February was a month that felt like it wasn't going to ever end. Maybe it was the stress of the kids not getting
their homework done on time or maybe making valentines for Nikole, Gavin and
Dylan to take to school. I was so stressed out I almost forgot to call
and get more oxygen! Crap! Good thing I remembered just in time to
get more brought out since almost all of ours were empty. Then I still
forgot to call the doctors and make an appointment for Rhett and Dylan.
It is a good thing I have a calendar or I would forget so much.
LOL!! I guess I better start writing down times to call to make these
appointments. It is really hard to keep on top of things when you feel
like everything is hitting you all at once.
One thing that has been very trying is to
get help for Gavin since he can have major shifts in his mood. Meaning, from
going to this sweet boy who is laughing and playing, to one kicking and
screaming. No idea what sets him off but when he blows I almost want to
yell "HIT THE DECK!" LOL. I
know that sounds mean but I don't mean it in a bad way, it is a way I can look
at the situation and try to help him overcome this horrible problem that is
facing him. After talking with someone
that helps children she said that she just got back from training on brain
trauma and how it affects children.
After talking with her and going over things that Gavin does I figure
that he has brain trauma from the surgery that he had when he was 3 months old. He has been getting counseling and some of
the help that he needed. They helped him
to communicate a little bit better, even though he still has problems with his
temper he is getting better at using his words.
I hope that he will continue to improve and use his words more often
than not.
Nikole is very self conscious right now and
worried about fitting in and having friends. She has been had a really
hard time at school this year and has found out that there are several kids out
there that lie and are just plain mean.
She has struggled through this whole school year, but she made it
through this year and is looking forward to next year. I am not even sure who her teacher is which
really sucks but I guess that is life at the moment. But it really became
apparent that she isn't ready to have very many friends and those that she does
have she cherishes. It is nice to see
her trying to make some friends even if it is one friend at a time and most of
them are not even her age. I guess that
those kids her age just are not ready for someone as amazing as her.
So Rhett just had surgery on Thursday March
28th on his knees since he was knock kneed.
They had placed plates in his knees to help them straighten out, but the
plates cannot stay there because they would then make him bow legged. This is the only surgery he had since they
are not going to do any more chest expansions, because they are not
helping. They put in the plates in when
they expanded the chest. They did that
twice, one at a time in each leg. But
during this last surgery he had both the plates removed. He had a hard time recovering but thanks to
the pain cream that he had he was walking and not limping within 3-4 days. Super proud!
I was so excited since I have never seen him recover like that
especially when they are working on his legs.
After a week on Saturday morning he couldn't walk and his lag was super
swollen. He was in intense pain and was
just lying there. I gave him ibuprofen
and put the cream on his leg. In the
middle of the day I was concerned and called the orthopedic surgeon on call and
they asked about fevers which he didn’t have.
The doctor said to watch it and that I wouldn’t want to spend the
weekend in the hospital. Of course I
never want to spend time in the hospital but if it is going to help my children
I will, not problem. So we watched it
overnight again. Doing the same thing as
we did Saturday we went through Sunday.
In the afternoon I called the hospital again and talked to a different
orthopedic surgeon on call. I took some
pictures of his knee and emailed them to that surgeon. After he looked at them he said it was a skin
irritation and a rash, told me to watch it and it should get better unless he
spikes a fever. I sent the same pictures
to his orthopedic surgeon that did the surgery and I talked to his assistant
while I was on the phone with her he contacted her and said, “That is cellulitis and we need to get Rhett on antibiotics now.” We put him on antibiotics and he still was
not able to walk and do too much with his leg that was swollen and sore. I would take pictures and send them to the
doctor and be in close contact with them.
It got worse and then slowly started to get better. He ended up having finished the first
antibiotics and had to call out for another dose of antibiotics. It took almost a month to heal but it finally
did thankfully.
I will update with more info asap and with photos since I know I have a lot of photos that need to be posted.
