Welcome Back!

Well, my one month planned break from the blog turned out to be a little longer. Sickness has not stopped visiting us. We spent every month since March with someone being sick. Unfortunately, June and July it was Irene and she was very sick indeed.

 

After school finished we had Irene's 6th birthday which was an absolute blast. She is all about Build-A-Bear so she got a lot of gift certificates to the place. We enjoyed a couple of weeks of summer just relaxing. Then Irene got a pain in her side. Then a high fever. Then a very high fever. We ended up taking her to one of the urgent care places in the city. I gave them all the info about her fever and pain. The doctor decided that because of the area that Irene was experiencing pain and the very high fever we needed to take her to the Children's Hospital. The doctor called them to let them know we were on our way. At the time it was suspected that Irene had appendicitis.  

 

 

We were taken back to a room as soon as we got there. An ultrasound was scheduled. After the ultrasound, blood work and urinalysis the news came back that Irene had a very bad urinary tract infection that was well on its way to involving her kidney. The emergency doctor decided that Irene needed to stay in hospital so that she could be given massive doses of antibiotics. Plus, she was still experiencing the high fevers.

 

We were moved to their observation unit which is just a hallway away from the emergency area. This unit had crafts for the kids to do and Irene made two beaded bracelets and painted. All the rooms in the hospital have tvs that have access to a ton of movies. We watched a lot of movies during our stay.

 

Irene spent about two days in hospital. When the discharge doctor was doing her final assessment she asked if Irene had a heart murmur. Uh...no. Never has any of her doctors said that they've heard one. Well, this doctor said she could definitely hear it and that illness with make a murmur much more noticeable. We left the hospital with several prescriptions for Irene and a new report to take to her doctor for a follow up visit.

 

We went to Irene's doctor for the follow-up. At the time she was feeling better and her office urinalysis came back clean. The doctor had an EKG done in the office after listening to her heart and hearing the murmur himself. The doctor felt that this murmur is showing all the signs of being an 'innocent murmur' which means that it isn't too serious. However, because it is a new murmur and discovered during an illness she has to see a pediatric cardiologist. They will do an echo cardiogram and ultrasound to see how the blood is flowing to and from her heart and how the valves are working.

 

We went home with this new info and set about waiting for the appointment with the cardiologist and trying to get our summer back on track. Then about a week after finishing the antibiotics Irene starting complaining that her side hurt. Then she started with a fever. Then the high fever. As soon as the fever started climbing we were back into the doctor's office. Another urinalysis was done and another, longer and stronger, antibiotic was given. She was put on restricted activity and told to drink a lot of fluids to flush out her kidneys. Another follow-up appointment was made.

 

I am happy to say that this last dose of antibiotics seem to have done the trick. August has been spent illness free for Irene. We do have the cardiologist appointment set up for the first week of September. Unfortunately, that means she'll miss a day of school that first week of school, but I've already spoken to her teacher about it.

 

So, we have fully gotten into 'getting ready for school to start' mode. Henry will be in second grade this year and starting at a new school. Irene will be in first grade and has the same teacher that Henry had last year. Gavin will be starting preschool. He even got a scholarship through Great Start that covers the cost of the entire year. He'll be in the same preschool program that Irene was in when we first moved here. I think they did a great job with her and I'm looking forward to what Gavin will do in the program.

 

We finish August with school meetings and getting ready for September. Let's hope for good things to come!!

Taking a Small Break...

February has kicked our backsides in the way of sickness. I've never had a month like that one. Each of us hit with illness after illness. I am still fighting an exhausting cough and cannot find the extra mental energy to compose posts for the blogs.

I hope March will be a month of healing and we'll come back in April healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Take Care! We'll be back soon.

Playing in the Snow!

 For Christmas Henry got a sled. Unfortunately, we didn't have very much snow so he didn't get a chance to try it out until the end of January. We finally had enough snow to take it to a nearby park.

 There was a small hill that was perfect for beginning sledders. All three of them took turns on it and had a blast doing so.

 There was playground equipment and a slide to play on as well. We discovered that there is also a very small ice skating rink set up at this park. The kids don't have ice skates, but if winter has finally hit us we may get some.

 We got a lot of snow here Thursday and Friday. I think it was 10 inches. While I hate it the kids were out playing in it yesterday and it does make for good sledding. I think the nearby Meijer may have some sleds on sale. I think Irene would like her own.

 The children had no school on Friday. They went out and jumped around in the snow and tried to shovel. The snow is so wet and heavy that it was hard for them to pick up the shovel. When they came in they were drenched. Hot chocolate was given out to warm them up.

At least the kids can enjoy the snow!

A Doctor!

Since we've moved down here a year and a half ago we have not been able to find doctors in the area. No one here takes our insurance. Well, that isn't entirely true. There is a Spanish speaking clinic and a free clinic in a terrible part of town that will take us, but that is it.

I spoke with the insurance company and they said that we could go pretty much anywhere as long as the office was willing to bill our insurance. I found one in our town that listed the insurance on their website. When I called them though, holy cow! You'd think I had asked them to part the sea! Talk about rude and nasty. The woman on the phone was absolutely offend that I suggested that they take the insurance. I told her it is on their website. Hmm, as for her answer...the gist of it being that I must not be able to read. Customer service must not be high on their list. I wouldn't go there even if they did accept our insurance.

I would check the insurance site once a week in the hope that a new one would pop up. Then one week I got a shock. New doctors! Only 20 minutes from our house! I immediately called Mark with the info so he could call for an appointment. He was in the most need of going. He called and yes, they just started taking the insurance. Mark would be the first one signed up. He went in and liked the doctor, the office and how things were handled. We decided to sign the kids up, too. Unfortunately, I have a different insurance plan then Mark and the kids, so I didn't get to sign up. Still, happiness for a doctor nearby!

We took the kids in for a well child check-up. The office was easy to get to and nice. They even have a big room that is all play area for kids. The doctor we saw (the same one Mark saw) was excellent and easily handled my three monkeys.

Thankfully, we found this office. At the appointment the doctor found that Irene had a very swollen lymph node on her right side. Since she had been sick two weeks before the appointment we all figured it was from that. The doctor said to keep an eye on it. About two week later she told me her neck hurt. The huge gland was still there, but a hard, marble-like node had popped up lower down her neck. A day later another one popped out between the marble one and the huge one.

We went back to the doctor. This time it was the other doctor in the practice. He was also very good with her. He measured the lymph nodes and also found that her tonsil on that side is swollen. Since she has no other symptoms he couldn't give a definite diagnosis. We are on a 'wait and see' for six weeks. It is possible that the infection she had back at Christmas just settled in those glands and it is taking a while for them to go down. If they go away and no other symptoms or problems appear then all is good. If they don't go away or if other symptoms appear then we'll do the invasive tests. The ultrasound and blood draws. Of course, he mentioned the dreaded c-word. Still, he'd rather go with the simple infection idea. Frankly, so would us all.

Now we wait. While I worry and am nervous, checking her neck every day, she runs around like a normal little girl. Loving life and school and being especially dramatic.

Another Holiday Finished

 Another Christmas finished in the Williams Household. The weeks leading up to the big day was full of picking the tree off the floor and cleaning up broken ornaments. One morning I got up and discovered the tree on the floor. As I stared at the broken pieces I felt an overwhelming desire to toss it all out the door.

 Instead, I left it on the ground and got the kids ready for school. Once they were in school I tackled the mess. I had some moments of tears as I picked up broken pieces of my tree topper. It was a limited edition Waterford made to look like Christmas past. I cannot get another and I admit I just loved the look of it. It made me think of the 30's and 40's tree toppers. It invoked memories of my grandma.

 Also lost was the Northwood University ornament. The lovely blue ornament in the pic above. My brother gave it to me and there are so many special memories wrapped into that one ornament. Among the broken bits were Polish ornaments, another Waterford special edition, and ornaments we had just bought. My 'Nicole' ornament, that lived on my mother's tree for 3 decades, also met its end.

 I cleaned up the mess, took apart the tree and waited for Mark to come home from the road. I put the tree back up, tied to the window this time, and decorated it for the second time. A few hours later the damn thing fell over. This time it fell toward the window. Nothing was broken, but it was clear that the tree was not going to remain upright. Once again, the ornaments came off and the tree was sent on its way. We bought a tree at Walgreen's for $30. Ornaments put on...for the third time.
Our plan for next Christmas is to buy a better made tree. One with a metal stand. It'll cost more so money is being saved. Still, I do not want another year of smashed memories.

 Christmas arrived and poor Irene spent 12 hours of the day throwing up. She managed to get up and open gifts. After, she was back on the couch sleeping. She didn't play with anything until after dinner.

 Mark and I made a Christmas brunch. We had coffee from Madagascar that I had given to Mark. If you have ever seen the show Dangerous Grounds you'll know the coffee. The rest of our day was spent relaxing and playing and watching movies.

 Poor Irene spent the rest of the week with a fever although, thankfully, the throwing up stopped.

 The rest of the week was spent having lazy days. Mark was off for the week and we just relaxed.

 The new tree and the new tree topper. Below is a pic of some of our decorations.

The kids had two weeks off from school. It was a nice break from the hectic mornings. Of course, the adjustment back into school was a little rough. Another holiday season is finished and I am looking forward to spring.