The light at the end

I think we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  When Sara was diagnosed with mono.  I truly thought she will be tired for a few weeks and she will be back to normal. I never imagined the number of Dr. Appointment and stress is would create for the entire family.  We have been to neurologists, had sleep deprived EEG, MRI, a visit to the ER, 2 different eye exams, and count less visits to our Peds.

I had slept with Sara or on her floor from the  first week of January until last Sunday.  She stated out very anxious and needy, then had vision issues Mycropisia (which isn't quite gone yet), 6 days of a high fever and she wasn't herself.  We are finally seeing happy, sassy Sara again.  There have been many times in the past 3 weeks when Marc and I have looked at one another and said "She's  back".

Poor Evan has been a trooper.  Last night I told him I miss him coming into Sara's room to cuddle me at tonight.  He has played way to many video games as a result of her mono.  Last week we picked up a basketball hoop for the kids.  We went to Dick's and ran into a former student and she gave us her discount!  April was a month of many expensive purchases including a new dishwasher and a new laptop.

Sara had Daddy Daughter dance on Friday and will make her first Communion this Saturday.  Evan and I went to the Avengers movie on Friday and it was not my favorite movie.  Very long, non-stop fighting and just not my type of movie.  Evan said it was ok just way to long.  

We have been running around for Track the past two weeks.  The kids had 2 track meets this weekend.  They each received ribbons but it was in the 30's for both meets and very cold.  Our weekend was filled with play dates.  Play dates have become so easy.  We have passed the stage that they need me or that they argue.  Hopefully it stays that way.

Hopeful

As of Thursday I thought she had improved.  Sara made it to school on Thursday and things went well. She asked for a sub from Wegmans for dinner.  We rode over and she complained she was car sick.  She was very nauseous and  I gave her a bottle of water.  She made it home and seemed ok.  Then complained her stomach hurt in bed.  She fell asleep at 8 and then woke up at 9:15 and said she felt sick.  Well she made it to the toilet. She then fell asleep with an icepack on head.

She seemed okay this am.  So since Marc was off I asked him to see if Sara was ok.  She called me and decided to go into school after Mass.  She made it through day!  We had her Dr. visit after school and she was released for gym and activities.  The Dr. warned her that she will be tired on and off for months.  Her lymph nodes are still enlarged but she told us that is normal.

I took my Junior and Senior Academy students on a field trip.  After that I left school early picked the kids up.  Dropped Evan off ran to the Dr. and then met Marc at church and switched kids. Evan had altar boy training.

I finally made it home around 5:30.  Sara and I are curled up on the couch.  She is eating her second bowl of watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple.  We certainly spend a small fortune on fruit!  At least they are eating it daily and will ask for it throughout the day.  Evan has been taking a container of raspberries for lunch every day for lunch.

Saturday Jim Kelly had his annual Hunters Day of Hope at the Buffalo Bills Fieldhouse.  It is a free fun day to celebrate families.  Well Jim had his gallbladder out on Wednesday and his wife was hospitalized with pneumonia.  Marc took Evan and his friend over, but Sara asked to stay home.  We stayed home and caught up on homework and made slime for her valentine exchange.

Sunday was a day of baking cookies, grocery shopping, and finishing book reports.

Today Sara made it to school and to dance class.  Of course tonight was parent observation night but her dance teacher is a good friend, her former 2nd grade teacher, and my former student.  She spent the entire class getting Sara up to speed on the recital dance.  Sara was much more confident and happy when she left.

My mom called me after school and said she wants the old Sara back.  Sara is very mopey and not herself.  She is usually very witty, fun, and joyful.  She is much more subdued, whiny, and nervous since getting mono.  We can't wait for old Sara to make her way back and recover.

The first visit

Today was our first visit to the newly opened Children's Hospital.  I was not impressed.  Yesterday we were at our Peds again.  Sara was on day 6 of a fever and her tonsils are super swollen, red and have white spots again.  The Peds tested her for strep again.  This time I had a fantastic Dr. and she listened to all of the symptoms without discounting anything.  She suggested we see an ENT.  She promised to try and get us in Monday.  Around 8pm our home phone rang and it was her checking on Sara.  She called again this AM at 8.  Unfortunately they called 6 ENT's and could not get me in.  So we headed to the ER at children's.  The plan was to see an ENT there.

Well the plan didn't work out.  We arrived at 10am and didn't leave until 3:45.  It was run so poorly and of course I had a resident that barely listened.  Once she heard Mono she ignored everything else.  First they did a flu swab and when that was negative they did a urine analysis.  After that was negative they did a strep test.  These were not all done at the same time.  So they would do a test, we would wait for the results and then they would do the next.  It was so inefficient!  Finally I expressed my disgust at 1:45 and said I had expected bloodwork and to see and ENT.  She then returned and ordered blood and an x-ray.  The x-ray tech asked me what they were looking for!!

After all that time I asked for some ice water at 2pm.. never received it.  It was horrid we spent the entire day there and didn't find out anything new.  I can't wait for my Pediatrician to call.  I would have been better off waiting for the next ENT appointment.  We left with a hungry, tired child.  The only good part of the day was that her fever stayed below 99.2.  Of course Murphys Law we go for a fever and it disappears.  

At this point the plan is to keep her out of school for tomorrow and then reevaluate.

Weekly visits to the Pediatiricians

Since Mid -December I have taken Sara to the Pediatricians 6 times and we are scheduled to go again on Friday.  This is crazy.  Now she has a virus and is running a fever between 100 -103.  Poor Sara is so wiped out.  For the second year in a row she has missed Catholic Schools Week.  She insisted on dressing up this am and wanted me to send her picture to her teacher.  I tried to console her that each year we have made something really fantastic for school spirit day and once she gets to wear them she will have the best costume ever!

She does have a book report due on the 15th and she gets to dress like the character.  Sara chose Laura Ingalls Wilder since we had purchased a flannel nightgown and a bonnet last year.

I would have loved to have taken a sick day this week to be with Sara.  It was the start of the new semester and my Department had a curriculum day planned for today.  So my Mom has had Sara the past few days.  Thank goodness for her.  She is a lifesaver over and over again.

Evan has been a trooper this month.  I feel bad that I make him head to bed early when Marc isn't home and Sara is crying that she needs to sleep with me or fall asleep with me.  Part of the Mono has made her very clingy.  I have missed looking over his homework a few times this month.  He has a very intense teacher this year.  Her grading is not very forgiving.  For example if they are late (4th graders forget their homework) or if they don't put their name on it, or do anything except math in pencil she takes off 5 points.  She is teaching them responsibility but is very strict for a bunch of 9 year olds.  I am the opposite as a teacher and am very flexible.  But... I do teach electives.

This afternoon I called Sara and asked if anything sounded good.  She said Chipotle might.  So I picked it up on my lunch and she ate 2/3 of a very small taco.  Tonight she ate 1 3/4 more tacos.  That is the most she has eaten in days.  I am desperate to get anything into her.  Our freezer is filled with her favorite ice cream treats, frozen yogurt, and popsicles.  She has been living on Chicken noodle soup and bread this past month.  Its not because I don't make my own soup, I do.  She has been extremely hard to feed and only a few things appeal to her.  Luckily one of them has been apples.  I'm crossing my fingers that she is back to school next week.  I did make sub plans for Monday just in case.

She hasn't been to dance or gymnastics in a month and I originally planned on having her return to dance this week but unless there is a huge improvement in the next two days we will be waiting even longer.

Recovery

Sara is slowly recovering.  She is still pretty emotional and wants Mom, claims she will miss me when its time to go to school and has cried many mornings.  She missed 3 days the first week.  The second week was a four day week and she made it for 2 whole days, went in late once, and came home early another day.  This week so far she has survived 3 full days, and came home early yesterday.  I ended up taking her back to the Pediatricians yesterday.  The good news is her lymph nodes are not as enlarged, her spleen seems okay, her tonsils no longer are swollen with white spots.  The bad news she has a  new virus or cold.  She is very congested and her throat hurts.  Normally this wouldn't be so bad but her immune system is so weak after Mono.

Sara has only left the house for school, Drs visits, dinner out last Saturday and 2 trips to Target.  I feel like we are all hibernating!

Poor Evan is getting the short end of the stick.  We rush through his homework because Sara wants me to lie down with her as she falls asleep.. that's another story.  She has been falling asleep with me and then either Marc or I carry her to bed.  This weekend I need to end this!  The other night I climbed in Evans bed to say goodnight and he said "Mom do you realize I'm Evan and you only do this with Sara"  Poor kids has been abandoned!

Marc is out of town tonight.. Selfishly its so much easier to feed just the kids.  I put a roast in the crock pot and I can make Sara acorn squash in the Instant Pot and Evan mashed potatoes and corn or peas and call it done.  Marc usually comes home much later so I feel like the kitchen never gets cleaned up.

Next week I start with new students.  I can't believe half of the year is over.  Hopefully the second half goes by just as quickly.  If only the summer would go slower!  So far no plans yet.

Marcs sister is getting married and has asked Sara to be the flower girl.   She still hasn't set a date but possibly next Easter or next summer.  Hopefully we can turn it into a vacation at Myrtle Beach or one of the beaches surrounding Charleston.

New year... not starting out so well

As 2018 rolls in we are starting out on a rough path.  Sara has been diagnosed with Mono.  She went to the doctors twice the week before Christmas with a cough, and sore throat.  I assumed she had strep throat since she is extremely prone to is.  She complained on and off during Christmas and also complained on and off that her stomach hurt.  She went to Gymnastics a few days before Christmas and when I picked her up she was crying.  She told me she cried the entire class and didn't know why she was crying.  The crying and emotions increased during break.   She became very clingy and wanted dozens of hugs and kisses before bed.  She then became very anxious when it was time to return to school last Wednesday.  She told me she didn't feel herself and was an emotional wreck.  I chalked it up to the change in routine.  Well it only became worse.  So bad that I had read about PANDAS online and was convinced she had it.

I finally called a friend that is a child psychologist and she suggested the possibility of Mono.  Well I took her in Monday afternoon and she tested positive.  Since she didn't feel that bad I sent her to school Tuesday and I guess that was a mistake.  She was exhausted.  She hasn't napped at all but has laid around all week and doesn't have much of an appetite.  Her tonsils are huge and very red and now are starting to become covered in white spots.  Today is the first day that I thought she perked up.  When I ask her she says she doesn't feel any better.

She has managed to keep up with her homework.  Her teacher sent all her work for the rest of the week.  Thank goodness that Monday is a holiday so that will extend the rest period.

Last Friday we had a day off for the cold temperatures and today I was running around in a sweatshirt.  This weather is crazy.  I did manage to take down and store all the outside lights at 8am this morning!  Last week I made the kids clean the basement and we have a giant box of toys to sell and donate.  I packed away all the Legos, dollhouse, and sorted through tons of books.  Surprisingly Sara let me get rid of all the play dough.  Now she has progressed to the slime obsession.  Our one tip on slime is to combine glue with sta-flo starch.  It is much easier than any other recipe.

Our exciting news of the day is Marc's sister is getting married.  She had told Sara a long time ago she could be a flower girl.  Sara is thrilled, although no wedding plans have been made yet.  We will have another trip to Charleston at some point for the wedding.

Great Wolf Lodge

We just returned from Great Wolf Lodge and had a very quick, fun trip.  Evan's friend Dominic joined us and their were 10 other families from school.  On Thursday night, Evan mentioned his friend Josh was going.  Josh has a little sister Alyssa that Sara adores.  We were both surprised to not have know the other was going.  I love Josh's parents and they were lots of fun to spend the evening with.

The kids had a great time in the water park for 5 hours straight.  Food was surprisingly reasonable.  Dinner was $20 Canadian for 8 chicken strips, 3 orders of fresh cut fries, and 2 sodas. So about $16 American.  We let the kids each spend $10 in the Arcade after the waterpark closed.  Sara accidently spend more than she thought on a game that wasn't working.  I had $5 Canadian in coin and when I went to cash it in, the attendant looked at her and said tell me when to stop.  She was puzzled and didn't understand what he was doing, well he kept sliding her game card over and over until she had about $60 worth of credits.  The kids had a blast with that and cashed in their "prize points".  Sara was thrilled to purchase a Kinder-egg.  Since these are illegal in the US they are always a favorite in Canada.  As long as we unpackaged it, its legal.  Such a silly law.  They are chocolate eggs with a plastic egg inside (Easter egg size) with a prize inside.

The kids played basketball, did the obstacle courses, wave pool, and hot tub.  Sara did a few waterslides but the boys were more timid.  She played with Alyssa and then transitioned to a boy from her class Carson.  I think Carson has a crush on Sara but they had a great time together.  Floating in the lazy river in the double tube, riding waterslides, and doing the obstacle.  Its so nice to know all the families.  The kids were on their own for a good amount of time at the park.  They would check in periodically and I would check on them.  We had a rule to stay with a buddy and not to use the bathrooms without an adult, and not to leave the park.  My kids are super easy with things like this and haven't pushed the limits yet.

We had breakfast there since the kids didn't have much for dinner and were very overtired.  The Buffet was not cheap but I figured if we had a big breakfast we could have a light lunch.  Sara tried pea meal bacon and loved it.  Evan had 6 small waffles and some fruit.  I just wanted coffee and the waitress forgot me and so brought me a tog o cup that was very welcomed!  The kids decided not to return to the park and wanted to play put-put golf.  Well, after searching the resort for it, we found it was outside.  Today was 21 degrees, so that idea went out the window.  We decided to check out and head to 7-11 for slurpies and a few more Kinder Eggs before crossing the border.  The Whirlpool bridge was backed up a bit but since Dominics mom gave me his original birth certificate and a note we didn't have any issues.

When we came home I ran to JCP to use some coupons I had 3 spend $10 save $10 coupons, and 1 $15 reward.  I picked up some sneakers for Marc, he doesn't like them, I will be heading back.  Two outfits for Christmas gifts, and some slippers for my mom.  It was so busy there today.  I also went to TJ Max to return something but the line was crazy.