Where have I been? I have been through Pneumonia with 2 kids, an ear infection, 2 teeth and melanoma. It's been a rough couple of weeks, but I think we have pulled through it.
So Little Man started with a fever one Sunday and just wasn't feeling good. I did what any good parent would do when he woke with a fever on Monday morning (and I had to be to work because my boss was on vacation and 8 new employees were starting that day), I loaded him up with tylenol and motrin and sent him to daycare. I get so angry at those parents...darn them for exposing my child, then I went and did it myself. He was okay at the end of the day and for the rest of the week. Then the next Saturday he woke at 1:30am crying in pain. I went in and calmed him down, he felt warm but I didn't do anything about it. He woke again at 2:45am. That time he was burning up and taking very short and shallow breaths. I gave him some motrin and breathing treatment. He was breathing normally during the treatment, but went right back to short shallow breaths as soon as I took the mask off. I took him back to my room, then decided to take him to the ER (30 minutes away). By the time we got there, his fever was gone and he was breathing normally. $100 later, we got sent home.
He threw up Saturday morning then he was in and out of a fever of over 102. By Sunday I couldn't get his fever down. At one point he had a temp of 102.5, I gave him motrin, and checked him 45 minutes later - he was up to 104.1. I called the pediatrician who said to take him in. This time I took him to the best hospital in the area (45 minutes away) that has a pediatrician on in the ER staff at all times. Another $100 later we found out he had bacterial pneumonia. Oh...and by the way, since your daughter is cranky and running a low grade temp take her to the pediatrician tomorrow.
Little Man got his antibiotic on Sunday and starting taking that with the probiotic miracle powder (if you haven't used this stuff for your kids when they are taking antibiotics, start - it's great).
On Monday Ladybug went to the doctor where we discovered she had viral pneumonia and an ear infection. Hellllooooo....this explains why my normally easy going child was being a cranky and clingy mess. Poor little thing cut 2 teeth during this whole thing.
Both came out of it like troopers and are back to normal. During this whole thing we also discovered that the hubs had another Melanoma. If you are counting, I think this makes #5. It was another one that he found himself and asked to have it removed. Another one where the doctor thought it was nothing but removed it anyway. The path report came back last week, and thank goodness it was a melanoma that was just on the skin level; it hadn't gone in any deeper.
The doctor seems to think that he is rare because his body is making melanomas out of moles that appear to the normal run-of-the-mill moles. This rarity does not make me feel good. It actually scares this crap out of me because he has hundreds of moles and we just don't know what's lurking in any of them. The doctor suggested that he get back in touch with his doctor at Mass General in Boston because he is the number one guy in the country for up and coming genetic testing for melanoma. I am working on the hubs for this. I am also working on getting him to call his oncologist, whom he only sees once per year, about a full-body scan.
After all of that, I was sitting in my office last week listening to two of my co-workers (just outside my office door) discuss the pros and cons of a particular tanning salon in the area. I wanted to scream at them!
So what appeared to be a long bloggy vacation wasn't a vacation at all. It was a time of sickness and healing.
As many of you know, the hubs had surgery a few weeks ago to determine whether or not his melanoma spread to his lymph nodes. Prior to the surgery, we met his surgeon. In she walks wearing stripper shoes peek toe stilettos with her white lab coat. Really? Have you ever seen a doctor wear stripper shoes peek toe stilettos? No? Me either.
On the way home, we talked about it and laughed. My final thought on it was, well at least she’s styling up the place.
We show up for the surgery and see her before he goes under the knife. She doesn’t have on the stripper shoes peek toe stilettos. I said to her, “What? No high heels for surgery?” She laughed and said, “No,” then went on to remove a few lymph nodes from his groin area.
The surgery ends and all is well. The hubs saw her again late last week for a follow-up. I didn’t attend this little visit because he is cancer free and didn’t really need me there.
He had an appointment with a dermatologist yesterday (got 4 more moles removed). The dermatologist said to him, “So, Dr. Peektoe Stiletto did your surgery? What did you think of her? I hear a lot about her.” This comment from the dermatologist sparked a conversation at Wednesday Night Dinner.
Apparently, the hubs has given her a lot of thought. He described her to Metro, one of our Wednesday Night Dinner guests, as a cross between Catherine Zeta Jones and Demi Moore with stripper shoes (my hubs is not anywhere near fashion forward enough to use the words peek toe).
WHAT? He has given her that much thought? Are you kidding me? You have thought that much about a woman who has seen your nether regions? WHAT?
If she weren’t so friendly and compassionate, I would be thoroughly annoyed. Now I am only slightly annoyed.
The phone call came last night while we were finishing up dinner. The one we had been waiting for, but didn't expect until Monday. The phone call that had my heart in my stomach and me waiting on pins and needles. The lymph nodes were free of cancer! THE HUBS IS CANCER FREE! My heart did a million cartwheels and I wanted to scream it from the mountain tops!
For all of you that were praying, sending warm thoughts and hugs our way - thank you! God is good!
We dropped Little Man off with Grammy at 10:00am (Ladybug doesn't like to be too far away from her food source, so she tagged along), then headed to the hospital. I had Kohl's cash, so the hubs was a trooper and stopped there first. I can not let $30 go to waste. We got to the hospital, Ladybug in tow, at 11:00. We were a little early, so I decided to feed her in the car. Halfway through I looked out my window and saw the security camera aimed right at me. I'm so glad I decided not to be too discreet - when I show up on the internet, bare breast exposed, you'll know it's because I had no idea we parked under a camera.
Upon check in, we asked what we were supposed to do next. We found out we had a hour and a half wait for nuclear medicine. Yikes - that's a lot of time to kill in a hospital. I had lunch; the hubs couldn't eat anything. Part way through, Grandpa showed up and took over Ladybug duty. He got in all the Ladybug love he could yesterday.
At 1:00 the Hubs had the nuclear medicine injected in to the site of the melanoma. Apparently it was 4 injections of fire. They don't numb the area or sedate for this procedure, but I have come to the conclusion they should provide Valium at the very least.
Immediately following, we head up to surgery again. It's there we find out that they were expecting him there much earlier. What that means is the hour and a half we were trying to kill was for no reason at all. The took him in immediately and prepped him for surgery. I sat with him through most of it. He was pretty nervous, but everyone around was very friendly - that eased his nerves a bit. When it came time for the IV, he went as white as a sheet. He's not so good with needles - he mentally breaks down and then his veins collapse. It took the nurse about 10 minutes to finally get the IV in there and going. The nurse on the "sleep team" gave him something to relax him following the IV episode, so all was well again. Following that, I asked the nurse on the "sleep team" if he could come home with me and work with Ladybug in the middle of the night. Anyone that calls himself part of a "sleep team" must be a sleep expert!
He was wheeled away from me, then I started a little bit of a panic. I think I watch too much television - people going under the knife for simple surgeries and tragedy strikes. I have a vivid imagination when I let my mind wander. I snapped myself back into it and went to find Grandpa and Ladybug cruising the halls trying to get a nap.
The surgery started at 2:36. The doctor came out to see me about an hour later. She said he did very well and was hopeful that there wasn't any cancer in the lymph nodes she removed. She said the nodes are usually black when they are removed. His were not black, but, she cautioned, they need to be looked at under a microscope to be sure. She was very positive about it, so that eased my mind slightly. Obviously, I will not rest until the results come back.
We were home by 6:30. The hubs spent the evening on the couch in and out of sleep. He finally went to bed at about 9:30 and tossed and turned most of the night.
Today the Hubs goes under the knife. He is scheduled to have a wide excision on the site where the melanoma was removed and to have nuclear dye injected into that site. The nuclear dye will tell the surgeon which lymph node(s) that mole drained into, and the surgeon will remove that node. The node will be sent for a biopsy. Apparently there are 3-4 pathologists that will read the report, so it will take about a week for us to get the results.
At the consultation, the surgeon soothed our nerves a bit. She said she thought the chances were slim that the cancer had spread to the lymph system. The surgery, however, is still recommended because of his history. I won't rest easy until the pathology comes back clean.
If you're a mom reading this, I beg you...please, please put sunscreen on your kids and reapply every 2 hours. Make sure you put it on under white and other light colored shirts as well (they don't protect against UV rays). Most skin damage is done in childhood - you can prevent what is happening to the Hubs by being diligent with the sunscreen.
Ladybug woke at 3:43am. I usually turn on the television the Hubs set up in her room to keep myself awake. I didn't need the television last night; I had my thoughts and eventually a conversation with God. It would seem that I can not escape my thoughts these days. They are continually on the Hubs and his health. So there I was, at 3:43am nursing Ladybug crying and praying. I keep praying that the Lord will wrap his Holy Spirit around me and put peace in my heart, but my heart doesn't feel any less heavy. With each passing day and with each passing prayer, my heart feels the same crushing pressure it has felt for exactly one week now.
I took Ladybug in for her 2 month well baby visit last week. The good doctor said he recommends that I purchase a product, which can only be found online, called "just D." Apparently, according to him, we don't get enough sun exposure in this part of the country; Ladybug, as a result of this lack of sun exposure, might be deficient in Vitamin D.
Hmmmmmm...The hubs was just diagnosed with his 4th melanoma the day before. He grew up here. Can he really tell me there's not enough sun exposure? The cancer disagrees. Dumb Ass.
Alright, alright. So the guy had no idea what transpired for us that week, but still my immediate thought was...dumb ass.
