Hospital Adventures (part 2)

How did Caleb end up hospitalized again in December?

Although he had been completely fine the day before, Caleb woke up on St. Nicholas Day not feeling well.  I normally don't take the kids into the doctor until they have been sick for awhile to give their immune system a chance to fight it off before resorting to drugs.  However, this time I felt he needed to get seen without delay so despite the fact it was a Sunday (meaning his normal doctor wasn't in), I had my husband take him in to the quick care clinic to get checked out.

He had minimal symptoms - just didn't feel well, had a low grade fever (99.3) and had a slightly sore throat - but his heart rate was in the 130s.  Unfortunately, he got seen by a PA who TOTALLY missed the ball!  She diagnosed him with dehydration.  She said Americans just don't drink enough water, drink too much soda, and we live at such a high altitude here it's easy to get dehydrated.  She didn't bother to actually get a real history on Caleb.  If she had, she would have learned our family does NOT drink soda AT ALL, and that Caleb drinks MANY glasses of water throughout the day.  As far as altitude, 940 feet above see level isn't generally considered high altitude!  Caleb's daddy said he wished I had been there to deal with the PA myself.  I would have told her she needed to figure out what was really wrong with my child instead of making an assumption based on habits of the general American public.

As the day went on Caleb continued to decline significantly.  He became completely lethargic, wouldn't eat at all, his fever climbed to over 103, and his heart rate climbed into the 160s.  I gave him ibuprofen which helped reduce his fever and heart rate a bit, though they were still above normal (heart rate dropped to 140s), and I watched him like a hawk all through the night until I could get him in to see his normal doctor the next morning.

Thankfully his normal doctor, though full of patients, not only saw him but also ordered lab work, an EKG, and a chest x-ray.  He determined he was definitely NOT dehydrated!  The chest x-ray showed the possible beginning of pneumonia (exact wording from radiology report was "suspected early or ill-defined infiltrate apical segment left lower lobe").  He wasn't even coughing, and his lungs sounded clear.  There was no clear explanation for his high heart rate, so off to the ER we went.

There was never a clear explanation for Caleb's high heart rate.  He was diagnosed with pneumonia, but it was a mild case that really shouldn't have caused his heart rate to increase that much.  In fact, it was caught so early it was barely visible on the x-ray (multiple doctors said they didn't really see it themselves).  He did have to stay in the hospital for awhile, but eventually they let him go with the promise of close follow-up with his primary care doctor (the hospital also followed up with phone calls to us as well).  However, with a diagnosis of pneumonia, though mild, and a high heart rate we couldn't go anywhere to enjoy any Christmas festivities, not to mention the fact illness started spreading through the rest of the family as well.

There's always next year...

(Oh, and we'll be following up on Caleb's heart rate issues with a visit to a pediatric cardiologist soon.)

Hanging out in the ER.  

Just waiting to be admitted to a real room in the hospital.

Heart rate of 158 during the middle of the night while sleeping.  It would spike even higher in the daytime.

Hospital Adventures

Last year just a few days before Christmas Caleb ended up in the hospital getting emergency surgery for appendicitis.  Aside from the pain and misery it caused him, it also left us unable to do anything fun for Christmas.  We said all year long how this Christmas would be so much better.

Look how we spent this December...

 

Happiness in the Home

One of the things that seems to most impress people about our family is the happiness that is so evident among us.  Despite the fact that our 8 children come from 8 different places with most of them having painful backgrounds they still radiate happiness and joy to others, and despite the fact that like most marriages we have had our own share of problems to deal with we are still best friends, always happiest when we are together.

How have we taken the 10 of us, all from VERY different backgrounds, and melded us together into one big happy family (note I didn't say perfect, that's not possible - but we really are quite happy overall!)?  There is no one answer to this question, it is a combination of factors, but perhaps the biggest factor is that we learned to remove all negativity from our life.

Have you heard of the new trend known as the "KonMari" method based upon the bestseller book titled "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo?  The book is about organizing and simplifying your life based upon one important concept - keep only the things which spark joy to you.  If an item does not spark joy then it should not take up space in your life.

This is a GREAT technique for decluttering your home, but the amazing thing is this same concept can be applied in other areas of your life also - the activities that occupy your time, the places you go, and even your relationships with other people.  The bottom line - if it doesn't spark joy, it doesn't belong in your life.

Life is too short to waste any time dealing with people who bring negative emotions into your life.  Regardless of how much you may love a person, how much you may WANT to have a relationship with them, or what your connection is to them, if they are not a POSITIVE part of your life then they don't belong in it.  The choice is up to them - either be a positive part of your life, or don't be a part of your life at all.

So what happens when someone invades the happiness in our home with negativity?  Well, we have found the best response is no response.  Even if the person is completely wrong in their beliefs, words, or actions towards us, we do not respond. Perhaps it comes from our admiration for the Amish, perhaps it's our own beliefs, or perhaps we just don't want to fool with the inevitable argument.  Regardless, we have found if someone truly wants to be a part of our lives, and if they have a complaint about us, they will approach us out of love and with a willingness to solve the problem.  A person who attacks without seeking to find the truth isn't really interested in our family anyway.

As an example, last year we were involved in a situation in which someone said something wrong about us to someone else, which in turn led that someone else to react with negativity towards us.  We were both shocked and hurt at what happened.  We considered defending ourselves, but in the end we just backed away.  After all, of those that were turning against us, NOT.A.SINGLE.ONE bothered to ask for our side of the story.  Had they really cared about us instead of lashing against us based on the words of someone else, they would have approached us with an attitude of openness and love, e.g. "So-and-so said this about you, and it really bothered me, but I wanted to get your side of the story before I made any judgements against you."

Our family is way too precious to let negativity have a place in our lives.  It hurts when those we love and care about us cause us pain, but in order to keep the happiness in our family we have to let them go, no matter whether they are a friend we cared deeply for or a family member for whom we have an unconditional love.  We will continue to pray for them and pray for a restoration of our relationship with them, we'll continue to love them, but we will love them from a distance.  In the end, it's not that we're keeping certain people out of our lives.  It's that we're keeping negativity out of our lives.

These kids, and their siblings, are way too precious and wonderful to waste our time dealing with negativity!