Mason's IEP went great this morning. He loves school.  He makes it known when he doesn't want to do a particular activity, but the teachers do a great job of rewarding him when he gives in and completes what he needs to do. We set goals for 2012, which is tough because we don't even know what is expected for him "next".  I left this up to the teachers to tell me.  If it were up to me, I would want him to crawl, walk and talk...but that's not going to happen.

Mason's classmates were glad to have Mason back on Monday.  He was greeted by all the kids and they all wanted to update him on what he was missing..."Mason, see my backpack? Mason, look what I have."  He was overwhelmed with all the kids at first but apparently wore a permanent smile the rest of the day, glad to be back at school.

The Mag3 scan also went well today. Mason was weighed, and is down about a lb and a half after this pertussis business. He's at 29 lbs, 8 oz.  We'll push lots of food the next couple weeks and try to get him back to normal in time for his 4 year appt.

They had to put in an IV for today's procedure.  Again, Mason is a hard stick. They got it on the 3rd try in his foot. They gave him chloro-hydrate via G-tube and he was out within 20 minutes.

The actual scan took about 30 minutes. I was incorrect about the catheter part...there was nothing invasive about this procedure...just a series of pictures/videos that they recorded.  After the scan, we went back up to sedation to wait for him to wake up.  He slept for another hour, and finally I got impatient and woke him.  He was slightly annoyed at being woken up, but with the combination of the IV fluids and the lasix they gave him to pee, he was pretty full. He is still slow to get back to his normal self, but is fully awake now watching Mickey Mouse.

We met with Dr. T for the results and he said that the kidneys are functioning normal.  They fill up and drain as they should.  We will just have to keep an eye on the distension of his left kidney. An ultrasound will be repeated in 8 months.

A great day - its so nice to get good news on days like these.  Our little tyke is such a trooper for all the crap we put him through.

This weekend, we will be celebrating all the kids birthdays in the Dells. I'm excited to take Mason to the waterpark and snow tubing the next day. I hope to get a trip to the outlet mall as well, since our soon to be 4 year old is wearing 5T pants! He's a tall one!  He's skinny and tall - a true Mrdutt at this age. 

Mason will be 4 on January 28. Amazing how fast 4 years go. I hope that well before he turns 5 we can get him in his new house!  The next few months will really get us focused on that...as the snow melts (hopefully not until March though) and it gets closer and closer to happening.  Can't wait!

Going Home

We got approval to go home today so we should be leaving by 4. Mason is napping now so once he wakes up we can get his IV out and get him into his normal clothes. Once home, this guy is overdue for a bath and brushing his teeth! He isn't interested in drinking Pediasure, so we're hoping he'll eat later today.

I'm holding Mason for his nap and typing one-handed so that's it for this update. :)

The Pert

Today was a pretty uneventful day. I received my test results, and as it turns out, I have been diagnosed with "the pert". I have a slight tickle cough since yesterday, so I'm hoping my early doses of antibiotics will curb this. It means that I, too, am not allowed in public until Sunday. It's not like I planned to be anywhere anyway.

Chris is on the antibiotics too, but was not swabbed. I'm sure he has it too - but his body is fighting it. However, its not stopping him from walking around telling me I have "the pert".

Mason is puking still today, so we're trying different ways of doing the meds to prevent it. We've been giving him Zolfran before his other medicines to see if that helps. We decreased how much saline he is getting through the IV so that we can get him more hungry and get him eating. So far, he's just drinking Pediasure, and not much...but we're confident we can get that up to par tomorrow.

They teased us with a discharge tomorrow, so we're hoping that can still happen.

Mason's coughing spells are still every 20-30 minutes, and are worse when he is sleeping, which is weird. The coughs sound non-productive, which is frustrating at times because you just want him to stop but he can't.

Now Mason is cuddling in for the night. Chris and I are both staying so we're hoping for a solid 5-6 hour stretch.

Good night!!!

Quarantined

This day has turned out to be so interesting.

For those not on Facebook, Mason was diagnosed with Pertussis (Whooping Cough). Since the diagnosis, I received a call from the Marathon County Health Department, requesting the names, birthdates and phone numbers of anyone that had contact with Mason since 12/25/11.

So if you get a call, yup, we started it.

They are calling to inform everyone of the symptoms, and if you have symptoms, you need to get tested. I got tested this afternoon, after an hour and a half wait in Urgent Care. It's a nice long swab that they put in your nose and down your throat. (EW) I will know by tomorrow afternoon if I've got the pert. That's what I'm calling it now - the pert.

So our lovely, understanding family needs to be placed on antibiotics too, and may need to be tested. In advance ya'll, I'm sorry. If I would have known Mason had THIS, I would have kept him away from all of you. :(

Mason is still not eating. He will be here until he does again. He's on constant Zolfran to keep him from vomiting and constant saline to keep him hydrated. He took a 5 hour nap today, so I'm pretty happy that Chris is on-call tonight. I'm going to get one more good night's sleep at home (in my quarantine mask) before packing my bag for a few more days.

I urge you all to NOT visit. It's not that great here, and we don't miss you yet.

Yes, my humor is back. I think its because I'm about 2 hours from temporary "freedom".

2012's rocky start

Here were are again...Marshfield. We were just here in December with Aunt Michelle, Spencer, Michelle's friends and kids, making visits to Ronald McDonald house and the Pediatric Wing of the hospital. Chris said during that visit "I hope I don't have to return here ever again." and I said "I don't mind it when Mason is sick...I feel like its less pressure on me as a mom when there are others here to help him."

I take it back.

I don't like this place and the fact they have to do blood draws, wake him up every hour for a temp and blood pressure, call in a doctor order that takes 30 minutes to get the Tylenol he needs, the weird, constant noises of all the other patients, and sleeping on a crappy cot.

I'm ready to go home. Mason isn't.

After a long week between Christmas and New Year's with contant coughing, gagging and vomiting, we took Mason in on Jan 2nd. We were hoping to see his pediatrician, but instead had to go to Urgent Care in Wausau. They ran two blood tests - electrolytes and total blood count. His electrolytes were fine, probably due to Daddy's constant Pedialyte feedings at night. His white blood count, however, was through the roof. The normal range, we're told, can be from 5,000 to 15,000. His white blood count was 54,000. He was clearly fighting something.

They sent us here in Marshfield to the Emergency department, and we got an immediate admission to the Pediatric wing. We're in our own room, thank goodness. They wanted to start an IV to get some fluids in, since he hadn't eaten or drank in 4 days. The nurses could not get the IV in, so they had to call the Spirit squad (the people that fly the helicopter to emergencies and are experts at IV pokes.) It took a few pokes, even by them, and an IV was finally placed in the shoulder. Mason has received saline since yesterday, which is finally producing some wet diapers.

They also started him on an antibiotic. The only suspected thing to be causing this right now is Percussis (Whooping Cough). He had a 35 minute coughing jag last night that we couldn't get under control. We thought giving him some Benadryl would help him sleep, but it backfired. He was restless all night so he didn't sleep well at all.

This morning he had another total blood count done but we haven't heard the results yet. Last night was the swab for percussis but haven't heard back on that yet either. We're under quarantine (all staff need to wear a mask when entering and we need to wear masks outside of the room). If the percussis comes back negative, the quarantine is lifted. Part of me wants it to be positive for the answers, but quarantined status sucks.

Mason is resting now, has been sleeping for an hour. I should be too. Between the two of us, I think we slept about 4 hours last night. Daddy was home last night to get rest so he could work today, but he's on duty tonight so that I can get rest and get to work tomorrow. It's a vicious circle. I need to pick up ear plugs and a sleeping aid of my own I think. :)

It's times like this I'm glad we don't have more kids. Mason can be a lot of work and I'm glad that we can handle it between the two of us.

I'm glad Chris and I booked our vacation to Phoenix in March. I need it already. I'm glad we have family to help us with Mason so that we can take a mental break for a few days and relax. I'm also glad our coworkers and jobs are flexible. We're very lucky, really.

The little guy is coughing, so I've got to go---snuggle time.