Physical therapy in a Mehta cast

E has been receiving PT services through early intervention since early February and we are making a lot of progress here. I finally INSISTED on getting an evaluation after the pedi and the ortho told me E would eventually catch up but I wasn't seeing it. She wasn't even able to roll over anymore and she had given up on crawling. I think both of those issues had something to do with having a cast with straps because once the straps were cut on the third cast she regained her ability to roll. At 14 months she still isn't walking on her own but yesterday during her PT session she stood unassisted for 16 seconds. Her PT informed me that children that can stand that long unassisted are perfectly capable of walking. She is still working out her balance in this cast but I have to say I am quite happy with cast #4.

The cast got all taped the other night. I went with a spring hello k.itty design. :)

Cast #4

Our 4th cast posed new difficulties completely unrelated to baby E. Poor Big Sis woke up Sunday with a stomach virus (4:45am). Since we were to report to Children's at 5:45am the next morning it was just not a good sign. I thought that Daddy would still be able to come with us and that Big Sis might just have a 24 hour bug and stay in the car watching movies during the casting but Daddy complained of nausea while I was getting ready to leave for the hospital. It was ok. I don't have much experience with where things are in B.oston but I was able to get home. We always go the same way to the hospital but for some reason we've come back at least 5 different ways.

My only gripe from the visit was we were told to come in at 5:45am when we didn't see a single doctor until 7am. In fact the doctors don't even seem to come in till 7 and it doesn't take an hour and 15 mins to take E's vitals. That is the only complaint and not unusual for medical professionals or hospitals I guess but it is annoying when you have a baby who wants to get up and go or fling herself off of everything. As usual the nurses were great, anesthesia was amiable and Dr. K was especially nice today. He agreed to order the allergy tests for Baby E that the allergist near home suggested. Since she isn't affiliated with B.oston Children's he had to order the bloodwork and he is responsible for getting me the results. It is above and beyond and saves Baby E a blood draw while awake. The cast itself seems to be the best we've gotten so far. The bottom was even trimmed enough that I didn't have to ask for any revisions.

We went with a green cast this time for spring. I lost our pretty green and yellow duct tape somewhere so I am not sure what we will choose to tape it.

Squishy time!

We were running late getting to the cast room as per usual (this time due to iced over cars, first day of spring no less). I swear we will never make it on time even if we leave on time then there is an accident on the highway but that is beside the point. The cast room was quite busy so we had a bit of a wait anyway. I have discovered the trick to minimizing crying in the cast room and it is cheesy poofs. Seriously those g.erber ones that the toddlers all love. They totally work. E's back still looks crooked to me. Actually it looks a little more crooked then after cast 2 but my eyes are not a precise measurement. We'll get a x-ray in May and that will tell us where we stand. Her skin is extra super flaky this time and I think she has a little bruising under her belly button. That could have been from her swelling up like a balloon last week which is my guess. Also the nice nurse at day surgery called me back to let me know that the blue baby and swelling incidents were due to the cast and her putting weird pressure in the groin area and not the hives. Not sure but apparently there are two different ways she could turn blue and/or swell. That's just peachy right! Also if they see hives on her Monday her cast will be canceled because anesthesia will refuse to put her under with hives. Great we are on Day 17 of this hive saga with no end in sight. Tomorrow we get to go have a chat with the allergist. Joy. I fracking hate hives.

Below you will see eating through the tears and the first belly scratches post cast removal.



Do you see the kind of people poor E has to live with? Big Sis gets her crazy from her Mama for sure :)

Nervousness

I don't know if other parents out there get this nervousness the day before the cast is removed but I certainly do. This is the third go round and I am still nervous. I worry that her back will won't look better or may look worse which I know is a bit irrational. I worry about the condition of her skin under the cast which is a valid concern. I worry about having to get the next cast on which is also valid I believe. E knows the cast room by now. She cries at the sound of a cast saw so I can only hope that the cast room is not busy tomorrow. E also has a cold. I hope it clears out by the time for the next cast or we may be canceled. I will just have to keep her in a bubble for the next week.

Day 15

We had a quiet weekend. It is hard to believe Cast #3 is coming off in 48 hours. Of course it is coming off sooner than it would have but with the doctor's schedule and our schedule this is what worked out. I have to say that the strapless cast is some much better for E's motor skills. She is rolling easily now where as with the other two casts she couldn't roll at all. We are having an explosion of motor skill work here. The PT is seeing vast improvement so it isn't just in my head. :)

Hive update. Day 15. Still hives. The pedi relented and gave me more prescription antihistamine but half as much as we got from the derm. Ug. We have an allergist appointment this week.

countdown

In less than a week we will have say good bye to cast #3. We will be happy to see this one go. It has been one thing after another in this cast and poor E still has hives in between doses of antihistamine. Day 10 of the saga of the hives. The more I think about it the more annoyed I am that it took 4 doctors to get a prescription for an antihistamine that worked. It just kept getting worse and we weren't getting listened to at all. Unfortunately I've learned that this happens too often. :(

Fingers crossed that the next cast and other issues don't suck quite as bad.

more snow :(

We are done with winter over here. We got 18 more inches of snow for Friday. Big Sis isn't going to have a full week of school for the rest of the year it would seem. E's snow suit wouldn't even zip up over this cast like it would over the other and it is grossly over sized for her poor little body otherwise. E has been very, very cranky. The hives are mostly under control now. She gets them about an hour before her next dose of antihistamine is due.

Daddy and Big Sis are going to see Clifford the Big Red Dog today while I stay home with cranky pants. Tomorrow E goes to the pedi for a check up since we can't seem to make it a whole week without seeing someone with an MD after their name. Fingers crossed for a quiet week.

drama drama

Things have quieted down today but I am beat. Big Sis decided to keep me up last night with her cold. She seriously gets the man cold. Ug. Anyway the rash situation got much much worse. On Monday I was told she had Erythema Multiforme and sent on my way. Tuesday morning was the purple incident and then E had a fever Tuesday night and vomited in the morning. She also gained a pound of water weight so I ran her back into the ER since our dermatologist appointment wasn't until the afternoon. I thought this time I would go to B.oston because everyone raves about that hospital. I can say I really don't know what the fuss is about and next time I will go back to W.orcester since their pedi ER is newer and nicer, I was kept better in the loop and not dismissed the way I was on Wednesday. They did NOTHING for us and told me everything was "normal" and there was no reason to bring her in. They also had no hospital crib in the ER room so things were bad for me the whole time. They let me go in time to get to W.orcester for our appointment. I walked in there and found out that they made the appointment for Tuesday and informed me I hadn't shown up. I pointed out my discharge papers said clearly "TOMORROW @ 2:40pm" and I was in the ER until 4pm and it is in fact physically IMPOSSIBLE for me to be in two places at once. They squeezed us in and informed me that E did not have erythema multiforme because that rash doesn't move around like I've been showing all the doctors... Seriously I keep taking pictures and dragging the camera everywhere. The arrogant doc in B.oston wouldn't even look at them. Had she looked maybe she would have seen it. Had she listened to me maybe she also would have been able to diagnose her correctly. So finally after 3 days of a miserable baby we got prescription antihistamine which works like a charm. I don't know why it is so hard to get listened to?!?! I felt like W.orcester listened but even they came up with the wrong diagnosis. I am just happy they didn't blow me off. Now I have to find a decent allergist. Safe to say I won't be dragging the girls to one particular hospital for that!

What a day :(

So in another installment of touring the pediatric ERs of the northeastern US, E turned all kinds of purple and blue today between Big Sis's gymnastics and eating lunch before school. You can see below. When I saw her fingers, lips and toes all blue I freaked a bit. We rushed her in to the ER. Yesterday she was diagnosed with a penicillin allergy and we were told that the rash would last for a while. What we weren't told was that there was a spectrum of rash that goes from some itchy hive-like rash to YOUR SKIN FALLING OFF. Seriously. Glad I didn't goo.gle that S&*^ yesterday! Anyway the ER was a bit worried but her oxygen levels kept coming back ok so after observation and benadryl (which they later told us doesn't do much for this anyway) we were sent home with an appointment to see the dermatologist tomorrow and instructions to come back if E's skin starts peeling. As in peeling off her body all horror movie style. Ug. One more thing to worry about when I am trying to get some rest. I am seriously going to start developing OCD over here and check her 100 times a night.

Sigh

Dante missed a special level of hell. It is when your baby in a cast gets hives. Poor E is apparently allergic to the penicillin family of antibiotics. Daddy had her last night and he noted she was crabby but nothing else. I noticed her neck looked red but I thought it was a rash from the drooling since she is getting her other top front tooth. I was partially right. It is a rash for sure. When I changed her diaper it became clear what the rash was... HIVES. And they sure did blossom. She had hives covering her tummy on her face, neck, legs and even her ears and head. Poor little monster kept trying to scratch. So we did make it one full week without a doctor visit but not more than one week and a day. She very itchy and hence very cranky :(

quiet over here

Turns out the infection from two weeks ago wasn't MRSA so that chapter seems to be over and done with. We got the news this week that E's three cultures came back clear. We needed to get cultured 3 separate times in 3 areas to be cleared. We won't have to be kept in isolation and treated like lepers this time! Last time they had to tape off the bathroom in the day surgery after I used it because we were the MRSA lepers. I felt like they were going to call the hazmat squad just because I had too much water on the way in. E's ear infection also seems to have cleared up. That was our fun for last weekend going in to urgent care.

We got our out of cast family pictures back!