Time to put the smack down

So Jack's fever ain't going away. Now it's time to start checking his internal systems and potential issues, starting with a chest X-ray. This should give us a look at the lungs, heart and some lymph nodes.

The chest X-ray is also non-invasive and fairly untraumatic, at least as much as possible for a 13-month old. From there it will get a little more difficult if we don't get an answer.

Last night at 10pm Samantha came downstairs, claiming that she had to go peepee and "couldn't reach the light in the bathroom". Uh... she has a nightlight in her bathroom. Jamie later translated for me and explained that Samantha couldn't reach the light in the downstairs bathroom, near the den where we were sitting. So why did Samantha need to come downstairs in the first place? I'm sure we'll never know.

Simmering nicely...

Jack's fever is still not gone. It was 101.2 tonight when we put him to bed, although he had a very happy and playful day. He is acting totally normal except the fact that he's a hot potato. Absolutely no other symptoms have surfaced, so we have nothing to go on. We're not inclined to do more tests as none of the prior ones have helped at all. And of course, now the medical bills are piling up, especially after two ER visits during vacation.

Yesterday Jack vomited a little while sitting on the couch and playing -- it just came from nowhere. The doc said he may have overexerted himself after having fever for so long. He took a nap and woke up happy as usual.

This has been such a strange and exhausting time. Yesterday while coming home from church, we saw some guys playing baseball at the field by our house. They clearly were from the semi-pro league (the Houston Men's Amateur Baseball League, or HMABL) that I used to play in. I said, "You know, one day the kids won't be sick anymore." Jamie smiled and agreed that one day that would be the case. And so we keep on.

Couple of other tidbits:

• At one point today Samantha called out, "My panties are a little bit wet." Jamie said OK, and next thing she knew Samantha came around the corner totally, stark naked and holding some shorts on a hanger. Not a shred of clothing on her. Shirt, shorts, socks... nothing. What can I say, the girl likes to be dry.
• When I came home from my one-day business trip to Phoenix recently, there was a limo driver in the baggage claim area holding up a sign for "Sam Cowart". Sam is a linebacker for the Houston Texans, having previosly played for the Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans. I knew my mom would've been proud if I'd chatted up the driver and waited to meet an NFL player, but I was too tired and didn't have it in me. Maybe next time. At least I did get to meet rookie quarterback Vince Young (and his posse) at the airport a few months ago.

Jack's update -- holding pattern

We took little Jack to the doctor again first thing this morning, as the doc had requested. Jack ran a little bit of fever last night (100.8), but slept fine and is fever-free so far today.

After a full regular exam (ear, nose, throat, joints, abdomen, etc...) he checked out completely normal. He then had a blood test which showed high lymphocytes, seeming to indicate a virus. But this is the opposite of his results from the other three blood tests this week, which all had high but balanced white blood cell count, indicating possible bacterial infection.

None of the "major" concerns (leukemia, meningitis, immune cell deficiency, etc...) seem to fit, because every few days the fever goes away. This wouldn't usually happen if he had a really serious illness.

Bottom line: we're no closer to figuring this thing out. Or even knowing if there is a "thing". Or if it might be over and Jack won't run fever again until he's a senior in high school. We just don't know, and there's so little to go on that it wouldn't make sense to run a battery of tests trying to find the needle in the haystack.

Plan of action: He's off all medicines now, hoping that if there's something going on that it will come to the surface and make diagnosis possible. We have copies of all Jack's recent charts and doctor's visits at home now, and if the fever spikes again we'll probably just grab all the paperwork and head to the ER. Until then, the doctor wants us to talk to him every day with updates.

Thanks for your prayers!

Health update, and kiddie quotes

Health Update

Jamie, Samantha and I are all well and healthy. Jack's fever has been over 103 several times this week, and even tonight it never got below 101. He was catheterized yesterday to get a "pure" urine sample and the lab results should be back tomorrow. According to the doc, if the tests come back positive for a urinary tract infection, then we'll have to do a renal ultrasound (shoot dye into his urethra and track the flow to make sure the plumbing is okay). If it's not a UTI, then we're back to square one and that's a kinda scary thought. He's been on at least four different antibiotics over the past six weeks, yet his fever continues. My thanks go to all of you praying and thinking about us, especially my friend Rob who mentioned it on his blog.

Samantha's Funnies

Tonight we took a walk after dinner and she looked up and yelled, "Daddy, look! La luna is out in the daytime! Silly la luna!" For those of you not living on a bilingual street, "la luna' is Spanish for "the moon". And it was indeed rising just prior to sunset, which was simply hilarious to her.

Just after that, we had this conversation:

Sam: Daddy, you and Mommy need to go on a date!
Me: Okay, should it be a fast date? Or an all-day date?
Sam: All day. That way I can play with Nana and Gramps and RoRo and PawPaw.
Me: You betcha. I'll miss you if I'm on a long date, but I'll see what I can do.
Sam: (With a worried look) Don't go forever, though.
Me: Don't worry; I promise we'll come back.

Jack's Quotes

He's only 13 months so his quotes are captured quite easily. His entire spoken vocabulary at the moment consists of the following words: ball, uh-oh, out, up. "Out" and "up" are new words this week. The former is for all the times he stands at the door wanting outside (I reportedly did the same thing at his age). The latter is when he wants out of his high chair following a meal.

Luckily he also has learned sign language pretty well which helps him communicate even more. We did this with both children and it's been so useful! Still, I thought about it some more, and just a week ago all he could say was "ball" and "uh-oh".

I realized that these two words could pretty well carry him through his first three or four years of life. "Ball" for when it was time to play. "Uh-oh" for when playtime turned dangerous, destructive, or just plain clumsy. All other communication could be handled through grunting, pointing, crying or laughing. Kinda like the communication of married couples. Especially ones with sick kids. :)

Vacation wrapup and other tidbits

Vacation Recap

I've decided to cut short part 2 of the vacation summary -- after re-reading the previous post it just smacks of complaining. So I have put myself on notice for "conduct unbecoming a Christian." :)

Bottom line: In addition to the previous post (Friday through Monday), these other things happened during the trip:

• My 18-month-old nephew fell and broke his shin.
• My mom was stung four times when a wasp swarm came over her.
• Our new van got a flat tire.
• Jamie's medicine for the giardia forced her to wean Jack from nursing. Not his favorite part of the trip, and it caused some sleepless nights.
• The weather stayed near record-high temperatures all week, until the morning we left when there was a high of 89 degrees. The next day the high was 83.
• On Thursday my family had a great time at an indoor waterpark! This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.
• We loved getting to spend the time with my extended family, and that made it all worthwhile!

Recent News

Jack was treated for his giardia (yes, he got it too) and has finished his round of antibiotics. He also had that 104 degree fever I mentioned, which isn't a symptom of giardia and has left us clueless and confused. His fever went away for a few days, and came back again today at over 102. I'm really concerned that there might be something else going on that the doctors aren't finding, but so far no door has opened to help us find a solution.

Jamie and I are back to healthy living, getting in the gym and eating well. I've been pretty down emotionally lately with several contributing factors (family concerns, job situation, new church home, etc...) but it's amazing how all of it is easier to deal with when I'm exercising. To give you an idea how sparse my workouts have been, I actually lost all remnants of my deadlift scabs (found on the shins of those who deadlift heavy weights and tend to drag the bar up their legs). Gross? Maybe, but it was a sign to me that it's time to get back to putting my body through positive challenges. Both Jamie and I are super-excited and energized by our rededication to keeping our temples tuned up.

Oh yeah, also, when we returned home from vacation, we had a notice from our home insurance company that they were going bankrupt and our coverage would cease in August. Nice. And it will be months until we get our escrow back. Until then, we have to start a new policy and are reviewing quotes right now. They're not terribly expensive in Texas terms, but remember that Texas is #1 in the country for home insurance prices (meaning the most expensive), and we're 40% more than the #2 state. At least there's no state income tax!

Anecdotes

1. Yesterday I saw a sign outside a plumbing store that said, "We are #1 in the #2 business."
2. I found out that my company's secretary used to be a dancer in MC Hammer's group. Awesome! One day I'm gonna walk into the office while doing the "2 Legit 2 Quit" dance.

Hammer Time!