Sunday, February 23, 2014

Rolling with change...

Since Valentine's Day, we have been busy bees. This past week Liam wasn't the only one that was recovering from a cold. After attempting to seek treatment for my sinus infection at the local urgent-care since I am currently in between primary doctors, my antibiotics/steroids didn't work and I ended up in the ER with some rare ear infection known as bullous myringitis. Basically, I was in terrible pain, and I was told I had blisters on my ear drum that were bleeding. I was given numbing ear drops and sent home with a new antibiotic, and Percocet. I have finished the antibiotic and have thankfully not needed any pain medication....however, I am still unable to hear completely and have been told it can be up to a month before my hearing may be fully restored. Looking back, I cannot say I am surprised. I have not been focused on my own health, in fact I have pretty much been blatantly ignoring it. Lately I have been caught up in working on house projects in addition to appointments with Liam, let alone stress with work. I have found out recently that I will be placed under new management at work due to a reorganization. I find that it is odd that this is stressing me out, when I was on the floor or in the field changes in management were constant. However, they never changed my day to day responsibilities. Now that I work in a corporate position, feeling connected to your boss is a huge deal, especially when you have a child that seems to be sick all the time...being reassured that the work would always be there waiting was a big deal for me. I was very resistant to this change, I am at a point in my life where for one second, I just want one of the staples in my life (for the past year anyway) to remain constant. Well, I am not going to get what I want, and as always have talked myself into rolling with the changes. We will see where it goes....I have been told that I am strong in my position and I will do well, although it feels painful for me to have to leave the team I have become so close with. Anyhow, I have now met with a new primary physician through Lehigh Valley, and she is right up the street from our house. After everything I have been through with doctors, it is hard for me to like them. My first meeting with this doctor went great! and I am hopefully on a new road to better health!

In other news I took Liam to the ENT on 2/19. First, Liam's hearing test came back normal! I was so happy, and now we can move forward onto other issues. The PA at Allen ENT told me that sometimes when babies have recurrent infections after tube placement the actual tubes can be the cause of infection which is why sometimes they need to be swapped; however, since Liam always presents with multiple symptoms and also his tubes looked patent and dry on this day- replacing his tubes will not be the solution for him. (*HAPPY DANCE*) I was given the name of a pediatric allergist, and I made the appointment first thing when I got home! Unfortunately, we will not be able to be seen until 4/7. In the days following the appointment, we noticed Liam starting to rub his eyes, and also his ears began to bother him.... and then we started to see that familiar drainage from his eyes and nose. Today, Liam was not himself all day, he seemed fussy most of the day and just wanted to be held- and smiles were no where to be found. This afternoon his temperature was 100.3, and we gave Motrin and crossed our fingers that this was teething. After we put him to bed, Liam was making some strange sounds after we put him in his crib and although his breathing was alright our little man was burning up. We caught his fever at 102.5, and gave him some Motrin and will see what the doctor says in the am. He has been off of antibiotics for less than a week this time. In the meantime, lots of fluids and sleep and I will update once we have a plan.

On a more positive note, we are happy to say that we have raised some money for the Lauren's Hope Foundation. Olympus had a "snowman charity fundraising competition", and we won! Out of eight other charities, employees at Olympus voted the most on our table where we had set up an educational poster about LHF and Liam's story, as well as a homemade snowman wearing Liam's cool cap. The winner was announced Friday night at Revolutions in Bethlehem, during a happy hour for the company. We raised $1,000 and also a camera to auction at the Butterfly Ball! Liam had a blast dancing to the music the band played, and also posed for a picture next to the big trophy! We continue to strive to raise awareness for this amazing foundation, and to get their name out into the community! That's all for now, we all need some much needed rest!




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