Wow! It has been a long while since I last updated this blog. I really don't have anything new to report. Xyler is now a very happy, busy 5 year old boy. He is doing great! We have not had anything new going on with his heart. He has yearly checkups now with his cardiologist, and at the last one everything looked fine.
I feel like you blink, and suddenly time flies right on by. When I think about how Xyler is now 5, I can't believe that many years have gone by since this heart journey all began. When I think back on it, it feels like it was just a bit ago, and not 5 years ago. We just celebrated his 4 year anniversary since his last heart surgery, which was a heart catheter procedure. I feel that we are truly blessed because of how well he is doing.
Xyler loves to play with his brother Xavian. Xavian is just 1 year older than Xyler, and they are normally together playing...or sometimes fighting. :) Both of them will also play with their older siblings, Xander & Nika, every once in a while. It makes my heart happy when all 4 of them will play together and get along. This doesn't happen much, but I will take it when it does happen.
Xyler is really having a hard time with the fact that he is not in kindergarten yet. He asks me all of the time if he will be starting soon. His birthday is in October, so he missed the deadline by around a month and a half. All of his other siblings are in school full time, and it feels like torture for him to not be in school yet. He really is ready and the next school year cannot come soon enough. I am glad that he is excited, and hope he stays excited once he is in school.
I will try to post some pics later. He has changed quite a bit since the last time I updated his blog. I really need to get on here more and just write about all of the crazy, silly things Xyler and my other kids do. There is never a dull moment here.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Cardiology Appt and Boys Will Be Boys
I am happy to report that I don't have much to report. Xyler is a happy, full of energy 3 year old. In October we celebrated his 3rd birthday and earlier that month he had a cardiology appt. We met with his new cardiologist for the first time, sadly his one before moved. We were heart broken when we found out that his cardiologist had moved. We really liked Dr. Arrington and will really miss him. We are still getting a feel for his new one and will see him for the second time in a couple of months.
Back to his cardiology appt... Xyler did great and everything looked good. He was such a big boy and sat still for his blood pressure and laid still for his EKG. I'm so proud of him. His next appt they will do an echo to make sure everything looks good.
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Back to his cardiology appt... Xyler did great and everything looked good. He was such a big boy and sat still for his blood pressure and laid still for his EKG. I'm so proud of him. His next appt they will do an echo to make sure everything looks good.
Life has been good and we are just living day to day. Things can get crazy with taking care of 4 kids. My older two are in school so I just have my younger two at home. They are a handful! Having two boys that are only 14 1/2 months apart is crazy! They have so much energy and just go, go, go. Xyler was supposed to be in the family room yesterday, with his other two brothers, but instead he was in our office decorating it. He decided that he needed to let out his artistic side and draw on anything and everything. Here are his lovely drawings.
This last pic is of the glue stick he used to draw with too. Wasn't that nice of him? :) Oh, the joys of little boys. I sure do love my kids...even when they do things like this. Where would I be without my kids? They are my life and my joy. I love them very much.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
The Good Life
Wow! It has been a very long time since I last posted on here. I keep telling myself that I will post more and yet it never happens. I also need to take some time to redesign my blog and add some cute pics of Xyler. (Sigh).....one day....
So, there really isn't anything to report. We have been very blessed since Xyler has been doing great! It has been 1 1/2 years since his last procedure and his last stay in the hospital. He is growing great and living up to the "terrible two's" name. Just last week he decided to open his bedroom window and kick out the screen, luckily he didn't try to climb out of it and only threw toys out of it, he broke his second mobigo, the first he broke too, he skinned his shin and his nose on the same day but at different times, this is just to name a few things that he did. He definitely keeps us on our toes. Just this summer he has tried to flush his shirt down the toilet, broke the blinds in his room and the living room, gotten in my makeup and got it all over and many other things that have slipped my mind right now. He is a little stinker but we love him so much and are so grateful that he is doing so well.
I have decided that having two little boys close in age is tiring and crazy. It is nice during the summer that I have my older two home and they can help out with their little brother's. Its always fun to see all four of them playing and having a good time. The other day Xavian saw an opportunity to get my phone and took it. He is constantly taking my phone every chance he can get and loves to take a lot of pics. Well, I had just changed the lock pattern on my phone, since I think he had figured it out and was getting on and downloading games, and I'm guessing he just kept trying to unlock my phone. My phone has a safety feature where if someone tries to unlock it so many times it will delete everything and go back into factory mode. Sure enough, Xavian did this. I am still trying to get my phone back to the way it is and hopefully my pics were backed up somewhere, but I'm worried they weren't since I haven't been able to find them anywhere yet. How on earth do you keep little ones out of everything!?!?!
This is just a little taste of what I go through most of the time. My kids may drive me crazy most of the time, but I sure do love them and wouldn't trade them for the world. :)
So, there really isn't anything to report. We have been very blessed since Xyler has been doing great! It has been 1 1/2 years since his last procedure and his last stay in the hospital. He is growing great and living up to the "terrible two's" name. Just last week he decided to open his bedroom window and kick out the screen, luckily he didn't try to climb out of it and only threw toys out of it, he broke his second mobigo, the first he broke too, he skinned his shin and his nose on the same day but at different times, this is just to name a few things that he did. He definitely keeps us on our toes. Just this summer he has tried to flush his shirt down the toilet, broke the blinds in his room and the living room, gotten in my makeup and got it all over and many other things that have slipped my mind right now. He is a little stinker but we love him so much and are so grateful that he is doing so well.
I have decided that having two little boys close in age is tiring and crazy. It is nice during the summer that I have my older two home and they can help out with their little brother's. Its always fun to see all four of them playing and having a good time. The other day Xavian saw an opportunity to get my phone and took it. He is constantly taking my phone every chance he can get and loves to take a lot of pics. Well, I had just changed the lock pattern on my phone, since I think he had figured it out and was getting on and downloading games, and I'm guessing he just kept trying to unlock my phone. My phone has a safety feature where if someone tries to unlock it so many times it will delete everything and go back into factory mode. Sure enough, Xavian did this. I am still trying to get my phone back to the way it is and hopefully my pics were backed up somewhere, but I'm worried they weren't since I haven't been able to find them anywhere yet. How on earth do you keep little ones out of everything!?!?!
This is just a little taste of what I go through most of the time. My kids may drive me crazy most of the time, but I sure do love them and wouldn't trade them for the world. :)
Monday, October 28, 2013
Memories
This time of year is a very emotional time for me, as memories resurface, and all of the thoughts and feelings that go with them come rushing back to me. On the 24th we celebrated Xyler's 2nd birthday. What a great day it was. I consider every birthday we celebrate with him a blessing. With the wonderful, happy feelings, comes all the feelings from 2 years ago. The happy joy of holding, what I thought was my perfectly healthy new baby boy, to the shock and confusion while holding my baby with the broken heart. Giving him a hug and kiss before life flight took him. It may sound weird, but in some way's I felt like I had 2 baby's that night. A healthy boy and a boy with a broken heart.
The next few days I mourned the baby that I thought was healthy. In my state of shock I kept thinking about how I should have been taking him home instead of sitting at Primary Children's, seeing him hooked up to machines and hearing them beep all day long. It was a sweet nurse that Xyler had, who told me I was mourning the baby I thought was healthy. It made so much sense after she said that, and helped me to finish mourning and cope with the reality my sweet baby faced.
Today marks the 2 year anniversary of his first open heart surgery. My sweet baby was only 3 1/2 days old when I had to watch them roll him away, not knowing what the outcome was going to be. We had met his surgeon, Dr. Kaza, the night before. He was so kind and explained everything to us. I felt a bit better after meeting him and talking to him about everything. He also told us that Xyler had a fan club of people who liked his name. :)
After, we ran home to pick up our other 3 kids. We wanted them to be able to see Xyler before his surgery, just in case something happened, and then they were going to stay at my sister's for the next few days. Xavian was only 14 1/2 months old and wasn't able to see Xyler the day after he was born, since the CICU doesn't allow kids under 2. They let us bring him in, so that he could see him for the first time. We were able to have our first family pic with Xyler. Xyler was intibated so we couldn't hold him but my kids were able to give him a kiss. It was a special time.
The next morning we got to Xyler's bed around 6:30. They were going to take him back for surgery around 7. Scott and Nate, the night nurse, gave Xyler a blessing. After Dr. Kaza came to talk to us again before the surgery. He was so sweet and worried about how I would react seeing Xyler after surgery. He asked our nurse to show us a baby that just had surgery so that we would know what to expect. Before he left he told us that he would treat him as if he were his own child. Sweeter words have never been spoken to this mother's ears. It was just what I needed to hear.
Saying goodbye is always the hardest part. I couldn't stop crying as they wheeled him away after I gave him several kisses. Looking back it's still hard to describe all of the emotions and feelings that I had. I think I was still in a state of shock and disbelief. As we sat down in the waiting room, I just couldn't believe our little baby was having open heart surgery. It still seemed like a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. I was so anxious the whole time to have an update. They let us know when they started, put him on heart and lung bypass, took him off and were closing him. Everything took about 5 hours.
All I felt when I got so see my baby was relief! I was so thankful and grateful that he made it. He had iv's everywhere and other tubes coming out of places, but these didn't scare me like the dr was worried about. I knew they were helping him and all that I cared about was that he made it. His nurse kept watching me and told me that I was handling it better than she thought I would. She is our favorite nurse and this was her second time taking care of Xyler. I had been such an emotional wreck all of the previous days, I think that is why they thought I would not handle it well. Who can blame me for being super emotional. I had just had a baby and 8 hours after having him he was taken away and I was heading down to Primary Children's to be with him. I didn't get any time to rest and had all of the hormones from having a baby running through me. I was a walking train wreck until I saw that he was still alive. I knew the next few days were critical but all I could think about was that my baby was alive!
Xyler showed everyone how awesome he is and came home 6 days later. The doctors and nurses were so impressed with how well he was doing. He showed us then and still shows us how strong and amazing he is. Sometimes I wish I could forget all of these thoughts and feelings but then I realize I wouldn't know how truly blessed I am if I didn't remember. My testimony grew so much during those 10 days Xyler was in the hospital and continues to grow all of the time. How blessed and thankful I am for forever families and the gospel. This heart journey can be very hard and you never know what to expect. I am so thankful for the IHH group that I am a part of and for all of the other heart moms and I have had the privilege of meeting and becoming friends with. They are amazing and help me so much!
Today I will remember the hard memories but I will also remember all of the blessings in my life. My kids are my life. I love each of them so much! I am truly blessed to have them and my amazing husband in my life.
The next few days I mourned the baby that I thought was healthy. In my state of shock I kept thinking about how I should have been taking him home instead of sitting at Primary Children's, seeing him hooked up to machines and hearing them beep all day long. It was a sweet nurse that Xyler had, who told me I was mourning the baby I thought was healthy. It made so much sense after she said that, and helped me to finish mourning and cope with the reality my sweet baby faced.
Today marks the 2 year anniversary of his first open heart surgery. My sweet baby was only 3 1/2 days old when I had to watch them roll him away, not knowing what the outcome was going to be. We had met his surgeon, Dr. Kaza, the night before. He was so kind and explained everything to us. I felt a bit better after meeting him and talking to him about everything. He also told us that Xyler had a fan club of people who liked his name. :)
After, we ran home to pick up our other 3 kids. We wanted them to be able to see Xyler before his surgery, just in case something happened, and then they were going to stay at my sister's for the next few days. Xavian was only 14 1/2 months old and wasn't able to see Xyler the day after he was born, since the CICU doesn't allow kids under 2. They let us bring him in, so that he could see him for the first time. We were able to have our first family pic with Xyler. Xyler was intibated so we couldn't hold him but my kids were able to give him a kiss. It was a special time.
The next morning we got to Xyler's bed around 6:30. They were going to take him back for surgery around 7. Scott and Nate, the night nurse, gave Xyler a blessing. After Dr. Kaza came to talk to us again before the surgery. He was so sweet and worried about how I would react seeing Xyler after surgery. He asked our nurse to show us a baby that just had surgery so that we would know what to expect. Before he left he told us that he would treat him as if he were his own child. Sweeter words have never been spoken to this mother's ears. It was just what I needed to hear.
Saying goodbye is always the hardest part. I couldn't stop crying as they wheeled him away after I gave him several kisses. Looking back it's still hard to describe all of the emotions and feelings that I had. I think I was still in a state of shock and disbelief. As we sat down in the waiting room, I just couldn't believe our little baby was having open heart surgery. It still seemed like a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. I was so anxious the whole time to have an update. They let us know when they started, put him on heart and lung bypass, took him off and were closing him. Everything took about 5 hours.
All I felt when I got so see my baby was relief! I was so thankful and grateful that he made it. He had iv's everywhere and other tubes coming out of places, but these didn't scare me like the dr was worried about. I knew they were helping him and all that I cared about was that he made it. His nurse kept watching me and told me that I was handling it better than she thought I would. She is our favorite nurse and this was her second time taking care of Xyler. I had been such an emotional wreck all of the previous days, I think that is why they thought I would not handle it well. Who can blame me for being super emotional. I had just had a baby and 8 hours after having him he was taken away and I was heading down to Primary Children's to be with him. I didn't get any time to rest and had all of the hormones from having a baby running through me. I was a walking train wreck until I saw that he was still alive. I knew the next few days were critical but all I could think about was that my baby was alive!
Xyler showed everyone how awesome he is and came home 6 days later. The doctors and nurses were so impressed with how well he was doing. He showed us then and still shows us how strong and amazing he is. Sometimes I wish I could forget all of these thoughts and feelings but then I realize I wouldn't know how truly blessed I am if I didn't remember. My testimony grew so much during those 10 days Xyler was in the hospital and continues to grow all of the time. How blessed and thankful I am for forever families and the gospel. This heart journey can be very hard and you never know what to expect. I am so thankful for the IHH group that I am a part of and for all of the other heart moms and I have had the privilege of meeting and becoming friends with. They are amazing and help me so much!
Today I will remember the hard memories but I will also remember all of the blessings in my life. My kids are my life. I love each of them so much! I am truly blessed to have them and my amazing husband in my life.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Xyler has once again kept us on our toes. Thank goodness though, everything is ok. About a month ago I had stopped giving him his zantac to see how he did. I didn't want to be giving it to him if he no longer needed it. After about a week, we started noticing that he would cough a lot every time he would eat. He would cough so bad that he would gag to the point you would think he was going to throw up. I put him back on his zantac to see if that was the problem.
He still continued to cough so I called his pediatrician. They decided that he needed to have a swallow study done, to make sure he wasn't aspirating. Let me just tell you that it was not fun at all! Poor Xyler has been through so much, and is at the age where he is more aware and hates having anything done. They had to strap him into a chair and place him by the x-ray machine. They then had me try to feed him different kinds of food with bariliun in it, so that they could see it on the x-ray as he swallowed the food. Xyler was screaming and would just spit out the food.
As a heart mom I have had to pin my child down more times than I can count for him to have blood drawn, iv's placed, x-rays done and many other things. It is so hard to do this while your child is screaming. I have to tell myself over and over that he needs these things done and that they are to help him. I also have to kind of blank out my mind, so that I don't scream at the people to leave my baby alone, and so that I don't break down and cry myself. It sucks!!! It really does and is so hard to watch him go through things over and over and over again.
Well, this was one of those times that I had to do that. Poor Xyler screamed through the whole thing and didn't stop until he was held tightly in my arms. They only got a couple of shots of him swallowing, but at least they got some. The good news is that he is not aspirating. They think he just has really bad reflex that is causing him to cough. His chest x-ray showed something with his lungs. I cannot for the life of me remember the word but it had something to do with what happens with asthma. Hopefully he does not have asthma. His pediatrician was telling us that there have been some bad viruses going around this summer where they have caused issues like reflex. He thinks Xyler got one and that is also why his lungs are looking the way that they are. This made sense to me since he has had some messy diapers lately. I have upped his zantac dose and he seems to be doing a lot better. I am so glad that it was an easy fix! I do feel guilty for taking him off of zantac for that short time. I feel like it's all my fault that he had so many issues and was put through more torture. He is such a tough kid.
Later that day Xavian had his 3 year check up and it was so nice. No shots!!! He checked out great! Xander also had an eye appointment that day. He now has contacts and a new pair of glasses. He has worn glasses for the last two years so we decided to have him try out contacts. He loves them and is doing great with them. It was a busy day for us but glad to have the appointments done.
Yesterday my shih tzu, Maddy, had puppies! This is her second litter of puppies. She had 4 boys and 1 girl. She had them a week early but everything went well and the pups are doing great. I love when she has the pups. I think it is so amazing to watch as they are born and to see the miracle of life. I can fully understand why the doctors and nurses who deliver babies do what they do. Truly amazing! The first few days you have to practically drag Maddy out to eat and go outside to do her business. After those few days is when she will start to leave them for a bit in between feedings. You can tell she is needing a break. Who can blame her! It seems like the pups are eating 24/7.
They are super cute and little. The smallest one weighed 5oz and the biggest one 8oz. My kids love it when she has pups. Maddy is a great mom and takes great care of her pups. The first few weeks are super easy for me. It's not until they are weaned when I get super busy taking care of them. Its a good thing they are cute, and that we only keep them until they are about 8 weeks old. :)
He still continued to cough so I called his pediatrician. They decided that he needed to have a swallow study done, to make sure he wasn't aspirating. Let me just tell you that it was not fun at all! Poor Xyler has been through so much, and is at the age where he is more aware and hates having anything done. They had to strap him into a chair and place him by the x-ray machine. They then had me try to feed him different kinds of food with bariliun in it, so that they could see it on the x-ray as he swallowed the food. Xyler was screaming and would just spit out the food.
As a heart mom I have had to pin my child down more times than I can count for him to have blood drawn, iv's placed, x-rays done and many other things. It is so hard to do this while your child is screaming. I have to tell myself over and over that he needs these things done and that they are to help him. I also have to kind of blank out my mind, so that I don't scream at the people to leave my baby alone, and so that I don't break down and cry myself. It sucks!!! It really does and is so hard to watch him go through things over and over and over again.
Well, this was one of those times that I had to do that. Poor Xyler screamed through the whole thing and didn't stop until he was held tightly in my arms. They only got a couple of shots of him swallowing, but at least they got some. The good news is that he is not aspirating. They think he just has really bad reflex that is causing him to cough. His chest x-ray showed something with his lungs. I cannot for the life of me remember the word but it had something to do with what happens with asthma. Hopefully he does not have asthma. His pediatrician was telling us that there have been some bad viruses going around this summer where they have caused issues like reflex. He thinks Xyler got one and that is also why his lungs are looking the way that they are. This made sense to me since he has had some messy diapers lately. I have upped his zantac dose and he seems to be doing a lot better. I am so glad that it was an easy fix! I do feel guilty for taking him off of zantac for that short time. I feel like it's all my fault that he had so many issues and was put through more torture. He is such a tough kid.
Later that day Xavian had his 3 year check up and it was so nice. No shots!!! He checked out great! Xander also had an eye appointment that day. He now has contacts and a new pair of glasses. He has worn glasses for the last two years so we decided to have him try out contacts. He loves them and is doing great with them. It was a busy day for us but glad to have the appointments done.
Yesterday my shih tzu, Maddy, had puppies! This is her second litter of puppies. She had 4 boys and 1 girl. She had them a week early but everything went well and the pups are doing great. I love when she has the pups. I think it is so amazing to watch as they are born and to see the miracle of life. I can fully understand why the doctors and nurses who deliver babies do what they do. Truly amazing! The first few days you have to practically drag Maddy out to eat and go outside to do her business. After those few days is when she will start to leave them for a bit in between feedings. You can tell she is needing a break. Who can blame her! It seems like the pups are eating 24/7.
They are super cute and little. The smallest one weighed 5oz and the biggest one 8oz. My kids love it when she has pups. Maddy is a great mom and takes great care of her pups. The first few weeks are super easy for me. It's not until they are weaned when I get super busy taking care of them. Its a good thing they are cute, and that we only keep them until they are about 8 weeks old. :)
The cute pups!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Happy 3rd Birthday Xavian!
Xavian turned 3 on August 02. I still can't believe he is 3 already! He is such a fun kid. He was a super easy/good baby that always liked to laugh. He still loves to laugh and likes to make us laugh. He is still a good kid that can occasionally get into mischief. :) We are trying to get him potty trained, and what a chore that is. Xavian is one where, he has to fully decide he wants to do something before he fully does it. I am just trying to have patience with him. He really is a fun, good kid. What a blessing he has been in our lives. We love him so much!
On his birthday Xavian woke up and opened his presents not long after. He loves his presents! He got a train table with two train sets, a medical bag with medical tools, play tools and a new outfit. It was hard to get him to do anything all day because all that he wanted to do was play with his new toys. My other 3 kids had the same problem too, especially the older two! :)
That night some family came over to help celebrate his birthday with cake and ice cream. He had a blast! We just ate outside, and it was so nice to sit and visit with family. I love nice summer evenings when you can sit and enjoy being outside. Xavian and Xyler cared more about running around playing than they did about eating the cake and ice cream. It was fun to see them having fun. What a great day it was! I think Xavian really enjoyed it.
On his birthday Xavian woke up and opened his presents not long after. He loves his presents! He got a train table with two train sets, a medical bag with medical tools, play tools and a new outfit. It was hard to get him to do anything all day because all that he wanted to do was play with his new toys. My other 3 kids had the same problem too, especially the older two! :)
That night some family came over to help celebrate his birthday with cake and ice cream. He had a blast! We just ate outside, and it was so nice to sit and visit with family. I love nice summer evenings when you can sit and enjoy being outside. Xavian and Xyler cared more about running around playing than they did about eating the cake and ice cream. It was fun to see them having fun. What a great day it was! I think Xavian really enjoyed it.
This is Xavian when he was a few days old.
My cute 3 year old!
Saturday, July 20, 2013
On June 6, Xyler gave us quite the scare by having a severe allergic reaction. He has never had anything like it happen before so it was pretty scary for me. Xavian and Xyler were having flavored marshmallows for a snack. I hadn't given them these for a snack for a few months but I'm sure they had has some in nursery just a couple of weeks before. Xyler had only ever been to nursery a couple of times, but I know that is one of the favorite snacks for kids in there since I have served in nursery before. Xyler normally doesn't eat very many marshmallow's. Xavian is the one who eats the most, but that day Xyler was eating a lot of them. It was early in the evening when I gave them to them. I was still trying to figure out what to make for dinner so I knew that we would be having a late dinner. Scott still wasn't home from work yet when the boys were eating their snack.
I noticed Xyler would cough a bit and then be fine. I was a little worried when he did this a few times, but told myself to stop being so paranoid. It was probably about ten minutes later when Scott got home and by then Xyler was starting to cough more. I told Scott I was getting worried because he kept coughing. He was on amoxicillan for a cold he had for a couple of weeks, and was just getting better, so Scott said that was probably why he was coughing. A few minutes later he wouldn't stop coughing and his face was really red, and we both knew something wasn't right. I was worried he was having an allergic reaction by the way he was acting. We decided he needed to go to the instacare that was only a few miles from our house. I was so worried that his throat would swell up and he would stop breathing, so I had Nika come with me so she could sit by him and help if he needed it.
We got in the van and I remember looking in the rear view mirror at him before we left and thought that his eyes looked like they were swelling. A minute later I looked at him and his right eye was almost swollen shut and his left eye was swelling more too. I was even more worried then, that his throat would swell shut. Those few miles to the instacare seemed to take forever! We finally got there and I hurried and got Xyler out and we ran into the instacare. I walked up to the desk and told them Xyler was having an allergic reaction. I had done so well at not crying until that point. One thing I have had happen since Xyler was born is that I get super emotional now and it's hard to hold it in. The lady behind the desk told me it would be ok and they took us back right away.
They took us to a room without weighing Xyler and without getting any info. The nurse was asking me his name when the doctor came in a minute later. He listened to Xyler to see how his lungs sounded and to look him over. I told him what had happened and that Xyler had a heart defect(I think everything is so much scarier for me with him because of his heart defect). The doctor ordered a shot of epinephrine, benedryl and a breathing treatment. He figured the reaction was from the dye in the marshmallow's. A minute later they came in with the shot and gave it to him.
This is a pic of him right before the shot. It's not the greatest of shots because he was crying so much I just hurried and took a pic. His body was also covered in hives and had a rash all over it. I didn't notice this until when the doctor was looking at him. I just couldn't believe how fast everything happened to his poor little body.
Just a few minutes after the shot he was looking and sounding so much better. They gave him some benedryl and then brought in the stuff to do the breathing treatment. Xyler does not like breathing treatments so I knew it was going to be a wrestling match to keep the mask over his mouth and nose. The nurse helped hold him so that he couldn't grab the mask or move his head. He cried the WHOLE time! I knew he would because this is what he has always done when I have had to give him treatments at home. The nurse kept telling me he would probably wear himself out and calm down, but it never happened. I told her he was a strong, stubborn kid and had to be with everything he has gone through. She agreed with me. After the breathing treatment he was almost completely back to normal. His eyes were still a bit swollen but the rash and hives were pretty much gone. Xyler was up running around a acting more like himself.
Here is a pic after everything was done.
They had us stay for a bit to make sure Xyler was doing ok. Nika was such a good helper and played with Xyler to keep him happy.
I noticed Xyler would cough a bit and then be fine. I was a little worried when he did this a few times, but told myself to stop being so paranoid. It was probably about ten minutes later when Scott got home and by then Xyler was starting to cough more. I told Scott I was getting worried because he kept coughing. He was on amoxicillan for a cold he had for a couple of weeks, and was just getting better, so Scott said that was probably why he was coughing. A few minutes later he wouldn't stop coughing and his face was really red, and we both knew something wasn't right. I was worried he was having an allergic reaction by the way he was acting. We decided he needed to go to the instacare that was only a few miles from our house. I was so worried that his throat would swell up and he would stop breathing, so I had Nika come with me so she could sit by him and help if he needed it.
We got in the van and I remember looking in the rear view mirror at him before we left and thought that his eyes looked like they were swelling. A minute later I looked at him and his right eye was almost swollen shut and his left eye was swelling more too. I was even more worried then, that his throat would swell shut. Those few miles to the instacare seemed to take forever! We finally got there and I hurried and got Xyler out and we ran into the instacare. I walked up to the desk and told them Xyler was having an allergic reaction. I had done so well at not crying until that point. One thing I have had happen since Xyler was born is that I get super emotional now and it's hard to hold it in. The lady behind the desk told me it would be ok and they took us back right away.
They took us to a room without weighing Xyler and without getting any info. The nurse was asking me his name when the doctor came in a minute later. He listened to Xyler to see how his lungs sounded and to look him over. I told him what had happened and that Xyler had a heart defect(I think everything is so much scarier for me with him because of his heart defect). The doctor ordered a shot of epinephrine, benedryl and a breathing treatment. He figured the reaction was from the dye in the marshmallow's. A minute later they came in with the shot and gave it to him.
This is a pic of him right before the shot. It's not the greatest of shots because he was crying so much I just hurried and took a pic. His body was also covered in hives and had a rash all over it. I didn't notice this until when the doctor was looking at him. I just couldn't believe how fast everything happened to his poor little body.
Just a few minutes after the shot he was looking and sounding so much better. They gave him some benedryl and then brought in the stuff to do the breathing treatment. Xyler does not like breathing treatments so I knew it was going to be a wrestling match to keep the mask over his mouth and nose. The nurse helped hold him so that he couldn't grab the mask or move his head. He cried the WHOLE time! I knew he would because this is what he has always done when I have had to give him treatments at home. The nurse kept telling me he would probably wear himself out and calm down, but it never happened. I told her he was a strong, stubborn kid and had to be with everything he has gone through. She agreed with me. After the breathing treatment he was almost completely back to normal. His eyes were still a bit swollen but the rash and hives were pretty much gone. Xyler was up running around a acting more like himself.
Here is a pic after everything was done.
They had us stay for a bit to make sure Xyler was doing ok. Nika was such a good helper and played with Xyler to keep him happy.
The doctor told me later that his lungs had sounded wheezy when I brought him in but not to the point where he was going to stop breathing. He said that they sounded fine now. What a relief it was to have him be ok! In the rush of everything I hadn't been able to tell them everything he was on and told a nurse that he was on amoxicillan and asked if that could have made this reaction happen to the dye in the marshmallow's. She said that it was possible. Xyler has been on that same medicine and had a reaction to easy mac before but nothing this severe. With the easy mac he broke out in red splotches around his mouth. He can't eat it anymore because the splotches happen every time now, and we figure it's from the dye in that too. I think from now on I will tell his doctors he cannot have amoxacillan since I think it makes his body susceptible to the dye's in food.
Xyler likes to keep us on our toes, I have decided. I feel so bad for him because he has already been through so much and yet he seems to keep having more things happen. He is so strong and I am so proud to be his mom. I am proud of all of my kids. They are all so strong and do so well in helping anytime we need it. They all love their little brother and pray for him and his heart all of the time. It's so sweet! I love them all so much!
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