November 21, 2007

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! We hope your holiday is happy, healthy, and restful. We've got the "happy" part down, but "healthy" and "restful" seem a little bit out of reach today.

Hopefully today will be a better day .... Yesterday was pretty rough for all concerned. Poor Michael's tummy hurts from the antiobiotic and all the mucous draining. And, yesterday, the fates worked against his little stomach.

We knew we were going to have to rush to the pediatrician at some point to get Michael's Synagis shot as soon as they called to say it had arrived. It has been a long struggle to get the shot for Michael -- although this time it was not the insurance company's issue. We don't know WHAT it was. Synagis is an antibody drug that is given to kids that meet certain risk criteria so that they can have extra protection against RSV -- a deadly respiratory disease for fragile infants and toddlers. Michael does not meet the usual criteria (premie, below a certain weight, etc.) but he is a high risk baby and was approved for the drug without any problems. (The shots are, we understand, about $1000 a dose.) Unfortunately, his first shot should have been several weeks ago, but it was not sent from the pharmacy until yesterday. No one knows why it took so long, but as of Saturday the pharmacy was calling my work number for more information and asking me to call them back. With all due respect to my work colleagues, I am out of practice in checking my voicemail at work on a Saturday. By the time I got to it, it was Monday morning, and I was a bit annoyed. In addition to Michael needing this drug to help keep him safe, the doctors wanted two doses into him before his surgery, and the doses must be 28 days apart. As you can see, we were RUNNING OUT OF TIME! (The hospital is a great place to acquire RSV, as you can imagine!) So, long story short, we got the medication overnighted to the pedes office for Tuesday delivery. The office then called and said they could give Michael his shot if we came in between 11 and 12. Well, it was 11:00, and Michael had just finished eating. And having his antibiotic. And having his rather caustic vitamin. And having a stomach full of snot. (Sorry.) I knew this spelled disaster -- no time for burping, at least not enough! We got into the car, and sure enough, Michael threw up twice on the way to the doctor's office, and the second one was a BIG one. Then, while lying in his diaper in the doctor's office, he did it again. Again, BIG. So much for that meal. Poor kid was stuck on Pedialyte for awhile, then we worked up to one ounce of milk every half hour all night long. There doesn't seem to be any stomach virus -- just all that other "stuff". This morning we spread his breakfast out over a longer period, and so far so good....

The poor shots were no fun either. He had one shot in EACH leg, and they stung! There are moments (very rare) where the world is a little bit glad my son can't speak. If he could, you would have heard the screams in Fairbanks, poor little guy. But, he dozed a lot in mommy, daddy, and aunt Louise's laps throughout the evening in between suctionings, and he was still full of smiles and some giggles in between the coughs and tears. What a great spirit this kid has!

Hopefully today is a much better day, with less secretions, less coughing, less vomiting, and more SLEEP!

Hopefully our next entry looks less like a mother's blow by blow of her kid's puking! Sorry about that, but I know you all want to know how Michael is doing, and all he is doing these days is being sick.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!