was born, he was the doctor on call that looked after him and performed his Frenectomy (the skin under his tongue was too close and had to be clipped - hereditary - I had it too). Then we picked Dr. Blair to be his Pediatrician and of all the docs that could perform the Tubes Procedure, he happened to recommend Dr. Bates. THEN - my friend Lauren talked to me about how much she liked the doctor that did her son Grant's tubes and it happened to be...yep - Dr. Bates! So, we knew he was our guy.

We met with him and within 30 seconds of looking in to Andrew's ears, he had determined that tubes were the best route for my kiddo.

Here is a brief rundown of the weeks prior to FINALLY meeting with an ENT for Tubes Discussion:
1. Andrew was diagnosed with an ear infection in his right ear at the end of December. He remained on meds until January 7th.
2. Wednesday, January 12th, Andrew came down with a stomach bug that made him have vomiting and diarrhea for 7 days. At the end of the 7 days, he was coming down with a cold.
3. Friday, January 21st, Andrew woke up with 102 fever which eventually hit 103. We were at the doctor that day where we were informed that Andrew had ear infections in both ears. He had round 1 of Rocephin (2 shots - one in each leg).
4. Saturday, January 22nd - Round 2 of Rocephin Shots.
5. Monday, January 24th - Round 3 of Rocephin Shots
6. Wednesday, January 26th - Screaming in pain, throwing up, fever, inconsolable - 2am trip to the emergency room - YEP - Double Ear Infections - the Rocephin did nothing for him. Now, he is on Augmentin and Hydrocodone for the pain.

So - by the time we met with Dr. Bates, I was frantically looking for an answer to these ear infections and knew tubes would be the best answer.

We were scheduled for this morning and as luck would have it - all surgeries canceled due to the snow and the road conditions. So, currently, my kiddo is asleep but had quite a bit of ear pain today. Surgery pushed to Tuesday morning.

I pray that this will fix the issue and make him feel better. The doctor informed us that he has persistent fluid in his middle ear and constant infection. This affects his hearing, his speaking, his overall demeanor, etc... Living in pain is miserable and not being able to communicate about it is even worse. I am thrilled that he will get the tubes and can start hearing properly and enjoying life again!

The BullDog of Shredders

Leave it to me to read some article about identity theft and garbage cans and I'm off to the races. I actually put on my Christmas list that I wanted a Shredder for our home. And, boy did I get one! This thing is AWESOME! I think it could actually chip wood if I tried.

So far, the following items can be gobbled up without even a hiccup:

1. Jeff's old driver's License
2. A Plastic Bag
3. Stacks of paper
4. Credit Cards
5. Envelopes

The better news is that the following items can not be gobbled up:

1. Andrew's Fingers - Which he wanted desperately to try.
2. Andrew's Toys - Again, wanting desperately to try.

This bad boy has a touch sensitive kill switch that won't let it turn on if there are any fingers near it. I'm not sure if they all do this, but I'm in Shredder heaven! Thanks mom for my great new toy!

Here is "BullDog"

Seriously...Sick Again??!!

Today was going to be the first week that Andrew made it from Monday-Friday at daycare. Don't get too excited and pop the bubbly yet - he is sick again! He woke up this morning moaning and groaning and not happy. I'm beginning to wonder if this kid puts the thermometer up to the light when I walk out of the room. Today's highest temperature is 102.5, at which point we were shoving him in the car and off we went to the doctor. He was lethargic, burning up and we had no clue why.

Turns out, kiddo has a double ear infection this week. Mind you, he just got over one (first week of January) and now he is infected again. This will be 3 in the last year and 2 in the last month. Jeff had to have tubes when he was a baby due to chronic ear infections and the doctor has begun the conversation with us regarding Andrew getting tubes. I'm prepared for it and am more than willing to take that step if it will help him feel better. He is miserable so often these days as he fights one illness after another.

So, maybe next week will be our week to make it through at school. But, for now, little man is asleep after getting 2 shots in the legs. I'm hoping his fever will break so that he can start to feel better. We have a follow-up at the doctor's office tomorrow morning to see how things go over night. Dr. Blair is as concerned as we are about how often he is getting sick and how sick he is today.

I do realize this is part of the process with daycare, but I'm beginning to really question my decision to put him in at this point. Paying money for a service you don't use, not able to work because you are constantly taking care of your child and the doctor's visits and prescription costs just add to the frustration. Not to mention, a sick baby is not easy to handle - the concept of 'let mommy put you down for just a minute so she can go to the bathroom' is not even possible without a huge breakdown. It's heartbreaking.

But, I'm optimistic about next week!

UPDATE: Andrew's highest fever for this round of sickness went to 103. We went back to the doctor on Saturday for his second round of Rocephin shots in the legs. He remembered being there on Friday and went absolutely nuts when we brought him back to the exam room. He had a feeling he was going to get shots again and guess what - he was right. He cried for 15 minutes. Every single person in that doctor's office knew we were there. And the bad news is, I have to bring him back Monday morning for round 3 of the shots. Dear Lord, make me a bird...