Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Monday, May 27, 2013

Memorial Day

Today we spent some time at Hersheypark, and Judith had a blast!  We didn't do the water rides today since it was a little cool for that, and the water in the wave pool wouldn't have had a good chance to warm up yet haha.  She did get to ride on the kids' flume, and a few other rides, though!  I think it's going to be another year before she can start riding on a few more things, but for now she has a pretty good selection of rides that she can ride, either with us or on her own.

It was fun spending the day with my parents and my grandparents, and I know they all enjoyed watching Judith on the rides!  Something really neat happened to my grandfather today: he was wearing his Army hat (he's a Korean War veteran), and a group of teenage girls struck up a conversation with him about it while they were waiting in line to get ice cream, asking which war he served in, where he was stationed, etc.  One also gave him a hug!  He got his ice cream, and came over to us to sit down on a bench to eat, and the girls came over and wanted to talk to him more about it!  I thought it was so cool that they were interested in hearing his stories!

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Great Strides Walk!

Yesterday was the big day, and we had a lot of fun!  They changed venues from last year, and I wasn't quite expecting the hills we had to walk up, so my leg muscles are a bit sore today but it was definitely worth it.  I finally got to meet one of my friends I've been talking to online for the last 2.5-3 years, along with her adorable son and her husband!  I was also able to spend time with another friend, and also with my family.  I'm not sure what our final total will be, because we handed in a bunch of money yesterday and I know my parents have more to mail in, so I will update with a final total once I get it.

The weather wasn't too bad: cloudy, and there was a small shower at the beginning of the walk, but it was cool and great weather for walking!  They had a bunch of activities for the kids, including a clown and a guy who has reptiles (we kind of avoided that because he had a huge snake, and I don't care for snakes at all).  I got to talk to one of my CF mom friends, which was also great because we can't get together with the kids for obvious reasons.

This year, instead of doing wristbands, they made t-shirts for all of the CF patients so they would be easily identifiable and we could enforce the new 6 foot rule.  It did make a difference, and Judith also got her own shirt out of it.

I doubt we raised enough money for the team banner this year, but they did do team signs for every team that raised at least $200, so that was nice!  We're planning to hang it in Judith's room.  I know she's still too little to really appreciate it, but maybe someday she will.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Week Recap

Things have been really, really crazy around here since I last posted, and I'll try to keep this post as brief as possible as I recap everything!

Last Sunday, I had Judith dressed and ready for church, and was doing her vest before we would have to head out the door.  Saturday night was rough because she kept coughing a lot overnight, and Sunday morning she had a really tight, croupy sounding cough.  Her vest treatment and an extra dose of albuterol didn't loosen things up, so we stayed home instead.  I called the after hours line for the clinic and talked to the on call doctor, and for a bit I was very concerned that we would have to take her to the emergency room and possibly end up with a transfer to Hershey Med so the CF team could start more aggressive treatments to help her out.  They changed her antibiotic from augmentin to cipro, and had us giving her albuterol treatments every 4 hours (4 puffs of the inhaler since we don't do the nebulized version with her).  We were thisclose to starting steroids, but the on call doctor decided to hold off a day and see what her regular pulmonologist recommended.  By the time I called Monday morning, she seemed to have more energy, and her cough was starting to sound wetter and looser, so her doctor said that we could wait it out a couple days and see if the cipro kicked in.  That was a good thing, because by Monday I was feeling like crap and didn't really want to go anywhere if I could help it.  Sunday was, by far, the worst day of the ordeal and she's been improving steadily ever since.  Judith was so kind to share her infection with the rest of the family, but at this point everyone seems to be improving and I hope this infection is out of the house very, very soon.

On Wednesday Judith had a follow-up eye appointment with her ophthalmologist.  Everything looks good, so we can space out her appointments!  She'll go back in the fall for her annual exam, and hopefully will only have a couple follow-ups after that.

Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated my mom's birthday and threw her a surprise party!  I still can't believe we managed to surprise her, because she's really good at figuring things out in advance.  She really enjoyed herself, and I'm glad that she had a good time!  Today we celebrated Mother's Day at my parents' place and watched the Make-A-Wish convoy in the afternoon, followed by a cookout for dinner.  Judith was being especially challenging today, but I think in the end we all had an enjoyable day.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Go Away, Infections!

It hasn't been that long since Judith and I got over that wicked sinus infection, and now she's sick again.  I know a lot of people have been battling colds and horrible allergies this spring (and I'm right there with most on the allergy front), but I still can't help but feel bad that she picked something else up.

Earlier in the week, mainly on Tuesday, Judith seemed a little sluggish but was still relatively chipper.  I noticed she was spending a little more time watching some of her favorite shows instead of pulling out 50,000,000 toys in the living room, but I didn't think too much of it and chalked it up to her teeth bothering her.  Wednesday rolled around, and she just wasn't herself: she spent a lot of time sitting on her chair or sitting with me, occasionally looking at books, but mostly chilling out.  Mid-morning, I went to change her diaper, and put her in her crib temporarily so I could wash my hands and not worry about her trying to go down the stairs on her own since I didn't have a gate out.  I thought she felt warm, and after I washed my hands I went back to her room to get her out of the crib for lunch.  She was already falling asleep a good hour before her normal nap time, and I decided to take her temperature because something felt off.  One swipe of the temporal thermometer said 101.7, another swipe said over 102.

Judith's been coughing a little bit, and I noticed that it was increasing.  She was super fussy when I was putting her glasses on or got too close to her ears.  Because of the fever, I decided to call the pediatrician and see if we could get an appointment.  It's a good thing I did that and took her in, because she has a double ear infection and a respiratory virus, most likely a cold.  So she's on yet another round of antibiotics, and we have an appointment for a follow up visit in a few weeks to make sure her ears are clear.

Wednesday night was getting scary, because her temperature kept climbing.  John stopped at the local CVS on his way home and picked up some ibuprofen, and thankfully that brought her temperature down.  She was hovering in the 100-101 range on Thursday, and today it looks like things are finally breaking, which is good because I was worrying that we'd have to take her in again over the weekend, per her pedi's instructions, if things didn't improve.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she feels better soon, and that things clear up quickly so she can go to the Great Strides walk with us later in the month.