Catching Up... Part 1

Man oh man, this blogging thing is hard to keep up with! I was thinking about it last night, and it really comes down to choosing between blogging about something we did vs. doing something new (which may end up being something worth blogging about)...LOL And then, of course, there's always the question of "sleep" which always seems to get in the way. I'm starting to think there really is no way to "blog at the speed of life"...if things keep up this way, I may need to hire someone to hang around to take care of the blogging thing.

All that aside, it's definitely been WAY too long since I last updated this blog!! SO much has happened (good and bad), that I honestly don't even know where to begin?!?!?! I guess I should start with the not so good stuff...

Sunburn in April in NJ???

For those who wonder if that's even possible, let me put that question to rest once and for all...YES!!!!!!!!!!! I, of course, had to learn this lesson the hard way (well, Jake and I both, really). Yes, me, the mommy who uses 70 EVERY time he's at the beach, the pool, etc. Me, who has managed to take him to the Dominican Republic and Mexico 4 times without so much as a hint of a tan line anywhere on his body somehow manages to get him totally fried here in NJ in April!!!!!! This all occurred while playing on the waterslide across the street with his friends Logan and Brianna while mommy sat right there watching in total ignorance (and getting burned herself on her arms).

He was burnt crispy on his arms and shoulders, because on top of the dingbat move of NO sunblock I also allowed him to to pull the 'ol "Logan doesn't have a water shirt on, why do I need one?" ploy...Oh vey! Needless to say we had a few VERY uncomfortable nights and also learned that he is VERY allergic to aloe...which every product known to man for soothing sunburn has in it:-(

The next day he was feeling much much worse and had a bad runny/stuffy noes that appeared to have no intention of slowing down. Off we went to the peds office where we were seen by the nurse practitioner who told us that his symptoms all pointed to allergies and that we should simply pick up some zyrtec and be on our way. That night, he awoke with a 103 fever and we were quite sure the zyrtec wasn't going to be the answer.

The next day, he was looking much worse and now was saying that it hurt him to pick his head up. We were thinking it had to be the sunburn on his shoulders, but his fever just kept climbing and so off we went to the peds (again) for what I thought was some kind of sinus infection or one of a million other things kids his age are always picking up...all of which every mother assumes an antibiotic will quickly cure. Well, they checked him for strep, which was negative, found a rash that was spreading even as we sat in the exam room and then just as we were about to be sent home with some kind of "virus" diagnosis, Dr. Scott said "I'm not comfortable sending him home because of the way he's guarding his neck. I want you to take him to the ER for a spinal tap to check for meningitis." OK, whether you're a mommy or not, the whole "spinal tap...meningitis" thing has to grab your attention in a BIG way!!!! SPINAL TAP on a 3 year old?!?!?!?! WHAT??!!?? (Note to self at this point...stop watching so much HOUSE)

After the shock began to wear off, we left for the ER. Luckily, we were able to avoid the spinal tap when the ped on staff noticed that the lymph node on the right side of his neck was very swollen and getting larger by the minute. At that point, the diagnosis changed to some kind of infection that had gotten into that lymph node. About an hour earlier, I had spoken to Aunt Bear and although we have this very same conversation each time I call her while in the middle of some medical emergency, we were both still torn about whether or not she should come all the way to the ER? (Just for the record, EVERY time this happens, we look back and wonder how we could even have questioned whether or not she should come? LOL) Luckily she decided to come and join Nanny and I, who admittedly had checked our brains at the door of the ER. Aunt Bear asked the doctor about the rash that was continuing to spread and with that added piece of info, they decided that Jake might have Kawasaki disease and that we needed to be transferred by ambulance to the infectious disease ward at St Peters in New Brunswick. First, SPINAL TAP, now INFECTIOUS DISEASE ward???!!! And what the heck is KAWASAKI disease?!?!? I must have aged 20 years over those 2 hours...

All the while, Jakey was laying there very listless and lethargic and we were all so worried about him!!! After an ambulance ride where we almost hit a deer, swerved and were on 2 wheels for about 10 seconds (there go another 10 years), we were admitted to St Peters. To make a VERY long story even just a little shorter, after about 5 days on IV antibiotics and a hundred cups of ice cream, Jake recovered enough to be released. (Not sure Nanny and I have yet to recover) Also not sure we'll ever know what caused the infection, but we were all very relieved to just go home. As usual, we couldn't have survived without nanny going back and forth to our house each and every day to bring us anything and everything we might need and of course, our daily visits from Aunt Bear!!!

Throughout the entire experience, he was a real champ, unbelievable when you consider what he went through. Here are a couple of pics of him during the time when he had taken over the playroom on the ID ward. Most amazingly, while playing one day, he actually wrote his ENTIRE ALPHABET on a piece of paper for us...this was a first and I couldn't have been prouder of him!!!

Here's a picture of it... and a few pics of him in his cute little hospital gown.

Not too bad for a kid with an IV in his writing hand!!