What a day and night!

To quote Heather, "It's just one of those...weeks? Maybe it's been a month."

I'll say! Jackson has had several hearing tests since he came home from the hospital. Each one was discouraging. Finally we were referred to the Pediatric ENT. Because Jackson's ear canals are so narrow, no one, not even the pediatric ENT has been able to see his ear drums. However the hearing test he had on Friday was promising. It had better results than his last one. So apparently as he grows, his canals get a tad wider.

We had a great weekend, nothing eventful. Just good family time. We did try this new Greek recipe. I'll do another post on that one later.

Sunday late night, Jackson wakes up at 12:52 am screaming. I give him some tylenol and baby orajel, cause I know he's got another tooth that bout ready to pop through. I fix him a bottle but when I come back from the bathroom, he's passed out, so I put the bottle in the fridge. I go back to bed where I toss and turn for an hour or so. Then Jackson wakes up at 4 am. Nothing I was doing was making him happy. He screamed for two hours straight. I just gated him in the living room and laid on the floor with him, praying he wouldn't wake anyone else up. By the time Jimmy got the boys up at 6am, I was in tears. I'd gotten 3 hours of sleep and knew my day was shot for any rest.

Jay had an eye at exam at the medical university for a second opinion on whether vision therapy was really needed for him. When I explained why we were there, they actually sneered. Apparently they've been having a lot of appointments for second opinions lately where vision therapy has been recommended from another optomologist. They did a lot more tests on Jay and assured me that there was nothing wrong with Jay's eyes other than him being slightly near-sighted. So there was no reason for me to waste my time, not too mention the money on something he doesn't need. He said, (and I quote) "There is no reason for anyone to waste their time and money on something that hasn't been scientifically proven it works." Didn't matter to me, I was just relieved that Jay's eyes are fine.

So we leave there, drop Jay off at school and head home. I call Jackson's asthma doctor and make an appointment for him to be tested for allergies. The three times I've given Jackson anything milk-related, he's developed a rash. Now that he's a year old, he can no longer get formula on his WIC, unless his pediatrician writes a prescription. After that call, I call his ped's office and request they write the prescription. We then headed down the road of his ped's office for a visit to the dermatologist. That doctor gave us a different med for Jackson's eczema. On the way home, we stopped at the ped's office and picked up the 'script.

We arrive at home at 2:50. Just enough time for me to change Jackson's diaper and head to the bus stop. Jackson is burning up! I take his temp rectally (I hate doing it that way) and it was 104. I gave him some tylenol and after we got Justin off the bus, I gave him a tepid bath. It's then that I realized he'd been sleeping all day. I just chalked it up to him having been up a lot the night before. When Jimmy came home from work, Jackson still had a fever. I sit down and write down all of his symptoms. High temp, loss of appetite, hardly any diaper changes, lethargic, extremely sleepy, wheezing (I'd given him two breathing treatments already). He had a few moments of energy but those were few and far between.

So I finally convince myself that I am just not going to get any sleep unless I call his pediatrician's office. Because of Jackson's medical history, I was told to take him to the ER just to be safe. So I load him up into the car and head downtown. His temp there was 102 (rectally) and they were concerned with his breathing. They send us to a room where most of the time, I sat with him sleeping in my arms. They gave him a breathing treatment with a stronger dose of albuterol than he gets at home. They're not satisfied with that so they send him for a chest x-ray. They saw a small hazy spot on his right lung that resembled pneumonia. Lucky me! Poor Jackson! The ER doctor said she was glad we'd brought Jackson in before he developed full blown pneumonia. He's given a shot of antibiotics and a prescription for me to fill. By the time we're sent home it's after 1 in the morning. My poor little guy didn't even budge when I put him in his bed. I collapsed into bed exhausted at 1:45.

Jackson slept all night and has been so much better today. His appetite is coming back, he's drinking his pedialite and even cruising around the furniture. We went to his ped's office for a follow up visit this morning. That went well. He has no more fever and his breathing has gotten better. His coloring looks much better and his eyes are no longer red.

Jackson had a check up with the pediatric neurosurgeon today. I had to reschedule that. Then I had to call and reschedule his appointment with the helmet guy (the Doctor that handles his helmet fittings) and the plastic surgeon even though those appointments were next week. The last two though are contingent on the neurosurgeon's visits.

I plan on going to bed at half past dark. LOL 7 hours of sleep in 48 hours is not something I'm used to. LOL I hope the rest of the week goes so much smoother.