Two For Two

Last week Kahri was diagnosed with an ear infection. They put her on good old Amoxicillin. Well Monday night we noticed little red spots on her skin. By Tuesday they were all over her torso and legs. She looked like a spotted giraffe. So we took her in to the Doctor yesterday. He told us to stop the medicine and give her benedryl. This helped with the itching, but the rash had spread even more by last night. This morning she woke up with a swollen face and bruising. So we once again headed in to the Dr.'s office. Apparently the affect of the amoxicillin caused some inflammation of the small vessels leading to bruising. So we were told to go home and give her benedryl. The rash and swelling will go away in the next week or two. The poor kid looks so awful, yet she isn't acting like it bugs her at all. At least she is still happy! Emily had a reaction to Amoxicillin when she was 2 or 3. Not as bad a Kahri, but she can't have penicillin anymore. So now both of my girls are allergic to mold:)

Before

After

Taxes done!!!

After trying multiple online tax options to see which site offers the best refund, I finally hit the "file your refund" button. Naturally with a filing date in February we don't have to pay, but who knows how long these days of tax returns will last. I'm glad that's done for another year. It was even worse this year having to file two state returns.

To add to the exitement of the evening Dawn noticed water flowing into our basement. Thank goodness for 20's architecture and our French drain in the middle of the floor for the water to drain into, not to mention our carpet that must have been recovered from a soon to be demolished church building from the 60s. No big loss. I only had to shut off the water to our outside spigot to prevent more water from coming into the house.

I also lost about five pounds in 20 minutes. Dawn gave me a haircut. It had been a long time. My head feels like it's in the clouds, but that could be from submitting my tax returns. Who knows.

Officially 2!

Kahri's birthday was on Monday, now she has more of an excuse for acting the way she does:) Kahri has the pleasure of having her birthday right after her big sister. She had a great time opening presents and especially liked the ice cream. I had enough energy to wrap her presents and decorate a cake, but not enough energy to make a fancy cake (so no pictures of the cake).

Kahri is doing great. She is much braver about being around people she doesn't know very well. This makes things much easier for babysitting. She loves singing and is constantly asking me to sing songs with her. She also really loves her babies and stuffed animals. She is a pleasure to have in our family and we love her very much. Happy 2nd Birthday!

My little girl is 7!

Emily turns 7 tomorrow. I can't believe how fast time flies. She has been very excited for her birthday the last 4 months. I am glad it is finally here! Emily has really grown up the last year. She is a sweetheart and very sensitive to everyone around her. It has been fun to see her have crushes on boys (most of them attend church with us) and talk about everything that goes on at school. She is a blessing in our lives and we love her very much. So Happy Birthday Emily!

Nursingmaids Elbow anyone?

Last night Emily was playing with Kahri and dislocated her elbow (dubbed nursingmaids elbow). Kahri refused to even move her arm without crying for the next couple of hours. Nathan was on long call at the hospital and we were in the middle of a snow storm. So, what did I do? After thinking through many different options I called my friend Jana. She just happens to be a pediatric resident. She tried to talk me through reducing the dislocation, but I couldn't get it(really I had no idea what I was doing). So Jana being the great person she is drove through the storm and reduced it. Just like that, her arm was better. Amazing!

Thank you Jana for helping me out!

The illness that keeps on giving.

Dawn has been sick for a while. She just hasn't felt up to posting, so I'm going to substitute and tell you what she would say if she were sitting in my place.

Today Nathan demonstrated again how he is the most wonderful husband in the whole world. As he was gone to work I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming joy to have him and know in 7 short hours he'll be home...

Wait, what would she really say?

Today's adventures took us to the pediatric dentist's office. It was Jonathan's turn and he was excited. A shuttle bus took us from the parking lot to the hospital clinic. Every person he saw was greeted in his very loud voice, "I'm going to get my teeth cleaned, where are you going?" In the elevator, "I'm going to get my teeth cleaned, are you going to our floor?" He was bouncing off the walls and occasionaly off the ceilings. When it was finally his turn to hop up on the chair, his excitement vanished and he adamantly refused. There was absolutely no way that he was going to sit in that torture device. The pediatric dentist was a cheerful old man and had met his fair share of obstinate children and took it all in stride. He examined the teeth with Jonathan standing up. Nothing to it. He even reassured us that Jonathan's adamant refusal to brush his teeth using toothpaste will make no difference until he is dating and has awful breath, we'll keep him off toothpaste. We're glad that's over. Next week Emily and Kahri get to take their turns at the dentist. I get to go too, but poor, poor Nathan doesn't get to have some complete stranger put his hands in his mouth and then start talking to him about the politcal strife in central PA. He's been very depressed ever since he realized how deprived his mouth was going to be.

So, on to Dawn's illness (now I'm putting my doctor hat on). Dawn has been sick now since Christmas. Emily was the first to get sick and had a nice bout of gastroenteritis (inappropriately referred to as the flu). Dawn spent too much time near Emily (they sit next to each other at the dinner table, and I'm almost certain I saw Emily licking Dawn's plate and utensils before dinner). With such liberal sharing of germs, Dawn was soon ill. Emily quickly got better, but Dawn's weakened immune system seemed to fail the task of fighting off a simple viral infection. Sure, her symptoms improved, but she continued to be nauseated and had absolutely no energy. This persisted and persisted. Now, I'm a tolerant husband and can handle people being sick for a while, but eventually I threw my hands in the air and said "Enough is enough. You are going to see a real doctor."

Well, the clinician was equally puzzled over this strange constellation of symptoms and was concerned that the flu should never last this long. After an exhaustive personal and family history (as well as the sly "weighing" session to ensure Dawn's not being abused) they sent off a battery of blood work and decided some abdominal imaging was in order (now we're talking).

The diagnosis was a parasitic tumor growing within the uterine cavity. What??!!?? How could I have possibly missed that? Just goes to show the inadequacy of clinical diagnosis without some good old fashioned pictures. Fortunately the prognosis is favorable for a return to some semblance of normal, although not until around August for mild improvement and about 18 years after for significant improvement. We'll see.