Mystery Solved!

So after a scary evening, the night of November 18th, Cami landed herself back in Fairfax Hospital. This time, she ended up being admitted and having to stay for three days.

Remember last post titled "A Long and Painful Week"? Well - it appears that when Cami spiked the mystery fever that was discussed in that post it was most likely due to an infection in her esophagus which wasn't found until almost 2 weeks later. Obviously the Doctors never suspected anything wrong with her esophagus simply due to the fever, so it was not detected at the time.

A week later though after severe drooling, followed by intense vomiting, followed by severe drooling, followed by intense vomiting (okay you get the point) and a frantic Mom who had to rush her baby to the ER, the ER Doctors decided they needed to do an X-Ray of her throat to make sure there wasn't something caught in it causing the drooling, vomiting and trouble breathing. The X-Ray showed a 'mass' in her throat which needed to further be investigated with a CT Scan. The CT Scan thankfully didn't show anything too serious, but it did show that she had a severe esophageal infection causing a lot of swelling in the soft tissue of her esophagus which was partially blocking her airways (hence the drooling, vomiting and difficulty breathing).

Cami was admitted to the hospital in order to get IV antibiotic treatments and after 3 LONG days in the hospital we got the green light to continue antibiotic treatments at home so that we could be discharged.

Indeed it was frightening, scary, exhausting and another challenge for our family to go through but thankfully it's done.

Here are a few photos of the little patient during her stay in the hospital. We had to get very creative to find ways to keep her occupied since we couldn't let her down on the floor at all to crawl around. Needless to say, if you have a toddler you know HOW difficult it is to contain them for 5 minutes, none the less 3 days!

(Lots of tickles and giggles!)

(Lots of reading)

(Lots of kissing her picture book of family)
(And once the antibiotics started to kick in she was finally able to get some rest)

We hope to stay far far away from that hospital for a very long time, however at the same time we are so thankful for that hospital and the excellent care they have given to our little Cambria during both of her stays there.

It's Been a Long and Painful Week

This week has not been one of the best, to say the least.

Monday afternoon Cami came down with a 102 fever and it all seemed to go downhill from there. Jon left Monday morning to go out of town for work, so I had to take Tuesday off of work to stay home with our sick girl. Cami woke up on Tuesday with a 102 fever still and we did a lot of lounging and laying around all day.

Then late Tuesday afternoon things took a turn for the worse. Cami's temperature started to steadily climb, despite giving her ibuprofen and tylenol. I spent all afternoon/evening trying every trick in the book to bring the fever down. The only thing she didn't mind me doing to her was putting the wet washcloth on her neck. Poor baby - she was SO out of it!

After trying it all and Cami's fever reaching close to 105 degrees despite my hard effort, I decided I had to take her to the Emergency Room. We were at the ER for about 2 hours and Cami was such a trooper. They gave her an additional dose of Tylenol, gave her a popsicle, tested her for a Urinary Tract Infection (which came back negative) and sent us on our way home once her fever came down to 102 again. Thankfully after some sleep Cami's fever came down on Wednesday and by Wednesday night was gone.

That isn't the end though. Wednesday night Cami was up most of the night crying in pain. After a long night of rocking and comforting we decided she needed to see the Doctor again. So - we took Cami to the Doctor this morning only to find out that she has a severe double ear infection. Poor girl! She has the antibiotics now and when she wakes up from her much needed nap she will start on them. Here's to hoping she is feeling better just in time for the weekend!!

Even with feeling so miserable though, she still tries her best to flash us a smile every now and then. She's been through so much in her life and yet she continues to face each challenge with a go getter attitude. What a gift from God she is!

Reflection

As I woke up this morning I realized that the holiday season has officially begun. All morning I found myself getting anxious any time I thought about Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. At first I thought it was just the anxiety of the craziness that comes with holiday shopping but I quickly realized that wasn't it at all. The anxiety was arising from simply thinking about last holiday season. Let me explain...

Last October was one of the best months of my life - hence probably why I looked so forward to October this month and all it had to offer: the great memory of Cami's birth, Halloween, snuggling with fall scented candles lit, etc. Last November did not leave me with the same fuzzy feelings unfortunately and it all seemed to spiral downhill from there.

Last November, December, January and February were some of the toughest times in my entire life. November 15th my precious angel from above was admitted to Fairfax Hospital after a long day in the ER and an extremely nerve wrecking ambulance transport ride (almost a helicopter ride) only to find out that she had a heart condition (Supraventricular Tachycardia) - I felt like my whole world was falling apart. How could anything be wrong with this precious gift from god? Did I do something wrong to cause this? After what seemed like forever (5 days) she was finally released from the hospital but not without more SVT episodes at home. The next month of constantly checking her heart rate and constant fear that she would end up back in the hospital had us asking over and over again, "Why us?" This alone caused a lot of stress and tension for us during the holiday season, but that was not the end.

Early January my husband went in for a kidney biopsy only to find out a few weeks later that he has a rare form of kidney disease. Once again - my whole world seemed to be crashing down on me. I had to try so hard to take care of a baby with a heart condition AND a husband with kidney disease and yet hold myself together and stay strong for them both. Just thinking about all of the stress and worry that I dealt with back then makes me well up with tears right now as I type.

Early February I got a call from my Mom - who flew out to Rochester, NY suddenly when she got word that my grandmother was not doing well - to tell me that my grandma had passed away and that we had another angel in heaven to take care of our family. Not surprisingly this added to our stress even more but at the same time this is when things started to look up for our family.
I truly believe my grandmother got right to work when she got up to Heaven.

In late February Jon got an appointment with one of the best nephrologist's in the Northern Virginia area and since then he has gotten nothing but good news at his monthly appointments. His medications are decreasing and his kidney function remains stable (in fact it has actually improved a bit). He feels good and we are so relieved to know he is under the best care and doing so wonderfully. STRESS RELIEVED!

I am SOOOO proud to announce that Cami has not had any heart episodes since early December of 2009 (almost a year!) and just last month she came COMPLETELY off of all of her heart medications with NO problems! Her EKG's look great and show no signs of SVT! STRESS RELIEVED!!!

I guess when I actually think about last holiday season, although it gives me great anxiety due to to memories of all of the difficult times we dealt with, it should actually give me great happiness and anticipation for this holiday season and all that I have to be thankful for. I can't wait to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years this year enjoying my family and without so many stressors and worries weighing on my back. Last year at this time was such a difficult time for us, but it just made our little three person family so much stronger!

We have come a long way in the past year and I can honestly say that I am now looking forward to a stress free holiday season and lots of love, snuggling, and just good quality fun family time!


P.S. - I think what Cami is saying in this picture is, "Bring on the food, fun and endless amounts of Christmas presents!!!"

1 Year Stats!

Cambria had her one year well visit at the Pediatrician yesterday and all went great. Our suspicions were confirmed: WE HAVE A PEANUT ON OUR HANDS!!

Weight: 19 pounds 10 ounces (25th percentile)
Length: 30 inches (75th percentile)

Although Cami's weight percentile has dropped a bit the Dr. said she wasn't concerned at all because of how active she is. After all, her daycare provider did say she's the most active baby she's ever met and she's been doing daycare for over 17 years. :-) The Dr. said she looked great and she loves how much personality she has - she can say that again!

Cami also got 4 shots. We decided to split them up and only give her some yesterday since she has to go back in a month for her second flu booster. She screamed bloody murder and was crying so hard she was forgetting to breathe, but as soon as I sat her up when they were finished as she had tears streaming down her face she looked right at the nurse, laughed and then proceeded to blow her a kiss. What a trooper! Knock on wood - these shots have been the easiest on her little body so far. She came right home from the Dr. and took a good nap, woke up happy and was happy and playing all night and then went to sleep fine last night and slept all night long. She's still sleeping as I type, so I am hoping she wakes up happy and fever free.

Yay for good Dr. appointments!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween could not have been more fun this year! Cami was ALL about her giraffe costume and she was totally into all of the candy (okay...maybe not so much the candy, but she LOVED putting the pieces of candy in her pumpkin and taking them back out again). :-)

Here is GMA and Cami early in the afternoon when we did a dry run of her giraffe costume.
Not the best picture of me, but Cami sure does look stinkin' cute in that giraffe costume!

Here's the little giraffe exploring everything and anything and wanting so badly to walk!

What fun Halloween is - here she is discovering what it's all about...the CANDY! :-)

We hope everyone had as great a day as we did!!