Near Complete Resolution

What can those three words mean?

For some it's the end of lengthy contract negotiations.

For others it can be the end of a conflict.

For us it means the end of a nightmare...
Jackson had his final scan yesterday and it showed "near complete resolution" of the pharagyneal abscess and the doctor's blessing to go forth and resume all normal activities!

We are "resolved" to never have this happen again!

Tha Pharmacy

I am in awe at how many pills Jackson has to take to battle this infection. He does this twice a day.


Then I was horrified when I added these bottles to the selection we keep next to our coffee maker - highly visible so we don't forget to take them.

It seems no in in the family is exempt from our pharmacy. The glucosamine and baby aspirin belong to our 10 (or eleven) year old dog, Bailey...

Back To The Land Of The Living

Jackson came home Monday night. Tough few days - ultimately they wouldn't do the surgery because of the location of the abscess.

I've come to the conclusion that it is VERY STUPID to rotate doctors every 24 hours - we had five doctors in five days. Continuity of care? Not likely...

One of the first doctors only ordered two doses of steroids. Had this treatment been continued without interruption, we probably would have been home Sunday. As it was, the follow up scan showed the abscess had organized and GROWN - not the result we were looking for with the second scan.

Long story short - two doses of steroids and a good night's sleep and Jackson woke up Monday morning with full movement in his neck. He came home to 12 pills a day for six days - we'll know if we're completely out of the woods with the "final" CTscan next Monday.

Here is a chronicle of his hospital stay in pictures. The best is the shot of the Chicago Bears jersey. It is an original 1980's Mike Singletary jersey from our pastor - he just happened to have it hanging around in his closet for the last 20 years. BTW - did I tell you that Jackson is the BIGGEST Chicago Bears fan in the history of the Chicago Bears?!? He'll be very happy I mentioned that...

Day One...
Da Bears...
Cardinals and Eagles Playoff Game...
Going Home...

It Got Worse

We found out the "what's next".

Jackson is in the hospital.

We went to the orthopedic specialist at 2:05 yesterday and I could tell from his demeanor that he was looking at something far beyond what he expected. From his simple observation, and probably what he smelled (more on that later), he said he suspected that Jackson might have an infection in his C1 and C2 vertabrae or a peritonsillar abscess. He left the room to consult with our family doctor about next steps. Good to note here that while he was gone Jackson mentioned that he'd had a lot of trouble breathing at lunch that day.

When he returned, after overhearing several muffled phone calls, he said they were "waiting for us" at Akron Children's Hospital up the road as they needed to run a CTscan to determine what was happening. Word from the wise; when they tell you the hospital is waiting for you, it's never a good sign!

They ran the scan and did bloodwork, which he handled fabulously. Right after the USAirways plane crashed into the Hudson they came to the waiting room, "the test was positive..."

The Radiologist came to speak to me separately. "This abscess is a large mass, touching his airway. Do you understand how extremely lucky you are that you came today? This would have blocked his airway within a matter of days...and we wouldn't have been able to do anything at that point. What in the world made you come today? He doesn't show ANY symptoms of this."

My answer, "God, and an incredibly brilliant Orthopedic Specialist who hadn't had to look into a throat since he was an intern".

The cause? A strep throat infection that no one noticed because he has an incredibly high pain tolerance (Aspergers) and he doesn't get fevers (a genetic flaw inherited from his Dad). We thought we were dealing with a a muscle spasm, at the back of his neck no less, when all along it was an abscess at the front that was pushing on the muscle in the back and causing his loss of motion.

And the smell? (which I had noticed and thought it was from his meds). A strep infection has a very particular smell that comes out through the pores - now we know.

The prognosis? He's on heavy I.V. antibiotics and steroids to reduce the mass (we hope). They will do another scan on Sunday morning. If all is well he will come home on oral antibiotics. If not, we will be driving to Akron (the main hospital) for surgery to drain the puss from the mass...

John and I are doing rotating shifts. I had last night, tonight is his night...and I'm going to bed.

Could This Get Any Worse?!

Now I think I have strep throat. I have never had pain like this in my throat - EVER. Heading to the doctor in 1/2 hour.

And taking Jackson to an Orthopedic Surgeon at 2pm - but he seems better, at least mentally he's starting to come back.

What next?!...

Time For A Second Opinion

This has gone on long enough...

The neck is still not better. He's not eating, he laid on the couch from the time he got home from school until he decided to go to bed at 8:30, he has a weird smell coming out of his pours (probably the meds), and he fluctuates between screaming at me and crying.

He won't put heat on his neck because it smells (it doesn't but his senses make him think it does), he won't let me touch it to gently massage the muscle (the doctor has also told me to not touch it), and he won't try to move it to loosen it up.

He's fading away before my eyes - all this because of a stupid muscle spasm!?!

Give me a break - something else is wrong and I'm not going to wait for the "meds" to kick in anymore.

Look out medical community - SportsMum is on the warpath!!!

Ugh - Snow and Sickness

This actually would have been a great weekend had it not been for Jackson being sicker than I have ever seen him!

We had a "snowstorm" Friday night and Saturday. It really wasn't much of a storm by Canadian standards - lots and lots of snow (about 12 inches)and Ohioans really don't know how to clear it away quickly. Or, as Canadian's would do, simply plow through it in their four-wheel drives.

We would have gone sledding except for Jackson's misery. Instead, Caeden invented a new game - "Professional SNOW Jumping"

So about Jackson...the sleepness night I spoke of earlier in the week became unbearable as the muscle spasms in his neck contracted to the point of excruciating pain in his ear and throat. We had xrays on Friday that showed his spinal cord in his neck pulled back as far as it could go from the muscle spasm. The doctor put him on an anti-inflammatory AND a muscle relaxant.

I don't know a great deal about meds as I truly hate taking them myself but I was horrified by the effect the muscle relaxant had on Jackson. He was a virtual zombie from Saturday morning until last night. I made the decision not to give him his second dose yesterday and he woke up this morning with (almost) his personality back. The neck is still a little funky (and he's still getting the anti-inflammatory) but I will NEVER give him the other pills again.

I will admit, he was still an absolute BEAR this morning but so is his mother when she's sick. Not so glad he inherited that trait from me...

The Spelling Bee - Round Two

Jackson once again made the finals for the Spelling Bee at his school.

He bravely entered today's contest with 600 mg of ibuprofen in his 100 lb body and a gait resembling the Hunchback of Notre Dame. (His neck is still majorly out of whack)

While he was one of only 8 fifth graders last year, this year 21 sixth graders made the cut. He finished in the top three.

The "you've got to be kidding" moment of the event was when all remaining 20 or so finalists (including Jackson) had to spell the word BEQUEATH. Every single kid misspelled it and they were left with no winner. I swear I heard one of the kids spell it right but the moderators missed it. So they ended up calling all the remaining kids back and starting with a new word.

The word Jackson ultimately went down on was GESTAPO. The moderator pronounced it GUS-TA-PO and how do you think Jackson spelled it? GUSTAPO.

Sleepless Night with a 12 Year Old

I thought our sleepless nights with children were over after the toddler years.

Jackson has had persistent nosebleeds for the past several months. We received a cream from the doctor that we are to insert into the nostril twice a day but, having significant sensory issues related to texture and smell, this has not been a successful endeavor. He has either sneezed it out or developed a nosebleed after it's in. Now he simply refuses to let us give it to him at all.

So - he ran to the side of my bed at 1:00am with a nosebleed. It lasted over half an hour.

So I placed a humidifier in his room, thinking it could be the dryness of winter. He was up at 4:00am complaining about the noise. He went in my bed and I went in his.

Then he came into his room to find me at 6:00am saying he couldn't stand the pain. No, not from his nose. He's also been dealing with an incredibly stiff neck since Tuesday morning. Is it viral, wrestling, hockey? Who knows, but he is walking around like a human statue - refusing to move his upper body from its frozen position.

He went to school because he doesn't want to mess up his perfect attendance record but I expect a call around noon when the (doctor prescribed) 600mg of ibuprofen wears off.

Should I mention I am taking the same dosage to deal with the sleep deprived headache I have?

The Holiday in Pictures

Time to share...

These first few pictures are from our trip to Canada. Cameron's friend, Devin, joined us for this annual excursion. I had to apologize to him after, as John and I do not travel well together. He just said, yeah I've never heard you two holler like that before!



The last pics are from New Years Eve. We were joined by Cameron's girlfriend's family, who we happen to be friends with. Won't that be awkward when they stop seeing each other?!?

Looks Like We Made It...

We made it through another holiday season. Except for the annual sojourn to Canada, this was one of the simplest and peaceful holidays yet.

I expect the reason for the calm is this is the first year in over six years that John actually has a job and can take paid holidays for Christmas! We slept in almost every morning, played with our new Wii, watched every Indiana Jones Movie, and The Dark Knight, and Narnia Prince Caspian...

I have come to believe this is really what the holiday's should be. A chance to reconnect with family - not just the extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins once removed - but the family you run to practices and games, music lessons and concerts, friends parties and sleepovers; the family you live with and take for granted everyday!

So here's to family - my family and yours. May we all find time to just "be" with each other in 2009!