Showing posts with label Sick.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sick.. Show all posts

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Sick Baby Update Part 2

I have another quick update for everyone!

We just heard back from the doctor and the blood work shows that her liver enzymes are coming back down and that the inflammation markers are still going down as well! They think the high liver enzymes were probably due to the Naproxen so we will be stopping the medication for now. We go back in 1 week to do repeat lab work to make sure everything is still continuing to go down. I will give you all another update then!

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Love Always,
The Crazy Collards

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Sick Baby Update Part 1

Good morning!

                I just wanted to get a quick update up for all of those who are asking!

Please read my previous post “Sick Baby” if you haven’t already to understand what is going on.

                Oaklee went in on Monday morning for her follow up appointment. She seems to be back to normal to me and the doctor was pleased with how much she is moving and how much her attitude has changed! She requested more blood work to be done to make sure her inflammation levels were going down and to continue taking Naproxen for another four weeks and see her again.



            She called back later that day to give us the blood results and said that the inflammation levels were going down but now it showed her liver enzymes were high… Her doctor said it could be a few things like the medication she was taking or it could be another clue to whatever she has (the doctors still don’t know). She asked us to stop the medication and come in the following day (Tuesday) and get an ultrasound of her liver to make sure everything was okay and to follow up with more blood work on Thursday.


                We received the ultrasound results and everything is normal. So right now we are waiting until Thursday to see if her levels have changed since stopping the medication. I will be sure to do another update once we know more. She seems to be moving normal (I was a little nervous she would slow down after we stopped the medicine but she seems to be doing fine). It's been very stressful for us and we are so ready for it to be over! We were getting close to paying off our medical bills from Zack's surgeries from 3 years ago, Oaklee's birth and now this. It kind of seems endless but I know it will all work out. We appreciate you all taking the time to reach out and give us encouraging words. It truly means so much to me and thank you for your continued prayers. Hoping and praying for good news Thursday.





Love Always,

The Crazy Collards 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Sick Baby

                Hello everyone! I thought I would give an update on the blog because I know a lot of you are wondering what’s been going on with Oaklee. The answer that I have at this moment is I don’t know. I don’t know. The doctors don’t know… It’s pretty much a waiting game at this point. If you want to know what happened/happening then please keep reading.

                Early Saturday morning (May 6th) Oaklee woke up in the middle of the night (not like her) crying. Zack gave her a bottle and she went right back to sleep. He came back into our room and said she felt really hot. I took her temp and she had a temp of 101. I thought “Oh great, she has a nasty virus.”

                She had a temperature all of Saturday, even when I gave her Tylenol. She was EXTREMLY fussy. I’ve never seen her act the way she did. She was kicking and screaming in a way a two year old would throw a tantrum at the store for not getting a treat they wanted. It just wasn’t like her at all.

                I decided to just stick it out for a day and see if she woke up Sunday feeling better. Sunday morning came and she still wasn’t feeling well. At this point she had a temp of 102.4. She was screaming constantly and didn’t want anything to eat or drink so I decided it was time to take her the Instacare.
              
               We brought her to the instacare and he noticed one of her ears were red. Bam! He instantly diagnosed her with an ear infection, gave us a prescription and sent us on our way. I thought, “Great! We will give her antibiotics and she’ll be better in no time!”

                She continued to have a constant fever on Monday and Tuesday. She was starting to eat and drink better but that’s the only thing that changed. On Monday evening I pointed out to Zack that I noticed she wasn’t crawling. She would only army crawl and it was slow and she would cry like she was in pain. We called her doctor’s office and they asked us to come in so they could have a look. The doctor looked her over and requested to have some x rays done the following day to see if she had an injury we didn’t know about. We went in for X rays of her arms and the doctor called back later that day saying it showed inflammation in her elbows and requested to have some blood tests done.
                Wednesday afternoon we finally got the call saying that the blood test showed markers for inflammation and that they spoke to an ortho specialist who requested we go to the ER immediately because it could be something serious. By Wednesday Oaklee’s fevers had gone but she was still extremely cranky and would not crawl or stand up.

                We arrived at the ER and the doctor did more x rays on her legs. It came back showing inflammation in one of her knees. They decided to admit us, do more blood work and we would stay until they figured out what was wrong. The doctor went over things from Lupus, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, some sort of autoimmune disease to cancer… As a parent the word cancer takes your breath away.

                We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the hospital running test after test. They took her blood again on Wednesday and we got the results back on Thursday showing that it still showed markers of inflammation but that it had gone down a little. The nursing staff and doctors came in the room wearing full on hazmat suits because they weren’t sure what she could have. They also did a test for viruses and the staff had to wear all that stuff until that test came back. (It came back negative) The doctors asked us questions about our history and Zack had mentioned he had Kawasaki disease when he was younger. The doctors decided to test for that, just in case. That meant that Oaklee needed to be put under to have an echocardiogram to make sure her heart was okay. We had that test done and everything came back normal.



                They sent us home on Friday with no real answer. They said if she continues to get better and the inflammation goes down they suspect she got some sort of virus and her body reacted in a weird way towards it. If the inflammation continues and she isn’t moving much then they suspect she has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis… We go back in for more blood work on the 22nd and the doctors will go from there…

                I just wanted to update everyone who wanted more answers or had any questions. We also wanted to thank everyone for your sweet messages and prayers. It gives us so much comfort knowing we have so many people who love and adore Oaklee. At this time we ask for your continued prayers and I will update as soon as I know more answers myself. As of right now Oaklee is crawling in her normal position. She doesn’t crawl as fast or as often as she used to but seems to be improving everyday so we are very hopeful.

Talk to you all soon.

Love Always,

The Crazy Collards

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

21 Weeks!

How far along: 21 weeks as of November 8, 2015!

Total weight gain/loss: My grandpa got me a scale this week I just haven't picked it up from my mom's yet! I will be planning to do that this week! 

Maternity clothes: I ordered some more items this week but I am having a hard time finding some inspiration for cute outfits. Pinterest is letting me down for winter maternity fashion! :(


Sleep: I've had my ups and downs with sleep this week. One night my back was killing me and I couldn't get comfortable! My legs keep hurting from being on my sides for so long. 

Best moment this week: She always has these moments at night (especially when Zack talks) while were laying on the couch or eating dinner where she has a little dance party in my tummy for awhile with non stop movement! It is by far my favorite time of the day to feel that! I am hoping she will be a pro soccer player with all the kicking she does!


Food cravings: Milk, milk and more milk! ha ha but seriously!

Food aversions: Nothing really!

Gender: Baby Girl! 


Labor signs: Nope! 

Pregnancy symptoms: Belly is growing more and more everyday!
I had a little morning sickness this week when we ate dinner a little later, 
this might be tmi but.. my boobs are leaking. Its gross and weird & I guess natural? ha ha

What I miss: When my boobs didn't leak! ha ha 

What I am looking forward to: Just looking to getting closer and closer to our due date every week!

Milestones: Made it to 21 weeks and I can't believe how fast it is going now!

One tip I could give a first time mom who is also 21 weeks along: Stay healthy by eating right and working out. (I need to work on this a bit more.)

Monday, October 19, 2015

13 Weeks

How far along: 13 weeks as of September 13, 2015!





We got our family pictures done during this week and I LOVE how they turned out! 


Total weight gain/loss: I don't have a scale at home so I can only update this when I have a doctors appointment.

Maternity clothes: Not yet

Sleep: It's been really hard for me to get some good sleep at night. I toss and turn and it's really hard to find a comfortable position. 

Best moment this week: Finally having others notice my little bump!

Food cravings: I thought I would like CRAVE one thing and feel like I needed it that second but I really haven't. I guess you could say I've been craving pickles this week, but I'm fine if I don't get them.

Food aversions: Meat

Gender: I keep going back and fourth on this! I had a really strong gut feeling that it was a girl but now I kinda feel like it's a boy! Ahh! We get to find out in about 2 weeks and I can't wait!!! 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Pregnancy symptoms: Still feel sick if I am not eating every 2-3hrs, my nipples are so sore (tmi?) and thats about it for this week. Can I just say that they are not kidding when they say making a baby is hard work!!! It was not what I was expecting AT ALL!!

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy

What I am looking forward to: Finding out the gender in 2 short weeks!!! 

Milestones: Almost to my 2nd trimester!!!  

One tip I could give a first time mom who is also 13 weeks along: Make your husband rub your feet. You totally deserve it!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

12 Weeks

How far along: 12 weeks as of September 6, 2015!

Total weight gain/loss: 114.00 I lost 1 pound since my last Doc. appointment

Maternity clothes: Not yet

Sleep: I toss and turn a lot at night and when I get up to pee it's hard for me to fall back to sleep. I am having a harder time getting comfortable!

Best moment this week: Hearing little baby Collard's heartbeat! It's strong at 165!

Food cravings: Fresh fruit, mainly oranges.

Food aversions: Taco's

Gender: Still thinking it's a girl!!! 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Pregnancy symptoms: Feeling a ton better!! Still feeling slow and sleepy and will sometimes feel sick if I wait to long to eat. Sensitive nipples, like bad! Haha and getting up in the night to pee about 2-3 times.

What I miss: Sleeping through the night

What I am looking forward to: Finding out the gender in 3 short weeks!!! 

Milestones: Made it to the big 12 weeks!!  

One tip I could give a first time mom who is also 12 weeks along: Get up and get moving. It makes you feel so much better! 

Monday, September 28, 2015

9 Weeks!

How far along: 9 weeks as of August 16, 2015!

Maternity clothes: Not yet! 

Sleep: Fatigue hit me hard this week. I feel like I can't go a day without taking a nap, but that might also be because of how sick I am. 

Best moment this week: This was a really rough week for me but the best moment(s) for me were being able to see how much this has impacted Zack's life. He has been so amazing this entire time and I have no idea how I would survive without him. Every night while I take a few minutes to puke up my dinner he always makes sure to tell me he loves me! haha! He has seriously been a life saver! 

Food cravings: Not much sounds good these days. 

Food aversions: Way to much to put down! haha 

Gender: A girl! I really think it's a girl! 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Pregnancy symptoms: Morning sickness... or should I say night sickness. I am sooo sick at night that 99.9% of the time I can't keep my dinner down. It's been rough and I spend a lot of time crying by myself in the shower. Haha 
I also finally noticed my boobs are growing (itty bitty titty committee over here) so this is awesome!!! 
I've noticed a little bump coming in! 
Really tired!
Peeing a lot more! 

What I miss: Not being sick. Oh I can't tell you how many times a day I pray that I wont be sick that day. I also miss being able to do simple things like the dishes, laundry, cleaning the house. By the time I come home from work I am dead and I feel so horrible that I leave Zack to do it all... I cry about that in the shower also! 
I am trying my best love bug!!! I'm sorry!! :(

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

8 Weeks!

How far along: 8 weeks as of August 9, 2015!

Total weight gain/loss: 115.2! .2lbs more then pre-pregnancy weight

Maternity clothes: Not yet! 

Sleep: Very tired again this week! Love when its finally bed time! I get really sick at nights so sleep is heaven to me! 

Best moment this week: Our appointment!! Oh my goodness! It was amazing actually being able to see that little baby inside of me!! It still blows me away looking at the pictures! Zack is really cute and has them on display at his desk at work! 



Food cravings: Depends on the day. Hour. Minute. Second.  

Food aversions: Still candy. 

Gender: I really think its a girl now! 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Pregnancy symptoms: Morning sickness still. :( It sucks. Some days I literally barf my eyeballs out. Another thing that is really weird is I get the hiccups EVERY SINGLE DAY! It will only be like one or two really loud ones and then its gone.

What I miss: Waking up feeling refreshed and ready for the day. Now I just wake up and want to barf.  

What I am looking forward to: Being able to announce the good news to everyone! Anyday now!

Milestones: Saw that little blueberry for the first time and was able to hear its heartbeat!!

One tip I could give a first time mom who is also 8 weeks along: Thank God for that little miracle every day! 

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

7 Weeks!!

How far along: 7 weeks as of August 2, 2015!

Total weight gain/loss: 115.00 same as before.

Maternity clothes: Just wearing dresses or workout clothes.  

Sleep: So tired... I am literally falling asleep typing this and its 9:30 in the morning. My dreams are so freaking crazy sometimes! This week I had a dream about a snake biting our dog in the desert, giving birth while trying to walk to the hospital (like full on details people! It was a boy!), and last but not least I was Peter Pan.. Sometimes these dreams are fun to wake up to but vivid dreams also mean vivid nightmares. Terrifying people. 

Best moment this week: This was a really, really hard week for me. But i'd have to say the best moment was finally feeling better and able to get out of bed and eat food like a normal person.

Food cravings: Nothing really. Everything sounds gross. 

Food aversions: Candy, anything sugar and sweet.

Gender: I had another dream last night that it was a boy. So I really have no idea at this point! 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Pregnancy symptoms: I am sooooooo sick. Literally been in the bathroom or bed 24/7. Some days I don't even want to move it's so bad! I finally went to the doctors on friday and they gave me some medicine to help and it has been helping a ton but it makes me super sleepy! 

What I miss: Not feeling sick every minute of every day. 

What I am looking forward to: First appointment and feeling better! 

Milestones: Only one more week until our appointment!  

One tip I could give a first time mom who is also 7 weeks along: Just give in and puke whenever you want. It's okay. 

Monday, August 31, 2015

6 Weeks!!!

How far along: 6 weeks as of July 26, 2015!

Maternity clothes: Not yet! Just mainly wearing dresses! 

Sleep: I got extremely tired again this week! When I wake up for work it feels like I only got 2 hours of sleep! I almost always have to take a nap!

Best moment this week: Talking baby names with the hubby! & Zack has been so sweet this week. He went out and bought me some 'Sea Bands' to help with morning sickness & was also looking on the back of medications to see if I could take anything. And every time something sounds good he'll go out and get it. He has been a lifesaver this week!  

Food cravings: Barf! Everything sounds so disgusting! 

Food aversions: Everything? haha 

Gender: I had a dream this week that it was a girl!! & I did this Chinese gender thing that also said it was a girl!!! (: 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Pregnancy symptoms: Morning sickness is coming in hot. It feels like I am car sick 24/7! And I am one of those people who the moment they feel like throwing up, I go and throw up! But I can't throw up with this... :( I cried to Zack yesterday because I just wanted to throw up so bad. 

What I miss: Feeling like I don't need to puke all the time! 

What I am looking forward to: Still out first appointment! Only 2 weeks away!! This week I have also been looking forward to feeling the baby move. 

Milestones: Halfway through month two! 

One tip I could give a first time mom who is also 6 weeks along: Crackers are your best friend. 

Friday, May 15, 2015

Good News!

Good morning everyone!!

I just wanted to give you all a quick little update...

My hubby is blood clot free!!!!!!

I am so beyond happy at this point. We went to the doctors yesterday and they gave us the great news and all I can say is how grateful I am that everything is okay! We can now move forward without having to worry!!

Happy wife over here! :)

I hope you all have an amazing Friday and be on the lookout for some more posts this weekend!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

TOS

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

I just wanted to give a quick update on what’s going on with Zacky.

Friday January 30, 2015 Zack went in for his appointment with a vein specialist. After his appointment they let him know that he has TOS also known as thoracic outlet syndrome. TOS is a rare condition that involves pain in the neck and shoulder, numbness and tingling of the fingers, and a weak grip. The thoracic outlet is the area between the rib cage and collar bone. The blood clot is located in the subclavian vein, located between the first rib and collar bone. They believe Zack's rib and collar bone are too close together so when he lifts his arm above his head it cuts off the circulation and creates a clot. They told him that they needed to remove the clot first and then go in later to remove his first rib.

They told him that they'd like to start the process of getting rid of the blood clot the next day.

Zack went in for surgery on Saturday January 31, 2015. The surgery he went in for was to receive TPA also known as Tissue plasminogen activator. "TPA is a protein involved in the breakdown of blood clots. It is a serine protease found on endothelial cells, the cells that line the blood vessels."
They inserted this medicine through a catheter in his arm for a little over 24 hours. After the surgery he was placed in the ICU due to how "toxic" this medicine is. TPA thins the blood so if he had any other issues he would essentially bleed out.
Not having much time to process everything was a bit scary. We didn’t know much about what he had or what was about to happen. Everything kind of happened so fast it was hard to get all my emotions together.

Zack has never had any surgery before so when we arrived at the hospital you could tell he was really nervous. This made me even MORE nervous because he is not the nervous type. He is very calm about situations so when he started rambling about the water fountain outside and asking if the water was hot I knew he was trying to get his mind off of everything. It pretty much broke my heart.

We got to the hospital and settled in to the room where Zack was prepped for surgery. We took a couple pics and as you can tell he wasn’t too thrilled.


They wheeled him down to the surgery room and we sat in the hall and waited for them to take him into the operating room.



After he was wheeled away I went a got some lunch and cried on the inside for what felt like hours, until we were finally able to go into the ICU and sit with him. He was pretty happy with all the drugs he was on (even though it doesn't look like it.) Ha.
All he wanted was to eat.



I stayed in the room with him the entire time unless I needed to use the restroom or eat some food. I hated seeing him in pain. They had to come in and draw blood every 6 hours and he did not like that at all. They also came in every 2 hours to check his pulse and make sure everything was okay.



At around 3:00 am I went home, showered and came back. I slept I think a total of 3 hours that night. The ICU does not have beds for anyone else but the patient so let’s just say I was trying to sleep on a metal chair that did not move in any way! So sleeping wasn't much of an option for me.

The next afternoon Zack went back in to surgery to make sure the blood clot had dissolved and to get the catheter removed. He came back from that surgery VERY drugged and sleepy. He slept for most of the day.


Later that night the doctor came in and said we would be able to go home if Zack was able to walk around for a minute. So of course being my cute husband he got right up, sick as can be and walked around.

As soon as we got back to the room he felt so nauseous and had the worst headache so he slept for another hour until we finally decided the best thing to do would be go home and sleep it off.

Let me just say when we got home, it was so heartbreaking to see my cute hubby crying because of the pain. I got teary eyed seeing him in so much pain and not be able to do anything to take it away.

We've been going through the motions over in our house. It’s been a very stressful time for me and I can’t thank you all enough for the kind words and prayers.

The next doctor’s appointment is on February 20th. That appointment will most likely schedule him for his next surgery for TOS where they remove his first rib.

I will keep you updated and let you know what the doctor says.

Keep us in your prayers please.

Thank you.

Love Always,

The Crazy Collards

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Blood Clots

Today I watched as my husband, my everything, shake. Shaking uncontrollably for what felt like an eternity.

Naturally I thought he was joking because that’s my husband. The joker.

But when he stood up, body pale white and asked me "what just happened, I don’t remember anything." I was terrified.

And today I am able to say, it was the scariest day of my life.

Let me back up to 2011. That’s when Zack and I first started dating. Early on Zack told me he had a blood clot in his right arm. This wasn’t just some regular blood clot either, this thing was huge!
He told me about all the things that could happen since he had a blood clot and it freaked me out but everyone including him made me feel like everything was okay.

I was okay until yesterday. January 28, 2015. Zack had been having some pain his left arm the night before and it continued to get worse the next day. We made a doctor’s appointment that morning and went in not thinking much. The night before Zack said it felt like how his other blood clot felt so I guess we kind of knew.

By the time we got to the doctors office Zack's arm was swollen bigger then his right arm which is unusual because his right arm is always bigger because of his first blood clot.



 Zack got an ultrasound which confirmed another 8in blood clot had formed in his left arm. Identical to his other one but smaller.

I wasn’t sure how I felt at the time. I was angry, "why does he have to have another one?"
"Why him?"
"Why now?"
But I was mostly sad. It’s hard to look at the person you love and see them so defeated. It was hard for me to see him upset.

The whole day I was trying to be positive and happy and make sure to let him know that everything is going to work out. That’s truly how I feel. I feel everything is going to be just fine. Modern medicine is amazing and I have faith in that. But it’s still scary to think about the what ifs.

The doctor prescribed some medicines and set up a few appointments to see some specialists to figure out why he developed another one. One of the things I had heard Zack talk about before was that he had to get shots in his stomach two times a day for his first blood clot so when the doctor told us we'd have to do it again Zacky wasn’t to happy.

That night his mom gave him the first shot (as you probably saw on my Facebook) to show me how to do it for the next two weeks.

The next morning it was my turn. To be honest, I was FREAKING out. I think I was more nervous than Zack was. I didn’t want to hurt him, and I didn’t want to do it wrong. It was terrifying. I tried to keep my cool for Zack though, I didn’t want him to know how much I was freaking out inside.

Zack was nervous, I mean who wouldn’t be? A shot in the stomach twice a day is no fun. So as I was going to give him the shot he would stop me and say, "Wait, wait!"
"Oh my, I am gonna throw up!"
"Hold on, I need to throw up!'

Until finally he turned away and let me do it. I tried to do it fast and easy, but by the time I was done Zack's entire body and face were pale white. I turned around to throw away the needle and by the time I turned back around Zack was against the wall shaking. Then he bent over in his chair mouth wide open still shaking. This lasted about 30 seconds. I kept saying, "Zack stop."
"This isn’t funny!"
Until I was screaming, "Zack seriously stop. If you are joking stop!"

He then stood up asking me what happened. His hands were shaking, tears in his eyes.

I called his dad and told him to come over, while making sure Zack was okay his mom called and I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I broke down in tears, that was the scariest moment of my life.

I felt so helpless, and that maybe it was my fault...

By the time his dad arrived he was doing much better. I wrote down everything so that he would be able to tell his doctor what happened at this appointment.

To see someone you love so much suffer and not be able to do anything about it is the hardest thing to go through. I want to make sure I can do everything I can for him and it’s hard when I can’t be there 24/7.
What we’re going through is hard. So hard for him, but I think it’s secretly hard for everyone else as well. To not be able to do much to help is hard.
I know that everything happens for a reason and that everything will work its way out, but I can’t say that I am okay because I’m not. I am so scared.

I will keep everyone updated with the appointments that will happen this next week, and thank you for all the support and love. It really means the world.


Love Always,

The Crazy Collards