Well kids, when you get this blog all printed and looking lovely, you will notice a rather large hole where 2012 was. That's because your poor old Mum had so much on her plate, and her energies were invested into other things. When it came to having the creative capacity to write, I can assure you that I couldn't even muster up a paragraph.
Nothing much has happened this year. Really. It's just been trying to survive and trying to get EJ's therapy stuff done and working. But now I have a moment - I'll tell you some recent newsy stuff.
* Daz has a new job. - He was headhunted by another company and the perks were too good to turn down. He loves the work and he is excited by all the new challenges.
*Mop is in the school musical. We can't wait to see her perform at the end of the month.
* EJ is responding well to therapy - we are happy with his progress. Still a long way to go, but that's ok!
* Me - I haven't had time to breathe let alone do anything exciting. My role this year has been Mum and nothing else.
On Tuesday night EJ was feeling really sick and kept crying that he was going to puke. Then he started complaining of pain when he urinated and so after me having a bit of a prod found the pain was on the right side of his stomach. I took him to the hospital and they diagnosed him with appendicitis. After a traumatic time getting his cannula into his arm (4 people holding him down and one to put the tube in) we were transferred via ambulance to the Women's and Children's hospital. Elijah LOVED that! :) The ambo girls were entertaining him and playing with him to keep his mind off everything. Daz had to get the girls out of bed and bundle them up and drop them at my Mum's. I don't think they minded too much!
The surgeon at the WACH came in and tentatively diagnosed appendicitus, although she questioned his blood results and the enlarged lymph glands in his groin. She thought it could also be another condition that mimics the signs (quite convincingly!) of appendicitis which had to do with lymph glands. We were transferred to a ward and EJ was drugged up and put to bed. He was soooo cute! He lay in the bed, popped his thumb in his mouth and fell asleep immediately! I'm not surprised, it was 12:30 at night! I stayed with him in the ward on a tiny pull out cot. That night was the LONGEST night ever. The hours crept by. The nurse kept coming in every hour to check EJ's drip and fiddling around with the machine that beeped really loudly. The little girl in the cubicle over was restless and kept coughing. After 3am EJ was whimpering and crying and drawing his legs up to his stomach, so he got more drugs. He spat out the panadol when the nurse gave it to him, so I had to give it to him. :) Funny boy! He woke at 7 and he was less than happy to have the drip in his arm. Aunty Deb popped in after her shift at the hospital and cheered him up. She taught him how to play with the bed and chatted to him.
The surgical team came in to examine E again, and to talk about the surgery. The pain was not as bad as last night, and they were baffled. The head of surgery was sure it was EJ's ASD causing confusion and possibly confusing his sensory input and output plus he was very obviously drugged (slurred speech etc). They dressed him in a surgical gown and they were ready to take him into surgery that morning. The surgeon who saw us the night before was a bit dubious about EJ's lack of sharp pain though - she still thought that the lymph gland could be the culprit. We were taken to the radiology department and E had an ultrasound on his appendix. What they found was that yes, E had an inflamed appendix, but it wasn't inflamed enough to remove. He also had enlarged lymph glands on his bowel that may or may not be irritating that appendix.
After all this E had had enough. He was tired, cranky, hungry because he was nil by mouth until the surgeons could come up with something. He started to meltdown like a pro. :) And I am so incredibly grateful that he did. The surgical team got a bit more compassionate instead of treating him like a body part. The hospital team felt sorry for him because he just couldn't handle it anymore. The doctors rustled up a wheelchair for the boy and sent us out on the play deck. The sunshine, fresh air and the activities that kids in wheel chairs could do cheered the boy up a lot! We shared an iced coffee and played and looked at the art and water fountain for a while. When the surgeon came in late in the afternoon, they found a very cheerful and happy boy. I asked if we could take him home so he could sleep in his own bed and be in an environment that he felt safe and happy in. They wanted to keep us in overnight for observation, but I asked if we could observe him at home and if he got bad again, I would bring him back. The surgeon thinks that it's a 50/50 chance it could flare up again in the next 48 hours and he would need the op. The other surgeon thinks it's the lymph nodes causing problems.... whatever... you two can debate all you like.
Today he's doing better. His stomach is tender, but not in excruciating pain like the day before. He slept well and didn't need panadol overnight so that is a good sign. We will keep him home for the rest of the week and let him rest and relax. The bad news is that our camping trip that we had planned to do this weekend has been cancelled. But the good news is that so far, so good. Another thing - we decided early on not to tell EJ that he was going to have an operation, we thought that would terrify him. We were just going to take him in and get him put under and explain later. I'm glad we did that!! Imagine all that terror and anxiety for nothing!
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