No Transfusion!

We don't have to do a transfusion after all! We met with a hematologist yesterday. She said that the levels in the blood are definitely low and she is certainly anemic. She understands why the regular pediatricians were having fits but she, being a blood doctor, she said that she does not usually transfuse until "10 points lower" than where Mia is currently. She thinks that intensive iron supplementation will help since it is clearly nutritional and we know how it happened. Her gut had a bleed, didn’t absorb properly and even though it seems to have calmed down, she has never had more than the recommended daily value for iron, not enough to catch up to what she lost. It also happens slowly so that kids just adjust to the miserly feelings that adults complain about, and before you know it you have a cranky hyperactive kid. We are beyond happy that this is fixable with our original plan of an iron infusion with next week’s IVIG.

We heard yesterday that the request packet has made it all the way up to the Department of the Army, so we should hear something soon. I know I’ve been saying that a lot, but it’s honestly closer this time. We will definitely hear about whether or not it was granted quickly, but as for the actual assignment it will probably take longer. Gary spoke with the assignment manager and she wasn’t optimistic about Colorado Springs because it’s apparently pretty full and would require a lot of shuffling. She asked if we have a second choice, and that is where we are torn. We have a couple of ideas, but both of them would cause delays or worse with getting into Denver’s Eos program. We do know that anywhere would likely be better for Mia than Anchorage right now, but the more I can keep her off of an airplane, the better. Our favorite airline (which really wasn’t stellar, in the grand scheme of things, if that tells you anything) just merged with Delta, so we are hosed as far as allergy support and understanding at 30,000 feet!

The weather has me supremely confused and ticked off. The first few pictures are of Mia playing in our beautiful almost 60* sunshine... The last one shows half of our snow dump from today. I think we can say it's nearing a foot, up to 8" more expected by tomorrow morning! It's better than rain, but I was ready for spring! It's pretty, but really, I'm over it.

She likes to dress herself!

Excelent bubble weather

Aaaaaaaand I'm done.

Playing the waiting game...

Firstly, I want my Aunt Francis and my cousins to know that they are in our hearts. Uncle Hubert passed away this week. We love you guys.

Mia and I shared a rough little headcold this week. It wasn't fun and made me very unproductive.
I think Mia has the whole potty thing down to a science. Everything that is supposed to go in, does and she is even recognizing sensations on her own. Since being on the Budesonide, it has "regulated" things so there aren't any sudden surprises to scare her. Now, she was also on a five day punch of steroids, this being the first day off of them. We'll see!


Gary tried his hand at snow machining and apparently it's more work that you would think.

Never too sick to play dressup!

She's such a lady.