What's Going On

Hey everyone! If you've been following me on Twitter, you have an idea of what has been going on with our family. If not, here's the quickie rundown:

Sunday Grant woke up limping. He walked all day with his left foot turned out, but never complained of pain and did not slow down at all. Monday he got out of bed, tried to put his weight on the leg, and fell to the ground.

I took him to the doctor on Monday, and they did x-rays of his knee and hip and did some labs. At six Monday night I got the call that he had some sort of infection or inflammation, and that was likely causing the limp. We were scheduled for more testing on Tuesday.

Tuesday we went into the doctor for more labs, and they looked at it and decided to send us to Children's Hospital in Seattle to finish the testing. We headed down there Tuesday evening with the thought in mind that we would be going home that night, but I packed an overnight bag, just in case.

They ran tons of labs, more x-rays, and tapped his knee to get a sample of the fluid inside. The fluid showed about 500 infectious cells, which is minimal. They would have sent him to surgery to clean it out if the number was closer to 50,000. We breathed a sigh of relief. Because there were some infectious cells present, however, we were admitted and did an MRI yesterday to see if the infection was in the bone.

We were told that if the MRI was clear, we would be discharged. If not, they would send him straight to the OR so he would only be anesthetized once. When he was wheeled to us in recovery, we were happy. We assumed we were going home. I packed our bags.

We were told they didn't have the results of the MRI yet, but we would be meeting with the Infectious Disease Team and the Orthopedic Team in a while. Apparently, they call in the Infectious Disease Team anytime there is an infection in a child. We wondered what would cause a person to choose "Infectious Diseases" as their specialty. Our confidence about going home started to wane a bit, but we were still positive. We had a pool about how many doctors would fill the room when they all came to see us.

The Ortho doctor showed up (alone), and gave us the results. The MRI showed he has Myositis, which is an infection of the muscle. It is behind his femur. They want to try IV antibiotics, to see if that can clear it up. The trouble is there is not a lot of blood flow to the joints, so it might not work. If not, he's be headed to surgery to clean out the infection.

Either way, we are looking at staying at Children's Hospital for 5-7 days.

I cursed on Facebook and Twitter. Then I apologized, then cursed again.

Grant slept.

We made some calls, and things started to come together. We were in tears, humbled by the outpouring of love and support showed to our family. Children's Hospital is 150 miles from our home, so logistics were challenging, but we live by Marty's family, and I am from the Seattle area, so my family is closer to the hospital.

My brother took two days off work to help us, and showed up with two cases of Vitamin Water (my favorite flavors, even) and cases of granola bars and snacks. Elisabeth made two batches of oatmeal M&M cookies, one with only green M&M's for Grant, and the other with the rest of the M&M's to share with us, our guests, and to bribe the nurses with. Marty called AT&T to up our cell phone plan, and instead, they just gave us 1,000 free rollover minutes to help us out.

Grant ate a giant green M&M cookie as big as his head, and loved it.

In the midst of our scrambling and stress, we come to realize how minimal this really is. Yes, this is extremely difficult and challenging and hard and scary, but I'd rather do a week of this than a single day of what the families are going through whose kids have cancer. Or the little cutie that Marty met last night who is 20 months old, and had a tumor removed from her spine. She still does not have feeling in her leg, and they are waiting to see if it will return, but she may never walk.

OK. We can do this.

I came home last night to stay with the other three kids. They are quite freaked out, and Ben especially is missing his twin. I am packing them up to take them down to Seattle with me today, and we will stay at my parent's house for a couple days and then bring them home where more family will stay with them.

I am finding it a lot harder to pack for three kids than for four. My groove is off.

It's really hard to do anything when Ben keeps screaming, "No, Mommy! Don't leave me! Don't go to the bafroom!" He's a little wary, and for good reason. His world has been rocked, and he's too young to understand. I can't wait to let him see Grant later today.

Children's Hospital is an amazing place. This truly is the best of care, and I am so thrilled at what they do for the kids there. They have people who are there just to distract the kids during procedures, so the gal came in and blew bubbles for Grant, trying to pop them on his toes while they were putting in his IV. He never even noticed the IV going in. I was impressed.

Well, I have to sigh off for now, but keep watching Twitter in my sidebar for more updates. I cannot promise I will update my blog, there is one computer for the floor down the hall from Grant and there is no WiFi in the room. I can't tear myself away from my boy that long. :)

Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers, we can feel them, and God is really working things out for us. he is showing himself in amazing ways lately, and I am humbled by His provision.

Have fun, everyone! I'mma gonna go get my family back together again. Tweet ya later!