Well, it's been about a month since we last updated - which isn't too bad - but thought I'd better update.
Ethan had a vision checkup to see how is vision is coming with the patching and after his catarac surgery. Dr. Mohney is surprised that Ethan can't see any better than he is. To me, it appears that Ethan's right eye cannot focus as it should. It takes him a long time to get that eye to "look" in the direction he wants to see. If he takes his time and really concentrates it seems to work, but it takes time. At his last eye appointment, Ethan got glasses. We got them just this past Monday, so he is still trying to get used to them.
The big news, is that Ethan has a baby cousin. Her name is Ava Gracelyn. She was born on March 18 and weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce. Her mom and dad are Aunt Emily and Uncle Mike. Ethan has had the pleasure of visiting her twice since she was born. They live in the Cities. When he's around her, there's not a chance that anyone else is going to get to hold her. She is all his!!! The one day we got to see her, he needed to check her out all over. He looked at her, pulled off her blankets, thought she had lost a hand at one point, and covered her all up again. Then he just held her and held her and held her. He was so proud.
The Monday after Easter, Ethan came down with one heck of a cold. He has been coughing and a stuffy nose and just kind of dragging. He was to the point where he was going to bed at 7 p.m. - As most of you know, this is just not Ethan. We would get done with supper, he would want to take his bath and then head off to bed. Unusual to say the least!!
Tuesday night he began to complain about pain in his stomach and groin area. We had gone to Albert Lea to do a little shopping. He decided he needed to ride in the cart. Again, very unusual. He ate nothing for supper. He was just drained when we got home. We gave him some Tylenol and sent him off to bed. About 5 a.m. he came downstairs and said that his side and groin area hurt. I went with him to the bathroom and noticed nothing unusual.
I decided he had been dragging long enough and he needed to get to the doctor. We got an appointment for Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. When we saw the doctor, they looked at his groin and crotch area. His right testicle was very red, swollen, hot to the touch and very painful to be touched. After doing some bloodwork and finding that his white counts were somewhat elevated, they decided that we needed to head to St. Mary's ER. They said with his past history, that's where we needed to go. Their main concern was that either he had an infection or we were dealing with a twisted testicle. My main concern was that it was a tumor or mass coming back.
I called Mayo Pediatric Oncology and let them know that we were on our way. They alerted the ER so we could get right in and not have to wait. This happened. We were taken back to a room and saw the doctor on call. He ordered for Ethan to have an ultrasound to see what was going on. After a long wait, we were told that Ethan had some type of a viral infection in his testicle. It was not twisted and was not a mass, but an infection. Probably caused by some type of trauma or just a back up of urine into the testicle. There is no medication for him to take - it just needs to run it's course. He needs to rest and lay low. I guess it will take time to heal. His actual diagnosis is Epididymitis.
He cried when we told him he needed to stay home from school. It seems he is feeling better tonight, as he is up and around at least. He is actually playing with some of his toys. There is no school tomorrow - so he will be able to rest at day care. Then we have the weekend to recuperate. Hopefully he will be back to normal soon.
Again, thanks for checking on us. We apprciate all everyone does for us.
