Welcome to my Brain

This weekend, it took all I had to not email Dr B or call in to Isaiah's pediatrician for an appointment.

Most times I'd convince myself that Isaiah's moments of hysterics were because he was teething.

But then he'd flip out when I was trying to sit him in his travel high chair and I'd wonder if he had a fracture somewhere. (and then I'd think "but he sits up in my lap and in his at home high chair just fine.")

I am pretty sure at some point over the last few days that I convinced myself that Isaiah had a fracture in his right leg, then it was his foot, then it was his hip, then it was his spine, maybe his tailbone.

I could/can not figure it out.

I'd have moments of: 

"Could his shunt be malfunctioning? His soft spot is still indented.  I think it'd be puffed with fluid if it were malfunctioning.  I don't think he has a fever."  This darn thermometer better be right. 

"When did he poop last? Oh right, this morning."  You're welcome.

We went to a lot of stores because they offered Isaiah enough of a distraction that made him happy without overwhelming him with whatever he was going through.

And then we'd hit bedtime and things really got tough.  Friday night we were up for hours.  Hours of moaning, whimpering, crying and gagging himself....it was awful.  Dave and I felt completely helpless and also tired.

Tylenol did nothing.  Motrin was the only thing that got him back to sleep...this worried us that it was something more than teething.

Saturday morning was awful but in the afternoon he was back to normal....then he was up at 2:30am and we stayed up a few hours until I decided to try a bottle of milk...A middle of the night bottle?  I don't want to go backwards. But he hasn't been eating much at all...

I messaged multiple OI mom friends spewing my crazy.

I cried in the shower.  What if he's in so much pain and I am not doing what I should be to control it???? Maybe we should go to the ER...

But then he would fall asleep and he'd wake up happy and babbling and wanting to play.

and also wanting to bite the daylights out of everything.  

I checked his gums and there is a new tooth breaking through, a bottom canine tooth.  Could that really be the cause of all of this misery?  Really?

So, moms and dads, could one tiny canine really be causing Isaiah to: 

-be up all hours of the night

-not want to eat anything but crackers

-drink half as much as normal

-act like jekyll and hyde? Completely normal one second and then hysterical the next?

-make it so he doesn't want to sit up?  

Regardless, we're trying not to push him, trying to get him to eat, and offering meds if he seems to be in pain...

and I am trying to stifle the crazy. <3

The Fracture Dance

It's been a quiet few days around here....

Although...last night Isaiah may have fractured in his spine or tailbone.  He wasn't a fan of sitting up at all so we gave him some meds and dinner in the bean bag.  I'm not sure what happened, but something may have occurred when I was picking him up...I'm hopeful that by the time this post goes live (I decided to write and schedule this time!), that I will be feeling crazy for thinking he had a fracture and that he'll be acting normal.

Oh, that fracture dance...I look forward to him being able to tell me about fractures.....well I'm not looking forward to fractures....but you know what I mean!

For now, we take precautions and give this guy lots of pudding...

Because his pudding smile is my favorite. <3

______________

Update: Isaiah has been doing fine! No meds and sitting up just fine.  Just file this under #crazymomalert

Splint for Sale

Hello, welcome to my store.  Would you like to buy a used splint?

Ok, let me ring you up real quick before my momma sees this.  No refunds, by the way.

Yup, my little Houdini was probably out of his splint more than he should have been.  He fractured on Friday, and by Monday I had re-splinted three times and he was still finding ways out of it and wiggling that leg like a maniac.  I ended up removing it when I attempted nap time (figuring maybe that was why he wasn't wanting to nap then...nope, he just didn't want to nap) and he stretched it out happily.

He has been moving that little leggy like normal, which makes sense because if anything I believe this fracture was small and his doctors have told us in the past that he should be back to his normal within 72 hours of a micro-fracture.  We're still being cautious when we move him or play with him, but we're not limiting Isaiah from rolling around or moving it.

Isaiah is due for his next Pam treatment next week (already????) and I will be glad to get him his bone juice. :)

This post was short and sweet but the photos make up for it, right? ;-)

Fractured Leg

We had a good long run without a (known) fracture.  

This is Isaiah's face when he thinks of fractures. 

On Friday, we had a great morning, including water therapy.  Fridays can be rough for Isaiah because he goes down two hours late for nap due to our water therapy schedule.  Typically after water therapy I try to quickly get Isaiah home, in the bath to wash the chlorine off, give him a bottle of milk, and get him to bed.

This picture is from Saturday morning when Isaiah was feeding himself. :) Hooray to feeding himself!

Isaiah was already crying for milk and was so very exhausted after his bath, and as I was snapping the crotch of his clothes, I bumped his leg, and that cry really started.

I tried to tell myself it was an over-reaction because he was exhausted.  I warmed up him milk, gently picked him up off of our bed, and gave his milk in his glider per usual.  He calmed down once his belly was full.  Everything seemed like a normal Friday.

I've had a lot of practice this weekend with splinting Isaiah's leg and using different splinting materials...given that he apparently likes to pee all over his splint when I am changing out the pad in his diaper or rip off certain materials and try to eat them when I'm not looking.  Cool.  (Yup, I said pad.  In order to avoid lifting his hip and causing pain, I put a pad in his diaper to catch the urine.  It works really well.  That way I only have to change his diaper if he has a poopy diaper or misses the pad.) 

Isaiah woke up an hour into his nap screaming his head off, but I went into his room, rubbed his back, adjusted his blankets, and put his music back on and he fell right back to sleep.

After nap, I brought him into the dining room to his high chair, and when I went to separate his legs to get into his seat, he screamed out...Oh my aching heart.  I immediately froze and instead brought him to his playmat on the floor.

I came to terms with it- fracture.  It's a fracture.  I needed to figure out where in his leg that it was so I could splint him and help alleviate the pain.

I turned on Mickey and just tried to calm him down. I noticed he wasn't really moving his leg.  Once he was smiling at Mickey, I squeezed his leg, starting at the foot and working my way up.  I always start the squeezes really super light and if Isaiah doesn't react, I increase pressure a bit before moving on to another spot...when I got to right below his knee, he tensed up and grunted at me.  When I squeezed again to be sure, he cried out.  I got his pain meds, splinting materials, and emailed Dr. B.  I also chatted with two loving OI mommas to go over the basics of what I needed to do.

About 20 minutes after I gave him his meds, I wrapped Isaiah's leg from his toes to his waist* to stifle any movement of his leg.  Movement can equal pain.  If Isaiah had a rod in his femur of that leg, I'd only have to splint the lower half of his leg, but with the bowing of his femur, splinting just that portion then puts his femur at risk and I don't think Isaiah wants any more pain.

Once Isaiah was all wrapped up, things have basically been back to normal.  His ortho is in today at DuPont if I need to talk with him or think Isaiah needs to be seen, but I think he's doing well healing at home.  If I thought the fracture was displaced, I'd already have an appointment for today but since he's been his normally smiling self, I think we're making the right call.

We had plans this weekend, and because Isaiah was handling things so well, we didn't have to cancel any of them. :)  We saw family and celebrated our cousin who just graduated law school. :)  We blew bubbles outside and went for walks.  We played in the living room, just sometimes on the bean bag for comfort.

OI isn't stopping us from our life.  It is so important to Dave and I to teach Isaiah now that if we can get his pain under control, if I can get him splinted so his fractured bone has the support to heal, we will continue on with our days like normal.  There are fractures that give Isaiah extra TV time and cuddles, but thankfully this one is minimal and will be healed pronto.


*So, I'd love to show you Isaiah's splint...but you usually won't see a full blown shot of Isaiah's splints on the internet....there are some weirdos in the world with cast fetishes and well, that just freaks me out.  And yep, I am totally for real.