It is a glorious day when your seven year old walks into the kitchen, sees the sink full of dishes, and ask what might be the most monumental question in her little life; "Mom, can I do the dishes?" Trying to contain my excitement I said, "The dishes in the dishwasher are clean and have to be unloaded first." She simply said, "Okay." The best part...she enlisted the help of her little sister! A glorious day indeed.
Let me just say that I am in desperate need of a "real" vacation. One without doctor's appointments and procedures. One where we can escape from the real world for a short time and enjoy our family with no worries. It has been over three years since we have been able to enjoy a relaxing vacation with our children...and poor little Abigail has never been on vacation. Not that she would remember anyway, but Ross and I would. Please do not view this as complaining because we have been able (with the Lord's help...and most likely yours) to pay for our medical trips to Cincinnati and other medical expenses that have accumulated throughout the year. Without the continued support, Ross and Abigail wouldn't be getting better; and our continued trips to Cincy wouldn't be possible. I cannot afford to trade that for a vacation nor would I want to! It would just be nice to have a little break. Vacation or a weekend away with my hubby...no kids??? Humm...I don't know which would be better! ;) Ha! Sometimes that's nice too, and I can't remember when...oh wait; yes I can. We haven't had a weekend without kids since we have had kids! :) What?! If I'm gonna wish and dream I might as well wish and dream big! Right? I declare this wish and dream day. But...if you are going to do it, do it BIG!!!
Smarties, where have you gone???
Our friends, The Kennedy's, adopted a sweet baby boy from Ethiopia nearly a year ago, and have created a new T-Shirt. The proceeds for the shirts will go to Esther's House, and new orphanage in Malawi, Africa. Click here to order yours today! Check in frequently for new designs and accessories.
So, Dr. Kushner called with Ross' preliminary results. He still has mild to moderate eosinophils, but the numbers went down from 245 to 26. That is huge improvement but the disease is still prevalent. He is going to continue his beef trial along with the formula until all of the the doctors (from U.C. and Cincy Children's) meet sometime in July. They will discuss his further treatment options and get back with us. He also still had eos in his small intestines as well as in his esophagus; so this may change his diagnosis a bit, but we will have to wait and see. Please be praying that they will continue letting him trail beef and the eos continue to deplete. I did point out to Dr. K that it took Abigail nine months on formula only to have a clean scope and he is definitely taking that into consideration with Ross.
I received a phone call from Dr. Putnum today. He said that Abigail's scope looked great! There were only minimal eosinophils; nothing to prevent food trials. However, because of Abigail's status with this disease and her age, he suggested that we wait another six months to a year to begin trialing foods. This is because most of the children like Abigail fail their food trials, especially at her age. Another big reason we are waiting is because Abigail shows little to no interest in food. She is curious about what certain foods are, but other than asking what it is and if you eat it, she shows no desires to consume it herself. If and when she shows an interest and we cannot put her off any longer, then we begin the trials. Unless of coarse, we reach close to the year mark at which point we will begin them either way. When we do begin, we will start with grapes. She will have to eat them for 3 months and then be re-scoped. Although this was a bit disappointing, I agree that this is in her best interest. I would hate to set her up for failure by beginning too soon. Plus, the Lord has perfect timing! Having a high-risk pregnany and a potentially very sick two year old would not be a good thing. By the time she is ready to begin trials, the baby will have already been born and we will all be in a better position to handle possible mishaps with the foods. Okay, I think I have rambled long enough. I will post Ross' results as soon as we have them.
We are all home together as a "whole" family again. I do not like it when we are apart, but it makes it that much sweeter when we are together. The trip home was good but long. Apparently if you are pregnant and you think you are drinking enough fluids, you should drink more. I am pretty sure that I got slightly dehydrated, making the muscles in my legs hurt when applying pressure or flexing my feet. For two days I hobbled around like Frankenstein...a sight to see I'm sure! Needless to say the trip was pretty uncomfortable. I think I have been drinking my weight in water since we have been home and that seems to be helping some. All-in-all everything went well and we all all happy to be home!
