But it's necessary to me to start at the beginning to get to what happened these last couple days...
Let's begin...
Since Dalton was finally feeling better by Wednesday, I decided to take the boys to check out another new (to us) park. It's a really different kind of park...it's called Sensory Park and that's kind of what it is. It was designed by Children's Hospital to stimulate all the senses and supposedly the staff of the hospital can use the park as an "everyday setting" with patients and parents.
We got there and saw that there was a few swings designed for children that might not be able to keep themselves in a "normal" swing:
But there were "regular" swings too:
There was also a few pathways around the play area so that kids in wheelchairs or whatever could use the park easily too.
Pretty cool. And of course, no one is excluded from the park. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but part of the sensory experience involved odors from the creek just beyond the play area:
And the sounds of the planes flying to the nearby (small) airport.
We got there and Easton jumped right in with some bigger kids:
Dalton was doing some exploring as well:
We went to swing for a bit in the traditional swings and came back to check out their big sand and water table:
Getting some water for his sandy stew:
It was as we were trying to leave the sand tables that I noticed an "issue" with Dalton. He was unwilling to walk much:
He was staying put and whining...like he wanted me to come get him. Once he finally started walking again I noticed he was limping: (Video is not exactly short)
But no, I never noticed a fall or bonk to cause an injury...not at the park, not earlier at home. I was perplexed and alarmed.
D was still in mostly good spirits, though, just chose to be more sedentary:
It started to rain before long so we had to come home...it was time for dinner anyway:
I pointed the limp out to Jason when he got home. I was just relieved Dalton had his 15 month well-baby visit scheduled for the next morning.
The next day (Thursday) he was still limping, but still not sick:
Easton was happy too:
When he wears his hat like this he says he's a pirate:
We made it to Boulder for Dalton's appointment a tiny bit early so we explored the hospital grounds a bit as it was a lovely morning:
Then we did a little more waiting inside. This doctor's office rocks because it has a sick child waiting room and a well child waiting room:
So, we went back for the exam. There was a list of things to discuss with the doctor: his weight always being a big issue recently, his trip to urgent care--ears, forced retraction, antibiotics causing issues, his new limp...
Well, thanks to being sick and such, Dalton has lost weight since his last visit. We're not going to be concerned...yet...since he was recently quite ill. The urine output is better than it was when he was sick, but it's still not back to his norm where he was maybe a month ago. We covered the history of his recent illness...she agreed that she didn't think he'd had an ear infection (Grrr! Grrr! GRRRRRR!) and thought that he was not permanently damaged by any of the retracting they "had" to do. But she seem especially concerned with his limp. Like, more than I expected. She had him walk and declared it was quite obvious then went on to tell me about the potential for a hip infection. Now, I'll be honest and say even though I worked in "Women and Family Services" (this includes Peds) for 5+ years, I had never heard of a hip infection. That is because they are so serious that they didn't come to my hospital.
Anyhoo, her first step was to rule out any big hip or thigh fractures so she sent us to x-ray for a few pictures and instructions to bring the films back up with us. I cannot tell you how good both of my boys were this whole time. Easton even sat in the little "safe" room where the xray techs go. He watched us through the little window and was such an angel. He earned a sheet of stickers for his good work. Dalton did fantastic as well, but then again, he usually does. He's just that kind of kid. And he has a paci if he needs it:
We waited a few moments for the copies of the films and Easton showed off his new stickers:
Dalton waited patiently in a chair:
Not really, he got down to limp around as soon as I took that picture.
Then we had to go back upstairs to hear what the doctor and radiologist thought of the x-rays...the boys busied themselves once again:
Our doctor (who I really really like!) came back to say that there was nothing wrong that she could see...which meant she wanted to have some blood drawn looking for markers for both infection and inflammation in his blood. And a referral--no matter what--to the orthopedics department at Children's Hospital within 24 hours. And if they said they couldn't see us to call her and she'd call them to get him in.
Yikes!
When it was time for the blood draw I called Jason to come give me a hand. I felt bad for poor Easton even though he was doing soooooo well. J's office is just across the parkway from the hospital. We were going to meet up with him for lunch but I called him over ahead of time so that he could hang with E while I went back for D's blood draw. We had to wait over half an hour which was poo but the lab had more stuff for the boys to do:
Dalton did so well for his blood draw. I had them just go straight for the arm rather than bothering with a stupid toe poke again. He barely cried. And didn't fight it.
We went and met up with Jason and Easton and headed to get smoothies. Before I let Jason go back to work I had him hang with the kids while I tried to make an appointment with orthopedics while I was supposed to...yeah, they couldn't see us so I had to have our doctor get us in. Jason entertained the boys in the back of his truck as they sipped their smoothies:
Finally it was time to head home. Dalton slept in the car. I had hoped he'd go back down when we got home, but nope:
Easton did a little quiet time and then came down to play some games on the computer:
I still hadn't heard anything from our doctor or Children's and I was getting antsy. I busied myself with emptying the dishwasher...turned to help Easton and turned back to find this:
No wonder my kids are always hurting themselves, right?
Anyway, at around 4 p.m. our doctor called saying that two of the labs she was checking for signs of infection and/or inflammation were elevated...and that the guy she talked to at Children's wanted to see "the child". They had an appointment for us at 8:30 a.m. for Friday (today).
I was glad to be getting in on the early side BUT today (Friday) was Gramoo's Field Day at her school. Jason offered to stay home with Easton...couldn't see dragging him along again for who knows how long. Or I told my mom Eastie could come hang with her and Lauren at Field Day but only if she was up for it. She was. And E was. So, I woke up at (AJ cover your eyes) 6:30 this morning! Showered and readied myself then woke the boys just before 7:00 a.m. Actually I went in with D and Jason went in with E who was following the rules (don't call for us till the clock says 7). So, Jason found him wide awake, sitting on his pillow, and watching the clock for the 7. Good boy!!!
We rushed through getting ready...breakfast for Easton would happen when he got to Gramoo's school (I packed doughnuts for him and Lauren). I handed him off to my very busy mom and took off with Gimpy for our 8:30 appointment.
We got there just in time and we were going to see a P.A. Historically I have not enjoyed the care we get from P.A.s but this guy rocked. First, he himself came out to the waiting room to get us. He was very good with Dalton and great with me too. He was respectful and actually wanted my thoughts and what my instincts were saying and such. Who does that anymore? It was nice. He asked my background and if I had a medical degree. Tee hee! He said I didn't talk like "Just a mom". :) But that also meant he didn't talk down to me.
He took copious notes on the history of the recent illnesses and such, had Dalton go for a limpy stroll to observe, then did a very thorough exam of his legs and range of motion and pressing on his little bones and all. Dalton was a superstar. Couldn't have asked for better. Although he did wince and flinch (a lot) when Brian (the P.A.) would push on his left shin, he didn't make a peep. Just kept smiling.
Brian was concerned by the reports of elevated lab results too, but he wanted to check them on their fancier equipment at their brand new hospital...I was fine with that. He also wanted x-rays of more than just D's hips...especially in light of the tenderness he discovered on the lower leg.
He said he was suspecting what they call a toddler fracture. He warned me that they usually don't see anything on x-ray right away...but he wanted to check anyway, of course. That link actually says a lot of what Brian told me. The fracture is what he was truly suspecting BUT given D's sketchy recent history raising some big "this needs investigating!" flags we'd have to see what his lab work showed before deciding whether to treat the suspected (even if it would be invisible) fracture or to do something much more invasive like sedation, radioactive dye and a bone scan to investigate things lab work might point to. Anyway, another xray would be the first step and we'd go from there.
So, they came and got us and Dalton was once again a rock star. He's becoming an old pro. They took off his diaper to make sure there was nothing foreign in the image but they taped one of those xray protective shields over his dangly parts. Almost like a little black rectangle to keep the x-rays G-Rated.
Sure enough, there was nothing on the xray...certainly no obvious fractures, but also no obvious other things, like tumors or raging bone infections.
However, that didn't mean a bone infection wasn't there (nor did it mean there wasn't a fracture). It was off to the lab. And would you believe it, but Brian escorted us down to the lab personally! What service!
Dalton did phenomenally during his blood draw. His other arm today. He fussed a second when they tied on the tourniquet, probably because he realized what they were gonna do. And then because he realized what they were gonna do, he stopped fussing and just let them do their thing. He sat on my lap, sucked his paci, and before we knew it, they were done.
So it was back upstairs for us. We had to wait in the waiting room briefly again while they ran the stat labs. Dalton helped some other waiting children rearrange some furniture:
Brian came back out to tell me that they were still waiting on one of the labs. That's when we started talking about our hopes and dreams. Okay, not really...but I did mention a dream of mine when we saw a Flight for Life helicopter approaching...I said, "That would be my dream job: being a flight medic or nurse. Second to being a mom, of course." And he asked hopefully, "Is that still a possibility for you?" Wasn't that nice of him? He led us back to a room to wait and so I could change Dalton's diarrhea diaper. Dalton looking a little weary:
He tried some Doodling:
But he didn't really perk up till he got a text from his BFF:
Brian the P.A. came back in and said that his blood still showed signs of inflammation, but the infectious inflammation on their more sensitive equipment came back in the normal range. High normal, but normal. So, nothing like the invasive bone scan was in order, he wanted to put Dalton in a cast for 3 weeks and then see him again. In three weeks they'll remove the cast and then x-ray it again. He said that that's when they'll see if their diagnosis of the toddler fracture was correct...because in the future you'd be able to see evidence of the healing in the bone on the images.
For now it's as Kyla said, "Answers that aren't really answers" (and she would know!). But, it's not like we can wait for an offical answer sooooo little Diddlebug is in a cast.
Sponge baths for 3 weeks. He's going to miss his baths! We are too, probably. Pee-yew!
Because he did have the elevated bloodwork we're just supposed to watch him really closely for any signs he might be worsening...since they didn't do a bone scan they're not completely positive what is amiss with our guy.
He was nursing when they came to put on his cast. The cast tech wanted me to keep him just like he was...so he snacked and she put some protectivey stuff on. Then D was done milking but just chilled while she put on his little blue cast. We sang songs to him and he didn't fight her a bit. Nada. Just smiled and "talked" to her. She remarked about how good natured he seemed. Many people say that to us, actually.
It's not a full cast so he's not having too rough of a time at walking in it, thank goodness:
That's him at Gramoo's school...after three and a half hours at the hospital, we made it to her school in time for Field Day to be over and Easton was sitting having lunch with them. He had pickles, a piece of watermelon, and some corn on the cob on his plate. Mostly he was too excited to eat, he just loves playing at Gramoo's school:
Gramoo made a game of chase even more interesting when she did it from her "I'll get you my pretty!" bike:
Lauren was concerned about her little nephew, she thinks his little cast is so sad:
He seems to be doing just fine, though:
We eventually wrapped it up at Gramoo's school. Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. Day 2 of no offical nap/quiet time. Darn. But I'll take it if it means knowing my baby was okay and my other boy had a fun morning.
Instead of naps we played briefly in the backyard:
Easton discovered throwing his mask at the running AC unit which would make the mask blow away:
And D did his best to play too:
Easton played Spidey and tried climbing the fences:
And Dalton eventually got frustrated...he's still trying to figure out walking in grass in shoes...this cast adds an extra element of difficulty. But it's only the first day:
He walks around sounding like a peg-legged pirate. Step CLOMP step CLOMP.
Let me just say this...I went back to watch videos from the park. There was one from right when we first got there where Dalton was not limping yet...it must've happened at Sensory Park. Without me knowing it at all. And I didn't realize the foreshadowing that it was built by Children's Hospital...and that's where we spent the first half of our day today!
I am super glad it is shorts weather right now. D would be living in sweat pants if this was winter. And he's wearing a pair of Easton's wide legged jammies to bed tonight. He looks real cute. Easton said, "What's he doing in those???"
Dalton is also going to be in his cast for our annual Father's Day pictures. I'm fine with it...but we might think about postponing a week too. We'll see. I like capturing moments as they are in real time, but whatever. It's not my Father's Day.
Okay, if you made it this far...wow...I'm thinking I might not even make it through this one again till the boys are 12 and 10 and Dalton breaks something else and I want to look back. :)
