Dillon to the Hospital

Dillon's flu started Thursday evening, we thought he was getting through it Sunday when he was able to keep some food down and his fever broke.  Unfortunately Sunday night he was still waking up frequently in pain.  Monday morning about 6 am he started screaming/crying telling us that his tummy hurt.  After almost 30 minutes not being able to soothe him we decided he needed to go to the ER.  He wanted mom so he and I packed up and headed out.  It worked out well that way, my fever was taking a break and Daddy was just beginning his.  

The pain would come in waves, one moment he was his normal self saying he wanted to go home, the next he was whimpering and clutching his stomach.  Fortunately it wasn't terribly busy there. The doctor came and and checked out his belly.  He was tender to the touch so they wanted to do some imaging.  They started with an ultrasound hoping to be able to see the appendix without exposing him to radiation.  That didn't work.  The next step was a CT.  To do that they have to have an IV.  He did not handle that well.  He was a trooper and held still but he screamed.  The nurse was very thorough with the tape so even when it was all in he would randomly start crying that is hurt because the tape was pinching him.  After a while he got it figured out.  They gave him some fluids since he'd been vomiting for so many days.  

The CT was quick and he was very brave.  When the results came back it was NOT his appendix!  Yay!  It is "Mesenteric Lymphadenitis".  Basically the lymph nodes in his abdomen and inflamed and tender.  There is no way to distinguish it from appendicitis without the imaging.  Unfortunately there isn't anything they can do.  They don't even prescribe pain medication because it can cause constipation and aggravate the condition.  He is mostly okay now.  Every once in a while it hurts him and he's down and out for a while.  He's going to try going to school tomorrow, it's a half day so I hope he can make it.  So glad it wasn't something more serious but I HATE seeing him in pain. 

We were there for 5 hours but at least they were able to give us some answers.  I love this sweet boy and I'm praying for a quick recovery.

A not so healthy Easter...

Easter this year was a tough holiday.  Starting Thursday evening Dillon had a fever, in the middle of the night it progressed to vomiting and by Friday morning he had a cough too.  He was sick through friday, through that night and was still throwing up Saturday.  So we put off egg coloring for as long as possible.  When he had a period were he was feeling a little better, and he said he wanted to do it, we did the coloring. 

 Having a sick little one definitely saps the fun out of it.  Kayda and Carson of course had fun dipping their eggs, we used the "neon" colors this year and they turned out a lot brighter which the kids all loved.  Dillon got to play supervisor and just told Daddy what he wanted done most of the time.  By Saturday night 4/5 of us had fevers.  Daddy was holding out.

 Sunday morning, Kayda was already sick, she has had a fever and a cough but it doesn't seem to do much more than make her sleepy. She was the first one up and ready for Easter.  Due to the boys being up off and on throughout the night we went ahead and let her start without them.

 The kids had to find the eggs with their first initial again which made it extra tough for Kayda.  The boys weren't there to narrow it down at all so she found many eggs that weren't hers and had to pass them by.

 Finally the boys woke up and wanted to come downstairs.  Dillon had been sick through the night again, waking up frequently.  He tried to come down once but was too dizzy so this was the second attempt.  Carson was up with hot and cold spells, and of course he was always running opposite whatever Mommy was experiencing at that time.  (It's really hard to take a hot shower with your freezing little one when you're having a hot flash)

 Despite being sick Carson didn't seem down at all.  He popped right up and was ready for egg hunting.  Later he took a couple short naps but most of his illness has been evident during the night with the extreme temperature issues.

 Dillon was trying to hard, wanting so badly to do his egg hunt but his body would just not cooperate.  We ended up pulling all his eggs and putting them in the fridge with the understanding that as soon as he felt well we would put them back where the Easter bunny had hidden them.  A few hours later and a couple false starts he was feeling well enough to do the hunt.  Then he was laying back down, still not feeling well.

We still haven't managed to have Easter dinner while we wait for everyone to feel well enough to eat it.  Despite the illness I think the kids enjoyed their Easter.

Independence Day!!!

Our Independence Day this year was fantastic!  It started out pretty rough, Carson has hand, foot, mouth so he didn't sleep much and I had to stay home with him for the first part of the day.  Our ward put on a special 4th of July breakfast, bike parade and craft morning.  So Tuesday we decorated the kids' bikes and Independence Day morning Daddy headed over to the church with Kayda and Dillon, Grandma and Papa G.  Grandma and Papa H came over for it too!  I wasn't there so I'm working with the pictures Daddy took, which weren't very numerous...  You will also notice that Daddy ventured into "fix Kayda's hair" land.  She was very patient and kind when telling Daddy that two was enough...  Turns out our ward is Grandma and Papa H's old ward from before they moved to their current home, go figure!

 Here's Kayda with her Sunday School teacher, Sister F.  Her teacher is SO sweet, we weren't there two Sunday's ago because Dillon had a fever so last Sunday she comes up to Kayda and says "I'm so glad you guys are feeling better I missed you!".  Kayda adores her!

 During the singing of the national anthem Dillon was enamored with the flag!

 Special moment between Papa G and Kayda

 Bike Parade!

 Craft time!  Kayda made a SUPER cute headband, only problem was the foam stickers weren't entirely on the paper so they stuck to her hair!

 Oooo tank time!  We didn't attend an actual tank wars this year but Daddy went back to basics with them and we did our own.

 One of the tanks came rolling toward them so they were running away, Dillon was surprised by how noisy they were!

Parachutes!

What in the world is she doing?  Popping a bubble of course!

Him too!

I was going through pictures and realized that pretty much the only pictures of Mommy and Daddy together are pre-kid... so we decided to remedy that.

Then Kayda decided to take one.

There's the headband she made!

Fireworks!  Kayda and Dillon were having a great time running up to the porch to grab the next one for Daddy to light.  Carson ended up inside with Mommy and a little later with Papa G.  He did NOT appreciate the noise!

Poor Cousin

Aileena, Kayda's second oldest cousin (7 years old), has been having quite an ordeal over the last couple of days. Unfortunately it will be a while until it is completely over. Thursday she had severe head and neck pain and numbness in her arm. She was airlifted to harborview where she was given steroids and a CAT scan. There was a large mass in her brain, fortunately the steroids helped with the numbness which is a good sign that permanent damage wasn't inflicted. She had an MRI and they found that it was a tumor. Yesterday she went in to surgery to have it removed. The doctors are very optimistic. It is a rare, aggressive type of cancer but it responds well to treatment and doesn't spread to other parts of the body. She will be having an MRI to make sure that they removed all of the tumor, she will have som radiation therapy and then regular MRI's to be sure it doesn't relapse. While she has been in the hospital the other cousins have been spending a lot of time together. They spent the first night with Aunt Anna and Uncle Scott (Jarrett, Nathan and Ella). Then Friday all the cousins played in the morning before Dillon, Kayda and Ella came home with me for Dillon's nap. Ella ended up wanting to have a sleep over here so she slept next to Kayda, sideways in the bed. They had a great time and Ella went to sleep more easily than Kayda and Dillon did (they were so excited that Ella was staying the night). Jarrett, Chase and Nathan stayed with Grandma Peggy. Here are the kiddos in Kayda's bed. Hopefully Aileena will recovery quickly because her siblings miss her VERY much. Ella doesn't understand exactly what's going on but she asks "Where is Aileena going to sleep?"

In the morning I heard Kayda moving around so I got up real quick to get her. She was in there saying "Ella...Ella". She wanted Ella to wake up and play. She didn't have to wait long. Ella was walking down the hall in just a couple of minutes. They were settled in to watch morning cartoons when Dillon woke up and wanted to sit by Ella too. So here they are all snuggled in together.