CURSE? WHAT CURSE?

The RED SOX are going to the WORLD SERIES(for those who haven't heard...LOL).

Not only are they going to the series, but they beat the hated Yankees to boot.

There is something about that that makes this victory just a little sweeter.

The RED SOX are going to the WORLD SERIES, the YANKEES AREN'T. Need I say more?

Krptonite

                                                             A few funny things I have been meaning to mention:

When Emily woke up complaining about her ear, I was looking at the packaging on the Motrin for the appropriate dosage to give to her.

I said out loud, "Six to eight years..."

She said, It's going to take six to eight years for this to kick in?"

I looked her thinking that she must be joking. She was dead serious.

How funny is that?

The next night, I was watching Access Hollywood and Emily came in the room. At the time, they were showing a clip from Superman where he is emersed in a Kryptonite filled pool(which for those who don't know is green).

Emily said very matter-of-factly, "He's swimming in a green pool...maybe that's why he got sick and died."

Funny thing is...she did not know that for the character of Superman, swimming in Kryptonite is a death sentence.

Not to make light of Christopher Reeve dying in any way, but man, I was laughing my butt off.

This afternoon, She walked in with a very concerned look on her face and said, "Mommy can I go check on Julia(who is happily sleeping the afternoon away in her swing) every five minutes because it says, never leave your child unattended on the sticker?"

Even at her worst, she is at her best.

Signs

New signs posted at Middleboro Pediatrics:

PARKING FOR ELLIS FAMILY ONLY. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED AT OWNER'S EXPENSE.

And

THESE SEATS RESERVED FOR MEMBERS OF THE ELLIS FAMILY ONLY. IF YOUR LAST NAME ISN'T ELLIS, THAN GET THE HELL OUT.

And

TO THANK THE ELLIS FAMILY FOR THEIR CONTINUOUS SUPPORT, WE WILL OFFICIALLY BE CHANGING OUR NAME FROM MIDDLEBORO PEDIATRICS TO ELLIS FAMILY (ONLY) PEDIATRICS.

Seriously, it is getting that bad. I didn't make just one trip there today nope, I made two.

Emily woke up at about 3am complaining of an earache. She was actually crying in pain so I gave her some Motrin. As soon as it kicked in, she was right back to sleep. She woke up at about 7, said her ear hurt a little but that she wanted to go to school. She had no fever so I was planning on sending her with a note, saying to call me if anything came up.

While she was eating breakfast, the pain kicked back in a big way so I decided to keep her home and take her over to the office while Katherine was at school.

We went, she did in fact have an ear infection and the nurse practitioner gave her a prescription for Amoxycillan.

We were on the way to CVS to get it filled and my phone rang. It was Katherine's school telling me that she was complaining that her ear hurt.

I was pretty much in shock at this point.

Seriously, I think my children may in fact be responsible for at least half of the income at the pediatrician's office.

There way no way in hell I was going back there unless I knew for sure that Katherine was serious about the pain. The thought had crossed my mind that she could just be saying that her ear hurt because she knew her sister's did. I decided to call my mother to see if the school nurse could look at Katherine's ear and confirm or deny an ear infection.

It was infected, and very much so.

So, we went all the way back.

On the way there, Katherine was crying/whining that her ear hurt and when we got there Emily's earlier dose of Motrin wore off.

I had two children crying in the waiting room, both wanting to sit on my lap (one on each leg was just not good enough for them) and a baby who was scheduled to wake very soon to eat.

It was a good time, really.

I felt so bad for both of them and was trying my best to keep them content while we waited.

Toward the end of our wait, Katherine started to get sleepy and fell asleep leaning on my leg. I though nothing of it, knowing that she was sick and everyone feels tired when they are sick, right?

Wrong.

When we finally got called in, I was laying Katherine down on the table/bed thing and caught a whiff of her breath. It had that fruity, sweet, medicinal smell to it. She was having a hypoglycemic attack. I immediately asked the nurse if they had any juice or something she could have to get her sugar back up. The best they could do was Sprite but that was all it took anyway. She had that and slowly came back around.

Anyway, they checked her ear, called in a prescription for her and off we went.

This afternoon, Katherine seems to be feeling much better but Emily has a fever of 101.2 and has this funky drainage thing going on with her ear that, according to the doctor is normal unless it doesn't stop or turns bloody.

Great.

In thinking about all of this today a couple of things have occurred to me. Before July, when Emily had that serious ear infection that, because she had never complained about it may not have been diagnosed had she not had the seizure, she had never had one.

Until Monday, she had not had a single seizure since.

Now she has had a seizure and has been diagnosed with a serious ear infection within two days of each other.

I am beginning to wonder if there may be some kind of a connection.

I asked the nurse today and she had never heard of any connection but did say that it was worth mentioning to her neurologist the next time we visit. So, I will.

As for Katherine, the fact that she had an ear infection came as no shock. She always seems to get a few around this time of year. I think that they may eventually talk about putting tubes in but we shall see.

This really is getting crazy.

Every time I go, I think to myself, ok no more visits until the next regular checkup.

Maybe a little reverse psychology might work. If I have to go again I might just try saying, See you tomorrow to the secretaries as I leave.

Neurologist Report

I spoke with the neurologist today about Emily's seizure yesterday. He explained to me that because she has stopped taking Depakote and is not at the full dosage for her weight on the Lamictal, that she is at an increased risk for having seizures. She is on 75 mg now and needs to be at 100mg for her to be considered to have "full coverage."

Unfortunately, the dosage can only be increased at two week intervals so she won't be at 100mg for another 2 weeks(she just started the 75mg dose on Sunday). At that point, if she still has seizures, we will know that Lamictal is not working for her and change her medicine again if needed.

I am not really quite sure when the shock of this whole thing is going to wear off...or if it ever will. Will this ever be just "a problem we deal with" not accompanied by the pounding headache and tears that seem to fill my eyes every time a new situation with her arises?

Emily

Emily had a seizure this morning. :(

She hasn't had once since June 30(the third of the three she had originally).

She was doing so well...it kind of takes the wind out of your sails if you know what I mean.

I didn't actually witness this one though...which in a way was good...just in the sense that I didn't have to "see that again."

I heard her on the monitor...for a second it sounded like she was singing...humming sort of. I thought to myself, in my half awake state "Could she be having a seizure?" I started to get out of bed to go check(after removing Julia for my arm which took a minute because she was so snuggled in) and Katherine came down. I asked her what Emily was doing and she said, "She's making noise while she is sleeping, and she's shaking." I went up to check...she had stopped by then but just by looking at her I could tell she had just gotten over one. Her pupils were dialated and her lips had that same weird "puffy" look to them...with a scary bluish tinge to her skin and lips to boot. She came around almost immediately upon my calling her name. I aksed her if she remembered anything and she said no.

I haven't posted much here about her medicine schedule but it just changed yesterday from a smaller dose to a larger dose. Since the medicine is supposed to stop seizures and not cause them, I highly doubt that the change is at all related but it still seems like it could be significant.

I called her neuro today and left a message to see what he thinks should be done if anything. I probably won't here from hime until tomorrow though because of the holiday.

Just when I think she is doing better...

Manilow

One night live, one last time.

Fleet Center Boston.

Friday, October 1, 2004

One word. Three syllables.

MAN-I-LOW

Need I say more?