Health Issues

On June 22, I took Elayna to the doctor. She had been complaining about pain when she went potty, so I thought she might have a urinary tract infection. The doctor and nurse asks lots of questions, and left me feeling as though I didn't really have a reason to come in. Most of my answers were "I don't know", "I'm not sure", "It's so hard to tell". They decided that we needed to check her urine, and since she isn't really potty trained, they had to put a catheter in. The nurse hadn't done it before, as far as I could tell.

We had to strip her naked, then hold her down while the nurse cleaned the area. Then we really had to hold her down while the doctor tried to put the catheter in. I can tell you, I still feel like crying when I think about it. To have to watch your child be in pain because of a decision you made (even if it is to make her better) is an awful feeling. I hated having to hold her down while she was screaming and squirming in pain.

Finally it was over, and I just held her close for a while. They said the results would come back in a day or two. If she got a fever, threw up, etc, then I should come in before that.
Well, on the 25th, she had a fever, and was crabby. I called the doctor, and he told us to come in. They got the test results back and I think the doctor and I were both relieved that she actually did have an infection. Not because we wanted her to be sick, but that there was something we could treat. He put her on an antibiotic, and she got better.

On July 3, we had a Charles and Irmadell DeGraffenried Reunion. The day before, and the morning of the reunion, my back had hurt, but I figured I had just worked too hard or something. We had lots of fun at the reunion. It is amazing how I can feel so close to these people that I only see once a year, if that.

Ryan was so great, he took the girls home and put them in bed so I could stay and clean up. Then I went over to Mom and Dad's house to visit with Jean, Sandra, Cynthia, and my parents. It was really fun. When I got home, Ryan and I started watching a Monk episode (we bought all 7 seasons, because we enjoy it so much). At about 10:00, my back was just hurting so bad. It almost felt like I was in labor, it hurt so much. I took some medicine, and tried to lay down, but nothing helped. Thankfully, we have 2 P A's in the family, (my brother Mike, and Ryan's sister Clarissa) and they were both great enough to give us advice about what we should do. I eventually threw up, and that was the clincher to go the hospital.

At this point it was 11:00, and the girls were of course asleep, so I called my Mom and told her I needed to go to the hospital. She said, "I'll be right there". What a blessing to have her so close!

At the hospital they took some urine, put me on some Morphine, and then we just sat there for about 2 hours. They kept checking on me, and told me I had a "rip-roaring case of kidney infection". After they made sure the antibiotic they had given me was going to stay down, they released us and we went and got some medicines from the pharmacy.

Thankfully, I never hurt again once we left the hospital. I did get a fever on the 4th, and it was pretty bad. I was sleeping at my parent's house because Ryan and the girls had gone to celebrate the holiday with the Bowman family. I woke up from a nap, and my face was bright red, and my temperature was about 103 degrees. My parents were understandably worried, so we again called Mike and Clarissa and the hospital. The consensus was that I just needed to take acetaminophen and ibuprofen alternately until the fever went down.
It finally did go down, and the rest of the week I just laid around and rested. Ryan was able to stay home on the 5th, I hung out at Mom's on the 6th, and by then I was feeling pretty normal. Irma and Amanda both offered to help too.

Wow. What a relief it is to have good health. Katie hasn't seen the doctor, except for well child checks, and Elayna had only seen the doctor for excema before this. Ryan and I are pretty healthy, and the only reason we go to the doctor is for our yearly exam. Well, Ryan has gone once in the 10 years we have been married, but I go every year.

Also, on July 17, my Dad went in for a major back surgery. They fused 4 disks together, and took another one out. We are so blessed that the surgery went really well, and took less time than we planned. Mom, Amanda, Dennis, and I hung out at the hospital while he was in surgery. I think we had a lot of fun. We played the card game Phase 10, watched funny videos, talked, had lunch, and just enjoyed the time together. Dad came home on Tuesday, the 20th. He is still recovering, but he says the pain in his back that hurt his legs is now gone.

Jonathan and Gillian had their 2nd baby on July 28th. His name is Scott Gerald. I have only seen pictures, and a very fuzzy Skype image, but he seems pretty cute.