a couple of weeks ago, asher was looking "off." he was pale, short of breath, sleeping more than normal... just not his usual self. so i took him to see our wonderful paeds, who checked him out, and...
his sats were 92%!!!!
this time last year, i would have been thrilled (and a little concerned) to see sats like that. but now?? post-fontan? now that all his blood goes to his lungs? um...
not so much.
his heart rate was also over 100. much higher than his norm, since he usually rides his pacemaker and his HR is 80 to 85. so that was concerning.
when she listened to his chest, she thought it sounded pretty nasty. so she sent us down for a chest x-ray, and when we got back up to see her, she had looked at it and she said it looked "yucky." yes, that's a technical medical term which means "not good." by this time, his sats were back up to a nice 96%, so that was better, and she offered to admit him, and it was tempting, but we decided that he would go home and come back to see her the next morning. she also ordered a nasal swab, just to check for viruses etc, and prescribed a dose of Tamiflu for the day, just in case it was the flu.
the next day, she gave the bad news that his swab was indeed positive for the flu, so it was tamiflu for the next 6 days.
he recovered nicely.
and i discovered something interesting: apparently, since i work at shoppers...
I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR PRESCRIPTIONS!!!!!!!!!
how awesome is that?!?! especially when you have one child who needs a week of tamiflu (at roughly $5 per pill), and i needed antibiotics and steroids to treat a bad case of strep (yes, my throat closed twice), and bram needed a new ventalin inhaler, some antibiotics and steroids to treat a super-bad asthma attack (an ambulance ride, chest x-ray, lots of steroids, sats at 88-93%, blue lips/eyes/nose/nails, and a ride in a wheelchair - the highlight of the evening for him, especially when he found out that asher has never ridden in a wheelchair!). yup, it's been a medically-eventful month around here, and would have been rather expensive, too, if i didn't work where i do. :)
but back to asher...
since he had the flu the other week, he... um... yeah... hasn't been great.
in fact, i'm kind of playing chicken with him right now...
for the last couple of weeks, he has been very pale, there's been the odd blue spell (as in... ahem... once a day...
it's not the symptoms that are bothering me (entirely). it's the fact that they've continued for so long, without getting better. so expect an update at some point this week about a trip to emerg or clinic.
and there's another thing...
i got a call from the school yesterday, and apparently, there was an incident with one of the EA's (educational assistants). asher has his own EA who is with him all day, but there is another EA who covers her breaks twice a day. and yesterday afternoon, when she came to cover mrs e's break, asher got very upset and refused to go with her. he wanted nothing to do with her. so after some questioning, it turns out that something happened with her in the morning.
i won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say... that EA won't be dealing with asher anymore.
the whole thing was probably nothing, and she didn't intend to do anything. and with asher's increased irritability, it may be exaggerated in his mind. but the fact remains that it was an issue to asher, and it was enough that he got very upset when he saw her.
i discussed all this with the principal, and she will discuss asher's most recent cardiac status with all the EAs on monday and she will speak privately with the EA in question and find out her side. but mrs h (the principal) will make sure she understands that someone else will be covering mrs e's breaks from now on.
the principal also offered to report it to CAS, but i turned that down... initially. but when i questioned asher about the incident when he got home... he said "it's a secret" and initially refused to talk to me about it. frankly, that concerns me, and i'm now thinking of taking her up on her offer to report it. i don't want to put asher through any more, but seriously??? this is a medically fragile child with decreased cardiac stability, and someone who should have known better did something she shouldn't have. and whether it was intentional or not, i don't care. it shouldn't have happened. at all.
so that's the most recent goings-on in asherland. not a super-exciting post, but i thought i should get you all caught up.
i'll try not to go so long between updates from now on.
but since the universe doesn't revolve around asher and the rest of us here...
i'd like to ask you to pray for asher's friend brigid and her mom allison. brigid is in the hospital right now with sepsis, and on top of the usual sepsis issues, she is also struggling with some complications from the treatment. these complications are terrifying, and allison is very shaken by them. i won't go into the details, but it's scary. please please please pray/light a candle/cross your crossables/send good vibes for brigid and allison. they really need them right now. thank-you. and allison and brigid, i'm holding you in the Light, and i love you both very, very much.
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