Ella-MRI update

We finally got Ella's next MRI scheduled - for Jan 7th! That's the day both Kaylee and Andy go back to school after winter break. They initially had her scheduled for mid-March, but when we said her pediatrician wanted it sooner rather than later, they said the earliest available was 1/7. We've now left a message for her pediatrician (who was off today) asking if we need to try to get it done sooner or if that date is fine with her. Ella's 1 year appointment is scheduled for Jan 14th, so if we do have her MRI done on the 7th, hopefully the pediatrician would have the results in time for us to go over them at that appointment. So for now, just more waiting!

On another note, Ella is super congested right now, so it's a good thing her MRI wasn't scheduled for this week! It started a couple days ago, but yesterday got worse, then last night she couldn't stop coughing and woke up crying. Jamie steamed up a small bathroom and held her in there for a while around 11pm to help loosen the mucus, then we put Vicks on her and a humidifier in her room. She was back in bed around 11:30/45 and managed to sleep until 8 this morning. Poor thing was pretty miserable today with a red/raw nose. Andy's preschool Thanksgiving Feast is tomorrow and he really wants Ella to go, but I'm not sure she'll be up for it! We'll see how she's doing in the morning. So far so good tonight (more Vicks and humidifier again), but it's only been a couple hours since bedtime.

Another tooth for Ella!

On Saturday I noticed Ella has another tooth!  Looks like it popped through a day or two before that.  The bottom left tooth next to her middle teeth.  So she's up to 7 now!  It's hard to get a peek, but I'd guess the same tooth on the right side wouldn't be too far behind.  She's going to have a whole set of chompers before her first birthday!

Kaylee's ears - update

Kaylee's rescheduled surgery appointment was this morning. Unfortunately it didn't go as well as hoped. There was not any fluid in her left ear, so they did not put in the tubes (or even cut in to look in the right ear). That means her hearing loss is most likely due to something with the ossicles (little bones in her ear) not transmitting sound completely. Fortunately, the loss is apparently not bad enough to worry about hearing aids, so they just want to keep an eye on it for now, and to make sure it doesn't get worse. They suggested having her teachers seat her somewhere that her good ear would be towards the teacher, just to make sure she can follow along easier, but all feedback from her school is great so we don't seem to need to worry about that yet.

Kaylee, like Ella, also seems to get pretty sick from the anesthesia, so she didn't have a very good time for at least 2-3 hours after she woke up. They gave her some anti-nausea medicine before we left the hospital since she was sick at least 3 times while we were there. It seemed to help, but it didn't completely stop her sickness. By about 2pm, though, she was bouncing off the walls like usual and since seems to be completely back to normal. Other than pain medicine as needed, ear drops for a few days and making sure to keep water out of her ears until we see the doctor again (in about a month), I guess we are back to the usual routine with her.

No updates on Ella yet. We need to call tomorrow to try and get the MRI scheduling sorted out.

Recent Conversations with Andy

Some conversations with Andy from the past couple weeks:

Me: Andy, do you have a dirty diaper?
Andy: No, but don't smell.

*****

Andy came up to me with a little stamp Kaylee had gotten at our fall festival.
Andy: Mommy, can I stamp this on my hand?
Me: It's Kaylee's new stamp.  Why don't you put it back and when Kaylee gets home you can ask her; she'll probably let you have a stamp on your hand.
Andy, after pausing a moment to think: Mommy, can you close your eyes?
Me: why?
Andy: just close your eyes and I will go to the play room and come right back.

*****

Andy likes to turn on the lights and fans.  In Ella's room yesterday he turned on the fan and it was already cool in there, so I pulled the chain to stop it.
Andy, in a mad voice: I want to cut that string!  I want to put on butterfly wings and you tape them on me so they will stay and I will fly up to that string and cut that string so you can't turn off the fan anymore!

2 little ones

Andy loves to get in Ella's crib in the mornings & after her naps to play with her before I get her out. They both love it. These pictures are from yesterday & this morning.

Girls' Medical News

Kaylee: After 3 weeks on antibiotics to hopefully clear any fluid in her ears, she went back to the ENT yesterday. Her hearing test results were the same, but the ENT still thinks there is fluid in her ears based on the stiffness of her eardrums and the rareness of the other possible middle ear conditions. He said it could be a very thick fluid that won't drain on its own (glue ear), and that it has been there since birth. She is scheduled for surgery on 1/3/14 to make a small incision in her eardrum and drain any fluid on both sides. If the fluid is there, he will put in tubes while he is in there. If there isn't fluid, he will do nothing (and the eardrum should heal in about 3 days) and that would leave one of the more rare conditions, such as a stiffness of the tiny bones (ossicles) in the middle ear. I'm not sure what the next steps are if she doesn't have fluid in her ears, but we'll figure that out when/if we get there. They will have to put her to sleep, but it sounds like a very light sleep with gas only and she will wake not long after removing the mask. The good news is that if it is just fluid, she might have normal hearing when it is all said and done.

Ella: She went back to the pediatrician today. Unfortunately, her head circumference has increased another quarter inch since her last visit about a month and a half ago, so based on that result her doctor still wants to get the MRI done. We should get a call about scheduling that in the next few days. She said it is most likely/hopefully just benign hydrocephalus where the excess fluid is outside the brain and just means she will have extra cushioning around her brain and will have a bigger head (meaning, we do nothing). Of course, it could also be hydrocephalus inside her brain ventricles which is bad, or some other growth in her head, and if something like that is found we'll have to go to a neurosurgeon. Considering she has no other developmental issues, it seems less likely to be one of the bad options, but we won't know until we see the MRI results. Like we've said, that will involve general anesthesia, but now that we are aware of her airway condition, it should be manageable and safe, although not what we were hoping for.

Thanks yet again for continued prayers.

Waiting on the doctor

Ella was checking out the view from the window while waiting on the doctor to remeasure her head.

Further Ella Update

We saw the more specialized pediatric ENT down at Scottish Rite yesterday. Based on what we told him and what he saw, he feels that Ella should grow out of the tracheomalacia by 2-3 years of age. He had some concern that the condition could be caused by a heart or artery defect putting pressure on the trachea, but he called the radiologist at Northside to have them check the fluoroscopy images and fortunately ruled that out. The only thing we really need to be careful of is when she gets chest congestion during a cold. The heavier she has to breathe, the more the trachea will collapse and we could end up in the hospital with her. The doctor was glad we don't have to leave her in daycare, because she should be less likely to catch as many colds. He does prefer to follow these types of cases, so we have another appointment in 2 months just to make sure nothing is worsening.

Jamie also talked to her pediatrician after we got all of these results. Now that we have the tracheomalacia diagnosis, she was less concerned about getting the MRI done. I don't think she told us this before (probably to avoid planting any panic seeds in our brains), but one possible symptom of hydrocephalus is vocal cord palsy, so it was possible that Ella's honking noise was due to pressure on a particular nerve due to fluid build-up in the brain. Now that we know that isn't the cause of the honking (and given what happened during the sedation at the last MRI attempt) she just wants to have her come in for a quick head measurement check. If her head hasn't had any significant growth then we will just keep an eye on things and recheck it again at her 1 year appointment in January. If it has gotten bigger, though, she will most likely want to do the MRI. The head measurement appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday.

Kaylee's audiologist appointment is Monday of next week, so we will hopefully have definitive plans for both girls by the middle of next week.

Halloween

Guess who chose our pumpkin carving design this year?

A few fall photos

Me and the kids at Burt's pumpkin farm


Pumpkin photos! The one of all three is pretty much how all the group photos turned out. Sometimes two would be smiling, but I don't think Andy was in many...he's pretty anti-photos at the moment, unless he specifically asks to have it taken! At least Ella cooperated when it was just her and the pumpkins. :)


Ella is 10 months old!!!


This is Andy at our neighborhood fall festival. He wanted me to help him get a snack (read: cookie or cupcake or candy or all of the aforementioned), but I told him I wanted to take some photos of Kaylee and Erin getting their faces painted first. He crossed his arms and said, "that doesn't make any sense." He cracks me up.


Kaylee the vampire and Erin the zombie!! While they were waiting I'd asked what they wanted to be and they'd said unicorns or butterflies...hmm. Quite a change of mind!


Our happy little Ella-phant!!

Sweet big brother

Once a month right after church there is a program (KidStuf) for the elementary kids, so we were taking Kaylee (and Andy) to that today. So after church we picked up Andy from his room then peeked into Ella's room where she was sleeping, so we left her to nap while we took the others to KidStuf and we would pick her up afterwards. As we walked out of the kids' area with Andy, he looked up at me with a worried look and asked, "so we go home with no Ella?" It was so sweet! I told him the plan and reassured him that we would get Ella before we went home.

This is the two in Ella's crib on Friday morning. Andy likes me to put him in so he can play with her some before I get her up. He does look completely put off in this photo, but he is put off by having his photo taken - he laughs and cuddles Ella until I try to take a photo of it, the little stinker!