We took Levi to NC Children's Hospital at UNC for his surgery. This included: ear tube replacement, repeat adenoidectomy, tonsilectomy, and sinus surgery. The surgery went well, despite taking 1.5 hours longer than anticipated. There was a lot of bleeding from his nose after the surgery, and that first night was rough. He spent it in a short-stay observation unit. The amount of anesthesia he had been under meant most of his normal bodily functions were not functioning. And, as anyone who has ever had any type of surgery knows, you must drink and potty before you're released. Levi refused to drink, and was physically unable to potty - to the point that a good portion of his pain was coming from his bladder. After repeated attempts to get him to potty on his own, he had to be catheterized. The next morning, we finally convinced him to eat some ice cream - which oddly enough, counts as "drinking" - and then, finally, we had a wet diaper. I don't think I've ever been so excited over a wet diaper before!
Before
After
Finally Awake
September 8-17
The worst 10 days of my life. Literally. Levi alternated between short, fitful naps and hysterical crying. His routine was severely disrupted. Husband was banished to sleep in Lauren's bedroom because Levi would only sleep if he could sleep with me. He ran a low-grade fever, refused his meds, and was generally intolerable of anything I wanted or needed him to do.
September 18
Levi returned to "normal" - as normal as you can get with a 2-year old who has been through what he'd been through the last 2 weeks. He was eating normally, and playing normally, and crying considerably less. We were able to visit grandparents and play outside.
September 19
Levi returned to school. He was excited to be there. He didn't even cry after being home with me for practically 2 weeks. And, then, came the drama. Mema (that's my Mamma) picked Levi up from school, where he was outside sitting on the bench with the afternoon "teacher." She got him home, took his shoes off and changed his diaper - and found FORTY-THREE (43) bug bites on his feet, ankles, legs, groin, belly, arms, and hands, and a rash spreading down his legs and up his chest/neck. She called me. I left work. I get home, and look at the bites - mosquitoes? fireants? some other unknown insect? - and my stepdad points out that his left ankle looks really swollen. Another bite, maybe? Just one that hit the joint? So, I get his allergy medicine. Which he proceeds to puke back on me. When we put him in the tub to clean him off, he refuses to put the left foot down. Then he won't let me touch it. I still think it may just be one of the bites just got him in the right place. But, then, I put him down in the den floor to lock the front door. The toes of his left foot hit the floor, he collapses, and screams out in pain. I flipped out. I called husband who reassured me that I was over-reacting. Then, I called our pediatrician's after-hours number. I spoke with a nurse, who listened carefully to my descriptions of the bites, the rash, the ankle, the screaming, everything. She paged the pediatrician on call for our practice who called back with instructions to take him the ER. So, as soon as husband got home, we headed to the ER. By that time, his bug bites had festered and were easily identified as fire ant bites. With so many of them, and the rash spreading, the ER doctor put Levi on prednisone and an antibiotic. And, they x-ray his ankle, just to be sure there isn't a fracture. The ER doctor comes back in, says he has buckle fracture to his left fibula - which is the small bone in the side of the lower leg), near the ankle joint. He gets a temporary cast, until we see the orthopedic, who gives him a lime green hard cast.
Temp Cast
After Getting Hard Cast
And, then, comes change. We battled with the decision, because we realize that both the bites and the broken bone are simple accidents that could have happened anywhere, but after advice from friends, family, and our doctors, we've moved Levi into care at another facility.
