Thank goodness for Childrens Hospital (MUSC)

We had an eventful week starting Monday. After Carl swam in cold water at his swim team practice he came out early and began coughing. Around 11 that night he came in with a bad croup cough. We did all the stuff we could at home but it wasn't getting better. We took him to the pediatrician in the morning, when she saw his oxygen levels she called 911 and he was taken to the nearest ER (across the street). After he had been hooked up the doctor came to check on him and while listening to him breath he told lil Carl to "stop making that noise" to which my husband responded that he couldn't, that is why we brought him here. We were told his chest x-rays looked fine. They wouldn't believe he had croup because he is too old at 9 to have it. They began treating him for asthma. That went on for 5 hours and when the treatments did not make a difference they finally decided to take x-rays of his throat and discovered that he did have croup (what we had said all along) and that their treatment for the last five hours had been useless. They began treating for the croup at that point as he had improved very little. At this point they decided to admit him into the hospital, when they called our pediatrician they insisted on his going to the children's hospital in Charleston. I had been watching his breathing as he lay there and I was convinced that his right side was doing all the work breathing. I am always nervous bring up things to doctors. I mentioned it to the nurse who said she hadn't noticed any difference in the sounds from the lungs. She listened again and stated that she might hear a little difference and that next time I take him in for a checkup i should tell his doctor about it. I then stated that was the reason we were there not to wait til his next appt. Anyway, we then went to the children's hospital (Lil Carl's second ambulance ride of the day) where they were amazing and awesome. They listened to his chest and back and knew instantly that his left lung sounded worse than the right. From the x-rays they said that he had croup although they also said it was really rare for a child his age which concerns them and they also were able to tell from his chest x-rays that he had pneumonia in his left lung. That was all in the first hour of being there. I can't imagine what excuse the other hospital could give for not seeing it, they showed me the x-rays and I could see it. They also showed that his right lung was over extended and the left was really small. They say that all these things together are really concerning. It was also apparent to them that his asthma had not been treated well and needs more attention. He continued to improve now that he was getting the right treatment and his pneumonia broke up and his left lung cleared. Our respiration therapist Anita was so great, I am in awe of her. She taught us so much about managing his asthma and I feel like we can be proactive now and maybe he can enjoy his time outside without fear. Everyone at the hospital was enchanted by him, when the interns had their rounds they were in our room for a while, not just because he is such an interesting case but he held them captive telling them stories and asking them questions. After three days in the hospital we got to bring him home. He still has to go back so we can meet with the pediatric pulmonary doctors so they can do further investigation and maybe we can have more of an idea of why he is having all these problems. We have a few outstanding tests that we are waiting on the results for also. I am hoping everything is negative but I also want answers for him. We are grateful for everyone's prayers and we want everyone to know that he is doing well and seems as chipper as ever even when he is having problems breathing (which indicates that he is comfortable with difficult breathing, poor guy!) He is super happy to be home and we are all happy to be home as well!

New Furniture

We took two days and went up to Hickory NC to shop for furniture. For the first day we found nothing, well there was a lot of great stuff but not in our price range. Then the next morning frustrated and disappointed we headed out. Both Carl and I kept being prompted to go back to a Bernhardt where we had already been the day before. The likeliness of there being anything new there that we liked was slim but finally we both stated the feelings we had been having and seeing as they matched up we decided to go back. As we got to the store we saw that there was another store on the other side. We went there and found what we were looking for. Yeah! After two days of looking and with the kids in tow we were finished. The kids were really great though. Here are some pictures of our finds.

These are for our front room which has been empty for the last four and a half years.

We got these chests for the girls room. Other than the finishing touches their room is done.

This couch is for the kids playroom. It is really, really comfy!

Now we have to wait for the delivery to come. I am hoping it is before Mom and Dad Agren come at the end of the month.

Back to the books

Just when the kids are getting out of school I will be starting again. I am so excited to return to the Culinary Institute of Charleston. I am going to be majoring in Culinary arts and working on my bakeshop certificates.

We had another Iron Chef party last night. It was a lot of fun. We did not know when we scheduled it that it was on the same night as the father son camp out and then with people getting sick and other things it ended up being smaller than usual. Our secret ingredient was cheese.

Carl and I made 5 cheese macaroni, Manicotti with sun dried tomato and balsamic vinegar sauce, micro greens topped with fried goat cheese and toasted pecan vinaigrette. For dessert I made a White chocolate cheesecake with Oreo cookie crust topped with chocolate raspberry ganache and fresh raspberries served with raspberry coulis. The macaroni and cheese was a biggest hit as was the cheesecake. Since the group was so small we decided to to play rock band and had a really great time.