I was looking at my pictures, and I came across these. These two photos are where taken during a really hard time in my life, the hardest week I've ever had to live though.
These pictures are from June of 07, less than a month after moving to San Diego. Zachary was turning 3, Jeremy had left for a deployment, and we were in a new city. Lucky I did know some people here. The reason we moved to SD, was because of a Home Port Change, meaning the boat Jeremy was stationed to (the submarine), was changing home ports from Norfolk. So everyone had to move, and 2 of the wives I knew (from the boat) were in SD as well Kandi and Amanda.
After Jeremy had left I noticed that Zachary was limping. I asked him if his foot hurt, and I checked his feet and legs, but no, nothing hurt, and he looked fine. My first thought was, maybe he was growing, and one leg was a little longer than the other. I let it go for a week, but he was still limping. It didn't seem to effect him though, he would walk and limp,... and run and limp,... and walk up and down the stairs and limp... All of this and he was still keeping up with his brothers. I still called the doctor, and finally got in to see her about 5 days later. She said that it could be a tiny fracture, but that would mean he would be in pain, it could be a bone infection, or just that he was going though a interesting growth spurt. She sent us for xrays, and when nothing came up, she told us to go home, but call if it got worse, or if he was running a fever.
3 days later (Monday) he woke up with a fever, so I called the doctor. She said to get him to Balboa Naval Hospital right away, and she would order some test to be done. She also told me not to feed him anything, in-case they had to do an MRI. If they had to do an MRI they would have to knock him out, because you have to stay still during the test (very still), and little kids can't stay that still for that long. That was hard, I had to feed the other 2 but not him. We got to balboa at 9am, and we were first sent to Orthopedics.
We waited until we were seen by doctor Riccio, who sent us up to Radiology to get more xrays. After that it was lunch, and yes once again I had to sneak the other boys food, but none for Zach or me (because I felt so bad for him). When the xrays came back with nothing we were sent up to Nuclear Medicine for a bone scan. By the time that was all finished it was 2pm, and yes we had been there since 9am. The doctor said that something had shown up on the bone scan, and they wanted to do an MRI to see exactly what it was.
So we waited until they got all of that set up, and from start to finish it took an hour (and that was after they got started). I remember waiting for Zachary's MRI to be over, and I still had not eaten all day, and this guys walking in with food, and is eating it right in-front of me. There was a sign on the door that said "No food or drinks in the waiting room!" Not cool. So the MRI is finally over, and we waited for the results. Zachary had a bone infection in his right shin. They had no idea how it got there, but they were admitting him. I was shocked. I didn't know what they would find, and I didn't expect him to get admitted.
We were sent to the Cast room, to wait for a room to be ready for him. By this time it was about 7pm, and Zach and I still had not eaten. Good thing the McDonald in the hospital was still open. We got him up to the room, and everyone was so tired, and I had to do something really hard. The other kids where tired and needed sleep, and I did to. I had to leave Zachary there. He was so little, and I didn't want to. What was he thinking about all of this?
I got home at about 10pm, and I was so upset. I knew I needed to call my mom, and Jeremy parents, but it was late. I knew she would make me feel better, but what do I say. Hi mom, Zachary is in the hospital. I hadn't even told mom about him limping yet, so she had no idea about any of this, and it was 1am on the eastcoast. Is it right to call people at that time? I called anyways, and it's good I did. My mom was already up, she had a bad feeling after I didn't answer her call earlier (because I wasn't home, and I forgot my cell), and she couldn't sleep. Talking to my mom, made me feel better. The next morning I called Jeremy parents, and my Ombudsman (Elizabeth), I was good friends with her and she called Kandi and Amanda. She also made sure that a message was sent to Jeremy on the boat, so he knew what was going on.
Kandi and Amanda helped me with Darien and Nathaniel, and took care of them for me, even though at first I didn't want them to, because I felt bad about putting a burden on them. But they were wonderful, and it gave me a chance to stay at the hospital with Zachary.
He stayed until Friday, and then he was well enough to go home, an answer to prayer, because at first he wasn't getting better. He was on antibiotics for the next 6 weeks, but I was so happy to have him home, and to have a chance to get use to our new home in San Diego.
This is prof that us moms can be very strong when we need to be (God made us that way). Sometimes you don't know how your going to pull through something, but you just have to. You tell yourself "I'm just going to do it, because I have to." Its like all of those times I had to move, I didn't want to, and I hated doing it, but I had to, so I just do it the best way I know how and get it over with. Of course I would rather move 50 more times, than to have to go through a week like that again. Zachary has been fine ever since, so this didn't effect him, but it did effect me.
