Celebrating Inchstones: Chicken Pox

Friday, March 1, 2013

Chicken Pox

Just look at this pitiful Superman!! Asa has the chicken pox!!! A breakthrough case that popped up even though he had the vaccine. I noticed a few spots on him Tuesday morning but he'd be outside a while Monday afternoon. Bugs love Asa and I assumed he'd gotten a few bites. It wasn't until Wednesday even when I noticed new bites that I began to wonder what could be causing more bites to appear. Thanks to google I found out it is possible to get them even with the vaccine. There's plenty of pics to look at too! I kept him home from school Thursday just in case and called the ped. Thankfully he didn't have to be seen because I can't imagine the Petri dish that the office must be this time of year!! The doccatered with my diagnosis and said to keep him home until Monday. It's likely this is why Asa was running a fever and missed the end of last week too.

Thankfully a case after the vaccine is usually mild and Asa's seems to be! He has about 20 pox but only bothers a few. His fever has been low and just barely noticeable over his "normal" temp of 99. The only major side effect has been his GI system. I could go into some poop talk but I'll spare you. It's clear that he's having a slow down though. His tummy also isn't emptying normally and we've had some messes because of that! His appetite is great though so I'm not worried about a regression in feeding as long as his belly kicks back in full gear soon!

And don't worry too much about him. By this afternoon he had perked up and was playing. He did some knee walking and trampoline jumping for PT and some letters and writing on the iPad. This is a short, easy illness compared to the struggles of a few of our mito friends. Wyatt and Kendall have especially been on my heart lately! I heard someone say they can't wait for spring so their kids would be well again. I say be happy you have a spring! Families who deal with chronic or progressive illness don't get a spring. They just cling to each day!!

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Asa's story

Asa is the 4th and youngest in this family. We thought he'd come into this world and our lives would flow right along as it had the other 3 times we brought babies into this world.

We were wrong! After a normal pregnancy and delivery, Asa had to be sent to the NICU because he wasn't sucking, blood sugar dropping, floppy muscles, exaggerated startle reflex and jaundice.

He stayed 5 days were he learned to suck and eat enough to come home. He began nursing well but would scream in pain 30 minutes after each feeding. He had so much mucus and drooled so much. He had a terrible rash on his face. He wasn't making eye contact and was not hitting any milestones.

I kept taking him to the pediatrician but got nowhere until his 2 month checkup when he had only gained one pound since birth. That earned him an appt with a pediatric GI and a change to Neocate formula. Odd gasping spells and eye rolling got him into a pediatric neurologist before the GI appt. The neurologist (he was actually the head of the pediatric neurology dept) personally walked us over to the GI clinic and sat us in an exam room. That kinda makes you worry! That is when we really got the ball rolling. Asa was 3 months old.

At 4 months he was admitted to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. He stayed 8 days and had a NG tube inserted so we could feed him directly into his stomach. He kept this for 2 months. Also during this time he had an EEG, CT scan, MRI, upper GI endoscopy with biopsy, flex sig, numerous blood tests, a genetics consult, and an ophthalmology consult and many other pokes and prods! So began our relationship with specialist!!

After 2 months on the NG tube, we removed it and tried to get Asa to eat enough to gain weight. He did OK for a little while but by 9 months old, he was fighting each feeding and not gaining weight despite being on Neocate formula at 30cal/oz. The decision was made to have a G-tube put in. The G-tube is a feeding tube that is inserted directly into Asa's belly. He can eat orally but won't so he gets feed into his belly.

Since he was going to have to be sedated for the surgery, it was agreed he should have a muscle biopsy at the same time. By 9 months he had finally began making eye contact. He smiled some but not very social. He was still very hypotonic (floppy) and didn't even have head control. Something was obviously going on with his muscles. All of his brain scans had been normal.

In Nov. 2008, when Asa was 13 months old, we found out the results of the muscle biopsy. Yes, it took 3+ months to get all of the results! He was diagnosed with Mitochondrial Myopathy. He is deficient in Complex IV for all of you medical junkies out there.

What this means is that his cells can't make enough energy to fuel his body....specifically for him, his muscles and GI system, that we know of. If his body has to burn energy to fight off infection, or a stress, then he looses energy in another system. Mito is a progressive disease with no treatment or cure. We try to keep him as healthy and happy as possible. We use the feeding tube to keep him feed so he doesn't have to struggle there. He takes numerous supplements and vitamins in the hope that they will keep him cells healthier. We check his eyes, hearing, heart, kidneys, liver, brain and lots of blood work yearly. Mito can affect any system so it is important to have baseline and watch for changes. He has a GI, neuro, geneticist, optometrist, ophthalmologist, cardiologist, developmental ped, regular ped and a mito specialist.

He gets OT, PT, speech/feeding and a home teacher weekly. He has some sensory issues with touch, sound, taste and texture. This plays into almost all areas of our lives! He is still very hypotonic but gained head control at just over a year (right after we started supplements!). He learned to sit when placed in a sitting position at 18 months. He still can't get into sitting alone. He learned to bottom scoot at just over 2. He does not crawl or walk.

He knows the signs for "moma", "daddy", "more" and "all done". He can show them when prompted but we are still waiting for him to initiate. He waves "bye-bye" and points all the time now. He loves to take a bath and water in general. He has a contagious laugh and can flash the most flirty grin ever!

We learned, with Asa, not take the small things for granted. Each smile, sound, word, bite or even trouble!! You just never know when they might not be so easy to come by or even if you'll have them at all!