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It’s Hump Day

It’s hump day and it’s been 1 day since the Lorbach’s have been in the ER.  It almost feels like a new record after our recent run of ER visits.  After all, in two weeks we’ve been to two urgent cares and three ERs.  We told Goalielocks that he’s tapped out on ER visits for the year after last night.  I wish the doctor visits were over, but to ensure Goalielocks’ continued we’ll be seeing a concussion expert at Children’s Hospital, his primary care doctor and a chiropractor.  We’ve been so focused on the head injury that I want to make sure we rule out any injury to his neck or cervical spine that may be causing the headaches.

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The fact is concussions and their ramifications are quite scary.  If he were to go back to hockey too early and get hurt, it could sideline him for another 6 months, sideline him forever from contact sports or worse.  He, of course, is fourteen and love his sport, so he’s anxious to get back.  Fortunately, the ER doctors have been quite explicit with him about the dangers of returning too early.  In the meantime, we’re treating the headaches with ibuprofen, Tylenol, rest and essential oils.  (Thanks for the recommendation DA.)

Meanwhile, I’m physically, emotionally and mentally exhausting.  The ER visits, worrying about a potential brain bleed (twice), being in the ER away from home, worrying about the concussion and his recovery and anticipating the medical bills has taken quite the toll.  At last last night, I had the hubby with me, so I wasn’t alone in the experience or stress of it all.   Importantly, the clear CT scan erased any worries about the presence of brain bleed.  The CT scan provided peace of mind that was needed after the mix up in New Hampshire and Boston

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Today was a much better day for Goalielocks as the ibuprofen has been very effective in controlling his headaches.  Today is also my SIL’s 40th birthday.  Happy birthday M!  As the Mayor said in the car tonight, “There’s no way M’s 40.  She doesn’t look a day over 37. ”  It was super sweet.  My boys love their aunt and wish we could be with her (and their cousins of course) to celebrate her birthday.

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Update From The ER

Here’s the update from the ER, there was no John Carter or Meredith Gray to be seen. I’m only kidding. When you’ve been in two urgent cares and three ERs, humor is key.

Goalielocks has been discharged from the ER. Thankfully, the CT scan showed no abnormalities or bleeding. For us it was a major relief. While they were clear in Mass General that there was no bleeding, this scan erased all doubts that Goalielocks or I had. There’s no more lingering “what if they were wrong mom” questions. Peace of mind is everything especially when it comes to your child with an injury.

The bad news is he could be symptomatic for weeks to come. Moreover, he’ll likely need some accommodations at school during this post concussion period. Additionally, our ER doctor referred him to the concussion clinic for further treatment. This way we can ensure he has a good treatment plan and that his progress is being monitored by concussion experts.

Concussions are no joke. He’ll be off the ice and out of contact sports for at least two more weeks. We’re not in a hurry to put him back out there. We want his brain to be fully healed before he hits the ice again. We’d like to thank everyone for their support and prayers.

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Back To The ER

We’re back to the ER after Goalielocks started experiencing headaches with increasing severity and frequency. In fact, he awoke at 3:30 this morning in extreme pain. It sounded like a sinus headache and it as relieved by Tylenol. It wouldn’t be odd for him to have a sinus headache given how much pollen litters just one branch of our mango tree.

Unfortunately, the headache has persisted through the day. Since what he as describing was more like a sinus headache, the Hubby took him to urgent care to rule out a sinus infection. The urgent care provider sent us straight to the emergency room.

Consequently, here were are again back to the ER. We’ve already seen the doctor and he’s had another CT scan. While it would be unusual for bleeding to show up now, it wouldn’t be unheard of so it’s worth ruling out (again.) At this point, we’ve been to two urgent cares and three ERs. Hopefully this is our last trip to the hospital!

As I write this, we’re waiting for the radiologist to review his CT scan. Once we have an update from the ER doctor, I’ll post an update. At least this time, my hubby is able to be with us as we wait in the ER. In the interim, please keep Goalielocks in your thoughts and prayers.

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Premonition

Premonition, mother’s intuition, a hunch… You know those pesky feelings that gnaw at you?  Here’s my beef with all of that…. I’m over the premonitions and intuition associated with the negative.  Last Saturday in New Hampshire, I had an overwhelming sense that Goalielocks’ injury was more than a “minor concussion.”  While it didn’t turn out to be a brain bleed, the recovery period has been anything but minor.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that my intuition kicked in and ensured my son received the proper care for his injury.  But why aren’t our mother’s intuition or premonition in tune with the winning Mega Millions or Power Ball numbers?  I call shenanigans on all of this.  There should be more premonitions about happy stuff, not just a foreboding sense of dread.  Like a premonition that you’re going to get a raise or promotion. It’s just a suggestion to the universe. #nbd

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Meanwhile in reality, Goalielocks was back to school for the second day.  This morning before we left, he took two Tylenol to help stave off a headache throughout the day. Consequently, he had a much better and more comfortable day at school. #forwardprogress!   He wanted so badly to go to hockey practice tonight, but since he’s still symptomatic we can’t in good conscious let him get on the ice.  If he goes through the day tomorrow without a headache, we may let him suit up and skate.  And I mean just skate to see how his head and body respond to being back on the ice.

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Meanwhile, both boys are playing in the state tournament this weekend albeit on different coasts at different rinks.  The Hubby will be staying local with the Mayor while I’ll travel to the west coast with Goalielocks.  At this point, we don’t know if he’ll be ready to play next weekend, but he wants to be there.  Unequivocally, its the right call as its a team sport and he wants to support his team.  After this season, I’m just ready for a trip to the beach.  This season is one for the books.  You know the ones filled with lots of premonitions and unseemly characters…. I’m probably going to bring my T6i to the west coast, there may be some video blog content and hockey videos coming this weekend.

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Wacky Week

It’s been a wacky week or so since we returned from Boston.  With the injury to Goalielocks’, we really haven’t gotten back into our normal routine.  Although today he was finally able to return to school.  Unfortunately, his headache came back in second period lasting the rest of the day.  We’re hopeful, as is he, that tomorrow will be a better day.  It was much wackier than my imagination could have conjured.

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Anyway, as I was saying it has been a wacky week.  You may have noticed that our family is filled with blondes.  Can you imagine when you throw in a head injury to a family of blondes? It’s no bueno.  Our first night back in Florida, my hubby grilled us some chicken breasts.  When I got home, he was lamenting that the chicken breasts were taking way too long too cook.  He thought perhaps he hadn’t thawed them completely or maybe it’s just that they’re thick.  Oh no, it wasn’t either of those things.

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Apparently, when you grill and use a handy dandy thermometer to check the food’s temperature, you should probably make sure you know temperature scale you’re using.  Yep, if you keep taking the temperature of the chicken breast in Celsius, you’ll be hard pressed to get that chicken over 85 degrees.  He did give it the old college try, but figured it out when the chicken was still only 80 degree Celsius (a.k.a. 176 degree fahrenheit.)  Surprisingly, the chicken breasts were still pretty tasty and not entirely too dry.  In his defense, the kids had changed it to the metric system for their cooking use and didn’t switch it back.  Why the kids use the metric system from time to time is an entirely different post.

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In other news, I ended up with a sore throat, laryngitis and a cold this weekend. I know, you probably heard the men in my life celebrating the silence this weekend. On Saturday night, we did a movie night.  The hubby had to run out to Publix to get groceries for dinner (since he didn’t grocery shop in my absence.)  While at Publix, I asked him to pick up some sorbet and a little treat from the bakery (like a chocolate covered strawberry.)  He asked me what sorbet flavor I wanted and I responded (as loudly as I could,) “anything but mango.”

Apparently, the only word he heard was mango.  I can’t really blame him since my voice was totally gone.   However, I’m super allergic to mangoes.  I mean, spent four months on prednisone because of my mango allergy.   Can you guess what flavor sorbet he brought me?  You guessed it: mango.  As for my small treat from the bakery, a large mango key lie pie. Oy vey!

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To be fair, my allergist did think I’d be able to eat mangoes again.   However, I wasn’t really up for tempting fate with my already swollen throat and laryngitis.  Why tempt fate, right?  So I did… Because Publix pies are amazing and who could really resist it?  Not this girl!  The world didn’t end, however, after a small bite of the pie, I woke up to a mild allergic reaction.  My face was red, but this quickly abated.  Nonetheless, this won’t be the year I go back to eating mangoes.

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Restful Weekend

It’s been a restful weekend for us, which is just what the doctored ordered. I’m still not feeling well, which sucks. However, Goalielocks’ headaches are no longer omnipresent and have lessened in severity. Hallelujah!! This was pretty amazing news today!

If you’ve ever been concussed or had a child concussed, you’re probably familiar with the waiting game. It truly feels like the headaches and symptoms have lasted forever while you’re in the middle of it. In contrast, as you/they start feeling better, you realize it’s only been a week.

Meanwhile, in our aquarium the coral has really taken off. All of our fish like to congregate near it. It’s truly beautiful and I cannot wait to see it grow. The sunlight has helped proliferate the algae growing on the back glass. Consequently, we added two snails into the aquarium. One will help keep the substrate clean, while the other will help clean up the glass. We also added another coral frag to the tank.

As we head back into our work week, Goalielocks will be headed back into school for the first time in over a week. I had hoped he would have been able to work on homework last week, but both hubby and the Mayor forgot to pick it up.

Lastly, congratulations to the Stoneman Douglas hockey team for winning the Florida state high school tournament. Both of my older boys have played with many of these kids over the years. Not only did they win, but they all brought their medals back for the memorial at their high school. Each player put their medal on one of the crosses. They’re incredible!

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Rest and Relaxation

As frantic as last weekend was, this weekend is all about rest and relaxation. Goalielocks has been sleeping and resting most of the week, while I returned to the frenetic pace of everyday life. The piece for this, of course, is some virus that has left me voiceless, congested and with a sore throat. Although, on a happy note, my orchid started blooming today.

Thankfully, Goalielocks seemed to have some improvement in his headaches today. They’ve been a 5-6 (on the pain scale of 1-10)?all week, but this morning his headaches was at a 4. Unfortunately, it got a little bit worse he ran a couple of errands with me, so we’ll have to watch his activity levels.

I finally got back to Kohl’s, so I could put my Kohl’s cash to good use. And boy did I ever! Both younger boys are completely restocked on underwear’s and socks. Hopefully, we’ll get at least a couple months out of these socks!

I also picked up an Instant Pot, which looks pretty cool. It seemed like everyone got one for Christmas and love it, so I’m excited to try it out. If you have any good recipes, please share!

We also headed to the pet store or two looking for some new marine fish for our tank. We have one store that’s close to us that has an amazing array of marine species and aquariums. My boys wish we had a tank large enough to accommodate a shark, but that it way too expensive.

We did however add another clownfish, a goby, a live rock, a carpet an anemone and a feather duster worm. The tank looks pretty cool with the new species in there. Moreover, our two clownfish have already paired and our getting along fabulously. It will be fun to watch them both. We’ve named them Coral and Marlin (a.k.a Nemo’s parents.)

Since I’m sick, I’m already in pajamas ready for bed. Since it’s so early, I think we’ll put on a movie. It’s a perfect night for a movie.

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Slow And Steady

Slow and steady wins the race at least according to the Aesop’s famous fable The Tortoise and the Hare. It’s also an accurate depiction of concussion recovery. We’re now four days post concussion and the headaches have yet to abate. Goalielocks is still experiencing a constant bad headache. Although the Tylenol is helping reduce the pain.

Yesterday was the first day he didn’t experience any nausea. His appetite has returned as he enjoyed some flank steak encrusted in pepper and spices. This is a nice step forward. We are hoping the headaches would follow suit and stop, but they haven’t. Since his headaches have remained severe, we’ve kept him home from school since our return from Boston. Fortunately, the school is sending his home work home with the Mayor tomorrow.

We’ll be back at the doctor later in the week to check on his progress. We’re hopefully for good news, but head injuries operate on their own timelines. Consequently, we’ll have to be patient with the recovery timeline and with him as he recovers. Thanks again for all the concern, well wishes and support.

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Made It Home

We made it home from Boston and I couldn’t be more grateful. Yesterday it looked like we were going to be in Bean Town thru Thursday! If I’m being honest, even though I was stoked he was cleared to fly, I was still very nervous.

This anxiety of course carried into both flights, but the first one especially. I could see him wincing in pain as we took off from Boston. At that point, he finally acquiesced and took a Tylenol. Meanwhile, I was a mess the whole flight.

I’m incredibly grateful to the great Delta flight attendants that brokered a seat swap, so I could sit next to him. In addition, to the seat swap, they gave him free earbuds and some nice treats from first class. They also checked on him quite regularly. I’m so thankful for them!

We made it home and he’s fast asleep. As expected, the flight made his headache somewhat worse. Fortunately, it seems the nausea has improved. He’s hoping to get back to school tomorrow, but it will really depend on how he’s feeling in the morning.

Expectedly, we’re both completely exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally. I haven’t quite processed the last 48 hours fully, but I’m sure in the coming days I’ll work through it. Plus, now I’m back home so I can go in my yoga silk and unwind. Thanks for all the support and your continued prayers and well wishes.

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An Update To The Update

So here’s an update to the update on Goalielocks. We were in the ER in Southern New Hampshire medical center for several hours this afternoon. Based on his symptom and mechanism of injury, they ordered a CT scan. Unfortunately, the CT scan showed what they believed to be a small bleed on the brain.

As he spoke the words, my heart sunk. Brain bleeds are never good. The hospital is pretty small and wasn’t well suited to treat Goalielock’s injury. For example, if he needed surgery to alleviate pressure in the brain, they couldn’t do it. The ER doc felt it was likely non-surgical and an observation approach is likely the approach they’d take.

Consequently, he was transported via ambulance from Southern New Hampshire Medical Center to Massachusetts General in Downtown Boston. In order for this to happen, our incredible hockey family sprung into action: helping me pack the car, driving me to the hospital and bringing me the rental car tomorrow.

Our ride took about 45 minutes and he was triaged into the acute care part of their giant and impressive ER. Goalielocks was quick to notice his doctors were all Harvard affiliated. I’m pretty sure he was impressed. Nonetheless, we were there for several hours.

While he was in Mass General, his case was reviewed by his ER doctor, the attending ER doctor, neurosurgeon, neuro-radiologist, radiologist, pediatric neurosurgeon and the chief of neurology. In the end, they felt the hospital in Nashua misread the scan. There was no brain bleed present. None of their specialists saw bleeding on the brain!!! Thank God!

Our ER doctor was spot on, the emergency department in Nashua was right to send his case to them. They’re much better suited to accurately diagnosis these types of injures. Nonetheless, we’re both hungry and exhausted. Neither of us have eaten since 9:00 this morning. I didn’t feel right eating while Goalielocks waited to be cleared by the neurosurgeon. The good news is we have pizza on the way and a late check out. Undoubtedly, we’ll be sleeping in tomorrow.

Lastly, thanks for all the prayers and well wishes yesterday and today. They mean a lot and prayer certainly works! Special thank you to our hockey family for helping us out today. We love you to the moon and back!