School, and Allergist, and Neurosurgeon...Oh My!!!

I know this is going to be a long post tonight because so much has happened in the past two days. I'll start with yesterday. I was merrily going about my day when my cell phone rings. It was Ethan's teacher on the phone. My heart sank and I told her that it can't be a good thing that she is calling me in the middle of the school day. Well, apparently, when Ethan was at lunch yesterday he ate a hard piece of garlic bread that almost made his loose tooth come out. He had a fit about it and said that he was in so much pain. His teacher, bless her heart, just didn't know what to do about his Academy Award winning performance. She sent him to the nurse and the nurse gave him two choices. He could either get a baggie of ice to put on it, or she could pull it out for him. He was having NONE of that!!! The teacher called me because Ethan was still crying about it and she just didn't know what to do or tell him. I then informed her of Ethan's future award winning status of a dramatic actor, and told her to let him know that if it was still bothering him after school then I would give him some Motrin. And then while I was on the phone with the teacher, she also informed me that when she sent Ethan to the nurse, my daughter was already down there with another headache. Oh my goodness!!! She has had a headache almost every single day since school started. I called the nurse a few minutes later to talk to her about it. She knew Emily last year, and had to deal with these headaches then. I wanted her opinion about these and if she felt like these were really headaches or if she thought Emily was trying to get out of something like she did last year on occasion. The nurse informed me that because they are happening at such odd times of the day, she was certain that they were real ones, but they didn't last long. After Emily would lay down for a few minutes, the headache would go away.

So, I sat for a very long time in the car line like usual to pick up my children. Emily came bouncing out like everything was perfect. Obviously her headache was gone. Ethan came out looking like he had been in a prize fight the way he was refusing to close his mouth. He was keeping his lips pursed out like they were all swollen or something (they weren't) and he kept making this slurping sound to suck up his spit that was threatening to start drooling out of his mouth. It was really quite gross and ridiculous all at the same time. Upon our arrival at home, I looked in his folder and saw something staring out at me that did not look good. Although he had a good day in regards to his conduct, there was a stack of papers in there that were stapled together. There was a big note from the teacher on them that said something about how she found those unfinished papers in Ethan's desk. They aren't supposed to put papers in their desk. Ethan was shoving the papers in his desk because he wasn't getting them finished when he was supposed to be working on them. She said he wasn't focusing. Needless to say, Ethan had a lot of homework to do last night because of those papers. He WAS NOT happy about it either. In the middle of him working on them, all I could hear was his constant slurping of spit because he was refusing to close his mouth. I told him that enough was enough and we were getting that tooth out NOW!!! I informed him that that tooth was coming out because he would not be sent to school the next day with the tooth still in his mouth and cause more drama like he did that day. And that is when the battle began.

Ethan and I went round and round about that darn tooth. I gave him the option to pull it out himself or I could do it. It didn't matter who did it, but it was going to come out. The crying and convulsing that he did was another stellar performance. I quietly had a talk with him about how I knew he was scared, but that he would feel better once it was out. After spending about 20 minutes trying to talk him down from the ledge, I decided that I just needed to go into action and get the darn thing out. After a lengthy battle of me holding him down, sitting on one arm, and then fighting with the other arm to get it away from his face, the most amazing thing happened. Ethan managed to knock his own tooth out by fighting me. Ha-ha! After it came out he said, "Well that wasn't bad at all!" Darn kid!!!!!

And now for today's excitement. I picked Ethan up from school early because he FINALLY had his new appointment to see the allergist. Emily was going to finish out the day and her Daddy was planning on picking her up. Just as Ethan and I were about to walk out the door, I got a call from the school nurse telling me that Emily had ANOTHER headache and that was the second time she had one that day. Well, knowing that there is something that is going on with her, I called and made an appointment for the neurosurgeon. I hate the thought of Emily having to go through more tests, but we just have to get to the bottom of this. And while I was gone at the doctor for Ethan, Emily had another one of her really bad headaches this afternoon while she was home with Rob. Her appointment is Tuesday, Aug 25. I hope we can come up with some easy answers. I don't really want to think about what it could be.

Now for Ethan's appointment. It was long, that was for sure. The doctor wanted to do more allergy testing on him. They did the "scratch test" on Ethan's back to test for specific allergens. Wow! Ethan was not handling this news well. I, once again, had to hold Ethan down. I feel like this is all I do to the poor kid. All of his IV's, shots, blood draws, and tooth pulling...I am the designated bad guy. Anyway, once the nurse started the test, Ethan said, "Oh, that's not bad at all." The worst part was the SEVERE itching that started almost immediately. Considering the fact that Ethan is allergic to everything they scratched on his back, having that allergen placed under the skin is not a good feeling. He was MISERABLE!!!!! After that was over, they realized that there were a few things that were inconclusive. This meant that they had to take these needles and inject the allergen under his skin to create little bubbles. And again, because he was allergic, the itching was horrible for him. And in case anybody is wondering, yes, I had to hold him down for those needle pokes, too.

The results of the test show that Ethan is highly allergic to his entire environment (grass, trees, dust, mold, cats, dogs, and a few more). Ethan will start taking allergy shots. He will start out getting them twice a week for a while (one in each arm, twice weekly) and will eventually work up to once every three weeks. The treatment course is FOUR YEARS!!!!! And the doctor also is changing up his respiratory medications. Ethan will start taking Advair and will eventually stop his Pulmicort totally. He also takes this inhaler thing that we use up his nose in place of nose spray. Ethan will still use Xopenex and Atrovent for any attacks he has, and we have been given a prescription for Epi pens for those sudden and severe attacks. We got a new peak flow meter for him to use because the doctor told us that the one we have isn't one that gives accurate readings. I was also told that whenever Ethan is in the hospital, we need to send him to Sacred Heart in Pensacola and not our local hospital. I was so overwhelmed at the doctor's office today. I was trying to keep track of it all in my head. So, to try to break it all down, Ethan will take Advair - twice a day, the inhaler for his nose - twice a day, Pulmicort - once per day for the next three weeks, allergy shots - both arms, twice a week, and Xopenex and Atrovent as needed. Plus we need to keep a record of his peak flow meter readings and do that twice a day. And then we have the Epi pen for an emergency. Like I said, I am overwhelmed right now!

Oh, and Emily has that appointment with the CP clinic on Friday. Although I couldn't care less about talking to that neurologist there (I have lost all respect for him because of what happened previously), I am very curious to hear what the orthopedist says. I don't think Emily will need AFO's again (leg braces), but I want to talk to him about how badly she compensates for her right leg and how her left leg hurts her all the time because it holds all of her weight. I am concerned about back problems for her in the future if she can't start to shift her weight evenly. We will hopefully learn something that can help her.

As anybody can see, my life is never dull. And I just thought that I would be able to get a job now that the kids are in first grade. I seriously don't see how I will ever be able to hold down a job with the amount of doctoring and issues that we are constantly dealing with. I long for a boring life with healthy kids.