Oh Yeah, He's That Good

God, that is...

I told you we were believing for No Celiac for Sophia. Well, I was very frustrated at her growing discomfort. So, I just had resolved that though I knew God could give us a good report regarding that, I would try a gluten-free diet and see if it made a difference. We couldn't get into the Pediatric Gastro doc until September, and that just wasn't acceptable to me that she should suffer that long. She'd been moaning in her sleep with the pain. Ugh!

Well, the gluten-free didn't seem to be making a difference, but I thought maybe it just hadn't been long enough. I scheduled with a naturopath, because I just couldn't make her wait another 2 months. Also, the Ped. G.I.'s way of testing for Celiac is a biopsy of the small intestine, and I wanted alternative diagnosis techniques for my 6 year-old.

Then yesterday afternoon, I got a call from the Ped G.I. saying they had a cancellation for 3:15 if we could make it. My friend watched the other 2 girls and Joe, Sophie, and I scooted on over there.

He was really a funny doctor, making jokes with Sophie the whole time. My little shy girl didn't quite know what to think, but just kept smiling and laughing. He was getting a history, and I was telling him about her aches, poor sleep, irritability, diabetes and that trauma, and as a baby she had reflux (who knows what makes a difference in diagnosis). He looks at her and goes, "Boy you're a lot of trouble, huh? Are you sure you're worth it?" Joe and I were laughing. She just stared at him smiling with that I don't know if that was funny or not, but I'll just keep smiling and laughing nervously look.

Somewhere in there he pipes up, "Oh, she doesn't have Celiac, by the way." Huh??? After asking our family histories, and gleaning that mom has history of constipation, as does her whole family have IBS (what? too much info? Hey, we all need more fiber people! Sorry family for revealing YOUR poop problems, but you don't really read the blog, so you'll probably never know. Ha! ) he decides she too has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Whew! Not excited about that, as she's still in a lot of pain, but she doesn't have to forgo bread and good pasta, and EasyMac for the rest of her life! So now, she's on a high-fiber, low fat diet, with no spicy foods, for 3 weeks, and then we can see which actual foods make her hurt once she's feeling much better.

He also gave her some Levisn for stomach cramps/ulcer treatments. I stupidly gave her one before bed because she had been crying all day about her tummy hurting and I wanted the pain to stop. I'm usually good about researching before I give out a new medicine prescribed to one of my kids. Now this morning, my research hasn't revealed much other than it can make you loopy and irritable. But, last night she screamed out in her sleep for a few hours. Not pain screams, just very active dreams and angry words kinds of screams, like Get off of me Jossie! Stop that Jossie! And when I came in to test her blood sugar at 1:30 am, she usually sleeps through it, but instead jumps up and screams, "What are you doing?!! I can test myself!!!" Ok then, I'll let you and hope I can sneak on out of here without you yelling anymore. Good times! She also woke up with swollen eyes and cheeks, like an allergic reaction maybe?? I don't know. I didn't like it though.

So, now we get to figure this one out, but I'm still so relieved about her NOT having Celiac. Yay!!!

All-Bran everything, here we come!

Here's How Bad it Hurt

Jossie and Norah were part of TrialNet yesterday. This is where they take a blood sample once a year to see if they are showing any antibodies or signs that Diabetes could be developing. We won't know for a while I'm assuming, though I'm not too concerned as I've tested them with finger-sticks occasionally when they're excessively irritable, and they always have perfect numbers.

Anyway, they kept their bandages on all day, as you can see. When we were driving back to pick up Sophie, Jossie exclaims, "You know, I think that the needle kind of hurt like a sharp fingernail." So I said, "Well, that hurts, but not too bad." She thinks for a minute..."No, I think it hurt more like the crown that they stuck in Jesus' head!" Me: "Wow! That is pretty bad!" Jossie, "Yeah."

That's our little entertainer there. Always coming up with a new funny thing to say.

Here are a few more pics from this week. The family night on Monday also had 2 baby kangaroos that the girls got to pet. Kind of weird, they were in diapers and smelly, but the girls thought they were cool. Then there are a couple more pics of the silly camp girl from today.

Camp is good!

This is just a follow-up on the last post, for those who are wondering.

She's enjoying her time there. She met a friend the first day with the exact same pink pump! She was proud, because she showed the new friend how to turn the light on the pump.

And I was shocked to learn that she went on a big swing where she had to wear a helmet and a special belt that kept her attached to the swing. They cranked her high until she said stop and then she let go of the swing. She loved it! Yesterday she went canoeing, which she loved. She opted not to go on the very tall ropes course, maybe after her friend was crying at the top since it was so high.

The first night we came to pick her up, there was a free dinner and family swim time. She was so exhausted that she just cried to go home. We agreed, got to the car, and then Jossie cried about wanting to swim. So, Sophie calmed down and decided it would be fun to show off her camp to the family. We had a great time swimming together. I was surprised how much more confident Sophie had gotten in the water after one day away from Mom and Dad. She had a bit of an independent way about her for the entire evening. Even Norah decided she would rather swim without help. She managed to keep her head above water (with a life jacket on, of course). She also would lean backward and put her toes up out of the water. She was also very proud of herself.

The next day of camp, Sophia hadn't gotten enough sleep, so we could hardly wake her enough. She was trying to refuse to go to camp. After she got her wits about her and got dressed and in the car, she agreed she was excited and glad she was going back.

So, as I'm sure is true with most camping kids, she's totally exhausted at the end of each day, but having a great time. Her sugar numbers have been really good, so that's a relief. Some parents are reporting their kids being low all night long, and having difficult times getting their kids #'s to come up. I'm still getting up every night around 2 am to check her and make sure, because apparently exercise can have a latent effect on blood-sugar, so it's worth double-checking.

The heat has been near 100 each day! I'm enjoying the A/C, I must stay. It's amazing to see how red-cheeked the kids at camp are by the end of the day! I feel for the workers. Hope you're staying cool!