Kristen’s Blog

Isaac hasn’t been sleeping well at night and has either been staying up very late or waking up at some point in the night.  I think it might be the new medication, as dreaming is a side effect.  Last week, I was beginning to think I was taking care of a newborn again with the amount of sleep we have been getting.  The restless sleep could also be related to his teething.  He is getting his 2nd molars in now.

Speaking of teeth!  I was able to clean his teeth yesterday!  We had a kids’ day at our office and I saw 10 kids, the last one of the day being Isaac!  He did great!  My mom brought him in and he sat on her lap for the x-rays.  He sat by himself in the dental chair and did great!  After the x-rays he said, “I did it!”  He was so cute!  By looking at the x-rays it looks like he has yet another extra baby tooth lurking in there, for a total of 3 supernumerary teeth!  Poor kid!  He doesn’t stand a chance!  Two of the extra teeth are peg laterals (in english, two smaller sized teeth in front of his cuspids, or canines as they are sometimes called).  The other extra tooth is small and developing under the gums.  I am not sure it will ever make an appearance before he will have to have it removed.  We will wait another year to take x-rays to check the development.  He already has crooked permanent teeth on the lower arch.  He liked the x-rays, liked counting his teeth, didn’t like me scaling them, and liked the polish.  It was a GREAT first dental visit!  Yay for Isaac.  We took pictures and I’ll have to post them later when I get them from my mom.

This morning we ran into Dr. Pusser who treated Isaac in the emergency room when he was 2 weeks old.  She came into Costco (yes, my home away from home) and sat at the same table we were sitting at in the deli.  I introduced myself and Isaac and told her what she did to help Isaac.  She remembered his condition and what she did to help him.  She remembered he went to Cottage Hospital that night and asked about that.  We chatted for a while and when we went to leave, I told Isaac to tell her “thank you for taking care of me in the hospital” and he did!  On the way home, I told him that she was a very special lady who took good care of him when he was very sick when he was a baby.  (I was getting a little choked up telling him this in the car by this time.)  Then he said to me, “Mommy, I’m better now!”  Yes Isaac, you are better now.  I realized he knows so much more than I tell him.

I still haven’t heard from the doctor I saw last week regarding my upcoming surgery.  I am supposed to call him if I don’t hear from him by tomorrow.  I really want to get this scheduled and over and done with.  I hope I am able to get a surgery date within the month.

We are all doing just fine.  Isaac has been staying up later than normal because we have been watching him for any signs of side effects from the medicine he is on now.  He had a low grade fever the first night, but nothing out of the ordinary since then.  We realized this week that this is the 4th time he has had a feverish reaction to a vaccination/new medication, so that makes me feel better knowing it isn’t just this medication that causes the response.  Since he has been staying up late, he has needed longer naps.  He had a very exciting day yesterday when he went to the zoo with his friends and then only had a 1 hour nap.  He took a 3 hour plus nap today to catch up!  Now let’s hope he sleeps tonight…

Isaac is taking his medication well so far, but sometimes needs a little coaxing.  We had to give him a “high five” the other night if he would eat the applesauce that had his medicine in it.  This is a trick we sometimes do to get him to eat broccoli.  He likes broccoli, but doesn’t eat it very well if there are other more appetizing choices.  So we offer a “high five” if he eats a bite of broccoli.  Hey- it works!

We had a very yummy dinner with the Dollars tonight and it was good to get the kids together, too.  I don’t think the kids have seen each other since Julia’s birthday over the summer!  Wow!

Jeff fell asleep early tonight and I am about to do the same.  I am hoping we catch up on our rest this weekend, not just our sleep. 

Here’s a funny one for you, taken about a month ago.

Isaac had a heart test last week with his cardiologist and we went in for the consultation yesterday, Monday, for the results.  The doctor was concerned regarding some “interference” on the recording and it was easily explained away with realizing Isaac was likely jiggling the wire leads that were attached to his chest.  Not a problem.  Then the doctor asked me what he was doing at 11:30am.  Umm, I don’t know.  We were shopping… he could have been out of his stroller but most likely not.  He could have been playing, or walking, or running.  Not really sure.  We left from there to go to lunch at noon.  We had lunch and we were on the road to come home by 12:45.  He was definitely asleep by then.  The doctor said he wanted to review the recording again during that time period.  We waited.  He called us back into his office.  What was he doing at 1:45pm?  Sleeping.  Definitely sleeping, from 12:45 until about 3:20.  Hmm.  Then the doctor then told us the shocking news.

The tachycardia is back.  More accurately- did it ever leave?  His heart rate was between 160 and 190 for a couple of hours, right after the monitor was put on him until part way through his nap.  There was no good reason why his heart rate would have been up that high other than the fact that he still has the WPW.  He was sleeping.  Had he been running or playing we would have been able to explain why it was so high, but there is no other explanation.  So Isaac is back on heart medicine.  Not the digoxin, like last time.  This time it is atenolol.  With it brings more questions- what kind of a response should we expect? how long will it take for him to adjust to it? why can’t he take the digoxin? what if he gets sick?

Finding out that this problem has returned was just shocking.  I really thought we were done with this.  In the back of my mind, I thought he might have some other issues with his heart in the future but I thought it would be different.  I thought he would have been old enough to tell us something was wrong.  Instead we are left guessing again.  And with more questions than answers.  He doesn’t know anything is wrong.  He knows he is taking heart medicine again.  He doesn’t slow down for anything.

We will return for another holter monitor in May.  I thank God for our doctor in Santa Barbara.  I will gladly make the trip for the kind of health care we have received.  Gladly. 

I will post more as we know more.  It may take a while because this seems to be a slow process. 

BTW, I think I might have remembered how to post picts on my blog… yes it has been that long I am embarrassed to say.  Here, Isaac is reading a book to his friends: Elmo, Winnie the Pooh, Blankie Bear, and Nemo.  (I think we got all of them in there.)  Blankie Bear is by far his favorite “friend” these days.  Funny kid.