Goodbye Ear Infections

Logan had tubes put in his ears this morning at Primary Children's Hospital.  Everything went really well.  We are hoping this helps him keep those blasted ear infections away that make him so miserable, and we also hope to see some improvement in his desire to walk and talk. 
The procedure was really as easy as everyone told us it would be.  The drama all came from my anxiety beforehand.  I was stressed out because they wait until 3 p.m. the day before to tell you what time he is scheduled to go in.  That is so inconvenient when you are trying to find places for your other kids to go.  When they said we were first case I was happy because that meant Logan had less time he had to go without eating, but also stressed because that meant we had to leave our house by 6 a.m.  That is a lot to ask a neighbor to be awake and take your sleeping kid at 6 a.m. not to mention a grumpy kid that had to be woken up.  Thankfully Brad's parents were willing to drive out here at 5:30 a.m. to stay with the kids and get them out to school and friends before they headed over to their shift at the Temple. 
I wasn't necessarily nervous about the actual procedure, but I was nervous how Logan would respond to being at the hospital.  I think he has a little post traumatic stress from all the previous hospital visits (I know I do).  He doesn't respond well to people in a full set of scrubs... they usually poke him :) and he remembers those hospital cribs.  My parents have a crib at their cabin that looks similar to a hospital crib (lighter wood and thin slats) he won't even go in the room with the crib, and has a full on panic attack if you try to put him in it!
The toys in all the waiting rooms kept him pretty occupied, along with watching Elmo on the Ipad!  I did ask that they give him versed to make the hand off a little less traumatic.  Brad didn't really want to give it to him, but I think it made it easier.  I really didn't want him scared by anything, and he would be if he realized a stranger was taking him from me.  By the time they wheeled him away in the wagon he was so relaxed and out of it that he didn't realize I wasn't with him.  We waited in the waiting room for all of about 20-30 min. until we could go back with him.  He was just waking up when we got there, and wasn't super happy, but apple juice calmed him right down.  He guzzled the first 4 oz. and then was mad that we wouldn't give him more!  All said and done we were in and out in about 4 hours... wish every hospital visit was that easy!

Baby Steps (delayed post)

I started this post right before we had a month of SICKNESS and I never got back to it until now!  Angee the Seattle pictures are for you!...

So some would say Logan is pretty attached to me, Brad would say I am just as attached to Logan!  We have been taking "baby" steps all summer to get to the point where both Logan and myself are comfortable with separation!  It started in July when we left him for the first time with a babysitter long enough to go to dinner and a movie.  This was a HUGE step- I had left him with others before this (Brad, Grandma and a neighbor).  But this was the longest and the first time anyone else had put him to bed... (should I admit I texted the sitter through the whole movie)!   Everything turned out great so we got a little braver and in August we decided Ashlyn and Tanner needed a day with us, so we left Logan with our neighbor ALL day so we could all go to Lagoon.  Then came the opportunity for me to have a girls night, and go to  Education Week with all my neighbors- this gave me the extra push to finally stop nursing completely.  He was upset about that for about 2 weeks, and let me know he wasn't happy with this, but we are over that hump now!  So I spent a night away from him and had a great time with the girls.  Over Labor Day I stayed at the cabin with Ashlyn and Tanner, while Brad and Logan got some good time together at home.  All this leading up to me finally getting the courage to take a trip with my hubby.  My neighbor offered us free airline tickets and told us we needed a vacation.  It wasn't the 10 year anniversary trip we were planning when we ended up taking Logan to Philadelphia, but it was a great escape.  My parents watched the kids and Brad and I took a 4 day trip to Seattle.  It was great and Logan and the kids did GREAT.  My parents are SAINTS, and I am so grateful we got to go.  We wanted somewhere close that we didn't have to spend all day traveling, and we didn't really care what we did, we just wanted to relax.  My goal was to get my blood shot, sleep deprived eyes looking normal again! Mission accomplished!  We loved the city, and did all the "touristy" stuff- the Space Needle, The Duck Tour (land and water machine),  A fun cruise (saw the house from Sleepless in Seattle, and went through the Locks- that was really cool).  We also did the underground tour, ate at lots of yummy restaurants (not a single chain restaurant), went to the movies, and shopped a lot!  Loved it all!

 What a beautiful city!  You can see Mt. Rainer in the back.  They say that you can only see this about 80 days out of the whole year.  We had fabulous weather.

Appointment Update

Logan had his check up with his Cardiologist yesterday.  Everything heart wise looked great.  His blood pressure, and EKG were good.  Saturations at 85% even with not feeling well.  Dr. Mack was concerned that he is a little dehydrated from all this gunk he has been going through.  He was very helpful in giving us ideas to try to get him to eat and drink more.  He made me feel like not such a horrible mom for the bad habits we are developing!  The only way I have gotten Logan to eat anything for the past 5 days is put him on the couch, get him interested in a movie, and then sneak a bite here and a bite there.  If I try to put him in his chair at the table he is crying before I can even get the buckles on.  So out of desperation to avoid a hospital stay for dehydration, I feed my child in front of the T.V.  A habit I know we will have to break when we can.  Dr. Mack was handing him suckers and saying do whatever it takes to get him to eat.  Dr. M was pleased with Logan's growth, and doesn't want to see him back for.... 1 YEAR!  Yes, can you believe it?  Maybe after we get this ear thing figured out Logan can just be a "normal" little boy and not spend so much time at the doctors office.  We discussed the timeline for his next surgery, and he is hopeful Logan will not need the Fontan before age 3.  He might even go until he is 5 before needing it.  Only time will tell. 
So for now I am going to try and not think about it so much.  Lately the thought of this next surgery has almost consumed me with anxiety and nightmares.  It has been hard watching (reading) about some of our little heart friends that have struggled so much with this surgery this summer.  We will cross that bridge when we get there.
We met with an ENT this morning up at University of Utah Hosp. and he has scheduled Logan to get tubes on November 1st.  Hopefully we can keep him ear infection free until then.  Brad and I both feel like tubes are the best option for him.  His body is revolting against constant antibiotics over the past couple of months (70 days of oral antibiotics since June and a round of shots).  He is still not himself, and his ears are clear right now, so I think his gut is just not feeling right.  He hasn't crawled around and played on the floor since Thursday.  He just lays around or I am holding him constantly.  I keep trying to tell him if he eats he will have energy to play, but he doesn't believe me :)
Best news though is his heart is functioning as it should, and we can deal with ears!  That is just "normal" baby stuff! 

SICK

My little boy is sick, sick, sick.  And I am so tired of seeing him suffer.  It has been a LONG week.  First off, I took him to the Doctor 2 1/2 weeks ago and he had another ear infection.  We finished the 10 day cycle of the antibiotic and he was still acting like something was wrong so I took him back to the Dr. Wednesday afternoon.  Sure enough the ear infection hadn't cleared up (not a surprise since he has been on antibiotics almost constantly since June).  So our option was to try a stronger oral antibiotic or start the Rocephin shots.  We decided to try and avoid the trauma of the shots.  He had one day of the oral antibiotics until he came down with the stomach flu and couldn't keep anything down.  So I called the Dr. Friday to ask what I should do about him missing his doses of the antibiotic.  He wanted to see him.  So I took him in and somehow between Wednesday and Friday he developed an ear infection in the other ear.  So now we are dealing with DOUBLE ear infections, the stomach flu, diarrhea- oh and did I mention he is cutting his "I" teeth too.  My poor little guy is miserable.  We had to start the Rocephin Shots (antibiotic shots) since he hasn't really eaten since Thursday he can't take an oral antibiotic.  So for the last 3 days we have to go to the pediatrician for 2 shots a day.  Logan now cries the minute he sees the nurse.  It is breaking my heart.  He just wants me to hold him ALL day.  If Brad even tries to talk to him he will turn his head and look away.  So my house is a mess, I haven't put makeup on for 3 days now, and my poor kids are so stir crazy.  (Did I mention Ashlyn and Tanner had the flu too).  The silver lining... the kids were pretty good about making it to the bathroom.  We only had to scrub the carpet twice!
We are now going the route of tubes for Logan.  He has had 6 ear infections in 4 months (2 of those requiring 2 cycles of antibiotics).  We thought we had it figured out when we took him off dairy, but I guess that wasn't what was causing them.  We will wait to hear from Primary Children's tomorrow to see when they can get him in.  We have been working with his pediatrician trying to figure out how to avoid tubes and ANOTHER time having to be put under anesthesia, but I think it is our only option now.  Since June we have had 21 visits to his pediatrician- that is more than 1x/week.  INSANE!
We also see the cardiologist on Tuesday for his 6 month check.  I pray all of this is just "normal" baby stuff and not related to or effecting his little heart.  Wish us luck, and I'll keep you posted.

We have spent hours in the swing.  It is about the only place other than my arms that he isn't crying or whimpering.  He will let me push him for 30 min. at a time.  I just pull up a chair and push away.  Something about it must be soothing.