My Little Monkey

sorry for the poor picture quality, I used my cell phone

Noah has learned how to climb on top of things. It started with my parent's ottoman this past weekend, then on Monday, we were in the playroom and I looked down for a split second, when I looked back up, he was on top of his train table! He thought it was so funny! Even though I had to do the mommy thing of, "Noah, that's a no-no, you can get hurt", I thought it was pretty funny too. I've caught him several times this week, trying to climb on our glass top coffee table... oh goodness, the fun begins! :)

A Bit Unconventional...

Today, I took Noah to an Accupuncturist / Chinese Medicine Doctor, Dr. Ly. I came to this decision under the influence of my dad... my dad has issues with foot pain (I think it's called torsel tunnel?) and he's been getting cortizone shots in his ANKLES (yes, he's says it's horribly painful) for several months and still has really bad pain. So someone told him about Dr. Ly and how he had alleviated their back pain completely. Dad went to see him and he's hooked. His feet feel so much better, plus Dr. Ly told him he could treat him in 5 visits and dad wouldn't have any more pain. My dad is so funny... he gets sold on something and he's the greatest advertisment for that product/person. For example, his Tempur-Pedic mattress/box springs that he bought YEARS ago, before they became as popular as they are now(he recommended the brand to so many people that ended up purchasing a mattress, that Tempur-Pedic gave my dad 5 free pillows). He'll tell EVERYONE about how much Dr. Ly has helped him. So back to the story... anyways, he tells Dr. Ly about Noah and his delays and Dr. Ly wanted us to bring him in. His office manager knows my parents so mom called her and she told her that he has worked wonders for tons of children.

So we went this morning, and I'll admit, I was VERY skeptical. First of all, the waiting room is packed with majority older people (which shocked me for some reason.) We get Noah in the room and I give him the medical history. He asks me, right now, what's more important, for you to have him walking or talking? They're both pretty high up on the list, however, I tell him "walking." He begins spouting out my instructions... I'm to do some massaging techniques on Noah's back 30 times twice a day. He then tapes these tiny little beads on to 4 pressure points on the back of Noah's legs. I'm to press them each 30 times twice a day. My last instruction was to load Noah up with Vitamin B complex, 3 x a day, before each meal. He told me he really wants to help Noah and that all of these things will strengthen his muscles and that he wants to see Noah weekly. He told us because my dad is such a good dad / grandfather, that he wants to do this for Noah at no charge and that all he cares about is helping get Noah to walk. WOW.

Since my dad started going to him, I've heard wonderful things about him and all the different ways he has healed and helped others. It's pretty amazing. After seeing all the doctor's we've seen, subjected our son to as many tests as we have, to try to find a diagnosis, after all the therapy, I'm willing to try any- and everything that will help him... even if it is a bit unconventional! :)

Sick of being sick!

On Tuesday, we went back to Birmingham because Noah had two doctor's appointments. His first one was with his Physical Therapist, Peggy, so we could have him fitted for his new AFO's (braces for his feet). Then the next appointment was with his new neurologist. We had some time in between appointments so we ate lunch with a friend of mine, Marianne and her little girl, Sydney. It was great catching up with her and seeing her sweet little girl! After lunch, we went to our appointment with the neurologist, Dr. Simisathien (or something). She basically wanted to observe Noah and talk with us to get his history, etc. Since he continues to make progress, there's nothing else to do right now, no tests that she recommends or anything. So we don't have to go back for a follow-up until October.

On another hand, when Noah got sick last week, he had a high fever and was very weak... like could barely stand up he was so shaky. Well I noticed that his left eye began wandering a little worse than normal. We've been seeing a Opthamologist about this and he released us for 2 years because Noah's eye had improved. Well, since Noah had the Croup, he was put on a steriod medicine and I wondered if that, combined with the sickness, made his eye weaker. He's finished the med's and no longer running a fever, but I've still noticed his eye wandering more than normal so I called his Opthalmologist, Dr. Hein, to see what they thought. They agreed that being sick and having a high fever can make the eye muscles weak, just like it makes the rest of body's muscles weak, however, it should have improved since he's over the croup/fever. So they would like to see him next month. In the meantime, I've decided to patch the strong eye (like we did in the past) so that he has to use the weaker eye, which will in turn help in strenghtening it. Since this is what the doctor had us to do last year, I felt like it would be okay for me to do so again. Needless to say, Noah is NOT A FAN! I'm doing my best to keep the patch on him for at least 30 minutes, 2 x day.

Also, Noah's STILL SICK!!! AHHH... I think I might lose my mind! Okay, not really, but he's been pretty fussy during the day... praise the Lord, that he's sleeping just fine at night. We went back today for a yucky running nose, bad cough, and I've noticed him pulling at his ears. And yep, he's got an ear infection... which is only his second ear infection in his almost 3 years. He's been a very healthy kid but these last 2 weeks have hit him hard. Hopefully this antibiotic will get rid of these nasty germs so he can begin feeling better!

Sick Little Boy

Noah spent the night with my mom and dad last Sunday night to give us a little break and for my parents to have a little Noah time. We woke up Monday morning to a completely unexpected snowfall coming down steadily. Jamie and I had a great time playing in the snow and since we had several inches, we were able to build a pretty big snowman sporting an Alabama hat AND make some pretty awesome snow cream. YUM! I was sad that Noah wasn't with us to enjoy the snow, so I called mom to check on him. At that time, he was still asleep (at 10am!) but mom called me a hour or so later to let me know he was running a fever and obviously not feeling well...uh oh. Jamie and I headed to my parent's to get him. Once we got there it was obvious he felt horrible and he was running a fever around 102. He could barely keep his eyes open for more than 15 - 20 min at a time and he wouldn't eat or drink. He had NO energy and couldn't even stand on his own b/c he was so shaky. I was afraid he was dehydrating so we were able to get a little bit of Pedialyte down him but too much and he would throw it up. Later that evening, around 8pm his fever got up to 103.2 so we gave him Tylenol but made the decision to take him to the ER, mainly because we were afraid of dehydration or some type of infection. He was just SO pale and glassy eyed that it was scary. We got there at 9pm and were seen by the doctor (who had ZERO personality) at 10:30pm. He checked his ears and throat and listened to his heart and gave him some Motrin for the fever and just said it was a viral infection and to let it run its course. We were given our bill of $165 and sent on our way... wow, thank you very much. I was surprised that he didn't check for the flu or get a urine sample or SOMETHING... but I'm not the one with the MD behind my name. Tuesday was about the same... high fever, no energy and no eating, however he WAS drinking. Tuesday evening a slight cough developed. Wednesday afternoon he woke from his nap and was coughing, wheezing, and crying terribly. I called our Ped and they told me to bring him in immediately. They diagnosed him with the croup and prescribed an oral steriod. His poor cough was awful and he is so hoarse. Everytime he gets finished coughing, he cries out with a wimper because it hurts so bad. It's pitiful. And the steriod medicine is no fun... it makes Noah so irritable and fussy! The only way he'll nap is in one of our arms (mainly mine) and when we lay him down he immediately wakes up crying. It's made for a long several days, that's for sure. The good thing is that, THANKFULLY, he is sleeping through the night just fine, but I've kept a vaporizer in there so that may be what's helping him at night. I HATE seeing my baby feel so bad. I'm sure it's rough on all families when they have a sick child but what makes it more difficult for me and Noah is that he isn't able to express himself, so he can't tell me what he wants, what hurts, or how he feels. It frustrates him so much, which in turn makes it equally as hard for me and Jamie. I'll be honest, it definitely tests our patience trying to figure out what he needs when he's so frustrated and crying because of how bad he feels.

Thursday evening, Jamie came home and surprised me with my Valentine's gift... a trip to Huntsville to stay in the Westin, dinner at The Melting Pot, and shopping at BridgeStreet... YAY! He had arranged for my mom to watch Noah for us to give me a break because he knew it had been a long week for me. Then I woke up with a horrible sore throat/bad cough on Friday morning... ughh. We decided to go on and had a great time, I just stayed doped up on Dayquil and popped cough drops like they were going outta style! Once we got home Saturday afternoon and relieved my mom of her babysitting duties, I was feeling pretty rough, so I took some NyQuil (at 2 in the afternoon) and went to bed while Jamie took care of Noah (in which Noah cried pretty solid for 2 hours...Jamie was exhausted). I'm actually feeling a little better this evening but Noah still seems to be feeling pretty bad. Tomorrow is the last day on the steriod medicine so I'm really hoping it clears up SOON othewise looks like we'll be taking him back at the doctor's office.

There's No Place Like Home

Last Friday was Noah's last day of therapy in Birmingham. Jamie drove down to join us on Wednesday (he actually wasn't supposed to get there until Thursday after work, but he surprised me and showed up 1 day sooner...BEST surprise ever because I was really missing him) so that he could go to the last two of Noah's sessions, to see all the different things we were working on so that he too, would know what to do at home. Noah had a GREAT last two days of therapy and by Friday, he had worked up his endurance to walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes with 1/2 weights on his ankles and walked over 800 yards in his walker... pretty hard stuff for a 2.5 year old! At the end of our 3 hours, they sent us home with a list of things to continue working on and off we headed... in the freezing rain/snow that had been coming down for a few hours. Also, during therapy, I wasn't feeling too great, kind of nauseated. Once we got on the road, I began feeling worse, and when Jamie and I stopped in Gardendale for lunch, I felt so bad that I couldn't eat anything. We were in seperate cars and Noah was with me. The weather was getting worse the further north we drove and somewhere past Moulton (in between Muscle Shoals and Moulton), I was feeling AWFUL and Noah was fussing because he wanted out of the car. I kept thinking I was going to have to pull over on the side of the road and get out in the freezing cold weather to get sick, but luckily, I made it to my parent's house in Muscle Shoals, where I literally jumped out of the car and ran straight for the bathroom. I apparently had caught some kind of stomach bug because I spent the rest of the day throwing up and laying in the bed. And my body ACHED so bad... my back, legs, everything hurt like crazy! I ended up just staying the night at my parents house because I was too nauseated to drive home but by the next morning, I felt a little better. We spent Saturday relaxing and laying around and we went to sunday school and church on Sunday, which I've really missed because it's been 4 weeks since we were last there.

Noah's teachers at Wee Care were so excited to have him back this week and his therapists met me in his room to discuss all the things he had accomplished while in B'ham. Today, we went to Huntsville for his weekly therapy session and his therapists were SO HAPPY. His PT (physical therapist) hugged me so tight because she was so excited for Noah and so pleased with how well he was doing and his OT (Occupational Therapist) told me that she was so happy she wanted to cry! :) It means alot that they care so much about Noah and his accomplishments and that they celebrate with us when he learns new things. They've become personally invested in his progress and I love that they care so much, rather than him being just another patient that they see. It's so good to be home and back in our regular routine!