Mia-ness

We have been bogged down with a slow computer, so this is our photographic catchup! Mia's last IVIG infusion was on Thursday. Of course we had to go out with a bang, so it was the only infusion to which she reacted. Her heart rate went up and she developed hives, but she didn't seem to notice because Dora the Explorer was on the tv. After a dose of IV benedryl she was as good as new.
Much of our weekend was spent on home improvement projects, which I'm sure are for the birds. One project leads to another! Gary was going to lay the rest of the bathroom flooring but found that he'd have to either do a half-hearted job or pull the cabinets away to do it right. The cabinets are old and will not go in the same way again, so we picked out new cabinets and sinks. We also discovered that we'd have to remove the wallpaper, re-plaster and re-paint. Hmm...if we are repainting the bathroom, we may as well re-paint the rest of the house since it has to be done in a year anyway. Off we trot with half of Home Depot. We also decided after much debate that we'll just re-carpet the stairs. It's safer for the toddler and the clumsy mommy. Luckily we've been stashing away some "moving money" for such projects in anticipation of selling/renting. The painting will be the most annoying, having to move things around, cover and deal with the fumes. It will be all off white and beige, that way it will be more appealing to more people. As obnoxious as the projects can be, it's nothing like what our friends Ben and Sierra are doing. The entire lower level of their house flooded, ruining the kitchen and all the flooring. I do not envy their kitchen endeavor! We are going to leave the kitchen as someone else's problem! We'll replace the garbage disposal that we managed to fry, but the cabinets are on someone else's tab.
Easter was pretty Easter-like. We helped flower the cross that they erect in memory of a young boy who died of cancer when he was 8. Unfortunately I think we got too friendly with the flowers because one of Mia's eyes puffed up and started to ooze a bit, but calmed down after getting away from them. She knew exactly what to do with those Easter eggs! Those colourful things go into your basket and you have to hunt for them. I think every kid must come hardwired for some traditions. She did get bowled over by a very excited young guy but got some effort-less consolation eggs out of it! The nice thing about that particular hunt was that a lot of the prizes weren't food items but things like mini spyglasses and bubbles. We attempted to go to a hunt on post with some friends but there were bright orange warning signs saying that their eggs only had three kinds of candy and all were peanut related. I appreciated that they put the signs up and was very glad that Mia didn't really get what we were there for. As far as she knew, we were just walking around with a pretty basket.
Our big adventure for today was a trip to the ER that turned out to be totally unnecessary. You know how your car will make the most awful noise forever, then the moment the mechanic starts the engine it purrs? Toddlers are like cars in that respect. She woke up looking very peaked, wasn't interested in a cup and just wanted to lay on my chest. She got sick suddenly but seemed to feel a little better afterwards, so I tubed some formula into her since she wasn't taking it by mouth. It was coming out of her mouth before I even had her feeding line disconnected. This happened a couple more times before I called her health nurse and said that I was going to take her to the ER because she can't get dehydrated. Once we were back into a room with the nurse, she started to perk up and get chatty (she got sick one more time in the car on the way, mind you) and was interacting with the doctor. They tried to contact her GI in Arizona with no luck. Meanwhile, the kid is be-bopping around the room talking about all the tubeys and buttons and blah blah blah. I got the doc in and said that the anti nausea medication seemed a moot point and that I'm afraid we're dealing with reflux. She has done random vomiting a lot lately, but this was the first time in a while that she wasn't able to hold her fluids down. Luckily they understood and said to come back if we needed to.
Seriously. Toddlers and cars.
And now about Denver! We received the referral papers in record time! Tricare can't make anything easy though. The paper simply said that it was for Children's Hospital and it gave the codes for the types of visits and a phone number. The number was for the hospital operator, so I had to transfer a few times before I got to the Eosinophilic program. The person I spoke with was very friendly and said they usually have the patients start the coverage with National Jewish and get the allergy testing etc before coming to Childrens. We also have to work out the new referral because it's a multidisciplinary program requiring an actual team. Mia's docs up here "work together" for her care, but as separate entities that just consult one another before doing X drug and so on. This program has the GI, allergist, dietitian and feeding therapists literally working together with patients. So, I called her health nurse (amazing woman, I'm going to insist that she come with us when we have to move!) who said she and the case manager would work it out. Fingers crossed!

She loves this hat and wears it with everything, kind of like the pink cowgirl boots.

Mia and Daddy

Learning the Potty business is much easier when there is less to pull down!

Mommy is allowed to brush her hair again. I took a friends advice and started calling it a "hair party"

We have a "hair party" every day!

Arranging the window decals that Grandma Dollman sent. After the initial placement, I have been finding them all over the house. Thanks.

Mommy got back light-happy

Rawr!