Good News

I figured I'd better update on Ben's condition since he was looking so pathetic last time we posted. We were afraid we were going to have to stay in the hospital through the weekend, but after lunch on Saturday we got the go ahead to go home. We were all thrilled to leave and Ben has improved so much since we've been home.

We were worried about pain control while we were in the hospital since he couldn't seem to get comfortable and we changed his med regime before leaving. The crazy thing is, after getting home he's seemed really comfortable and we've been using nothing but Tylenol for pain. Amazing.

We're going back to see the doctor for follow up tomorrow. We expect that the permanent stitches on Ben's neck will be removed then. The stitches in and around the ear will dissolve. The swelling has gone down quite a bit. His mouth is still paralyzed on the left side, although he doesn't seem to mind and he still looks cute with his crooked smile.

Mostly we're just glad to see our little boy getting back to being himself. He's been running around and playing all day today and I've almost been worried that he's going to split his stitches since he's been climbing and crashing into things. I wish I had taken a picture today to show how well he's doing.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, visits, and presents. We have really appreciated it.

Poor Benny

Ben had his surgery yesterday. It took the doctor close to 4 hours to complete the surgery. Most of that time was devoted to removing the nasty infection by his ear that started this whole thing. All-in-all he estimated that he removed 8-10 lymph nodes and a saliva gland.

The lymph node by Ben's ear was so large and infected that there is now a depression in his face where it was removed. His doctor thinks that it will probably fill in over time. His facial nerves were also bruised so the left side of his mouth sags a little, but this will also likely be temporary. The doctor said it could take a few months to really heal, but he thinks it will heal. We'll have to wait and see.

His surgical wound is looking good so far and we're hoping Ben will be discharged tomorrow or the next day. Staying in the hospital is no fun.

I thought I'd show a picture of happier times before posting some hospital pictures. The night before his surgery we had some Halloween festivities. Ben was looking pretty cute as a turtle.


Unfortunately, a couple of days later this is where we're at. The second shows his stitches pretty close up, so if that bothers anyone, you might want to stop here.




He's had a rough couple of days. Poor little guy. Thanks for the truck, Nicole. I think it was probably the highlight of his morning.

Pumpkin Pickin'

We finally made it out to get pumpkins last night. We'd made one previous visit to the pumpkin patch, but Ben didn't really enjoy the experience so much. I think the skeletons and ghost pirates didn't agree with him.


Yesterday we waited for Cam to get done with work and then we went to a pumpkin patch by our house where there were just pumpkins. Ben found this to be much more agreeable.


He found a favorite pumpkin pretty quickly. We ended up getting 2 medium sized pumpkins and a small one for $6! I thought it was quite a deal.



There were also some tractors in the field for the kids to take pictures on. It was pretty cold out, but Ben was a trooper and was really mad when it was time to go.


And how cute is his coat? Thank you, Target.

We also set a date for Ben's surgery. He'll be going in next week. The doctor said he thinks he'll be in surgery for about 3 hours. Also, for those of you who have expressed concern because your kids also play in/eat dirt, this disease is extremely rare. The likelihood of your kid getting it is really minimal. In fact, our doctor emphasized how weird it was that Ben caught it. Anyway, I'll be glad to have this whole experience behind us. Hopefully Ben will be back on his feet in time to go trick-or-treating.

Blue Tooth and Visiting the Doc

Well, we finally got Ben to the ENT today. Turns out he has a rare strain of tuberculosis that affects the lymphatic system. It is not air borne and is found in organic matter. The doctor says he probably picked it up playing in the dirt, which is very believable since Ben loves playing in the dirt. I've not really been a germaphobe and figured he was just being a boy and it was helping boost his immune system. Silly me.

Anyway, none of our treatment options are very appealing. First, he could undergo a serious dose of triple antibiotics and remain under infectious disease surveillance for the next 6 months with only a 50-60% success rate. Not super encouraging.

Second, we could take no action and let his body work the infection out on its own. That means all the affected lymph nodes would fester, surface, and ooze out the infection. The process could take up to two years. As the doctor put it, most parents don't consider this option "socially acceptable." I would tend to agree.

Lastly, surgery. I figured this is where we'd end up. The ENT suspects that somewhere between 6-12 lymph nodes on the left side of Ben's face are affected so far. We're doing a CT scan tomorrow morning to confirm the number and location of the lymph nodes. Then we go in and take them out.

I guess when I thought about the possibility of excising the lymph nodes I figured it would be an easy, outpatient sort of thing. Not so. It's a 2-3 hour surgery and probably 2-3 day hospitalization. Leave it up to our kid to catch some crazy, third world disease.


Anyway, here's the blue tooth. Uncle Brent let Ben get a hold of a blue sucker, which Ben loved. He consumed the entire thing with glee and I think ate some of the paper stick too, before I got to it. It took quite a while to get all the blue cleaned up. So yeah, don't let your kid eat blue suckers. Or dirt.

** As an afterthought: In case anyone who reads this (or your kids) have been in contact with Ben recently, the doctor told us that he is not contagious. The bacteria is not airborne and cannot be transmitted by saliva, so don't worry. **

The people have spoken and . . .

It's a boy! Again! I realize the outcome of this election goes against the popular vote, but trust me, this is legit. Something about the electoral college.

Anyway, the baby looks healthy and is definitely a boy. He's measuring a little behind our first due date so I'm really hoping the doctor doesn't try to change my date. Every day counts when you're 9 months pregnant.

Here's a couple shots of this little guy for those of you enjoy attempting to decipher ultrasound pictures.


This one is of his little profile. He looks a little bit like a monkey baby. Here's to hoping the ultrasound tech caught him at a bad angle.


This one is actually my favorite. He was sticking his little bum up in the air and his legs are crossed. Again, it looks like he's got some monkey feet going on in there. I really hope I'm not gestating the missing link.

Cam is, of course, quite pleased that we'll be having boy number 2 and he has declared himself incapable of producing anything other than male offspring. Looks like I'll be outnumbered, but that's ok. For now.

A growing problem

About a month ago I noticed that the lymph node by Ben's left ear was swollen. Not wanting to be a "freaky" parent, I decided that he was probably just fighting something off and it would go away, so I held off on calling the doctor. Instead of going away it kept getting bigger. After a week or so we went into the doctor who prescribed Ben a course of antibiotics and said that he thought that would take care of the problem. Well, it didn't.

That lymph node has continued to grow for a while now and we're to the point where it's looking pretty nasty. Last week we went to Primary Children's to get an ultrasound of the big nasty and we did a ton of lab work. Ben completely freaked out and the experience was unpleasant for everyone involved, including, I'm sure, the 3 lab techs it took to hold him down during lab work and the 2 ultrasound techs who attempted (rather unsuccessfully) to restrain him during the ultrasound.

They had some kind of child specialist/social worker in the lab who initially tried to distract Ben with toys during the blood draws. When he started grabbing the toys and throwing them during his fit of rage, she began to I guess affirm his bad behavior.

"You're throwing things because you're angry Ben. Anger and frustration make us want to act out and this a very stressful situation for you."

Had it not also been a stressful situation for his mother, I probably would have had a hard time not laughing out loud. I mean reasoning with an 18-month-old is far from effective. Trust me, I've tried.

Anyway, good news is, it looks like this thing is benign. Bad news is, we still aren't sure what the problem is. Next week we are going to see a pediatric ENT and we're hoping he'll enlighten us. At this point I'm pretty sure we're probably going to have to surgically remove the lump, which is somewhat unnerving. But, we'll have to wait and see.

One thing about visiting Primary Children's is that it sure helps you put your problems into perspective. Some parents are dealing with much bigger issues and I'm sure ours will be resolved.


This picture is dark, blurry, and the room is a mess. But it's too cute not to share

Something to blog about

My blogging efforts have been minimal as of late. Although, in my defense, I've felt like crap for the last few months. However, things are looking up and our "BIG" ultrasound is a week from today. While we're mostly just hoping for a healthy baby, we also should be able to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. So in the spirit of the election season, I've added a poll to our blog and all 3 of you who still check this can make your voice heard by registering your--um--guess.

On a side note, my niece Jane has already called this one as a girl. So far she is 3 for 3 in baby predicting. If she gets this one right, I will suggest that her parents start making her services more widely available, for a nominal fee.