Rough night

Cooper didn't really sleep last night. I don't think he was in pain, but he just laid in bed and chewed on his hands and giraffe lovie all night. I have several theories on this. Usually he sleeps on his stomach, which is currently not possible. That might be part of his sleeplessness. He also took oxycodone, which can keep you awake. He also hasn't eaten in 36 hours now, so he might just be really hungry. Whatever it was, it was a loooong night for us both.

Brad rocks

We found out that we were going to have to share a room. Boo! Brad immediately swung into action. He went and talked with the cardio people. He explained what was going on with Cooper, so they are letting us  have a private room usually reserved for cardio patients! One of Brad's patients is being discharged at 3 and then we get their room. Yay for Brad and his awesome connections!

He's out!

The surgeon just came out and told us that Cooper is out of surgery and did well! Once they get him into recovery we can go see him. After he wakes up, they will move him to his room. He won't eat for about 24 hours, but we can use the g tube to give him medicine this evening. When I know anything else, I'll post it.

Hospitalization (Boo!)

To start at the beginning:  ever since Cooper started on seizure medicines, he has been eating less and taking longer to eat.  Over the last month, he has only gained 2 grams a day (the 2 months before that he gained 600, to put it in perspective).  We took him to the doctor Thursday for dehydration.  They said he had gastroenteritis.  That night, we started him on a second anti-seizure medicine.  Friday, he went to school, but the teachers were concerned because he hadn't really eaten well for them.  They also said he was more tired than they had ever seen him.  And then Saturday, he basically quit eating.  So that afternoon, we took him to the hospital.  He was admitted for dehydration.  He slept all day Saturday, all through Saturday night, all day Sunday, and all through Sunday night.  He was on fluid with glucose and nutrients the whole time, because we couldn't wake him up enough to eat.  While all of this was going on, we met with his general pediatrician, his pediatrician at the hospital, and several surgeons and decided that it was time to get him a g tube.  At first, we thought that the surgery would be Tuesday, but we found out late yesterday afternoon from the surgeons that it wouldn't be until Thursday.  So we came home last night and will go back on Thursday for the Nissin and the g tube.  The Nissin keeps him from refluxing.  Yesterday afternoon, he had a pretty good feed.  He ate 4 ounces out of a bottle in 30 minutes (if you know anything about kids eating, it is insane that that is a good feeding) and then ate 3.5 ounces of applesauce.  About an hour later, he threw it all up.  I just don't think that his stomach can handle that volume right now.  So once the g tube is in, we can start to increase the amount that goes into his stomach, so he gets used to being full at a higher quantity.  Also, for a while, we're going to feed him pediasure, since he only has to eat 4.5 ounces 5 times a day to get the correct number of calories.  I will let everyone know how the surgery went Thursday evening.  Please keep Cooper in your thoughts and prayers until then!!

Glasses

Cooper had a crazy day today.  First, he had to go to the doctor this morning.  Apparently he has gastroenteritis and was a little dehydrated.  He got fluid at the doctor and was sent home on a pedialyte only diet.  Tomorrow he can go back to school and start eating again.

In other, happier news, he got his glasses!  He looks like the cutest hipster ever!

So THIS is what my hand looks like!

Um, what are these?

Love this one:

Poor baby:

Stretch:

Good Day

Cooper is in a GREAT mood today!  We haven't increased his medicine dose in over a week, so he is finally back to normal Cooper: talking, smiling, etc.  Every time we increase his dosage, he is so tired for at least a week.  It's great to have him be himself again!

Unfortunately, this mood will be short lived.  We have to start him on Topamax, a second anti-seizure drug.  This drug will again make him sleepy for a while.  Hopefully it won't take long for him to be back to his normal, happy Cooper self.

Busy Weekend!!

We had a BUSY weekend!  Saturday morning, Brad, Cooper, and I got up at 8 and headed downtown to the Farmer's Market.  We got squash, squash blossoms, long beans, potatoes, plums, and zinnias.  We grabbed breakfast at a little coffee shop, then headed home to feed Cooper.  For lunch, we met up with our friend Jeff and his mom and sister who were in town for the weekend.  We ate at the Purple Cow, which is an amazing dinner/ice cream place.  That night, I hosted the "Whine and Cheese" Girls' Night.  It is for all the second year females plus all the wives/significant others.  12 people showed up and we had a great night snacking, drinking wine, and talking about how attractive the men from True Blood and Dexter are.  Sunday morning, we all went to church.  Then we headed downtown to Gusano's Pizzeria to watch the U.S. women play Japan in the World Cup final.  It was an exciting match with a very disappointing ending.  Tonight, we're going to watch the seventh Harry Potter movie, since Brad never got to see it in theaters and we're going to see the eighth one tomorrow night!!  I'm so exhausted from everything that I may not make it all the way through!

Sick Day

Last night, Cooper again had a fever (102).  This time, I'm pretty positive he has an ear infection.  For the past couple of days, he has had nasty crud coming out of his right ear.  So he is home with his mom.  When he doesn't feel good, he sleeps.  So that's what he's been doing most of the day so far.  But I've gotten in some good snuggle time.  Sometimes, Cooper just wants to be held when he falls asleep.  And that is fine by me!

Bad precedent

For the past two nights, Cooper has fallen asleep in our arms.  We have fed and changed him as we normally do before bed, put him in his crib, then he has fussed and cried until we have gone to get him.  Then he gets comfortable on us and goes to sleep.  I don't want this to become a habit, but since he was sick this weekend, I'm letting it slide for now.

Saturday afternoon, Cooper had a temperature of 101.7.  Since I was out of town, this really worried me.  There really isn't any good medical care in Clarksdale.  I gave him Tylenol and Ibuprofen and his fever went away, but not until he had three seizures in a day.  Brad and the neurologist think the one day increase in seizure activity was because of the fever; apparently fevers can make seizures worse in kids that have seizure disorders.  All in all, Saturday afternoon and night (up every hour checking on him) were worrisome.

He seems good now.  He went to school today and was alert and active for his therapies.  He is STILL having spasms, so we'll see what the neurologist wants us to do.  We can increase his medicine dose one more time, but if that doesn't help, we have to start exploring other options.  We'll see...

Neurology

Yesterday, Cooper had an EEG and a neurology clinic appointment.  For an EEG, a nurse has to put a bunch (I think 24) electrodes on his head.  First, she measures and draws with a marker where the electrodes go.  Then, she puts a smelly glue on all of those spots.  Next, she sticks an electrode to those spots and uses an air gun to quickly dry the glue  Then she goes back and puts a drop of gel into each electrode.

Reminder from 6 weeks ago:

Cooper hates to have his head touched; he cries whenever they measure his head.  So this was awful.  None of it hurt him, but he screamed and cried and kicked throughout the whole process.  Then he went to sleep in my arms.  It was really sweet how calm he got when I picked him up.  At one point, I had to move from a hospital bed to a rocking chair.  So the nurse took him from me, so I could move.  As soon as the nurse picked him up, he started screaming again.  When I got him back, he immediately stopped.  Guess he really does know who mama is!!

Then we saw the neurologist.  It is good that Cooper's spasms are less intense and that he is having less of them; however, they should be gone.  Until that happens, his EEG's will look abnormal.  So, we have once again upped his medicine dose.  He will be really tired for the next week or so.  If they haven't gone away in a week, we have to call her and just go from there.  Pray this higher dose does the trick!!

Oh, and the baby glasses still aren't in.

The End of Things

Cooper is officially out of breast milk.  I pumped for 8 months.  I thought I would have enough to last me the year, but it only got me to 10 and a half months.  It stinks that Cooper will have to eat formula, but there is nothing I can do about it now.  I did what I could, but I still just feel guilty.  I know there are plenty of very healthy people (me included) that were fed formula, but I was just hoping that Cooper would go straight from breast milk to cow's milk.  Ah well.