5 day stay at vandy

on fathers day, my body decided it wanted to get sick. sunday (fathers day) we went out on the boat, and i started running a high fever, literally out of no where, and my stomache started hurting so bad, that i was stuck in the fetal position. the pain got worse through out the night. Allen and i both thought they were just gas pains, and if i was to go to the ER, they would just pump me full of pain meds and send me on my way. i took some tylenol for the fever, and Corbin's pediaLAX for "gas", thinking that would help. i took a hot bath, and laid down with a heating pad. none of these thing seemed to help at all. as a matter of fact, my belly became extended, hard, and painful to the touch. I couldnt even move not even an inch without hurting so bad that i would start to sweat. lol. i ended up being up all night because of it. so the next morning when the sun finally came up, I woke allen up, and told him that this was in fact NOT by any means "gas pains". that something else was going on, and that i needed to go on to the hospital. we got dressed, he dropped me off and him and corbin went to work. i was to call him when i got out, or what ever they planned to do.
of course they pumped me full of pain meds, and did a cat scan. it came back showing that i had ascites, which was also in my colon and large/small intestines, and was also showing infection in the ascites. so off to vanderbilt i go. when i got to vanderbilt, the pain meds were still not working. in fact the only way i could get any relief was for the antibiotics to kick in and start working. 4 days later, i finally started feeling better. i stayed in the MICU/SICU for 5 days before i was able to go home.
oh, and the fluid!....it was TERRIBLE! let me just tell ya, when i retain fluid it starts in my ankles and works its way up. by time it gets to my stomache, it starts to "settle" and causes pitting edema everywhere. especially on my hips/love handles/stretchmarks lol..... TMI? sorry....  anyways, it gets so bad that where the fluid is, it goes numb. for instance my sides get so much fluid that they are numb. it also gets so bad that i start "leaking" fluid. my stretchmarks burst open and drain the fluid out.....TALKING ABOUT BEING MISERABLE!!!!!!

july 3rd i have to go see the "female" dr. to find out about getting my tubes tied. :) no more babies for this girl! ones enough for me!
july 10th i have to go see dr. perri for a check up since ive been out.

Diastat and Keppra for Corbin

Now for the more important things in life:  SEIZURES!  So he’s had 10 seizures in less than 2 years. I don’t know about you, but that’s about ten too many for me to have to deal with.  Now granted they all were fever induced, the first is just as scary as the last. He was admitted to the hospital for 3 days due to a cluster of 3 seizures, leading up to him having to miss out on his LAST tee ball game of the year, awards day, and trophies.  I must say im one very proud mama.  My 3 year old son won top seller of sun drops out of the entire league this year. He even sold more cases than the older kids too, not just his t ball team. But the ENTIRE LEAGUE!!!!! My Corbin got out there and sold 25 cases of sun drops and other beverages. MY CORBIN!..... YES…. MY…. CORBIN …..HAHA…. sun drop bottling company presented him with a special gift. Thank goodness my friend Dana picked it and his trophy up for us, so we could stay with Corbin at the hospital.  Dr. Mangru felt that Corbin needed some medicine at home to stop the seizures. So I asked him to refer us to Vanderbilt.  We confirmed our appointment with Dr. Anderson, pediatric neurologist, in the pediatric neuromuscular clinic in cool springs, TN.  Friday just couldn’t come fast enough. Having to wait 3 long weeks before he could get in to see the doctor, those days dragged slowly by. I felt terrible because Allen wasn’t able to make it to this appointment because he had to work. I know he felt the same way! I mean were going to a doctor that may or may not change our lives forever. So my aunt went along with me, because I needed her to watch Corbin while I had my appointments at Vanderbilt done as well. We got there, got him signed in, filled out the paper work and insurance stuff. Then he gets called back. I was nervous and excited at the same time. My poor heart didn’t know what was going on. J We get back there, and the nurse is asking me all kinds of questions, from “what he was doing before the seizure?”  “What did he look like while having a seizure? How long did EACH one last? Did he turn blue? Was there more than one? What did you do for him after the seizure was over?  She was on top of her game.  She leaves the room and Dr. Anderson came in, and examined him. Corbins head measured out to be rather large. That’s ok, just means more room for more brain. He literally examined him from head to toe.  I remember him asking if corbin had any difficulty swallowing, in that case he did when he was a baby. (He aspirated on his formula, but passed the swallow study.) he would sometimes gag on baby food. So his TEIS teacher worked with him to get him better at eating.  he informed me that  he thinks corbin may have a condition called “mild congenital ptosis”, in other words, droopy eyelids. Now, when Corbin was in the NICU, We were informed that he might need reconstructive surgery on his eyes and jaw, because his facial bones were too small for his eyes, chin, and tongue. But luckily his head grew in normal, and large, so we didn’t have to put or precious baby through that kind of surgery. But the ptosis can cause a lazy eye, which is already noticeable on Corbin, and some cases it causes vision loss, just because the levator muscle in the eyelid malfunctions, and either stops working or doesn’t work at all, and the lid will start slowly covering the pupil, to where they either hold the head back and chin up to see below the lid or constantly raise the eye brows to lift the lid off the pupil. In carbines case he lifts his eyebrows.  Corbin has to go see his ophthalmologist at Vanderbilt children’s hospital about the condition.  The doctor says some cases they just wear a patch or glasses, but in some cases surgery would have to be done. Until we go see the eye doctor we won’t know anything else about this. Besides it’s considered “cosmetic surgery”, until it starts affecting the vision, then it would be classified as a medical issue.  He put Corbin on 2 anticonvulsants.  Diastat and Keppra.  The diastat is only used for when he is having a seizure, only to help stop it. The Keppra is taken 2 times a day, until further notice. He had and EEG done Tuesday. Sadly I didn’t get to make it because I have been in the hospital myself. But Allen says everything went well, and the doctor didn’t see anything abnormal. THANK YA JESUS!  But now were waiting on them to schedule a brain MRI. It has to be done at VCH because he has to be sedated for it. But… that’s all we know for now…

I’m almost caught up on all this blogging… my hands have literally cramped up because of all this typing!  J It’s well worth it though.

buck tooth vaneers!

So I love how I lost track of where I was at.

 But Im thinking we were at corbins dental work.

So that’s where were gonna pick up where we left off.

So corbin had his  3^rd dental procedure done a few weeks after he had his last seizures.

 Needless to say, he looks just plain silly.

All of the necessary antibiotics, medicines, PTN’S  lipids, type of formula he was on, the reflux medicine, iron and fluoride drops, all have basically ruined his teeth, which we were told that all that medicine would affect his permanent teeth as well as the baby teeth.

 His permanent ones will come in some shade of brown, but not sure how bad or even if they will be brown at all.

either way if they need it, they will be fixed.

his first dental surgery, he was too young to be put to sleep in the office so we had to drive all the way to Smyrna, to the Smyrna surgical center to have him put to sleep, so that they could fix his teeth. 

I think it was a total of four cavities, a baby root canal, or a pulpotamy as they like to call it, on one of his front incisors. Also, they put two silver crowns on two of the teeth which they did the pulpotomies on those to teeth as well.

Then they put bonding on his two front teeth and the one between the front tooth and the left k9.

One front tooth grew in normal, the other grew in with a chip in it, and brown at that.

Then the one beside the k9 just basically broke down to the gum line.

So that was his first dental procedure. 

I really didn’t mean to go that deep into his first one.

But it was a big deal to us because it was under general anesthesia.

The second one I didn’t get to go because I had strep. Lucky me! 

the one he just had about a couple of weeks ago , allen and I got ready and headed up there early, so we could get there in time for him to drink the goofy juice,  and wait on daddy to get back.

He had to go and give all his information  to the bonnarroo people and get his bracelet.

when he finally made it back, I was past exerted, because corbin did the complete opposite of what he did last time drinking that goofy juice. 

This time he fought the medicine. 

He was yelling, screaming, singing, crawling around like a baby all over the dentist office.

HE WAS A MESS!

When it was time, they came and got us and we went into the room with him and watched dr. curry work on his little bitty tiny teeth.

after they did the other 3 pulpotamies on his front four teeth,he had 3 porcalin crowns put on .

They mentioned just pulling his teeth and let him just run around all snaggle tooth, But dr. curry decided that he would rather see corbin with teeth than to see him with out any.

Even if they are baby teeth, the only problem we have is the crowns are just way too big for his little bitty tiny mouth, and they are much bigger than the rest of his teeth.

Also a totally different color than the  others too.

My poor feller has basically got buck tooth vaneers! Haha!!!!

No joke!

  he even talks differently now.

I have even seen him bite his lip on accident just trying to talk.

 So when he goes back for a check up, were gonna see if they cant just shave them down some or just take them out.

But for now were gonna do our best getting used to them.

I admit, he does look cute with big buck teeth lol

seizures, surgeries, medicines, and my handsome 3 year old!

So for the past six months, I have managed to stay OUT of ALL known hospitals. Ok, So let me rephrase that. I have been going once a week for probably about five to six months or so to have labs drawn, but thats ALL I had to go up there for. THANK YA JESUS!. (I would much rather travel the 2 miles to Southern Tennessee Medical Center,   than the 180 miles round trip to Vanderbilt every Wednesday.) It totally saves time, gas, money, and miles on my car. I was also able to get my hands onto a “standing order” just in case I’m out of town and I need labs drawn, then all I have to do is go to the nearest hospital wherever that may be, and just show them that order and I’m good to go! Oh yea, now my little family can start going on family vacations, and know that we have everything we need if something was to go wrong! So on that note, I want to apologize for being such a slacker on blogging. But between this time and the last, A LOT has happened, so I’m thinking instead of getting behind, I’m just going to do maybe 2 blogs tonight and the rest tomorrow. And also fill you in on what’s going on with me right now. So…..be it as it may….here is what’s been going on. AGAIN!!!!
Corbin’s malfunctions are now functioning!
His T&A and ear tube surgery obviously went fine. His 3 month checkup went absolutely amazing! As you know, before his surgery he was having terrible sleep apnea, and (was not getting the accurate amount of sleep because of this as well.) delayed on his speech, failed hearing the tests. He would get out of breathe easily due to ginormous tonsils that almost closed his throat entirely.  His speech delay was because of his hearing loss, (he heard like he was under water.)  He was also unusually loud because of his hearing. (Literally screaming when he was talking and he never even knew it.)

So that was the list of malfunctions of Corbin's before the surgery, after his surgery, about a week later was able to go back to school. He seemed like a totally different kid, as in, Allen and I were beginning to wonder if it was normal for him to be so quite. He would whisper when he talked. The ENT doctor told us that this is normal, he’s just not use to hearing everyone talking normally, and that they sound funny to him, and he has to adjust his talking as well. His speech has drastically improved probably by a good 85-90 percent. He’s done more talking now since his surgery than I’ve ever known him to talk. The kid just doesn’t like to stop talking. He has passed his hearing tests with flying colors, with the exception of hearing a very faint whisper, in the left ear. But hey, we will take it and run with it! Cause it can’t get any better than that. He has also only had maybe 2 episodes of sleep apnea since then. So no sleep study has to be done at this point and time. He doesn’t get out of breathe easily anymore. So we shouldn’t be having much more problems with his BPD (BronchioPulminaryDisplaysia) in other words chronic lung disease. Sleeps so good at night,wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed and in the best moods. Not like they use to be, when he would wake up and you couldn’t even look at him without him getting mad.
Before I tell you about his 3rd dental surgery, I believe I will tell you that we would more than likely not experience any more seizures with him because the ear tubes would make it to where he rarely gets ear infections. NOT TRUE! Corbin suffered through a cluster of 3 febrile seizures again about a month ago, so we had him referred to a pediatric neurologist. I’m, going to stop here so I can start on the rest of Corbin’s time with all the doctors. Then I will fill you in about me. Okay?  Until then, see yaw later.