Test

This is a test. Got this App and I'm trying it out. Just here in the car waiting for Joel to get out of school... almost. I stopped at Albertsons to recycle some bags and I bought ice cream sandwiches for Seth and myself while we wait for Joel.

Well, today I didn't volunteered in Seth's class but I will this Friday.

What else is there to write? Oh, I ordered myself a GAC hoodie yesterday!! I can't wait to wear it and show my GAC support!

Valentine's Day is getting closer and I can't believe we are in February already! Next thing we'll know, we'll be in the month of June!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sickness Continues

Oh boy! Joel didn't dodged Seth's bug because he's now sick. Yesterday, he began with a stuffy nose and sneezing. Today, he's puking. I don't understand why this child of mine pukes when he gets a cold/flu. I mean, Seth puked several times too but not like Joel is doing. Also, my hubby is sick too... same stuff... stuffy nose and coughing. So my hubby didn't went to work today and Joel didn't went to school. The only one that went to school was Seth. I am doing ok and hopefully I don't get sick and catch what they are having. I hate being sick and even worst... I hate when my kids get sick. I hope it passes quickly for Joel (and of course, my hubby).

In other news, I finally got my volunteering days and times at Seth's class. I want to be involve in Seth's classroom so I applied to be a Room Parent to help Seth's teacher. So, my days are gonna be Fridays and Tuesdays from 9am to 12pm.

Today's been raining. The 4th storm is passing us right now... lots of wind, rain and even some tornado warnings. Here in Southern California we don't get this much rain... not even in the whole year. We need this rain though. I love the rain and I rather have cold/chilly and rainy days over temperatures above the 95°F.

Sick Sick and Sickness

Once children start school, they will be sharing lots of germs/viruses and sooner or later they will get sick... sometimes, it will be a simple cold and other times will be a nasty virus that will bring high temperatures, vomiting and diarrhea which is NOT pretty at all and we as parents suffer even more than our kids. Not to mention that we have to be aware of the H1N1 out there too.

My little one, Seth, just started going to school for the very first time on January 4th, 2010... an EAK (early admission to kindergarten) Program. Which is pretty much like Pre-school. Anyway, right now, Seth is sick. On Thursday, he skipped school because I thought it was good for him to stay home instead. He wasn't THAT bad on Thursday so we decided he could return to school on Friday. I also volunteered on Friday for around 3 hrs or so and it was an enjoyable time for me because I met other moms... that was fun and I'm looking forward to do it again. Anyway, last night my poor Seth was having a horrible night... coughing, runny nose, fever and at times some vomiting which was a result for not spitting the phlegms out (I think). His cough was very bad because he was coughing over and over again that no cough syrup was helping at all and he had a fever too. I know that he caught this bug from school because on Friday his teacher told me several kids were coughing just like Seth... so this bug was going around. Now the questions are: is Joel going to get this bug too? If so, when? Could it be possible that Joel could dodge this bug instead?

I really HATE when my kids get sick like this. This is the only thing I hate about public schools... THE GERMS!! But hey, it's life... right? We can't keep our kids in a bubble at home because I think their Immune System needs to build up defenses.

I just hope Joel can skip this bug and not get sick. We'll see what happens. I'm actually making notes and I want to see how many times my kids get sick... so far, this is the 1st sickness for Seth of 2010.

Home and back to "normal"

Finally on September 26th, Joel got discharged from Children's Hospital. No more hospital. No more sleeping in the hospital. No more McDonald's. No more IV on Joel. I am so thankful that this experience is OVER! Thank you God!! Joel is doing wonderful now. I think (besides the pain of the surgery) Joel's 2nd issue was the IV stuck on his arm and that hurt him while moving. Doctor's orders were to walk walk walk the next day after surgery. Joel gave me so much trouble every morning because he didn't want to get up and walk around. There were three important things the Doctor looks in a patient right before they let them go home... 1)Walk around, 2)No Fever and 3)Appetite. Obviously, the walking and the appetite for Joel were a little hard but at the end he worked on them and passed. When we got home, you could see a difference in Joel... he could move around more freely and he could get on and off his bed so much easier than in the hospital. Now, he was able to laugh a little more without feeling pain.

Today, September 29th, Joel returned to school. Of course, there are some important things Joel needs to avoid for 3-6 weeks and those are strenuous activities such as rough play, bicycle/skateboarding riding, contact sports, and P.E. Talked to the school and his teacher about them and they even made copies of those instructions so that they are aware of it. I'm glad that little by little things are coming back to normal. On October 7th, I'll be taking Joel to his Follow-Up appointment in the afternoon and for the doctor to take off the tapes he has on his tummy (hopefully, it's not too painful for Joel).

My overall view of Children's Hospital

I think Children's Hospital is a really nice hospital for kids. I didn't had a bad experience while I was there. All the nurses and the volunteers were there to help the parents and for the parents to be comfortable while staying there. On Friday (which it was a little late for me), a volunteer came by our room to let me know about some programs the hospital have and mostly was about The Ronald McDonald's House (which is just across the street from the hospital and above the parking lot). That Friday night, I went for Free Dinner at that house. I couldn't believe how beautiful that place is. They have 40 rooms for parents that can't afford hotel while their child is in the hospital and they provide all the necessities for the parents... food, showers, laundry room, etc. and free of charge. I think that is wonderful!! Also, another thing I would've loved to know was that the hospital (and that was in the same floor and close to Joel's room) has a shower place for parents... they just had to ask for towels but you must bring your own shampoo, conditioner, etc. Bummer! I went home to take a shower and knowing that would've saved time and gas.

Also, this hospital is great for kids. There are tons of things for the kids to keep them busy while in the hospital. Joel had his own Wii system and that thing had a lot of games... and besides that, he could watch movies. Bad part was that the room we were in didn't had a tv hooked to cable so we watched movies most of the time. At certain hours of the day, the hospital opens this Play Room where the kids can walk there and play... they have Wii, Xbox, PlayStation, books, movies (dvd's and for vhs), a hockey table, tv's, computers with Internet, and more!! I took Joel several times there so that we can get movies and board games so that we both can pass the time quicker. Everybody was so helpful!! Even before Joel's surgery, a woman came by (I think she is the Social Worker in there/or in that floor) and she explained to Joel why he was having this surgery, where his appendix is, etc. and she did it with this doll that had like a human anatomy from the inside so that Joel could see where his appendix was. She also explained where the nurse was going to take him just before surgery and who he was going to meet there. She also talked about putting him to sleep and what he was going to feel. I think that was very nice of the hospital to do for kids that are going to surgery... that explanation with pictures and with that doll help kids not to get too scare or nervous before their surgery. So, I didn't had a bad experience while there.

The Result of the Sickness

That tummy ache Joel had Tuesday morning... turned into vomiting almost all day Tuesday. I got very concerned about Joel's health because he couldn't keep anything down and even the Pedialyte was coming up. I was very worry of him being dehydrated. Tuesday night came and Joel wasn't feeling any better and now he was complaining of more stomach aches. By this time, no vomiting and it looked like he didn't felt the "need" to vomit anymore which was a good sign for me. Still, he was complaining of his tummy hurting. The first thing to came in my mind was that maybe Joel's stomach muscles got sore because of all the vomiting he did during the day. He went to bed and I went to bed thinking that it wasn't that big of a deal and his tummy was just sore from throwing up.

Wednesday morning came. My hubby got up around 4ish in the morning to get ready for work. At around 5ish, Joel got up to go to the bathroom and then went to bed. I then got up to go to the bathroom too and when I got out of the bathroom my hubby came to me with a worried face telling me to come see Joel. Gosh, he scared the crap out of me because the first thing in my head was "Oh no, he's throwing up blood now"!!... but that wasn't it. My hubby told me that the pain Joel was having could be his appendix so right there we decided to take Joel to the ER. We got to the ER at around 5:30 in the morning and glad the ER had couple of people waiting and it wasn't a full room; Joel got called quickly. So, Joel got an ultrasound and blood tests done. When the doctor came to let us know what was wrong with him, he said "Appendicitis". Great!! Joel got transfered to Children's Hospital. It was our first time for Joel and me to get in an ambulance... so that part was cool.

Joel got a room right away and we shared the room with two other boys that had surgery (both of them got released today so we have the room for ourselves for now). It was a little difficult for all of us because since Joel was an Add On for surgery, we couldn't get an exact time for his surgery. We got at Children's Hospital at around 11ish in the morning on Wednesday. But, thank goodness for the pain medicine that made Joel feel a little better and was able to sleep. The final hour to get ready for surgery came at 10pm... and probably the surgery began at 10:30 or 10:40. The surgery took an hour. Close to midnight, the doctor/surgeon came to the waiting room and told me that surgery was over and that everything went smoothly and Joel was ok. When Joel woke up from the anesthesia, one of the nurses came for me so that I can be with Joel. It was surprising to see Joel wide awake, talking and eating popsicles which made me very relieved to see him like that. After that, they took him up to his room.

My hubby hasn't gone to work since Wednesday because he's taking care of Seth while I stay here in the hospital with Joel. But Thursday and today, my hubby HAD to stop by his work to take care some of his things... on Thursday he left me Seth here in the hospital because he had a 2 hr meeting. Today (Friday), he had to stop by his work but this time he took Seth with him.

So far, my stay here in Children's Hospital hasn't been a bad experience. Everybody is nice and very helpful... and, they are great with kids. Before Joel going to surgery, a woman came by to say hi to Joel and to explained what was going to happened to Joel in surgery so that he could understand and not be too scared. She explained it with a doll and explained to him about the appendix. Another time, a fireman came by to say hi and to give him some toys (Seth was here too so he got toys too). Everyday, someone comes (besides the doctors and the nurses) to either give the kids something or to tell them that there are Play Rooms around here that are open at certain hours so they can grab movies, use the computers, toys, video games, board games, etc. and not get too bored in their rooms. I think Children's Hospital is great!! Today, I noticed they have a Shower place for parents!!... if I knew that ahead of time, I wouldn't have gone home to take a shower yesterday. Too bad I didn't bring shampoo, conditioner, mousse, etc. to take a shower here tomorrow... ugh! Oh well.

So, the doctor came this morning to check Joel out and it's going to be another day here at the hospital. Hopefully, tomorrow (Saturday)... Joel will be able to go home!!

Sickness

If only there was a medicine to make it all better. Joel's sick. This morning, he told me he had a tummy ache. I thought he needed to go to the bathroom and that it wasn't that bad. I almost took him to school but thank the heavens I didn't. At around 8ish, he threw up. Had to wash his blanket, pillow, and clothes because they were puked on. Joel then told me he felt a little better (yaay!). I thought, oh good... maybe that's over. Wrong! It is now around 2:35 pm and Joel has threw up like maybe 6 or 7 times... nothing much to throw up because he haven't eaten. I tried to give him a piece of toast but he didn't even finished it half way. I don't know what's wrong with Joel or why he is sick. Seth's fine. I'm fine. I just hate it so much when one of my kids get sick like this. Is like, I would give anything to take their sickness and for me to suffer instead of them. I just hope this is something quick that he catched and it's out of his system soon. Hopefully, Seth doesn't catch it.

Velvet

Well then, thanks to Diana... I'm hooked on this song now "Velvet by The Big Pink". The repeat mode button is going to be on when I'm driving.