Minus 4 Tonsils & 2 Adenoids...and Corbin's in the hospital...

it's 140am and what i should be doing is cuddling up next to my precious little 4 year old, corbin...what i should be doing is resting--more specifically, sleeping--next to my sweet little boy...what i should be doing is taking advantage of the time that i have to let my body unwind while the room is dark and quiet--no breathing treatments for at least another hour and fever shouldn't begin to spike for at least another 30 minutes to an hour (if it follows the pattern it's established over the last 24 hours)....

but it's 140am and what i should be doing and what i'm actually doing are worlds apart...because it's 140am and i can't sleep...partially because i'm anxious...partially because i'm afraid to try to sleep (b/c i'll probably be woken up as soon as sleep finally overtakes me(if i'm lucky))...a huge part of it is because i didn't want to take my sleeping pill so that i would be fully aware of any need that corbin has...but i'm hoping that it's mostly b/c i'm just not at peace inside myself...and that once i release all the many thoughts and emotions bottled up inside me and share that the LORD will in turn grant me peaceful rest...

after begging the last couple of years to have brendan's tonsils removed, our (my) wish was finally granted & on december 30, 2007, he had his tonsils removed, adenoids removed (again--yes, they can grow back) and his turbinates (in his nose) worked on (i believe it's called something like "partial reduction of the inferior turbinates" or something like that)...the surgery went great...the only set back was that b/c of brendan's adhd (which we we'd suspected he had, but hadn't gotten a diagnosis), the narcotics wired & agitated him instead of bringing him comfort so we were only able to give him tylenol & eventually ibuprofen for pain...which meant he didn't rest hardly at all...but all thing come to an end and about 8 days after the surgery, he turned the corner and started getting better...

then, on january 6th, i had surgery...and without going into all the details, i'll just say that my gyn was pretty sure i have endemetriosis (which is what is causing the very heavy painful periods)...and he wanted to go ahead and remove my uterus to eliviate the problem...but my insurance said they wouldn't pay for the hysterectomy until i had 4 other procedures done 1st (seriously--what kind of backward heathcare is that!?!)...anywho, after discussing it, kelly and i decided that maybe the tricare doctor (meaning a doctor who works for tricare who was the responsible for denying the hysterectomy until the other 4 procedures were done 1st) was right...

some time during the 2nd week in january, corbin stopped eating...and this is VERY unusual for him--he's always been such a great eater...so i started being concerned about him, but since that was his only symptom, i didn't pursue it further...

then, on january 21st we received a call from the developmental specialist that we've been waiting 4 months to get brendan into at 445pm saying that they had an appt available the next morning (in lubbock)--and could we be there?? (if we said no, i'd have to take brendan by myself to the specialist---which i didn't want to do b/c i really felt that both kelly and i needed to be there--b/c kelly would be tdy at the time of the original appt)...so off we went to lubbock...and we finally have a diagnosis for brendan (i'll have to post that later)

by january 26th, i'd had enough speculations about corbin's lack of appetite and took him to the pedi...his tonsils were almost touching and he had strep throat--with NO symptoms!!!!--very very scary!!...and as it turned out, he'd been stopping breathing (obstructive sleep apnea) while sleeping...and, yes, by this time, i was feeling like a horrible mother b/c i didn't realize that the noise he was making in his sleep was due to him stopping breathing...ugh! and since we knew that kelly would be leaving soon for his tdy, i felt like if the tonsils needed to be taken out, we needed to get it done asap so that i wouldn't have to worry about it while he was gone...

so this past friday, february 6th, corbin got his tonsils taken out...and within minutes of him being brought to us out of surgery, he started barking like a seal which got the nurses attention and before we knew it, the anesthesiologist was ordering a breathing treatment...ok, no biggie...we get home, but that little motherly instinct just had me watching him closely...the next day, saturday, he started running fever...it was 102.5 at 2pm and so i gave him tylenol and called the on-call dr (the post-op paperwork says to call if fever gets over 102)...by 330pm, his temperature had rose to 103.5 and so i took him to the emergency room...and after being in there for about 3 hours with no iv or fever reducing agents, his fever spiked to 107.6 (yep, you read that right...the nurse checked it twice...and although my children both run high fevers (104.5) all the time with viruses, 107.6 seemed way out of control)...so he got admitted into the hospital...with what they were pretty sure was pneumonia...they tested for the flu and other things (one being a reaction to the anesthesia)...all came back negative--including a regular white blood count...and so as of this morning, we were told that he has bilateral pneumonia...that although they are treating him with antibiotics, more than likely he has viral pneumonia (which is not caused from the surgery intubation)...viral (vs bacterial) pneumonia can't be healed with antibiotics--it just has to run it's course...which of course can make it more dangerous...anywho, it's now been over 24 hours since he was admitted and started on 2 heavy antibiotics as well as fluid iv and he doesn't really seem to be getting better...at times he seems worse and at times he seems about the same...even with tylenol and ibuprofen, his temp never goes all the way down and about 3 hours after the last dose, his temp starts to rise again...he's doing two different breathing treatments as well as some percussion respiratory therapy every 4 hours...they'll repeat chest xrays and labs in the morning (which will be here within a matter of hours...it's now 3am (i've had to stop writing several times to take care of corbin))...

so that's the scoop on us...i appreciate the prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf...especially for little corbin...i can tell you that they are felt--if in no other way, this precious child has not complained even once about pain...he has been the most perfect patient--he's not trying to run down the hall--he's resting fairly well...as so as far as hospital experiences go, this one ranks at the top...ha, ha...

thanks for listening, for praying, for the phone calls & emails...for being the hands and feet of jesus to us...


blessings to you and yours...
candace

Humid desert?

Well I've been here almost 2 weeks now and I'm currently enjoying (sort of) my first day off. We've been busy. I think that's good though, it makes the time go by faster.
The weather here is pretty crazy. It's humid, which you wouldn't normally expect in a desert environment. I work from midnight to noon every day. when I get up and get ready for work it's still pretty hot and starting to get really muggy. By the time I get to work at midnight, the air is as thick as pea soup. The humidity continues to build throughout the early morning until sunrise.
You can sweat just by stepping outside. I have been drenched everyday by my own sweat. Luckily the laundry service is fairly convenient and timely.
I didn't imagine this weather when I was preparing to come over here. I figured the night time would be much cooler than the day. We actually look forward to the sun coming up. Because it's so hot it burns the humidity off pretty fast. By 7 or 8 in the morning it's fairly dry and getting hotter fast. It dries us of too. I can be drenched in my own sweat before sun up and almost completely dry 2 hours after the sun comes up. I know I don't stop perspiring, it just evaporates that quickly.
One thing that doesn't evaporate or disappear quickly is my longing for my family. That's one thing about this day off. It's a needed break physically and mentally, but it leaves a lot of time to think about what I'm missing at home. I believe in what we are doing over here. I know that if we do not fight our enemies here, who attacked us unprovoked, then they will bring the fight back to us. I know that I am where I'm supposed to be, even if I wish I were not. But it's still hard. I miss my wife. I miss my children. I miss my family (immediate, extended, church).
I pray that some good will come from this experience. That I will be test and grow spiritually. That I will come to appreciate my wife and children and family and friends love and friendship more and more. That we can achieve relative peace if only for a short while.