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Saturday, August 25, 2007
Not Good News
First I want to start out by introducing my friend Donna. We met while going through infertility on an infertility support bulletin board (which no longer exists). Her oldest and Kayla are 3 weeks apart in age (both IVF) and her 2nd is about a month and a half older than Alysa. Her third is the odd girl out, as we don't have a 3rd. :) She's been an amazing friend and luckily we live within 2 hours of each other, so we do get to see each other - not often, but our kids love playing together when we are able to meet up - actually Kayla and Petey were holding hands the last time we saw them in June. Anyway, she just entered the blogging world, so please stop over and say "Hi."
Unfortunately, Kayla did NOT pass her skin test today. She reacted to the milk - actually, her reaction to the milk was stronger than her reaction to the control. But...her doctor said he is not surprised nor is he concerned. He said that as children outgrow a food allergy, the blood test is the first to go negative - which it was with a level of <0.35. The actually reaction goes next. So, it's perfectly "normal" for her to still react with a negative blood test, especially since her blood test was positive 3 months ago. So...we go back in 3 months for a repeat skin test. He is hopeful that she will pass the skin test then. Me? Not so much. But we shall see.
So things stay status quo. Not the end of the world, but I just need to absorb and process it all and then I will be ok, as nothing has really changed. Hopefully November will bring better news.
I got the forms filled out for preschool by him, so we are set on that front. I just need to put together all her snacks and make sure I have her emergency action plan finalized.
In other not-so-good news - Alysa does indeed have a fractured arm. She had improved earlier in the week since her ER visit on Monday. But Friday morning I noticed that her arm was swollen AND bruised. J actually noticed the bruising on Thursday but thought I knew about it so he didn't mention it. Plus she was majorly cranky and miserable. But that's not necessarily unusual since she's working on 4 molars. So I spent the day yesterday calling around a million orthopedics trying to get her seen. I kept getting - September, October... etc. Um...if it was fractured, she couldn't wait. Finally, the duPont Children's Hospital office that is near us was very helpful. Their doctor was not there, but she suggested I call CHOPP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) or their Children's Hospital in the state of Delaware. The women I spoke to said flat out - she NEEDS to be seen - sounds like a fracture. I called CHOPP first b/c they're closer - no dice - sorry you can't be seen today. So I called duPont in Wilmington and the nurse said b/c it was so late on a Friday (3pm), she recommended we go to their ER (yay another $100 copay as opposed to $30 or the doctor's office) and then one of their Orthopedics on call would see her. So I had to run out, get her x-ray films, pick up J and the 4 of us headed down to Delaware in rush hour. W/o traffic, you're talking 45 minutes - with traffic, over 1 1/2 hours. J really wanted to be there so we took both girls. Sure enough, it's fractured - so she is in a splint and a sling. She has to be seen again Monday or Tuesday - which will most likely mean more x-rays. They then will decide based on how she's healing whether to cast or keep her splinted. I'll say - just having it stabilized has made a world of difference. She is a happy, non-cranky child. Amazing.
Both girls, considering we were in the ER from 5:30 to 10:30pm were amazingly well behaved. I am so proud of both of them. I think J and I were more cranky b/c we were both tired AND hungry. I packed food for the girls but didn't have time for us. LOL The nurses took pity on J and let him share some of their hoagie platter though.
So now we have the next 4-6 weeks of Alysa's arm in a sling. She's doing great with it. But that means no more swimming for her this season - so that is sad. For the first time Alysa freaked when she was the Allergist this morning. I think she's had enough of doctors. Then my Mom and I took the girls out to get them a little treat for being so good and since they've both been put through the ringer the past few days. Then I realized later - Alysa, is being rewarded for disobeying me since if she listened when I said to stay out of the window, then she never would have broken her arm. ;) Oh well, what are you going to do?
So we'll deal with the rest of her arm business and I'll work on getting Kayla all ready for school in a week and a half. And did I mention I have to pack to go to Ohio? We're visiting my Sister for Labor Day weekend.
I hope everyone is having a better weekend than we are. :) I'm off to cuddle with my Gimpy as Kayla is still napping.
Unfortunately, Kayla did NOT pass her skin test today. She reacted to the milk - actually, her reaction to the milk was stronger than her reaction to the control. But...her doctor said he is not surprised nor is he concerned. He said that as children outgrow a food allergy, the blood test is the first to go negative - which it was with a level of <0.35. The actually reaction goes next. So, it's perfectly "normal" for her to still react with a negative blood test, especially since her blood test was positive 3 months ago. So...we go back in 3 months for a repeat skin test. He is hopeful that she will pass the skin test then. Me? Not so much. But we shall see.
So things stay status quo. Not the end of the world, but I just need to absorb and process it all and then I will be ok, as nothing has really changed. Hopefully November will bring better news.
I got the forms filled out for preschool by him, so we are set on that front. I just need to put together all her snacks and make sure I have her emergency action plan finalized.
In other not-so-good news - Alysa does indeed have a fractured arm. She had improved earlier in the week since her ER visit on Monday. But Friday morning I noticed that her arm was swollen AND bruised. J actually noticed the bruising on Thursday but thought I knew about it so he didn't mention it. Plus she was majorly cranky and miserable. But that's not necessarily unusual since she's working on 4 molars. So I spent the day yesterday calling around a million orthopedics trying to get her seen. I kept getting - September, October... etc. Um...if it was fractured, she couldn't wait. Finally, the duPont Children's Hospital office that is near us was very helpful. Their doctor was not there, but she suggested I call CHOPP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) or their Children's Hospital in the state of Delaware. The women I spoke to said flat out - she NEEDS to be seen - sounds like a fracture. I called CHOPP first b/c they're closer - no dice - sorry you can't be seen today. So I called duPont in Wilmington and the nurse said b/c it was so late on a Friday (3pm), she recommended we go to their ER (yay another $100 copay as opposed to $30 or the doctor's office) and then one of their Orthopedics on call would see her. So I had to run out, get her x-ray films, pick up J and the 4 of us headed down to Delaware in rush hour. W/o traffic, you're talking 45 minutes - with traffic, over 1 1/2 hours. J really wanted to be there so we took both girls. Sure enough, it's fractured - so she is in a splint and a sling. She has to be seen again Monday or Tuesday - which will most likely mean more x-rays. They then will decide based on how she's healing whether to cast or keep her splinted. I'll say - just having it stabilized has made a world of difference. She is a happy, non-cranky child. Amazing.
Both girls, considering we were in the ER from 5:30 to 10:30pm were amazingly well behaved. I am so proud of both of them. I think J and I were more cranky b/c we were both tired AND hungry. I packed food for the girls but didn't have time for us. LOL The nurses took pity on J and let him share some of their hoagie platter though.
So now we have the next 4-6 weeks of Alysa's arm in a sling. She's doing great with it. But that means no more swimming for her this season - so that is sad. For the first time Alysa freaked when she was the Allergist this morning. I think she's had enough of doctors. Then my Mom and I took the girls out to get them a little treat for being so good and since they've both been put through the ringer the past few days. Then I realized later - Alysa, is being rewarded for disobeying me since if she listened when I said to stay out of the window, then she never would have broken her arm. ;) Oh well, what are you going to do?
So we'll deal with the rest of her arm business and I'll work on getting Kayla all ready for school in a week and a half. And did I mention I have to pack to go to Ohio? We're visiting my Sister for Labor Day weekend.
I hope everyone is having a better weekend than we are. :) I'm off to cuddle with my Gimpy as Kayla is still napping.
4 Comments:
Thank you for posting about my blog Sue...you have been an amazing friend to me too and have seen me through many dark days. Sorry for your all around bad news today. I guess it is a mixed bag for Kayla and still good that her levels are dropping but will take longer than we all hoped to introduce dairy. At least you are prepared to deal with that. Poor Alysa...I want to kiss her up in that little sling!
Sorry about the news...maybe November, right? And, fracture? Geez...hopefully this next week will be much more calm and un-eventful!
So sorry to hear the results of the skin test were not what you had hoped for - how frustrating that must be! It sounds like from what the doc said since this is normal that when she goes back in Nov it could be neg for allergies? Praying that will be the case!
Poor Alysa with her fractured arm! No wonder she was miserable...and what a run around that was trying to get her in to a dr! She looks too little to have her arm in a sling! Glad she is feeling better now though!
I'm sorry to hear the skin test results were not what you hoped for. That's nice to hear there is still hope for Novemeber.
And how frustrating trying to find a doctor for Alysa. Let's just say I have a strong dislike for getting the run around. That sling looks so BIG, or she's just so little. I'm glad she's feeling better now.
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