Shots, round 9 plus more!

First of all, we got the lab results back from Cameron's blood work.  Everything was in the normal range and his sedimentation rate was 5 (under 10 is normal) so things are working!

Cameron got a new cousin this week as well.  My cousin April was sent to Lexington from Eastern KY to have her 2nd little girl.  I got to be in the delivery room (a first for me) to take pictures.  Let me just say, it's an amazing thing to hear a newborn take it's first breath.  Cameron got to hold her before she was 2 hours old.  He couldn't get over how little she was (6 lbs 14 oz).

The next day, he got to go back and see her and feed her!! He had never done that before either.

After visiting the baby, we got something to eat and came home.  It was just after 10 PM when we got the numbing cream on him for his shots, so it was close to 11 before he got them.  This time, Will missed the numb area and started to give the shot.  He had barely touched the needle to Cameron's skin and Cameron started getting upset.  He moved it to where it was numb and then he was fine.

So far today, he has not had the headache like he did last weekend.  He's kinda mopey but not bad.  He's on Spring Break this week so we're going to take it day by day to see what we do for the rest of the time he is off.

The end of bowling for the season!

Today (Saturday) was the bowling banquet.  I was nervous at first this morning because he woke up with one of the worst headaches he has had since starting the shots.  He said if he moved his eyes side to side it hurt really bad.  Luckily, by the time to go to the banquet, he was feeling better.  It seems like his main symptom from the shots so far has been the horrible headaches.  All the other problems have been minor.

Cameron's team was 2nd place for the season which started back in September.  They were supposed to bowl against their coach but due to some scheduling problems, that had to be scratched.   Cameron ended the season with an average of 85.  He got a trophy for the 2nd place finish and two patches, one for getting a 350 series and one for getting a high game of 125.  He also got a wooden bowling pin about 3 inches high with his name and high game score.

Here are the boys before trophies were handed out:

Here they are getting their trophies:

And finally, posing with their trophies!

We ended the evening at Will's Mom & Dad's house watching the UK game and also keeping an eye on the Shelby Valley game!!   What a night for Wildcats!!

Shots, round 8

Today was a day off for Cameron.  KEA day for professional development for the teachers.  We took it easy for the first part of the day, staying in PJ's till past noon.  About 3:30 or so, we got his friend Erin from across the street and walked up to the park.  They played and had a great time and we came home around 5:30 or so.

Will was playing with the pipe band at the Paddy Wagon Irish Pub in Richmond so he went there straight from work.  I got the numbing cream on Cameron about 6 PM and we did the shots about 45 minutes later.  He was so funny.  He kept telling me that he didn't want to see the syringes because it would make him feel worse...  So, he covered his head with his shirt so he couldn't see.  As I was giving them, he kept saying "make sure you pinch the skin up, make sure its at an angle, etc"... can you tell he listened when the nurse was instructing us on giving them??

After giving him the shots, I attempted baking a cake in the bowling pin shaped pans that I have and planned to bake the ball to go with it in the ball shaped pan I have...

well...... it didn't turn out the way I wanted.  The neck and top part of the pin are very hard and the big part of the pin is nice and soft.   I didn't even try to use the ball pan.... instead, we made a trip to Kroger and got an angel food cake, strawberries and strawberry gel and whipped cream to make a strawberry shortcake.

Speaking of Kroger, for the first time, we found the small kid-sized shopping carts.  Cameron thought he was pretty cool getting to push that around the store!  Luckily, no ankles were damaged.

On the way home, I let him pick supper.  We stopped at Little Caesar's pizza and got a thin crust Meatsa pizza.  Once we got home, I told him to put down a blanket in the living room and we would eat there.... his face lit up and he said "Now you're talking my language!".  He LOVES having picnics!  I told him it was our 2nd Friday date night!  Will had something going on last week also so we had gone to McDonald's and a movie.  This week, it was a picnic in the floor with pizza and gatorade.

Yesterday (Thursday) after school, I took him to labcorp for his 2nd blood draw.  This is something we are doing every 4 weeks to watch to make sure the medications he is on are not damaging his liver and also to make sure they are doing their job, reducing the inflammation.  We should hear next week on those.  He had the ladies laughing.  His comments are just so atypical for a kid his age.  He asked them to not use the blue noodle thing they put around the arm.  I put the numbing cream on his arm before we leave home so the actual needle doesn't hurt, it's just that band they use.  We are lucky and have two women there that try to accomodate him as much as possible.  They only use the butterfly needle and are really good with Cam.  She said she would try without it as she had felt a good vein.  She got it!  He was happy.  He kept giving his puppy dog whimper when she was drawing the blood and after we were done and in the car, I asked him what that was all about.  He said he was waiting for it to start hurting any second.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is his bowling banquet.  I'll post with pictures later this weekend.  He gets to bowl a game to see if he can beat his coach and if they do, they will get a special patch saying "I beat my coach".

Thanks to everyone who is reading this blog and keeping up with our journey.  We truly appreciate it.

Shots, round 7

We are doing Cameron's shots on Friday nights now in order to give him more time to recover before school on Monday.  We had been doing them Saturday afternoon to give him a chance to do the bowling league on Saturday mornings.

Last night, Will was going to play bagpipes for a party and would not be home until late.  Cameron doesn't trust me to do the shots and wanted his daddy to do them.  I think it's because Will has been diabetic for over 20 years and Cameron thinks he knows what he is doing.

Anyways,  I got the numbing cream on Cameron at home and drove to Lexmark to meet Will before he left to go to the gig.  He came out to the car and I had both of the injections ready and waiting.  Cameron said one hurt just a little bit this time but no tears.

Will went on to his gig and Cameron and I had a "date night".  We got something to eat at McDonald's and then went to see the Alvin & the Chipmunks movie at the discount theater.  Cameron laughed so hard and really enjoyed the movie!  It made me feel good to hear such laughter coming from him.

On our way home, we stopped at Kmart to pick up a couple things and he wanted to play his DS game so he took it in and rode in the basket part of the shopping cart.  While we were there, the shots hit him like a mack truck.  The kid couldn't hardly hold his head up.  We got home and he tells me he is sick at his stomach and didn't feel good.  Once again, I heard what no parent wants to hear or has an answer for...   "I wish I had my old life back where I didn't have to feel so bad all the time."  The only thing I could say was "So do I".

Today (Saturday) was the St Patrick's Parade in Lexington.  Since I can't make rehearsals and have Cameron to take care of, I don't play with the band much at all.  Cameron and I have carried the banner in front of the band before and that's what he wanted to do today.  However, he forgot his warm coat at home and it was cold and windy out there.  He was also still complaining of a headache and his stomach was upset.  Will's parents came to the parade so Cameron stayed with his grandfather and got candy that was thrown from the floats.   I think he got the best deal!   The parade was long and slow this year.  We had to stop several times.

After the parade, we went to a party hosted by drummer Barry Miller from the band.  Fun and food was enjoyed by all.  By this time, Cameron was feeling much better and acted like nothing had ever bothered him.

Shots, round 6 and BOWLING!

 

First, let's talk about bowling!  On Saturday, Cameron had his last day of regular bowling for the 2009-2010 season.  They divide the season in half and the winner from the 1st half has to bowl against the winner of the 2nd half of the season.  When we got there, the coach told us that Cameron's team was tied with another team for first place and if they were tied by the end of the meet, they would have to have a "roll off".  All 3 boys got excited and did very well.  We won both of our games and the other team we were tied with lost one of theirs.

Today (Sunday) we had to go back to the alley and do the game against the team from the 1st half.  We were supposed to be there at 1 PM.  Of course, you have to remember that Cameron gets his shots on Saturday and has been feeling bad most of the day on Sunday due to them.  We rushed straight home from bowling and had the shots done by 12:30.  He is starting to be more and more afraid of the shots and it takes a bit more coaxing on our part to get him to let us give them.  

After the shots, he had a friend from across the street over to play Wii with him.  After they were done here, he went to her house and played there for a couple hours.  I think having someone to play with took his mind off the side effects of the shots and made them more tolerable.  Erin has lived across the street since they were both babies.   She is in the same grade as Cameron.  She and her family have been very nice to us.  If Cameron has to miss school, they will send his work home with Erin and then her parents will get it to us.  We've also had to copy homework pages from them that have been forgotten at school.  We are so blessed to have neighbors as nice as they are!

I put Cameron in the bath and let him play for a few minutes.  When I went in to get him to get out, he said he had dozed off in there!!  Silly boy!  I could see in his eyes that it was starting to hit him.  Got him out and tucked in under his electric blanket and off to dreamland he went!

This morning, he seemed to be feeling ok and since I knew we had to be at bowling by 1 PM, I decided we would also attempt going to church again.  He did great!  The church changed the theme and today was the first day.

The room looked like a barn!  When Cameron saw it, his eyes got really big and he looked at me and smiled.  There was straw all over the floor and bales to sit on.  When I picked him up, he said he really liked the new theme and was excited that one of the verses they studied was one that he remembered reading on his own.

So, we get to bowling and find out that one of the boys on Cameron's team was home sick with a fever and strep.  They took his average and subtracted 10 pins and that was the score for him for each game.  Cameron didn't do as well today as he has recently (79 and 84 I think).  The other team did really well!  I think all three of them had either their highest game ever or at least close to it!  Not saying Cameron and his team didn't do well...but the other team just really had it together today!  

Cameron got really upset that his team didn't win.  He really has not dealt with much competition like this before and didn't take it very well.  I had to really talk to him to stop the tears and bad sportsmanship he was showing.  It's a tough lesson to learn I know.   2nd place out of 12 teams is something to be proud of!  The team will get trophies at the banquet on March 20th.  I think once he gets his trophy, he will feel much better.

Till next time..................

Bloodwork #1

Due to the medications Cameron is on, we have to get blood work every 4 weeks to check his liver function and also keep watch on his sedimentation rate (shows inflammation).  I finally got the results of the labs that were drawn on Feb 18th.  Liver tests were all within normal limits and his sed rate was *4*!  In October, it was 50 and in December it was 41.

On another note, I took him back to the Dr yesterday due to the lingering congestion and cough.  She is treating him for a sinus infection.  Due to this, he will not be able to take his shots this weekend.  He has to have at least 3 full days of antibiotics in his system before taking the shots.  This would put us giving them to him on Sunday night or Monday, which would mean he would probably not be able to go to school the following day.  He is usually really "hung over" for the first 24 hours or so after the shots.

Shots, round 5 plus more

We had a very busy weekend!

On Friday morning, as Cameron was getting dressed for school, we had the tv on WLEX and Lee Cruse was at UK promoting their E-day.  Cameron went last year with his grandfather and really enjoyed it!  Cameron was excited and asked to go again so he wrote a note to his grandfather asking if he would take him again.  Cameron's grandfather is an engineer and got his degree from UK.  I think he's excited to see Cameron so enthusiastic to learn about engineering. 

 

http://www.engr.uky.edu/eday/2010/index.html

There was only one problem, it happened to fall at the same time as bowling league.  To remedy this, we decided to go Friday to pre-bowl for the league.  This is where he can bowl early and his scores will still count along with his team's scores.  The only time we could get a lane for him to bowl was 7:30.  There was a league going on at the same time, I think it was called the "Holy Rollers" league.  We had to be put on the end next to some people in the league.  They were a little apprehensive at first thinking he would be a typical kid and not show courtesy and just mess them all up.  WE were told on several occasions by them how respectful and courteous he was!!  Yay Cameron!   Also, he bowled a 102 his first game and a 108 his second game!  Was not his highest score, but with an average of 80, he did very well!

Saturday morning, Will and his father took Cameron to the E-day.  They all three had a great time together.  I went out with my aunt Deloise for some "retail therapy".  Later I joined up with the guys and they both got haircuts.  By the time we got home is was about 5pm.

We have to put the EMLA "magic cream" on him at least 30-45 minutes before giving the shots.  Also, one shot has to be kept in the fridge so we have to give that one time to come up to room temperature and it also has to be mixed.  The picture below shows what his "kit" looks like.  There is a vial with white powder in it which is the medication.  Then you see a glass syringe type thing in the middle. That is filled with a water-like solution.  The blue thing on the other side is the plunger that goes into the syringe.  There is also a clear adapter that you can't see very well.  We have to put the adapter on the end of the syringe and the plunger on it then attach it to the vial.  We push all the fluid into the vial and swirl (not shake) it for about 10 minutes until everything is dissolved.  After that, we pull it back into the syringe and it's ready to inject.

 

He had the shots in his arms this time.  I had him sit in my lap and kept his head turned away so he would not see the needles.  Will gives him the shots.  He got to get a bowl of ice cream after supper for doing so well with the shots.  I think I'm going to buy stock in Breyer's ice cream... he really likes the chocolate and looks like that's what he's going to want with the shots.   ;)  

 

Cameron is getting more anxious each time with the shots.  I'm not really sure why, they don't hurt he says.  He has said several times he wishes he didn't have to take these shots and he wanted to go back to his old life before he had to start taking them. What do you tell an 8 year old when they say this!?!   The only thing I can tell him is that he would be in much more pain much more often without the shots.

Side effects were not too bad so far this time.  He woke up with his "hangover" headache and feeling bad for most of the morning.  He's also getting more congested again and has started coughing a little.  I'm going to call his pediatrician tomorrow and have him looked at just in case.  He finished his antibiotics earlier this week for the ear infection.