It never fails...if I EVER have any kind of appointment, I cannot sleep!!! I want to, I try to, but something in my brain refuses to let me. I suppose I should be grateful that I got 2 1/2 hours, sometimes I only sleep 10 minutes. How's THAT for positive thinking?
Today Aiden had an appointment with Dr. Barbato, his pediatrician. And it wasn't pretty. Yes, he got a shot, but I swear, the simple examination was more traumatic for him than that shot! Why, oh why must they do a rectal temperature???? UGHHHHHH! His overall appointment was good. The doctor was amazed at his growth. He is sooooo close to being on the chart in the height department! He's 2 and 1/2 feet tall. I'm a smidge over 5 ft tall, so when people say he's half my size, it's quite literally true. Now the Luv Muffin is a 22 pounder! He finally made it on the chart! And you know why....no more antibiotics.
For those who don't know, in January of this past year, Aiden had craniotomy surgery to correct his Mytopic Synostosis, which is when the front two plates of the skull are fused not allowing for any to 'give' as the brain grows...this could lead to brain damage or even death. It was a scary surgery...the surgeons pretty much had to remove Aiden's skull, saw it into pieces and put it back together again like a puzzle. It was a 5 hour surgery...we had to donate blood a few days ahead because Aiden would definitely need a blood transfusion during surgery. Sure, the surgery went well, he only needed a small portion of my blood...the worst part was that his eyes swelled shut for about three days and they said he would most likely have fevers due to all the blood around his skull. And he did...we were somewhat prepared for it. But by the forth day of 104 degree fevers, the doctors became concerned. It shouldn't have continued on for this many days. The doctors ordered a bunch of tests and cultures...they thought it might be his arterial line...nope...they thought it was a urinary tract infection...uh uh...they thought it was an ear infection...not that either...it went on and on until they finally took a culture from a part of his head that was still very swollen. Turned out he had a staph infection above the skull bone. And if that wasn't scary enough, it was MRSA. Aiden had to go back into sugery and have the infection flushed out. That's when my mom flew in...I was never so scared. That was the first time the thought of losing him entered my mind. Thank God he had that second surgery, that seemed to help tremendously.
Luckily, since it wasn't an aggressive form of staph, they were able to isolate the actual type of MRSA and come up with some antibiotics that worked for his particular case. They found that Rifampin and Bactrim would kill this strain of MRSA and they were able to come up with a treatment plan that could be given through his g-tube rather than him having to go home with a pic-line (a kind of semi-permanent IV line). 
After 18 horrible, stressful days in the hospital.... after 24 hours straight with no fever, we brought Aiden home. He ended up being on the antibiotics for 6 months to be absolutely certain his actual bone was not infected. He got better and stronger, but the antibiotics reaked havoc on his digestive system and he would end up throwing up once a day almost every other day. So he wasn't putting on weight. Here we thought all along that it was just because he was teething and he just had a lot of phlegm or something, but the last day he threw up was exactly the last day he was given Rifampin. We were amazed and relieved. And now Aiden is growing and growing and GROWING! 
On a lighter note, after Aiden's doctor appointment today...when we finally got home, the exhausted Aiden fell asleep....and SO DID I. I think I got in a good hour and a 1/2. WOOHOOOOOO! Today was a gorgeous day, so we took Aiden out on the backyard swing for a while. He was a little groggy from the shot, but as the day wore on, he started becoming his usual silly and animated self. Did a lot of playing with GrammaDonna. As the evening closed, he took a bath and got ready for bed. It took a little time to put him to sleep...he was in such denial that he was beyond tired. Little does he know that tomorrow he has ANOTHER doctors appt with his wonderful, life saving ENT doctor...Dr. Hotaling. Even though he wont get any shots, Aiden will still freak out wondering what is going to happen next...an IV? a blood test? After his traumatic experience in January, he trusts NO ONE! And I don't blame him.
Well, I'm going to feed Aiden now and I'm really really going to attempt to try to get some sleep. Maybe my lack of sleep will over ride the power of my mother's paranoia enough that I can get in a wink or two. I'll settle for a wink at this point. Wish me luck...good nite! 
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