Grateful, Blessed, Thankful

Just checking in with all you sweeties who are wanting an update on how I am doing. First off, thanks for all the generosity from so so many of you wonderful people. The babysitting, cleaning, running errands, cooking, and loving supportive phone calls. They have all been so so needed and loved, and I am so thankful to have you in my life.

Honestly things have been going really smooth, and I have been grateful to how well my body has been recovering to everything. I started out with liquid Lortab in the beginning.... but soon learned that even though you have taken something a million times you can develop an allergy to it. I hated the way it made me feel so I didn't take pain medicine hardly at all the first 5 days. Off and on I would slip in a tylenol or two though. Suddenly out of nowhere I started experiencing this stinging inside my mouth on Thursday night, and the pain went from like a 5 to a 20 in my throat over night. Friday... was awful, thats all I am going to say about that. I had sores on both sides of my tongue, the roof of my mouth and all along the insides of my cheeks. Everytime I even drank water it stung so so bad. My tongue was white and yucky looking, and finally I called my Dr. in Ogden and said I have got to have something else to take. I am in so much pain and the lortab is out of the question. I really wanted to try percoset but I guess you have to have that hand written and delivered in person and it can't be phoned in anywhere so they shut me down on that but called me in Tylenol 3 and also something for my mouth in case it was thrush... even though I wasn't on anti-biotics I have been for like the last 5 months of my life. lol Also at about 2 p.m. they suggested I try and get into a doctor here to just make sure my mouth looked ok and it wasn't really infection or something complicating the healing. So I started (or my mom I should say because I couldn't talk hardly at all) calling around the different Dr.'s and NO ONE would fit me in. In fact some places were out and out rude about even trying to fit me in because you know they are just "too busy." Since it was Friday I knew I had to get something taken care of or the weekend we would be making a trip to the ER. Finally I called my wonderful, selfless, bend over backwards helful, sweet, loving... and the list goes on, sister in law Mindi, but really she is just like a true sister to me, and asked her what I should do. She called her pediatrian and that sweet woman agreed to see me at 6:30 pm, the woman never goes home. Not only did Mindi work magic, but she came and picked me up because you know "I can't drive on pain medicine" is what she said.... and honestly you never win with Mindi on a good day let alone a day you just drool more than you can talk. That doctor hooked me up. She gave me percoset, she gave me magic mouth wash to help numb my sores so I could at least take medicine without screaming, she gave me a minute of her time which is all I had needed from those other doctors that we spend hundreds at each year, and she gave me a hug. She didn't think my mouth was thrush but I picked up the medicine and took it anyway and after 2 doses in the middle of the night by morning my sores were almost gone and with the percoset life was liveable and not to shabby again AND I wasn't feeling like my skin was crawling and so drugged I couldn't hold my eyes open. I honestly think if I could have gotten the right pain medicine from the beginning things would have been going even better, but its not like we could have for-seen a new allergy.

Saturday was a good day. Food is still not my friend, but I don't feel that starving hunger at all. I don't feel like I am missing out on anything, and I can sit and watch people eat and I don't just want to rip the food out of their hands and stuff my face at all. I am lucky. For those that say ice cream is good and your lucky because you get to eat it the whole time. That is a filthy lie. Ice cream is too darn thick to eat and the dairy causes mucus. I think we should just buy out the Snack Packs pudding company... that is what we are stocked with at the moment. My Grandpa Doug and Grandma Elaine came up from CO Friday and Saturday to see everyone. Matt and Aubri brought Garrett down to introduce him to them and Aubri got to meet them too for the first time. For some reason they had never met... Matt got married right after Xmas and the weather was horrible so they couldn't make the trip out for it, and I think they were in California for Matt's internship last time Gpa was here. Anyway it was fun for them to finally meet in person. Its tradition Grandpa takes us out for dinner when he visits, and I was so glad I felt up to going when the time came on Saturday. After Fridays drama I was so exhausted and I actually even slept 5 hours straight that night, but Saturday morning I still was just so tired. I slept until almost 3 pm I think. Mom had my kids and they were visiting with Gma and Gpa at her house, so I took advantage of the quiet. I ordered mashed potatoes at the restaurant but just ate the gravy off because like ice cream, potatoes are too thick too. It was still so fun to visit though and I had the honor of holding Garrett while everyone else ate, so it worked out in my favor in the end anyway.

Today has been hectic again though, I woke up this morning to Kash barking like a seal in his room. I thought for sure he had croup, and I was so disappointed that the great health streak this kid has been on was now over. We are going on 6 weeks healthy and I know that doesn't seem all that great, but guys that is the longest he has been healthy in his life! I gave him a breathing treatment and he went back to bed, and another one when we all got up and they did help him but he still was deep and raspy. I called my pediatrician but she was out of town this weekend and wouldn't you know it... she left on her answering machine a message to her patients in an emergency to call the Dr./pediatrician that had seen me Friday after she had refused. So I gladly did, and that sweet woman had me come in and she saw Kash and gave him stickers and spoiled us rotten. He has an ear infection, which he has only had one small one ever and then allergies, allergies, allergies. Same old story. Its sad to be happy that is what your kid is sick with huh! But I was glad because "technically" that doesn't ruin his winning health streak right? I mean yeah he is a little uncomfortable, BUT he doesn't have a virus and he isn't contagious and he probably won't lose weight over it. So I am justifying that the streak goes on.

Now on to the AWESOME thing...... Kash has gained 4 pounds since his last Dr. visit 6 weeks ago. It was so joyful to see the scale say more than 20 pds I almost kissed it. I have thought lately that he looked a little filled out in his cheeks, but I wasn't sure if that was wishful thinking or not. I knew he was growing taller because all of his pants are now pretty much capris. For those of you that don't know... Kash is very tiny for his age. He wasn't even on the growth chart until his 18 mo. checkup and even then it was 3%. Over the last 8 months he has only gained about 6-8 oz and in December he was looking so so skinny it was sad. He eats.. he eats and eats and eats. His reflux and then we just found out he has an immune disorder (more on that later) that is causing him to be sick all the time and then just not gain weight or lose weight from being sick. Its a challenge. I am grateful the $30 a week we spend on pediasure a new trial we have been doing is paying off and will continue to pray for his health and strength.

I know this is lengthy, but I can't wait to get caught up on what all you have been up to and get back to living again. This week probably will still be pretty rough but hopefully I am on the downslide.