We had a little bit better day today. I renewed my driver's license and I got out the Arm and Hammer spray, which seems to be discouraging the cat. :) The only downside is that Pearl Ann seems to have decided that it is easiest to just drink formula and not eat most other foods right now. She did have a little bit of applesauce but that is the solid food, if you want to call it that, that she would eat. She has told me on and off all day that she feels sick and that her tummy hurts.

Nika finally got me on the head today. I didn't block a bowl she hurled at me so I now have a pump knot on the side of my forehead. She wanted me to see the bowl and I wasn't looking so she let me have it (in her own way...).

Well things were already precarious with our car being in the shop. Now we have the added layer of our ride (the Monroes) having the virus we had last week. So it looks like we won't be making it back to Vacation Church School for at least tomorrow. Add to that the fact that my driver's license is expired and I haven't had a chance to renew it with all that we've had going on. I guess things are pretty stressful right now.

Oh, and our cat has decided that the kitchen is her new litter box. Sigh...

Nika at the hospital and feeling much better last week

Well, after a cool day of visiting old graveyards in Polk County I hit a pole and knocked the mirror off my driver's side door. I also did some other pretty bad damage that we won't know the extent of until we get it in to a mechanic. So for now we are stuck at home as an entire family. We are going to look at a van later this afternoon (in the Saturn) that is at a good price. We may bid on it on ebay if we like what we see. We'll also try to get this one fixed and just have two older vans that we can trade off on, depending on which one works at the time.

3 of my 4 kids still feel cruddy and the cat is sick. Ugh.

I'm sorry I didn't update about the pediatrician's visit yet. It has been a wacky couple of days with transitioning back to a normal routine.

The visit went okay. She put Nika on antibiotics and gave her a breathing treatment for heavy congestion (the fear is pnuemonia will set in, a very big concern for someone like Nika). We were sent home with a breathing machine and medication. But Nika hates it and I'm not sure she's getting much. She's a pretty strong little girl and it is hard to keep her still enough to keep it over her mouth/nose, or even just under it or around it. And she's not crazy about the medicine either. She took it expecting it to be yummy like the syringes Pearl has that she has gotten a hold of. She was visibly confused and disappointed when she realized her medicine doesn't have the same taste. Thankfully it is only a four day treatment. Now I need to remember to give her probiotics along with the antibiotics...not sure I'm capable.

Pearl isn't feeling great. I am hoping it is because I have forgotten to bring her medication on a couple of day trips in the last week or so. There are so many details to keep up with concerning our kids it is hard to remember everything, especially with one in the hospital.

We have been home for a whole day and Nika seems to be doing pretty well. She has a heavy cough that worries me a little but the doctors heard it at the hospital and just said to have her pediatrician have a listen when we go back. We'll be seeing her tomorrow.

Nika had a lot more going on this time than she has before. The whole thing seemed more scary and more serious and left me convinced that MCAD is an issue and that as great as the glucose is, she still has to be watched closely even while on it. Her blood sugar stayed relatively low for her even when she was on a high level of glucose during the time when her labs were coming back wacky. Once she was doing better her blood sugar would shoot up way high. I think what we can take away from this go around is that she really does have a problem that we have now seen the evidence of and that it really does effect different systems in her body.

Pearl had a GI appointment today. She has lost 10 ounces since April. We will need to be pushing the formula a little more and if that doesn't work we might be looking at the NG tube again. Sigh...

Co2 is 21 (normal) so we are going home!

Paul stayed with Nika last night. I just spoke with him after the doctor came in. The doctor said that her CO2 is still down. I'm still not exactly sure what that means but staying low even on the glucose is new for her. I have a feeling it has to do with her not nursing as much. I thought something along these lines might happen. This is one of the reasons why she continues to nurse.

Nika's back in the hospital. We had to have her brought by ambulance because she looked so bad and she threw up even after the zofran.

More uckiness with Nika this morning. Time for the zofran. :(

By the way, Pearl is fine.

We decided we needed a little break after the rough week we've had so we went out looking for a little (tame) adventure. We ended up at The Lost Sea and Fort Loudon. The kids panned for jewels. Elias took the whole thing very seriously and thought that we were finding real treasure. Now we are staying in a hotel and the kids are swimming with Paul. I seem to have caught a little of what the kids have so I am staying in the room and resting.

Paul is bringing Pearl Ann to the ER. She hasn't stopped vomiting all day and can't keep anything down. We will post as we know more.

Nika is doing better.

We are being admitted but have to stay in the ER because of staffing issues on the floor. It's no big deal to me really. I like the acommodations down here better. :)

Yesterday

Nika is sick. Jennifer is in route to the Pokey with her. Eliza is sick at home.

We are out for a day in Etowah, a little town that used to be a major train stop in this area. Now the station has been reduced to a museum and the town is small. We are going to take the kids to a fifties diner that has mostly antiques and real milkshakes.

Elias threw up through the night last night but is okay this morning. No one else seems affected. He was on cloud 9 this morning because Paul gave him flat Sprite last night and he got to finish it this morning. He couldn't wait for Eliza to wake up so he could tell her how lucky he was.

Pearl has been doing much better. She was fine all day yesterday and seems to be feeling great this morning. We just go with the flow...:)

Nika is finally starting to talk more. She is saying more than just "ma!" and "mama!" (although at this moment that is all she is shouting at me). She has also begun saying "mine!" and "dada!". She's an emphatic little thing. I just hope she still has a voice by the time she turns 2!

Pearl felt horrible all day. She has a tummyache. :(

Elias had a disappointment today that made me sad. He has been collecting and crushing cans for awhile now and wanted to take them in to sell today. It is hard work crushing them because they are so strong he has to crush them with a sledge. So I took him this afternoon and we were told that the cans are steel and that they buy them by the hundred pounds for $5.50. He was so discouraged! I told him that successful people fail many times before they succeed. He went out with another trash bag today and searched for aluminum cans. So if any of you live close by, save your cans for Elias!

We got word of Pearl's biopsy results late in the day today. She has some inflammation just outside the stomach going into the small intestine but Dr. S thinks that it is likely acid related. So we are trying a change of medication for now.

Tomorrow holds a much anticipated trip to the creek with new friends and old ones!

Having a good day today! Pearl popped out of bed without complaint and has played nicely all morning. Homemade hummus and pita for lunch and Nika is eating up the warm chickpeas like crazy. This is nice.

We went to the pool at the Y today and ran into some friends. We ended up going out to a restaurant with 14 kids in tow! You never would have known it though! By some miracle two of the 3 babies were asleep until the food came and the other kids were very quiet. The only "oh no" moment was when Elias decided to walk on the back of the booth to get by his seat mate rather than excuse himself. He was inches away from the person on the other side!

Pearl is doing great with the monitor. In fact, she seems incredibly happy and well! The only glitch is that it seems to hurt a little when she swallows.

The scope went well. Dr. S didn't see any inflammation but he said the biopsies will tell for sure. She is going to have the monitor on her waist for a couple of days to record reflux. He said we should have results back about that by the middle of next week.

Pearl has gone downhill pretty quickly this week. She was pretty dehydrated yesterday so I called in to her specialist's office. They scheduled an endoscopy and a Bravo test.

We found out a couple of hours ago that Pearl's next Cincinnati appointment is August 5th. That is a little further out than I thought it would be, but we are just happy to be going so we will go with the flow!