2 Year Appt.

We had Leona's 2 year appointment!  It went REALLY WELL!

weight: 26# 12 oz. (50%)
height: 33 1/2" (50%)

Can you believe it?  I couldn't when the nurse showed me!  Finally an AVERAGE kid! 

We looked back on some photos last night with Leona and I just can't believe how skinny she was.  Some of them, I just cringe at!  God has been faithful to help us find our way in helping her and I just know He helped her stop vommitting for those 5 months!  Thank you Lord!

Update on labwork from last week:
All of the immunoglobins are in normal range, just a little on the lower edge! YAY!

So where do we go now? 

Well...we are still waiting to get the final assessment from her pediatric gastroenterologist.  Once her suggestions come back, we will know a little more of where to go.  Most likely the suggestion will be food allergies, but we probably won't know for 10-14 days. We are hoping that her normal pediatrician will be able to handle her case from now on. She has done a FANTASTIC job!  Thanks Dr. Wendy!

The doctor now wants us to be more normal parents...what a RELIEF!  We are going to be able to be a little more strict on some areas of eating...she is going to love losing her control a little, I'm sure!  Up until now we have had to cater to her likes/dislikes and times when she wanted a bottle or to eat.  Now we will begin pulling out the bottles and just going to sippies; we don't want rotten teeth! YIKES! No more bottle in the bed (which really switched a while ago). We also are going to get a little more variety, but still watch any possible allergies, adding only 1 thing at a time. Lastly, we are dropping the Bright Beginnings Soy Pediatric drink and adding in Soy Milk---sippy cup only!!!

I got a feeling our sometimes stubborn and controling little strawberry shortcake is just going to LOVE these changes!!!! (I wish you could see my face... big eyes and a "Yah Right" expression!) So...we have our work cut out for us!  I am glad to move on to a new stage though... well AFTER 10 days of vacation that is!!!!

We could still use all of your prayers as we still try to put the pieces together on the puzzle of why she vommitts randomly!
Thanks for checking in with us :)

Look Who's 2!

Happy Birthday to our little girl, who turned 2 last Thursday!  Time just flies!

Here are some pictures from her Elmo birthday party:

Leona's 2nd birthday party!

Elmo cake I decorated.
See the smashed foot from the fight with the fridge :(

Don't you love the moment she chose to touch her nose?

blowing out the candle on her special cake

no eggs, no milk cake
It's a pumpkin cake they used to make back during the depression!
She LOVED it!

reading her cards and finding all of the "budderfies"

She finally caught on to the ripping open presents and loved it :)
Last year she just cried if we tore it.

card from Mommy & Daddy had to be Elmo

The Results

I know a lot of you have been asking about the results.  I am going to do my best to simplify and explain what I have figured out the results to mean.

Biopsy Results
-negative for Helicobacter Phylori (bacteria infection)
-no signs of celiac's disease
-rare EOS (eosinophils) count of 2 in esophagus; results must be higher to diagnose as Esophagitis; could be caused by GERD (reflux) or allergies

Lab Work Results
-CBC panel showed elevated MCV (mean corpuscular volume) which measure the avg. size of your red blood cells; larger in size; probably resulting from a deficiency in vitamin B12
-CBC panel showed elevated EOS (eosinophils); type of white blood cell that react to allergic responses and resist some infections; this may be caused by parasites, blood disorders, immunologic disorders, allergic drug interactions, & endocrine disorders; not sure if any of these are likely to be causes in children
-CBC panel showed elevated HGB (hemoglobin) & HCT (hematocrit); HGB measure the amt. of oxygen carrying proteins in blood; HCT measures the % of red blood cells in a given volume; this could be caused by fluid loss due to diarrhea or dehydration
-Celiac panel showed decreased IgA (immunoglobulin gamma A) proteins that act like antibodies from secretions from respiratory & intestinal mucosa;
-RAST panel showed food allergies: moderate for eggs; low for milk and walnuts

The doctor reordered the CBC panel and ordered a quantitative panel for the IgA, IgG, IgM & IgE.  We have begun the process of getting into an allergist to get a more extensive opinion and testing.  I am suspecting we are going to find a lot more allergies and that the blood work is just pointing to that. The RAST panel was only for eggs, milk, shellfish, nuts, corn, and a few others.

This is mostly based on my studies from the internet and deciphering the dr's lovely penmanship. The lab work takes about 2 weeks, so I am sure I will have an update in the next few weeks.

Update on Leona
Leona had started the Prefacid soon after the endoscopy and had a terrible time with abdominal pains, vomitting, nausea, and diarreha, so we have taken her off.  She is doing much better now.  We are awaiting to try Nexium if she gets bad again.

Endoscopy pictures

Here is a copy of the pictures from Leona's endoscopy.

You can't really see it, but the bumps of irritation were around here.

You can kind of see the red spots of irriation.

Another Surgery is Scheduled

Looking at the title to this post, many of you might be confused...NO Leona is not getting surgery and NO I'm not either. 

You guessed it...Ben is going in for surgery next Wed to fix the digital nerve in his pinky finger.

Why? you ask!  Well...this past Wed he put his hand through the basement window.  We were getting severe weather and he went down to close the windows.  He applied a small amount of pressure and it was enough to break the old window.  He sliced the inside of his hand, up in the crease where his pinky attaches to his palm. The cut was very deep and a little over an inch long.  His finger is almost completely numb.  The surgery will be at 5PM at Elkhart General Hospital.

They will numb his complete arm, armpit down.  They will put it in a turnicate to cut off the blood flow.  They will go in and repair the nerve as best as they can.  He will be in a splint for about 2 weeks as it heals. 

So the last healthy person in our family is down too. 

Needless to say our family is down in spirits too.  We are trying to trust God and remember that joy is not based on our circumstances, but on the peace that comes only from the Father.

The Endoscopy Experience

Well first of all...thank you for your prayers.  We know they were all at work leading up to and during today's procedure.

First of all, we want to publicly say thank you to Ed and Nancy Ferguson for providing a place for us to stay.  We were completely humbled by their welcoming attitude and servants spirit.  What a great godly family! We only wish we could have stayed longer to visit and get to know them more :)

So it was an early morning for us with an alarm at 6:30AM.  We arrived at the Surgery Center of Indianapolis, just north of Riley's Clarian North campus at about 8:30AM.  After about 10 minutes in the toy waiting room, we were headed in to get started.  At about 9:20 (10 min. AHEAD of schedule) they were starting the anesthesia and she was going under.  She was pretty scared with the mask on, but it only lasted about a minute before she was out.  The dr. started the scope and they had to put her under a little more because she has a really sensitive gag reflex. 

The scope took about 15 min. total.  They found some bumps at the back of her throat.  She said that the causes could be reflux, sinus drainage or allergies.  When she got to the stomach, she found some irritation.  She said this could be from several things...including not eating this morning or bacteria.  She took biopsies of the large intestine, stomach and the esophagus.  She said that they would not be able to diagnose anything until the results come back.  They also took some blood work for some main allergens (milk, egg whites, wheat, etc.).  We'll hopefully hear by next week.

The dr. did put Leona on prefacid, 15mg once daily.  It is the same amount that she was on from 5-12 mos. This was based on the bumps she saw and the fact that Leona has been vomiting again.

We went to the recovery room at about 9:40.  We waited until she woke up on her own because the nurse said that would help her to sleep off the anesthesia.  She woke up with just a little fuss and then acted totally normal...she wanted her DADDY!  We were in the car and leaving by a little after 10AM.  We were shocked to say the least! We kind of tested her out for about an hour with a trip to our favorite store...Trader Joe's and knew she would be fine to travel home. 

So...the whole experience went well.  Going into it we didn't know how we would be able to handle seeing her go through it, but we were actually thankful that the surgery center was tailored for parents to sit it on the procedure. WHAT A BLESSING!

Again...we will keep you updated!

God Provides Again

This Friday is Leona's endoscopy in Indy.  It will be just north of Riley's Children's Hospital at a pediatric surgery center which is specially made so parents can stay in the room. I am so glad!

God provided a place for us to stay through a friend's parents.  We are so thankful for His provision with a place to stay and lower gas prices! 

The Lord has also reassured us that we are making the right decision.  Suddenly out of nowhere Leona has been vomitting again.  She had a vomitting incident last Sunday that we thought was related to a possible allergy from a snack in the church nursery.  However, she did not eat anything that we know of.  The nursery workers are so careful with her allergies to milk. Then, she had 2 incidents, several times where her stomach has been upset, and bad bowel movements.

We would appreciate your prayers.  Honestly I am kind of excited about it.  Finally some more answers whether negative or a diagnosis!

I apologize if I/we have not kept in contact with some of you.  Life has just been so busy lately...well who am I kidding...life has been that way for the past 2 years.  We hope that reading this blog helps keep you up-to-date on everything here.  I will post anything we find out on Friday!

Here are some pictures I thought you might like to see:

Rachael around 2-3 years old

Rachael with her Mom (again around 2 years old)

Rachael (remind you of anyone?)

I have some other good ones that I'll have to post sometime.  When I look at pictures of me, all I can see is Leona!  So neat!