12/22/12 - Another Hospital Visit

With three months past, there is a lot to report.  Here's the top three.

1) We've moved!  We found a beautiful house in Castro Valley and couldn't turn it down - literally.  A nice, level court, near a beautiful park.  As hesitant as I was at first, God wanted us to have it.  There is no doubt.  Every time I tried to turn the house down, something happened that made it obvious that I couldn't.  Mysterious, but obvious. So, here we are! And we are very thankful at that.

2) Adam received a "character" award from his teacher in October.  We were very proud of him being named, "loyal." Very fitting and a great honor for him to be recognized in front of his class.  We are also proud of Adam's very first report card.  He got all great marks.  In fact, only a few below the highest possible marks - I think in the departments of cutting and coloring in the lines.  He is a very good reader, loves Math games, and (maybe best of all) shows great behavior in the classroom.  I am just excited that he loves to learn and wants to obey his teacher - an awesome start to his school career.  And it is definitely a tribute to his fantastic school and fantastic teacher! 

3) This past Monday, Adam was sent home from school with a fever.  Thinking it was no big deal, I took him to Eden Medical Center (down the street from us) to do all the tests.  Unfortunately, five hours later, the doctor comes back with the bad news.  While I am thinking we are going home, she has arranged an ambulance to transport us to Children's Hospital.  Surprise! Not to mention, Adam has to be the only kid alive that does not think an ambulance is a "cool" thing to ride in, but at least it's 11 pm, and he is too tired to stay awake anyways.

Turns out, Adam needs a blood transfusion, as his red blood count has dropped below the normal limit.  Tuesday morning, early, this is done, but still running a fever.  Wednesday passes, Thursday.  He is not eating a lot, doesn't want to leave the bed, and, unfortunately, the only thing on TV these days is Disney teeny-bopper shows showing kids being bratty and exaggerated and disobeying their parents (who are also annoying to watch).  Just to clarify, I wouldn't call the teenagers I know "teeny-bopper," but the kids on tv... can't think of anything else to call them.  They embody what that word means to me.  Really unfortunate, because teenagers are much smarter, not so shallow, and are actually enjoyable to be around.

Anyways, rant over... Thursday night we are itching to go home.  The nurse comes to check Adam's vitals at about 7 pm, and, bang, another fever.  The feeling of dread, we're not leaving until Saturday now, hits me.  And then some logic... They are taking his temperature under his arm.  Coincidentally the same arm I have been sitting next to for the past eight hours (all day).  So, I ask her to check the other arm.  No fever. She says, "strange," apparently it shouldn't matter, and checks his mouth.  A third reading (not even close to the other two).  She leaves and wheels in another thermometer.  This time she gets three very close (very under the fever limit) readings.  So, naturally, I ask, "so, it's possible he hasn't had a fever in awhile, right?" And I proceed to ask for the doctor and am packing to go home.  She came back reporting that the doctor says no, but maybe tomorrow.  Not to call everyone out on the issue, but the doctor (the next day) actually hadn't heard anything about this little mishap, not even about the technician who came in to recalibrate the machine in the middle of the night.  Nonetheless, she helps us get out of there asap and we're on our way home Friday morning. 

The important thing is probably that nothing was seriously wrong with Adam - just some virus he picked up somewhere.  And the good news, it probably only lasted a couple days, even though we were hanging out in isolation for four.  He seems to be unscathed, so I'm happy too.  Especially since it's in plenty of time for Christmas festivities.  We're taking the kids to the Nutcracker today!  We'll see how they handle ballet.  Until then, a best-of-intentions promise to add some updates in the next few days, just to catch up.