A Pointless Waste of Time...

So today's appointment was a pointless waste of time. First, our lovely hospital scheduled us with a NeuroSURGEON not a Neurologist.

Slight difference.

So he told us nothing about Xander. What he did tell us was alot of misinformation about Neurofibromatosis.

He told us genetic testing was completely accurate. It is not. If you test positive, then YES you have NF. You can falsely test negative and still have NF. It has to do with where the gene mutation is. So no, the test is NOT completely accurate.

He told us that 6 criteria must be met in order to be diagnosed with neurofibromatosis. And that is false as well.

It was just so ridiculous. But now we know why we had a feeling we should keep both appointments. If it is worth anything, the neurosurgeon today thinks highly of our neurologist we will see on Tuesday.

$27 dollar lesson and a missed naptime times two.

*sigh*

Stephanie

NOT According to Plan...

*sigh*

This past weekend we were supposed to go out of town.

BUT, last Sunday as Brandon was collecting the boys from the church nursery he overheard one of the workers telling a parent that they may want to visit the doctor because the child had thick, green mucus coming from their nose and they felt warm.

Nice.

Guess what? Wednesday, Xander started with a runny nose. But it was clear and after consulting a dear friend (who is also a Nurse Practitioner) she said clear was most likely allergies since something had just bloomed here. So we kept our Wednesday plans.

Thursday morning, Solomon was congested and sneezing. By Thursday afternoon, the girls were coughing, sounded congested and were sneezing. By Thursday evening, I had a sore throat and felt warm.

To put it simply, we were dropping like flies.

Thursday night Brandon made the executive decision that we weren't going out of town. Friday we were supposed to go to the National Zoo and Saturday and Sunday we were going to be in Lancaster, Pennsylvania visiting with fellow M.O.M.Y.S. and enjoying Amish country. Thankfully, the man at the hotel took pity on us and waived the cancellation fee given the circumstances. (They will remain on our list for future trips!)

The girls and I cried. :( It was terrible. I've been taking garlic, zinc, Vitamin C and Vitamin D3 and I still feel kind of puny. (Have I mentioned I have no spleen?)

Sooooooooooooooo... instead of our exciting vacation, we hung picture frames. Yup.. 14 months after moving in and we finally have pictures hung.

Seriously.. NOT according to plan.

The only positive thing I've been able to find is that we can move the funds that were supposed to go to our fun weekend, to the adoption fund.

That is my attempt at making lemonade out of a bunch of lemons. Still tastes sour to me. Bleh.

PS: Would you pray for me this week as we wait for news on Friday about my brother's sentencing?

Sickness and The Mouse

WOW! The month of October really got away from us.

It hasn't been a great month healthwise at the Bee House.

The last time I posted Xander was cutting teeth. This has been a continuous process. Those two are in and now he has more coming. He's had all the usual symptoms that accompany teeth: runny nose, fever, congestion, etc. It's getting old.. quickly!

Julianne has some mild coughing and congestion. I'm amazed at how mild this has been for her. She used to be my child that caught everything to an extreme-- especially if it was respiratory!

Lainey had a mild cough for a few days but quickly recovered. Once she got tubes as a baby for her multiple ear infections, her health really turned around and she has been very healthy since.

Julianne sneezed in Solomon's face as I was holding him. *sigh* It was one of those things I saw in slow motion but couldn't make stop! And now Solomon has a little cough. No fever, no congestion. Ahhhh.... the blessing of a breastfed baby! Solomon is also drooling pools worth of saliva requiring multiple shirt changes now as well. Guess what I found? Two little white knots on his lower gums. And he started chewing his hands like they were just the most delicious things ever!

Then, I came down with a headcold. Since I have no spleen, when I am hit with sickness I go down hard and fast! I went from sinus drainage down the back of my throat to barely being able to swallow and a fever in the matter of a couple hours. As the night wore on, I got worse and worse. Finally, the next day (on Sunday, doesn't it always happen that way?) I decided I needed to go to Patient First and found out I have a sinus infection. Unfortunately, I am prone to sinus infections but I'm thankful that I haven't been very sick like this since I had my tonsilectomy in 2008!

So, if you are still with me after that laundry list of ailments, BRANDON is the only one that has been well for the month of October.

He also celebrated his 29th birthday this month! We managed to celebrate his birthday in between illnesses. (I'm very mindful about exposing others to germs since I have no spleen!) We went to Maggiano's and had a yummy family style dinner and I stopped at Frostings, a gourmet cupcake shop, and picked up a half a dozen. Brandon had 2 red velvet cupcakes, one with buttercream frosting and one with cream cheese frosting and the kids and I had American cupcakes (vanilla) with chocolate frosting.

Solomon did not enjoy any cupcakes during this celebration. Poor fellow.

Brandon and I have also been planning for Christmas. This has involved code words and late night chats because the children do not have any idea that we are....







FLYING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!

We did not take a family vacation this year other than a brief visit to Augusta in September so we are combining our vacation budget and our Christmas budget to make this possible. I'm so excited. I'm the only one in our family that has been to Disney before but there have been alot of changes since I went in highschool with our band. (What year was that? My freshman year? So Spring of '99? Erika, you'll have to be my fact checker!) For example, Animal Kingdom wasn't there when we went and many rides have been added. More importantly, I'm excited to see the reaction that the children and my husband have.

Brandon and I have talked about a Disney trip for years. It's been postponed due to pregnancy, school, careers, babies being too little, our adoption, etc. We finally just decided to go. Hopefully we can go back in a few years so the boys will remember a trip.

We've also been plugging in at church. We are still attending the *tiny* church and we are finding it more and more comfortable each Sunday. (We've also missed quite a bit due to sickness this fall.) Our Sunday School class has an email group so we've been in touch and we continue to get to know the other members. Our church also recently changed the schedule. Now it is Sunday School, a fellowship time and then worship. They usually serve snacks and juice during the fellowship time and people intermingle. I've met quite a few people this way and I've gotten the opportunity to get to know people more in depth this way. I have a feeling we'll be talking about joining the church soon. It's starting to feel like home.

I have a few other events to post about, but this is getting long and the tribe is getting restless.

It's Tuesday

(Creative Title huh?)

It's also 6:05 am as I am starting to write this blog entry. I've not been to sleep yet and my husband's alarm clock is going off, letting him know that now is the time for all of us to wake up.

I have an OB appt at 8:00AM. Most people that know me, know I NEVER pick first thing in the morning appointments. I'm NOT a morning person and have never been one. I'm not sure I'll ever be one.

But I have to fast for this appointment and well.. I can't very well fast until 2pm or later (my usual appt time of choice) while pregnant... or rather, I can't fast safely while pregnant.

So.. I'm up, about to start my day, get the kids ready, make them breakfast ,while I abstain and then take them to a friend who has so graciously offered to watch my three at a crazy time in the morning, the day after she got married. Seriously folks.. that is friend LOVE!

Then we'll go to the doctor's appointment, I'll drink nasty overly sweetened syrup with no carbonation, have my ultrasound and then about an hour after the last drop of overly sweetened syrup is gone, I'll have bloodwork done.

And I'll do this all on no sleep. I've almost passed out TWICE doing this test for both of the girls and that was with a full nights rest. So pray for me.

Afterwards, my wonderful husband has promised me breakfast or lunch at the restaurant of my choice and we have a few errands to run but we'll have to make it quick because I have a breastfeeding support group meeting at 1pm.

After that, all bets are off for the rest of my day. I'm tired and cranky... and Solomon is using my bladder as a trampoline. But I hope to sneak a nap in at some point.

My tooth is FINALLY fixed!

Last week I posted that I had chipped a molar and my husband called to get me an appointment. Well... I missed that appointment due to an alarm clock user malfunction.

So we rescheduled. I went to that appointment and was treated VERY rudely and told that they couldn't fix my tooth without xrays. (This was after a visual exam.) I refused xrays since I'm pregnant. They continued to make up excuses... like how they couldn't numb me until I was in my 2nd trimester. At last count.. 16 weeks IS in the 2nd trimester. *sigh*

So I ended up leaving the appointment and giving Brandon a call home to let him know that nothing was done. He was annoyed and called around to find me a new dentist.

It ended up that he found our old dentist! The one that we loved, that left soon after our first appointments with him and opened his own practice. Brandon explained in great detail what happened, what the last dentist said (no decay, I didn't lose a filling, etc) and let them know that I was in no pain but that it was hurting my tongue because it was very sharp.

I went to that appointment today and had the BEST dental appointment. I explained to the dentist what happened, he looked and then told me he could smooth it or fill it. He said he recommended a little filling because smoothing would take off more tooth. He also said he doubted I need any pain medication because he had pushed on it very hard and I didn't even flinch. Within 15 minutes, it was fixed. He asked me to feel the filling and see if it agreed with my tongue.. and it did. It was perfect.

On the way out Brandon made a dental appointment for some work that he needed to have done. Dr. Hawkins earned himself the entire family for just being HONEST and not trying to milk our insurance for new xrays!

The girls really liked the office and Dr. Hawkins said he looks forward to doing their check ups when they are due again.

Good medical professionals are worth their weight in gold...

Allergic Reaction times Two...

Tuesday when I went to the OB I showed him a hard knot in my under arm. Lumps, knots and cysts all frighten the bejeebers out of me and that fear only got worse when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer my junior year of high school. I had showed him the month before and he thought it was nothing.

This time Dr. S thought it was an infection because it was red and painful. I reminded him I was allergic to Penicillin and he sighed and asked about Keflex. I've taken it in the past with no issues even though about 15% of people that are allergic to Penicillin are also allergic to Keflex. He wrote me a prescription, gave me a referral to another doc in case it actually needs drained and sent me on my merry little way.

Key word from the above paragraph: PAST.

We filled the prescription and I took my first dose. No biggie. Wednesday I took three doses (one pill three times a day.) Thursday I took three doses again and a few hours after that last dose, I told Brandon I was very itchy and going to take a bath and go to bed. Brandon was headed up behind me and by the time he walked in the bathroom I was scratching like I'd be overtaken by a swarm of fire ants. Brandon said I had large red whelps all over me. I sent him downstairs to get the children's Benadryl since I knew I didn't have the adult variety in the house. I took the recommended adult dosage and got in a cool bath. Shortly after I got out of bath, the itching was gone and I was then Benadryl drunk and was fast asleep.

Friday we called my doctor and let him know that I showed an allergy to Keflex and he called me in another prescription. This time he prescribed a Z pack.

Again, I've showed no issues with taking Zpacks in the past. (Are you seeing a theme here?) Took my first dose of two pills the first night. I thought I felt a little itchy but I also thought I could be imagining things after my experience the night before.

Saturday I took my one pill with dinner and about 4 hours later, my legs felt like they were on fire and I was again itching to death. I had large red whelps on the back of my legs. Again, I took the adult dose of children's Benadryl and took a cool bath. Again I was Benadryl drunk and fast asleep....

So... right now I'm not on any antibiotics and I'll be calling the doctors office again, in the morning so he can decide what to do with me.

I'm a bit concerned that I'm now showing allergies to a major family of antibiotics and TWO frequently used alternatives. Have I mentioned I have no spleen so I NEED to be able to take antibiotics when they are necessary?

Oh and as a side note... my oldest daughter shows an adverse reaction to Benadryl and is allergic to peanuts and rocephin(also an antibiotic.) Brandon is allergic to the entire penicillin and sulfa drug families. Julianne and Xander have no known drug allergies at this time. I need a notebook to keep all this straight!

Remember that FSA card?

That I just talked about in my last post about my quirks? Well, I get to use it later today. I have an appointment at 9 am at the dentist because I broke/chipped a molar tonight. When I figured out it broke, I looked at the clock and it was exactly at 5pm on a Friday-- just my luck! I'm not thrilled. I had my teeth cleaned a few weeks ago and the hygienist nearly drowned me and I hurt for days. I've never had that hygienist and I've never had my teeth hurt like that.

Pray for me.. My anxiety is HORRIBLE at the dentist. But at least I'm not juggling the budget tonight to find the money to pay for it. (I still don't even know how much it is going to cost!)