OCT 03	NOV 03	DEC 03	JAN 04	FEB 04	MAR 04
APRIL 04	MAY 04	JUNE 04	JULY 04	AUG 04

APRIL 2004

FRIDAY APRIL 2ND , 2004

PREDNISONE	ZANTEC	FOLIC ACID	METHOTREXATE	NEORAL
12.5 mg/day/AM	75 mg/day/AM	1 mg M-F/AM	12.5 mg Twice Daily Saturday ONLY	.5 CC Twice/daily
ADJUSTED	MEDS	EFFECTIVE	4/2/2004	NEORAL
10 mg/day/AM	75 mg/day/AM	1 mg M-F/AM	12.5 mg Twice Daily Saturday ONLY	.5 CC Twice/daily

WE ARE TO HOLD HERE TIL THE NEXT VISIT

Wow we are really getting down there on the Prednisone; hopefully all the test results will come back good this month too.

Ian is doing GREAT in school; he rarely misses a day, other than for the doctor appointments and is always bringing home papers with 100’s and 90’s for grades. I tell him on a regular basis that I am amazed at how well he handles everything that is happening to him. It has gotten to the no big deal point. Even with the spot in his leg, it is just a wait and see thing so that is on the back burner too.

Things are very normal around here. We have gotten word that the new trailer will be complete at the factory on April 29^th, and we should be able to pick it up some time in the middle of May. Mean while the cellar is trashed with the contents of the old trailer until we get it. We can’t even move in there.

Still nothing in the way of vacations planned since we still don’t know where we will be living after Keith graduates.

TUESDAY APRIL 6TH , 2004

Mom bailed out of work early today, been sick with a cold for a week, along with the rest of the family. Headed for home and a nap before school tonight. Did run into something interesting and rather annoying while shopping on Saturday. Since the whole family has colds, we have depleted the stock of cold medicine in the house. Well doing the shopping at the local Wal-Mart we restocked the supply that is until we got to the register. It seems that the low lifes of this world have found a way to use Sudafed to make something to get high with. So now there is a LAW that limits your purchases to only 2 items with the stuff in it. And I had 6 in the cart. We did manage to purchase everything thanks to the self check outs ;) but man, what a pain.

Cousin Ashley (babysitter) brought Matt and Miss Em (littler cousins) over to visit while Mom headed for school so that was fun for them. They had a blast while Mom was out.

Thing settled down, after Mom got home and it was back to the normal routine…. Buts oooops the boys ignored the bedtime rule of IN bed at 8pm and you can watch TV til 9pm, so when I went to tuck them in at 8:15 after attempting to a little more homework) they were still up playing, so it was an immediate lights out. Ahhh well maybe next time they will remember the rules.

Ian then of course had a tough time falling asleep, he is fighting a rotten stuffy nose STILL and can barely breath, I can only hope that it breaks soon, I feel so bad for him, since I know that the meds for the JDMS are what makes getting over colds so tough for him.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 7TH , 2004

Yep mom working her day off again, and hopefully completing the next homework due before the boys get home, Ian asked last night when I could have some fun again, since I had been working on my homework with them there for the last few days. And he told me he NEVER gets to see Daddy. Ouch! Where Keith is taking 3 classes this term in order to finish in May. He has TONS of homework and he does what he can in between classes at school, but still has lotz to do at home and the boys are feeling it.

The job prospects looked way up last Thursday when Keith got a phone call from Massachusetts High Tech Magazine. They want to do a story on one of the top 10 tech graduates in New England for the class of 2004 and Keith is one of them. WOW!!

They of course have played phone and email tag, but are supposed to hook up today at 11:00 am for the interview That’s one magazine that we’ll need to get a copy of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE 4:00PM

It seems that Mr. Dyke Hendrickson from this Mass High Tech Mag. Thinks it is ok to blow people off at the last minute. Keith had emailed this man his schedule and told him he would be available at 11:00am to talk, so Keith headed off to school at the usual time 0830. well it seems as if Mr. Hendrickson was not man enough to TALK to Keith when he blew him off. He called the house at 0930 knowing full well Keith would not be there. He left a message stating that they were going with some one else. HOW RUDE!! This was decided when??? Keith arrived home at 10:00 after his class (when he could have been at school working on his senior design)

So I suggested that he call this man to find out what the story was. His answer was shock at 1^st that Keith dared to question the situation. He reply was that Keith had been his 2^nd choice but the 1^st choice ( the one with the higher GPA) had not returned his phone call, and so he set things up with Keith. When this 1^st choice person did return the call Mr. Hendrickson then dumped Keith like yesterdays trash. He may be able to treat 22 year olds like this (even that is still unacceptable) but to treat a peer (ie a grown man) like that is highly unprofessional.

Keith told the Professor that had put him in for this about the way he was treated and he told him to speak to the Dean of the department. He in turn called this Mr. Hendrickson and supposedly they will do a make up story on Keith in a few weeks. (we shall see) So for those technically minded folks that read this DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO Massachusetts High Tech Magazine. They are a bunch of inconsiderate louts!!!

FRIDAY APRIL 9TH , 2004

NO SCHOOL – GOOD FRIDAY

Headed to Dartmouth to pick up the boys from Dad at school and then I have a houseful…Ian has 2 friends arriving at 2:30 and Dylan also has a friend arriving at 2:30 to play. I have 5 boys 10yrs and younger in the house. WHAT WAS I THINKING ;) no worries they are always good for Mrs. Allen.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 14TH , 2004

.Mom worked her day off again, tho I bail at 12:30 after 6.5 hrs to take Dylan to the Dr’s this afternoon.

Keith has a job fair at school today from 11:00 to 1:00. He gets home around 1:30 and we head out to the school to pick up the boys and head

Dylan has a Dr Appointment at 4:00 pm for allergy testing. I asked Keith last night if he would go with me, since I was unsure as to how well Dylan would put up with all of it. He was a trooper. Only when they got to all the upper arm jabs did he start to cry. Poor Kid looked like a pin cushion.

Ok we made it, and the results are:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::drum roll::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: He is allergic to Dust, Mold, Feathers and yikes!!! Cats. We have one. So he is not deathly allergic, thank goodness. Since I am sure he would not want to part with Taboo. We discuss allergy shots since the Dr feels that the remaining fluid in his ear is from the allergies. We decide to wait 3 months and check his ear again, and if the fluid is gone, great, if not we will discuss treatment again. (note: Taboo – the cat-is almost 14 years old and not doing to well right now, he is losing weight and not eating, so he may not be around too much longer ;( )

We stop at Wal-Mart on the ride home and Mom buys the tough guy a video game that he wanted. (man what a softy) and then we head to Christo’s for Greek salad and pizza.

THURSDAY APRIL 15TH , 2004

Mom called in sick to work today. Had a raging headache. So I spent the day looking for housing in the areas where Keith has new job prospects. Those so far being Atlanta, GA / Elberton, GA / Norfolk, VA / Melbourne, FL & Orlando, FL. I know which one I want, but it is totally up to the job and Keith

SATURDAY APRIL 17^TH TO SUNDAY APRIL 25^TH APRIL VACATION

MONDAY APRIL 19TH , 2004

Boys having a tough time getting to sleep, tonight, still bugging MOM at 9:30pm. She finally puts her foot down, and tells them NO MORE VISITS. So I only got 5 hours sleep this night. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

TUESDAY APRIL 20TH , 2004

APPOINTMENT WITH DENTIST 2:00 PM

Mom out of work at the usual time 12:30 the boys went to daycare at the school today, since they have the dentist appointment. (plus I hate sending them to school on their vacation if I can avoid it) Pick them up at 12:50 head home for a quick stop, they brush teeth, mom gets her stuff ready for school and let the dog out ;) Off to the dentist, WOW what a quick visit, outta there at 2:30 and head for home again. I start a lil homework and Cousin Ashley shows up to Babysit. She also has Cousin Matt….kewl –it’s a beautiful day and I tell them all to stay outside and play.

Mom’s off to school and the boys are happily playing outside. When I get home the boys ask if Mat can sleep over, I have no problem with it but we have to be in Boston all day. If Matt has no problem with that, FINE. Yep he stays.

They are all up giggling and tee heeing until 10ish when I tell them lights out. They are good about it and it’s off to dreamland.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 21ST , 2004

APPOINTMENT WITH RHEUMETOLOGY 11:00 AM BOSTON

Everybody up by 7:00, we have breakfast and Dad head’s to school @ 8:30, and the gaggle of boys and I head to Boston at 0900. the traffic inbound is not to bad and we make fairly good time. we arrive at 10:15.

Since we purchased some used Nintendo 64 video games, we head to 8East to give them to the rec room. (this is the floor that took care of Ian when he was admitted back in October) on the way out we run into Jay, the nurse that was on duty the 1^st night Ian was in the hospital, we chit chat for a few and then head to the café for a quick bite.

French Toast, home fries, sausage, etc the boys pretty much split an order and they chow down. Then it’s off to the appointment, now. We found the right way to the Fegan Building and we are waiting for the elevator, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. So Ian gets the bright Idea to take the stairs, here is where we all got stupid We actually DID it!!!!!! So of course by the time we get to check in we are all breathing heavy and sweating. But we all made it ::::big smile:::

We are called @ 11:30 for vitals, ok so now we find out that stairs JUST before you get your BP checked is NOT a good thing. So we get 133/70 after the 2^nd try, and

80.8 lb’s a gain of only .1.6 lb’s in 8 weeks which is fabulous.

We are sent back to the waiting area, since all the rooms are full. Somewhere around 11:45 we are taken to a room to wait for the Dr. we wait and we wait and we wait. Luckily Matt has come with us and he and Dylan are happily entertained with the Game Boys out in the lobby. Ian has his Game Boy and Mom has her Palm Pilot. I sit and type my notes from last night’s class, so there is one less thing I have to do at home. Ahhh Ian’s batterie’s finally give out an then he starts to annoy me to keep himself entertained. We both have a good time being goofy while waiting. We even discover that Ian has NOT gained 1.6 lb’s as we though. He has on cargo shorts and has his pockets loaded. I tell him to hope on the scale in the room to see the real weight. He lost .8 by dumping his video games etc out of his pocket. We’ll have to make sure and tell Dr Susan that one.

Around 1:15 Dr Susan shows up to start the exam. (we have been waiting 2.5 hours for our visit- the good part is, I am SURE that Ian’s favorite phlebotomist will have returned from her lunch break and he will have her draw his blood.)

They are happy to hear that since the weather has gotten better he is outside playing basketball, and just general running around. Make a note again to ALWAYS use sunscreen, since he has a few spots of hyper-pigmented skin, but nothing enough to be concerned about.

They do the strength tests and they are thrilled with him, all looks well and now we talk meds. Ian states that he absolutely HATES the cyclosporine, and if we can, is it possible to ditch THIS ONE 1^st. J.

Dr Susan says she will check with Dr S, but she thinks they can switch him to the pill form of it, since he is doing so well. We chit chat with Dr Susan since it has been 8 weeks since our last visit and we missed her then.

Dr S comes in and he thinks Ian looks good too, he has another Dr with him that is visiting from Lebanon. We discuss the meds with him and it is decided that we will change the Prednisone to 9mg on Friday 4/23,and that would be it for a while since we changed the type of Cyclosporine and this would give us less variables if the next blood work comes back abnormal again.

Thru the discussions the best I can figure is that the Prednisone will be the 1^st to go, Then the Cyclosporine and the Methotrexate last. The folic acid and the Zantac are merely corrective meds to compensate for a deficiency that is caused by the other drugs.

MED CHANGE

PREDNISONE	ZANTEC	FOLIC ACID	METHOTREXATE	NEORAL
10 mg/day/AM	75 mg/day/AM	1 mg M-F/AM	12.5 mg Twice Daily Saturday ONLY	.5 CC Twice/daily
ADJUSTED	MEDS	EFFECTIVE	4/23/2004	CYCLOSPORINE PILLS
9.0 mg/day/AM	75 mg/day/AM	1 mg M-F/AM	12.5 mg Twice Daily Saturday ONLY	2-25 mg PILLs Twice/daily

We finish up and Dr Susan gives me lotz of new scripts, since nothing we have on hand will make 9mg of the Prednisone, we need a new one for that and we need the Cyclosporine PILLS. So I get 2 for these, 1 for Local pharmacy and the other for the mail away. She did make an interesting statement tho, and one that I assume the medical field may look into. It seems that a LOT of parents of Dermatomyositis patients once they find out the child will be put on Prednisone and one of the side effects is weight gain. They are actually glad, since most feel their child is really on the thin side, and can use some weight gain.

I found that amazing, and I am wondering if possibly they should start checking the CK counts of children that fall into the lower weight percentiles as a routine thing, so that if the CK count starts to jump, they will catch it before any symptoms show up and any lasting damage is done.

Now we head down to phlebotomy and sign in, yep Sherma is back from lunch and he is taken right in, he does awesome as always. And we are done.

Now it’s MOM’s turn. So we head to the Blood Donor Center and I sign in, and then go and answer my questions. She says I need to eat before they will do it, since we were delayed at the visit so long, they feel I would get woozy if I haven’t eaten since 9:00 this AM and it’s now 2:40.

So we head to the Longwood Galleria and CVS to drop the script and then to McDonald’s for lunch. While walking to the Galleria Ian trips over someone’s baby carriage wheel, tho he doesn’t fall he manages to empty his pockets (since he was walking with his hands in them) and we have to scramble to pick up a myriad of things This will be a problem later in the afternoon.

The line at CVS is huge and it will be 45 minutes for the script. So we head to McDonald’s, I let the boys order their own and then ask if I have to mortgage my house to pay for all the food they want. Ha ha. Then BACK to the Blood Donor Center, and Ian says that he can’t find one of his game boy games (his favorite of course) so we run upstairs to Fegan 6 to see if it is there, NOPE, and as we walk back to CVS we search the ground where he tripped. No luck and now Ian is really upset, I don’t know what to tell him, since I can’t figure how it could have gotten out of the bag. (if that is where he actually put it)

Once done at CVS we FINALLY head for the car. Good thing Mom donated Blood, it makes the parking free, since between the lunch and the meds, I’m outta cash. LOLOL.

On the way down from the roof parking, we have some dope almost broad side us. Seems he thought he was the only one in the garage and pulled out with out seeing us coming JUST as I get in front of him. I serve and curse but no contact. Whew!!! My poor new car. Thankfully noone was coming the other way.

We are on the road for home. It’s 4:35 what a long day. The traffic was the usual for that time of day, long and slow and we get home around 6:00. only to have the kid across the street ring the bell for the kids to come out and play. I tell the poor kid no, since we just got home. I check on the cat. He has still not eaten or had anything to drink. L. I’m afraid it won’t be much longer.

Matt stays another night, since todays Dr visit was so long. The boys are in their room playing video games and mom collapse and watches TV for a bit and then heads to bed.

	P	CPK or CK	Aldolase	Von Will	LDH	AST	ALT
10-15-03/Wed	~~	516	~~	~~	~~	~~	~~
10-22-03/Wed	~~	501	15.3	-	527	58	25
10-25-03/Sat	~~	130	15.3	170	489	37	25
11-05-03/Wed	50	35	8.3	261	322	22	19
11-26-03/Wed	50	23	6.5	301	319	22	24
12-24-03/Wed	50	36	8.1	241	290	19	20
01-21-04/Wed	45	39	9.3	205	265	21	16
02-26-04/Thu	20	56	7.8	107	298	23	17
04-21-04/Wed	10	92	6.7	pending	310	26	19
NORM		4-175	3.0-12	5.0-150	110-295	2.0-40	3.0-30

THURSDAY APRIL 22ND, 2004

The boys head out with Dad to his school, and hang out in his office while he is in class. Mom has an insanely busy day at work and lotz of errands to do , in between work and picking up the kids. 1 drop new 1mg Prednisone script at the drug store, there was a line of course. Try to get some lunch, there was too long a line so I skip it. Then the low fuel light comes on, and I head for the gas station, there is ANOTHER LINE.. I finally grab McDonalds and arrive to pick up the kids ohhhh 45 minutes late. Fooey.

We get home and the boys disappear into the video world and mom falls asleep , Matt’s Dad shows up at about 5 to pick him up. (though none of the kids bothered to tell me he was on his way). So my 2 boys get to pick up their room WITHOUT Matt’s help.

FRIDAY APRIL 23RD, 2004

The kids are at a friend’s house today, and Mom finds a few minutes to stop and look for an outfit to wear to Keith’s graduation, tho I have lost some weight, it is not nearly enough, I think I’ll try and get back on my diet tomorrow.

When I arrive to pick up my kids, they ask if JT can come to our house, sure, and the 4 of us head for home. They again head for the cellar and the Game Cube, which today is OK since it is a grey and dreary day.

I check my email and find the test results from Dr Susan, they are good, but not nearly as good as we want them to be. She wants us to stay the same on the Prednisone until the next visit in 7 weeks and UP the pills of the Cyclosporine to 75 mg twice a day. Boy is he gonna start looking mature with all that Cyclosporine. (one of the side effects is excess body hair growth) AND we are to go to the pediatrician’s office in 3 weeks to get just blood tests done.

When I tell Ian about the extra blood work he is not too happy

about it. He really does hate getting “poked” and if we go to the

Pedi’s office, he won’t have Sherma to do his tests.

So we head to Mom’s room to cuddle for a bit and then it off

To the PC so mom can get this page up dated and make dinner

Ian also asks if we can go BACK to the liquid Cyclosporine. WOW now

that really shocked me. I seems that the pills are a it to large and they get caught

in his throat and then he can taste the stuff worse than before.

So I email back to Dr. Susan and she answers in less than 10 minutes.

Talk about service, she said that was a fine switch, but it also needs to be increased.

So he takes .75cc of the yucky stuff.

PREDNISONE	ZANTEC	FOLIC ACID	METHOTREXATE	NEORAL
10 mg/day/AM	75 mg/day/AM	1 mg M-F/AM	12.5 mg Twice Daily Saturday ONLY	.5 CC Twice/daily
ADJUSTED	MEDS	EFFECTIVE	4/23/2004	NEORAL-again
9.0 mg/day/AM	75 mg/day/AM	1 mg M-F/AM	12.5 mg Twice Daily Saturday ONLY	.75 CC Twice/daily

I also spoke to Dr Laura today to make arrangements for the blood work, it will be May 10^th, she asked for the list of tests to be run, and will have a blood slip waiting at the front desk for us on that day.

TUESDAY APRIL 27TH , 2004

APPOINMENT WITH OPTHOMOLOGIST 10:45 AM STOUGHTON

This was rescheduled from March 30^th since the schools had 4^th grade MCAS testing on that day and it was NOT a good thing for Ian to skip that day of school. It was recommended by the rheumatologist since the meds can affect his vision.

I tell Ian to treat today just like a school day, so that way he will be ready when it’s time to go. Keith and I head out to put Dylan on the bus.(he doesn’t HAVE to go to this one, since it is only 30 minutes away and we will have plenty of time to get home before he gets off the bus.) He is not to happy about the fact that he has to go to school without his big brother. The tears come and dad offers his hanky and mom gives him a hug, and luckily the bus shows up and he is off to school before he can really turn on the waterworks.

Ian and I putter around the house and head to the appointment around 10:00, we arrive and I fill out the standard paperwork. Ok Ian gets all checked out and then he gets some eye drops to dilate his pupils so he can check them for glaucoma (which is a side effect of the Prednisone)

Ok all the tests are done and things look GOOD. Yahoo, there is no sign of Glaucoma, pressure on the eye and cataracts, which are things we would have to watch for, because of the cocktail of drugs he is on. The Dr did say he was not focusing strong enough and that this was nothing that could be corrected. All this means is that he will probably need glasses in his teens. Oh well, mom had glasses in her early 20’s so that isn’t too bad.

We are told to have him checked again in 9-12 months if things are fine, sooner if there are any problems. NICE, this was an easy visit.

We stop for lunch, since mom is starving, we then head to the Silver City Galleria Mall, this lil side trip costs Mom about $90.00. I spend $52.00 at the video game store. (Ian is to pay me back $15.00) He gets a Game Shark, a Code Book and after losing one of his games last week, I buy him a belt clip case for the thing.

Then I stop at Payless Shoes to look for my self, ha ha, I end up with 2 pair of lil boy sneakers 1 Yu-Gi-Oh and the other BeyBlades. We finally get home at 1:15 and I get ready for school. (I am heading there early to get some extra help) Ashley arrives at 2:15 and I head out. She is taking the boys back to her house this time; I will pick them up there on the way home.

Class is good, I stay a bit to do some homework, I pick up the kids and we get home for the night at 7:30, they get ready for bed and Mom spends at least an hour ironing her textbook. (I stupidly carried a soda to class in my backpack…. It thought it would be a good idea to leak all over EVERYTHING in my bag, my notes, my homework, my $142.00 textbook and it also made a huge puddle in my professors office while I was trying to get extra help ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what a day,)

Ian asks repeatedly if he can help, sorry with the ironing it’s no, but after my notebook reprints he can collate it. Thank goodness I type out my notes. And after the pressing the textbook it doesn’t look to bad. We all head for bed at 9:30, boy is it gonna be tough getting up tomorrow.

WEDENSDAY APRIL 28TH , 2004

Yep Mom is at work again, on the way home I have to exchange the sneakers I picked up for Dylan, seems the box said size 2, but the shoes inside were a size 1, and don’t fit. Fooey.

Called and made and appointment to have Dylan’s hearing checked, just prior to the follow up visit to Dr Laura in July.

THURSDAY APRIL 29TH , 2004

Ok today was a typical day around here, once the boys got home we headed for a friends house, so he could install the mud flaps on my new car. We had a nice dinner and the boys went in his hot tub (temp was good for young children) We didn’t get home until after 8:00 and it was straight to bed.

FRIDAY APRIL 30TH , 2004

Well today didn’t even start as a typical day and it got progressively worse as the day wore on. Just after my alarm went off at 2:45 or so I heard one of the boys crying in the bathroom, turns out it was Ian. Seems he has an upset stomach and is throwing up. He tells me he got up at 2:41 and headed for the bathroom. OK run the list, today would be daycare day, this is NOT an option, Keith has to go to school so the easiest thing to blow off is work. I call the Providence number an ask for the day off. All set there and I get Ian tucked into Dylan’s bed. (Dylan has camped out on the floor next to my bed and he has the lower bunk – useful for a faster dash to the bathroom) we all go back to sleep.

Ian and Dad are up before me, seems Ian is no better; he can’t even keep juice or water down, poor kid. We get Dyl man up for school; he of course turns on the tears. He hates to go to school with out Ian. Mom checks on the sick cat we have in the downstairs bathroom. Taboo has been ill for about 2 weeks and stopped eating and drinking a few days ago, seems it will be a matter of time. I talk to him and tell him if he needs to go, he should, he seems to hold my hand and agree.

Back up stairs to the sick kid, Ian has been unable to take his medication for the JDMS, since absolutely NOTHING stays in his stomach. Most of the morning is quiet, Ian looks sick but not bad, he is on the couch in the living room, watching TV, and drifting to sleep and then watching TV. I tell him sleep is the best thing for him. Mom keeps busy around the house and checking on her sick lil man. We start to watch Haunted Mansion, but Ian tires in the middle and I stop it and he naps again.

I head onto the back porch with the dog, for his yearly haircut, it is a beautiful day and since I am using scissors Shadow is not flipping out. I hear the bell ringing (gave Ian it so he wouldn’t have to yell if he need something) I come in and he looks TERRIBLE, his face is flushed, and he is sweating. I take his temp it is 103.7⁰ I am in a panic, I KNOW this is not good, but do NOT show it to Ian. I call the pediatrician’s office and leave her a message to call me ASAP. I don’t bother with the office staff, since they would be unaware of Ian’s condition, and since his immune system is unable to defend itself very well I am really concerned about the temp.

She calls back with in a few minutes and she of course wants to see him, it is now about 3:00 and I have to wait until Dylan gets home from school at 3:30. We make the appointment for 4:30. Dylan arrives home, and we head to the Dr’s office, Ian sleeps off and on all the way there, he looks soooo sick in the back seat. I think I make the land speed record for Taunton, to Brockton.

Once in the office we don’t wait to long, Ian has brought his “bucket” and a towel to keep him warm,(he is cold even with the fever) we get into the exam room and Ian lies down on the table and falls asleep, they check his vitals and they are NOT so good. Temp at least now is down to 102.2⁰ , ( I had the AC full blast all the way in) but his pulse is racing at 160. Dr Laura is concerned and she tells me she is going to call Children’s’ to see what they think, especially since they are treating him for the JDMS. His whole stomach was tender and he hurts everywhere.

When she returns, the news is they want to see him, in Boston ASAP. I am given the option of driving him to the emergency room myself or we take an ambulance. Ok, let’s see I am slightly calmer than a state of panic, it is 5:00 pm on a Friday night and I need to get into Boston, I can’t get a hold of Keith, since he is at school and there is no reception in there. Ian wants me to drive, but I opt for the ambulance.

When the ambulance gets there we meet Howie and Shawna, our flight attendants for the trip to Boston, they check his vitals again, his temp is still over 102, heart is still racing and on top of that his Oxygen count is only 95%, so they put him on Oxygen for the ride in town. and his BP is 108/ over something (not sure what) both of which are too low.

Dr Laura is now glad we opted for the ambulance, they get Ian all settled in the stretcher and Dylan and I follow behind, Shawna and I are arguing with Howie about where Dylan will ride. Since Howie said he would ride up front with him, the first thing out of my mouth was “NOT if there is an air bag he won’t” Shawna and I are together on this one. Come to find out it does NOT have a passenger side air bag and Dylan is safely buckled into the front seat to be Howie’s co-pilot. Shawna and I settle in with Ian in the back and we head off to Boston.

Keith finally returns my frantic messages, and I tell him that we are probably going to be admitted, since his fever is so high and he is immune compromised, because of his meds. They plan on giving him IV antibiotics. I give Keith the list of things we need. Since we’ll be there overnight(I should have done this myself- I had that sinking feeling that this was going to happen) Keith leaves school and heads for home, he calls into work and will meet us in Boston.

The ride was a new experience, it is amazing how rude drivers are now a days, even to emergency vehicles. I have always told the boys, that when they become old enough to drive, that they had better pull over for ambulances etc, since they mean that someone need help in a hurry and if they get caught up in traffic, someone will be without the help they need. The ride on Rt 24 is ok, traffic moves and moves over when needed, but Rt 3 past Quincy is a whole other story. The place is bumper to bumper and people have no where to move to. But Howie has it well in hand and we keep moving. Ian and Shawna and I are watching the jerks behind us, trying to latch onto the ambulances wake and cut thru traffic with us. It makes you want to throw rocks out of the back of the ambulance.

We end up pulling into Children’s at the same time as another ambulance, the place is mobbed, but we are taken right in and put in exam room 29. I think it is about 6:00 pm. We have Nurses galore in the room. They wire Ian up, for the heart monitor, and oxygen levels etc. We tell the story of the day to no less than 3 people. We meet Dr Steve and he orders the blood tests and that Ian be set up for an IV, he will call up to Rheumatology and see what they want to do also. Ian tries to stay calm, but he REALLY doesn’t want to be here.

Ian has brought one of his favorite stuffies, Stripes a white tiger that I got for him while he was at Children’s in October 2003. But while we are waiting he decides he also wants his stuffies big brother Gotham, a LARGE white tiger that Dad got at FAO Schwartz on his Christmas trip to NY City. So I call home to see if I can catch Keith, I get him, seems as if Gotham is already in the pile of stuff to come in. Keith hesitates but says he is running a little late, then tells me why. It seems as if Taboo has taken Mom’s talk this morning to heart and left us. I am standing in the middle of ER and crying… my best feline friend has died. Could this day get any worse??????????

Ian of course gets very worried when I come back in crying, and I tell him, it is not because of him, he is fine.Then I tell him about Boo and he comforts me, what a great kid. They get Ian all set with the IV thing, and they draw what seems like too much blood. They transfer the syringes of blood to the tubes for the myriad of tests they want to run. One of them even pops after it is filled, making quite the mess.

Ian had wanted the EMLA, but since it would delay the treatment he is forced to go ahead without it, and he does great. Tho he concerns one of the Dr’s. (I had told him to breath deep to stay calm and he sounded like he was wheezing, the Dr thought he couldn’t breath.)

We will have to wait for a while to get the results of the blood work and then the recommendation of what to do next. This is when they switch us to another exam room, this one has less equipment but it DOES have a TV. The boys are quite content now. Ian is a bit miffed with the placement of the IV since it is in the bend of his elbow, he can’t manage to play his Game Boy. And just to be safe we opted for the board to keep him from moving his arm to much.

They get an IV started with fluids, just in case he has gotten dehydrated from the day with out eating and drinking. They give him some more Tylenol and we wait for the test results. Dad arrives around 8:30 and gives Ian hugs and support and then takes Dylan out to get him something to eat. Poor kid hasn’t eaten since lunch at school (I think around 11:30) Ian is hungry, but we want to wait to see what the Dr. says.

After Dad and Dylan return (bringing Mom a sandwich) Mom heads off for a walk, only to have Dr Steve arrive just before I head off. He says all the blood work looks great, and says whatever I did all day must have been good, because Ian shows no signs of dehydration. They let the IV run it’s course and then check the vitals. Ian has responded well to the fluids and we are told it was probably just a bug. (gee I KNEW that, but the Fever was the concerning part) and then we get even BETTER news, they have decided to let him GO HOME. Yahoooooo we hit the road for home around 10:30pm. The whole family is exhausted.

When Keith came in, he stopped a the pediatrician’s office and swapped cars, leaving the tuck in Brockton and taking my car all the way in town. So on the way home we stop in to pick up the truck. Ian is out cold in the back seat, Dylan hops out and goes to ride with Dad.

The troops arrive home around 11:30, Mom calls work, she isn’t going to make it again, not after the last 20 hours, we all head to bed, Mom is glad to have Ian home, but sorely missing Taboo once I have time to think about him.

To see Taboo clic here.

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