Medical Update

Well, the last two weeks in this house have been...hmm...eventful. On Wednesday, November 7, we took Carter in to the Cook Children's Surgery Center in Plano where we had planned on having a very routine outpatient surgery to repair his hydrocele. Everything went great...Carter was a champ, and he cried very little after he woke up from surgery.

He was very snuggly and slept a lot, but otherwise, he was his usual self for the next 48 hours.

Then came Friday...he woke up slightly cranky and just wanted to be held. We knew his Hydrocodone had worn off overnight, so we figured he just needed some pain meds. Once those got on board, he was relatively normal throughout the rest of that day. Around 5pm, he got fussy again, but that's nothing unusual for that time of day around here. More pain meds and an early dinner at Rosa's got us out of that funk. He slept great Friday night...and then we got to Saturday morning.

HOLY MOLY.

He woke up with a 102 fever and refused to eat, drink, or be put down. And cried. And cried. And CRIED. At this point, being four days out of surgery, my motherly intuition sent up red flags, so I called the on-call surgeon to see if he had any idea what might be going on. (I was thinking maybe he'd want us to come in on Monday to get checked or write us a prescription for a new pain med or something easy like that.) Once he returned my call, things really got scary, as we were told to head immediately to the ER at Medical City Dallas where he would be making rounds. He said it sounded as if Carter's incision site might be infected. Special.

So, off we went. (Side note: This was my first trip to an ER. Ever. I was pretty freaked out.) We immediately got signed in and taken back to a triage room where they examined Carter, took his temp (still 102), and got him some Tylenol to start bringing down the fever. Everyone seemed to think it was an infection, so being the somewhat medically intelligent person I am, I knew infection meant antibiotics. No big deal, right?

WRONG.

After inserting Carter's IV (holy awful), he was taken down for a cat scan. (At this point, I didn't know what for, but I figured it was routine.) I had to leave the room and Blake held his little body down while they put him in that crazy tunnel thing and scanned him while I listened outside the room to his wailing. After that trauma, we headed back to the triage room for more waiting.

Lots and lots of iPad time later, the ER doctor came in with a sad look on his face, and I knew he didn't have good news. We were told that Carter had an abscess on his incision site (basically a big pimple full of bacteria) and would need to be admitted for further treatment. At this point, I burst into tears and sobbed on my sweet boy's head while we waited for our original surgeon to come see us. Once he came in the room, we discussed treatment options, one of which included surgery to drain the abscess which would speed up his healing. Since the little guy had refused to eat that morning, it actually worked in our favor and we were told he'd be able to have his surgery in just a few hours instead of waiting for the next day and extending our stay in the hospital. (Small victory?) After LOTS and LOTS of waiting, Carter went back in for his third surgery to date at about 2:00 that afternoon while Blake and I finally grabbed something to eat for the first time all day. (My comfort food of choice? Coke Zero and a big cookie. Perfect for increasing hospital stamina, right?) Carter woke up from that surgery around 3:00 and we then were transferred up to the room where we'd stay the night. He woke up in a decently good mood all things considered, and wanted some apple juice and cheerios. His sweet nurse brought him trucks and blocks to play with and we just hung out and watched the Aggies beat the tar out of Alabama (WHOOP!) on a 1987 box TV from the comfort of a really old hospital room. When we were cheering as they won, we actually got a smile out of him!

We had a somewhat rough night ahead (slept from 8-2, up from 2-5, slept from 5-8) and then were discharged the next morning with Carter in an awesome mood.

Since we've been home, Carter has been doing fine, tolerating the horrendous antibiotics and seems to be healing. Diaper changes are rough, as his sweet little skin is super sensitive to all the tape/gauze/band-aids, but we're getting through it. We have a follow-up appointment on Wednesday to be sure everything is healed up, so we aren't technically out of the woods yet, but things are definitely looking up just in time to enjoy the holidays. :)   

18 Months

Weight: 25 pounds, 7 oz (64th percentile)

Height:  33.5 inches (70th percentile)
Head: 19.3 inches (87th percentile)

Clothes: 12-18 months (pants) and 18-24 months (tops and PJs)

Diapers: Size 4

Well, dude, where do I begin? I haven't posted a monthly update since your 15 month update, and boy have you changed! Routine for you is still pretty much the same - up at 7/7:30, nap from 12-2:30ish, down for the night at 8. You eat ALL. THE. TIME. I was warned by friends with boys that once you became a toddler you would eat me out of house and home, and boy were they right! We try to stay on your school schedule - breakfast at home (7:30ish), snack at 9, lunch at 11, snack after nap, snack at 4:30, and dinner at 6. (See? ALL THE TIME.) Your current obsessions are yogurt ("go-gurt"), cheese ("chiz"), nutri-grain bars ("bahs"), strawberries (you don't try to say that one, yet), fruit snacks ("fru snahks"), peas ("piz"), and apple sauce ("apple sah"). The biggest difference lately is that you can actually ask for what you want...a blessing and a curse!

Lately, you have been a complete chatter box! Now, granted, I have no comparison to go on, but I think you are VERY verbal for your age and being a boy. (I think it's partially due to your OBSESSION with books...when we finish one, you immediately say "more!" and turn back to the first page so I can start it over again.) I would bet that you say at least 50 words by now, and you LOVE to identify things outside, in pictures, on TV, and in your books. You amaze us daily with what you know - you can identify all your body parts, most everything in your books (flowers, animals, boy/girl, vehicles, food, etc), almost anything in the pantry (ha), and almost all your family members in pictures. (Oh, and Elmo...any cartoon character you see is Elmo. So sweet.) Again, I'm no doctor, but I think that's pretty good for 18 months!

You have started figuring out ownership...and by that I mean, that at dinner, for example, we all have our own cups, our own plates, our own forks, etc. When you want something of mine, I show you where yours is, and you smile so big knowing you have one just for you. It's SO sweet when you realize what a big boy you are that you have your own utensils, plate, etc. You eat using utensils now, and you do wonderfully with a fork...spoons are more difficult. You don't quite grasp the whole gravity thing yet and why the yogurt falls off the spoon between the cup and your mouth. You'll get it eventually though! 

As far as your health goes, you lost one of your tubes already. You had an ear infection about two weeks ago, and when Dr. Newton was checking your ears at the appointment, he pulled out the bright blue tube in a ball of wax. (Ew.) We are hopeful that you don't have many more infections because we do NOT want to have to put in another tube. On that note, you are having surgery this coming Wednesday to correct the hydrocele I talked about back in your 15-month blog. We had a surgery date back in September, but the surgeon made us reschedule because you had come down with a cold and it wasn't safe to operate. You are coughing quite a bit this weekend, but so far no runny nose or anything else, so we are hoping that this will be behind us after Wednesday. Fingers crossed! We are SO ready to get this thing over with...

Hmmm...what else...you are doing so well at your new daycare. You were in the first classroom (12-18 month olds) until October 1 when they moved you up to the 18-24 month room. They basically said you had "outsmarted" that room and were starting to get into trouble, i.e. biting the babies when they wouldn't play with you, so you needed to move up with older kids who were more on your level intellectually and socially. You haven't been too fond of your teacher, Ms. Corine, in this room because she forced you to give up your lovey except during nap time. Oh well - gotta be a big boy eventually, right?!  

Well, I guess that about wraps things up! We are putting off your 18-month well-check until my Thanksgiving break, so we won't know your official stats for two more weeks. We love you big guy! Keep learning!