It was nice and warm in Denver today. I had two doctor appointments, so the Bun joined me.
Ella behaved herself for the morning appointment. She stayed in her stroller and entertained herself. That was good since I was getting 4 moles shaved at the dermatologist. The litocaine shot hurt like nobody’s business, but I had the babbling of the Bun in the background to remind me to suck it up. Ella has been through so much that anytime I think that something hurts or is painful, I am reminded that she has been through way worse. I’m praying that the biopsy comes back with no abnormal cells, but time will tell.
We had a short time between doctor appointments and I needed a few items at Target. It was in the same area, so it seemed like a good idea. First, we spent some time in the parking lot. I changed her diaper and fed her while she watched a video. Then, we decided to go inside. We were in Target when she started to get fussy. It seemed like she had gas. That was confirmed when I heard lots of tooting followed by a blowout. The meltdown continued even once she was changed; she was not letting down. When she works herself up, she also starts to retch a lot. I tried investing a few minutes to see if I could calm her down, but that wasn’t working. She seemed tired and cranky. So, I quickly tried to get the few items I needed and ran towards the check out line. All of this occurred over 20 minutes, so she was getting exhausted from crying so much. Even on 2 liters of oxygen, her color did not look great and she was wet with sweat. I felt the weight of people staring at me and it was uncomfortable; I felt like they did not understand. Once we got to the car, I had about 15 minutes before my next doctor appointment so I held her in the air conditioned car and she fell asleep.
When we had to start driving again, she melted down once more. This time though, she calmed down within a few minutes and seemed like she wanted to rest more. It was not a normal nap time, but considering that we were on a field trip, I was not about to stop her. She rested in her stroller during the next doctor appointment and a few minutes of shut-eye seemed to help a tremendous amount.
Thankfully, we did not have any more dangerous diapers on our errands. However, she made up for it this evening with 2 more and one that included changing clothes and the crib. Yikes! But at least we are at home, so it makes the episodes a bit easier to manage.
On another note, her oxygen has been higher since we returned home. We assume that her body is still acclimating back to Denver, but time will tell. She is currently on 1 liter when awake and around 650ccs at night when asleep. Another adjustment: the humidity in California seemed to give her a reprieve as we noted that her retching was less frequent each day. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived in a dry zone again on the drive back (St, George, Utah), the retching came back full force. I would have never guessed that humidity played a part.
We’re hoping for a restful weekend and plan to try and get out with the Bun to enjoy the sun.
