Bad, bad blogger! I have gotten busy in life and neglected the retelling of my life. There is absolutely NO way to catch up so highlights only will have to do.
Let's see ... June 8-18 we were in Colorado with family on vacation. You recall how we entered Denver (Manny's 7 blood sugar) and then trip to the ER via ambulance with police escort. Then a couple of days of hallucinations but otherwise fine. The rest of us were in a bit of shell shock. We then did the touristy things and had a blast. My last post about Denver was from Breckenridge. Dan had fallen down the mountain and hurt his knee. The rest was just plain fun. (That's all recap.)
All was going well with us doing parks and walks around town. Then Manny got a high fever out of the clear blue. 100.4 is the criteria for us to go to the hospital and start treatment at home. But what about vacation? I waited until he was almost 103 before I started to think that I should go. What helped push me over the edge was his breathing became labored and his pulse ox started to drop. We expected a lower number at such a high altitude but he'd been maintaining at about 92 and now he was hitting low 80's. He just looked sick.
So we all drove to the ER. They dropped me off and went on a mine tour. They say it was one of the best things of the trip! I'm glad they got to go as I wasn't going to go anyway as it's not wheelchair accessible and I cannot carry Manny that long and Dan's knee was still too messed up to hold him either.
Meanwhile at the ER, I was at "home". Manny and I knew immediately what to do and how to handle the situation. I was again impressed that the Doctor listened to me and didn't over read the situation. They did the standard tests. CBC, blood cultures, chest xray, urine collection, etc. They got the initial blood labs from his central line but they couldn't get the peripheral for the blood culture. They decided to wait for the CBC to see if it was necessary or not. Sure enough, his normal WBC is 7 and it was 17.5 so they had to do the peripheral. Thankfully a nurse was there for a few minutes from their life flight (helicopter) and she was able to get the blood draw.
One silly thing is ... they gave Manny a teddy bear (very sweet) and he screamed! He didn't want it. I have no clue why but he objected firmly!!
Meanwhile, my brother in law is a doctor of radiology at that hospital and he was actually working until 4pm. He read Manny's chest xray (normal) and then hung out with us until discharge. I appreciated spending that time with him.
Eventually, they gave Manny an IV antibiotic and scripts for several things just in case. By the next day, Manny was feeling better. Thankfully we were headed back to Denver (a lower elevation) so he could recover. We never did know exactly what this illness was but the antibiotics and antifungals helped.
On the last day of vacation, we saw dozens of elk! They were right there in the backyard of my sister/brother in law. Manny and I actually sat and watched them for an hour or so from the deck. So serene. They didn't even budge! They just let us watch them.
The last night we sat out on the deck under the stars in the perfect temperature. Even saw the most amazing shooting star.
The flight home was uneventful! It was Southwest's birthday so we even got free adult beverages. :)
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Home for a week and a half. During that time we did laundry, groceries, normal life things and trips to Busch Gardens and other fun places. Then we got ready for the family reunion.
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Family reunion: Dan, his parents, 3 sisters, their spouses and kids get together every year for about a week. It's a blast. 10 adults, 10 kids this year. Kids ages 1-14. We rented a lakehouse and a pontoon boat and just hung out. We all take turns cooking dinner. We do events for the kids. We stay up way too late playing games and talking. We leave exhausted. But it's fun!
Thankful to report that Manny didn't get sick or have any issues at all.
I have pictures galore but just not the time to upload them. So use your imagination! :)
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In other news, Manny had a birthday, Zoe had her party and Jacob turned 14. I have tons of pictures from those events too. Maybe someday I can catch up on photo posts. (Not likely but a girl can dream, can't she?)
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Upcoming: Manny is rescheduled to go to Boston Children's Hospital for motility evaluation on August 7-10. Then to the NIH in Bethesda to the Neurogenetics Lab on September 5-6 (they specialize in the Muscular Dystrophy that Manny has and are interested in him due to the abnormal presentation of GI issues that he has.) Hoping between these two specialists, we can get some answers about his condition and treatment.
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