to keep my thoughts together

Ben had an abscess in his ear canal so they gave him Septra (Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim).  On day 10 (his last day) we gave it to him in the morning and after a couple of hours, he broke out in a rash all over his body.  He had red splotches on his face and small red dots all over his body.  It wasn’t particularly itchy and it wasn’t raised.   I gave him Benadryl and it didn’t do anything other than make him tired.   I called the nurses line and they said it didn’t really sounds like hives so assume he was contagious and still give him Benadryl anyways.  It ended up getting bad enough that I went ahead and took him into the urgent care near our house.  The PA there said it was just an allergic reaction to the Septra and the reason the Benadryl didn’t work was because it had been building in his system for 9 days.  She gave him Prednisone.  He took it Saturday (Feb 15), Sunday, and Monday.  By Monday night, the rash was gone.  Gilbert Pediatrics called on Monday because they had received the note from the nurses line.  They said that it still didn’t sound like an allergy and I should have taken him to a pediatric urgent care because they can identify 100s of rashes.  Oops.

weird possible allergic reaction

weird possible allergic reaction

Thursday (2/20) he developed a cough and a fever (Brynna had one the 14^th and 15^th and still had the lingering cough) so I kept him home.  Friday afternoon, he started getting a rash again.  This time it was just on his face, arms, and legs.  I decided that since it was a Friday afternoon, I would just take him into his Pediatrician to  look at before I freaked out over the weekend.  Dr Jacks said it was just a virus and sometimes with a virus kids can get a rash.  It wasn’t scarlet fever or measles or anything serious.  It wouldn’t get worse but no telling how long it would take to get better. 

friday night (he's asleep)

doesn't approve of me waking him up in the middle of the night

By Friday night he was worse.  By Saturday morning he was way worse.  He had even developed petechiae on his arm.  I saw it and freaked out.  All I could see was Brynna with her ITP.  I called Ben (who was helping Rick at the new office) and told him to get home now and give Ben a blessing.  I also gave Ben some Benadryl because he said it itched.  This time it did look like hives, raised and splotchy.  Also, his ears were very red and swollen.  The Benadryl did nothing but put him to sleep.  (When he got a blessing I noticed it said there wouldn’t be any complications and I couldn’t help but think “Brynna didn’t have complications from ITP.  It went just how it was supposed to go.”)  The rash continued to get worse throughout the day.  He even got a few petechiae on his stomach.  He also was coughing a ton.  So much so that it was hard to breathe for him.  Then I gave him some more Ibuprofen around 6:30ish and an hour later his fever spiked to 104.5 (previously never above 101 and always went down with meds).  So I said that’s it and took him to Twilight Pediatrics. 

sat am.  def worse

had a heart attack when i saw this

again, freak out!

poor guy's ears were twice the normal size

later that day after getting some benedryl.  it did nothing

few hours later

sat night right before i took him in

glad the rash wasn't going to get any worse

not asleep.  the light was just hurting his eyes

The Dr there looked at him, asked a ton of questions, hmmmed and haaaed, then said “Well, frankly, I’m stumped!”  Then she went to get a dermatology book to look at the pics in there to see if he matched anything.  The strange thing was that there was no rash on his trunk.  Just his face, arms, and legs.  The petechiae worry her the most.  She thinks he has something related to what Brynna had (the ITP) but without blood work, there would be no way to know and she didn’t think we needed to spend the night waiting in the ER.  I’m not sure I agree with her since nothing in her book matched what he looked like.  Also, she kept calling his hives purpura one moment and hives the next, but those don’t mean the same thing.  Purpura is like bruises.  Hives are called urticaria.  Anyways, she gave him prednisone for the hives and the swollen ears and told me to get him rechecked on Monday.  I suppose, if it is a mild case of something like ITP, the prednisone should help anyways.

Sunday he looked better.  He still had a rash but it was going away and his ears were no longer swollen.  But as his rash went away, we realized just how much petichiae he had.  It was all over his bum down to his feet and his elbows down to his hands.  He even had some on his ears.  Monday, before the  Drs office even officially opened, the Dr we had seen at Twilight Pediatrics was calling to make an appointment for him.  Then I got a call from the office we usually go to wanting to schedule an appointment.  I guess the Dr really wanted to make sure we got him rechecked. 

I took him in and Dr Jacks looked at him and said that he didn’t really know what he had.  HSP (like ITP but instead of the body attacking plattletes causing thin blood and therefore petechiae, it attacks the blood vessels causing them to be weak and therefore petechiae) is what he was leaning towards, but usually they only have the rash on their legs.  ITP usually has a lot more bruising.  So he ordered a CBC but said that since he was already on Prednisone, we may never find out what was wrong.  Either way, he wasn’t contagious anymore so we could send him to school and just not let him run around until we get a blood count.

The labs came back normal and he continued to go to school.  However, on Thursday, I had been volunteering in Ethan’s class and was just going out to my car to get something when another mom stopped me and told me that I probably wanted to go check on Ben.  He was in a lot of pain and was complaining that it felt like his arms and legs were going to explode.  I ran down to his classroom but the teacher said she had already sent him to the nurse.  I ran back up to the nurse and he was there being checked out by her.  Now, I should mention that I don’t think she is an actual nurse.  When I tried to explain ITP and HSP to her earlier in the week, she didn’t seem to get it.  I take over and check for more petechiae.  There was no new spots but he was complaining that he couldn’t even stand it hurt so bad.  When I had him lay down to look at his legs, he cried that his stomach hurt so bad that he was going to throw up.  OK that’s it!  I’m taking him home.  I ran to get his stuff while trying to stay calm.  I called the Drs and made an appointment.  The nurse on the line asked if the school nurse took his blood pressure.  Nope.  (Remember the part where I don’t think she is a real nurse.)  After eating lunch and sitting in the car, his pain started to lessen, but I still wanted to take him in just in case. 

The dr decided that with the pain it definitely sounded like HSP, but a mild case, probably since he went on the prednisone so early.  He checked his urine to make sure there was no blood or protein (indications that it was attacking his kidneys).  Everything checked out though so he just told me about HSP, which means his body was attacking his own blood vessels. It can cause joint and belly pain. As long as it doesn't start attacking his kidneys, he will be fine. It usually lasts a month so he might have these episodes for another 3 weeks. The pain is probably coming because the prednisone is no longer in his system. He can just take Tylenol and rest. The rash may come back but the dr doesn't think it will. He doesn't need to restrict his activities (unless he is in too much pain) but he may be a little tired over this time. 

He definitely was tired for another week or so and would complain about pain off and on, but everything has cleared up so we are out of the woods.  This makes the second child to have a scary auto immune response to a virus.  Hopefully we never have to do this again, but with my genes, it is always a risk.  At least this time we didn’t have to make any hospital trips and he was mostly just fine.  Yea for early prednisone and dr who are smart.  And double yea for priesthood blessings!

The long awaited update!

Life has been on the fast track since August.  August was soccer practices, bad news medically, the start of school, more practices and soccer games.  Sept was full of soccer and October was more soccer mixed with my month to host Brynna's preschool.  November was trips and talks of career changes and more trips for that.  Then the start of the holidays.  So here I sit, alone in a hotel room (Ben had a conference in Costa Mesa and my mother in law kindly agreed to watch my kids so I could come along) finally able to take a breath and update the world on our lives.

So, soccer.  The boys continued to practice soccer with their dad as the coach.  Ethan's birthday was the same days as their first soccer game (a very eventful day).  They played 8 games total.  The crushed a couple of teams, got crushed a couple of times, and the rest were really close.  They had lots of fun most days, though they both decided that soccer is hard.  Benjamin had a hard time staying interested in the games or at practice so he would start chasing bugs.  Ethan tried really had but would get frustrated with his lack of coordination.  And Ben tried had at remembering that they were all just 5/6 year olds.  Hahaha it was an interesting experience, one that I am glad is over.



Ethan's birthday was the most interesting day of all.  They had their first soccer game.  Then we went home and decided to take the kids to see Ice Age 4 before we did presents and cake.  As the boys were changing, little Ben tried to climb up his closet to get something from the shelf but fell and sliced his back open on a piece of metal that was connected to his closet door.  It was bad.  I would post pics but you would probably puke.  I know I had the urge when I saw it.  I called his pediatrician and explained the cut and asked if it needed stitches.  She said that it probably did so to head to the ER.  Great.  Happy Birthday Ethan.  I took him to the ER but after about 20 mins, I got a phone call from his pediatrician.  She said that she called the ER and found out the wait was going to be 4 hours so she would just go into her office (it was a Saturday) and just take care of him there.  What a saint!!!  She ended up just using skin glue and butterfly bandages to close it and told me to keep him out of school for a whole week!  The cut was on his lower back, right above his booty, where the skin is really thin and stretchy so he wasn't allowed to sit for a week so that it would stay closed.  Well, it didn't work.  It broke open at least one other time so now he has a nasty scar.  I probably should have just stayed in the ER and got it stitched.  But we got out of the Dr's early enough to still go to the movies.  (Ethan picked going to the movies then and opening presents the next day over skipping the movies.  Crazy kid!)

Ethan enjoyed opening his presents.  He got some clothes, a new game for his leapster, a new book for his tag (about the body and blood and skin and such hahaha not planned), more sand toys, and a cool dry erase board with dry erase crayons (i think they are just grease crayons) so he can practice writing more.  He loved all his gifts!  Then we had cake and laughed at little Ben who had to stand the whole time. :)

In August, I was also diagnosed with Lupus.  It was nice to finally have a diagnosis after over a year of problems that just kept getting worse and 4 different Drs.  The Dr here in Porterville was a dork, the Dermatologist refused to do anymore testing (i was sent to her to get more tests done), swearing it was all eczema and ignoring all the other stuff.  So I switched primary Drs to one in Visalia and started all the testing all over again.  He sent me to a Rheumatologist who diagnosed me and sent me to a Cardiologist who checked out my heart.  Good news is that my heart is fine, just fast, and the Lupus is mild.  They have put me on medicine and are now just trying to get the right type at the right dose.  I can't really go in the sun anymore (UVs cause flare ups) and I am really tired a lot but I am hoping it all gets better and I can go back to my life.

In September, the gas company came out to blow insulation into our attic.  While they were up there, one of the guys fell through the celling.  They were worried that I would be mad but I actually just laughed.  They destroyed my least favorite light so I was thankful.  They paid for a new (and more modern) light and re-drywalled and painted.  Oh, and they gave me a $75 gift card.  I guess they were worried I was going to sue or something.

A few of the moms at my church who all have toddlers decided to do a preschool for the little kids 1 day a week.  We all took a month and mine was October.  It was lots of fun doing little Halloween projects with them.  I taught them numbers, with the help of Count Dracula of course, read books, and taught them the 5 little pumpkins song.  I also got to go to the pumpkin patch and do a Halloween party with them!  Brynna loves hanging out with her friends (which includes her future husband)!  I had lots of pics of all the different things I did, but my phone died in October and I lost all of the pics on my phone (I hadn't backed it up since August) so I now only have a few of the 1st and last week.

I also got to go with the each of the boys' class to the pumpkin patch.  I had more than enough of that place to last me the rest of my life!

Halloween was tons of fun.  We went to a truck or treat at the church the night before halloween.  I was a witch, Brynna was repunzel from Tangled, Ethan was a pirate, and Ben was a ninja.  Big Ben was a bum and refused to dress up!  On halloween we trick or treated through our neighborhood then went to a friends house for donuts and milk.  Then we went home to pack frantically for our trip.

Ben had to go up to Sacramento for 2 more days.  Our nephew was being baptized that weekend in Utah so we decided to go with him and then just continuing on to Utah.  It was tons of fun.  We went to the science museum in Sacramento.  The boys got a paper with a bunch of questions about the different exhibits that they had to fill out.  The museum had a bone exhibit there so most of the things were about skeletons.  I was sad that there wasn't more space stuff for them.  I think Ethan would have really loved that.

In Utah we got to ride Caleb and Ashley's horses.  Brynna got up under a horse and was knocked over and almost stepped on.  It was really scary, but before she could realize how much danger she had been in, Uncle Caleb took her on a horse ride so she wouldn't decided she was afraid of the horses.  It worked but we kept her away from the horses after that.  I even rode the horses for awhile in a field across from their house.  I have decided that galloping is better than trotting but that I am too short for the stirrups that they had.  I should have used the kids stirrups.  I thought I was going to fall off the horse.  I also decided that I may never ride a horse again because I was sore for a week! ;)

Around this time, Ben's brother Matt called him up and asked if Ben wanted to change professions.  I thought he was joking but I guess he was serious.  Ben was really interested so he went out to Arizona to meet Matt's boss and hash out details.  Which means that we are moving to Arizona this summer where Ben can work full time as an engineer.  No more summers off (not that we have EVER had a nice relaxing summer) and hot hot hot Arizona.  I am sooooo excited.  (sarcasm if you didn't catch that).  It is a great opportunity though.  Ben and Matt will work together and kind of be their own bosses.  He is really really excited.

For Thanksgiving we just stayed at home and relaxed.  After all the craziness of the months before, it was nice to just sit down and spend time together as a family.  I did go out and do some black friday shopping to add some spice to my weekend.  ;)

And blogger is not letting me add pics so go to my facebook to see them

1st day of School

Today was the first day of school for Ben and Ethan.

Ben went to his first grade class where he was surprised to find some friends from his old class.  His teacher's name is Sra. Eufracio.

He found a table full of old friends

Ethan started Kindergarten.  His teacher's name is Srta. Andrade.  He looked pretty terrified but was brave and didn't cry (and neither did mommy).

making sure i was still there

he had trouble with the line up concept

Poor kid was nervous 

They both had a good day and are excited to go back tomorrow!

My babies are growing up!

It has been a crazy summer around here.  Full of trips out of town, girls camp, and fixing up our house. Most of the pics from this summer are on my new iPhone (yes we did finally get them!!!) and I haven't figured out how to save them to my computer.  When I do, I will put them up here or on facebook.

In new news, they boys have started soccer.  It was really funny to watch them running around.  Ben doesn't want to do what the coach (ie his dad) tells him to do.  He just wants to kick the ball as hard as he can wherever he wants to kick it.  Ethan tries to follow directions, but, unfortunately, isn't the most coordinated child.  He trips over the soccer, divots in the grass, his own feet, etc.  Too funny!  I can't wait until their first game.

ready to go (dad picked out ethan's clothes.  i need to get him some practice shirts)

Ben will be starting 1st grade on wednesday and Ethan will be going into kindergarten.  He is doing dual immersion like Ben.  We find out who their teacher is on Tuesday.  Brynna started preschool this week.  She is going to Sunny Acres once a week so that I have a big block of time to go in and volunteer at the school or have appointments.  Then, probably, twice a week she is going to do a little preschool with her friends.  There are 5-7 or so kids around her age in church and we are going to switch off having preschool at our house each week.  We won't start that until September.  I am getting excited thinking about the fun things I can do with the kids.

brynna all ready to go.  princess backpack and lunch box of course

Easter Trip 2012

This year we went to my grandma's house for Easter.  My parents were there so we were able to hang out with them which was a treat.  We had lots of fun!

Before we went, the kids dyed eggs and decorated easter cookies.  They loved it!

so bored waiting

so cool

he was fascinated with the eggs

they are supposed to be eggs, rabbit heads, and carrots, but the cutters weren't the greatest

my little artist

she didn't realize she could eat it so she sat there bored for awhile while her brothers were finishing

oh i can eat it!

he made a little decoration in the frosting

and his masterpiece bunny (see the eyes?)

The day we got to my Grammie's, we went out to lunch with my parents.

yummy round table

my dad and ethan are the 2 biggest characters around!

Then we played out back.  Little Ben got 5 plastic easter eggs when he went to retrieve a ball that just flew over the fence on its own.  He then hid them around the yard and made everyone search for them over and over again.  There was one out in the open that took Pops 5 mins to find because he "thought it was part of the decoration."  Sure Pops.  We think you need your eyes checked again! :)

Ethan LOVED the bubbles

yea! sand!

awwww

Ben has a hard time keeping his eyes open in pics

we told him he looked like jacob marley from the christmas carrol

The infamous yellow egg.  we finally thought he found it...

nope, goes right past it again

And some videos for good measure ;)

I love that ethan is analyzing how the bubbles work while dad jumps around popping them.  ethan wasnt impressed :)

(I flipped the video so it was right side up, but it made it smaller.  If you push the square button in the bottom right, it will make it full screen and easier to see.)  Notice how brynna found the egg really quick :)  My dad thought he would be tricky and try to see how long it took Ben to find it.