Friday, February 5, 2010

Contrast Study and a Spelling Bee

Well, while I was being Spelling Bee Mom, Medical Dad took the place of Medical Mom and took Yumi in for her contrast study. Things did progress fairly slowly, and xrays did show today a lot of stool in the colon (indicating constipation). Which kinda makes sense by now with no BM since Monday... Yumi had to go most of the day without pain control as the narcotics tend to slow down the movement of the intestines. After the study was over they administered some more dilaudid and she was feeling much better for awhile. The left Group Health around 3 just in time to get Everett from school. The doc wanted Yumi to take some stool softeners so Medical Dad picked some up too.

Meanwhile, in Poulsbo...

We drove up this morning at 9 am and got to Poulsbo early for lunch. We arrived at Christ the King Christian Academy around noon for the Bee. Dani was in the class of 5th graders and there were 21 contestants. This was Dani's first Spelling Bee, and of course she was nervous. Unfortunately, her nervousness got the better of her and she spelled out in the first round on the word "dawdle". She, however, is none the worse for the wear and there is always next year. We are proud that she earned the opportunity to represent Cornerstone today!

Back in Olympia...

Medical Mom was back around 4pm and was able to get Yumi to the nail shop to get her nails done. They finished just in time to whisk her out to the church where the wedding rehearsal was. David and I got to have dinner out together, which included some browsing afterwards at Borders Bookstore! Yumi is currently with the bridal party in Tenino and will hopefully be home before she gets too wiped out and in pain.

What tomorrow holds...

Tomorrow morning, Hairdresser Mom will be at the wedding location at 9am, while Medical Dad takes Yumi in for some pain control and probably a follow-up xray. Hopefully we can time things right so she has enough time to get her hair done and get ready for the wedding which is at 2pm. Tomorrow at 6pm is also the first time our new small group is getting together for a taco feed. It's certainly going to be a long day.

Thankfully Everett got invited to a sleepover and is secured through most of the day tomorrow. Please pray that all goes well and that Yumi is comfortable throughout the day. She's a good sport but Medical Mom worries. Thanks for your prayers!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Day 2 - The Adventure Continues

Today was good and went just like planned. We went to Group Health at 2 and she got hooked up. Her IV was still good, PTL, so they didn't have to put in a new one! yay! She felt better pretty much right away, and also went and got another xray, which pretty much looked the same as yesterday.

She's got good bowel tones coming from her belly, so they are moving. What is causing all this pain? The theories are : possible partial constriction of the small intestine, or dehydration causing the small intestine to spasm. Well, she is well hydrated now, so perhaps there is a slowdown in her small bowel.

Our doc, Dr. Brown, will be gone all weekend so has written up orders for a barium study. "Faithful readers" (haha) of this blog will remember this procedure. Upper GI, small bowel follow-through is another long term for this study. She drinks this barium stuff and they take one xray after another to watch the contrast pass through her bowel and see where, if at all, the slowdown is occurring. Once, a couple years ago, it took a few DAYS for the contrast to make it to her colon!

Anyways, hopefully they can do this and get her pain controlled before around 5 pm since she has the wedding rehearsal at 6. I will be out of town for a spelling bee with Dani in Poulsbo for most of the day. So dad is the medic for the day.

Fun stuff - not.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Feb 3, 2010

Here's the story so far. Last night Yumi came home around 8 and she had been slowly starting to have some pain. It gradually started getting worse and worse, until she was pretty much in "the zone", in the fetal position on the floor. We decided to wait it out, being that the last few episodes had not required surgery and we figured we had some time. So later at night I gave her some Tylenol PM to help her sleep and hopefully she'd get some rest during the night. I got up around 2:30 am and she was awake but I think she had been dozing in and out all night, still in a lot of pain.

In the morning she was the same and we waited it out as long as possible. She still was not vomiting, however, which is a pretty good indication of a blockage. The pain was unbearable for her and we went in to Group Health at 2pm. We saw her regular pediatrician, who also happened to be the original doc that first diagnosed her leukemia 12 years ago. I explained that, if at all possible, we'd like to avoid a hospitalization since Yumi is a bridesmaid in a wedding this Saturday. If she got admitted, she's pretty much guaranteed 5-7 days of her life wasted.

So after labs results, urine, and xray all came back negative, the doc said let's give her some Dilautid and see how she does. She also got Zofran for nausea. It took right away and she was sitting up normal in no time. It's a temporary band-aid fix, and we may have to go back in tomorrow for the same thing. But as long as the xray continues to show normal non-dilated bowel, we can continue to go daily for a pain fix until the wedding. So glad the doc is willing to work with me for this scheduling situation (momentus occasion).

It started to wear off around 8 pm, and I expect it to continue to taper off. Of course, I would like otherwise! I would like that whatever is going on will just go away and not come back. So please pray accordingly; as always, we covet and appreciate your prayers very much.

Oh, as for myself, I had a little personal breakdown moment this morning but after I got into "MOM"-mode, I was fine. Having a chronically ill child is exhausting at times, but it only feels that way on occasion. I thank the Lord for sustaining me these many years. God is good!