Pam

This week Isaiah and I traveled together to Delaware for his bimonthly bone treatment called Pamidronate (I call it "Pam" for short).  The ride there alone should have been an indicator of how this trip would go, haha...a foreshadowing if you will.  Before we headed out on Sunday (to stay at the Ronald McDonald House), Isaiah refused any type of lunch.  He wouldn't even take a bottle of milk.  I thought maybe he was tired and he'd pass out in the car....nope.  Instead, he whined and moaned and decided he was too hungry for me to continue to drive, so once we were half way there, we stopped for a yogurt break.

He passed out rather quickly after the yogurt but the nap only lasted 20 minutes.  He was a grump and a half for the rest of the ride.  We quickly checked in at the House and we unloaded the car together (as he continued to cry).

That first night we got maybe 2 hours of sleep?  He whined.  He cried.  He moaned.  He was so tired but only slept in 10-20 minute bursts.  He was moving everything, but I was confident I knew what it was- a front top tooth coming in.  He just had his first top tooth pop through between Friday and Saturday of last week, and was acting pretty similarly then, just not as loud, which I associated with the fact that we weren't home.

With heads pounding (well, my head was pounding), we headed over to DuPont to start his treatment.  He yelled for pancakes:

This is where my picture stopped for a day.  Isaiah was a mess.  He cried a lot longer after they accessed him.  He cried for most of the treatment.  (I was so frustrated, flustered, exhausted...the room he gets Pam in is a room of 10 beds and curtains, no one could get away from the screaming, and my baby can SCREAM.)

I asked about giving medicine...I honestly wasn't sure if I could give Isaiah anything since he was getting Pam...they recommended Tylenol and even called Pharmacy for us and gave him his first dose.  It helped, but only a little.  Luckily, [Isaiah's buddy] Gavin's mom had a bottle (I only had Baby Advil), so we borrowed from her for the next few doses.  Isaiah was a mess at dinner.  He screamed the entire time.  

I was begging his tooth to come through.  He was chewing on things, clicking his jaw together, and drooling up a storm.  

But then he really started screaming horribly whenever we'd get on an elevator or go over a tiny bump.  I started worrying he had a break.  He also developed some congestion and was sneezing a bit more than normal.

We got a better night's sleep.  We were still up most of the night, but we had longer bursts of Isaiah sleeping.  

But he was still so tired.  So grumpy.

We spent the majority of Pam cuddling.

Or eating.  Or walking in circles around the nurses' station.

We had another rough rest of the day over at the McDonald House.  More screaming.  More Tylenol.  More cuddling....we only left the room for dinner (so I was grateful I actually ate breakfast because I didn't get another chance to eat a meal until dinner time), and that didn't last long because he fussed his way through that too.  I started to worry that maybe he was hurting.  Maybe the adaptive stroller was hurting him somehow?  Maybe it was just the tooth?  He started coughing.  I started to panic again over everything (did I mention I was panicking through Sunday night? I seriously almost had a major panic attack in the middle of his screaming.  Seriously, this trip was not my favorite.), 

Is it his tooth?  Am I sure? Really sure?

Is this coughing, sneezing, and congestion a random reaction to pamidronate?

What if he does have a break?

And then when he would fall asleep I was up worrying.  

But his sleep wouldn't last long, he'd wake screaming because he couldn't breath through his nose.  I started using the suction machine...it's not so quiet.  A neighbor was yelling from his room.  Isaiah ended up being up for the day at 5am so I packed up our room figuring we should get the heck out of there, that we'd come back later to clean and check out.  The neighbor yelled some more (Would you shut that kid up already? It's friggin six am!!!) as we walked by his room (sorry buddy! really I am, but he's a baby.)

I packed the car tight after a quick breakfast.  It was pouring rain on us.  Instead of using the stroller, since it doesn't have a shade to protect him from the rain, we used Isaiah's car seat in a wagon.

Oooooh, my first wagon ride!

He was so congested.  His cheeks were rosey.  They took his temp, 100.6.  Ugh, now a FEVER?  Are you kidding me?  Now more panic...what if this is something more?  His lungs??  CRAP!  We can't do that again....  The nurse had to call the doctor/his PA to see if they could administer the last dose of Pam.

We gave Isaiah Motrin.

Dr. B's PA came down, listened to Isaiah, and said his lungs were clear...that it was all upper airway congestion...so I calmed down, it's that tooth.  It has to be.

The Motrin kicked in, his fever went away, and for the first time in days....

He played! Really played...

We finally got the boys together!

The rest of the day was a whirlwind.  I had one goal: GET HOME.

Once pam was finished, he was de-accessed and we got the heck out of that hospital.  ;-)

It was still pouring rain outside.

We cleaned up the room at the McDonald House, grabbed a quick lunch, and....

during that lunch, it was then that I spotted it, Isaiah had a new top molar!

Relief.  For both of us, so we headed east.  Isaiah slept most of the ride home.

For the first time in days, Isaiah slept almost through the night.  He woke hungry so I gave him a bottle and we slept until 6.

He was still congested though.  And exhausted.  After 11 hours of sleep, and 3 hours awake, he fell asleep on the floor in the living room....

and my throat started to hurt.  Turns out Isaiah really did catch something, and he shared it with me.

Thanks buddy.

We're both working on resting and recovering right now...and hoping we never have a Pam treatment like that again.

Dave was traveling for work this week, so we look forward to seeing him and sharing our germs with him.  We've missed his face. ;-)

<3