January | 2022 | Our Armstrong Family

We began 2022 with a pretty wild ride in the Armstrong family. The first few days were pretty low key with New Years Eve, a nice New Years dinner, and taking down the tree. Forewarning this is a long post!!

Griffin gave me this Mom pin for Christmas which I took to work and put on my overhead cabinet. He’s been writing nice little letters to me. I loved coming home from walking Brutus in the early morning before work to find my coffee made with a lovely note for the day. It is still hanging on my wall at work. Little did we know that later that evening Griffin’s knee would begin to bother him.

On Wednesday evening, January 5th, Griffin had a scouting event where they boys were making wooden shelves. He had a really fun time and came home excited to show me his project. He was also limping a bit and said that his knee (right) was bothering him. We didn’t think much of it (honestly I thought he was exaggerating) though he really wasn’t interested in dinner and was hobbling around. He went to bed without really eating. Around 2 am he came into our room sobbing in tears saying his knee hurt so badly and that he had been calling for us. He thought it was morning and sadly we hadn’t heard him. We looked at his knee and could see it was a bit swollen. We figured it was likely growing pains….. He stayed home from school on Thursday morning and by mid-to-late morning decided he wanted to go to school. Kevin took him and then I picked him up early as he and Reid had appointments for their annual eye exams. Griffin was really uncomfortable and by the end of the appointment was barely able to walk or put much pressure on his right leg. I was getting pretty worried so I called Kevin and we decided to make an appointment at the pediatrician. Thankfully they had a 10 am Friday appointment with Dr. Houts, our absolute favorite within the group. Kevin took him as I was a ball of nerves. Dr. Houts examined Griffin’s knee and suggested possible juvenile arthritis but couldn’t be certain. He sent them on their way and said that they would be in touch with us by early afternoon with next steps. He was attempting to get us a referral at Children’s for bloodwork / a pediatric Rheumatologist, but seeing as it was getting later on a Friday afternoon once they contacted us we were directed to take Griffin to the ER at Nationwide Children’s and they would have work orders to be completed.

Griffin, Kevin, and I loaded into the car (I dropped Reid off and decided not to go to work but rather come home) and headed downtown. We arrived around 3 pm and were checked in and seen fairly quickly. Griffin had his vitals taken (all were good and no fever). In triage he had his blood drawn (via and IV port they put in, in the event he needed additional testing/fluids) and eventually an xray and ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that he had fluid under his knee cap. As a result, they did a knee tap procedure and removed 25-30 ccs of fluid – which is a lot! The fluid will be tested to determine if there is an infection.

This was a really painful procedure as under the guidance of one of the physicians we opted to go the route of not putting Griffin under a sedative. The knee tap procedure if a quick one and we decided all of the anesthetic was a bit of overkill. Instead, he had a medication that just kind of made him “loopy” but not asleep. However, when they tapped in the knee he arched his back and became stiff as a rod and screamed bloody murder into Kevin’s eyes and begged him to make it stop. Ugh. It was utterly horrible and we both felt so terrible that he was in that much pain. He cried and was scared for some time after that. He also began to fear any pokes or needles that were talked about for future tests.

After much waiting in the ER room and numerous visits from all kinds of doctors and staff (Ortho who did the knee tap, Residents, Attendings, nurses, etc) we learned from the Ortho doctor around 10:30 pm that Griffin had an extremely high white blood cell count – over 140K – the highest the doctor has ever seen. He said he even called the lab to ensure the result was correct and not an error in data entry. As a result, they planned to do a knee wash out procedure (they do this if the WBC are above 50K) which is a laparoscopic surgery. He said they were not yet able to identify the bacteria (from the earlier sample of fluid – he noted that any count over 50K is typically bacteria, less than that can be viral) so they continue to culture the sample and it will result in 2-3 days. They will do more culture with the sample they get from the surgery. In order to be admitted, Griffin had to have a COVID test so once we had that we were assigned a room, which we moved to around midnight. We were assigned a room on the Infectious Disease floor.

The surgery was scheduled for Saturday morning, January 7th, at 7 am. They came in to our room just before 7 am and transported Griffin down to the pre-surgery area where we traveled with him. We were visited by the anesthesiologist and the doctor (Reid Chambers) who would be performing the surgery. Griffin was so brave and also very nervous and sad and scared about all of this as was I (though I had on my strong Mom face for sure). The surgery is about a half hour long, but it will take and hour or more for the entire process. They gave him the anesthesia (he chose a bubble gum mask) and then took him back for surgery around 7:35 am. Kevin and I waited in the waiting room and checked the monitors for the different phases of Griffin’s status. Surgery began at 8:02 am. Kevin got me a nice cup of coffee for while we waited. It seemed like awhile but was pretty quick. The surgery finished around 8:40 am and Dr. Reid Chambers came out and talked with us. He said he got it all cleaned out and there was definitely lots of “gunk” that he got out and also cleaned the inflamed tissue. Griffin was in recovery for a bit so we grabbed a bite to eat and then we headed back to the room where we met him when they returned him to the room around 9:55 am from recovery. Whew. What a whirlwind of less than 24 hours since our visit to the pediatrician. We are so very thankful for the care we received all along the way. The quick thinking of our pediatrician and the actions of the team at Children’s. This was all pretty nerve wracking.

After we’d been in the room for a bit after the surgery we were visited by Dr. Becky Wallahan, an Infectious Disease physician. She and a cohort visited and went through where we are and what we’re waiting on. She noted it could possibly be Lyme as it is a localized infection and no he’s had no fevers throughout this event. Ugh. This was stressful news for us as it wasn’t a diagnoses but rather a what-could-be idea. So we wait for an unknown period of time until we’re told more. Not my strong suit! I had gone home during the late morning to shower and get some things. Our lovely neighbors the Duncans and Bolans had brought over cards and a gift bag that I took back to the hospital. He was super pumped to open fun things! Then Griffin slept quite a bit later in the day of surgery (Saturday). After watching the Bengals with daddy he fell asleep around 5 pm and slept until 4:20 am. Throughout this time he was having regular doses of Clindamycin (a half hour IV drip) every 8 hours as well as regular vital checks.

On Sunday morning around 5 am (when he woke up!) we gave him the gift from Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong which was great timing as it was delayed from Christmas! It was a Tonie Box carrier and new tonies. This was perfect and was used a lot at the hospital to keep Griffin occupied and helping him to sleep and drown out all of the noises at the hospital. Around 9am or so on Sunday the drain was removed from his knee. The surgery site (one hole at the top and two holes at the bottom of the knee) looked really great!. His knee was kept elevated and he continued to rest.

Around 10:30 am Sunday we were visited by Julie from the Research team. She researches Staphylococcus aurea. Interestingly, we hadn’t yet been given a diagnoses yet we were being asked if we wanted to participate in a study! Griffin would be #298 of enrolled kids in the study. We let Griffin decide as it would involve more needle pokes (but also pays out a financial reward for participation). He was upset and crying but decided he wanted to do it so he could help other kids in the same situation.

Next, around 11:20 am we were visited by Dr. Becky Wallihan again (ID doctor). Unfortunately, there still wasn’t much clarity. She noted there was staphylococcus growing in the culture but that more time was needed to determine what type (aureus would indicate infection, others would indicate contamination from when the knee fluid was taken). Still no results on Lyme (as expected to not have this as it’s the weekend). We were told we would be at the hospital until at least Monday and that is if they were able to identify and confirm the strain and then confirm the appropriate antibiotic was working to kill it (in the lab). If the result is a contaminant, that would reset the path/plan. This was definitely a long period of waiting and confusion and frustration!

Around 12:30pm on Sunday we had a visit from Physical Therapy who had Griffin get up and walk around the room to demonstrate his walking. He wasn’t yet fulling straightening his leg when walking, which is normal. She had him to a sitting exercise on the couch where he slowly slid his right foot forward and then backward (while foot is flat on the floor). We were to look for twinges or body compensation when doing the extensions and pull backs. He was instructed to do 10 reps 3 times per day.

Sunday night was a rough night of sleep for Griffin as he had a stomach ache (likely from the many doses of antibiotics he’s been given and they also changed antibiotics from the Clindamycin IV drip to Nafcillin IV drip). Around 6:25 am the Ortho Resident who had been rounding (who drew the knee fluid also) checked out Griffin’s movement and said it was good. As far as Orto was concerned, as long as ID has him on the correct antibiotics he would be able to go home Monday! Around 8:50 am Dr. Garret Hunt and residents, interns, etc., rounded on Griffin and conducted an Infectious Disease review just outside Griffin’s door in the hallway. He reviewed all of Griffin’s case notes, talked about discharge, and home care as well as prescription information. I don’t even recall the time or person who actually confirmed that it was diagnosed as Staphlycoccus aureus, but that is what he is being treated for. Around 10 am a phlebotomist stopped by to get Griffins’ blood for both research and the labs ordered by Dr. Hunt for discharge. She had LOTS of trouble getting blood out of the IV port and she tried numerous tricks. Finally she was able to get all she needed but it was rather stressful and traumatizing for Griffin after the knee tap needle scenario. She also swabbed behind each ear, inside of each elbow and inside of each nostril . Around 11 am we were visited by PT for a follow up visit – who noted that he is doing GREAT! At 11:30 Griffin took his first oral dose of Antibiotics at the hospital (required before they would discharge him to ensure he will take it). It is 22 mls – which is a huge volume and it doesn’t taste good though it’s also not the worst of the options…..so I guess we’re grateful they put him on Cephalexin. Around noon we were visited by a nurse with discharge instructions and by 12:30p we were outta there!

Here are the many pictures to go with the story!

This was Griffin’s knee (right) at 2 am when he came in to our room crying.

This was Griffin’s knee in the morning Thursday, around 8 am or so. His pain rating wasn’t as high (6,5) as it was in the night (we didn’t ask him for a number then). By the end of his eye appointment the pain was at an 8. At the hospital in the waiting room it was a 4 (we had given him Motrin after the pediatrician appointment). By 11 pm, after the knee fluid draw procedure his movement was more comfortable (leg not as tight) but his pain rating was a 5.75 as he hadn’t been given any further Motrin since 11 am when we were home prior to arriving at the hospital.

After the knee tap procedure in the ER.

The x-ray machine in the ER.

The Ultrasound machine and room at the ER.

Our room that we arrived to around midnight, Friday night/Saturday morning.

My naïve self thought when we left for the hospital around 2 pm or so that we would be back in time to let Lilly go around 4:30/5p. WRONG! So I reached out to Mom and Dad to see if they could let Lilly go until we got home (little did I know we wouldn’t get home!). They gladly helped out and Mom even made Reid some of his favorite color play-doh! They had a fun afternoon and evening of playing together and we even did some FaceTime with Griffin during my stop home on Saturday morning!

Since we had no idea how long we may be at the hospital, Jim and Pat came up to relieve Mom and Dad on Saturday. They enjoyed some time with Reidy too.

Griffin opening all of his fun gifts from family and friends.

Griffin in pre-surgery area prior to anesthesia.

Post-surgery checking the surgery site.

The hospital brought in some play toys to keep Griffin busy and also gave him some PJ pants and a lovely fleece blanket to keep!

Visit from Physical Therapy.

Watching the Bengals to pass the time and lots of time to eat in the hospital!

He’s up and moving all around 🙂

This was after the visit from the research team and talk of needle pokes and blood draws.

Our floor and the view just outside our door, luckily we were the first room on the floor so we didn’t have to walk by much to get to our room on the Infectious Disease floor.

Happiest kid around – I’M GOIN HOME!!

Kevin and I saw a lot of views of the hospital but this was the only time Griffin saw any of the cool walls, trees, animals, and things they have in the hospital – on his escort to the car!

Welcome home! Lilly and Reid were there to greet all of us and Griffin was visited shortly after by all of his neighborhood pals!

Griffin had a recheck at Powell Pediatrics a day or two after going home. Everything was looking good. He went back to school on Wednesday with some restrictions (no running until follow up visit with Ortho on 1/19). Thankful for his GABB watch so I can check in on him.

Reid has been having a good month in Monkey class with his friends. Here are some photos from the app.

Griffin’s knee is continuing to look better. Still some swelling.

On January 14th we gathered at Amy and Andy’s to celebrate Andy’s birthday! Kevin hadn’t been feeling well and had given himself a Covid test which was negative. None of us have gotten much rest over the last week and he was feeling pretty run down. Unfortunately almost a week later Kevin tested positive for Covid. He was really feeling terrible. So we setup a quarantine room for him in our guest room and the boys and I hung out elsewhere. Then, on Friday morning Griffin woke up and told me he had a headache. Hmmm….so I decided to get him tested at Powell Pediatrics and wouldn’t you know – he was also positive. Ugh. Go away bad news! So now he and Griffin are hanging together. I figured to be a good human I should also test myself and Reid so I scheduled appointments for Reid and me at the Urgent Care in Delaware where Kevin went. They won’t do testing without symptoms so I told them Reid was very tired and sore throat (true on the first, a bit far fetched on the second -but he did fall asleep on the way there and was totally fussy the entire time we were there). They did a PCR throat swap for Reid and a PCR nasal swab for me. We had results by Saturday morning – Reid positive and I was negative. Neither of the boys really felt unwell but both quarantined – Reid for the next week and Griffin until Wednesday.

Before and during COVID quarantine Griffin worked on his Derby Car for Cub Scouts. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to go to the Pinewood Derby race due to having Covid. I was able to dropoff the car for the scouts to still include it in the races though and we were able to watch remotely!

When we went home from the hospital Griffin was on 22ml of Cephalexin oral antibiotics every 8 hours for 3 weeks. Yikes! In order to not have to send medication to school, we stuck with an 8 am, 4 pm, 12 am schedule with parent pickup for these weeks to ensure he’s home for his meds. The midnight dose was not a fun one – who wants woken up to drink terrible tasting meds! But we made it through and Griffin was a champ. He turned it in to a competition of how fast he could down it and he got it down to just a couple seconds – which was amazing compared to the initial 15-20 mins of coercing necessary in the beginning. He also made a nice log to keep track of taking his meds.