Goodness Gracious

Well from my post earlier to now things are changing with little Arianna.

She just started walking in between furniture. She really likes to pull up to our coffee table and then move to the couch. She can reach the couch from the table and then she transfers. I am not ready for another walker. I haven't thought of how to chase 3 kids all going in opposite directions. I guess I will have to learn fast because the time is coming.

Just a small family update

Well not much has been happening in the Tallon house lately. Just going day to day.

We enjoyed the some what nice weather this weekend. Saturday the oldest two kids, Scott and I spent the afternoon outside while the baby napped. I took the kids on a wagon ride. The dog (Jack) was enjoying having all of us outside with him.

Scott's job is going really well. He is enjoying his job and staying busy. They are kinda in a slow period right now (who isn't though with this economy) but still busy enough thankfully. Scott had to go to the terminal today supposedly to get something on his truck fixed but it didn't make a lot of sense to him. Everybody is leary to go to the terminal right now because they have been firing some drivers that have done stuff wrong. We knew it couldn't be that because he has done things by the textbook. Well he had to do a "Random" drug and alcohol test this morning. No big deal to us because it will always be negative.

Makenzi is loving school. We have kindergarten round up on April 27th. She is very excited about going to kindergarten and riding the school bus. I can't wait either. We are keeping Braxton out of preschool for another year so I will be able to take the kids to doctor appointments and such and not be on a mad rush to make it back to pick her up in time. She is still in speech class for her K, L and G sounds. We have discovered a lot of her problem is just habit. Yet she would get so mad if we tried to work with her at home so we just use a simple remind to use the correct sounds. She is improving. She is starting the early stages of reading (I think more memorizing than anything but that is ok), she knows her whole address and phone number, can count by 2's to 100, can count to 100 regularly. She is doing well.

Braxton oh Braxton...also know as Bracky Boy in this house. He is finally hitting the point where he wants to learn his colors. He knows red, green, orange, blue. I think he knows more but we are only focusing on one color a week to make sure he fully gets it. Still no luck with potty training and I am getting very anxious to get him potty trained. He is 3 years old and in my mind should use the potty. The pediatrician told us it is completely normal and boys on average are 3 1/2. I never thought that would be my child. Makenzi trained so easy and he is the complete opposite. It is frustrating but I can't force him.

Arianna baby! She is growing up but not getting much bigger. She is 17lbs about and a short little mite. She still wears 3-6 and 6-9 months. She doesn't look skinny by any means though. She has her rolls which I love and she has the cheeks. She can crawl so fast. She follows us around the house. She pulls up to all her toys now, to the couch and the one chair we have. She loves when the big kids play with her. She waves now when we tell her hi, bye or night night. Night night is the big one that she waves for. If she is cuddling at night and ready for bed she will sit up and wave at us and that is a our sign she is ready for bed. She is growing fast. I can't believe she is almost 11 months old. I am not sure where the time has gone but I miss my newborn baby. I love to see her grow and learn though.

I am doing good. I have been busy with the kids, getting ready to go back to the school in the fall for Physical Therapy Assistant. Lately I have been reading/researching a lot on Celiac Disease. This blog will probably transform a bit to our process through Celiac Disease. How our life changes, our ups and downs and our doctor updates but it will keep lots of pics and updates on the rest of the family and who knows more us may have Celiac than just Bracky boy. We will see.

I have a Date!

Well Braxton is going to Ann Arbor on May 29th. His appointment is with a Pediatrician who's clinical research and specialty is Inflammatory Bowel Disease. I am planning to call to see if I can get us on a cancellation list. We will see.

Braxton had his appointment at the ENT today following his ear infection. The tube is not in the same spot it was. It may have moved maybe it is clogged. We are doing ear drops for 3 weeks and then following up. We are hoping the tube is just clogged and the drops will work. If not he will most likely need surgery again. The tube will need to be removed and a new one inserted. It is a very easy procedure. I just hate having him put under. Not something I want to do again. It is possible that his ear drum ruptured...if it did the eardrum is already healing and no rupture was visible. The doctor was concerned about all the blood drainage though. He also informed me that I can reach an ENT 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. That if Braxton has drainage I never have to take him to Urgent Care of ER again. That is awesome because they will just treat him over the phone and call in a prescribition! His ENT is the best! Braxton likes him and so do we! Such a nice feeling.

Well a little more news

I am not a very happy person this afternoon. I got a call from our pediatrician regarding Braxton's appointment in Ann Arbor. The Pediatric GI is planning to call me to set up Braxton's appointment this week. The bad news is that they are already scheduling into June...I have to wait at least 2 months for this appointment. The Pediatric GI staff informed my Pediatrician's office that they won't deal with them anymore just me. They excepted the referral now it is just between us and them. That frustrates me because the pediatrician needs to know what is going on with my son. The pediatrician's office asked me to call them when I get an appointment schedule so they can let the doctor know and write it in his chart.

I don't want to wait 2 months or more for this appointment but there isn't much I can do. I plan to get on a cancellation list if they have one. In the mean time I have to keep Braxton on the gluten products because if I take him off it will make any further testing negative. Things are changing with him. I don't like it. His bowel movements are changing and getting worse. He is pooping several times a day, they look like he ate a bucket of sand they are so grainy looking. He hates getting cleaned up because it takes forever to get him clean from all these granuales. It is frustrating but we will wait it out and hopefully get the best doctor considering the wait. That is what I am going to tell myself...that to get the best doctor you have to wait. I will wait to get the best for Braxton. I just want him better. June just seems so far off.

A little Update

Well I called the pediatrician's office today to get an update on Braxton's appointment. They don't have an appointment yet for him. They had to fax all the paperwork down because this department won't take phone referrals. This office only looks at referrals once a week but we don't know when that is. The pediatrician's office will follow up Monday afternoon if we haven't heard anything back. I am getting antsy waiting for an appointment but I will try to be patient.

Today we spent the day in Lansing at Impression 5 science museum. We had a good time. The kids enjoyed it. Makenzi especially. She loved the Music room, the eyeball, the simple machines and the bubbles. They have a spot where you stand and you make a big bubble around you. It was pretty cool. I am so glad we took them. It was new and exciting.

The day ended on a rough note. We were outside with the kids tonight and I was pushing Braxton on the swing and as he went up he let go and fell. He bit the dust hard and was covered in mud. His coat was covered, his arm was plastered with mud, and his face and hair were covered with mud. He complained of his hand/arm hurting but that seems better. He was rather mad at me but then admitted that he let go and won't let go anymore. Hopefully that sticks.

Lab Results

Well I had the pediatrician fax the lab results to me today because I wanted to see the numbers. Oh man are they off. The labs test for antibodies in the blood. Two of the four are normal. Those are the tTG antibodies. From research if these are positive it is automatic that the person has Celiac's...well his are normal. The two that are off are the IGA antibodies. They should be 11-17 and his are 25. The other one is IGG antibodies. This should also be 11-17 and his greater than 100. That is crazy. Now it also says that if the labs are negative in the tTG (which his are) and positive in the IGA and IGG that it is most likely Celiac's disease and the tTG is a false negative. It is very common for the blood work to be unreliable in children.

I am still waiting for the appointment time in Ann Arbor. Hopefully tomorrow.

Bracky Boy again

Well we took Braxton for lab work on Friday for Celiac's disease. The lady told us we wouldn't get results until the end of this week. I figured ok no big deal.

Well today at 5 o'clock the phone rang and it was the pediatrician's office. A 5 o'clock pediatrician call is NEVER good news. They don't stay after to make good news phone calls. Well the nurse (I swear she was hired to be the bad news deliverer...every time something goes wrong she is blessed with calling us). Braxton's lab work came back today. Half of the results were normal. The other half were abnormal. The pediatrician's office can't diagnoise him with Celiac's disease because it is half and half. Braxton will be going to a GI specialist in Ann Arbor. The appointment isn't made yet. They are going to make it for us through the referral department. The GI specialist will go through the lab work with us and diagnoise him most likely with Celiac's disease but more testing will most likely need to be done.

Please pray for Braxton that the diagnoises can be made without any invasive testing. Please pray for me that I can find the hospital and my way around with no problems and that I can handle the news well on my own. Please pray that the appointment is soon so I don't have to think about it forever. Please pray that if it is Celiac's disease that I can get set up with a Dietician right away so we can be on the path to health with Braxton. Please pray that I can line up a babysitter that can take Kenzi to school and watch Arianna.