I know this feeling – and it scares me…

Today has been one of THOSE days. You know, the day that you SWEAR you’ve lived before.

It started last week. The cough we hoped would go away.

An ear tube that they put in last March fell out about 10 days ago and (shockingly) led to an ear infection.

Large doses of strong antibiotics were prescribed. We thought she was on the mend.

“Thought” being the operative word!

M and I went away for the weekend. Couples massages, uninterrupted dinner in a restaurant , a fancy, schmancy hotel, topped off with some fun shopping and walking around quaint old town St. Augustine late at night. So fun. Soooooo fun! We also attended an Adoption Seminar, but that should probably be a post on its own.

S went to my mom’s house for the weekend. Where she subsequently forgot she was potty trained AND her cough was increasingly worse. My poor Mom!! I owe her dinner or a vacation, or at least should pay to clean her carpets. S coughed a little Friday night. A lot on Saturday and last night, well – lets just say I’m running on fumes. No sleep was had by all. (Well M slept, but S and I didn’t.)

She had a coughing fit so bad that I thought I was going to have to call 911. Not kidding. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night. But strangely I’ve been here before. S has been here before too. And it just plain sucks.

We had an early appointment with her pediatrician and after testing her for the flu and RSV and giving her a nebulizer treatment, her oxygen sats were still at 93 and little air was moving on her right side. So to the ER we went.

As you can see, this is the face of a kid who feels awful! My poor sweet girl!

Her oxygen sats were better by the time we reached the ER (95). We went for for a chest x-ray and had another stronger breathing treatment.

Doctor said no pneumonia which was great news! Called it bronchitis with some viral component because the antibiotics weren’t working at all. Her ears were better, but since S is allergic to an entire class of antibiotics, the usual ones that would work, were not an option.

So $175 later (up from 125 last year), we were sent home with the exact same treatment plan that we left with.

And S still sounds awful.

As annoyed as I was about paying the 175 dollars, I’m glad she doesn’t have pneumonia. However, M took a positive spin on it saying that with the higher ER fees, at least we will reach our out of pocket maximum sooner this year….always the optimist – that man of mine….

Adoption Q and A

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about adoption. I had a conversation about adoption with my new blogger friend Lianna, and there were a few things that she asked that I thought were important to share.

1. Why the lack of real names on our blog? 
Our birthmom (whose story I haven't completed) struggles with addiction and lives in the area. With her history, we feel that it is safer for us all to not have a fully open adoption at this time.

2. Why not foster/adopt? 
My journey through infertility was one that broke my heart. It broke my spirit. It made me feel like a failure despite all of the other successes in my life. Although it has since mended quite a bit because of S, I am not mentally or emotionally prepared to welcome a child into our lives and have them removed from our lives. Yes, adoption has risks - but the more I can buffer my heart from those risks, the better.

3. Why did you not pursue fertility treatments? Why adopt?
M is adopted. So is his sister. With my ovarian condition, the odds were not good, and if we invested all of that money into trying to create our "own" and it didn't work....I simply wasn't interested in continuing to "fail." M and I discussed going the IVF route for this baby, but ultimately decided that adoption was a better option for us. Why created something new, when there are so many children that need safe and loving homes? Do I think we might "try" again (or adopt again) in a few years....YES! After all, we have a minivan, a big house, and even bigger hearts. There is plenty of room! :)

4.What about the risks of a failed adoption?
We feel that if an adoption situation fails then that simply means that child is not supposed to be ours. Will we be heartbroken? Of course!! But our firm faith in God simply says that our child will find us.

5. Where are you in the adoption process?
We have our homestudy interview on November 30th. We only have a few more documents to complete (and due to S's illness, I am WAY behind!). As soon as our homestudy is complete, I will submit our applications for grants and loan funding. Then the waiting begins!

6. Are you locating your own birthmother?
Yes and no. Maybe so. Not sure. Our current agency does not actively recruit birthmothers. They might get wind of a situation that would work for us, but that is a MIGHT. So we are seeking out other resources. We're planning on using social media (twitter, etc.) to try to network with someone who might know of someone....also we are looking at an agency in AL that has a small application fee and nothing until you get a placement. There is also a school in Northern Florida that is for pregnant teens and I'm contacting them about potential situations. As I've said before, our child will find us. (The key is being patient....speaking of that- S has taken to saying , "It's coming. Be patient!" a bunch lately. Usually it is in reference to the TV taking time to warm up, but what a great reminder! She also calls her baby brother to be, Bukas).

If you happen to know of an adoption situation that might work for us (Full Caucasian boy or b/g twins) or want to ask questions, make recommendations, etc....our email address is ourlittleerdnuss@gmail.com.

Thanks and please remember to vote daily (link on right). We have been bumped off the Top 10 and are no longer leading the Personal category.

HEALTH UPDATE: S got a clean bill of health from her cardiologist on Monday. No fever. Still not quite herself, but hopefully will be soon. It's so nice to have my sweet, snuggly girl back. Off to the dermatologist this morning. Will report later. Ciao!

My Poor Girl

Is sick.

Like sick, sick.

As in, coughing so much that she gasps and chokes.

I'm watching her like a hawk and hoping to avoid a trip to the swine infested ER. We're headed to the ped in the morning after cardiology.

Our trip to Jacksonville was not fun (except the brief good hours S had while visiting Lianna). We had a great talk about adoption.

Oh and today I got a contract to develop an online course. The amount that I will be paid is exactly the amount of the check I sent to our agency. God does provide!

More when I know more....

Until then, if you are interested in more of S's story :  click here.

Thanks for all the support. Please vote daily using the link on the right.

Mystery Not Solved

Oh my sweet girl! Last night was pretty rough on us all. Not much sleep to be found...note the bags under her eyes.

I awoke to her wheezing and rattling this morning. Not good. After not eating any dinner last night, she asked for pizza for breakfast. I happily complied since it's been days since she has really eaten much. (M said that I took away one of those college "firsts" - eating cold pizza for breakfast! Oh well! She ate!) She lost a pound over the last week!!!

Put a call into her pediatrician and her pulmonologist (which reminds me that they never did call me back!) Well considering they almost killed her months ago....maybe that's a good thing.

Ped called back and wanted us to come in. S was diagnosed with another ear infection last week and it appeared that the drops weren't working well and we might have to switch to oral antibiotics. I HATE oral antibiotics, especially since S spent 14 weeks straight on them earlier in the year. Ugh.

So we went into our peds office and I took these pics. (Yes, I did let her wear her pajamas in public. So sue me. They're cute, and I was TIRED.)

Trying to escape!

Come on Mama, let's go!

If you won't let me leave, then I will just hit you and tear up this paper. (This was followed by a time out!)

But I want to put the pulse ox back on! Now! Now! Now!

This was not a pleasant visit with a grumpy 2 year old and a 2 hour wait....but we ended up with good news.

It isn't Influenza A or B. Or Strep. So just a cold. No explanation for the crazy heart rate/fast breathing/peeling hand thingy. This doc (not our usual ped) also recommended that we head up to Gainesville for a rheumatology evaluation. She thinks S has some systemic inflammatory disorder. Lovely.

Her O2 stats were a bit low for S, between 95-97, but other than that...

She is running a low grade fever tonight, but we are still headed out of town in the morning. I may live to regret this trip, but it isn't really that far, and if S gets really sick, then we'll just come home.

More tomorrow.

Please remember to vote for this blog. Click on the Orbbies link on the right hand side. Thanks!

Quick Health Update

So yesterday I learned that S has been exposed to H1N1 at her preschool. This was distressing, but not unexpected. (I mean, where isn't the piggy flu now?) We got her the vaccine, but only 8 days ago...

When S gets sick, she usually gets into moderate respiratory distress. Normal breathing rate for her age is per min is 30. Our pulmonologist gave us an outside margin of 35. Tonight, as she sat still in my arms, S's was between 48-50.

Not good.

She currently does not have a fever, but is obviously working hard to breathe. Her little heart is racing again too because she is working hard to breathe or she's working hard to breathe because her heart is racing. I don't know.

This isn't the first time. She's a mystery.

Poor kid has a pulmonologist, cardiologist, ENT, gastroenterologist, endocrinologist, opthamologist, nephrologist, neurologist, neurosurgeon and soon a dermatologist (rheumatology and immunology are coming shortly too). We know quite a few nurses on staff in both the ER and the pediatric floor.

We have an appointment next Monday with her cardiologist to discuss whether her peeling hands and feet over the last few months have any cardiac implications. She also has an appointment with dermatology on Wed. of next week to discuss some eczema issues and further investigate a cause of the peeling hands and feet. Lovely...

I just want to fix this....and I don't know how....

Yes, I worry. Something minor can spiral out of control so quickly with S. No one knows why.

So I'll be up most of the night probably....maybe I'll go sleep in there with her - just to be safe. Hoping this is something that can wait until morning, but that remains to be seen.

Update:
I just went back in to check on S. Respiration rate is 33-37 and pulse is better. She is sweaty, cold and clammy. Will check on her again in a few.

Long Overdue Health Update

Overall S has been doing very well. We’ve made some changes recently that seem to be helping.

Her health picture right now:

Asthma – S still needs occasional breathing treatments when she gets the slightest hint of a cough. Usually nighttime is the worst for her, so for a while we were giving nebulizer treatments before bed and that seemed to reduce the nighttime coughing fits. The move from a carpeted room to one with hardwood floors was a great one for her. She used to wake up multiple times coughing at night in the carpeted room and that has been reduced to once or twice a night. We are all sleeping better as a result.

Reflux – This problem is pretty bad right now. For a while after eating or drinking S would burp incessantly. Honestly for a while I thought she was mimicking M (Sorry Honey). But then it occurred to me (rather slowly I might add) that her coughing fits were at the same time every time. So either she has the most regular sleep cycle ever, OR the reflux was back. Her pediatrician put her back on Zantac for a while and we will be having a follow up with the gastroenterologist to see what our options are. Thankfully S seems to be going much better medicated. Hard to tell if her coughing fits are better because of the move to the new room, or both…but either way the constant burping has stopped. Her reflux must have been bothering her because after being on meds for a few weeks we missed a dose and she actually spit up – something she hasn’t done in months!! Poor girl. Her pulmonologist thinks that she possibly has airway/lung damage from all of the reflux and wants to do a bronchoscopy at some point. Problem is, no one is willing to put her under general anesthesia to explore this further. Fine by me (for now).

Neuro Issues: The results of all of the testing that we had done this summer were inconclusive. She is not having seizures and the MRI showed no tumors or lesions on her brain. Our neurologist said that she has additional fluid on her brain in the lower back portion but that it wasn’t causing any issues. Essentially the benign hydrocephalus that she had as a baby never fully resolved itself but did not increase. Her neurosurgeon said he didn’t see anything –but I didn’t argue with either one of them. I have learned to take each doc’s opinion as a piece of the puzzle, even if they don’t fit. I’ve also realized that medicine (especially with mysterious medical issues) is mostly just a guessing game. Frustrating but true.

Genetic Testing: S’s neurologist sent out her blood for genetic testing in July and we have yet to receive results. There is a company called 23andme.com that sells kits to do genetic testing and then is compiling information into a large database. I am curious to see if S’s results can be entered into this database to try to identify predispositions or patterns. Since we don’t have that much information about her birthparents, getting an overall picture would be fantastic.

I had hoped by the time that I would write this update that we would have some clear cut answers, but we don’t.

What we do know:

• S has elevated lymphocytes and a large quantity of abnormal lymphocytes.
• Her other liver enzymes have returned to normal. However, her alkaline phosphatase levels have been elevated for more than six months.
• She continues to be bothered by asthma and allergies. If I do not dust her room multiple times a week, her sleeping is severely affected.
• Her energy has greatly improved since the last time she was in preschool. This is in part to better sleep at night, overall increase in health, and the fact that if she is showing signs of fatigue, I keep her home and let her sleep (one of the benefits of working from home).

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about the Flu this year –especially since so many of my friends (not local yet) have the flu (H1N1 or Infl. A). We’re all getting our flu shots this year (not the H1N1 shot though). I’m meeting with her pediatrician next week to come up with a plan of action should S get the flu. Last year’s flu shot did not prevent her from getting the flu and that was what sparked a 5 month decline in health. We are hoping for better luck this season, but are realists. She is in preschool fulltime – surrounded by other snotty kids. It’s spreading quickly. If we do end up with the flu – I am pretty certain that we will have a good plan in place.

We are also meeting with her pulmonogist and pediatrican to discuss some preventative things we can either do or take with us on our trip to Germany in December. I’m not sure if they’ll give us Tamiflu to carry with us, but in a case like S’s – it would be better to have that on hand. We also travel with antibiotics for ear infections, UTI’s and respiratory issues. We also bought travel insurance for this trip just to be safe. You just never know.

So that’s where we stand.

We’re still a bit on uncertain ground, but things have settled down enough to catch our breath. We haven’t been to the pediatrician in three weeks now and just had our first trip to the ER in 4 months a few days ago (nothing to worry about, just blood work.) With any luck, I won’t have to write another health update for a while.

Positive thinking, right?

Hands and Toes

It started last Sunday when my parents were visiting. My mom called my name from the porch in a different tone of voice than usual. She asked S to show me her hands and S's skin was fallingoff her fingertips on her left hand. I mean, we're talking chunks. Thin layers, but huge (dime sized). We brought her in from playing in the water and dried her off to get a better look.

My first guess was that she touched some chemical in our house. But we are so careful about that and so that was a no.

I thought maybe she touched a magic eraser that I had left on the counter top, but it was still in the same place and if you know anything about 2 year olds - they are incapable of putting things back in the exact place...so that was a no.

Then I assumed that maybe it was from touching the bathroom floor at school. They have taught the kids to put their hands on the floor with their bottoms in the air so that they can be wiped after visiting the facilities. While I appreciate the gesture in ensuring that my kid is always wiped well, the fact that she tries to "assume the position" in public bathrooms with disgusting floors is MORE than I can bear. Must.tell.daycare.to.stop.that!!

By Tuesday both hands were peeling. Just on her fingertips.

Here are a few pics we took. Hard to see exactly, but see how the tips are red? They don't seem to hurt her much, if at all, but the skin falling off freaks her out. Poor girl.

Friday we went to the pediatrician to get her ears looked at since she was saying that they hurt, but the pediatrician didn't have any guesses except that she came in contact with something and we would probably never know what it was. She said lots of lotion and to keep an eye on it.

Last night it started on her toes. Just the tips of her toes but also in huge chunks.

This morning, her poor raw fingers have started a second peel on the already tender skin.

From my dear friends on Facebook, I've heard many suggestions. The one that makes the most sense is yet another bout of Hand, Foot and Mouth. If I can't get it under control by Tues, back to the ped we go.

Poor kid.

In other health related news....overall S has been doing very well. She's been back at daycare for a month now and we've only been to see the pediatrician twice. (Yes, this is a new record.) I have a much longer health post to share, but it will have to wait until early next week.

Oh, and I tentatively did get a job. (Once I pass the training phase) I will be working from home as an online adjunct instructor using my M.Ed. in Bilingual/Multicultural Education. This is fantastic news and I have another interview for another online adjunct position today in fact. So working both will provide enough of a cushion for us to be able to take a placement of our son as soon as our home study is complete. (Will post an update on that too).

So, if you are keeping track: (this is mostly for me)

I owe you a post about:

S's health

A new update on our current adoption situation

What we've done to our house (I didn't mention this because I wanted to take pictures first)

I'll get to them soon. Promise. Until then. Have a great day!

Two Pokes (Or how I almost punched a nurse!)

Today we went for blood work ordered by S's endocrinologist. The nurses were nice and all, but they had to stick my toddler TWICE!!! The first time, the nurse literally rooted around in S's arm for MINUTES!! I looked at her and said,"You have five more seconds to get it, or you need to try another vein!" I was so irritated that she would try so long on a BABY!! WTH? While I'm not prone to violence of any kind, I'm always surprised by the mother lion that comes out when something is going down with S and I was tempted to push her away (or hit her)!

She finally got it on the second attempt. But still.

I guess she felt kind of bad, because she came in with a huge stack of stickers for S. I told S she could choose ONE and the nurse said she could have them all. Here is S holding her new found stash of stickers (which Mommy promptly hid to dispense after breathing treatments and trips to the potty!). S was so good though, so I let her have 4 stickers on the way home.

Endo, MRI, and misc...

This has to be quick: I'm supposed to be working on stuff for my "other" job (besides mommy) and it's already late. But here we go.

Friday:

Had an appointment with the endocrinologist. She didn't have S's complete medical record so she didn't want to do too much. I was pretty impressed with her at first, but then it happened....

She made some comment like "Your daughter is so advanced for her age!" I thought it was a little odd but smiled politely. (Don't get me wrong, I agree - BUT she just met S). The conversation continues for a while and then she shows me the growth chart. They have S marked on the chart as a 12 MONTH OLD!! So when the doctor said she was advanced, she thought she was an advanced 12 month old and not a 23 month old. Er..I may be a little dense here, but if my doc can't tell the difference between a one and two year old, how am I going to put stock in her decision making skills? Or just her skills in general? NOT. GOOD.

End result with the Endo is that we are going to check her hormone levels (thyroid) and doc is going to review S's entire medical record and see what other tests she might order. She did also mention the pheochromocytoma and the dreaded 24 hour urine catch - but we're holding off for a little longer. Oh, and did I mention she thought my kid was ONE? Sheesh!

Saturday:

We did stuff around the house in preparation for S's big 2nd b-day party here on Saturday. Note to self: If you are planning on throwing a party on a weekend, don't unearth all of your things (messes) and try to get them organized. Or your living room might end up looking like this: These are old clothes of S's to sort before they go up to the attic.

Sunday:

We had S's Flash(aka Quick) MRI done at 10:30. The last time we went in there, we waited for over an hour before being called. This time, only 5 minutes. I must remember to make weekend appointments more often. Spectacular. They had to strap her down and wedge her noggin in a helmet like device and she didn't like that much. I was able to calm her down a bit and the MRI lasted only about 5 minutes, but S did NOT like the sound of it at all. Even with earplugs. No results yet, I will keep you posted.

Monday:

This morning we went over to the elementary school where I used to teach. I needed to pick up all of my teacher stuff that has been sitting in a closet for almost 2 years. I only brought home about a third of my stuff. I'm not sure where it is going to go but my mom is going to come over tomorrow morning and help me organize. Thankfully. This afternoon was spent running errands (bank, post office, etc.) and then S got a good dose of playing with Daddy.

Speaking of Daddy, S would not snuggle with anyone but me until 3 nights ago when I convinced her that Daddy was perfectly capable of snuggling with her. She must have believed me, because now Daddy is getting a good dose of snuggles before S goes to bed. I get mine before nap time. So it's a win-win-win-win-win. (A point to the person that actually gets this reference).

More tomorrow. Or soon...

A Visit to the Early Intervention Program

S and I had an appointment with our local Early Intervention Program. It was an interesting conversation with the Intervention Specialist. We originally contacted this program when we discovered that S couldn't hear due to her ear infections. I wanted to get her into speech therapy because at 20 months, she only said a few words - but after her surgery (when she could hear!!) she didn't qualify because she wasn't "hearing impaired" anymore.

But I decided to take her in to have a developmental eval done anyway. It's funny, because I never really "think" about S being a former preemie but instead of the 24 month scale, they used the 22 month scale. I was pretty surprised by the results.

She didn't qualify under the 22 month scale. She probably would have under the 24 month scale.

Her speech, which was my concern...was off the charts fantastic. I even downplayed her skills a bit but then little Miss S started jabbering away and the specialist couldn't write down all her vocabulary words fast enough. She followed all the directions. Knew obscure body parts (like elbow, neck and knee) and was forming simple sentences. Today she actually said a 4 word sentence. It was "More milk please Mommy!" All this from the kiddo that wasn't talking 3 months ago!! She amazes me.

Her motor skills were delayed. There needed to be 25% deficiency in her skills according to her age for her to qualify. She was at 20% deficiency in both gross and fine motor skills. She can't hop. She has trouble kicking a ball while standing still (*but so do I at 31!) and has some balance issues that led to the deficiencies. Her balance problem interferes a bit with her ability to run, stop, and start running again.

I always thought her fine motor skills were on track. And they are. I mean, really, is the world going to end if your kid can't put 4 blocks in a straight line and push them like a train? Is that really a necessary skill to get into college? Will she not become President because of this? Or an astronaut? (okay so maybe that is a bit of stretch...but still). THIS I've decided not to worry about.

The gross motor skills... I guess we'll hit the playground a lot this summer. Oh darn! (Except is Florida and a bazillion degrees with 100% humidity and mosquitoes. Anyone want to get us an indoor playground?)

I left with S's case being dismissed because she didn't qualify and with the Specialists pronouncement that S is brilliant! (Yes she really did say that).

A good friend of mine used to volunteer with students with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and brought up the similar facial features that S and FAS kids share. I did my research and much of the literature discusses cognitive difficulties and mental retardation. Although she does have similar eyes...there is no doubt that S is very smart. Her personality is really starting to come out too...so watch out world!!

We spent the rest of the day at home while S explored using the potty. All. Day. Long. 9 times in 4 hours. She loved it. I was tired. And still no successful use of said potty, but enthusiasm abounds. But I have to record her pee-pee song. It's just too funny. I'll keep the video for me to torture her with when she's a teen and the audio I'll post here. You'll laugh. Promise.

Tomorrow we meet with the endocrinologist at 10:00am. Flash MRI is scheduled for Sunday at 10:30. Until tomorrow. 'nite!

A frustrating day....

Thursday was so frustrating as a parent that I just couldn't even write about it until today. (Okay, I probably could have written about it yesterday...but didn't have time.) Either way, it was one of the most frustrating upsetting days I have had in quite a while.

We finally got the urine sample off to the lab to rule out a possible UTI. I dropped S off at school for the LAST time for a while (and boo-hooed all the way home!!). S LOVES school, but now that I am not working and we need to solve this health stuff, it makes NO sense to keep her in school and around all those germy kids. (And pay the 800 bucks a month now that I am "unemployed").

I spend the day "cleaning" for my cousing Emi and her family's visit. Turns out, they're not so hip on germs either so they ended up having to get their condo a day early. So my "cleaning" turned into blogging, napping, etc. until it was time to get S from school.

Picking her up from school for the last time was soooo hard. I'm going to save the story for it's own post instead of here.

We headed down to her neurosurgery appointment. After having the pulmonogist and her pediatrician "guess" it was neurological - my hopes were HIGH for this appointment. Dr. G was the same neurosurgeon that saw S when her noggin looked like this.

Here is what was frustrating. In Dr. G's practice, a PA (physician's assistant) usually comes in first to get all the pertinent info and then run it by the doc for more guidance. Dr. G usually comes in for the last few moments, gives his blessing, and sends us on our merry way.

Thurs was no different. The PA and I had an extensive conversation and I watched as her face grow more and more concerned as I explained what was going on with S. The hospitalizations. The tachycardia, tachypnea, hypertension, gait disturbances, sleep apnea, etc. I explained that the pediatrician had consulted with Dr. G and they decided to do a Flash MRI. When I relayed that to the PA, she said:

"The Flash MRI will not show us a clear enough picture - we need to do the full MRI!"

She left the room to discuss with Dr. G and they both came back it. Dr. G asked about her head shape (to which I responded that I was thankful she was a girl so her hair would hide any imperfections) and then proclaimed that we were going to do just the Flash MRI. Totally. Contradicted. The PA!!

I didn't felt heard. (We were the last patients of the day and I could tell he was itching to get out of there...) I asked him what we were looking for on the MRI and he said either hydrocephalus (but he didn't think so since S wasn't having issues), a chiari malformation (possible), and either a tumor or a cyst (not likely). He said we'd have to wait for the results of the MRI but that he didn't "think" it was neurological.

Just. Great.

Don't get me wrong (as my mother did when I explained this story). I'm HAPPY that he doesn't think its neurological -BUT it still doesn't get us any closer to an answer what is causing the issues with S. And I just want answers. Yesterday! (Patience is NOT one of my virtues!)

I also mentioned the delayed response episodes from the other day and he recommended that we take S to a neurologists for a seizure eval.

Not neurological, but go get a EEG to rule out seizures.

The entire visit was a contradiction.

And a frustration.

Quick Health Update!

We just got back from a visit to S's favorite doctor, her pediatrician, Dr. V. Yesterday both M and I noticed that S seemed to take longer to process what we were asking her to do. When you ask her where her nose, ears, etc. were, she would look at you - pause and then respond. MUCH longer than before. It seemed to last quite a while - atleast most of yesterday afternoon and early evening. We were obviously concerned so I decided that I would call her pediatrician to see if she thought it was a big deal.

This morning when I got S up, she didn't look or sound good. She was fussy (it was early) and when she cried, she sounded like a seal. My first thought was croup. Actually, if the truth be told, it was "oh crap croup!" But she seemed to settle down. She was huffing and puffing, which isn't really normal I know...but she went with me to my weigh in appointment (down a total of 18 lbs! Yeah me!!) and then I took her to school.

Around 2:30 I couldn't stop thinking about S's delayed response, so I picked up my cell phone and it rang. It was Dr. V calling me!! No joke. She was calling to tell me that the neurosurgeon and nephrologist agreed to do a Flash MRI on S to see what was happening with her noggin. Her neurosurgeon would write a script for the MRI at our appt on Thursday. I explained what was going on with S and she wanted me to bring her in at 5pm. Just to be safe.

So....the long and short of it...

1. S has some fluid on her ears, but it is clear (not an infection) and might explain some of her delay but not all. Dr. V is going to let the neurosurgeon deal with that one on Thurs.

2. S might have croup or at least a cold. If she has any difficulty breathing again tonight, we MUST go to the ER. Because of her hypertension, treating croup would require steroids. Steriods increase blood pressure. S would have to be admitted for treatment.

3. S possibly has another UTI. We will be taking a trip to the lab tomorrow to see for sure. S is prone to them for some unknown reason and so we are suspicious since she seems in pain.

So there you go. Possible fluid is the cause of her delay. Possible croup but be ready for an ER trip and possibly a UTI.

A good time is definitely NOT being had by all.

And funny: Right as I was leaving the doc asked for my number. I said, "Come on Dr. V, you don't have us on speed dial yet?" She laughed and actually admitted that our number is the only patient one programmed on her cell phone. Yep, that's how often she calls us. At home. In the middle of the night. She's fantastic.