2024 Olympics, no pressure

Video of Jack

Here is a little video of Jack after I told him we can go home from the hospital.  He was pretty annoyed that I had taken so many pictures of him and he was in no mood for video.

Poor Jack

Jack was in the hospital over the weekend.  I am so grateful that it was a short stay and that he is doing so much better.  I am so grateful for my beautiful baby.  I took a lot of pictures with my phone and a few with my camera.  I just felt this need to document everything as it happened.  I was able to show the doctor some of my phone pictures and that helped a bit.  Or at least she pretended it helped.

Tuesday: Finished his last dose of his 10 day course of antibiotics for his ear infection.

Thursday: Took Jack back to the doctor for extreme fussiness. They assured me his ears were fine and gave us good wishes for our trip.

(In the car Friday afternoon.)

Friday: Left for Lake Placid (7 hour drive north).  Friday evening arrived at the hotel and saw a few welts on Jack's thigh.  I assumed they were bug bites, so we went to the pool to swim.  After the pool I noticed that it was more of a rash than bug bites, so I consulted some medical friends and  bought benadryl at the drug store in town.

At this point Jim and my dad left to stay in a cabin in the woods to hike Mt. Marcy, the highest peak in New York state (which was the purpose of this trip).  I told them to take the car because I was just going to take the kids swimming at the hotel pool and maybe rent some movies.  They promised to be back from their hiking expedition by 2PM the following day.

Jim called me at 10PM to tell me there was no cell service at all within a 5 mile drive of the cabin or anywhere on the hike.  I assured them we would be fine and not to worry about anything. Jim was worried and they both wanted to leave the car with me.

In the morning Jack woke up with a severe rash in many places on his body.

I texted a picture to a dermatologist I know in Danville.  She asked some questions and then told me that this was for sure an allergic reaction to penicillin.  She said Jack would probably need a steroid if it got really bad and she also told me that the rash would spread even more.

I kept him in the hotel room all day, Jim and my dad returned as promised and we took it easy in the hotel room watching movies and resting with Jack.

Saturday night:

(I told him to put his arms up, and he did.)

(He is trying to figure out why his foot is starting to swell.)

Jack woke up early Sunday morning with a fever and swelling, that's when I started worrying I would need to take him to a doctor.

(In the hotel Sunday morning.)

There are no urgent care clinics in Lake Placid that are open on Sundays and I couldn't find an ER in the phone book or online.  I called the front desk and they told me the ER was just a mile away from the hotel we were staying at.

We took him to the ER and as you can imagine he was very traumatized by the entire experience. The nurse said to me "You know we are open 24 hours, right?"  As in, why didn't you come in sooner.  They immediately set about to get Jack hooked up to an IV.  Both Jim and I had to hold him down while he screamed and they put the IV in his arm.  He was so upset that when they were done he fell fast asleep on my lap, I worried he lost consciousness but he was just asleep.

(Asleep in the ER...apparently the ER (across the nation) is trying to make a switch to call themselves the ED (for department), but I am highly irritated by that notion and refuse to make the change.)  While at the ER they took a lot of blood from both his arms, did a urinalysis and took chest x-rays. He hated all of it, as he should.

This rash was really crazy and constantly changed and appeared in different places.  He continued to swell up and develop more of a rash throughout the day in different places on his body.

We were in the ER for about an hour and a half when they said they would need to transfer Jack to another hospital so they could keep him over night.  The doctor said "I don't want to upset you but he will need to go by ambulance and he will be admitted to the ICU, because that is where all pediatric patients go."

Meanwhile my dad had been tending to Lilly in the waiting room. He had gone to buy all of us lunch and prizes for Lilly and Jack, it was really great he was there to help.  Lilly was not afraid of Jack hooked up to the machines, she gave him a kiss before we left for the ambulance.

They tried to strap him down to the stretcher but he was so upset by that, so they let me hold him in my lap on the stretcher.  He was still screaming for Jim.  Remember how he calls Jim, Jim?  Well it is times like these that it is not helpful.  The EMT stopped the ambulance and went to find Jim to have him ride with us.  Jim then had to explain his relationship to Jack and that he was indeed his father and not my boyfriend.

Poor Jack fell asleep pretty quickly once we got to the hospital and in a room.  The ambulance was very scary for him.

Lilly had made Jack pictures and brought him presents.  As soon as she walked in the room she started arranging stuffed animals and artwork around him on the bed.  It was very sweet.  She even asked to stay with him and did not want to leave his side.  The very kind EMT gave Lilly and Jack bracelets and stuffed bears.

His poor hands and feet were so swollen. He could not walk or use his hands other than to put his left index finger in his mouth.  His face was swollen as well, just not to the extent of his extremities.

This is the filthy meal that showed up for me at dinner time.  Filthy boxed potatoes, filthy spinach, and some sort of unidentifiable piece of meat.  Jack had a plate of french fries and macaroni and cheese.  We were both highly offended by our food options and neither of us ate much.

Jack woke up at 6PM and stayed awake until 11PM.  It was just us in the hospital room so we watched about 4 hours of cartoons on the ipad before I pulled out the laptop to distract myself with some blogging.

 I slept on the bed with him to make sure he didn't roll off and so that he wasn't scared.  He rolled around a lot and a few times he slept on me.  I was just happy I could comfort him.

The steroids and IV fluids worked and Monday morning they said Jack would be able to go home.

Jack's happy face when I told him we could go home.  I didn't really mention that we had a 7 hour drive ahead of us.

 The doctor said Jack really needed to eat some food and drink before he left.  Luckily for us, it was a day Jack decided to eat.  He had a whole bowl of cheerios and rice krispies and a lot of milk.   He then started throwing the rice krispies at me and playing with the bed buttons. That's when I knew he was feeling better.

Here he is trying to shove as many cheerios in his mouth as he can with his fat little hand.

Finally, time to go home.

Everyone we encountered in Lake Placid was very helpful and kind. The nurses, doctors, and other professionals we met were great.  The hospital is located right next to a beautiful lake, which I did not notice until much later.

It wasn't my favorite weekend, but we were very blessed with the way everything turned out.  Great support from my father to look after Lilly and take care of all our needs.  No car trouble, no trouble with hotels, great health care, we all supported each other. I didn't have any fits or tantrums and we brought home a healthy Jack. Can't ask for more than that.

Last installment of our 4 day vacation, only 8 posts later.

Pitcavage family fun at the home of Ed and Lynn Pitcavage.

Sam was a very gracious host and let Lilly drive the Gator.  A lot.

Look who hid in the back?

These girls never stopped smiling and laughing.

Sunset view of Boston from Ed and Lynn's backyard.

One last trip to the beach before heading home.  Nothing like the last day of vacation wardrobe.

THE END.

Beach Day

Best part of our New England vacation was a beach day with cousins.
We went to the beach with two of Jim's brothers and their families.

These two girls giggled all weekend like, well, like school girls.  You would have thought they spent all their days together and didn't just see each other once or twice a year. They also played well with all their younger cousins.

(This picture pretty much sums up my sentiments exactly.)

I tried to get a shot of all the cousins, but it just didn't work out.  This is the best I could do, 5 of the 6 children are looking in the general direction of the camera.  You can see the missing spot for Jack in between Sage (navy blue bathing suit) and Sydney (lavender).  He kept escaping, he was not a fan of having the ocean to his back.

Sam 3, Abbey 5, Lilly 6, Sage 3, (Jack 2),Sydney 2

Post for Jim

Do you like how I have spread out two days of vacation over 6 posts?? It's the best way for me to be organized with the pictures. 1000 pictures is very overwhelming.

Preface:  Jim has a goal to climb the highest peaks in all 50 states.

At the end of our Rhode Island day we tried to find the RI high point without success.  We drove around for a bit and just couldn't locate the trail.  With 4 cranky children and several cranky adults we called it quits at 9:30PM and went home.  However Jim would not be deterred.  He and his brother, John, set out the next morning at 4:30 AM to find the highest peak in Rhode Island.

Way to be focused on a goal!  He woke up at 4:30AM and was home by 7:30AM to help get the children ready to go visit his brother Ed.

Day 2.3 Nearing the end of our day in Rhode Island

After the Cliff Walk, we walked up into Newport to look at more of the beautiful homes and estates.

We walked on the property of "The Breakers" (Vanderbilt's summer home) and explored Newport.

At "The Breakers"

After the breakers we drove around, got some ice cream and went to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. My sister in law Valerie was a star tennis player in her day (finished second in the Texas state championship) and she introduced us to the hall of fame, we had no idea it was there. Lilly and Jim found a statue of James Van Allen who invented the tennis tiebreaker and who seems to be the same height as Lilly.

After that we headed for John and Valerie's home but not before we stopped at Carraba's for dinner and searched (unsuccessfully) for Rhode Island's highest point.

(Bridge leaving Newport. Anyone else think the bridge looks like it goes straight up??)