December 2012

This story is a little embarrassing, and I know some of you (especially any men I know.) Will not be 100% comfortable reading this. Warning: This story does mention female issues such as menstruation and the use of feminine hygiene products! :S

On December 17, 2012 Aunt Flo came to visit me. I used my regular products to take care of it. Tampax tampons. With 3 kids under 3 I have found that it is not easy to remember to change these as often as direction. I would use one and forget about it for 7-8 hrs at a time. 3 days went by and Aunt flo was about to cut off her vacation and return home for another month. I woke up in the middle of the night with EXTREME body aches. I figured I had finally caught the bug that was going around. I took an Ibuprofen 800 and was in so much pain 1 hr later that I took 2 Tylenol as well. I had a restless night and woke the next morning feeling more sick then I had ever felt before. I told my husband and he watched my children while I slept ALL DAY LONG. I was exhausted, weak, cold, and nauseated. After sleeping until 3 in the afternoon I came downstairs to be with the family. I was feeling a lot better. The next morning I woke up and felt pretty good. I was still pretty nauseated but the body aches had subsided and I wasn't quite as weak. I ran some errands until about 1 pm when I started feeling extremely weak and tired again. I came home and took a 2 hr nap with my kids. After waking up i still felt completely exhausted. I decided I better go to the instacare and get checked out. After some x rays and an exam they assumed I had influenza and told me to go home and rest. That night I woke again around 2:00 am with a fever of 104.5. I took Tylenol and Ibuprofen again but the fever wouldn't subside. I lay there for 2 hours feeling like my entire body was on fire! When I finally got up in the morning I felt awful. I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and looked into the mirror. I looked like I had been sunburned. My entire body was red. At a closer view I could see that it was a rash. I immediately called my Dr to ask if this was normal with Influenza. He told me to go straight to the ER and have them check me for TSS. (Toxic Shock Syndrome.)
When we got to the hospital there were quite a few people ahead of us. The nurse called me back immediately and got the Dr in to see me immediately. Within 15 minutes they were drawing blood for tests and pumping full of 4 different antibiotics. My blood pressure dropped drastically to 75/45. After a VERY thorough exam (I'll spare you the nasty details.) They discovered that I had Pelvic Inflammatory disease and assumed that I had TSS. I was admitted to the hospital on December 23rd 2012. For 20 Hrs I did nothing but sleep. I didn't eat or drink anything. The Dr came in to see me on Christmas eve, and told me he wanted me to stay a few more days to make sure I was out of the woods. I started to cry. I was going to miss Christmas. He came back in 2 hrs later and told me that he would send me home since my blood pressure had gone up, but I would need to come back in if I had ANY recurring symptoms. I went home on a strong antibiotic and rested for about a week. they called me and told me the blood tests came back positive for the staph bacteria, and that I had indeed had TSS. My liver was not at full function and I was exhausted but other then that I walked away very lucky. I thank the Lord every day that I received sch excellent care from such wonderful Doctors and Nurses. I have no doubt they saved my life!!!!!

Here are some statistics for you.

1 in every 100,000 women contract Tss per year. (it is very rare!)

Women who have had TSS cannot fight off the bacteria and are 30% more likely to get it again. Each time it becomes more serious and plays a harder toll on the body

60% of people who develop TSS die from the disease. Most others face extreme consequences such as loss of finger, toes, limbs, and kidney failure resulting in lifelong dialysis.

October 2012

In September our sweet baby boy Dallas joined our family. He was such a good baby right from the start. We did find that he had acid reflux, like our first two did and put him on prevacid right away.
2 weeks after he was born, he began to spit up quite a bit. It seemed strange to me that all of a sudden he would begin to spit up when he hadn't at all for the first two weeks. I called his Dr. and they assumed it was his acid reflux worsening. They upped his dose of prevacid. A week later the spitting up turned into full on vomiting. Every time he ate, he would vomit up quite a bit. It seemed to me that he wasn't getting any food at all. I took him into the Dr. and they put him on a special formula for milk allergy, assuming this was the problem. Three days later the problem was getting worse. He had started to projectile vomit. We had to lay blankets and towels around him to keep our home clean. I knew something had to be wrong. The Dr again assured me that he was fine. They told me it always looks like more vomit than it really is. They suggested I add rice cereal to his bottles to help keep the food down. Two days later he hadn't had a bowel movement. I called the dr again. He told me to give him a suppository and then try feeding him after he had a bowel movement. 1 hr later he pooped (sorry tmi for some I'm sure!) and it was an extremely small amount. This kid hadn't gone to the bathroom in almost three days and he barely pooped out a tiny bit. I fed him and put him to bed.7 Hrs later on 10/10/2012 I woke around 1:00 am. I went to check on him and see why he hadn't woken up to eat. There was vomit all over his bed and on the floor by the crib. I pulled him from his crib and laid him down to change him. His diaper was completey dry and there was a pink color in the front of the diaper. I called the on call Dr and groggily she told me to take him to PCMC immediately and have him checked for Pyloric Stenosis. (It is a condition where the mussel around the bottom of the stomach swells not allowing food to pass from the stomach to the intestines.) Within 3 hrs of being at the hospital they diagnosed him with Pyloric Stenosis and and started prepping him for immediate surgery. In 2 weeks he had lost almost 2 pounds, barely weighing 9 ounces over his birth weight. My poor boy was starving! They performed a simple surgery through lapriscopy with three incisions in his abdomen. His recovery went great at first. Two weeks exactly after the surgery I was changing him and noticed his belly button looked like it had grown a massive red tumor out of it. I rushed him back to PCMC where they told me he had a surgical site infection. They drained the bubble and put him on an antibiotic. He has now fully recovered and is doing great!!!!!

August 2012

We traveled to California at the end of the month for a family vacation. We made it through without any major illnesses. The day we returned home from our trip Brynlee came down with a cold. It was fairly minor until a week later when she woke up with hives all over her body. After a trip to the Dr. he told us that her body was reacting to the virus she had contracted and to keep her on Benadril or Zertec until it cleared up. It would take about 5 days.

Brynlee's hives.

In between July 2009 and July 2012

This is just a quick in between all of the other posts.

Both times we have brought a newborn home, someone in the house has been sick.

Peyton has had the stomach flu 2 years in a row on my birthday.

Every time one of the girls is sick, Jay and I both come down with a cold/cough.

We have been to church only 4 times since January, all thanks to illness. :(

The ambulance has been called to our house 2 time in the past 3 years,  1 of those times resulted in a transport to Primary children's hospital.

I was hospitalized and put on bed rest for a week due to post surgery complications.

July 2012

At the beginning of the month, Brynlee comes down with a virus that gives her a fever of 104. In the middle of the night she has her first Febrile Seizure. At the time I didn't know what it was and shrugged it off as her acting weird due to not feeling well. She recovers from her illness and 2 weeks later Peyton gets sick with a fever of 104. Peyton has a cold and cough. 2 days later Brynlee's fever spikes again. She starts crying hard in the middle of the night and when I check her, her temp is at 104. I pick her up and she starts jerking in my arms. It only last 3-4 seconds. By this point I connect the dots that she has now had these "Spasms." twice when she has had a fever. I do a little research and call the on call Dr. She tells me that it sounds like a Febrile Seizure and I need to have her checked out ASAP. A few hours later at about 2:00 am, she has a 2-3 minute long seizure. Her eyes are open but they are dilated and she is not responding to me. Her body keeps jerking and she is screaming in between each spasm. Luckily it doesn't last long. The next day at the Dr he explains to me all about Febrile Seizures. They are pretty common and are essentially harmless, although terrifying for the parent. He also informs me that it could take until she is 3 to grow out of them, and that she will have them again, most likely every time she has a fever.

Later in the month our pediatrician thought it would be a good idea to have the girls tested for immune deficiency. Since it is usually a hereditary thing, he said only one child needed to be tested to start out. I took Peyton to Primary Children's Medical Center where they ran tests for immune deficiency and Cystic Fibrosis. Two weeks later we were notified that everything came back normal. We were relieved, but also frustrated because we still have no answers as to why our girls are always so sick?

Peyton at Primary Children's Medical Center for testing.

May 2012

Half way through the month, both girls come down with a nasty form of the stomach flu. Brynlee gets a fever of 105 that we can't get to come down. We spend 20 hours between 2 E.R. visits trying to get her hydrated and the fever to stay down. Two days later, Peyton comes down with the same illness and we spend 4 hours in the E.R. with her. Peyton has also had 2 more ear infections since March.

March 2012

In the beginning of February we found out that we were pregnant again! A pretty big surprise since I was on birth contril and Brynn was only 6 months old! By then Brynlee has had 5 more ear infections. We decide to have tubes placed in her ears to hopefully prevent any more. A week before Brynlee's appointment, Jay contracts Influenza A and is out of work for a week. She has the tubes put in and all goes well. 1 week later, I contract H1N1 (swine flu). days later Peyton, Jay and Brynlee become sick. Jay misses 2 more weeks of work from being so ill. Brynlee and Peyton have been sick for over a week and are not getting any better. I took them both to the Dr and he informs us that they have bronchiolitus. Peytons is so bad that she has to be put in an inhaler, but Brynlee is too young for one. Within 2 days, Brynlee is hospitalized for dehydration and low oxygen levels. We stay at Riverton hospital for 24 hours until her fluid intake is up. The hospital sent us home with oxygen for 7 Days.

Brynlee at Riverton Hospital.

Baby Dallas.