The hearing aid is gone

Luckily this post is about returning the loaner hearing aid to the audiologist out at CHoP, not Youngest taking it apart, again, and hiding the pieces, again. (Youngest was diagnosed with a mild conductive hearing loss last winter.) There is no telling how long she has had it or if the loss will change. After talking extensively with the audiologist, Nadia, last week, the hearing aid is going to be tabled for a little while. We plan on continuing to monitor Youngest here at home and school and make some decisions next summer unless we see a decline before then. We want to make sure we have our ducks in a row before kindergarden.

It is amazing how much those little buggers cost. We have to apply for a special Pennsylvania insurance program that covers some or most of the cost since most health insurance policies don't cover aids. My dad just got two new ones this summer - each about $5000.

by violentstarr

The IU will conduct a few more screenings with Youngest to see what, if any, services they can supply. So far Youngest has been doing great at home and at preschool. I have talked with her teacher at length, and she feels Youngest is doing really well and the hearing loss doesn't seem to impacting her socially or academically. I am grateful for that.

It is official....

I am raising giants. Middle and Youngest went to the peds. yesterday for their yearly check-ups. Middle child is 7 and is slowing down a little - she is 92% for height @ 52.5 inches and in the 75% for weight @ 56 lbs. My stringbean. Youngest is holding strong at 102@ for height @ 46 inches and in the 98% for weight @ 56 lbs.
Yep, they weight the exact same, and they are 2.5 years apart. My goodness! Both of them will be taller than me by next year at this rate. Oldest passed me about two years ago @ 5'7 or 5'8. She gives me her hand me downs! I guess I will have to resign myself to being the shortest member of the family. Move over, Granny, there is a new Queen of Short, and you're looking at her. :-)

Cheatin' Chicken Soup

I caught Youngest's cold (big surprise there) and have been miserable all week. I detest being sick. C.A.N.N.O.T. stand to be sick. I don't have the energy to do anything, but I have been craving Chicken Soup. No energy = no motivation = no cooking so I cheated. It hit the spot, but I am still sick. I hate being sick!












PS - That is premade chicken stock, precut carrot shreds, tiny ABC noodles (they cook super fast in the broth), and precut Perdue chicken slices. See - told ya I cheated. Now I am off to blow my nose for the 415th time today.

What does a Four Year Old + Head Cold = ??

"I'm not gonna make it." According to Youngest, this is the worst ever. Had to work hard to stiffle a laugh.

I think I am gonna have a fight on my hands...

with the damn health insurance company about Middle's pneumonia. This is not what I want to deal with, but I have not choice. Many phone calls will probably need to be made - oh, the joy. I am very thankful for the health insurance; I just wish the company would read the doctors' notes and realize that this was not an option or a fun vacation activity. This was my daughter's health.

Momma's getting a break

Middle is on the mend. Hallelujah!!! She is eating and sleeping regularly; the cough is disappearing. The antibiotics are all finished. My girl's sassy tude is back - what a relief. She is looking forward to some major fun time this weekend to make up for the last two weeks.

After two full weeks of non-stop nursing to get Middle well, I am taking a short break. I am leaving in 5 hours for a weekend of fun at CPR. I cannot wait!!! Patti and I are driving up to Port Matilda to stay at the St. Joseph's Institute with a group of other fantastic ladies. (Julia ~ it isn't too late. Pack a bag!) Update with photos coming later! ;-)

a.

Another day, another ER visit...

Yes, that is how my day was spent again - back in the CHKD ER. Middle spiked a fever of 102 last night. I called our peds. back in Lancaster and was told to take her in. Since this was at 9:15 PM last night, and I was told the ER was very busy when I called CHKD, I made the executive decision not to go then. I just knew we would be there for hours in the middle of the night and did not want to chance Middle picking up even more germs.

After an extremely restless night for me, we went back to the ER about 9:45 this morning. Thank goodness I waited just a few hours as the ER was clear and Dr. C was on duty again. Middle had two more xrays which showed more white than gray/black on the lung than the radiologist felt should be there at this point (in other words - there was not enough air in her lung and too much gunk.) The radiologist wanted a CT scan run. I knew what the thought was - a mass or tumor - but that was never spoken aloud until after the test was completed.

Middle got her first IV; she did pretty well. Some tears and apprehension, but after the week she has had, that was totally expected. She got a new infusion of Rocephin since the IV was already in. The CT went fine - she had contrast with it and no reaction to it. Then we just waited for the results. PTL that the results were no to any mass or tumor and yes to just a very bad case of pneumonia. We were given the all clear to leave (and eventually to drive back home to PA.)

Middle and I were starving. She had eaten two bites of french toast this morning; I never ate due to my nerves. Pokemon is the toy of choice @ BK, and it was also Middle's choice of meals. Not mine, but whatever. She deserved to eat whatever she wanted at this point. She ate a little bit of the burger and a few onion rings. Now she is relaxing on the couch and coughing, coughing, coughing.

J was able to change his flight thru Southwest and will return to Norfolk instead of Baltimore tomorrow night. The dog continues to reside at the kennel (poor guy) and hopefully the cats are not tearing the house apart. Thank goodness our neighbor has checked on them everyday.

My plan is for us to go back to PA on Sunday morning. The dog can be picked up Sunday between 4 & 6 which should not be an issue. I guess that is it for now.

The past week of our life...

Wednesday:
Middle woke up from a nap (hint #1 that she was ill) and had a fever and a belly ache. Thought she had picked up a bug - same that I had the previous weekend.

Thursday:
Middle woke up with the same belly ache and fever. Decided to take her in to the peds to get the belly checked. Dr. F. wanted an ultrasound to double check for an appendicitis. No appendicitis, but the tech did find mesenteric adenitis (enlarged lymph nodes in the lower right quadrant that mimic an acute appendicitis. We were told that Middle basically had a virus and it would run its course. Given the all clear to go to Virginia Beach. We decided to give Middle an additional day to rest and just leave ASAP in the morning.

Friday:
Woke up at 6:30 AM to a child with fever but no belly pain. We attributed the fever to the virus and thought it would continue to run its course. About mid-morning, Middle was feeling better (the fever seemed to have broken and she was starting to rebound), so we decided to finish packing up, drop off the dog at the kennel and head out of town. Middle had a fever in the car, but we thought that might be the end of it. We arrived at my parents' home and just let her rest for the night.

Saturday:
All seven of us decided to go to MacArthur Center to do a little shopping and get out of the house. Middle seemed to be doing OK. We shopped and enjoyed ourselves, but Middle started to get cold (not that unusual since she has no fat on her) and developed a little cough. I thought maybe she was getting a little cold as the cough was a dry hack not congested. She seemed to run out of energy and just wanted to go home. Jason and Dad took her and Youngest home. Mom, Oldest and I finished up at the mall and hit the pharmacy for some Dimetapp for Middle. Again - the high fever returned.






Sunday:
I was done with this high fever business and called our pediatrician again. She asked if we could find a dr. that could do a strep test and a urine dip to rule out strep throat and a bladder infection. I called the local Urgent Care that was recommended and was told to bring her in.
They were very nice and ran the tests. The nurse was rough as hell doing the strep test though. I was not happy with her heavy hand - you would have thought she was scrubbing mildew off of a wall not swabbing a child's throat.
Both tests were clear so the Dr. suggested a chest xray and blood CBC. I wasn't sure about those and our peds had said to just have the two tests done and not let them talk me into anything else. I was apprehensive but did not say anything as I thought at least it would rule out some of the other possibilities for the high fever for four days.
The xray tech took one picture then gave it to the dr. The dr. thought it was too light and requested another. The tech took another xray and then one from a side angle. The next thing I knew the dr. was calling me over. He did not have any bedside manner to begin with and confirmed it with his next statement. He said, "I cannot treat her. You need to take her somewhere else. You need to take her to the hospital. See her lung. It shouldn't look like that. It is all white."
The xray showed her left lung to be completely opaque compared to the one on the right which was black. Both Jason and I were terrified. All I could think was my child was going to die. The doctor said he was going to write up his notes for us to take. The xray tech had me sign a waiver to take the xrays with us. (I have no idea why since our insurance was paying for them, but whatever....)
I confronted to xray tech and asked if Abs had pneumonia or what. He thought she had pneumonia, but again the dr. still had not said anything. We got the letter and left with Abs to head to CHKD ER. That was the only place I was comfortable taking her. Having lived in VB my whole life and raising the kids here for a while, I have intimate knowledge of CHKD.







We waited an hour and forty-five minutes to get called back despite the small amount of patients waiting. Once we got back there we saw the Dr. fairly quickly. He was the attending and seemed to know his stuff. He said Abs definitely had pneumonia and gave us a choice. She could have two shots of Rocephin and go home with a script for Amoxicillin and a promise to return on Monday for a re-check OR we could admit her. He said if it were his children, he would take them home. Two shots, a script and a promise later, we went home.
Abs was worn out as were J and I. I think our whole world fell apart when we thought she was deathly ill. The first dr. never said the word pneumonia. However, in his notes that we received, he did write pneumonia. J was happy the a-hole found the pneumonia and didn't just send us home after the two test were negative, but he wanted to punch the dr. out for the manner in which he let us know something was definitley wrong with Abs.

Monday:
I took Abs back to CHKD to have Dr. C. check her out. He was fantastic - he met us in the ER just as promised. He looked her over and felt there was a small improvement and could continue to recouperate at home as long as we continue to see an improvement. Dr. C. even looked Abs over without us formally signed into the hospital so we also avoided another ER charge. :-) YEAH.









Tuesday & Wednesday:
Abs continues to cough like a lung is gonna come up. The fevers seem to spike in the afternoon and night, but each time are slightly less - so tonight's is 100.5 under her arm. That is down from 103.5. Abs has no appetite which makes it very difficult to get the Amoxicillin in her as she needs to have some food in her tummy. We have switched from Ibuprofen to Tylenol for the fever. It is very difficult to just watch this child be so ill. Normally she is bouncing off the walls and talking non-stop. There is none of that right now. She is napping each day and when awake, she just coughs, watches tv or plays Webkinz.

I am exhausted.

so we are still home

yep - never made it to VB. Middle woke up with the same pain in her tummy and a fever. Called the peds to get her checked out before leaving. Dr. F. was able to see her at 11. Great! See Dr. F. who orders an ultrasound at LGH to rule out an appendicitis since Middle has localized colicky pain with fever.

Go to LGH - that has got to be the friendliest hospital - and get Middle registered. Waited maybe 5 minutes. The ultrasound took under 10 minutes and the tech even told us that the test ruled out an appendicitis but looked like enlarged lymph nodes which are common when fighting a viral infection. The ultrasound tech still had to run all the info thru the radiologists and the peds. We got the all clear to go home. Thank goodness!! Middle got her McD's with Dr. F's blessing since she has no tummy issues. Middle was starving and soooo thirsty from the fever.

Dr. F. felt the symptoms were definitely viral. Keep Middle hydrated. Motrin only is fever is 102 or higher to keep her comfortable. So the new plan is to try to get up by 6 AM and throw all the stuff in the car. Should not be too hard since it is all packed and in the garage sitting there. Unfortunately, even with Dr. F's approval to go out of town, I don't know if Middle will be better tomorrow. Her fever is still there despite a dose of Motrin @8PM. She didn't eat dinner and is asleep again. Sooooo not like her.

This is not the vacation I had envisioned. Oldest and Middle are very upset as are my parents. What can we do? Just pray that she starts to improve very quickly - as quickly as this came on her.

Shhhhhh! Don't say it too loudly or you'll jinx it

The kids are WELL!!!! No one is sick - hallelujah. Now be quiet and go back to your day. ;-)

The ears that just won't heal

Youngest finished the antibiotic on Monday. Tuesday she said her left ear hurt. Wednesday it was both ears. Pediatrician visit today - antibiotic ear drops w/ pain reliever and steroids built in. Ears are healing - just not healed all the way. Oy.

Saturday's Happenings....

Youngest woke up at 2 AM crying - her head hurt - but she is pointing to her jaw area under her ear. Oh, NO!!! Not her ear, please anything but an ear infection. She stayed awake until 5 AM crying in pain. Threw up from all of the drainage (and maybe from the fever?)

Took her in to see the Dr. again (between Middle and Youngest this was visit number five to the peds in three weeks and dr. visit number seven between the peds and the ENT.) Temp is 101.5. Great.

Dr. took one look in her left ear (the good ear)and said, "She's got a really bad ear infection - it is about ready to burst."

Youngest then so eloquently announced, "I gotta throw up." There she blows.

The Dr. said the vomitting was more from the fever than the drainage. He prescribed a strong antibiotic and Motrin. If she cannot keep the Motrin down, then call him.

Prescription filled and in her along with the Motrin by 12:30. By 2:00 she is like a new kid. Thank goodness. Still stiffling and draining, but no more crying. Man, we have been so lucky with the three girls - never many ear infections at all. I cannot tell you the last time any of them were even on an antibiotic. We have been blessed with that part.

So here we are. Staying home again all weekend to get these children well. Maybe if the planets align and the Gods are kind, I can, shhhhh!, not too loudly, maybe I can scrapbook. Please don't say it aloud - they will hear you and someone will be ill.

My new books from Amazon came in:

• Pieces of My Sister's Life
• Me & Emma
• Scrap Simple

Care to guess which one I dove into first? Oh, the highlight of the day? I snuck off to Paperoni when J got home from basketball to hit up their closing sale. Picked up some more foam stamps and paint since it was all 50% off. Plus some scalloped cardstock, a little paper, some ABC letters, and rub-ons. Not much inventory left - good for them, sad for me.

And the results of the CT Scan are....

nothing. There is nothing anatomically wrong with Youngest's ears. So now we have an unknown cause as to the hearing loss. Dr. Tom said follow-up in four months. Preferential seating in the classroom. I still don't know if this is a stable or progressive loss. Keep your fingers crossed that it is stable. I guess this is good news, right?

Catching Up - Present

Currently home with the two sickies - otherwise known as Middle and Youngest.

Still waiting to hear from Dr. Tom about the next step in Youngest's hearing loss.

Need to go clean. Ugh....

Catching Up - Past

OK - pinky swear aside - I did mean to catch up the other day. Life, it got in the way again.

December:
Christmas was fantastic. Oldest loved the cell phone and was blown away that she got one. So far, so good with it.

Mom and Dad were able to make the drive up to visit. They stayed for a few days - we hit up Target and both outlets (Tanger and Rockvale.) Mom did pretty well with the shopping especially since she hates to go.

January:
1st - Middle and I ran in the New Year together. Yes, my 6 year old made it to midnight and actually even later. She realized that it was AM and thought she should just stay up. Yeah, that didn't happen.

3rd - made a road trip with Youngest to Timonium, Maryland to hit up the Recollections Scrapbook store since it was closing. We had a good time, and she was a huge help with picking out new supplies. She was great for throwing Memory Makers paint in my basket - everyone had to have their own color.

5th - Middle's first basketball game, and Daddy is the coach. She did OK - a little 'tude, but it worked out overall. The I had a date with J to Panera Bread that night. Oldest watched the younger two so we could go out for an hour. It was sooooo nice to eat by ourselves and just talk. We went over to the Kirkland Outlet and the Restoration Hardward Outlet, but didn't buy a thing.

6th - the sickness came....Middle was throwing up in the bathroom @ 1 AM. Oh, my gracious - NASTY!!! I don't know what she picked up, but it was B-A-D.

7th - Youngest failed her second hearing test. We now have the referral to the ENT doctor. Make an appt. with Dr. Tom of CHoP. He is suppose to be very good.

11th - Oldest has a tooth pulled to make the braces work this time. They better for 4 freakin' thousand dollars.

12th - went to Julia's crop in Maryland for the day. Oh, how nice to have a little time for myself. J is fantastic about that.

14th - Oldest gets the rest of the braces on. She picks pink - who knew? Last year she despised pink. Teenagers.

19th - Middle scores her first basket in basketball. Way to go, girl!! She was so proud of herself.

20th - decide it might be time to move since the new house next too us is in our front yard. Yeah - that SUCKS!!!! We are so very pissed off at our builder. Talks with him are ongoing to try to rectify this situation. We went to look at a few new houses today - but we were not blown away by any.

21st - took Oldest to see 27 Dresses and out to dinner at Macaroni Grill for a Girls' Day Out. She seemed to have a great time hanging out with Mom. The movie was good - it is a total Chix Flix.

22nd - Middle to the peds because enough is enough with this mess. I am tired of her being so sick. Not much to do but let it run its course.

23rd - took Middle out to breakfast since the "issue" seems to be subsiding. Just to be safe, she sticks with the BRAT diet. We went over to see J at school. Middle took a picture to him that she had colored at breakfast. Went to look at a house tonight in a neighborhood with tons of kids, but it was a no go. The backyard was not workable since it was straight down. The basement; however, was clean enough to eat off of.

24th - Youngest sick again

25th - Youngest too sick to sing in Winterfest.

26th - Middle - peds again. HIVES. Ugh... a side effect of the virus she has been fighting for three weeks

28th - meet with the real estate agents about selling the house. We might lose 3 - 4% due to the placement of the house next door. We are PISSED OFF to say the least. Oh, and I do NOT want to pay them $20,000 as their commission to sell my house. Ridiculous. I've never paid anyone that amount to sell my house - won't start now.

29th - take Youngest to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and stuff for Oldest's BD Party - find a big ol' nail in the tire. The tire is going "SSSSSSSS" and going down. High tail it back in the car and go over to H&F to get it fixed. Of course, it is also raining and freaking cold. Figures.

31st - Youngest's first appt. with Dr. Tom. Tests with the audiologist. Nothing conclusive except that she has a conductive middle ear hearing loss. At the point the cause is unknown. CT Scan is the next step. Schedule that for February 6th in King of Prussia.

February:
1st - Oldest's BD Sleepover. She seems to have a good time, and they were asleep by 11 PM. What is up with that? They are 14!! It's OK - I'll take it.

2nd - Oldest's 14th Birthday. How the hell did that happen? I was just taking her to her first day of kindergarten the other day. Crazy, crazy, crazy how time is flying.
We went rollerskating as a family. This was a first and tons of fun!! Willow Street sponsored it. Youngest did a better job than Middle - and then Youngest promptly threw a fit when it was time to leave. I had a fantastic time - I haven't skated in years, but picked it up again easily. I even went BACKWARDS!!!

4th - started my One in 48 class with Hillary Heidelberg's NYCScraps. Great sketches to work with and color schemes.

5th - Middle's 100 Days of School Celebration. She had to dress as a 100 year old woman. Yeah, she wasn't too into it, but some of the other kids were. Very original costumes.
Oldest had High School pre-registration. OMG! Stop growing up so damn fast.

That is it for the PAST. Now onto the Present....

Youngest's CT Scan

The scan was yesterday morning, and she did rather well. She moved a little during some of the pictures (she was being such a brave girl trying not to cry), so at this point she may have to go back, be sedated, and have the CT Scan all over again. I am praying hard that that doesn't happen.

So far, no phone call or info from the doctor. I don't know where we go from here as far as her hearing. One day at a time, I guess.

After her scan yesterday, we hit up Toys R Us for another set of Littlest Pet Shops - that was the bribe for the scan. Youngest had a blast talking about all of the choices and picking out a new set of five. Then I took her out to lunch. Since we were in King of Prussia we went to Bahama Breeze. It was OK - she got mac n cheese; I tried the Coconut Shrimp. Not great, but not horrid either.

Updates on the hearing issues when I get them.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Get Your Boobies Checked!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Have you had your mammogram this year? Have you done a monthly self-exam? If not, what are you waiting for? There are links below that can give you more information.


http://ww5.komen.org/home/

http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/

http://www.nbcam.com/


I had my first mammogram last week - Friday, October 12th. Haven't heard back yet. The radiologist has to read it then there is a special machine that reads the films too. The technician said to not be alarmed if I get a call back. Many first timers have to go back and have specific films taken since there isn't a baseline to compare to. I am OK with this. My mom gets called back just about every year due to non-cancerous issues.

GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE SO. It is too easy not too. Off my soapbox, now :-)

Are you a blogger? Then check out: http://www.5minutesformom.com/2440/casio/ They are giving away a new Casio Pink EX-Z75 digital camera in support of this special month. Go take a look.

The MU stairs tried to kicked my a$$

So yesterday was Wednesday - my normal day of working out with Asimina and Mary. Asiminia decides we should be doing the stairs at the MU stadium in addition to walking/running the track. Um, OK...let's go. Dang - the stairs tried to kick my butt. We did 6 sets, and I feel it today. I think this is a good thing though. The worst part - those two Amazons could go up and down just fine, but my petite (not short) legs don't reach as far so coming down was a little harder cause of the wide step base.

Finally got the office cleaned up and rearranged last night. I am sure Jason is glad he stayed up to help me move furniture (not!), but I think the room looks good. The room arrangement definitely has more open space and hopefully will be conductive to adding another desk and computer for the kids sometime down the road. Too many people - too few computers.

Time to go grab a shower before preschool/kindergarten drop-off. Then back home to finish the office - soooo much paperwork to take care of after being on vacation. Forgot - gotta make a stop at Darrenkamp's for milk and other goodies.

GREY'S ANATOMY is on tonight. WOO HOO!!!! Don't bother me from 9 - 10.