Our insurance company probably hates us

2009, medically speaking, you have sucked. Big time.

Pneumonia. Ear infections. Sinus infections. Rashes. Migraines. Cavities. 3 surgeries for me. 1 for Claire. Most likely, 1 for Carter. So many x-rays I've lost count.

Right now, we're all recovering from another round of ear & sinus infections. Carter has been sick, more often than not, since the end of August. Closing in on 6 weeks, if you'd like to be specific. Saturday found us in the ER because he had a rash like I'd never seen before. It started Friday, covering a little of his forehead. By that night, it was over his entire face, the back of his head & his neck. Saturday morning, it had spread to his chest & back. After his nap, I took him up to the pharmacy so Chase could see it. It was fire engine red & so spread out that you could barely see his regular skin color. Chase took one look at him & sent us off to the ER.

The doctor who "helped" us just pretty much rocked. Hardcore. It went something like this: "Hmmm. Not sure I've seen this before. Maybe it's Hand, Foot & Mouth. But he doesn't have any spots on his feet. He's been on an antibiotic? (Because he's still trying to get over the sinus & ear infection.) Could be a reaction to his medicine. What's that? You stopped the antibiotic yesterday? Who told you to do that? (The witch doctor. Not my husband, who knows his sh**.) Wait, he's been running a fever for 10 days? I just really don't know. It could be the medicine or it could be a virus. You'll just have to wait it out. Oh, by the way? He has another ear infection, so here's a new prescription for you. Also? I know he hasn't eaten anything since yesterday morning but M&M's really aren't an appropriate food for a 1 year old."

Carter & I were both fed up by this point. He was in pain, tired, & just plain cranky. I was pissed that we'd wasted $100 & 45 minutes to be told nothing. My response was "Really? See, I was just trying to distract him so your job of examining him would be a little easier. Trust me when I tell you that M&M's are not his regular diet." So I got home & called up my old friend, Dr. Google & figured out that he most likely had roseola. It's now been 4.5 days & the rash is finally starting to disappear. And since he had an ear infection on top of an ear infection being treated by antibiotics, we've got an appointment with the ENT on Friday.

I had another appointment with Dr. Hand on Monday. He told me I had two options: 1) Have the surgery now. 2) Let the cyst get bigger & more painful & have the surgery. I'll be having surgery on October 29th.

I've mentioned it before. Our deductible was ridiculously high this year. Like, Momma could have had a whole new wardrobe plus shoes for every outfit high. And we blew it by July. While this has it's benefits now, it makes my head hurt thinking we spent that much on medical bills in 7 months.

With Chase working in a pharmacy, he is in constant contact with sick people. Which means he's exposed to just about anything & everything. He brings it home & passes it on to the kids. The kids get sick, are miserable, I begin to lose my sanity because we're cooped up in the house yet again, they get healthy, I get sick, I turn into Monster Mom because I don't feel well & I can't take the whining, I start to recover & then Chase finally catches whatever it is he brought home in the first place.

I like to think that this means that by the time the kids start preschool, they'll have been exposed to so many germs that they should be pretty immune to whatever nastiness all the other little snot noses show up with. But we all know how Murphy's Law works, no? I'm not getting my hopes up.

And since I think the doctor's office just sees big walking dollar signs when we cross the threshold? I'm just grateful our healthcare will basically be free the next 3 months.

Still truckin' along...

We're here. Hanging on. Sick of being sick.

The kids shared their sinus infections with me. And Chase shared his poison oak with me, too. I have such a generous family.

So other than all the doctors appointments, sickness, & lack of sleep, there's been nothing going on. Nothing.

I can't think of anything to write about. Most of my thoughts are negative, woe is me type thoughts & that's not exactly what I want to be spreading around the internets.

So, until I get back in the groove, here's a few pictures from Carter's birthday weekend.

{Cake by the awesome Ashley, again}


{Birthday boy enjoyed his little frog cake}


{Claire loves to be "shocked". No matter what she's doing, if you tell her it's shocking, she'll make this face for you.}

I probably got another cyst as punishment for hitting my kid in public

Carter's evaluation went fine, no seizures, nothing to worry about. The neurologist tried to tell me he's delayed on his verbal & motor skills. I told him I disagreed, that I think it's more a case of 2nd kid-itis. His regular doctor, Chase, & pretty much anyone else that has any interaction with him agreed, too. Heck, if you could get what you wanted just by pointing & grunting, would you put any effort into talking? I didn't think so.

Both kids are little sicklets. It's awesome. Between sick visits, regular checkups, Claire's surgery for tubes, the surgery on my hand (and the possibility of a 2nd one), periodic orthopedic visits for the kids hips, & all the other doctor related stuff we've had this year, our ridiculously high deductible was met by the end of July. That is impressive yet disgusting at the same time. And yes, you read right about my hand. About a week after having my stitches taken out, I found another cyst. Same hand, different finger. My doctor didn't even look at it, just referred me right back to Dr. Hand.

Carter's birthday was awesome. It wasn't as big or complicated as Claire's party, which was great. Very few toys were received, which was even greater. And the few we got were quiet...no singing, talking, or flashing lights. Pictures coming soon.

And since I was too busy lazy to get around to writing a Random Tuesday Thoughts yesterday, I leave you with these little nuggets of love:

Claire secured my nomination for Mom of the Year yesterday while we were at the library. I got onto her for something & swatted her hand. Claire, sensing that the entire library had fallen quiet, chose that moment to shout "Mom! Don't hit me, mom!" Well played, daughter. Well played indeed.

I am debating writing to the board that licenses all new doctors & petitioning for a new test to be added. I think all doctors need to be able to pass a breath test before their license is handed over. Now, I'm not saying your breath needs to smell like unicorns & sunshine, but c'mon. A little Mentos never hurt anyone. For an hour & forty five minutes on Monday, I was only able to take tiny little gasping breaths because it smelled like the doctor dined on baby skunks for lunch.

So after a year & a half of having my car, I've got it pretty much figured out exactly how many miles I can get on a tank of gas. Yet it still annoys me to no end when Chase doesn't reset the tripometer after every fill up.

Finally, you never know what will pop out of Chase's mouth. Last week, after leaving Carter's appointment, we stopped at Starbucks since neither of us got much sleep the night before. Claire started whining for a chocolate chip cookie. "I want the cookie. Mom, I want the cookie. Mom, please? Please? I like chocolate cookie, Mom. Dad? Cookie? I like it." Chase pops off & says "You know who else likes cookies, Claire? The devil. That's who." Claire didn't say anything for about 20 seconds & then in this tiny little voice said "Uhm. Cookie? Please?"

Where I've been, where I'm headed...

Life in Casa de Beasty has been rough the past two weeks. My plate is full to the point of overflowing right now. For me, at least.

Two weeks ago found us with a sick household. It started out with Carter starting to act sick on Friday, right as company was showing up. That's right...two weeks ago I not only met internet strangers, I opened my house up to them. And it was every bit as awesome as I thought it would be. Jess & Marissa, I hope you'll come back soon!

By Monday, Claire was sniffling & coughing all over the place, Carter was acting even more run down, & Chase woke up whining. I spent the next few nights on the couch in an effort to make sure I didn't catch anything. Throw in Carter waking up every hour Tuesday night, me carrying him in the Moby wrap & pacing the street in front of our house for an hour & a barking cough & we were at the doctor the next day. Poor guy had a pretty severe ear infection.

My big guy, baby man, fatty thighs, Roo-Diddy, will be ONE on Friday. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago I was blogging about colic & how it was hitting us late in the game? I've been trying to get everything put together for his party on Saturday. It's not going so well. My house is a disaster from the two weeks I wasn't able to do much. I got my stitches taken out a week ago & I've had a lot of pain & still haven't been able to use my hand much.

And then, last week, the nightmares started. In any piece of parenting advice you read, "they" all say that 11 months old is too young to be having nightmares {night terrors if you want to get technical}. Yet for the past 2 weeks, Carter has had all the classic signs of nightmares. Initially, I didn't worry about it, just comforted him & followed all of "their" advice-don't try to wake him up, don't change his surroundings, etc. They were fairly short, 2-3 minutes, & as long as I would hold him, rock him, pat his back, he'd calm down quickly. He had two during naptime but I didn't think much of it.

That all changed on Monday. Halfway through naptime, I heard the screaming. The "I'm in pain, something is VERY wrong, I need you NOW" screaming. Moms, you know that scream. The one you hope to never hear. I went into their bedroom, expecting to find his fatty thigh stuck in the slats or to see that he was holding his head after hitting it on the side, which happens all too often. Instead, I walked in to sweet boy sitting up in bed, screaming & sobbing, eyes open but totally unfocused. I tried the usual lay him down, cover him with his blue {both kids have their silky blankets, which are oh-so imaginatively named "blue" & "pink"} & give him his pacifier. He threw my hands away & sat right back up.

I got him out of bed & we moved to the rocker. Carter continued to moan & sob & his little arms just couldn't stay still. After a few minutes of rubbing his back & whispering to him, he started to settle down but was still doing those deep, gasping sobs. After he finally quieted down, I tried to put him back in bed but it immediately started all over again. That started up another close to 5 minute stretch of the sobbing & flailing about. The hardest part for me were the times his eyes would be wide open but completely unfocused or rolling back in his head.

By this point in time, his fit had lasted for close to 10 minutes. Claire had nightmares when she was about 16-17 months old but they never lasted for more than a few minutes & she seemed to move past that stage fairly quickly, so the length alone of Carter's fit was enough to have me concerned. And then what was quite possibly the scariest moment I've had with either child happened. Carter would inhale, exhale quickly, & then 10-15 seconds would go by before he would inhale again. And when he did finally inhale, it would be huge, gasping, gulping breaths. The kind you take when you can't get enough air. He continued to do this 5 or 6 more times over a 10 minute period, on top of the sobbing, flailing & moaning before he finally settled down & fell back into a peaceful sleep.

To say I was scared is an understatement. I left the room long enough to call Chase & tell him what happened & then spent the rest of naptime sitting in the kids' room, listening to them breath. Wednesday brought another nightmare during naptime but like all previous ones, it only lasted a few minutes & he was easily calmed.

So that wraps up where I've been. When we went in for Roo's follow-up appointment on Thursday, I brought all of this up to his doctor. Which leads to where I'm headed. Carter's doctor agreed that it does sound like he's gotten an {albeit unfortunate} headstart on the nightmares. In his 27 years of practice, he's never had a baby that has had nightmares of this scale during naptime. Or one that lasted close to 20 minutes. He felt that his breathing issues were simply a matter of exhaustion from the length of the fit & wasn't overall concerned about them, in regards to the possibility of it having happened in the past or the likelihood of any recurrence.

Our doctor ended up consulting with a pediatric neurologist, whom we are headed to see on Tuesday. He has always been incredibly proactive & is one of those doctors where, if he doesn't know the answer, he doesn't hesitate to call someone who he thinks will. Based on a phone call only, the neurologist seems to think that Carter may have had an atypical seizure while he was sleeping. Chase & I wholeheartedly DISAGREE with the neurologist at this time. One perk of Chase holding a doctorate degree & spending 7 years in college? We have a wealth of medical textbooks stacked up in the basement & Chase knows which websites are the best & easiest to navigate. Chase showed me description after description of seizures, what I would have seen, other indicating factors, etc. & Carter displays NONE of those characteristics.

It is absolutely possible that Chase & I are completely wrong. Seeing as how neither one of us is a neurologist & all. So Tuesday, we are meeting with the neurologist & they are doing an EEG on Carter. The fun starts on Monday night at approximately 8:00pm. Bedtime around here is normally 8-8:30 but we've been instructed to keep Carter awake until midnight & then wake him up at 5:00am. And then keep him awake until we arrive in Wichita around 8:00am, which should be all kinds of fun since he almost always falls asleep in the car. He'll be sedated so that they can place the leads on his head & then testing should last approximately an hour.

But oh no, our fun does not end there! As soon as his appointment is finished, we'll head across town for Claire's appointment with the ENT. We didn't receive the call about Carter's EEG until 5:15 Friday afternoon, so it was too late to call & reschedule Claire's appointment. Then either Thursday or Friday, we have Carter's appointment with the orthopedist for his 1 year checkup on his hips. Friday is his "Happy Birthday Day" as Claire calls it & Saturday is his party. Monday will find us back in Wichita for his follow up evaluation with the neurologist & the reading of the EEG, which will take 2-3 hours & to round out a fun-filled week, Tuesday will be his 1 year checkup & shots.

That kid? Will hate me by the time the next week is over.

Like I said before, Chase & I completely disagree with the seizure possibility. But again, we're not neurologists. We can only hope & pray that the doctor is absolutely wrong & approaching this from a worst-case scenario standpoint & that the EEG is just a matter of playing it safe. Having to wait the week for results will be tough.

So if I'm not around much the next week, you'll know why. But then again, I might be blogging away about random crazy stuff just as a means of distraction from everything that I've got coming at me.

County Fair

The first weekend in August, Cowley County has their annual county fair. This year, we didn't realize the date, so the first night of the fair, Claire was off visiting Chase's parents for the weekend. The first night, Chase, one of his friends, Roo & I headed out after the guys got off of work. We walked, ate way too much, had fun crowd watching & Roo & I cheered on the guys while they attempted to win something from the games on the midway.

Carter was such a trooper while we were out there, taking in the sights & sounds. Around 9:30, he started to get cranky, as it was an hour after his bedtime. I snugged him up in his Moby & tried to get him fall asleep. I covered his head, gave him his favorite lovey & paced the midway, trying to soothe him.

Monday, the kids & I stopped at Wal-Mart to run in & get some stuff before naptime. As I was trying to get the kids from the car to the basket, a man was getting out of his car next to us. When he saw me, he got this look of shock on his face & asked if I lived here in town. He then asked if I'd been at the fair, carrying a baby. When I said yes, he said "I took your picture at the fair. I just assumed you were from out of town because I'd never seen you before. I've had your picture on display with my exhibit at the coffee shop. I hope you don't mind. I'd be happy to take it down if you'd like." I told him that, no, I didn't mind at all & that I'd be headed out there to see it soon.

Chase & I took the kids there for lunch yesterday. The picture was up with a whole collection of others taken during the fair. Chase liked the picture so much he bought it before we left. It's now hanging in our dining room with some of our other treasures & it makes me smile each time I walk by.

All photo credit goes to Ron Shufflebarger of Winfield. He can be found here and here.