More Clues

On Thursday, Ella came down with the stomach bug that’s been stalking the house lately. For Jonah and Naiah, this bug has meant lots of major fatigue and voluntary couch-lying. Then on Friday, Ella had a blind/dizzy spell (seemed like a little of both) in the morning. Today she had three spells: one in the morning, and two in the afternoon, after her nap. All four of the last two days’ spells have been surrounded by hard sleep. Sometimes she was very fatigued before they happened, and sometimes after. I’m starting to wonder if fatigue is a major trigger here, or if maybe it’s an after-effect (which was something the doctor asked me about in the last appointment), or maybe both. It seems like there should be a common thread in all of this, but so far, no one rule applies to all.

P.S. We finally got a call from the local doctor saying that the pediatric neurologist isn’t seeing anyone until mid-December. (!!!) And in any case, the guy wants an EEG before he sees us at all. From his local EEG clinic. Which is in Davis. Not that we have an EEG clinic nearby, but I’m sure there’s some other EEG place between here and DAVIS. Anyway, the EEG has been ordered, and now it’s a matter of trying to get a live person on the phone to make an EEG appointment. EEEEEG!!

Sick

Naiah (age 4) spent Monday night throwing up. Tuesday was pretty bad too. Wednesday she ran around a little. Thursday she ran around a lot. Today we’re back to throwing up and sacking out. Poor baby.

Devious

This is where Miss Ella (13 months) has spent a good chunk of her day:

(And yes, that is her sister’s size 8 pajama top she’s wearing. Ella likes to accessorize.)

Thing is, she KNOWS she’s not allowed to touch that plug. And it’s not even so much that she WANTS to touch that plug. It’s just that she can’t help but test her sneaky plug-touching skills against Mommy’s Ella-watching skills.

So several times an hour she sidles up, back against the wall, eyes on the ceiling, giggles, and swings her hands further and further out until Oops! she accidentally touched it with the back of her hand! Gasp!

I’m trying really hard not to laugh.

Praying Scientifically

Poor sick Jonah, to Jason:

Could you pray that my white blood cells would kill these virus cells?

First Visit

The GP Ella and I saw today seems to be a good fit. He asked good questions, listened, and didn’t jump to conclusions. Plus, he took good notes on everything and copied off my log of all the incidents.

After talking about it a lot, he said that since she’s trying to stand and walk during the episodes, and since she’s not waving her arms and legs, it might not be seizures. If he had any other ideas of what it might be, he didn’t say. But he’s going to try to expedite the process of getting her into UC Davis Sacramento to see the pediatric neurologist, and possibly the pediatric opthamologist. He said they’ll do an EEG, a CT, and maybe an MRI if necessary. He said he hopes it will turn out to be something minor, but it wouldn’t hurt to speed things along as much as possible. So be praying, please! And thanks so much for all the love and prayers. We’re feeling pretty okay about everything right now, but sometimes it gets scary.

Prayer Request!

I’m taking Ella to see the new doctor tomorrow in Chester. He’s the GP, not a specialist, so we have to get whatever referrals she might need through him. Just pray he takes this seriously and doesn’t assume I’m crazy. And maybe also pray that he knows a thing or two about this and has the wherewithal to get to the bottom of it, whatever it is. Thanks!

Cute, but. . .

From an article about home cleaning and decorating:

Also, buy things you like for your bedroom. Artwork, a special lamb, a pretty comforter, will help to give you a feeling of well-being and control.

I’m not so sure I’d sleep well with a sheep in the room.

Naiah’s Hair

And now for something completely different.

Because Grammie asked.

That’s why.

(It couldn’t be that I’m swimming in photographs right now.)

Stats

Ella (12 months) had another blind spell this morning, and I’ve started a log to keep track of when it happens and the circumstances surrounding it. It feels like there’s a really long, complicated math problem in the back of my head that I keep trying to solve, which makes it difficult to focus on my to-do list. I’m hoping that by writing it out in a notebook I can take some pressure off of my head and see more clearly.

I should note that we don’t know for sure that they’re blind spells. Jason thinks it might be severe bouts of dizziness, or it could be confusion, or a weird kind of blackout. The reasons I think she can’t see are that (1) sometimes she signs to walls and doorways as if they’re me, (2) when I put myself right in front of her, she can’t find me (and doesn’t even look at me) even though she obviously wants to be held , and when I call to her, she turns in my general direction, but still can’t find me until I pick her up, (3) her eyes look different, as if she’s working hard to stare at something, but she doesn’t focus on anything. That said, I’m not totally convinced one way or the other; it just seems more likely than anything else I can think of.

These are the stats so far:

9-3-09, 1:00 p.m., Missed her morning nap, ran into the living room wall twice, fell over, lots of eye-rubbing

9-25-09, 7:30 a.m., Had been awake half an hour, no breakfast yet, playing with Jonah in the hallway. Ran into the wall twice, then the door, sat, fell, signed ‘up’ to the doorpost, had trouble settling in to nurse

“-”-”, 9:30 a.m., After breakfast, getting out of shower. Took a few steps, fell, crawled haphazardly into bedroom, stood, ran into bookcase, signed ‘up’ to the bookcase, had trouble nursing.

9-26-09, 7:00 a.m., Had been awake half an hour, no breakfast yet, playing with mommy in the bedroom. Fell, ran into wall, signed ‘up’ to wall, fell, crawled along the bed, tried to come when called, but veered off to the side.

10-2-09, 7:25 a.m., Had been awake two hours, ate yoghurt, cereal for breakfast, getting out of bath. Cried, stood up and ran into side of toilet, tried to get up, ran into wall and toilet, didn’t react to my hand in front of her face, couldn’t sit up.

3/5 She was obviously tired.

3/5 She had eaten

2/5 She had not eaten

3/5 She was playing

2/5 She was getting out of warm water

4/5 Occurred in the morning

1/5 Occurred in the early afternoon

3/5 were before 8:00 a.m.

Her doctor appointment is this Tuesday morning. He’s supposed to refer us to a neurologist in Chico.

Video Killed the Radio Star

And Facebook killed the blog. Or so it seems.

I’m not quitting. Just really distracted lately. I think blogging serves a more journal-type purpose than anything else, so it still has value for me. You can read along if it interests you.

It’s been four days since Ella’s last blind spell. I’m starting to believe I made it all up, but I know that can’t be true. I just wonder what will come of all of it, and if it’s over now. It would be nice if it were over.

My garden produced ten big, red tomatoes, and a lot of sweet cherry tomatoes, as well as tons of lettuce, some provider beans, poppies, and basil. I’m still hoping a few of the pumpkins might make it, and the broccoli is still growing, so we’ll see. It’s going to be nippy from here on out, though.

This was the sky yesterday as the snow blew over:

This was the sky after dinner, when the storm was dissipating:

Smells like fall.

These were the cupckes for Anna and Sarah’s birthday:

Roxanne told me how to make the little decos out of almond bark, but whereas hers were planned and traced and pretty, mine were last-minute and scribbled and squiggly. Just keepin’ it real.

This was the crazy-messy craft table. The girls LOVED it. They’re such little artistas.

These pictures are making me realize how badly the dining room needs curtains. And wall hangings. I’ll get right on that. Sometime.

Anna and Sarah reading Roselie’s card (she writes the best birthday messages!):

Ella + Cupcake:

These are the most recent baby shower projects for friends and strangers in town:

I’ve had these flannels for four years now. They were supposed to be a kaleidescope quilt for my great-grandmother, but I didn’t finish in time. So now they’re a stripy baby quilt for a new friend and her baby girl. I love how cotton batting shrinks up in the wash and gets all wrinkle-happy and antique-y. It’s one of my favorite phenomena.

And now to retrieve the chicken from the pot. It needs eating. And children need feeding. Please pray with us that the doctors are helpful and insightful as to Ella’s trouble. And keep praying for Mr. Micah, who is only a few months older, and fighting SMA for his life. I’ll be running either a 10K or (run/walking) a half-marathon in October, and I’ll be looking for sponsors to raise money for SMA research in Micah’s name, since I wasn’t able to be with everyone in Ojai for Micah’s March. I’ll post more when I know which one I can run! In the meantime, you can check out www.fsma.org for more info!