Broken arm chronicles part 3
Posted by: Tracey on: October 24, 2008
Today was her second visit with the orthopedic doctor. He did some xrays again and said that really everything looks about the same. Still 2 fractures. 1 chip fracture near the growth plate and the other a buckle (or compression) fracture in the other lower arm bone.
But the good news is……………..no more splint!!! Believe it or not! It pays to be 3 sometimes!! He said that with her type of fractures it is worse to leave them splinted as the arm starts to become stiffened. She already had some stiffening present when he took the splint off.
Here is the hard part……….keep a 3 year old sorta quiet for the next 2 weeks! I would say that he must not have little kids but in reality he does.
Next appointment in 2 weeks for more xrays and recheck to make sure it is healing correctly.
Thickener trashing party!!!!
Posted by: Tracey on: October 24, 2008
Once we got the OK from the swallow study that Jennifer didn’t need thickened liquids anymore we decided to have a thickener trashing party!! It is so expensive that I did have a hard time just throwing it away but at the same time after having to use it for about 1 1/2 years it felt good too! Jennifer enjoyed herself too!!
This first pic is her showing the can of thickener:
This one is harder to tell what is happening because of the way she did it but it is of her pouring the thickener into the trash:
Unfortunately with the delay on the digital camera I didn’t get the next pic of her jumping up and down clapping her hands!!! What a happy moment for us!!
Broken arm chronicles part 2
Posted by: Tracey on: October 21, 2008
This is quite the late update but Jen’s appointment went fine last Friday with the orthopedic doctor. He looked at her xrays and said that her 2 fractures were pretty small and that she was a lucky little girl all in all.
For now it stays in the splint and ACE wrap and she can wear the sling as she wants (but what toddler wants to!!!!) And then we go back on this coming Friday to have xrays done again and go from there.
Here is a picture of her with her splint on:
She has gotten used to it as you can plainly see!
Oh and I got an email from the GI doc and for now they aren’t worrying about her height since it is consistent with the 2 year one. I guess they really look at what they start doing after age 2 and so they will follow from here. She does want her remeasured in about 3 months though
Broken arm chronicles part 1
Posted by: Tracey on: October 17, 2008
I have some news that everyone who has been following Jennifer’s story will not be expecting to read here.
Jennifer has a fractured arm. She slid down the slide at daycare and decided instead of getting off the end she would roll off the side. But instead of landing right she landed on her arm. The daycare thought it was maybe just bruised but with as much as she was complaining about it they took her to our urgent care center and sure enough it was fractured. Both of the lower arm bones near the elbow.
For now she is in a splint with an Ace wrap and a sling. She will see an orthopediatist later today at 2pm for an evaluation to see what further treatment she will need. I’ll update again after that.
Here is what she looked like the day she did it. She was in quite a bit of pain. Today she is much better.
Latest ENT/GI visits
Posted by: Tracey on: October 14, 2008
ENT: He is happy with how well she is doing. Said all looks great and she progressed quite fast after the surgery getting onto the thin liquids. The fact that she does still cough some when drinking is fine and that should slowly go away with more time as her body continues to learn how to swallow with her new anatomy. But no aspiration by swallow study is great news. He doesn’t want to see her for a year unless things change. If at a year things still look so great then he will officially discharge her from his service!!!
GI: We talked about how much Jen is still refluxing and how it’s actually hard to tell. Jen tells me at some point everyday that her tummy hurts. But she says that no matter what is actually bothering her. It could be her big toe but she’ll say it’s her ‘tummy’. And when she coughs (not while drinking) she almost always says it’s ‘on yuckys’ meaning that she refluxed. So we aren’t sure if she still refluxes or not. We are going to try cutting her prevacid to once daily now that the surgery site is all healed up though.
The mild fructose (sugar) intolerance seems to be getting better. Her theory is that she got it from some stomach bug and that she just needed time to heal her intestines. She’ll stay on the probiotic a bit longer until that is completely gone. No plans to retest currently.
Jen is handling soy lethicen and small amounts of soy oil currently. When I tried higher amounts of soy oil she was definitely refluxing so she wants me to stay where we are for 4 more weeks. Then try increasing the amounts of soy oil over 4-6 weeks. If she handles that fine then after that time period add in soy yogurt. If in 4 weeks she does ok on the soy yogurt then add in soy milk. By then it will be time to see her again. We are to NOT add in any dairy before seeing her again. She wants her tolerating soy well before even thinking about any form of dairy.
The only thing she is concerned about in Jennifer is her height. From age birth to 6 months she steadily increased in height to catch up from being born early. Then from 9 months until 18 months she was 50-75% in height on the growth charts. But all the sudden at age 2 she dropped to 15% and then at age 3 to 8%. All this time her weight has been steadily 50%ish. (Well not at birth!! Hee Hee!) But she said it is highly unusual for a child to drop percents in height only. Usually children will drop in weight only or wt and height together but rarely in height alone. For this reason she will probably have her evaluated by an endocrinologist to see if there is an underlying reason for this drop in height.
All in all that’s the visit. 1 year until ENT again and 4-5 mos until GI again. Mostly good news.
Another one bites the dust
Posted by: Tracey on: October 10, 2008
I now have kiddo #2 with the respiratory bug. Actually all 3 had the original cold but now another has had some complications from it. It used to be that Jennifer would get the worst of the respiratory symptoms and Samuel would be not far behind. But this year apparently it’s different.
Benjamin has only once had any respiratory issues beyond a cold. That was bronchiolitis as a 7 month old baby. A few breathing treatments and he was as good as gold again. But this bug that they all have must be a bad one as it has even affected him. He had this cough for about 2 weeks that just wasn’t getting better. This morning he was coughing so bad that he was gagging and vomiting so I figured it was time to bring him in. The doc listened and said he not only had bronchitis like Sam but that he was wheezing too!!! Sheesh Ben NEVER wheezes.
Antibiotics and breathing treatments for him too. No steroids at least. He wasn’t a huge fan of the first breathing treatment as he hasn’t had one in so long but he did withstand it.
It’s only October. What are we going to do once winter actually starts……………..Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Here he is getting his treatment:
Surgery was a success……..she passed!!!!
Posted by: Tracey on: October 10, 2008
Yesterday was Jennifer’s post-op swallow study. It has been almost 3 months since her surgery to fix the laryngeal cleft. Ready for the results………………………..
NO ASPIRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was perfect!! For those who would understand this part: there was no penetration either!!! No silent aspiration, no nothing.
She is fixed!! Dr. Rahbar is the BEST doctor in the whole world!!
After such a long journey I never thought we’d see this day. I had such doubts and trials. The decision to do the surgery was not an easy one and the second guessing was huge but in the end it turned out to be the right one after all. Thanks to the Lord!!
The update is coming today as yesterday was quite the adventure!! Her test was at 2pm. We got back there about 2:20 and it literally took about 5 minutes!! A usually swallow study test takes longer but they only needed to see if she was safe for the liquids. When we got done we had to go and see all the ’sights’ meaning all the things she loves at Boston Children’s. The bubbles, the lobster, the balls and especially the garden. We even brought bird food to feed the birds in the garden this time! We could have rushed out of there and gotten right home but the day before when I told her we were going she asked if there would be any boo boos that day. I told her there wouldn’t be but at the same time I wanted to make it as positive an experience as I could. She’s already quite weary about anyone doing anything around her mouth so I just wanted positive.
By the time we got done with the sights and getting a snack it was 4pm. Had some trouble getting out of the parking garage and I’m pretty sure I got charged twice. Should have realized that was a forbearing of the rest of the trip home! I went the wrong way into a toll booth and ended up on the wrong highway. That added 20 min to the trip. Then I missed my exit to get onto the last highway and this one wasn’t as easily corrected. We ended up having to eat dinner on the road and taking a back road to get to the highway we needed. This second mistake ended up adding 1 1/2 hours to the trip!!!! So a 2 hour trip home ended up taking nearly 4 hours!!!
But in the end not much could burst my bubble! I was riding on cloud 9. I can do that trip in my sleep. I think I was just riding on a natural high and driving along thinking about how I never thought she’d get to this day and then ‘Oh there’s my exit’!!!!
Here is a pic of her getting ready to have the swallow study done:
And another of her out in the garden enjoying the birds:
Tomorrow is the day
Posted by: Tracey on: October 8, 2008
Tomorrow we go back to Boston to find out if Jennifer’s surgery was a success. She will have her post op swallow study. It will have been almost 3 months since her surgery. (I think it will end up being 2 months and 3 weeks to be exact).
I’m nervously excited about it. She’s been on thin liquids since this post and is doing well. She does still cough but more as a protection than choking like before the surgery. And it is pretty infrequent. I really do think the study will still show some penetration into her windpipe but no real aspiration. I think when the penetration happens is when she coughs. This is a huge step for her as it means that her body has started to recognize that fluids are coming there and triggers her cough reflex. I *think* if this is all that’s happening then they will clear her to stay on thin liquids. As long as there is no aspiration.
Another exciting thing about going tomorrow is that I will get to meet one of my online friends that has a kiddo with aspiration too!! She found me through this blog and we have been emailing for a few months now. Her daughter is today going for a G tube placement and to be scoped to see if she also has a laryngeal cleft. Please say a prayer for them today.
Not again
Posted by: Tracey on: October 6, 2008
After having an entire week free of the erythema multiformen(EF)/hives and getting much better from his bronchitis Sam is broken out in the EF again!! Uggh!!!
This time I noticed it right before putting on his PJ’s when getting him ready for bed last night. It was not nearly as bad as last time but most definitely there. Having just given him his claritin I didn’t give him any benadryl. Also as it makes him so hyper!!
So, I guess a call to the ped’s office is in order for the am today for several things. First, for a Rx for atarax for the EF since the benadryl makes him so hyper. Next, to see if they want to see him again (though it is pretty pointless) and lastly, to see what (if anything) the next step is. Not sure if he needs to go and see an allergist at this point or what.
I was willing to go with it being viral induced last time but after being a week free of any outbreaks and now feeling much better that seems unlikely. And the only meds he had gotten before were Vick’s and robitussin and he hasn’t had ANY exposure to them. I do have food lists for both days but other than yogurt and chicken nuggets there aren’t any other matches for foods for both days.
I’m at a loss…………………………………………!
Colds, allergies and asthma….part 2
Posted by: Tracey on: September 29, 2008
- In: Samuel| allergies| asthma
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We are back from the pediatrician with Samuel. We ended up having to go early and somewhat urgently. I gave him a breathing treatment at 12:45 that he asked for. He had asked for the one 4 hours previously too. That one had worked well though. At the end of the lunchtime one he said “I don’t feel better” and when I asked if he needed to go to the doctor early he said “No, I feel a little better.” So I put him down for a little rest time.
Not even 5 min later he was up calling for me. I went up there and he couldn’t finish a sentence but managed to get out that he needed “another treatment”. At this point I noticed that he was breathing pretty fast too. Called the pediatrician’s office and they said to bring him right down.
His O2 sat was good there and he was improved enough to speak in full sentences but he was still breathing pretty fast. The doc (luckily same one as saw him on Sat) said his lungs went from slightly wheezy to VERY wheezy and quite junky. Now my poor little guy has bronchitis along with this episode of viral induced asthma 
We are to continue his breathing treatments and have added an antibiotic and steroid. He expects in about 24 hours we should notice a huge difference. And he wants to recheck him on Friday.
Guess I should restart Jennifer on her singulair tonight before she heads down this road too!!
Jennifer in her PICU room right after her laryngeal cleft repair
Playing once she was transfered to a regular medical floor
Jennifer’s type 1 laryngeal cleft
Just after waking up from the laryngeal cleft repair
Doing the fructose intolerance test
Getting ready to do a swallow study to check for aspiration
Samuel having an echocardiogram (US of the heart)
Samuel’s heart
Jennifer showing off her IV
Where are you visiting from???
Samuel having an echocardiogram
Echo picture of Samuel’s heart
Jennifer showing off her IV
