Mckenzie update

Mckenzie has been sick way more often than we'd like. Last summer it was recurrent ear infections, she had tubes placed in her ears last September. Ear infections have been a thing of the past, last winter she started getting croup and other nasty illnesses very often. I think we're at 5-6 bouts of croup between winter and now. Each one has required an ER room visit, and one she had stridor (trouble breathing like she'd just ran a marathon) with croup that required her to be transported via ambulance....so scary and of course Jeremy happened to be out of town. Every time we'd go to the ER shed get a dose of oral steroids and shed be good, but typically with in a few days shed have a cold, bronchiolitis, and twice shes had pneumonia.

Doctors thought part of it was due to her being in daycare, kids in day care are sick something like 8-12 yikes per year...yeah basically once a month! Finally after this last bout of croup she kept making a noise as if you would if you were excited or startled. I took her back to her pediatrician and asked her thoughts, she agreed the number of times of her getting croup was too many. We were referred to an ENT doctor, when I called she was booked until the end of September! Her pediatrician made a call and had us worked into the schedule within a week.

We had a consult with her ENT yesterday. Her pediatrician said she wondered if part of Mckenzie's airway was narrowed slightly, which in small children a bit of narrowing is a lot. She said the ENT would probably want to do a bronchoscopy (camera down her airway). We went in and they decided To put a small tube into her nasal passage which they could see into the throat, do they put numbing drops in her nose which of course she was NOT happy about. They told us she would hate it but would take hour 45 seconds to a minute. She was wrapped up and Jeremy held her against him. They went in and the doctor let me take a peek because her tonsils which were really enlarged and inflamed. She wss given her first lolly pop after that and was a happy camper again. So the doctor recommended we do the bronchoscopy which she has to be under for, check the airway to ensure it looks good which she thinks will be fine but wants to rule that out. Her recommendation was to plan to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. The quick peek I had definitely showed her tonsils being inflamed and enlarged. She really thinks the tonsils are the culprit, which makes total sense for the recurrent croup and constant sickness. She recommended removing the adenoids because the fluid drains to the ears, and with her history of recurrent ear infections she thought we should remove them then. The other thing she noticed is that she is also tongue tied enought that she needs to have that clipped which they will do at the same time. Poor baby, she will need to stay at least one night in the hospital, they said as long as she's eating okay and drinking enough fluids then she can go home. I guess most kids want and can eat right after surgery.

She said kids bounce back much quicker with the tonsillectomy and adenoids than adults. I actually had my tonsils removed in college because of constant illness, once I got the, removed I wasn't getting sick hardly at all.

I'm hopefully and optimistic that this will take care of things so she doesn't keep getting sick so often, a little cold I can handle. She's such a trooper when she is sick, but I'm looking forward to her getting healthy!

Thankfully ER have really good insurance through Jeremy's work, we've met her out of pocket max with our health insurance between multiple ER visits and doctor visits, so it'll all be covered with no more out of pocket.

Her surgery is scheduled for Monday, July 30, 2012. She will be out of daycare for about a week. I'm so thankful to get a ton of vacation time, I'm planning to take the week off but may do part of the week and Jeremy the second half, since I'm still working from home. It's difficult to work at home because for whatever reason the noise travels even though My office door is closed, so tentatively I'm going to take the full week off.

Thats what's going on in our household, we have a busy July coming up, a good friend is getting married in Washington and Jeremy is in the wedding.

Keeps some good thoughts and prayers for Mckenzie that she will have a safe and successful surgery that gets her back on the path to being healthy.

18 Months!

I'm so behind on blogging but wanted to post her stats at her appointment a few weeks ago 

(as of 5/18/12)

27 lbs 11 oz (90% weight)

32 7/8" (88% height)

48 cm (90% head circumference)

She is doing really well, unfortunately still seems to pick up illnesses frequently. She seems to get croup often that always requires a ER visit of course in the middle of the night! Her pediatrician is not too concerned with her getting sick frequently because she is in daycare. She said children in daycare are sick between 8-14 times per year, it seems like she's sick almost once a month so I guess she is within the norm still. She said she isn't concerned with any type of auto-immune disorder because her height and weight are great. She said kids either will get sick a lot now or when they get into kindergarten. Thank goodness for a lot of time off from work! 

She has 16 teeth now, all 4 molars came in at the same time and pretty quickly, she was cranky throughout it a bit but much better then I expected her to be! All four cuspids came through pretty close together too - and are about 3/4 the way in, again a trooper!  The only teeth left are her second molars which can arrive between 2-3.

Her vocabulary has increased SIGNIFICANTLY over the last 2-3 ish months!

Some of the words I can think of are:

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Bentley (our dog) but comes out Beeenbeeyyy!
4. Cat - knows how to make the sound too
5. Dog - knows how to make the sound too
6. Hot
7. Up
8. Down
9. Juice
10. Raisins
11. Cracker
12. Eat
13. More
14. Please
15. Thank you
16. Moose
17. Baby
18. Yellow
19. Purple
20. Pink
21. Bunny
22. Blanket
23. Pig - knows how to make the sound too
24. Piggy 
25. Book
26. Ball
27. Egg
28. Cheese
29. Shoes
30. Yeah
31. Yay
32. No
33. Go
34. Bag
35. Hello
36. Bye Bye
37. Hi
38. Frog - knows how to make the sound too
39. Bear
40. Train
41. Hat
42. Grandma
43. Grandpa
44. Uncle 
45. Auntie
46. Wagon
47. Walk
48. Bike
49. Pizza
50. Cup
51. Milk
52. Fish
53. Bird - knows how to make the sound too
54. Sheep - knows how to make the sound too
55. Cow - knows how to make the sound too
56. Horse - knows how to make the sound too

I know there are more words that I can't think of, it's amazing how her vocabulary has exploded. She understands things really well, you can ask her to do things or bring you something and she will go and find it. Sometimes she will say things that we didn't even think she knew! 

Loves to wear shoes, go for walks and wagon rides - you can't say "Let's go for a walk" and not go, she runs to the door in our laundry room, which goes out to the garage. Loves to play outside. Loves getting up into a chair or on the couch by herself. She is also climbing up into her highchair and tells us when she wants to eat, I try to remember to put her tray back because she climbs up there when your back is turned for a second!

She has started to tantrum here and there, and we find when we tell her she can't have something and why and starts a meltdown, we just walk away from here (if were not out) and within seconds she gets up and stops crying.  Seems to work for now...

Over Memorial Day weekend Jeremy and I went on our annual camping trip at Winchester Bay, near Coos Bay - Oregon dunes. We were going to bring Mckenzie but when my parents offered to watch her for the weekend, we decided to take them up on their offer.  We drove from Meridian to Portland on Wednesday night and she pretty much slept most of the way through since we left after dinner.  We stayed in Sherwood Wednesday to Thursday. Early Friday morning Mckenzie woke up with croup, so I took her into the ER and she was given medication and we were out within 30 minutes. It has been suggested to take them into a steamy bathroom for about 20 minutes or outside in the moist air.  Neither seems to ever work and croup can usually peak on night 2, so I figured with us leaving early Friday morning it'd be best to take her in vs my parents having to take her in while we were gone.  Luckilu we were in and out within 30 minutes. After we returned from the ER around 5am, went back to sleep and got up about 6am, I took her by myself since Jeremy was driving and I could sleep.  She had a wonderful weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa was remodeling the kitchen and Mckenzie helped demo and they tore out all the cabinets. I laughed at my step-dad when he said he was planning to do it when he watched Mckenzie on Friday, because I thought there was no way he was getting it done!

Our weekend consisted of great weather! Usually rains a day or 2 of the weekend. It was our first weekend away (together) without Mckenzie. We enjoyed ourselves and missed her. It was sure nice to be able to go ride our quads on the dunes and not feel rushed to hurry back to camp because someone was watching her.

We will be back and forth to Oregon quite a bit in June and July for birthday parties, a good friend's wedding which Jeremy is the best man in so all the fun festivities that surround that. :) Its nice that I am able to work at my office in Portland if needed!

Other then that we don't have many trips planned this year. Jeremy's family is going to Yellowstone in September. I am unsure if I plan to go, I can't imagine a toddler enjoying being in and out of her carseat all the time.  She does well in the car but I doubt she will do good getting in and out which seems to happen frequently when visiting Yellowstone. We'll see what happens and play it by ear for now.