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If It’s a Dare, You Have To!

Nov23

After a busy day of drop offs, pick ups, and errands, I took the kids to the park to run off some energy. It was a nice day, and there were still some patches of snow on the ground.

They were playing so well together. Swinging on the monkey bars giggling. I hung back because my mere presence seems to tip the balance.

They moved to the slide/climbing platform to play ogre tag. I don’t know the rules they made up, and I really don’t think they do either. They were just having fun and sliding into little piles of snow at the ends of the slides.

Then, it happened. He jumped.

He landed on his feet and seemed to be okay. He tried to stand up and started to fuss before sitting in the wet snow.

I took his boot off, and there was no obvious trauma, but he refused to stand on his own.

My boy was hurt.

Thankfully, RediMed is really close to the park.

While I was filling out his paperwork, he was talking around the waiting room to get to the toys. I started to think he was faking it.

During the exam, he only had pain in one spot. When asked why he jumped, he told the PA that his sister dared him to. An x-ray was ordered, just to be on the safe side.

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Navy broke his 3rd and 4th tarsals.

He wasn’t faking it. He broke two bones in his foot. Since he has jumped off of the x-ray table (yes, really), we were referred to Fort Wayne Orthopedics for a cast.

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After a rough evening, we had a fast food dinner and headed home.

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Navy was so exhausted from his day!

He will be in this cast for 2 weeks, then we go back to see how the bone is healing.

Tomorrow, we need to see about getting him a walker.

Fun times!

Sleep Isn’t Overrated

Nov23

I really thought that we were seeing some progress with Lily’s sleep.

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Lily’s sleep stats for November 18-22.

Last week, she was getting her 9 hours of sleep 28% (2 nights out of 7) or having uninterrupted sleep 14% (1 night out of 7).

This week, she got her 9 hours of sleep 28% (2 nights out of 7) and had uninterrupted sleep 0% (0 nights out of 7).

It seems that she gets the quality or the quantity of sleep, but not both. On the nights that she gets enough sleep, she tends to have several periods of being awake. On nights that her sleep is uninterrupted, she doesn’t seem to get enough.

ADHD is notorious for causing sleep problems.

I relayed this to the nurse today. She really felt that it was a question more for the doctor.

We had discussed trying low-dose Clonidine to help her sleep. Clonidine (Catapres) is a blood pressure medication, but treating sleep issues associated with ADHD is one for Clonidine’s off-label uses.

We are going to try this for a week and follow-up. I’m hopeful. Even if this doesn’t work or has minimal results, we’ve eliminated one more thing.

ADHD and Sleep
Clonidine for sleep disturbances associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic chart review of 62 cases.
Off-label use of clonidine

I didn’t know my kid wasn’t sleeping well!

Nov22

I’m a fan of fitness wearables. I wore a Jawbone UP for several months before making the leap to a Fitbit Charge HR. I even wore the Jawbone and Fitbit together for a while to compare accuracy and data.

When I finally decided that I would go with the Fitbit, I let my 8-year-old have my Jawbone. She was in Girls on the Run and wanted to see how far she was running. I adjusted the goals in the app to better suit her (5,000 steps and 9 hours of sleep).

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Lily’s sleep for November 19-20, 2015. She woke up 4 times.

I hadn’t anticipated using the sleep data for her. I really didn’t think that she was having trouble sleeping. Soon, I started seeing patterns in her sleep and wake cycles and being able to correlate that with her behavior. When she had longer wake periods throughout the night, she behavior was affected during the day.

I started keeping a journal of her sleep with the data I got from the Jawbone and the behavior I observed. On the nights that she was having issues getting to sleep or staying asleep, I started asking her questions. It broke my heart when she was crying because she couldn’t shut her mind off.

How long has this gone on? How did I miss it?

Enter the Mom guilt.

I researched the accuracy of fitness wearables and didn’t find much. It’s still a relatively new technology to be applied to children. I did find an article that tested children wearing fitness trackers. While none tested were either that I’ve tried, it did give me hope that the research exists and more is in the works. Another article also pointed to the challenges of fitness trackers for kids. One being that children are more active in their sleep than adults and that the band could give some inaccurate results for sleep.

Was I being over-analytical? Was I creating a problem that didn’t need to exist?

I did some research about how much sleep an 8-year-old should get. Between 9-11 hours according to the National Sleep Foundation.

I tracked her sleep for a few weeks before calling our pediatrician. I relayed my concerns and scheduled an appointment. She was due for a med-check anyway. Of course, expect for the day of the appointment, she’d slept great, with only a few days where she’d had significant sleep disturbances.

Okay, I overracted. No harm done. Her grades are fine. No complaints from her teacher.

Except that she can’t get to sleep and doesn’t stay asleep. Some nights she’s up for hours in the middle of the night. Sometimes she will wake me up, other times she won’t. She’ll play. She’ll read.

She was crying the other day, exhausted, wanting to fall sleep. Tears streaming down her face that she can’t shut her mind off. She told me about the ponies (her My Little Pony toys that she’d been playing with), the math facts she’d been working on at school, the book she’d been reading.

More Mom guilt.

So, back to the drawing board we go!

Quantified Kids: Researchers Test Fitness Trackers in Youngsters
Fitness Trackers Could Boost Kids’ Health, But Face Challenges, Experts Say
Children and Sleep

The Google School of Medicine: A Rant

Nov21

I very rarely post of social media about the struggles our family has medically. It’s not out of shame or that I want to portray our life any differently than it really is.

I choose not to share because the last thing I want when I’m expressing frustration is for someone to suggest fixes because it worked for them. Yes, we all do it, be it online or in person.

People genuinely want to help.

Yes, I have tried lavender to help manage the ADHD sleep disturbances. I am severely allergic to it, both breathing it in and touching it. I have an asthmatic reaction and get an itchy rash. Both of which require an anti-histamine.

Yes, I have done the elimination diet to see if eczema is related to diet. All of the common triggers for an auto-immune reaction seem to have no appreciable change.

Sometimes, things just are they way they are.

When you tell a frustrated mother who is mental exhausted about your suggestions, I guarantee they will not be received well. Advice is an opinion, and you know what they say about opinions…

The next time you are trying to impart wisdom on someone who is mentally, emotionally, or physically at their wits end with whatever they’re dealing with, just stop. Know that now is not the time or place.

End rant.

Navy’s Eczema

Nov8
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Navy's Eczema

We have struggled to cover Navy’s eczema his whole life. All two-and-a-half years of it.

Hydrocortisone creams with allergy medicine. Oatmeal baths. Diet elimination.

I just could not bring myself to get the steroid shots. Not yet. Not this young. The risks and side effects were not worth the benefits.

It was hard seeing my son claw his legs and feet raw. When he would whimper in pain because he’d scratched a spot until it was bleeding.

Thankfully, I know some pretty amazing people.

We started seeing Dr. Kyler at Fort Wayne Dermatology Consultants about two years ago. He prescribed an ointment, Betamethosone Diproprionate, that yielded promising results.

Our friends, Joe and Lee, from Bored Otter Farm make a honey oatmeal soap that helps with the eczema, and the seasonally dry patches on the rest of his body.

Melissa also made Navy a special eczema blend from her doTERRA Wellness Store. I sprayed it in the bath as I was running his water.

Each brought about positive change foe Navy’s skin, but it wasn’t until we’d used all three together for a couple of weeks that his legs were the clearest they’ve been in years.

I’m so grateful for each of these people and the efforts they’ve made to help Navy feel better!