One day...that is all it takes for a perfectly healthy, happy, 7th grade girl to go from this...
To this...
To this.
On February 2nd, Kaylee played her last Wylie 7B Team basketball game and they completed the season undefeated. The game was in San Angelo so we drove there to cheer her on. After the game was over she complained that her chest felt weird but rode the bus back with her teammates since it would be her last time to do so. When she arrived home that evening she complained a little but we just though maybe she got hit while playing and was just bruised and sore from that. Well, a day later we were sitting in the doctor's office with a crying child who had a constant stabbing pain in her chest. The doctor examined her but felt like it was something called Costochondritis (which is an inflammation of the cartilage in the breastbone). He felt that it stemmed from her having strep twice, the flu twice, and a virus twice all in an 8 week period during which time as soon as she recovered she went back to after school basketball practice and games once a week. The summation was that her body was just torn down and it settled in her chest. After performing an EKG, chest x-ray, and lab work with no other cause of the pain revealed he went with the normal protocol of a round of steroids along with a pain med to help her get comfortable and no physical activity. The doctor also confirmed that the pain feels like a heart attack and that most adults go to the ER because they think they are having a heart attack. That is comforting. I wish that this was the end of the post about this but it is not. The costochondritis was unrelenting and continued to interrupt Kaylee's sleep, strength mentally and physically, and was just draining. After making several trips back to our regular physician, having a CT scan, bone density scan, seeing a pain management doctor, and trying multiple pain meds we were finally referred to Cook's in Fort Worth after nothing showed up on any of the tests. Kaylee was on so many different pain meds at one point she started throwing up ( the Friday of Spring Break) and that is when we took her off all pain meds except Ibuprofen because nothing was even touching the pain. We also tried the chiropractor for adjustments, acupuncture, we tried reflexology, a second round of steroids and even Young Living oils all of which worked to get the pain down from a 10 on Kaylee's scale to a 9.5. During this time Kaylee was still going to school, crying a lot for her, and suffering from severe lack of sleep. Once we heard from Cook's and they could not get to us for 6-8 weeks we made the decision with her doctor's input to take Kaylee home bound. We determined that it was not helping her heal if she was not able to get rest, which if you only sleep 2 hours at night then attend school all day you are not resting. At the time we took her home bound she had been pushing through and made it through 6 weeks of school like this with all of us about to lose our minds. I have to say it was during those 6 weeks of seeing your child cry and beg you to stop that pain, along with them sleeping with you so I was not getting much sleep either, that I almost lost my mind completely. There were and continue to be a lot of prayers going up for Kaylee as well as all the other parents of children who deal with daily illness and pain as well as the children themselves.
The process of going home bound was a little frustrating but in the end my precious friend Alison, who teaches 7th grade Language Arts at Kaylee's school agreed to be her home bound teacher which was such a gift to us. I can never thank her enough for all the time, love, and time away from her family that she sacrificed for us during this time. She will always be an angel to us. Kaylee and I also had our share of friends who dropped of treats, came by to visit, or just called to check on us during this time. The visits from friends were such a nice surprise each time because it helped lift our spirits and break up the day. My Mom was a huge help too because she traveled from Waco each week to stay with Kaylee a few days so I could get errands run and connect with friends so as not to lose my mind totally. I love that I have a Mom who knows just what I need. She is a treasure and we love our Nana!
Finally, the day came for our Cook's appointment, a dear friend, James, met us that morning to pray before the appointment and anoint Kaylee with oil from the Holy Land, which was so precious to us. Our first appointment was with a pulmonologist, she was running extremely late and by the time she got to us there was only 15 minutes till our next appointment with a different doctor. Needless to say I felt robbed, extremely let down, and rushed after waiting 6 weeks for this appointment. The breathing test her office did showed Kaylee's lungs were fine, she felt the chostochondritis diagnosis was correct, and told Kaylee some stretches to do each day. Well, that was worth a couple of thousand dollars, not! Next we saw a cardiologist at Cook's who did a sonogram of her heart. He stated that everything looked good and his big advice was, " We all have pain in life and sometimes you just have to push through until it maybe goes away." I wanted to jump out of my chair and show him some pain he could learn to live with at that moment. Did he realize he was talking to a 13 year old child? Again, I paid how much for that advice? Needless to say we were all silent on the car ride back to Abilene. We had all prayed and been told by countless people that Cook's would have an answer and here we were driving home with no direction to go and no answer. Frustration did not begin to describe how we all felt.
Kaylee remained home bound the rest of the school year, it was so hard for her since she is my child who loves school, her teachers, and her friends.
Fast forward to today and the pain is usually around a 5-6, with an occasional flare-up. She is still taking two prescription meds each day along with Ibuprofen (3-4 tablets three times a day), trips to the chiropractor, and enzymes along with a change in diet. If you are reading this please continue to pray the pain is gone before school starts on August 24th. Kaylee has a lot of anxiety about school and athletics and handling the pain that might flare up.
Also if you read all this give yourself a pat on the back, I know i is a lot but I wanted to document our journey so I can praise God thoroughly when He takes the pain away. Blessings to you all!
