Attacking Pneumonia, Bronchitis, and Laryngitis All At Once

Well, Linus has now been sick on and off for two months and some more. Some days when I think about that I wonder what life was like before snotty noses, mild fevers, and hacking coughs. This past Monday, just a couple days after finishing an antibiotic regimen to treat a sinus infection, I had to take Linus to urgent care because, well, he was hardly breathing. It was basically like he couldn't catch his breath no matter what. In true Linus fashion, you wouldn't have known otherwise anything was wrong. He kept playing with his toys and wondering the waiting room like any other kid. I could see the front desk receptionists giving me questioning glances, most likely because they thought I was being an over-worried mom. Well, over-worried or not, I was getting him checked out.

And it turns out I was right to do so. When the doc took a listen to his lungs, I saw a grimace on his face as he put the ear buds of the stethoscope in my ears. "Do you hear that?"...I nodded..."That's not good." It certainly wasn't good. A couple x-rays and horrifying breathing treatment later, we found out it was pneumonia. What craziness was this? Well, turns out, it was our craziness.

That evening, a home medical care group delivered Linus' nebulizer and we started his home treatment. He takes steroids and antibiotics each day. In fact, today is the last day for that. Yippee!!! And then a breathing treatment, via the nebulizer, 4 times daily. Let me tell you about the joys of that. Why don't you go out side and grab a raccoon from your nearest forested area and bring him back home and hold a mask releasing vaporized medicine over his face. Imagine the screaming, thrashing, kicking...Yep, that's what it's like.

Unfortunately, just as we were getting Linus started on his healing regimen I started to feel ooky. Oh dearie me!!! I thought, well I will just fight this at home. I can not go back to the doctor. I can not fill one more prescription. NO!!! Boy, was I ever wrong. Yep.

Yesterday Linus had a recheck with his doctor, who said he is doing fine!!! Oh what wonderful words to hear I tell ya. But, then we scooted across the way to my doctor (I had finally given up and decided to go in). Ugh, a diagnosis of bronchitis and laryngitis. Lovely. Needless to say, my hacking cough which sometimes produces bloody sputum was a bit more than a cold. So, alas, I had to fill another couple prescriptions.

Today is a new day though. Linus and I both are feeling so much better. I can't tell ya how rejuvenated I am feeling right now. Just at this moment. Maybe we are turning a corner finally. And maybe as the sun peeks out more and more from behind those clouds, we will all start feeling better and emerge from our sicky houses to a new way of life. That's my hope!!!

Truffles, Pancakes, and Mac'n'Cheese Oh My!!!

well, the wyrembelski family is moving forward, even as we continue to hit snags in the path, we keep trucking. steve and i both have a load of pain in different spots. mine, in my arm of course. his is in his side and back. but even with that we are finding all the joy life can bring us, mainly in the little things.

linus is jibber-jabbering more everyday. it is such an exciting experience everytime he says a new word. his new favorite is to say "spongebob" everytime he sees a picture, video, stuffy of the square yellow dude. he loves him! he is really getting into coloring and stickers. puts stickers on anything and everything.

we loved our visit from steve's parents. linus couldn't get enough of either of them. we just loved how he was calling them "Grandma" and "Papa" by the end of the two weeks. he certainly misses them. smiles when he sees a picture. he made good time playing fisher-price people and blocks with them each day. he listened to stories they told him. and he was able to show off his dancing skills on quite the regular basis. of course, his Mamaw will be arriving in a couple weeks. i can't wait for her to have time with linus. i certainly wish my father could also have extra time with our little guy, but it just isn't in the cards right now. hopefully in the near future. i know he loves his Papaw either way.

  

we have been enjoying time cooking and baking. just last night steve made a new dish he created on the spot with beef and curry paste and veggies and more. it was quite delicious. i have been enjoying baking mac'n'cheese, black bean tostadas, and garlic butter fish, along with frying up cornbread pancakes and making truffles. it is certainly a delicious time in our house right now. of course, it doesn't help that steve and i can't do much exercise right now. lol

all in all, we are doing well and loving life. this weekend is our 6th wedding anniversary and i can't wait to spend part of the day alone with steve, thanks to my wonderful friend watching linus. we are going to see a movie and eat a nice meal. it will be glorious and much needed. wow, that 6 years has just flown by with the wind. thank you to all our friends and family who have kept us close to your hearts. we have felt your love and it has brought us great comfort. talk to you soon, everyone!!!

Healing, Family Visit, and Getting Over The Trauma.

Steve and Linus enjoying time with Barb and Ed...So sweet!!!

So the past few weeks have been insane, to say the least. I can't even explain the craziness of my life right now. We got to a point about two weeks ago that Steve and I realized we just couldn't do it on our own. Well, we might have been able to do everything, but we would have lost our minds at the same time. Thus, we called in special forces, Steve's parents. They arrived on January 28th and we couldn't have been more happy to see them. We were so downtrodden by that point, so beat down by our circumstances, just their mere presence helped pull us from the pit of our own despair.

Over the past two weeks that they have been here, we have had rough spots of just getting Steve and I back up and running. We have had rough spots of Steve and I having to let go and let others help us. (That's a toughie.) And we have had tons of joy. We make dinners, enjoy nights out, watch the Super Bowl at Mill Creek, and simply try to make the best of what started as a really tough situation.

 

In the meantime, Steve and I finally made it over to Seattle. My first visit with the Blue Team at Harborview Orthopedic was on February 1st. It was a long visit, a painful visit, but a good visit. I finally felt like the doctors really understood what was going on with my arm and they finally set forth a plan for me. And just yesterday, Steve and I visited Harborview again and found out that at the 3rd week, my arm is looking good. This was great news, because usually once you make it to the 3rd week of healing there is way less risk of the fracture moving and surgery being needed. Yippee!!! I was also given the green light to remove my sling for short periods when I am in the quiet of my home and ever so slightly move my arm around. Of course, the arm is still in two pieces, so I have to be super duper careful!!! But what awesomeness!!!

                

Oh, how the weeks have gone by. It seems like a century ago that I hurt my arm. The pain is already so much less and we finally found a pain medicine that I don't have a resistance to right now. Good old Tramadol! I am quickly learning how to live life one-armed, which is not as difficult as I would have thought. I still want my arm back though. Steve and I are gaining new perspective, enjoying life and family more, and truly feeling happy again after facing our ordeal.

Unfortunately, Steve still has major pain in his side. He finally got a new doctor at St. Mary's and they are pretty certain he has a hernia. Keep him in your thoughts, as he sees a surgeon about it on February 16. Poor thing has had pain for so long, I don't think he remembers what life without it is like. I just want this all to end for him, so he can get back to normal life, pain free.

I will be sad to see my in-laws leave on Friday. They have been such a help to us. Truly!!! But it will be good to get back to life and normalcy. Well, almost normal. It will be quite a long time before I am fully healed and Steve's hernia situation is yet to be fixed. But we are on the right path and happy with that. Plus, we can finally hold hands again as we're riding in the car. Being able to remove the sling, for even short periods, is such a blessing!!!

Cold Hard Fracture

well, hello all the members of my elusive blog audience. how are you this fine afternoon? hopefully well. us wyrembelskis living in the greater walla walla area have had better days. we have been through quite the harrowing last couple weeks. 

It all started quite innocently. it was obvious linus was getting a cold so i took him in for a simple checkover at his doc's office. upon being called from the waiting room to take him back to the exam room, i quickly gathered linus and our belongings into my arms. that's when disaster struck!!! i started to trip and could feel the tumble...i reached out my arm in an attempt to grab at the doorway and catch myself to at least lighten the fall...but instead my arm was bent back as i continued falling until...SNAP! 

oh my goodness, the agony. linus was pulled quickly from my other arm. being taken from his mother in this manner, he began to hysterically scream and continuously reached for me. i was frozen and could do nothing except mutter words of comfort his way. my arm lay limp along my side. i could move my fingers and rest but every other attempt to move my arm caused no movement and excruciating pain. doctors, nurses, receptionists...all came to help and we eventually got my body into a wheelchair. the whole time linus wailed with fear of what was happening. poor guy must have been so confused. i couldn't even gather my thoughts as they asked for steve's number and told me they'd care for linus until he got there. 

with a whoosh they wheeled me through the cold drizzling rain into the other side of the clinic to urgent care. they sent me to xray. all the while the discussion over my head revolved around..."she must have dislocated her shoulder". they painfully x-rayed my shoulder and then i heard the x-ray tech say..."oh, yep, there it is"...in an oh-my-goodness tone. i finally found out i had broke my arm, but not really the full extent. we had to wait a week for an appointment with the orthopedic doctor.

in the meantime, linus had the flu for what seemed like endless days. i got an intestinal virus that attacked me for about 3 days. and steve had the flu. as well, steve's back finally gave out on him (it had been bothering him) the monday after my accident. i had to take over and with one arm, i cared for steve and linus together.

poor sicky linus

we found out at the ortho appointment i had really done a number. i had pretty much fractured my arm from  my shoulder and the ball of the ball-and-socket joint was fractured throughout. the shoulder had been obliterated. i was told to just sit and wait by a doctor who seemed uneasy about treating such a fracture. luckily, my friend urged me to look into a second opinion. with a little tenacity, we were able to get an appointment at harborview orthopedic trauma center. 

tomorrow steve and i will meet with a team of doctors at the trauma center, blue team. they will evaluate my injury and give me further insight on what can be done if anything. i'm nervous, scared, excited, sick to my stomach. i can't fully imagine the outcome right now. all i know is that i need better answers than just sit and wait. i need something more proactive. i need help and care. i want to hold my son again and hug my husband. and i need that to happen NOW!!!

Getting Back To Expressing My Inner Walla Walla

Well, here we are in the new year. I really can't believe how quickly we found ourselves rocking into 2011. Holy Moley, soon we will hit the 1 year anniversary of our move to the wild town of Walla Walla. It's truly amazing to me. And, yet, as I sit here thinking about things, I realize we have gone through a lot over the last year. Wow.

Of course, the holidays are just recently behind us and they were fun, crazy, and exhausting. Linus took pictures with Santa at the Inland Octopus toy store downtown. He wasn't too sure of the rosy-cheeked dude. Never smiled, never cried, just looked in a very analytical way at the big red elf. 

Since we traveled back east for the holiday, we had our own little Christmas in Walla Walla prior to getting in the car. Linus received a potty chair which he took to immediately. Alas, he also found it to be a perfect container for his Little People figures, so we're going to have to work on that. 

He also got a bunch of my old Fisher Price toys from years gone by. We found that my old Fisher Price house was from 1969!!! Craziness. We all three had fun enjoying the toys and some other new nifty gadgets. Oswald even joined the fun, sticking out his tongue at the new toys.

  

Back east we had a ton of fun visiting with family and friends. After 2.5 weeks on the road and traveling over 5000 miles, it was bittersweet to find ourselves back in Walla Walla. We were happy to be home, feeling every bit of ourselves drained and exhausted. But, of course, we were so sad to leave behind our familiar life back east.

2010 brought us a few scares as well. In November, an unidentifiable spot was found on Steve's pancreas. He underwent an ultrasound, CT scan, and a biopsy procedure (unfortunately, during this procedure they weren't able to collect...but he was still put under and scoped and imaged). At the end of the day they feel it is nothing to concerned about. He will undergo another CT scan in a few months to recheck the spot. Of course, the whole ordeal left us wrecked with worry, but we have moved forward and look forward to a healthier new year.

We have also grown more comfortable in our new home, Walla Walla. We are feeling, that even though I don't think we'll ever not think of Michigan as home, we are okay with living here in Walla Walla for now. We have made great new friends and find ourselves quite happy. To all our friends and family back east, We still love you!!!

I'll end this post with a picture I love of Steve and Linus. It was taken during the medical scare with Steve. It was taken at a moment that I feared so very much I might just be looking at a very sick husband. But, even in that fear, I saw a father who so very much loves his son and I felt my love for the both of them.

Walla Walla = Home

It was such a fun trip home. Okay...I am lying...it was stressful, exhausting, and somewhat straight-up depleting. But, it was so needed and helped us to better understand how we will travel between here and there in the future. And it was so wonderful to see family and friends that it seemed we hadn't seen in decades. I look forward to the holidays when I will get to see folks in Kentucky. I can't even explain the amount I miss Detroit, family, friends, Louisville, and so much more. Just a simple thought about getting chocolate chip pancakes at the Pancake House in Grosse Pointe can make me tear up. It has been so very surprising to me how homesick I have been. I have usually tackled a situation like this head on with no looking back. But not this time. I have to admit, in the last few days I am just now finally feeling a little more at home here.  I am not going to trick myself into believing it will be easy tomorrow. It will take a while before it is.

I think I am just taking it day by day and accepting each moment of sadness along with each moment of happiness and contentment. I look over at my son and he is happy as a lark. I see him running through the grass at the park and smiling back at me and getting lost in the wonder of this town and it teaches me that I, too, must get lost in the wonder. Most likely we will get back east someday, but until then I should enjoy every moment I have out here. Who knows, these may be the only moments I get to take in the vast wonder of such a unique place as Eastern Washington. And if we ever move back east, I may get only this time to see the Cascade Mountains, orogenous royalty in my eyes. (And for those of you who are wondering about my vocab just there, an orogeny is a mountain chain.) This really is a beautiful place, and I have already met some wonderful people who have gone out of their way to bring us into their lives. And as I sit here writing this, I realize that one day I may have to say good-bye to them in much the same way and it will be just as difficult.

So, we are back home. We are back where we belong for right now. And we are enjoying ourselves. Frontier Days is just around the corner and I have a cute little rodeo shirt for Linus to wear. I am already thinking of a menu for Labor Day weekend, but maybe we'll have a cookout to attend. And, Steve just wrote me a text a few hours ago to let me know we got invited to a corn roast this weekend. Fun seems to be pouring from every corner. And each time I feel sad and miss my other home, I just have to look at Linus, see his smile, giggle, and glee and realize that we are in our home now. Steve, Linus, and I are home to each other.

 

48 Hours To Linus

On July 17, 2009, I visited Beaumont Hospital in Troy, MI for a simple Non-Stress Test at about 11am. I had been going once a week for about a month and a half. I was excited that day, though, because the next day I would be returning to be induced. I was ready to get the test done and then head home to get things ready at the house for the arrival of our new baby boy. What I didn't know...I wasn't going home.

Right after starting the test, Linus' heartbeat dropped dramatically. The nurse became concerned right away and had me turning and contorting to see if we could get a better measure of the heartbeat. My OB was called immediately. Two more nurses came in and Steve was called back to be by my side. Then I remember the nurse turning to me and saying, "Honey, I don't think you are going home...".

A few hours later I was taken back to my Labor/Delivery room. They set me up with an IV of pitocin and the induction began. That was at about 3pm on July 17, 2009. The next morning, around 6am, they started stepping up how much pitocin I was getting. My parents and Steve's parents came and sat with us in the room. I was continuously checked and contractions were happening. I felt confident I was moving right along. My son's birthday was going to be July 18, 2009! NOPE. By the end of the day, they had knocked my pitocin up to a rate of 24 and I wasn't even close. (The nurse informed me that they usually only have to go up to a rate of 10-15 to get the labor going.) That night they took me off the pitocin drip for a little while and had me take meso pills.

At 6am on July 19, 2009, I remember my OB coming in and checking on me. Steve was asleep and everything was so quiet. I remember turning to my OB, with tears in my eyes and saying, "Please, don't send me home. I can't go through this anymore and I want him out." He smiled at me almost laughing, "Don't worry, if you haven't had him by 6pm, we're going to put a zipper in ya and take him out". I had never heard it phrased that way, but it made me so much happier.They started the pitocin drip again. Things moved along much as they had the day before. By 2pm, I had only dilated to 2cm and I was at a rate of 22 on my pitocin drip. The nurse half smiled at me. Things didn't look too good. I looked back up at the nurse and said, "Let's just do the C-section." And then it was a rush of time that I can't even explain. The flurry that occurred around me at that moment was nuts. The OB came in and made sure we were fine with the decision. Several nurses came in and prepped me. Steve was thrown into scrubs. I was signing papers. I was meeting the nurse anesthesiologist. I quickly said bye to Steve's parents and my own. They whipped me back into the operating room and I met the second OB that would be helping out. There were sooo many people in the operating room. I had never wanted an epidural, let alone a spinal block. That is the one thing I had said to my OB. But it is pretty much required for a C-section. I was so stressed by it my BP went up to 200/110. It was crazy. But then Steve was brought in and it began. Just a few minutes later, at 3:01pm, Linus Henry was born. It was beautiful. It was surreal. I cried. I couldn't even believe he was there. I just stared and stared at him as they checked over every centimeter of his body. Then they handed him to Steve and I was able to give him a kiss for the very first time. It was so wonderful. I sometimes long to have that one moment back to live over and over again. But, I have the memory and that is beautiful enough.

Even though his birth did not happen the way I had expected or hoped, it was beautiful nonetheless. And no matter what, the process gave me my most precious son. And now a year later, that moment seems so long ago. But, the memory is still there. I love you, Linus!!!