Mostly, we've been up to being sick. It seems that since December, the girls have been sick constantly with maybe a couple days of wellness scattered throughout...but it never lasts long.
Mia has this chronic cough that just won't go away. She's been on a few rounds of antibiotics, breathing treatments, and now is finishing a two week course of Singulair at night (which btw, didn't do a darn thing). In a few days I will call Dr. B and let him know that didn't work either. He seems to believe that she is getting sick with good ol' colds/flus, but because of her compromised lungs, that she just can't kick the final bit of it and it just hangs on...and on...and on...and on. I really don't know what the next step is...maybe she needs to be on daily breathing treatments again. She's acting fine--just like her Miss Mia self--but stops to hack up a lung every so often...no biggie. We'll just keep on keepin' on and hope that as cold/flu season comes to a close, we will be able to say good-bye to whatever this is that is hanging on.
Through it all, Juliana has really not dealt with much more than some sniffles, sneezes, green boogers, and very little coughing...until she was hit with pneumonia a week and a half ago. And when I say "hit"...I mean HIT...literally. We dropped Mia off at Physical Therapy, went on our little walk to get bagels and "ice cream juice" (a.k.a. a smoothie) and she jumped the whole way, making sure her shadow was following. Afterwards, we went to Communication Class and she did great--participated, sang, talked, played. We packed them up and headed to Disneyland. She and Mia had a nice nap on the way down to Anaheim and we were in the park by 2:00pm. She complained of being cold, but I dismissed it and figured she was just being silly...after all, it was 80 degrees outside and gorgeous. By 4:00pm, she was tired and asking to nap...hhhhmmm, not Juliana, but okay. When we got to the Pooh ride, we pulled Mia out of the stroller and when I asked J if she wanted to ride, she said, "No, Juji tired." I went to pick her up to try to coax her into riding and sure enough, she was on FIRE. Daddy and Mia went on the ride and I held Juliana as she rested on my shoulder. After the ride, we went to First Aid and found out she had a 102 degree fever. They gave her chewable Tylenol, but she wanted nothing to do with it. I knew we had to get the fever down, so we packed up, trammed it back to the parking structure, and went off in search of a pharmacy. Figures, the first trip I don't pack the Tylenol and Motrin, we need it. Mommy lesson learned. We went straight for the Motrin and it didn't even touch her fever. She just sat in her car seat, half asleep, on fire, miserable. At that point, I just wanted to get her home to hold her and make it all better.
About half way home, her breathing became really labored and when it reached the point where she was almost gasping for each breath...all while asleep mind you...I knew we needed to go either to the ER or to the Pediatric Urgent Care. I chose the latter knowing there would be no wait and a pediatrician looking at her. They immediately gave her Tylenol, starting the whole Motrin/Tylenol alternating thing and it brought her fever down to 100. Her breathing started to get a little better, but still, she was retracting, nostrils flaring, and wheezing. Next step...chest x-ray. They called in an x-ray tech (they have their own machine...nice) and he was there in 10 minutes. After some "struggles" to get the x-ray (Robert ended up having to hold her wrists and hang her in front of the stand-up part while she kicked and screamed), they got an image, a bit blurry due to "movement"...uh, yeah, but clear enough to show pneumonia on the right side. We started antibiotics immediately and went home. Phew. Within 48 hours, she was back to her old self. The debate of whether it was bacterial or viral pneumonia remains to be settled. And now, she has this horrible cough...just like Mia's. They sound terrible.
To make matters worse, they are both teething. Yes, TEETHING at 2 1/2. Juliana has yet to get her upper and lower 2-year molars and Mia is still missing an eye tooth and her 2- year molars. The runny noses, low grade fevers, and crankiness of this week has led us to believe the teeth might be trying to make their fashionably late appearance.
I will end with another update (a detailed post will follow tomorrow...I really need to get to bed). I had the girls' Transition IFSP on Monday, with their Regional Center case worker who manages their early intervention services and the preschool special ed coordinator for the 3 school districts out here in SCV. I'll leave you with the preschool special ed coordinator's first comment to me after introducing herself:
"Uh, to be honest, I really don't even know why I'm here."
:)
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