If we had it to do over.....

When Erin brought Jaylon to our house Monday morning, she told me that he was a bit warm, had been coughing and was not feeling too well, so she would be making an appointment with his pediatrician, hopefully for that day.

She called around nine o'clock and asked if we could take him in at about 11am, to which I replied, "Of course!".

By ten o'clock that morning, Jaylon could not be comforted. He was crying and fussy and didn't want to be held. In all honesty, I had not seen him like this before. So, I told Ed we needed to get ready and just take him for a ride on our way to the doctor. Perhaps that would soothe him, and, thankfully, it did. He fell asleep almost immediately, once in the car and on our way.

His regular pediatrician was not in, so his partner would be seeing Jaylon. Right off, he seemed very personable and efficient.

Jaylon's regular pediatrician is a bit aloof and not very personable, in my humble opinion. He doesn't even look at you when he talks to you. He talks with his eyes closed or averted, which just bugs me to no end.

So, this other doctor starts asking me a barrage of questions, which I answered. His nurse had already taken Jaylon's vitals, oxygen level, and so on. The doctor said we might be looking at pneumonia, which surprised me, because Jaylon had a runny nose, itchy eyes....he had been rubbing them all morning.....and a cough. I was thinking perhaps allergies and sinus, certainly not pneumonia.

The doctor ordered a strep test. No strep and his ears were fine, too.

Then he said we needed to rule out any infections, because Jaylon was running a fever. He wanted to do a catherization to get a urine sample. I called Erin at work and she told me to do whatever the doctor thought was necessary and I thought, "Hey...he must see something here that I don't AND, after all, he IS the doctor."

So, while I held his little arms down and Ed helped hold his legs down, the nurse got a urine sample. It took everything I had to not just fall apart.

I tell you....I do believe taking little Jay to the doctor or seeing him sick is harder on me than when I took Daniel. I wonder why that is?

Now...as if all of this hasn't been enough, the doctor wants to give Jaylon a shot of Rocephin to treat the pneumonia, which he is thinking Jaylon might have. Again, I call Erin to get her permission, though I already have a legal medical permission form for Jay, they just want to make sure.

So, again, Ed and I are holding little Jay down while the nurse gives him a shot in each thigh.

Next, we are off to the hospital to get blood work done and a chest x-ray. In between all of these tests, the little guy is falling asleep on Ed's shoulder because he is just simply worn out.

I'm telling you, Ed and I were both almost in tears, just holding it together because of little Jaylon.

We finally leave the hospital after one o'clock and Jaylon falls asleep on the way home.

Oh, and we also have three prescriptions. Amoxicillin, Albuterol *sp* and a steroid, though I cannot remember the name of it. He is only to take it if the albuterol doesn't take care of the cough.

Again, I just though all of this was a bit much. Was I missing something here or what?

Jaylon slept for a bigger part of the afternoon, once we arrived home and when he woke up, he seemed fine. Fine! I'm serious!!!

Oh, and we had also purchased Gatorade and Pedialyte for him to drink.....on doctor's orders, to make sure he didn't become dehydrated.

Later that evening, after Daniel had taken Jaylon home, we called to check on him and Erin said he was doing fine....laughing and playing....eating and drinking. I told her I just wondered if this doctor didn't overreact a bit and she agreed somewhat, though we were still waiting to see how Jaylon was going to be.

Thankfully, none of the medicine prescribed had to be given to Jaylon until the next day because of the shots of rocephin given to him earlier that day.

Erin stayed home Jaylon the next day and received a phone call from either the hospital or dr's office, letting her know that they had found something on his x-ray. It looked like he may have swallowed something and it was making its way through his intestines. They were to take him to Children's Hosgital Urgent Care in Pickerington.

Once there, they checked him over thoroughly.

Apparently, he swallowed something but was going to be fine regarding it. It would "pass through" in the next couple of days.

Regarding the apparent pneumonia or whatever else might have been suggested when we took him to Dr. Anonymous (I don't want to mention their names here for privacy reasons), they said not to give him the medicines prescribed because he was fine. Not strep, no ear infections, no pneumonia, nada.

I am contemplating whether to write to this doctor and tell him what I think of his "doctoring", in a nice and respectful way, of course.

AND...one more thing: There was another little boy and little girl....not brother and sister, just different patients..... about Jay's age, in to see the doctor and it seemed to be with the same ailment AND they were at the hospital, too, as we were leaving. I had to wonder if this doctor was running them through the same tests and procedures as he had Jaylon. Good heavens!

I am praying that Erin and Daniel will endeavor to find another pediatrician for Jay. I just don't care for either of these doctors but they are the only ones locally and before they would dismiss Jay from the hospital when he was born....because of the difficulties he had, resulting in a six-week stay....he had to have a pediatrician locally and these two were all there was. That sounds meaner than what I intend, but it's the only way I know to say it.

We...meaning Erin and I .......have taken Jaylon to Children's Hospital Urgent Care two or three times before and love it. We get right in and the doctors are just wonderful. It's a bit of a drive but, in my opinion, so well worth the trip.

Anywayyyy.....Ed and I have questioned ourselves a few times since Monday, wondering if we should have said something or done something to have kept little Jaylon from going through all that he had to and I think that we agree with Daniel and Erin that it won't happen again. We'll take him to Children's, if we are ever faced with something like this again.

I am going to talk to Jaylon's regular pediatrician about it if/when I take him to the doctor again. Sometimes Erin takes him and sometimes I do.

My, but I tell you....I told Ed more than once...."Can you imagine what parents with chronically ill children must go through? It must be sooooo very terrible. How my heart goes out to them."

So, today, Jaylon is fit as a fiddle!! We had a fun day yesterday with him, going to the mall and all. And he is really starting to talk!! Yesterday evening he said, "Beh-Beh's house!" (Uh, that's me...Beh-Beh...:-)...I love it!)

Thanks for listening to my long story and I would appreciate your input...as to what you would have done in our situation with little Jaybug and the doctor. Sometimes it is difficult to know what to do, but I will tell you that this will not happen again. Not on my watch. :-) (That's a grandma talkin'!) :-)

Below is a picture of Jaylon and Grandpa watching the sheep behind my niece's house! Jay loves sheep and does a mean sheep imitation! :-)

In my neck of the woods.....

Below, for your viewing pleasure, is some of what has been going on in my little valley the past few days and weeks. :-)
We didn't have Jaylon the past couple of days because he has been sick....kind of (I'll explain later.)....so it was wonderful! to have him come this morning AND has he ever been one busy little guy since arriving! Wow! He's playing with most of his toys, played basketball with Papa in his room, read books with moi', watched a little Thomas the Train and is now watching Tigger and Pooh with Papa and barely managing to sit still. Well, actually, he doesn't sit still.....hardly ever! :-)

Below is a picture of Jaylon and Papa "fixing" eggs for breakfast one morning. :-)

The next four photos are of us as we walked through Ash Cave, (okay, I'm resting....but I DID walk, too LOL) a beautiful state park in our area. Jaylon just looooves to be outside exploring and walking! AND it sure helps to keep me and Papa in shape!




These next two are of Jaylon sitting and sometimes bouncing on Papa's legs as they watch Tigger and Pooh! :-)


And here is the boy all snuggled in, in "his room/used to be his dad's/kinda our den" watching Tigger and Pooh or Thomas. :-)

Outside my kitchen window is a beeeeyoootiful hanging basket that I got for just $6.88 at Carnival in Lancaster. They had beautiful hanging baskets of all sorts for that fantastic price!!!
This particular one looks like a miniature petunia but isn't. I can't remember the name of it but I looooove how pretty it is outside my window!

A young soldier from our area was killed in action two weeks ago in Afghanistan. He was one of five soldiers killed in an attack.

Spc. Robert Hartwick was brought home to Logan, Ohio on Wednesday, June 15. Many people lined the streets of Logan, as he was brought from Rickenbacher Air Base to Heinlein Brown Funeral Home.

It was such a moving sight to see so many honor this fallen soldier. Ed, Jaylon, and I waited for his return, along with many others from our communtiy. It was a privilege.

On the day of his funeral, Westboro Baptist Church was supposed to come and protest, but was stopped from doing so by someone slashing the tires of their vehicles which were parked at the hotel where they were staying..

Now I'm not a proponent of such things, but I am thankful that they were not at this young man's funeral, spewing their hateful, misguided protests.

I am thankful for all of those who showed up to honor this young man's service to our country!





And, lastly, below is a picture of a slice of Peach Dream Pie that I made for my wonderful husband on Fathers Day! I asked him what he wanted and he said a couple of grilled sirloin burgers (I didn't get a picture of those, though I did make them and they were to-die-for!) and a yellow cake with chocolate icing (his favorite)but in leiu of the cake, I made him the pie! :-) I think he has one piece left to devour eat! :-)


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I have a couple of things that I really feel the need to blog about......Summer's death and Jaylon being "sick".....and I've mentioned them here so I will not forget what they are!

We are having absolutely gorgeous weather here, except for the pop-up storms which can get pretty violent. But the temperatures have been in the 70's and the humidity has been nil.

I'm praying for the dear people in Minot, N.D. and those in the West dealing with the horrendous fires.

I hope you are well in your part of our wonderful country and in your part of the world!

Happy Fathers Day!

Of course, this is a picture of my dad AND my mom! :-) How I miss them both!
I heard a quote on "Lonesome Dove" that was said over a man that they had just buried and it reminded me so much of my dad:

"He was cheerful in all weathers and never shirked a task."
That was my dad indeed. He was always happy, it seemed. No matter if we were working in the garden or picking berries or mowing grass, Dad had a way of making it fun. How did he do that, anyway? :-)

Because..... we kids DID have to do our share of work. There was a huge garden to tend to. And once the vegetables came on, they had to be picked and cleaned and canned. And guess who helped do that? Five kids, that who! :-)

We had a huge yard that had to be mowed, too, so we five kids divided it up every week and saw that it got done because that was our job. I remember one evening, one of us was finishing up the big yard across the road, when a storm arose. Dad ran across the road and jumped on the riding mower, kicked that thing into high gear and went round and round like crazy finishing it up. We stood on the front porch and laughed like crazy, as Dad put on his antics as usual. :-)

He took us swimming at the local swimming hole....no city pools for us....after he got home from a long day's work and had had his supper, fed the animals and rested a bit. He taught us all how to swim.

And I remember one dark, stormy, rainy night when the power went out. Dad gathered with us kids in the living room, lit candles and made "hand animals" on the wall for us and told us stories. :-)

He played ball with us. He rode bikes with us. He would pop popcorn for us when we all settled in the living room to watch a TV program together before going to bed for the night. He popped it in this big black iron chicken fryer that mom had. I can just see him standing at the stove sliding it back and forth with a flourish....of course :-)....to keep it from burning. Dad kind of did everything with a flourish and gusto. :-)

Oh, and I remember him taking us to get ice cream cones! Being little, we kids couldn't always keep them "licked up" fast enough when they started dripping, so we would hand them to dad and he would lick the drips up for us! Can you believe that I remember that? :-)

Of course, our precious little mother was right there with us, too, but Dad was kind of the "life" of the family. Mom was quiet and dealt with depression and mental illness during many of our growing up years. Oh, she was functional and took wonderful care of us and loved us, but Dad was right there beside of her, helping to raise us. They were definitely a team. :-)

He wasn't perfect by any means.....but he was such a good dad and I'll be forever thankful to have had him in my life.

Pictures of You-Know-Who!! :-)

Hellooooooooo out there, to whoever might still be coming by here to see if I have posted or not!

I am still alive and well, as is my dear husband and rest of the family! Thankfully!! :-)

We've just been living life and enjoying the blessings of the Lord.

Erin is doing fine with this second pregnancy and the little "peanut" (that is what it looks like at this stage) is progressing right along.

Jaylon is growing by leaps and bounds, is happy as can be and is still holdin' out on the talking for the most part, but he is giving up occasional new words here and there. Daniel said that today it was "shoes", as they were shopping for swim shoes and he told Jaylon to say "shoes" and he did!!! :-)

This past week, he said "cracker" and of course he says his other "normal" words that he has been saying for months, like "Beh-Beh" (that's me!), Papa (that's Ed), Mawmaw and Pawpaw, Mama and Dada, dog, cat, okay. Oh, and he does alot of animal sounds! He does a killer impression of a sheep!! Baaaa-baaaa!! I have it on video and plan to post it here one day when I am at the library!

So, I figure that he says the "names" of those who are the most important/needful to him in his day-to-day life and he makes animal sounds. That's pretty normal male behavior, isn't it? LOL Just kidding....just kidding!!! :-)

The picture below is of the little cutie pie sleeping on the sofa one afternoon tihs past week. I just couldn't resist taking his picture! :-)

The next three are of Daniel, Erin and Jaylon outside of Millstone BBQ, where we met for dinner last Sunday morning after church!



And this last one is of Jaybug playing with his Matchbox and Hot Wheels Tractors and wagons and blocks!

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Regarding Summer Inman, the young mother who was murdered on March 22.....the Inmans have all been charged with kidnapping and the two Inman men have been charged with murder. Sandy Inman, Summer's former mother-in-law, has filed a motion saying that she was insane when the crimes were committed and is trying competent to stand trial.

The young man who was the arresting office and also the one who interrogated Sandy, has said she will never get by with this plea. The legal proceedings will just be slowed and delayed further by these legal acrobatics.

Summer's parents and her three little ones are doing amazingly well and we know that it is because of the strength and grace of the Lord working in their behalf.

An autopsy report and recent details of the investigation and charges was in our local paper last week and can be read HERE.

It is still so difficult to comprehend that people are capable of such horrendous acts, but indeed they are.

So many people, myself included, had been praying that the Inman's would agree to a plea-deal, because we were hoping to spare the Cook's a lengthy, detailed trial to contend with, but it is not to be. At least, not at this point.

We covet your continued prayers for Summer's children and parents.
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Well, it is getting a bit late this Saturday evening and I must be going to bed.

Thanks so much to those of you who still frequent my blog.

I always have the intention of blogging more but it just never seems to come to fruition.

There's so much I want to blog about and hopefully will manage to do in time.

I hope you are having an awesome spring wherever in this wonderful world you are!! :-)