Kierstyn's Endoscopy

Kierstyn had her endoscopy today at St. John Hospital & Medical Center with Dr. Lyons in Detroit. She was originally scheduled for 10:45 am. but the nurse called yesterday afternoon to change her to 9:00 am. I was happier with that. She had to fast after midnight so the less time she had to go without eating, the better.

She was such a trooper! She is a strong little girl. She was not anxious at all. Since Kaeterina had this procedure done in March of this year, I already knew what to expect and so could explain it all to her ahead of time.

The procedure took less than 30 minutes. When Dr. Lyons was done, he came out to find me in the waiting room to let me know immediately that it all went well and he didn't find anything to be concerned about. That is wonderful news. Except that we are still left with uncontrolled reflux with accompanying headaches. She is to come back in next week to see him for a follow-up and stay on the Nexium in the meantime to see if it decides to work. She can only take it for 8 weeks and we are starting week 3 already with zero changes.

Tomorrow we see the neurosurgeon for the headaches and dizziness.

Week-end To Remember Drop-Outs

Well, Pete and I are now Week-end to Remember drop-outs although it still was a memorable week-end for us. After the first 2 sessions on Saturday morning, we had a 50 minute break so we decided to go find something to eat since neither of us had eaten breakfast before the start of the conference. We had to be up at 6 am (after not going to bed until 1 am)in order to drop the kids off are two different sets of parents houses and get to Dearborn from Troy in time for the 8:30 am start time.

After that break, we were supposed to go back for another 50 minute session, then one and half hours for lunch, and then back again for 2 more sessions. It was a well planned out week-end with excellent speakers. However, neither one of us was really into it. I don't know how to explain it. It wasn't a bad conference just not a conference for us. So while we were enjoying our mid-morning snack, Pete said, "Let's just not go back." I had already been thinking that so I was THRILLED that he felt the same way. We left immediately.

We spent the rest of Saturday enjoying an early dinner at one of my favorite gluten free friendly restaurants, PFChangs, running errands, and then picking up the girls. My niece was having an ice skating birthday party at the Troy Sports Arena near our house that night as well. We put the girls to bed and watched a movie. Nothing exciting but we had a wonderful afternoon just being together.

We were both happy to not have to get up quite so early on Sunday to drive to Dearborn again. And especially because my Man and my Dad ended up having to drive to Ann Arbor to help Briggys with his new to him broken down car.

New Wedding Band

Tonight my man gave me a new wedding band to match his. Almost 2 years ago I donated my wedding band and engagement ring to City Mission to auction to raise funds for their programs. This was just before our 10 year wedding anniversary. Pete had said for a few years that he would buy me an additional band for my ring for our 10 year anniversary. I decided for many reasons that I actually wanted a completely new ring. It has taken 2 years from that point for us to be ready to buy a new one. This one is much plainer and simpler than my first one. I think it is more 'me' than my old one. Pete also had it engraved to match his too with "Just Like Heaven 10/18/97". I can't believe we have been married for almost 12 years already!

More of Kierstyn

K2 had her long awaited appointment today with Dr. Lyons, our pediatric gastroenterologist. Yes, I did say our. K1 saw him February/March when she was having all of her GI issues that still remain undiagnosed but she's on the better side of things now. Dr. Lyons remembered us from 6 months ago. I don't consider that a good thing. He thinks she has reflux just as her pediatrician did. He changed her medication (this is the third one that we are trying). If it works, then we will go back in 6 weeks for a follow-up. If it hasn't worked within 2 weeks, then we are to call him to discuss our next step. He is not going to do any invasive testing at this time because her symptoms seem cut and dry. I'm going to continue to have her eat gluten just in case until the 2 weeks is up so if he does decide to do more testing, then she's been eating the gluten already.

We also need to pay closer attention to her headaches to see if she complains about them at the same time as the stomach/throat complaints because she could be getting digestive migraines. Great. We see our pediatric neurologist in 3 weeks to discuss her headaches that she has had since July as well.

Dr. Nadarajah (her regular pediatrician) wants me to call her back in 2 weeks as well. If she isn't improving, then she'll re-run her blood tests. She still thinks her levels were high due to the pneumonia but since she's still pale and not herself yet, we'll follow up with that.

Just as we get a 'clean bill of health' so to speak for K4, K2 starts not being so well. To say the least, we are all getting flu shots this year! If the kids can get this sick in the summertime, who knows how they'll be come the wintertime. Maybe we'll just hibernate this winter : )

Happy 9th Birthday Big Girl!

My oldest child, oldest daughter, turns 9 years old today. Where has the time gone!?! I know all too well that saying "They don't stay small for long." I can't believe she is half-way to 18 already. And today she told me that she only has 9 more years to go until she can go sky-diving with her Daddy. Normally that would freak me out. But I know my Big Girl, she doesn't like heights, I'm not too worried about her actually jumping out of a perfectly safe airplane anytime too soon.

Kierstyn Update

It feels like the only time I have anything to post anymore is an update on my latest sick child. I took Kierstyn back in to the pediatrician's office today because she woke me up yet again last night complaining of a pain on her lower left side. It's unlike her to wake up for anything. She is, after all, a Pfeiffer. And the Pfeiffers love to sleep!

I found out at the ped's office that her pneumonia is in her lower left lung. Well now that makes sense! The pediatrician suspected fluid build up in her lung. She said she always to try to narrow symptoms down to just one diagnosis but with all that Kierstyn is complaining about, it's hard to pull one thing out without considering the other. She also said she hopes we are just having a bad month and everyone is well by September! So do I! We've been in that office more this past month that in any entire year that I can remember. We'll definitely be getting flu shots this year!

Her blood work-up from Saturday was all normal except that her white blood count was up which makes sense with have pneumonia. Oh, and she's had mono at some point. Nice. Doc said we probably thought she just had a cold and was feeling under the weather but it was mono. Nothing we could have done anyways with that diagnosis anyways.

Dr. Foster sent us back to main St. John's in Detroit for another chest x-ray because her lungs still sounded bad and she had labored breathing. She said if we didn't mind, to go there because they would get her the results in less than an hour so off we went. Oh, and to wait for the reading if we could because if she had fluid in her lungs like she suspected, Kierstyn would have to be admitted to have it drained. But, oh yeah, I have 3 other kids so go ahead and go home to prepare for what to do with them just in case and she'd call me within an hour of me leaving the hospital.

I love St. John's! We were in and out of there in about 15 minutes total. No waiting to register. No waiting for the tech to come out and get her. And my Mom parked the car so no waiting for valet to bring me my car.

Dr. Foster's office nurse just called to tell me that, yes Kierstyn does have fluid in her left lung but it is a small amount. We need to have her rest and drink plenty of fluids. To call if any of her symptoms get worse, otherwise, to bring her back in on Friday for a re-check. Praise the Lord for that news!

K1 & K2 are supposed to leave at 2 pm on Friday for a week-end in NYC with Daddy and the Kelly crew. Her well check-up appoint is scheduled for 11 am. I sure hope she is healed by then so she can go on this trip. She'll be so disappointed if she can't go. She's been talking about it daily since we told her they were going.