Fugue

I have been planning a post that would start, "Well, it was a difficult [period of time] but fortunately things have taken a turn for the better and... ."

And nothing.

Patrick might have turned a corner in the past day or two but he hastily turned right back around again. He is still sleeping in our bed and Steve (who would rather hang upside down by his toes than share a bed with Patrick - the kid tickles and kicks in his sleep; I find it endearing) has become a more or less permanent resident on the little inflatable bed we set up in the corner. I keep telling Steve he should just go sleep in Patrick's bed or, hell, the guest room now that my mother has left but no... he says it is too far away. It's sweet. Weird and possibly a touch martyred, but sweet.

I cannot quite figure out what is wrong with Patrick. I mean, yes, he had his tonsils and his adenoids out exactly seven days ago but he seems more... sick. Like at first he was recovering from the anesthesia and then his throat was bothering him and then he was dealing with the codeine effects and now he just seems sick. He had the night sweats again last night, which is what I think he usually does rather than run a fever. We finished watching Top Chef (is it wrong to love Top Chef?) and I went to check on Patrick. He was asleep on my side of the bed and his entire head was as wet as if he had been swimming. Today he woke up at ten in the morning, lumbered to the couch and then collapsed again. Does this sound normal to you? It sounded normal to the ENT nurse but maybe I should press the issue? He is on clindamycin as a preventative antibiotic but I worry that maybe it is not so effective with him after being on it for over a month this summer? I don't know.

Baffled over here.

Not much else going on. My mother visited and gave it as her objective opinion that the twins are so cute it is almost disgusting. Edward has been in a great mood. He continues to ride his pushcar with a reckless abandon. Once he starts pumping those fat little feet of his he gets up some serious speed. Then he crashes into the wall. Then he laughs.

Caroline joined Edward on his car but she insisted that she get to drive. She's a sensible girl.

Caroline has a formidable vocabulary and a nice turn for mimicry so what she is not volunteering on her own we are getting her to say like so many parrot-masters. Patrick is particularly excited by the language development. I think he has concluded that the babies are not as dumb as he had feared. Not that he didn't love them or enjoy dragging them around by their footie pajamas but he did feel the need to keep pointing out that they didn't seem to know much. Then Edward (and now Caroline) demonstrated a facility with some of the letters and he decided there might be hope for them after all.   

A conversation from yesterday that you may and or may not find as funny as I did:

Patrick: Caroline can you say "one"?
Caroline: Whah!
Patrick: Caroline can you say "two"?
Caroline: Two!
Patrick: Caroline can you say "three"?
Caroline: Fwee!
Patrick: Caroline can you say "four"?
Caroline: Fwah!
Patrick: Caroline can you say "five"?
Caroline: Fiiiii!
Patrick: Caroline can you say "six"?
Caroline: Six!
Patrick: Caroline can you say "seven"?
Caroline: No!

Patrick: (pauses) Caroline can you say "seven"?
Caroline: No!

Patrick: Caroline can you say "eight"?
Caroline: Eaaaht!

A few minutes before bed last night I discovered Caroline wearing a jacket and hat over her pajamas. What ho? I asked Patrick. He said that she had brought them to him and he helped her put them on. She was also carrying a Fisher Price stable like a handbag. Not sure where she thought she was going.

 

Some place fancy I guess.

Sorry to be such a dullard. I am feeling shades of this summer when Patrick was sick every day and we would wake up, manage needs all day long and then go to sleep again. Repeat.

Comments

[KatS]

Poor thing! I am not an ENT but have worked in near ENTs and their nurses for 12 years. My bet is dehydration. That's the biggest challenge with kids and tonsellectomies (sp...). I think it can also take up to 2 weeks to start feeling better. BUT, in case I'm wrong I'll send my warmest healing thoughts your way like the strongest antibiotics...

[Jan]

It's possible that it's an opportunistic infection picked up on the journey given that his immune defenses were so compromised. The fact that he has been on clindamycin so long also makes me a little suspicious. If you are feeling an instinct, and since we're going into a long weekend, it might be worth pressing on this. Has he been getting down more nourishment (not that that will help any infection)?

[Amy]

When I had my tonsils out, days 7-10 were the worst. It think it has something to do with the scabs finally sloughing off. My fever spiked and I felt like death, but after day 10, I felt like a brand new person. I was also 26, so not sure if this is relevant... Hope Patrick feels better soon. And your Mom is right, so cute it's almost disgusting (in a good way of course!)

[MsCellania]

DEHYDRATED is young Patrick.
Also maybe his electrolytes are wonky.
Give the child some pedialyte or gatorade. I made popsicles out of gatorade and it made it bearable for a 7 yo with a fierce sore throat.
I adore the spunky Caroline! Looks like she knows her single-syllable limit and will NOT be encouraged to make a fool out of herself. Not to say that Edward is chopped livah. He is wonderful, of course.

[Teki]

I felt like a train wreck for a full MONTH after having my tonsils out. Granted I was in my later 30's and I hear it's tougher than as a child. I'm with the previous poster-nothing wrong with taking him in for a check. I do hope he starts feeling better for all of your sakes!

[elsimom]

Joining in the refrain to take him in, just in case. Given his pain threshold and his struggles with infection this summer, I think you'll at least feel better having him checked out. If it's nothing, then fine, but if it's something - then you can marshal the forces against it.

Caroline makes me laugh - my little girl (same age, approx.) is all about the "handbags" these days too - everything from a gift bag to an ice cream bucket have been placed over her arm with a wave and a call of "Bye Bye". When my older daughter was this age, at our daycare, they didn't even call them purses, they just called them "ByeByes".

Such fun, these language explosions and adventures.

[~Monkey]

First: I have no idea about the tonsils.
Second: It should be mandatory to love Top Chef (but hate the product placements)
Third: And I mean this with zero malice--only since Teddy just passed it occurred to me....Did you realize you were naming your kids like they were a brood of Kennedy's? I know they are all common names, but together they sound so wonderfully dynastic. I fully expect them to rule at least a local government, if not the whole country, at some point.

[Danielle]

I agree with MsCellania that it's very easy to become dehydrated after a tonsillectomy. Check that first, but if your instincts are telling you something's not right, then push it with the doctor. You know him better than anyone else!

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawmah-3jsS1ZpmYXSCsPzy1M7Yfw6jqYcNw]

My daughter (though younger than Patrick) went through this last November. Push fluids and if he has not turned the corner by day 10 make the ENT see you again.

Hope it goes well!!

[jen w]

I think you should take him in. I'm not expert in the ENT field (I'm a ED RN) but when kids act that sick, they usually are sick. I'd guess either dehydrated or infection. I think he should be feeling better and have more energy etc by now.

[mellie]

Delurking to say that after years of lurkdom whenever you do a post which goes something like, this is happening, it's probably nothing, what do you guys think....I start yelling at the computer screen as if I am watching a summer horror flick--don't go upstairs! Get out of the house! Run! So, pump him full of fluids but get him to the Dr. Lickety Split. Is what I say. Since you were asking.....

[Martha]

Cute conversation. I wonder if Caroline has an objection to two syllable number names!

[Aunt Becky]

I'd probably bug the crap out of the nurse to do a CBC or at least an examination of him. If nothing comes of that, I'd comfort myself (besides in the bottle of vodka) by remembering that healing takes a lot of energy.

Hang in there, all of you.

[Dara]

Yes, dehydration. Codeine causes all kinds of lingering weirdness, please don't give him anymore of that.

[Tracy]

I know why Caroline won't say 7 -- she's heard the joke: Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9! (Say it out loud if it doesn't make sense).

[Olya]

Hang in there!

[Greengage]

I don't have any useful advice on the Patrick situation - but hope he feels better very soon.

But I have to say that I am with your mother when it comes to the twins. Being that cute should be illegal. I am glad that Caroline is providing Patrick with some distraction.

[Elsha]

Although I don't remember it myself, I had my adenoids out when I was 6. My mom had scheduled it over Christmas vacation so I wouldn't miss any school but then she regretted it when I was SO sick afterward that Christmas morning went like this:
After going downstairs with my brothers and sisters, I looked at the tree and the presents and then looked at my mom and said, "That's nice. Can I go back to bed now?"

I don't think I had to go back to the hospital or anything, but I do believe I was sick for 2 weeks or so. And I know when I got my tonsils out at 22 that it took me a good 2 weeks before I wasn't living on painkillers.

[Eli]

Chiming in to encourage you to follow your insticts. Take Patrick in while simultaneously pushing fluids. I never regret having my kids checked in these types of situations, even if I just find out that they are fine.

And.....totally love Top Chef as well!

[Toni]

Going to agree with the dehyration...but also, perhaps constipation? With the possible dehyration, history of constipation and use of codeine (side effect = constipation)...I'd also question that. (Unless he's going...)

I hope he feels better soon (and you do too!!!)

[Yatima]

ZOMG. There is the mathy Patrick cuteness, which is mega. There is the all-around Caroline cuteness, which is also mega.

NOW THERE IS PATRICK-CAROLINE CUTENESS AND I MUST EXPLODE!

[Leslie]

That Caroline was made for hats! She is so gorgeous.

[Katerina]

Oh my goodness they are SO CUTE all three of them!!!

Feeling very sorry for poor Patrick (and you! must be so hard!) and joining the growing chorus of "take him in"s, and also hoping that it's nothing more than dehydration and he'll start getting HUGELY better absolutely no later than day 10 as per previous posters.

Caroline I just have no words for. That picture with the purse... priceless.

Hang in there, Julia! We're rooting for you!

[EB]

Just wanted to say thinking of you and yours. Poor Patrick - hope he feels better really soon.

[Kim]

My friend is a nurse and her daughter just had a tonsillectomy. At any rate, as you mentioned this I remember her mentioning that the 7-10 day range is worse than post-op. SO. Just a thought. I think it might be rather typical...not sure though.

[tzena]

Fugue is a wonderful title.
I am utterly helpless on the tonsils front but am casting my vote for The Fugue of Seven. It contains numerous connotations and could be easily deployed to describe a a Puerto Rican gang or one of Philip Glass's works. You nailed it! I mean, you fugued it! Brava!

[Alison]

I really hope he gets on the mend soon. Hopefully it's just the antibiotics playing havoc with his system and he'll get back to normal really soon.

LOVE Top Chef. When I watch it and Lucy cries I point the TV remote at her and try to press 'mute'.

[Amanda P.]

I third (or fourth) the approval of Top Chef. It's not wrong to love Top Chef (although pretty much any other reality show could go jump off a cliff, as far as I'm concerned).

I had surgery last Friday and my scabs are just now starting to come off, so I would guess that Patrick is in the same boat. Of course, mine are on my abdomen and his are in his throat, so it probably really, really sucks to be Patrick right now. I will agree on the dehydration and take him in before the holiday weekend advice from above though. Drink THROUGH the pain!

[Lioness]

I watch Top Chef as well and I neither cook or can be bothered about it, the dullness of it and then the having to eat what I actually made, it's all very traumatising. So why I watch a show about people making food and presenting it when I can't even smell it is beyond me. Utterly. You're normal, I'm not.

Caroline reminds me of Golden Girls' Sophia, with her bag in the house and excess of clothes. I share your mum's impartial view. And I very much hope things turn around soon. It WILL be so very worth it.

[Lioness]

[Again with the spectacular English. I'm beginning to think it's you.]

[HereWeGoAJen]

When I had my wisdom tooth out (I only had one, luckily), I picked up a cold/flu/black plague and was sick for two weeks. It was terrible. I think my defenses were low and the germ of DOOM took advantage of that.

[onecookieshort.blogspot.com]

Oh my goodness the conversation made me laugh out loud, which got me strange looks from my husband who is sitting next to me watching football. The looks were even stranger when I read him the conversation.

I do remember days 7-10 being even worse. I was out from school for a week and managed to drag myself in for pictures (and awful puffy-cheeked pictures they were), only to feel even worse and miss the rest of that week. It was awful.

I love Caroline's all dress up picture. Nick often does that. It's so cute.

[clarabella]

Sorry, I have no advice for you about Patrick other than if your gut is telling you there's something more going on, push it with the ENT nurse. A mother knows.
My son can count to 20 and knows the whole alphabet (28 mos) and still refuses to say seven. Won't even mimic it. Just skips it as if it weren't even there. There must be something about that number only toddlers know.

[Shannon]

I know nothing of real medical things, so I am mum on Patrick (tho I hope he feels better very very soon!), but as a speech language pathologist who is forever trying to get kids to imitate, I think Caroline's story is the best ever. Plus, I think she looks like a famous tyke caught on an outing by the paparazzi. Maybe shades of Suri Cruise (only light years cuter)?

[C.]

very normal. his body is healing and sleep is what the body needs. it can also take up to a month for the anesthesia to work its way out of the body.

[Lautie A]

I think Caroline looked like a mini Jackie-O in that picture with her purse and pillboxesque hat.

Like Top Chef a lot, but couldn't get into Top Chef Masters at all. The hostess maybe? The format? The egos? Don't know, but it didn't gel for me.

[Kirsten]

We just got rid of our cable, and Top Chef is the one thing I really miss. (I can get Project Runway on the internet, so that's okay.) I'll just live vicariously through my friends' viewing habits, I guess.

[Meghan]

Here's the thing--it could be any of these things and be perfectly normal, but if something feels off to you, force your way into the doctor. Not to suggest that this is what's happening, but after I had a surgery as a child, one of the wounds wasn't cauterized properly and I was bleeding slowly for almost two weeks. My mom kept calling, and they kept saying "normal" until one morning I puked blood. She took me to the OB she worked for to get a blood pressure and hemoglobin, and it was so low they sent me right to the hospital for transfusions. Again, I'm SURE that's not what's happening, but if you feel weird about it, trust your mommy instinct!

[Diana]

I would be inclined to have Patrick checked out again...

When I was kid I had my tonsils out in the midst of a horrible infection. Emergency removal...blah blah blah. Oddly enough, I also threw up on my way home from the hospital, which I vividly remember because I threw up on my C@bbage P@tch Doll.

About a month after that, I contracted (or whatever the appropriate word may be) e. coli. It was horrendous. Of course everyone assumed I was still recovering, but alas, no, it was e. coli. Opportunistic infection or bad McDon@ld's hamburger? Who knows. All I know is that my life sucked for awhile but I'm a very healthy adult now.

Also, Patrick may find it interesting that my dad never snorted when he laughed until his adenoids were removed (as an adult). Also, my dad had his tonsils removed TWICE because the first time they did not remove enough and the rest of the bits were infected. He also might find it interesting that I was just like him and wanted my grandmother there when I woke up--NOT my mother.

P.S. The first thing I said upon waking up is, "I want my panties!" because I was so upset about being naked under the gown. Boy did I outgrow that phase!

[Diana]

Oh! And also, I had a bad reaction to anesthesia. As a teenager I had my wisdom teeth out and I woke up during the surgery! The surgeon said, 'These are the wisdom teeth from hell!' and I fell back asleep. No pain. A little terrified, but no pain. Later, when they woke me up for good I felt very, very off and had to cry for a bit in the recovery room, which isn't like me at all. (I mean, crybaby, sure, but not over pain, over stuff like romance novels and commercials!) I love telling that story because it was such an odd thing. I always thought it was because on my form I marked my weight down as quite a bit lower than it actually was...

[Natalie]

I agree on the dehydration and constipation theory. Fluids & fiber!

[TeacherMommy]

Totally giggled. LOVE those conversations.

I have little to offer in terms of advice re: Patrick. If the ENT nurse seems to think it's normal, perhaps it is. Do you trust her in the normal run of things? If you do, then wait a while. If not...maybe you need a second opinion.

[Sarah]

Oh my, I hope Patrick feels better soon. That sounds exhausting for you all.

And I remember my oldest wouldn't say 13 (she was about 2 and was a pretty late talker) but I thought it was hilarious that she'd have triskaidekaphobia and didn't push it.

[Christine]

I think you should bother your medical providers, especially as Patrick is maybe the most stoic kid I've ever heard of. I'm hoping he feels better right quickly.

And I'm sorry to say this, but your kids are so cute that if I saw them on the street (and it is unlikely since I am in Philadelphia and have never been to the midwest) that I might be tempted to squeeze them social faux pas that it would be. So cute.

[Portlairge]

I'm chiming in with dehydration and you know him best because your his Mother so bring him in especially as it's a holiday weekend and your children, especially Patrick don't normally follow the normal course. Also, because he's taken so many antibiotics this summer, you might want to consider a course of probiotics to normalize his intestinal flora.
Hope he feels better and Caroline and Edward are beyond cute!

[Jb]

Take him in Friday - before the long weekend. get him checked. too sick for him.

[Karishma]

I have no idea what the poor kid has been managing to eat, but it could be that he's just.... exhausted, on top of the regular healing process and some dehydration. When I had my adenoids out, all I would eat is ice cream, and that's just not nutritious, to say the least. Lack of energy could be a symptom of not being able to eat right for a few days straight, in my world, at least. Maybe some electrolytes, meal replacement drinks, fruit/veggie smoothies? And mostly, lots and lots of water. Tons of it. Best healing around, H2O is.

[Hetty Fauxvert]

I agree with so many other posters: Push the electrolytes but also double-check the infection angle. With the dehydration, make sure he ingests something that actually has electrolytes in it, not just plain fluids -- since imbalanced electrolytes can make all the difference in how you feel if they are wonky. As for infection, really -- P has had so many infections lately, would one more surprise you?

Hope P is better soon and S gets back in bed! :)

[Katerina]

I've already commented on Julia's/Patrick's ongoing misery (fingers crossed for turning a corner!!) but I have to say, Diana, your stories are the best. Both horrible and really funny. You've had some trauma in your early life, woman! And you tell it so well.

[Kristin]

I would take him in just to be safe but I think the people who say he may be dehydrated and that is causing the lethargy may be right. After all you have been through with him, I'd live under the better safe than sorry motto.

Caroline is a woman after my own heart. She is always in control (or thinks she is).

I was rolling when I read the conversation. Too funny.