Easter Bunny

Little Drummer

The Baby

Cooper has a few words in his repertoire- Mom, Dada, Hi, and this morning he woke up saying "the baby". He's been saying baby but "the baby" was a first today. Cooper has no idea what's coming (I don't think we do either).

Old MacDonald

Two new doctor appointments later we have been out and about visiting farms getting to know everything that the animals are eating. While it was a lot of driving it was actually pretty cool to see how the animals were being raised and to get to know the farmers. We got a grand tour of one- although we probably spent more time looking down to avoid the poo piles. Turns out some of Cooper's allergic reactions could be from what the animals are eating- not the animals themselves. There are no farms that only grass feed their chickens so he's most likely breaking out to the corn and soy the chickens are eating. Makes sense since he's very allergic to corn and soy! We have found 3 farms in the somewhat local area that have grass fed beef and lambs though. Come summer when the pigs and chickens can roam outside we should be able to try them again.

Anyone who knows me knows I haven't eaten beef since high school after watching a 20/20 special about the horrors of the meat industry and watched a slaughter. Honestly the images still haunt me. I know I would never eat if I knew how they slaughtered chickens and other animals but I prefer to live in the dark on those. Although after I have the baby that could be a good diet technique :-)

A few weeks ago I could barely stand to smell beef cooking and now here I am cooking it up for Cooper!! (The things we do for our kids!)Jim still has to do the things that involve a lot of the blood but I'm proud to say I even had some beef jerkey last weekend. Don't anyone go getting their hopes up, I'm not ready for the t-bone yet!

What We Found Out

Poor, poor Cooper.

I know you want to know what's up. I won't leave you in suspense. The M.D. said he has a staph infection in his foot/ankle.

As any of you that read this on a regular basis are aware, Cooper has eczema, and has been battling it since he was three months old. His eczema has been flaring up a lot lately. Naturally, he scratches. The only places he's normally able to get to are his upper back/neck, and his ankles (when not socked up). He's managed to scratch his ankles raw, to the point of them bleeding a bit. According to the M.D., the staphylococcus aureus bacteria entered Cooper through a break in his skin along his ankle. Websites I consulted tonight said that the bacteria can be present on our skin without causing an infection, and that those with compromised immune systems (like Cooper) that have skin conditions are at risk of infection.

With the way the infection was going, and the obvious pain Cooper was in, we immediately said we needed to take him to Urgent Care. Well, let me tell you this adventure.

We got there and signed in. It was around 10AM. There were three people ahead of us. We sat there for over an hour before finally being seen. I got phone calls from work. Abbie had to go outside several times to get some air because it was stifling in the waiting room. F-ing doctors.

So we finally get in there. The M.D. shows up, looks at Cooper's foot. Moves it a bit. THEN pushes the foot upwards at the ankle (dorsiflexion), and Cooper didn't like that one bit. The M.D. wanted to see how much range of motion, and b/c there was so much fluid in the ankle, the skin turned white from the pressure, and Cooper started to scream in pain. Yeah, that wasn't pleasant for us. F-ing doctors.

So he orders X-rays even though he doesn't believe Cooper's ankle's broken.

Now, X-rays are radiation at a certain level to move through soft tissue, but not hard tissue. A toddler exposed to radiation isn't, in my mind, a very good idea. And don't tell me that one gets more radiation driving through Fairfax County than they get from an X-ray. If that's the case, then everyone would be exhibiting symptoms of constant radiation exposure.

So, I have to be in there with Cooper getting his X-rays since Abbie's preggers. They laden me down with those derned heavy lead aprons, and I put Cooper on the X-ray table. To get the right picture, Cooper's foot has to be sole down, which means putting it into an uncomfortable position. He don't like that much. So he starts to cry, and scream. And as we continue on like this, he gets louder and louder. And as the tech lines up the machine over his foot using the cross-hatch light, he screams louder still. He's obviously hurting and scared, and getting more and more scared what with this crazy thing over his foot and Dad holding his leg with some force to keep him from moving (by the way, he's a strong little bugger). Blam, one X-ray down.

The next one is simple...his foot is lying down just as it does when he's sitting. Easy as pie, right? Noooo. The tech turns on that light, and he sees it over his foot, and starts to scream again. I have to hold his leg steady again, and its hurting him. And he's screaming. And Blam, the X-ray is done. The tech takes the film back to have it processed.

So, Abbie's outside of the X-ray room with the door closed...she has no idea what's happening. Imagine your most precious loved one stuck in another room that you can't get into, and all you hear is screaming in pain and fear. That's what she had to deal with. We went out there, and she was a wreck. She just held Cooper and he held her. Hope we don't have to go through that again anytime soon.

BUT!

The M.D. looks at the film, and decides that there's not a good enough picture. That we need to take the X-rays again. Okay, are you kidding me? I'm not happy with that. Abbie's not happy with that. Cooper's not happy with that. So we go through it all again. And no, Cooper didn't take it easier this time. If anything, he was worse. Now, I looked at the first X-rays, and I could see the bone without hassle. The second X-ray wasn't any better. I told the doctor that I'd prefer to not have to take anymore X-rays. Dunno if he heard me or not, since most M.D.'s don't really listen to their patients or their patients' guardians, but we didn't take any more. His ankle was not broken. F-ing doctors.

But it was interesting to see the spacing between all his bones, even his petatarsals (toes). None of his bones touched each other, which explains why a baby doesn't break anything along the joints....they just bend.

So Cooper got antibiotics and as of today, he's walking again. Unfortunately, the antibiotics have side effects, unlike more natural remedies. Cooper doesn't sleep well at all...awakening about every hour to hour and a half. In addition, [squeamish stop reading now], his poo is very runny and...how do I describe it...stinkier than it ever has been and with the consistency of marshmallow cream. That means its harder to clean up and it sticks to his body like glue.

F-ing overpaid doctors.