Max's Endoscopy

As you probably guessed by the title of this post, Max had has endoscopy last Thursday, and thank goodness we all made it through just fine. Actually, it was a lot less nerve wracking than Jayson's endoscopy/tonsil removal--probably because we took out the whole tonsil removal part, which was the awful side of Jayson's surgery.

The day before Max's endoscopy, they called and told us that he couldn't have any formula after midnight, and no clear liquids after 9 am (his procedure was scheduled for noon). After explaining that he was just 3 and a half months, they decided to let him have formula until 2 am. You gotta take any little victory that you can get. So around 1:30 am, Sam woke up Max and fed him. He woke up again at 6:15 (right after Sam had left for work), so I gave him a nice 5 ounce bottle of unflavored/clear Pedialyte. Luckily Pedialyte is primarily dextrose and has no sucrose, so we had something to give him! At any rate, Max didn't really care for the stuff--he gagged over it several times. I was a mean mommy though and made him drink it all because I didn't want him to get dehydrated and I also wanted his blood sugar to stay up. He fell back asleep after that with no trouble, and probably would have stayed asleep past 9 am if I had let him. However, I had to get him and Jayson ready to leave the house before 10, and he also needed to have one last bottle. I tried mixing in a tiny bit of white grape juice with the Pedialyte, but I don't think it was enough to appeal to him. I gave up after three ounces, and just got everyone ready. We got out of the house on time by some miracle, and Max decided to take a nap in his car seat, thank goodness.

Max and I arrived at Primary Children's right at 10:30 am, his scheduled check in time. The check in process was probably the worst part of the day. Sam wasn't there yet (he had to work a half day and couldn't get to the hospital until 11) and when I set Max down to fill out paperwork he freaked out. It might not have been so bad except the room was fairly small, and filled with kids who were nervous enough as it was (I really didn't want Max to set any of the other little kids off). We spent a lot of time outside the check-in room trying to calm down. Once daddy arrived at 11, Max became smiley and happy again. Go figure; maybe one day I will be the winner parent lol.

We had the pre-op exam stuff done not long after, and found out Max weighs 14 pounds and is 24 inches--what a little heffer! He even got the same patterned gown and pants that Jayson wore at his surgery (the smallest size they have in the pre-op clinic). As you can imagine, they really hung off of Max! The nurse freaked out when Sam washed off Max's binky and put it in his mouth, on the cause that even a few drops of water could delay his surgery. We just rolled our eyes a little when she left because he really got NOTHING from the binky. But it calmed him down and put him to sleep, thank goodness. The nurse came back and said everything would be okay to go ahead, even if he Max did manage to get a few tiny drops of water. DUH.

Dr. Patel came and visited us right before the surgery, and gave us some paperwork that he was faxing to CareCentrics (a medical supplier company) for Max's formula--hurray! He also gave us a copy of the form for the genetic blood test that he was going to draw during surgery, so in about six weeks we will know which mutation(s) for CSID that Max carries. And finally he gave us some paperwork for formula assistance if Cigna won't cover all of Max's food. Dr. Patel pretty much did all of that research for us, and I am so grateful to him! The anesthesiologist also came and talked to us about what she would be doing for Max. A few short minutes later, we walked Max almost all the way back to his procedure room and handed him over. He had just woken up from his nap, and was giving everyone big grins. It was super adorable.

After we handed him off, we went to the surgery waiting room. We felt so much less tense this time; I just knew Max was going to be okay. After 30 minutes or so, Dr. Patel came and talked to us. He apologized that it took so long (I thought it went quick). Max has a small stomach that was making it difficult to manuver, so it took a bit longer to get the tissue sample. Don't ask me where Max puts all the food he eats if he has such a small tummy!! They also had to poke him three times to get enough blood for the genetic test, so that took a bit longer than expected. As a result they had to briefly intubate him, but we had been prepared for that. A few minutes later, they called for a parent to go visit Max in recovery. I went because I was wearing all of the identification bands.

When I got there, Max was practicing his crying and screaming. His little voice was hoarse from being intubated; it was kind of cute sounding but I felt bad for him. I sat down with him in a rocker chair and fed him a few ounces of Pedialyte (which he had to keep down before getting a bottle) and he got Tylenol. He fell asleep pretty quick after that, due to the anesthetic still being in his system a little, and the narcotic they gave him for pain. After half an hour, a bed opened up in the secondary recovery area, and we headed over there. Sam got to join us, and fed Max his formula. After which Max promptly conked out again, no surprise. We got discharge information not too long after that and were released at 2:30. We had lunch after at the cafeteria, and then I headed out to work. I couldn't believe how quickly we were in and out of the hospital, and how well Max did. Sam only had to give him Tylenol once or twice the rest of the day, and since then he's been just fine. What a trooper!

My sinus surgery is in less than two weeks and I'm definitely starting to get really nervous. I just keep telling myself that both of my babies have made it through surgery and anesthesia just fine, and that if they managed to do it, I can be brave too! I am SO looking forward to feeling better though. I figure one month from now I ought to be doing loads better than I am now. Hopefully no more sinus headaches or infections for a long time. I also pray that this helps me get more restful sleep at night, and not be so exhausted when I wake up. Maybe this isn't what is causing my constant fatigue (more than I should be experiencing, even with work and kids) but I can hope because this is fixable, and chronic fatigue really isn't. Crossing my fingers.

Max's GI Appointment

Max had his pediatric GI appointment on Wednesday, which actually turned out to be a really good experience. Minus forgetting the stroller, and hence having to haul 14 pound Max around in his uber heavy carseat ALL OVER Primary Children's (they were doing construction, so of course we had to take the super long way to the GI clinic). It was certainly my arm workout for the week.

I had my reservations about our doctor, despite the fact that he did manage to diagnose Jayson. I wasn't able to go to Jayson's GI appointment back in November, and I felt like our doctor didn't really care or have much information on CSID. But I totally changed my tune when I took Max in--Dr. Patel is awesome! He remembered Jayson and asked me questions about his well being, even though I didn't bring him. Plus he answered all of my questions about Max, and even did some research into things for me when he didn't know. I left feeling guilty about my previous judgment of Dr. Patel--totally taught me my lesson about judging people before you actually meet them!

Anyway, we are going ahead with Max's endoscopy this Thursday afternoon. I'm really excited to know his enzyme levels in just a few short weeks. However, I'm really nervous about the whole going under anesthesia part--he's only (almost) 4 months old, and there's definitely a higher risk with kiddos so little. But it's very important for Max to be officially diagnosed as soon as possible; our insurance will be much more willing to cover things like Sucraid when he starts baby food if he's actually diagnosed. And baby food is really just a short months away....can't believe that. So I'm just going to pray that everything goes well, and have faith in the people who do the anesthesia/endoscopy every day.

I think we are going to go ahead and do the genetic blood testing for our whole family if the insurance will approve it--we are so close to hitting our out of pocket maximum that I think it will pretty much be covered by the time we all get it done. So that will be interesting to see as well.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was interesting. I will admit, it had nowhere to go but up from last year, seeing as I had the stomach flu then. This year I didn't wake up until almost 8 o'clock; my dear boys decided to sleep in for me :] However, that meant we were running late for church and pretty much missed sacrament meeting. Neither Sam nor I had really planned out our primary lesson, which is bad news with a bunch of hyper 9 year olds. And I had one of the worst sinus headaches I've had in a while. It made for slow going when I needed to be speedy. To top everything off, Max had one of those "up and out of the diaper" poops that I totally stuck my hand in, right before he had a bath. It was GROSS. But we somehow made it past all of that and got to church in time to give our slapped together lesson. Thank goodness we made it through that just fine.

Then I had to go to work. That was not so fun, because I was really tired and Sundays at work are usually pretty boring/slow. I just tried to remind myself that I was in a much more peaceful place at work than if I was at home. I did really miss my family though (it's funny how much spending time with them on the weekends has grown on me). When I finally got home around 11 pm, I got to see the cute cookie/gumdrop flower Jayson made me in nursery. Sam and I had to laugh because we're pretty sure he filched one of the gumdrops off the flower before it came home. We're pretty sure he ate it and didn't lose it because he had some questionable diapers--poor kid can't hid anything from us lol. I was going to put the cookie flower on display with my dozen roses, but decided it would be better to hide the contraband from Jayson so he didn't clamor for it in the morning. Sam also made me chocolate covered strawberries, so the day wasn't a total loss :p

 My pretty roses (somehow I didn't get a picture of the chocolate covered strawberries before I ate them all lol)

 My candy flower that Jayson made me with love--you can see where there might have been another gumdrop near the top!

Can't wait for this week to be over with. I work every weekday except for Wednesday, and on that day I get to take both Jayson and Max to the gastroenterologist. It's Max's turn to be evaluated, and get his endoscopy set up. Looking forward to just getting that over with, so we can get his enzyme levels and try to settle in on a healthy diet (can't believe baby food is coming up in two-ish months)! This weekend is what I'm clinging to. I'm hoping to sleep lots and do some house renovations. Can't decide if I want to work on the outside of the house, or go hunting for more inside improvements. Regardless, I am determined to make more progress and have fun this weekend!

The Good And The Bad

Things have been so incredibly busy lately (more so than usual it feels like)! Pretty sure that I will never be as faithful of a blogger as I'd like to be, but here's a rundown of the last 1.5 weeks or so, in terms of good and bad.

The Good

• Sam and I have been married for three years now! This also means we have known each other for four years. Crazy how the time flies by. Our actual anniversary date (May 1) fell on a Wednesday, so we waited until Saturday to go out and celebrate--the joys of being real grown ups with jobs and kids lol. We left the boys at my sister's house and got blood work done. So romantic I know, but it was honestly the only convenient time we had to get it done. Then we had lunch at Red Lobster, which is one of my favorite restaurants and kind of an anniversary tradition. We learned that they have a delicious parmesan crusted chicken and broccoli, served over pasta with a cream sauce--Sam was very pleased that he found something good at a seafood restaurant :] After lunch we wandered around at a few different stores, browsing for home stuff. I've been putting off decorating our home, but I'm starting to feel ready now that the seasons are changing to be less blah. It was delightful to get out for several hours with just Sam, but I was definitely ready to spend the evening as a family when we got home.
• We bought a tablet! To be more specific, we bought a Samsung Galaxy Note. I haven't taken more than an hour or so to play with it, but it looks pretty darn cool to me so far. I particularly look forward to using it for reading books and whatnot at work to help pass time. I like that it fits really well in my purse; it's kind of like a giant smartphone for me now lol.
• Our insurance approved Sucraid for Jayson!!! I can't believe how much it costs for a one month supply--a whopping 12,700 dollars. Seriously x infinity grateful that our copay is only 90 dollars a month. Guess I can't complain about them anymore, even if it is really tricky to find HCA approved stuff half the time. On Saturday, I made up Jayson's lunch plate: a hot dog, cottage cheese, and unsweetened applesauce. He had a milk sippy with 56 drops of Sucraid about 10 minutes before I let him eat, and then I sat back and watched (camera in hand) as he re-discovered applesauce. He LOVED IT! Two of Jayson's favorite foods are hot dogs and cottage cheese, but he wiped the entire serving of applesauce clean before he even touched any other food. I was so excited about Jayson loving applesauce and eating something healthy for him, without horrible stomach pain/bloating/diarrhea, that I about cried from joy. Since then, he's also had a banana and a meal with a fair amount of garlic, and no problems. Sucraid has seriously changed my life already, and I am beyond grateful for the chance that Jayson has to eat a bit more normally :]
• The boys are officially sharing a room now, for the rest of their lives lol. I've really wanted to make some changes in our house, and one of the big things I've wanted to do is have a guest room. That required Max moving into Jayson's room though, and we've been really scared to make that change. Jayson isn't always the heaviest sleeper and Max doesn't quite sleep through the night yet, plus it's kind of a pain to not always have access to the room if one of the boys is napping. However, my need to get moving on house renovations inspired us to just go for it. So far, it hasn't been too bad. Hopefully I haven't jinxed myself--I'm thinking it will only be uphill from here as they get used to being with each other at night.
  
   Jayson and Max. They look nothing alike and totally alike all at the same time. Haven't quite figured that one out yet LOL.
   
  A slightly more flattering picture of Max. He has become quite the smiley and talkative child now--can't believe he's already 3 1/2 months old!
  
   Sunday afternoon--our first go at having applesauce with Sucraid. He was a little unsure about the stuff, seeing as he hasn't had it in about 4 months. Oh, and ignore the bruising on his stomach, I swear we don't beat him (he's the clumsiest kid ever)!
  

Happiest kid ever (Jayson is now 21 1/2 months)--we are so incredibly grateful for Sucraid!!

The Bad

• I've been seeing the most awesome ENT ever for my sinus troubles (his name is Dr. Gilbert over at South Valley ENT in case you were wondering); my sister recommended him and I've been really pleased with everything. Last Thursday I had a CT Scan of my face done to see if they could pinpoint why I've been having such sinus issues, particularly this year. Turns out I have a pretty bad infection on the left side of my face, probably because I have an extra drainage hole in my sinuses that keeps infections re-circulating as opposed to draining out of me. Awesome huh? That means sinus surgery for me if I want to ultimately fix the problem (which I really do because I'm sick of getting constant sinus headaches and infections). I've never had surgery before, so I'm pretty scared about it, but I really want to feel better. The only bright spot for me is that my doctor does the surgery at an HCA approved facility once a month, so I can keep him as my doctor--I was really worried for a little bit that we wouldn't be able to work that out because I didn't think he did surgery at any facility my insurance covered. So thank goodness that won't be a problem.
• I did THE STUPIDEST thing ever today. I am so embarassed about it, I almost don't want to tell you all. But at the same time, I'm so mad at myself over it that I hope writing/venting about it will help me to cool down. Before I went into to work today, I wanted to go cash a check at the bank that I'd been holding onto for longer than necessary. I'd never been to this particular branch before. I drove through, and did my banking business with the teller (btw they had this little automated camera that you interacted with the teller through instead of the usual teller in the glass window, thank GOODNESS for my ego). As I started to drive away, I heard this awful crunching sound on my right side and just about died inside. Turns out there was one of those nice yellow poles that was somehow hidden from my field of view (it was just the right height to be easily hidden from my sight in my defense) and I'd rammed my right side doors into it. When I got out to check the damage, I noticed that: there were ugly yellow and white marks all over the passenger side doors, it was slightly dented in, and the hideous crunching sound came from the front door handle. Yeah, it doesn't open anymore. With my luck, they will have to replace the whole front door--there goes any extra money we might have had. Bleh. The only positive thing about the scenario is that neither I or anyone else's car got hurt.
• The only other thing of note would be that we are STILL waiting for the dumb gastroenterologists office to call back and set up appointments for Sam and I, after we went to all the trouble to get referrals from the primary care doctor as they insisted. In case I haven't mentioned it on here before, we have decided to find out our CSID levels/status. It definitely affects us and our little family of four, but could also have interesting repercussions on our families based on our results.

Anyway, that's what's been going on with us, stay tuned for more details soon!