Like the winter wasn't long enough

This past winter was obviously a doozy for many of us. In addition to the insane cold and abundance of snow we caught more colds and viruses than we had in a very long time. It seems like someone was sick pretty much straight through the winter. Just when we thought we were in the home stretch allergy season kicked in full force. Everyone of sneezing and coughing in our house.

Last week Grace was complaining of a sore throat. It was enough to wake her at night but not enough to stop her from eating and drinking. We figured it had to be allergies. Last week when the poor kid came home from she she got off the bus sobbing about the pain. She had toughed out the whole day feeling horrible. Her tongue was completely white so I took her right to the walk in clinic. The poor girl had a wicked case of strep throat.

Then on Monday I took Jack for him two year well check and it turns out he had a bad ear infection. Ugh! Oddly, Abby was off of her allergy medicine for a food challenge this week and she did the best of everyone with her allergies. Who would have thought!

Hopefully this is the end for a while. It's going to be Vitamin C and Probiotics for everyone!

Razz-E-Ola

The day of the yard-sale-that-wasn't we noticed that our poor bubba was running a fever. By the evening his fever was up to 102.6 but he had no other symptoms. 

He wasn't quite himself but other than the fever, being clingy and super tired he seemed okay. He was eating and drinking but not sleeping well at all.

After three days of fever (going up to 103.5 at night) and not being able to peel him off my body I took him to the pediatrician. 

Everything looked good to the doctor so he figured it was probably roseola. 

Grace was cracking me up telling everyone who would listen that "my poor baby brother has Razz-E-Ola". 

Poor fella. 

Thankfully on day four the fever broke. 

Long weekend, long winter

This weekend marked our seventh cold since Halloween. Poor little Jack has caught EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

We started on Saturday with both Grace and Jack coughing. Jack was running a low fever and seemed okay. Grace had her typical asthma cough that makes her sound like she is going to cough out one of her lungs. By the evening Jack was running a high fever, was hard to rouse and not really eating.

Of course all of the urgent care centers around here close at 5 so it meant a trip to the ER.

We have a great brand spanking new hospital (where Jack was born) that has a separate pediatric ER. They got us right in and luckily no ear infection (which is what I thought it was) just a nasty cold and upper respiratory infection. He is pretty pathetic but thankfully no antibiotics or anything. 

Last night was a rough night. His fever jumped back up to 102 but by morning he was okay. Just nose running in buckets, coughing like mad and not himself at all. He has a well visit on Thursday so I am very glad I will have another set of eye to look at him this week.

Grace is still coughing like crazy. We decided to keep both girls home today. I wish more parents would keep there kids home when they're sick. I realize it's not easy when you work but it just makes the cold/flu season so much worse!

Spring, where are you?

Being that we spent Saturday night in the ER with a sick little man my mind has turned to Spring. Jack has had SEVEN colds since Halloween. SEVEN! So yucky. While I am incredibly thankful that they are colds and not viruses or the flu I am still sick to death of being sick!

I am officially counting...

MORE food allergies

In the wake of the very scary fall Abby had on Monday (if you don't read my other blog you can see the whole tale HERE) Tuesday didn't prove to end much better. In the middle of the afternoon I was feeling guilty about not doing much with the girls all day. I am back to work soon so I have been scrambling to get caught up. I decided we would do a little quick cooking (which they love) so we decided to try a new recipe. The recipe called for several vegan things Abby has had in the past but also raw cashews, walnuts and agave. (The recipe is insanely good and I HIGHLY recommend it. See Here.)

We were nibbling as we ate, which we always do. When we were done we all tried a little bite of our treat. Within twenty minutes Abby started complaining that she felt sick. I looked at her and she was swollen (in her face) and splotchy all over. It looked almost identical to her egg and milk reaction only maybe a little worse. She was COVERED from head to toe in hives and a rash. I quickly gave her Benadryl. The reaction continued and her sinuses filled and swelled up. She couldn't breath from her nose at all. I was about ready to go to the ER when the swelling subsided a little. We did a bath, a second dose of Benadryl and waited it out.

I called the allergist and they strongly suggest the tree nuts. She will have to go do MORE skin testing in a few weeks but it looks like a tree nut allergy. It's not a huge deal since we deal with avoidance to other foods but it just feels like one more thing to have to look for on the label. The poor kid!

It's back...

The thrush! :(

I woke up this morning and my face felt a little better. I thought to myself that it was probably wise to do as the doc asked (not trust my gut) and do the very low dose, very short course of prednisone. Within an hour or waking up it became apparent that the thrush was back. I quickly went from patting myself on the back to berating myself for NOT trusting my gut. So I guess the steroid did exactly as I feared and brought the thrush back.

For those of you following along it took me two months, six vitamins and supplements, a month and a half of diflucan, vinegar in my washer and topically, oral nystatin for jack and a TON of pain and itching to get it out of our house. And here we are again...

Frankly I feel pretty defeated. I take the steroid to minimize the paralysis and end up with what I consider to be about a million times worse. Guess that's what I guess for not just listening to myself and doing what I think is best.

This sucks!

WTH? Bells Palsy??

When I was a kid I remember my sister and my Dad having something called Bells Palsy. It is a paralysis, usually on one side of your face. They both had it as a result of Lyme's Disease. I didn't think much of it at the time other than the fact that it was funny that when they smiled only half of their face cooperated. It comes from swelling on the nerve that effects your facial muscles so half the muscles in your face stop working.

Well, now I am a half smiler too. A few days back I noticed some numbness in one side of my tongue. I chocked it up to coffee that was too hot and ignored it. Then on Monday night I put lip gloss on and tried to rub it in with my lips and my lip mobility was off. I thought maybe it was being so exhausted so I ignored it. When I woke up to feed Jack at 3 the one side of my face was limp.

I had a little anxiety about something like a TIA or stroke but thankfully my doc got me in early the next morning and confirmed it was Bells Palsy. We have no idea why (yet?) so the doc is running some tests (namely, Lyme's). They usually give you corticosteroids for treating the inflammation but with nursing and the thrush it isn't recommended. So for now I am on Ibuprofen for the swelling and trying to get as much rest as possible. I have to try to keep the swelling down. More swelling equals less facial function.

Right now I can close my eye on cue (but not when I blink). Eating and drinking is like when you get Novicaine so that is a total pain. Hopefully it will only be a few weeks before my function is back to normal. It can take up to two months. Could have been worse though...

Illness Update

Last night was the third night in a row that Grace woke up literally EVERY SINGLE HOUR (or less) hysterically crying from the pain in her mouth. After three nights straight of sleeping in 45 minute increments I feel numb. Luckily she woke up this morning and told us that she was feeling a little better. She managed to eat a little something and seems more like herself. I was so glad that she is finally feeling better.

Not an hour after being awake Abby started complaining of feeling cold (which is how we know she has a fever). I checked her and she has a 100 fever AND sores all over her mouth. So here we go again...

Hand, foot and mouth

About five days ago Grace started complaining that her mouth hurt. We saw a few ulcers in her mouth so chocked it up to that. The day before yesterday it went from bad to worse. Neither she or I slept for more than about 30 minutes straight on Wednesday night. I took her to the doc yesterday and they confirmed she had coxsackievirus which is the hand, foot & mouth thing. Poor baby is COVERED in ulcers in her mouth, throat and tongue. Last night was another doozy of sleeping in 30 minute bursts.

Thankfully she seems a tiny bit better today (she's been able to drink milk and NOT cry non-stop). Hopefully we're turning the corner a little.

Done

Well, the transfer is complete. It was the toughest transfer I have had to date. You'd think by number 5 or 6 we'd be experts. We came home from the VERY long appointment to find that grace is sick as a dog. She was with my mom and pikes the whole time. My mom knew enouh to no say anything until we got home since we couldn't do much. She's down for a nap but as usual the timing is just great.

This could be a very long couple days of bed rest...

What asthma looks like

Poor baby!

Sickies AGAIN

We are home sick today... AGAIN. I kept (stupidly) bragging about how well we did this winter with not getting sick. Nothing more than a simple cold or two. As soon as Spring began Springing I was promptly reminded that the bulk of cold and flu spreads in the months AFTER you feel like you are done with sick germies. So in the past month we have had colds and viruses and stomach bugs and asthma. It's been a real trip.

Grace began with a fever last night that kept us up most of the night. I kept them home. She still has a low grade fever and a cough, nothing terrible but enough to keep us inside. I am hoping, praying and pleading that this is the last one this year. (Ha ha)

Grace's GI Follow Up

Today we went to meet Grace's new GI doctor. Her old one moved away and we were sad to have to switch (he was awesome). We were so relieved when we met our new doctor that he is best friends with our old doctor. He is as nice and thorough as our old doc. That was a huge help!

We discussed her status and agreed that she does need to stay on the Prevacid for a while longer. We also talked about the "lactose intolerance" and the vomiting episode this month. He said that he is very hesitant to call it an intolerance when it presented more like an allergy. Top that with the fact that in our household she doesn't really get much milk so we wouldn't really know if she did have a true allergy. He is sending us back to the allergist to have her tested for a true milk allergy. At least if that is the case we know what to do...

If she doesn't have a true milk allergy she will have to go to the main hospital for a lactose breath test. The doc explained that it isn't invasive but it is a long test and can be a pain when kids are so young. Not sure whether I want to avoid that or not. Doesn't sound fun but neither does another child with a food allergy.

The second issue is increasing her fiber intake. He didn't love the fact that she tends to be constipated (although he said that generally speaking that tends to happen in people who eat a lot of soy). So we are starting her on Miralax in hopes that it will help. He doesn't feel comfortable taking her off of the Prevacid until we have that under control.

The good thing is she is stable and nothing huge is being changed for now. The bad thing is as usual it has led to more doctors and more tests.

Thrush

Ugg... Abby woke up yesterday with thrush. It was a minor annoyance, a blip on the radar. I called the allergist for nystatin rinse like I usually do. Because her Flovent is a corticosteroid it causes oral thrush in some people. We do all the right things; rinsing and brushing her teeth and mouth after her inhaler, using a spacer, increasing her probiotic intake during the time she takes the inhaler. For her it just doesn't matter. Well the allergist was not in this week and they couldn't find a record of her being prescribed it in the past so they referred us to the pediatrician.

I put in a call to the nurse and when she called me back her response was "well a child her age shouldn't get thrush". I wanted to snap back with "yeah, kids who aren't on steroids, are known to have problems with their immune system and who are getting over two back to back viruses". Instead I politely explained that she has been through this before. She responded back with having to check with the doctor and yadda yadda.

She called me back THREE HOURS LATER and told me that they would prescribe it BUT I needed to bring her in to "talk about it". At this point I was annoyed and said that WHEN I bring the girls in for their annual check up in June we can discuss it then. There is no way I am dragging her to yet another waiting room full of germs for thrush. I feel like we have been in and out of doctors offices non-stop over the past month so it just isn't necessary.

Thankfully we now have the rinse and she should be back to normal in no time.

Better

Just as quickly as the terrible asthma flare started that is how quickly it is gone. Just in time for the allergist appointment last week Abby went from coughing so much she was blueish to being so close to fine it was almost funny. Thankfully the allergist understands how "dynamic" asthma can be so he relied on what I was reporting. The good thing is that both girls treatment plan worked. Meaning both of them were better within a few days. The bad thing is that both of their asthma is more serious than we originally thought. Until now neither of them had a true flare but now that they have they are considered to have moderate asthma instead of mild.

It doesn't change anything too huge. It just means when allergies are at their height we have to avoid the outdoors (which is a huge bummer)). When we do go outdoors the girls need to be bathed and changed as soon as we come in. We have to avoid terribly cold air. Also when they are flaring we have to limit their activity (ha!).

Thankfully they are well managed at this point and I know several people who have kids (including my nephew Will) where getting a handle on a flare can be a nightmare. So all in all I am thankful. I wish they didn't have asthma but if they do at least it isn't too bad.

Poof

Just as soon as I got up the nerve to actually say it out loud "WE ARE GETTING SLEEP"... just like that POOF. It was gone. We got about a week and a half reprieve and BAM. A flare of asthma brings us back to square one. Up until 11 because they couldn't fall asleep with the coughing. Up before 5 because of the nasty coughing. An hour of rocking in the middle of the night to settle upset babes. I guess we were just not destined to be a house of well rested individuals. :D

Asthma!

Both of the girls are now diagnosed with asthma but so far it has been a minor issue for us. They occasionally cough or wheeze but it has been a rarity. That is, until this week. Both girls had coughs that have gotten worse and worse and worse. Now Grace is coughing like mad. Abby's cough is so bad she has trouble eating or sleeping. She looks a little blue and has bags under her eyes. Poor baby.

I called the allergist today figuring it's obviously time to go from the spacer to the nebulizer. They want to see her to make sure there is no pneumonia. Thankfully they squeezed her in tomorrow morning. Just hoping the neb works better so the poor kid can eat and sleep.

There is so much coughing and sneezing in our house right now it's just gross.

Allergies, Asthma, medicines... oh my!

Today was Grace's much anticipated allergist appointment. School has been pushing and pushing us to get her seen and properly medicated. They seem to think these things happen in a matter of moments not months. Anyway...

The doctor took one look and listen to (at) her and immediately diagnosed her with asthma and considerable allergies. They put her on Singulair and an inhaler as needed. Then she will also continue with her Zyrtec AND use a nasal spray. He had concerns that with all of the congestion and breathing difficulties it might be impacting her speech. I was glad he was concerned with that too.

So now we start her new "regimen" and go back in two months to see how she is breathing. Hoping it will be much, much better by then!

Made it this far...

We made it to February... FEBRUARY... without getting any sicker than a cold. Then, as soon as I was getting a little cocky, BAM! Abby came down with some yucky bug. Diarrhea, puking, generally feeling crappy. Poor baby. She is such a mess when she gets sick. Thankfully no fever and she did manage to perk up a little bit tonight.

Grace feels fine but has been such a pain. We can't really go anywhere or do anything so she is a mess. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Two weeks into school...

And we have our first cold. A doozy of a cold that caused Grace's face to actually swell. The poor thing coughed and sneezed and itched and whined. She couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't play. Thankfully she woke up today remarkably better and Abby's cold has remained very mild. Hoping that they won't have to miss any school. We are struggling to keep them settled in their new schedule. An unexpected "home day" would be very disruptive for them.