2 Days Later...

Where do I begin?

A is still sick. He has shown signs of improvement today but still has a long way to go. His temp has been as high as 104 at times! He does not complain a lot when he is sick and often just keeps going so the fact that he has not been to work this week and has gone from the couch to the bed lets me know he is really sick.

Elleigh is now sick. She woke up this morning complaining with a headache and was coughing and I thought like we did with A that it was just allergies. So, I took her and Sallie to the dentist (will get to that in a second) and shortly after we got back she started aching all over and running a fever. So, I called our pediatricians office and they said to bring her in and they would test her for the flu. The Dr said her throat was really red so she tested for strep as well. Both tests came back negative so she said it was apparently something else viral that was a lot like the flu. She has been in bed ever since. Her temp has continued to climb.

Obviously A was not able to make it to Sallie's appt yesterday. I called and if I rescheduled it would be the end of April before they could see her. So, I got tough and took her myself. There were several reasons I did not want to do this-the appt was in Dallas and I did not know where I was going, we would be getting out of the appt during rush hour and that is never good, I knew that it would be a fight with her for them to examine her, and I wanted A there with me for the results but I had to do what I had to do. The other issue was Lizzie and Millie. Elleigh was going to be at a birthday party so she couldn't help with them. A didn't want me to take them with me so he kept them. I have not been in such a twit in a while. I had to take her, didn't know if I could do it with them and hold Sallie down, A was way too sick to try and take care of them but I did a lot of praying and it all worked out. We saw a speech pathologist and the surgeon and both agreed that we need to wait to do further surgery on her palate. They did say that it is still very short and for her to be able to pronounce words properly she will need more surgery. However, they want her to advance further in speech before they make any decisions about the surgery. The surgeon said that he felt if he did it now we would only hold her back because of the recovery of the surgery and that he would like her to progress now and then talk about surgery later. Part of me is relieved and part of me would like to get it over with but what they are saying does make sense to me. We are to see them back in 6 months.

I took them to the dentist this morning (we had planned for A to do this so that he could help with Sallie but...). They let her watch Elleigh hoping that she would then be OK with doing hers but that was not the case. I held her for them to do what little cleaning they did. She was very resistant. She would not do x-rays at all. We could have held her down but they did not want to do that. I did hold her in my lap and the dentist laid her head back in his lap for him to do his exam. Neither of them had any cavities! He did say that it was a possibility that Sallie could have some in between the teeth that could only be seen by x-rays but he did not see any indication of that. So, he wants us to go on to orthodontics for her and let them make a decision on how to get x-rays so that we can move forward with treatment. He said they possibly would want to have her sedated. He told us we had a lot of dental work ahead of us (which we knew). He was a little concerned that she has not lost more teeth and said that it is a great possibility that she does not have some permanent teeth. He said this was very common with children with palate issues. He did say that he was impressed at the way her 2 permanent teeth that are in look. They are very out of place but he said that as many antibiotics and procedures and sedation, etc that they looked great. He said they may not all look this good (often the enamel will be messed up, etc) but he was pleased with those 2. So, he wants us to see the orthodontist that is on the team with the cleft surgeon so that they can work closely on the treatment. I called today to make that appt and it is going to be several months before he can see her and I am not sure that she needs to wait that long so I am not sure what we will do about that.

Through all my frustrations this week I have really been reminded of how important A is to me. Yes, I need him to help me with daily tasks but more than that I need him as emotional support in the not so fun parts of being parents. Thank you A for all you do!

My washing machine is working as of late this afternoon! A got up enough energy to go get the parts and fix it. That did him in! I may never get all this laundry caught up!

I think the grass/weeds in the yard will soon take over our house! Did I mention that my lawn boy is sick??? Repairman, lawn boy, daddy, husband, and the list goes on and on and on!!!

We completely missed an appt this afternoon to discuss some speech therapy options for Sallie. Who forgets a meeting like that for your child? It was at 1 today and it hit me at 4 that we did not go. A and I talked about it yesterday and I never thought a thing about it today.

I hate to complain because things could be so much worse but it has been a crazy week and I am TIRED!!! I need my man back to normal. I need all of us well. I AM thankful that all of us are not sick (at least as of now)! It is times like this when I desire so much to be closer to family. I could have put them to work! Of course, they have called and checked on us a lot and that always makes me feel better. Thank you all who have called and e-mailed to check on A and the appts. and for praying for us!

A and I are supposed to go to a marriage retreat this weekend but at this point it does not look like that will happen. It is for the pastors and their wives in our association and the church insisted that we go and a couple is planning to keep the girls at the parsonage while we are away. We will decide tomorrow based on how everyone is doing.

I know I am putting you in information and prayer overload but also Sallie has a couple of procedures scheduled for next Fri (Good Friday). They need to do the same procedure that she had done in August where they put her to sleep and get all the debree and everything out of her ear canals. They will also be doing some hearing tests while she is sedated as well. I hesitated to do it on this day because we have so many things we enjoy doing on Easter weekend but it is scheduled for that day and we are going to get it over with and trust that she will feel up to celebrating. Please pray for her to have a peace about going in, that there are no complications with the sedation, that the test results are favorable, and that she recovers quickly.

I would love to end this post with a cute picture of the girls but there has been no picture taking this week! Hopefully my next post will have pictures and be a little lighter in content!