Mystery Spots Diagnosed

Well...this is a new one for us. Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. Infection of the skin. Dr. Luu suggested an Infectious Disease doctor or Dr. Libby, our Hematologist. I called Dr. Libby and we're going in to see him tomorrow at 11:00 (blood work at 10:00). He hopes to call in an Infectious Disease doctor to evaluate her while we're at UNM. The place actually looks a LOT better today than it has so something we're doing is helping. Mike told Brooke she wasn't going to school tomorrow...I'm thankful he did it because I couldn't find the right words. It breaks my heart to have to keep taking this child back for more and more and more. Especially on a day she was looking forward to. She has been so excited about finally getting to go back to school to see her friends! Hopefully this junk won't "put her back in the bubble!" My mom is coming tonight to spend the night with us and we'll leave around 5:30 in the morning. Going to be a long day!! We're picking up Aunt Vera in Edgewood so she can have some "girl time" with us. Always nice to spend time with her!

The good news is...NO MRSA! I hope and pray that this stuff is easy to get rid of and easy to keep gone! My poor baby. Yes, I've had my moments today. I've been mad. I've cried. But then I realized that it's out of my control. No need to worry about it...there's nothing I can do except turn it over to God, which is what I am supposed to be doing anyway. Not sure why that is always so difficult to grasp? Reasoning eventually sets in my thick skull and I manage to "turn it around." It's all in God's hands.

Please pray for a safe trip there and back and for good results at UNM.

Thank You Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Anybody who knows me well knows that I have a fascination for the Kennedy's. I love to read about them, write about them and talk about them. Writing about Eunice Kennedy Shriver is a first for me, but is something I can do. She was an incredible woman who first encouraged her father Joe to "come out" with the story of her beloved sister Rosemary, who was disabled. Then in the 1950's, she held the first ever "handicapped games" in her backyard for a few local individuals. In the 1960's, these games became the organization known today as Special Olympics. Some 40 years later, the organization has grown into something too magical and awesome to put into words. I encourage everyone to attend a Special Olympic event of any kind in order to experience first hand the magic that it brings. The legacy of Eunice Kennedy Shriver will live on for years to come through the faces and smiles of thousands of Special Olympians all over the world. Thanks to her courage and vision, she created an event that has changed the lives of thousands of people. Not just the athletes, but the spectators as well.

Thank you Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Thank you for making a difference in Brooke's life and in ours. And thank you for standing up for those sweet souls whose voice previously wasn't heard!

Professional Cheese Dissector - Birthday's

Brooke has become an artist of sorts; she can dissect cheese from the crust on cheese sticks like nothing you've ever seen. Not sure why she wants the cheese and not the crust? She doesn't get near as excited when I buy her plain ol string cheese. She'll eat the crust eventually if we sit at the table long enough and her cheese dissection techniques are both intriguing and masterful. Last night, we ate at Applebee's where she has become an addict to their combination sampler appetizer. She loves spinach/artichoke dip and it seems to be the "thing" with her right now. She seemed more on a mission though last night to extract every last bit of cheese from the 4 cheesesticks that came with the appetizer. Let me say, it was the stringiest cheese we have ever seen! I was sitting by her and she kept flinging pieces on me and her elbow kept hitting me in her mad efforts to extract the cheese. Odd. And funny to watch. She handles her cheese dissection skills with the precise of a master diamond cutter. What a funny girl!

Yesterday Briana turned 20 (where has time gone??)so we called her on the speakerphone so Brooke could sing Happy Birthday to her. Birthday's have become a really big deal with Brooke lately. She's always liked them, but she keeps wanting to buy birthday cakes and have parties for people who aren't having a birthday. She loves the whole celebration thing. It's cute. Back in July, when we were in Albuquerque for two days of doctor's appointments, Brooke insisted we buy a princess birthday cake (with cupcakes) for Uncle Rick. So we did, and we sang to him, and had a party. His birthday is in October! What can you say...here's a child who enjoys the fun things in life and wants nothing more than to spend time with family and friends.

Have a nice day friends!

Doctor - Rain - Fly's

I took Brooke to the doctor yesterday, and it's just as I expected...the mystery spots are still a mystery. SHOCKER! Dr. Luu took did a culture and I took it to the lab to check for MRSA. (This was a 2.5 hour process.) Please pray it isn't MRSA!!! He didn't really think it was, but since so many children have it now days - he wanted to be safe. He feels it is more like emphatigo (spelling??). We'll have the results in 3 days.This is the same steps we went through in August with the first mystery spots. He put her on Doxycyclene (she is taking pills...and doing a fine job of swallowing them)just as a precaution. I am also continuing to drench the spots with Bacroban morning and night. They look better...just not gone yet.

Thank you God for the wonderful rain! I almost escaped having to be pounded by the hail in my car, but was about 5 blocks short. I only encountered pea-size, but I hear the other side of town got bigger hail and more of it. I don't think it was enough to hurt White Lightening (my car). Yay. Since the storm came from the North...my landscaping is ok. Whew. I just knew my new hot pink tree would get pounded, and I would be forced to cry like a baby but the house shielded it. Always glad for the rain, just wish the wind and hail would stay away! What can we expect??? It's fair week...we all know it rains during fair week.

The fly story. This one's too funny to pass up! My husband went postal on the household nuisance's last night. I guess he finally broke - poor guy. He got a crazed look on his face, mumbled some incoherant words and started slapping around the kitchen with the fly swatter. I walked over to evaluate the "situation" and nicely pointed out a fly on the back of the bar chair. He hit it, and it managed to fly down the front of my shirt. Serious! It was disgusting!! I started screaming and jumping up and down and trying to find it. I was totally grossed out!! The fly fell to the floor and I immediatly changed clothes. Flys are disgusting creatures. Question #2 when I get to heaven pertains to flys.Ick. Brooke laughed so hard I thought she'd never catch her breath. She is such a crack-up! No telling what she must think of her mom? Ha.

Have a nice day everyone and please pray for negatiave MRSA test results! We don't need that stuff!!!!!!

Spots - Haircut - School - Landscaping

What are Brooke's mystery spots? She's got two new ones today in other places. These are angry looking, super big, red, sore to the touch spots. The big clump on the back of her leg looks somewhat better but still very nasty. I am bumfuzzled. Guess we'll be making a trip to see Dr. Luu tomorrow!

Brooke feels much better today. She's not real happy with me since I just cut her hair and made her take a bath. Neither are her favorite things to do. She loves baths, just when they don't involve washing her hair!

I've been busy trying to get everything ready for school Friday. What a chore!! Super-clean freak mom is sending bleach wipes, Lysol spray, lots of boxes of kleenex, and hand sanitizer for both the bus and the classroom. Need to be clean and germ free!! Mike starts back tomorrow and Brooke on Friday. It's depressing!! Whose brilliant idea was it to send the kids to school on a Friday? What kind of sense does that make??

Mike is doing some landscaping at the front of the house. Looks nice. Of course, it will look better in 2-3 years when it's all grown in! We've worked really hard to get the "curb appeal" factor on the new house. It's getting there...we love the house! We now have a beautiful hot-pink crepe myrtle and 7 yellow (for Brooke) day lillies(and some other things I can't remember the name of). We're lucky to have a good friend who is a genius when it comes to plants. I'm not going to mention his name because he would kill me. He stays so busy as it is, and landscaping is just his side hobby! Thanks "C" for the awesome suggestions!!!

I pray that everyone has a wonderful week and if you're a CMS teacher...my sympathies on you having to start back tomorrow. Believe me...I am depressed right along with you. My job as a mom gets a lot harder during the school year! Mike is the best stay-at-home husband/dad that God ever created. I am blessed.

A melt-down sort of day

Poor Brookie had a rough day today. She's been struggling with her allergies the past several days and just didn't feel up to par today. She was extra-clingy and just wanted to lay around. She had a headache most of the day and even felt a little warm so I gave her tylenol. She developed more of her "mystery bumps" two days ago and there are a clump of about 8-9 on the back of her leg. She's had these off and on since the salmonella, so I think they are infection coming out of the body. But that's just a guess. They are sore to the touch, which is unlink the ones she's had in the past. We're keeping Bactroban cream on them, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. If they're not better by Monday...she's going to the doctor. And as if this weren't enough...she got something in her eye earlier. We have no idea what she did but it took over an hour for her to be able to open the eye. We're wondering if she got hand sanitizer in it. And since she doesn't know not to rub it, and to open the eye so the tears can flush it...it was bad. She insisted we take her to McDonald's, so we did. Part way through her meal (one eye open, other eye covered by left hand)...she finally broke down. It's hard eating with one eye and one hand! The tears started coming and she had a total meltdown. You can always predict it's coming but there's usually nothing you can do to stop it. So she cried - right there in McDonalds. I took her to the bathroom to try and flush out the eye (for the second time) and to calm her nerves. It took me about 5 minutes of "coaching her" before we could return to the table to eat. It was tragic for her. Her nerves were raw today. So now she's sitting in the living room with dad and Brandi wondering when mom is going to get off the computer and put her to bed.

My baby needs some TLC...night all!

What's up with these kids?

I've been meaning to share a really funny thing with you. Brooke has started raising her hand when she wants something. I guess it's a trait she learned at school. She raises her hand in Chilies the other night when the waitress walked by and pointed to her favorite dessert on the menu. Too funny. And when she wants to say something at home...she sometimes raises her hand for that too. What's up with that? What a silly girl!

The other child, our pointy-head red dog(Brandi)likes to watch TV. She enjoys shows or commercials with dogs and loves to run up to the TV to "get a better view." She's so funny. And she's started demanding a ride every night. She'll run out to the car or pickup - look at the door, back at us, and then back at the door. She's adamant about her nightly cruise. And when we get home and she's tired, she goes to bed. My bed. She's rotten! But she can give you 5 now and she minds very well. She's very smart (if only she didn't shed)! I just love Golden Retreivers!! They're so affectionate.

I bought more scrapbooking goodies today so I can get back to work on Brooke's Disney scrapbook. I found some really cute (expensive)stickers of Sully. They'll look awesome with Brooke's pictures with him. He was a really cute blue monster!! It doesn't appear that I'll get this project finished before I start back to school like I had hoped, but it's slowly getting there. It's crazy how much you can invest in something as simple as a photo album. It's those darn Disney stickers...OUCH! What great memories for Brooke though...she loves pictures!!