Strep, potty, eyes, and independence

So much time has gone by since the last post.... again. 

Peter had strep throat right before Christmas.  Aside from the common cold, this was Peter's first "normal childhood illness" that I can recall.  It turned out that 5 out of the 7 of us had it, but no one knew until I ended up making the hour and 20 minute drive to the ER at CHOP just before dawn with an axillary temperature of 102.6 degrees.  That isn't too terrible of a temp for most people, but if you have a central line (which is a PICC line in Peter's case) it is a big concern for infection of the line and possibly ensuing sepsis.  The "good" news about it all though, was that Dr. Kamin started Peter on antibiotics at home earlier that day when his temp was lower, after the home nurse had drawn labs and cultures.  That one dose of antibiotic was enough to get Peter back on track within a few hours of the fever spiking higher.  The positive rapid strep test performed at the ER and negative cultures at the 15 hour mark, gave us the OK to go home from the ER after 7 hours, instead of going inpatient.  What a relief that was!  After Peter was diagnosed, a quick trip to the pediatrician confirmed strep for two of his siblings as well.  At that point, Chris and I knew we had it even with no diagnosis. The frustrating part of the whole scenario though, was that NO ONE locally would see him.  His local pediatrician could have diagnosed strep in the office earlier that day, but their rule is "temp and central line = ER."  The local ER will not draw labs off a PICC line though, nor do they really handle pediatric patients like Peter, as I found out via phone call that day.  Had Dr. Kamin not been willing to help us manage things at home with Peter, the event would have been an inpatient stay, with the "big guns" antibiotics that are used for line infections, quite costly for the insurance company, and frustrating for all of us, most of all Peter who just wanted to be home again.  I will never be able to thank him enough for all the dedicated care he has given Peter over the years.

Potty training has gotten much better since the last post.  I owe the improvement to Peter's oldest brother who allowed Peter to borrow the used ipod he bought if he would go potty quietly and successfully.  It worked like a charm that first time and has worked every time since.  Peter still can't figure out how to go successfully without it, but at this point I am fine with his dependence on it.  If we can keep him stooling rectally, especially without straining, then his next surgery to close the stoma should go well.  The bottle nipple in the stoma still leaks a lot, but enough goes down rectally to give him and his bowel proper practice. 

Peter went to a Wills Eye opthalmologist last week to re-evaulate his lazy eyes on the recommendation of the local opthalmologist.  We were trying to determine if patching would help.  To our surprise and relief, the Wills Eye doctor feels that Peter does not have lazy eyes, and gets his vision at 20/30 with glasses on.  We will return in 4 months to re-evaluate and make sure he is continuing on this good path.

Independence is finally beginning to kick in, at least a little bit.  We went bowling two weeks ago, and as he is getting ready to bowl his turn, Peter told me, "I've got it, Mom.  I can do it myself."  This was huge, especially on the heels of a week's worth of insistence that he was unable to put his own shirt on when getting dressed in the morning.  Aside from one shotput launch of the ball down the alley, he did quite well bowling on his own.  This week, he is coming over to show me that he has put his own shirt on, his own shoes on, even volunteering to brush his teeth.... big steps for this seven year old!