This past week was the girls' "vacation" from school and we went into it with very limited plans for fun. I believe you don't always need to have everything planned out. Back in the fall, the dance studio had told us to block off that first weekend for a potential dance competition. This particular competition is spread over two days and you don't find out until a month or so beforehand the day you are competing. And the studio wasn't positive if the girls' team was going to compete or simply attend to watch/support the older girls. A few months ago, the decision was made that they would not be competing in this one and then at the end of last month, we found out that, due to space constraints, we wouldn't need to attend.
Even though that weekend opened up, we still had other things scheduled for the week. So while I would have loved to have flown down to Florida in search of sun and warmth, we were stuck here in the cold rain. Rich mentioned heading out to Castle Island that Saturday but the temperature was dropping and none of us wanted to be out in the cold. Rich had a meeting at work on Tuesday that he could not miss. Yes, these always fall during vacation week. Last year, I moved around the girls' medical appointments so we could drive to DC mid-week. This year, we decided to stay put. The girls did have a party of sorts with their friends yesterday for their birthday. We rented three lanes at a bowling alley, ordered some appetizers, brought some cupcakes. They all had fun.
The girls were scheduled to receive three immunizations at their well-visit with the pediatrician on Wednesday. Since the girls were babies, they've worked with me on delaying when necessary so that they never receive more than two at a time. So we delayed one to next year. And I'm glad we did. Emily was a mess that night and Anna woke up the next morning with a red spot, the size of a quarter, creeping out from under her bandage. I read through the info sheet from the pedi's office and redness and swelling at the injection site is just a minor reaction.
Thursday afternoon, Anna had her bi-annual kidney/bladder ultrasound and urology follow-up. Rich took the day off from work so both of us could be with her. We had originally planned for all of us to go - we'd grab dinner in the North End afterwards - but then a dance class was scheduled for later that afternoon to make up for a snow day. Grammy watched Allie and Emily and brought them to dance. Emily was still not feeling herself that morning and the weather was gross, so it all sort of worked out in the end.
It appears that Anna's urologist is taking new patients again. For awhile there, he wasn't and we'd heard rumors that he was going to be retiring. We like him so we weren't happy with that news, but appointments were super easy because we no longer had a wait. Last spring and the appointment before that, Anna had her ultrasound and then we headed straight for his office. We never had to wait more than ten minutes while he consulted the ultrasound and then chatted with us. This time, we arrived at 12:50 for a 1:00 ultrasound appointment. They didn't take us until 1:15, which really isn't that late. Even though we'd been given an appointment time of 3:00 for her urologist, we headed straight there. (It's standard for them to space out the appointments by two hours.) I was hoping that, once again, we'd been seen early. Nope. Finally at 3:30, his assistant met briefly with us. Everything's been good with Anna's ultrasounds and the deflux injection is still visible and where it should be. Thanks goodness. Anna was a trooper and extremely patient given that it was a long time to wait between appointments. Next time we'll assume there's a wait and get food in the cafeteria.
The red spot on Anna's arm had grown throughout the day Thursday and the next morning, it was twice as big. I called the pedi and they said as long as it wasn't hot to the touch, she didn't need to be seen. Thankfully, it was not hot and, yesterday morning, it began fading. The last thing that kid needs is another medical issue.
There were some fun days with play dates (at what point is it not called a play date?) and individual sleepovers at Grammy's. We also met Rich for lunch at the Town Spa on Friday. (By the way, pickles on a pizza is really good. Try it.) The girls and I watched coverage of the Boston Marathon on Monday. We happened to turn it on about ten minutes before Desi crossed the finish and I explained to the girls how they were seeing history in the making. Serious props to everyone who ran because the weather was absolutely atrocious. I didn't even want to go out to get the mail.
I did have plans (always with these plans) to work with the girls on cleaning out their rooms and coming up with some storage solutions. Yeah, none of that happened. I had big sewing plans too. None of that happened either. Seriously though, I feel like there is always something to clean or organize and I imagine this whole new life if only I could get the house spotless, but then I get tired and sit down and start reading a book.
2 comments:
Wow, that is a big reaction! My son with SB is allergic to latex and eggs so we have to monitor the gloves the nurses use, and he can’t get the flu shot. Also, since he is at a high risk for reactions, we give him Benadryl and Tylenol before each visit. Then we need to wait for a while to ensure he doesn’t react. Do you do this with Anna? We are terrified about an infection along the shunt track so we have to go the extra mile for him but, despite all the challenges, I love watching my son surmount every challenge placed in his path
We always list latex as a potential allergy but she's never shown signs of an allergy. We have questioned it in the past with elastic in bathing suits, etc. but have since learned that she has eczema issues. She's never had a reaction like this before. The pedi's office told me that sometimes the shot gets caught up in the fatty tissue and needs to work its way out.
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