Frog of the Week!

Here is a picture of the collage we made for Isabel when she was "Frog of the Week" in her "Frogs" Preschool Class at the beginning of December!  She helped pick pictures and Mommy did most of the gluing.  She got to share her collage with the class and explain what all the pictures were, and it was displayed in the hall for all the parents to see for a week and a half!
**If you click on the picture, you should be able to bring it up to a bigger size for better viewing**

Also wanted to share a quick story that happened today.  Isabel was putting all her stuffed animals on my bed while I was lying down and she put "Prayer Bear" beside me and pushed his tummy to hear the prayer:  "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep, Let angels watch me through the night until I wake in morning light.  Amen!"  After Prayer Bear was done, I rattled off the same prayer that I learned as a child and that Isabel knows as well but with a slightly different ending:  "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep, and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.  Amen!"

So I asked her, "Isabel, where do you think the Lord takes your soul?"  (Wondering if she understood this prayer at all.) 

She responded without hesitation, "All around!....All around the city."

I cracked up.

And one final thing, you have probably noticed that I made Isabel's blog much prettier!  I love the cherry theme...it is just so fresh and fun,... fruity,... fantastic!  You get it!  It hadn't occurred to me that I should put a fun background on Isabel's website...I'm not sure why it didn't cross my mind before, especially since I had put a "pretty" background on Mary Grace's blog!  But anyway it is here now and I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I do!  **Isabel gave it her approval today as well!**

Weight update December 2009 and some pics!

So we came back from Hendersonville where we spent Christmas in the snow so that we could attend Isabel's GI apptmt for a weight check. 

She is officially 95.9cm and 26.87lbs.  This is on the most accurate scale at the clinic in only her socks and underwear.  So still not officially 27lbs like I've been telling everyone.  Bummer.  But the GI doc and nutritionist were happy with her gain (500grams since last visit).  The nutritionist said a good goal for her is to gain 1/2 ounce every day!  Good grief. 

She has been downing usually 2 8oz pediasures with 2 TBL/8oz duocal a day.  Sometimes I mix in half a packet of scandishake if it seems she is having a "good drinking day".  She is still on periactin 2x a day and prevacid once a day.  They want her to continue all of that.

The blood test results came back with a few abnormal findings, but not abnormal considering she doesn't eat that much.  Confused yet?  For instance one measure of growth hormone came back "off", but it is likely b/c she doesn't take in enough food (this is the same finding that the endocrine department found when we first started our stint at UNC Hospital) The doc said that if this particular measure of growth hormone was off in addition to her IGF (another growth hormone factor) THEN there would be cause for concern that maybe this is after all an endocrine issue, but her IGF came back normal.   She is also low on iron which could also be related to not intaking enough food.  Leafy greens, here we come! ;) 

The other thing which I really did not understand was that when they did her endoscopy and biopsied her esophagus to test for "esinophilic esophagitis" and her esinophils came back normal, that means that she does not have ANY food allergies.  I had misunderstood that and thought that she could still potentially have some type of food allergy.  However, it does not rule out a food intolerance.  But there would be no need to go have skin scratch tests done for food allergies since it has been thoroughly ruled out by the biopsy. 

I asked about her "color"....I've always thought Isabel was just much more pale than a normal pale child.  But the doc disagreed with me and said her color looked no different than mine!  Thanks!  She mentioned that she does see kids who walk in the door looking much more "white"/faintish looking than Isabel, so apparently they do observe those things.

What else?  She is still scheduled for the upper GI (this is like an xray of her esophagus to see if there is obstruction) and also a modified barium swallow (I believe this is also an xray, but done while she is drinking and they will look specifically at her throat: back of throat, tongue...during the swallow.  This takes place January 13th, 2010.

Here are some fun pics from Hendo.......

Isabel in her "angel ballerina fairy" costume.

Family in the snow! We were beginning to build a snow cave.

Sleeping on Uncle Mike with Kee Kee and Rudolph.

Not sure what is going on here, but neither Rudolph, Isabel or Kee Kee look happy!

Endoscopy Results and Snow!

So Isabel's endoscopy results came back all normal.  The nodule in her stomach looked to be a "healing mucousal injury", but all other biopsy results were just fine.  So no esinophilic esophagitis!  Yay!  She is scheduled for an upper GI and a modified barium swallow on January 13th, 2010 at UNC so that they might get a better look at her esophagus and if something is in fact pushing against it to cause the "narrowing" that the doctor saw during the endoscopy.

Right now we are in Hendersonville for Christmas and Isabel is having a delightful time playing in the 9+ inches of snow we received!  We built a small snow "cave" which she decorated with berries!  She has loved pulling the sled around the yard and taking her stuffed Rudolph for a ride.

 

We are looking forward to Christmas Eve Mass tonight and celebrating Jesus' birth tomorrow!  Isabel is excited about leaving out "reindeer food" for Santa's reindeer and milk and cookies for Santa tonight!  Merry Christmas!

Oh December you are here at last!

We have been looking forward to December and Christmas in this household for a very long time!   Christmas is by far my favorite season- I love decorating for it and the hustle and bustle of this time of year.

So far, we have had breakfast with Santa:  pancakes and sausage, with crafts, cookies and a photo session with Santa provided by her preschool and the "big school" at church.  She asked Santa for a baby swing, and Littlest Pet Shop frog, ladybug, sheep, and gecko. 

Also Isabel has been VERY into all things Rudolph.  We had to construct our own reindeer antlers, a jingle bell collar and a red nose, of course.  I was a little shocked to find out (after I had already hand-made her these!) that Target's dollar section has reindeer antlers! But it was fun and she has really enjoyed dressing up as Rudolph and watching the classic movie about him.

 

 

We've also been busy making glittery Christmas crafts and baking a red cake with green icing to get into the spirit!

We got our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving from the same Christmas tree stand that we go to every year.  Each year they have a merry-go-round set up for the kids to ride on, and when we were driving there I asked Isabel if she remembered it and she said, "yes, it's blue"...sure enough, she was right!  We always go to pick out our tree at night, because the cold air, dark night and twinkling strung light bulbs just make it so magical!  She raced through all the trees and a couple times I panicked a little because she was so fast I thought I'd lost her!  They blow up a giant 2 or 3 story inflatable snow man every day and the tree stand is right beside our church and her preschool, so every school day she says, "Oh look! There's where we got our Christmas tree!" as if it impresses her each time she sees it.

What else?  She got to hang all the ornaments on the lower third of the tree, but has taken her favorites, the birds....off the tree and includes them in her play toys.  I thought about stopping her, but they are kid friendly ornaments and Christmas is only once a year, right? ;)  She also talked me into buying "noodles" a.k.a. those shiny, somewhat tacky "icicles" that you hang on the tree.  So our tree is covered in those and the cat and dog both enjoy taking them off the tree.

Guess that is it for now! I'll try to keep you all better updated!

Endoscopy Update

So Isabel had an upper endoscopy on 12/10/09, last Thursday.  It was performed at UNC Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill.  They put her under general anesthesia and she had no complications.  The doctors allowed me to go back with her initially while they put her under a "twilight" anesthesia with the gas.  It was difficult to watch, but they warned me that children her age (3 1/2) would fight the anesthesia and kick, flail their bodies and thrash their head.  She did all of those before it took effect and she was under.  Then a nurse took my hand and led me back to Rob and they gave her an IV and intubated her while she was put under general anesthesia.  It took about 40 minutes I think before the doctor came out and called us into a consultation room. 

They found a "nodule in her stomach" which the doctor biopsied and said he was not concerned about.  And they found that her esophagus was "narrowed at the top".  The second finding will need further tests to determine why her esophagus is narrowed...is there something pushing against it?, etc.

I was too busy worrying about how she was doing in recovery to think about asking any other questions.  They will let us know the results of the biopsies and bloodwork by Thursday, 12/17/09. 

I got to go to the recovery room where Isabel was pretty grumpy and very "out of it"....tired, a little disoriented, upset that there was an IV in her arm and it was all taped and bandaged up.  She drank some juice and dozed off and on for about 30 minutes and then I got her dressed and we were ready to go.  Once we got into the car she seemed to become more herself and no longer seemed as tired or upset.

I gave her a wrapped present to open (Littlest Pet Shop birds) since her procedure was kind of a big deal for a 3 year old, and she was delighted.  Once we got home it was so late that I didn't feel like I could put her down for a nap, so she watched a movie on the couch and ate different foods without any discomfort to her throat.

Trying to leave it all in God's hands.  Hoping the biopsy results will help lead us in the right direction in regards to knowing how to get her to pack on some pounds and grow more.