Joiner update: Three of us are sick!

You know, life around our house is never dull.

Last Friday, Randy came to my work to bring me lunch. It was then that we noticed his eye was red. In asking he said he didn't know what was going on. By Monday he said his eye was hurting, so on Tuesday he went to the doctor to get it checked. He was promptly referred to an ophthalmologist. Wednesday, the ophthalmologist told him that he had conjunctivitis caused by a virus, but that he also had iritis. Apparently, there was a secondary bacterial infection in his iris, which is what was causing the pain in his eye. So for the next 10 days he needed to use antibiotic drops and a dilator drop to make the iris dilate so it wouldn't bind to the lens.

All the while, Nathan told me Monday morning that his throat was a little sore. No other symptoms...no fever...no I gave him some Tylenol to help with the pain and he was good to go. He was fine until about mid-morning when his teachers sent him to me because he was shivering. I sent him to the office to get his temperature checked. It was elevated, but no feverish. So I got him my sweater and sent him back to class. An hour or so later, I went to check on him and he said he felt sleepy and he was starting to get a headache. I gave him some motrin and told him if he didn't feel any better to let me know and I would get daddy to come get him and take him home. He never came to me, and after school he actually seemed fine. All night I checked him for pain and/or fever, neither of which he had. Tuesday morning when I went to wake him up, he was flushed and had a fever of 102. Hooray! Randy volunteered to stay home with him and I took Grayson to school. As soon as the doctor's office was open, he took Nathan to see the pediatrician. The child had ACUTE tonsillitis. How do you get that overnight? So two days out of school, and by Thursday he still wasn't 100 percent, but he went to school. Finally by yesterday he seemed almost back to his old self.

All the while, I was not feeling great. Last weekend my sinuses were burning and I felt a little off. I assumed that I was probably getting a sinus infection. I felt this way pretty much until Tuesday. Then Wednesday I started feeling as though I was losing my voice. I have been feeling tired and heavy-chested which is usually a sign that my asthma is flaring. I think perhaps I have what Nathan had, but I don't have tonsils. And of course, it is a long holiday weekend. So by the time Tuesday rolls around I will probably absolutely miserable. I am keeping my fingers crossed that if I get enough rest and take my vitamins that perhaps I can stave off whatever is ailing me.

Thus far, Grayson has only complained that his head was hurting a little. Otherwise, no other symptoms from him. Let's hope he doesn't start too. It is so difficult living in a house full of sickies.

Nathan's Allergist Appointment

Yesterday morning we went to the allergist for Nathan's appointment. Usually we go altogether, but with three people it is really difficult to schedule them without doing it way far in advance. So I scheduled his sooner than the rest of us because we had school papers to get filled out by the doctor. Nathan has a latex "sensitivity" that we found out about when he was 3 months old. Back in the day, they still wore latex gloves to change the babies' diapers at the daycare. The first day was fine. The second I picked him up and he had welts on his arms and legs; everywhere they touched him with the gloves. The child looked like he was being abused! Poor thing. Ever since then I have done everything I can to make sure that our house and his surroundings are latex-free. This includes toys and school supplies, etc. It is amazing to find out the amount of items that have latex in them or on them! There is a really good article that was published by a teacher about her adventures with a latex allergy student (click on the word to read the article). Here is the latest list of items identified by the spina bifida foundation as containing latex along with latex-free alternatives. We decided to start 504 paperwork for him this year since I can no longer control who he comes in contact with. In the past, I would just have to worry about a few teachers needing to know and keep in close contact with them about items that they used in class. This year, for the first time, he is going to come in contact with 10- 15 different teachers on a daily basis. Having the 504 will make it easier to make sure that he is as safe as he can be when he is away from home. He is 9 and even though he has lived with this his whole life, he still forgets and touches stuff that he doesn't know for sure about whether it is latex or not. (This especially happens when it comes to a cool or neat object he has never seen before.) So now he has an epi-pen just in case. The doctor told us that there is really no reliable test for the allergy to assess just how allergic he is to it. Also, there is speculation that latex sensitivity becomes compounded over time and exposure, so the epi-pen is more as a precaution than anything. I am usually really good about checking with the company for any product that I am unsure about. I recently contacted the Bic company to find out if their pens had latex in the grip. The guy responded with, "I am pretty sure it is not latex based." Well, hopefully it is not. The fun of allergies!

Good news!

I got the lab results back from my re-check. It says I am negative for rheumatoid arthritis. I am so happy about that! I got the letter in the mail and I would have jumped for joy, but my hip was hurting! That same day, my car decided to play tricks on me. About 3 blocks from home I notice that my flat tire light is on on the dashboard. When I check the gauge it tells me that one of my tires is completely flat. I eeked home so as not to damage the tire. When I get home, the front passenger tire looked a little low. On the bright side, I learned where my spare is and how to get to it. On the not-so-bright side, I jacked up the car, took off the tire to find nothing was wrong with it, to put it back on again. I suppose it could have been the sensor going bad or something. Who knows. The next day it was fine. Ugh. I guess my car had a good laugh at my expense. (oh I do have to mention that I had to have help getting the lugnuts loosened...air drills tighten them oh so tightly.)

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for three of us! Nathan and I set off early for school this morning with binder (that is too big to fit in the book bag), book bag, and supplies. Nathan seems to really like his teacher and even found a few new friends today. Tomorrow he will get more in the swing of things by changing classes for the first time. It should be an interesting experience for him. Every year we have a few criers on the first day of school. I am proud to report that Nathan was not one of them! He really did go with the flow.

Grayson and Daddy set off later to head to his first day of Pre-K. He too has a new book bag. There really isn't much in it, but it is new all the same. He was really excited about his teacher, he knew her before and really likes her. I hope that he grows exponentially this year. He is such a bright kid.

I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off...though I was dressed nicely. I was very busy for the first half of the day and then things slowed down enough that I could sit and eat. I finally got my computer up and running. It was more of a "had to" rather than had time to set it up. I am happy that it is done though. I hope that I can take some time to finish unpacking some of the boxes and find all my stuff. I still don't know where half of my stuff is at the moment and the rest of the office would probably appreciate my cleaning up my junk!

All in all we had a really great first day.

New Ronald Information

Mimi got the autopsy report back on Ronald, Randy's dad. His condition was so unusual that she was asked to submit brain tissue to determine the actual cause of his condition. Apparently he had Prion disease. Wow! Something I had never heard of before...or had I? Apparently "Mad Cow" disease is also a prion disease...no he did not have Mad Cow! They were able to identify that the brain had the proteins, but couldn't identify exactly the type, though the markers indicate that it was Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker which is the cousin to the more common one Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Those are a mouthful...so I will refer to them as GSS and CJD when I talk about them. Click on the words to find out way too detailed information on each of them. Apparently the main difference in the two is that GSS is very rare and it's hereditary. So needless to say we will be sending Randy to get the tests done and we will be tacking that test on to Grayson's hemachromotosis one as well. Unfortunately at this time GSS is fatal. We are very lucky that Mimi was conscientious enough to have the autopsy done so that we are informed. I find it is much easier to deal with the beast that you can see rather than the one you can't.

Grayson Update

We took Grayson to the neurologist yesterday for his 6 week follow-up. The last time we were there, he was 39 inches tall and weighed 32.5 pounds. The doctor decided it was time to try something to get him to grow again so he prescribed Periactin. There is a link somewhere earlier in the blog, about 6 weeks ago, if you are interested in what it is. He first told us to give him 1/2 tsp twice a day and after a week to increase it to 1 tsp twice a day. Holy bejeezus! After about a week of the second dosing Grayson was hanging from ceiling fans and running circles around his dinner chair! I truly believe that he was burning more energy being hyper than gaining weight from eating. The pediatrician recommended (after spending a half hour with him) that we back off the medicine to only 1 tsp at bedtime. That made ALL the difference. He still talks like a tornado through a trailer park, but at least he can sit for 10 seconds before getting up and running around. In 6 weeks the child has grown 2 inches and gained 2 pounds. It's incredible! His face has filled in a little bit and he seems happier. We are going to continue with the current meds and be rechecked in 3 months. The neurologist was hoping to try and back off the Verapamil this summer, but that idea has been put on hold until he has been stable for a while. The headaches are getting less intense and shorter in duration so I think for now we are on the right path. Mimi went with us, so she got to meet the wonderful doctor. Grayson just adores him...he really is a great kids neurologist. One of my colleagues took her older daughter to him and he was really good with her too (she was 16). If you ever need a pediatric neurologist I would highly recommend ours.