Answers! Finally!

This weekend brought us some hope. Katrina seemed to be perking up, going longer between the major bouts of pain.


And then Monday...


Mondays are interesting anyways. Because Jerome meets with a group of men for bible study at 6:45 AM (yes, I said AM), I have to get all three precious princesses up, ready, fed, and out the door. I take Katrina to school by 7:40 and the other two to the nanny's house by 7:55 so that I can be back into town and, hopefully, not late for work.


Yesterday, I knew it was going to be a bad day. Katrina woke up in pain. Didn't sleep much. Wanted to go to school so desperately, but just plain hurt. So, we came up with a plan. She would go, but if it hurt too bad, she could go to the nurse & call me. I emailed her teacher and called the nurse to let them know what was going on, and the latest on her situation. At this point, we still were thinking digestive problems were the root cause of her pain.


Poor kid didn't even make it to lunch time. She called me from the nurse's at 10:45 in tears, desperate to leave. If you have talked to Katrina for 5 minutes about school, you know it takes something major for her to not want to go. So, I threw on my snow boots (it snowed 4 inches at our house overnight - made the commute much more interesting) and headed to the school.


Kat's teacher & school nurse confirmed what I had been seeing. That she would fight & push through as long as she could, then would turn white and essentially collapse from the pain. On the way to the school, I called and made ANOTHER appointment, this time with the doctor who was so wonderful to Violet when she was born. He also goes to our church. And is just an awesome man. Hindsight says I should have insisted that we see him 3 weeks ago. Oh well, we learned.


We sat down with him, and went through everything from the beginning. He looked at all her labs, examined her, quizzed us on everything that we have noticed. He essentially ruled out every possibility we had been considering, because the symptoms did not match the labs. He then got very quiet for a few minutes. I could tell he was pondering and trying to put the pieces together. This doc is like that - very methodical and deliberate in everything he does.


The only possibility he could come up with that matched both the symptoms and the labs was mono. Yes, mono. And, while she does have a little crush on a certain boy in her class, there has been no kissing. But, it explained the fatigue, the stomach pain, and the lab results. Her liver actually hurt when he examined her. All of the unusual lab results were from her liver. Mono attacks the liver in little ones.


Just to be on the safe side, to double check himself, he ordered an x-ray, another round of blood tests, including the specific one for mono, and a bag of IV fluids. You see, if it was a stomach virus, and not mono, the IV fluids should have perked her up immediately.


We did the x-ray, then headed to the surgical center next to our doctor's office for the tests & fluids. The nurses, who were amazing, by the way, put this ointment and a clear band aid on her arm to numb the skin so that the needle would not hurt. And, we learned that Katrina is allergic to that type of band aid.


They had no problems getting the blood drawn and the IV started. When we first got there, Katrina felt pretty good. She was talking to the nurses, reading books. The longer we stayed, the worse she felt. When she got up to go to the restroom (an entire IV bag of fluids will do that to a tiny bladder), she almost fell over because she was so weak. All she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry. It broke my heart. Needless to say, the fluids did not perk her up, and so a virus was ruled out.


We also found something interesting on the x-ray. Three weeks ago, when the pain started, her appetite decreased along with her energy. She didn't feel like doing anything. That apparently included pooping. The entire first half of her colon is one solid mass of poop. Yup, that would make your stomach hurt too.


So, at least now we have answers and a concrete (pun unintended) plan. The doc did not want to traumatize her with a suppository or enema, creating the massive poop of doom that could tear her colon. And, given the adventures in pooping we have already had in our home, I appreciated the sentiment. So, she is taking mineral oil and miralax through the weekend, along with a laxative tea. We have to hide the mineral oil and miralax in a cup of juice. She tried to take the oil straight last night. I got an unintended oil bath. He wants to gently break down what is in there so that it will pass with the least amount of trauma possible. And we get to see him again on Monday.


That will make 6 doctor visits, 2 ER visits, 2 blood tests, one ultrasound, one x-ray, and one bag of IV fluids in a month. One misdiagnosis, multiple possiblities, many uncertainties, but, finally, some answers.


The doc said that if she was going to pass the mono along to someone, she would have already done it by now since her blood work from last night showed improvement. So, I apologize to anyone we may have infected during our ordeal. Hopefully, with some rest & successful toilet time, we will have our Nina back to normal.


Although I am really starting to reconsider my concept of normal with these children...

The Latest on Katrina

So we did the ultrasound bright and early Friday morning. It went well, Katrina felt well. The ultrasound tech looked at me like I was nuts for ordering this.



Grandma Bleger had a special croissant breakfast waiting for her when we were done. Katrina finished eating, then we got in the car to go to the grocery store. It took the 2 mile, 5 minute drive between Grandmas house and the grocery store for her to go from fine to major pain. She remained in a lot of pain for about an hour and a half.



We got home right at lunch time, and Katrina was feeling well enough to eat some lunch. About a half hour later, the pain returned. Frustrating, but at least we had a pattern to go off of.



Katrina's doctor called early in the evening. The ultrasound was perfectly clear. No problems. We talked about her pain, the pattern that I had noticed. We have narrowed it down to a few possibilities. They are:

• dairy or wheat allergy
  
• abdominal migraines (like regular migraines, only in your abdomen. They happen in kids with a family history of migraines, like ours.)


• ulcer


• irritable bowel syndrome
  

None of these possibilities are an easy, one-time fix. But we can do something about each of them. The blood test for the wheat allergy will come back sometime next week. We have cut off the dairy completely since Wednesday, when we first discussed the idea of a food allergy. While we have seen improvement, she is still having pain. It is not completely debilitating, but it is still intense and sudden. Or perhaps, she is learning how to cope with it better. I am honestly not sure.

We are giving her a tiny bit of Milk of Magnesia every evening to coat her digestive tract, in case there is irritation. Beyond that, neither her doctor nor I are sure of the next course of action. We are going to talk on Tuesday, see how she is doing with the changes we have made. There are procedures/testing/etc that can be done, but neither of us are sure we want to subject her little body to them.

Last night before bed, we prayed with the girls, like every night. We prayed specifically that God would heal Katrinas body, that He would touch her. She woke up this morning feeling great. We ran errands, then went to the birthday party of a friend at the gymnastics center. She was a nut, running, jumping, and swinging everywhere. She was normal. I think she overdid it. After the party, she crashed in pain. Again. But, she told me she was really happy that God healed her long enough to be able to enjoy the party. That is the attitude I want to have - grateful for what He has done, not questioning what He did.

This afternoon we had another birthday party to go to. There was ice cream. And Katrina could not have it. And it broke her little heart. Milk, cheese, yogurt, all these things she can pass up. But ice cream? It was pretty hard. It made her sad. I am sure we will have more of these moments. I hope it gets easier. Because this afternoon, it hurt me too.

I will let you know what her doctor & I discuss on Tuesday. Hopefully, given what we notice about her this weekend, we will have a more definite course of action. Thanks for praying, friends. Know that our little girl, and her parents, appreciate it.

Update on Katrina

Well, no news is ... no news.



Katrina first complained of a stomach ache on Monday, February 1st. She kept complaining, and it seemed to get worse as the week progressed. On Thursday, February 4th, I took her to the ER. They couldn't find anything wrong (not that they really tried all that hard), so they told me to go to her regular pediatrician.



We went to her pediatrician that afternoon. He basically looked at me like I was nuts. But, he told me that her urine sample they took at the ER was going to get cultured to see if it was a UTI.



You might remember the vindication I felt that Saturday when our pediatrician called and told us that she did, in fact, have a UTI. We ordered the antibiotics and assumed she would feel better.


She did feel better, for a couple of days. From about Monday, February 8 through Thursday, February 11. Then it started again.


This weekend she felt miserable. The pain comes and goes in waves, alternating between a dull ache and a monstrous roar. There are times she can function, play with her sisters, engage with us. And there are times when she wants nothing to do with the world. Where every motion hurts. Where she screams and cries in pain. Where she cannot even move on her own.


We went back in to the pediatrician on Monday, seeing one of the female docs. We assumed that the UTI was back. They took another urine sample, and sent it away to be cultured. In the meantime, they gave us a medicine to, essentially, numb her bladder.


That did not work. The pain remained, and, in fact, has gotten worse. The pediatrician called on Wednesday to report that the urine culture was negative, that there was no UTI. So, back to the drawing board.


The pain was so bad yesterday that, as hard as she tried, she simply could not handle being at school. We went again to the doc in the afternoon. A different doc.


And then, we figured out part of it. There was no positive UTI test. Ever. Our regular pediatrician, the one we saw back on the 8th, had misread her chart. He was looking at the test results from a UTI she had back in 2007. All three urine tests they have taken this month were negative. He gave her antibiotics for no reason. And left us with pain for 2 1/2 weeks.


Grr...


Katrina was in a lot of pain last night, and was honest with the doctor about that pain. I was proud of her for her honesty. I see a lot of myself in her. She wants so desperately to please people that she tries to hold back when she hurts. She didn't want to miss school, so she would try to deal with it without saying anything to her teacher, and then come home and collapse. We had a breakthrough together last night about honesty. That it is OK to hurt. It's OK to tell people you hurt. That you don't have to be tough, or a trooper, to make someone proud. Amazing how God teaches us lessons through our children.


The doc last night wanted to run a complete blood panel, just to see if something weird showed up. The wonderful nurses at the office tried their hardest to get the vein to work. She has tiny veins, of course, and the one they tried kept rolling. They dug around for about a minute before they gave up. Katrina was so strong. She was crying, but kept her arm so strong that they didn't even have to hold her arm down. They were so impressed.


When we decided that this was not going to work, they sent us to Mercy to get it drawn there. When we got to the lab, I told them what happened at our doctor's office, so they immediately called down one of the pediatric nurses to do the draw.


This woman earns my sainthood metal of the year award. You could tell she was nervous about having to stick a little kid, but she was so patient and loving with Katrina. She got the needle in her other arm great, first shot, but then the blood wasn't flowing. They took as much as they could, then asked one of the techs if it was enough.


Nope. Not even close.


So, we had to stick her again. This time in her wrist. And, praise God, the blood flowed great. They got enough blood for all the panels. Katrina, the love bug that she is, gave each and every one of them a hug and told them thank you. Even after getting stuck three times with a painful needle, she shows love and forgiveness. I know some adults who could use this lesson!


This afternoon, the doc called. And, we are back to the "no news is no news". There was nothing abnormal in her blood. Absolutely nothing that could raise concern. The doc, honestly, has no clue what it could be. We have some ideas, but no concrete clues. And her pain is getting worse by the day. She was at the nurse's office three times in pain today. She would lay down, wait for the pain to get bearable, and then go back to class. But she wanted to go to art class so badly that she refused to go home. How many times did I do that to my mom & dad.


Our next step is an ultrasound, which we have scheduled for 8 AM tomorrow morning. If that doesn't show us what is wrong, I honestly have no idea what we will do. I just want her better. I want to look into my daughter's eyes and not see the deep hurt. The exhaustion. The frustration. I want to see her play, eat, laugh, run around, have fun.


We are going to spend the rest of the day resting. Hopefully, she will feel well enough to go to the Daddy Daughter Dance tomorrow night at church. She has been looking forward to it for months.


So, that is where we are at. I wish I knew more. I wish I was the one in pain, instead of her. But I am grateful for her strength, for her confidence in God's healing touch. I will let you know when I know something. Thank you for praying.

Thankful Thursday

I promise, I will post an update on how Katrina is doing later. But, right now, I know I need to write this.


This week, I am thankful for -

• doctors who care, and are trying their hardest to figure out what is wrong with Katrina.
• the nurse at Mercy who had to draw Nina's blood for testing tonight. She was so patient, gentle, and kind with Katrina - it made the whole experience much easier.
• Nina's bravery. She is so tired of hurting, but is being so brave and strong.
• parents who understand when you have to leave work to be with a hurting kid.
• friends who pray for you (even at 3AM - JEN).
• friends whose bodies are being healed.
• the joy and peace that surround me, even though, in the natural, I would normally be freaking out.
• the Daddy Daughter Dance tomorrow night. I have such vivid, wonderful memories of my Daddy Daughter Dance with my daddy. I am so grateful our girls will have the opportunity to build those memories with their daddy.
• a month off from Children's Ministry at church. As much as I miss hugging each and every little person that comes to our church, I know God planned this month off for us because He knew we would need it.
• a teaching staff & nurse at Nina's school who are so patient and loving to Nina while she tries to go to school.
• all the work that God has been doing in my heart lately. It has not been pleasant at times, but it has been needed.

And joy comes in the morning!!!!

What are you thankful for this week?

Nina is a chilleeder

When Katrina brought home the sign up form for the DHS cheerleader camp, I didn't think much of it, because I knew it involved actually performing in front of live people. You see, Kat takes after Momma - she would much rather be behind the stage than on it.


But, she surprised me by asking repeatedly when we were going to fill out the form. Needless to say, Jerome was stoked. Finally, one of his girlies was interested in doing a sport. So, we signed her up and hoped for the best.


That week she had been complaining of a stomach ache. But she wasn't going to let it stop her. I found out after I dropped her off that she had a UTI. Poor girl, but she had fun anyways.


Here is Nina and her friend Jade getting ready to perform.

I was juggling both little girls during the performance, so Daddy was on camera duty. The camera was not cooperative. So, lets (sorry, my apostrophe button is still on strike) play a game. It is called, Can You Find Katrina?

Did you find her? How about in this photo?

For extra credit, try this one...

For some reason, the video feature decided to like us. There is no sound, but in this Mamas opinion, it is still darn cute. For you DHS alumni, you will recogize the motions to the Color Shout. Katrina particularly enjoyed the last part.

Did you notice a theme? Yes, we picked the only seats in the entire gym where our view of our daughter would be blocked by the big girl in the red pants.



And Violet was on my lap the entire time, proudly proclaiming to all that her sister was a chilleeder.

Hmm... was this in the plan?

Because Katrina had the day off yesterday, I took the day off work to hang with my girls. I was hoping we would sleep in. Yeah, I know. What was I thinking? But I really can not complain - snuggling with my girls at 7:15 is pretty sweet.


So what did we do? Well, nothing I had planned, honestly. No, I take that back - we ate breakfast. Katrina woke up in pretty bad pain, so my morning was spent on the phone with the doctors office.


While Nina rested, Madi & Violet entertained themselves by chasing each other through the house wearing daddy's beanies. Over their eyes. No, I don't get it either.

And, while I was getting lunch ready, they decided to color.

Each other.

No, I did not tell them to stop. I just laughed and took pictures.

Daddy thinks they were just preparing an homage to the new Survivor season.

We took lunch to Daddy's office, and had an impromptu picnic.

Well, actually, between the war paint and the utensil-less eating, it looked more like a violent massacre.

Sadly, the ramen did not survive.

But, everyone we saw thoroughly enjoyed our two little warriors.

Good Fashion Sense

Madison is, in a word, individual. She has always marched to her own beat. Sometimes quite literally.


What am I saying? This child doesn't just march to her own beat - she commands the entire orchestra!





When it comes to fashion, she had very definitive ideas.


And, considering the 3 feet of snow still in our yard, we must accessorize accordingly.






Madison also really likes to be like Daddy. Please note the tie and the beanie, that were, in her words, just like Daddy's.

She wore that Veggitales tie for an entire morning. I love her attitude!