What Is Going On?

This day did not turn out at all how I was thinking it would. I thought we'd have different results and different answers then we got, but we didn't. To sum it up....

Cody and I spent the day at the hospital with an allergist. After months of hives reoccuring this year, and his feet hurting again, although not as sevier as last year, we finally got a referral to see an allergist.

We went through Cody's medical history from the last 16 months. From his severe strep throat and scarlet fever, to his feet swelling and not able to walk, to the hives he's had off and on since then. The hives have hit him hard since February of this year. The allergist says he's not worried about his feet swelling and hurting, or his hives that he gets almost every week. Turns out that's just his body's way of reacting to the viruses and infections he gets when he's sick. The hives can last for months afterwards. Weird... I know.

But then he started searching deeper into the medical book I had to fill out about Cody and what he's allergic to, his surroundings like animals, mold, gas furnaces and such at home, his family medical history, and so on. He did the allergy testing on him. You know, the scratch test, and tested him on 15 different types of allergies. The ones that stood out were only minimal and were for trees like maple and walnut. But yet, Cody has a lot of drainage down the back of his throat and hasn't been sick lately. So he ordered a lot of blood work to check more specifically on allergies and run the rheumatoid arthritis again.

Dang it!! I was hoping we were done with that one!

He also checked him for asthma. He did a computerized breathing test and it showed his lung capacity was only at 62%, which is pretty low. Normal range is high 80's to 90's. So they did the albuterol breathing treatment, treating it just like it was asthma, and tried two more computerized breathing tests. Again the readings showed about 62%. Even the doctor was surprised it didn't go up. He said it could still be asthma related and caused by allergies that hopefully the blood tests would show. He prescribed a pill to take at night for six weeks to help open up the lungs, besides an inhaler to use if his breathing was difficult, and said to try and loose a little weight and exercise more to open up the lungs and see if this works. Then he ordered an x-ray of his chest, and then finish with the lab work. The x-ray results will be in tomorrow, and the labs in a week. He wants to see us back in six weeks.

I worry about the x-ray. I'm praying it doesn't show a mass or something that's causing the shortness of breath. And trying to get the labs done was hard. Long story short, we were in the lab for 45 minutes trying to find veins that would work to fill four viles of blood. Cody was dehydrated from not drinking enough water at school, plus the albuteral can make veins hide. So after filling one vile, his vein collapsing, and two more unsuccessful and painful pokes, we gave up and said we'd try again in the morning before school. Poor Cody was trying so hard to be strong through this last part. But after being scratched, breathing treatments done, tested, x-rayed, and poked unsuccessfully, he was done. Not to mention we'd been at the hospital for three and a half hours. He remained strong, but one look at his big brown eyes, you could tell he was about to cry.

I never thought we'd be checking his lungs and find his are only working at 62% capacity. Never in a million years would I think we'd be doing that today. We were there for hives. Not asthma, or whatever is going on. But honestly, it makes sense. For years he's tired before everyone else when he's playing; or when Jared's training them with sprints and such; or hauling hay and struggled to breath in that dusty allergy filled air; or when he's at football practice doing the drills at the end and seeing how much he struggled with ladders. And even though he'd tell us and his coaches that he couldn't breath, he never gave up! I feel horrible that I didn't look into it more before now. But honestly, I didn't think it was that bad.

I feel like a horrible mom.

Cody got a blessing tonight. It talked about having faith and to find stories of people in the scriptures showing faith and using them as examples in his life. And also to work on controlling his anger. It said he was born with a kind heart and to use it for good. Which he usually does. He's just hot tempered if his buttons are pushed a certain way. It was a good blessing.

Tonight after we got home, I found a text from my good friend Rashelle. She explained that her husband Kent had cancer and was in the hospital. She doesn't know what kind it is yet, or what stage it's in, but should know tomorrow and asked for prayers. It made me literally sick to read this. Jared too. I haven't seen them for almost a couple years now. I've felt the last month I've needed to get up there but haven't done it yet. I pray everything goes well and he makes a full recovery.

What a day. You wake up thinking you are dealing with one thing, and it turns out to be another, and not with very good news. And then out of nowhere, your friend is texting you about the "C" word and her husband.  I know this life is full of trials to strengthen us, but sometimes I wish they wouldn't all hit at once. Or at all.

I'm going to have nightmares tonight. About the x-ray results. About Kent and Rashelle. About test results.

Sometimes you just need a good cry.