Woo-Hoo! Good News to Report!

Saw Dr. McLean at Brenner's yesterday. The lumps in Paige's neck are "lymphangiomas". Basically they are tissue and blood vessels all clumped together forming little masses. At this point, they are not large enough to be harmful to her and he was not concerned about her white blood cell count. When he looked at her lab reports yesterday - he said it was 5.6. Still on the low side of the range, but in the range... woo-hoo!

So, the plan from here is check-ups, check-ups, and check-ups. She'll be followed by his Oncology Clinic in 3 months, 6 months, and then annually to monitor any changes and check labs if needed. Gave us a list of "red flags" to look for, but really felt she was fine.

Yeahh!!!

Devin and I did walk in the Relay for Life last night... more on that later... I'm too exhausted to post and upload photos on that right now.

Kindergarten Kuteness

I can't believe my BABY is almost done with kindergarten. Tonight was their year end kindergarten program to celebrate their accomplishments. She did a great job! I tried to get some pics... but from where we were seated it was tough. I was able to get a few minutes of video while her class was up front on stage...

(She's the cute little blonde in the middle wearing yellow sunglasses)

Great job sweet girl! Mommy and Daddy are proud of you!!!

And The Wait Continues...

Look at this sweet face... so full of smiles! Little does she know how worried she has her parents right now!!!

We took her to her appointment this morning. We didn't get the resolution we had hoped for... instead we learned we will have to wait some more.

The good news... the nodules don't appear to be growing. They are posterior to where the cervical lymph nodes (located in the rear part of the neck on each side). It is possible that her lymph nodes simply lay slightly farther back than most. That then raises the question of 'why are they so large, and why haven't they started to get smaller yet?'.

But new problem #2 has them thrown...

We learned today that her white blood cell count is too low. Pediatric normal range is 5.0 to 10.0. Above 10 indicates infection is present in the body. Below 5.0 can mean many things... but above all it means that she is at greater risk of infection and her white blood cells aren't producing the way they should. It can also be auto-immune related... hmmm... I've heard that word before with her big brother Chase and all his stuff!

The doctors decided that they will do no biopsy, removal, or anything of the such until she's seen by a hematology. I'm sure I turned 10 shades of gray when they said that word... 'hematology'.... just sounds scary! They did reassure me that hematology is the best place for her to go to be properly diagnosed. They treat blood related illnesses as well as lymph related illnesses, and that yes, they can be related.

Another plus... we were told again today that they still feel it is "more than likely benign despite the low blood count." That's what we're holding on to!

So, we are now waiting for her referral to hematology to find out what's next.

I May Need a New Place to Stay...

Paige has, again, been begging for a haircut. It's been about a year, and her hair was clear down her back again! While Daddy was busy outside, Mommy got out the scissors and she went from this...

To this...

She wanted it not only cut short, but with bangs!! So - I did my best at giving her just a few. I think it turned out super cute! Especially after her bath & having it dried when you could really see how grown up it makes her look!

So... Daddy handled it fairly well... he did agree to let me stay!

Splish Splash'n Around...

So what do you do when it's 90 degrees and the compressor goes out on the central air unit? You go and buy the kids a pool!

Paige and Chase were super excited... So was Andy! As we started the water he just stood there... waiting to see if we'd look away so he could jump right in! He was too funny licking it and watching it fill!

Once it was all set up and had water going this afternoon, Paige got right in! First thing out of her mouth... "ok, this is really really cold!". Bet it beats 90 degree heat though! Chase was in and out a few times, but not long enough for a picture!

The air compressor will be replaced by the end of the week... The rest of us will just have to sit near them and be splashed to cool off!

Some Lab Results Are In...

Just a quick note... Paige's doctor called early this morning to tell us her white blood cell count is normal. This is good in the manner that it means that the nodules are not infection and she has no signs of having infection in her body. On the flip side, it also means that they don't know what they are and that the nodules will need come out. We have our first consult with the pediatric surgeon on April 28th at 9:45am.

Our Little Gymnast!

With the craziness of today we needed something fun! Paige LOVES her gymnastics class on Monday nights! She's getting pretty strong as is evidenced by her rope climbing tonight! Mr. Tom was quite pleased!! She worked so hard on it she rushed over to me saying "drink now please!". I think even SHE was shocked at how high she went!

A Quick Update...

We spent almost an hour and a half at the doctor's office with Paige! Thursday night, Mike and I noticed a knot on her neck. By Friday it was clear she had a few of them on the right side, then by last night we felt them on both sides. Today - the doctor's found 5 "nodules" on the right side of her neck, and 3 on the left. They are near her lymph system and are all abnormally large. A few of them are QUITE large (one was 2+ cm, another she felt was 1-2 cm).

There is no sign of infection anywhere that's obvious... no runny nose, no fluid in the ears, not coughing, nothing like that and she hasn't been sick in a month. Her being on Singulair for asthma already tells them it's not allergen related. And, there is no pain with the nodules. Dr. Marlette did a strep test in hopes that it would come back positive as a carrier or something like that... but no such luck. She felt that if it was a virus coming, we would have seen it start by now since the nodules were first spotted at the end of last week.

Dr. Marlette is concerned and as we expected, she is sending Paige for further evaluation. They drew a BUNCH of blood to get a good look at her WBCs as well as some other things that I didn't understand. They are referring her to a surgeon at Brenner's to take it from here and all her labs will be read by him. She wouldn't 'get into specifics but by the time we left 3 of the doctors there had been called in to look at her. Dr. Marlette did check all other lymph areas (arm pits, groin, etc.) and they are all clear. We are to check them nightly and call with any changes.

That's really all we know right now.

Please Say a Prayer

We really don't want to post too many details. But - if you would please, say a prayer for Paige. She will be seeing her doctor in the morning and we are expecting some further evaluation and testing to be done over the coming days before we get any answers.

As always, Mike is my rock and says "it'll all be fine...". I am always the worry wart and then the big-bad internet really makes it worse.

Thank you!

Do We Ever Get a Break!?!

Paige ran into the house this afternoon to get to the potty too quickly and hit her head on a shelf in our entry way. I cleaned it up good, saw that it was pretty deep, but thought I could get away with steri-strips... this is what it looked like after about 45 minutes STILL bleeding THROUGH the steri-strips:

So off we went to Urgent Care here in Winston. They were FABULOUS! Took her straight back (I think a 6 year old with a bloody head wound scared them). The doctor came in and had me nervous we were heading to the E.R. - as she started looking at it she said that they couldn't sedate her for stitches there, only numb her and because she was so upset they'd prefer we go there.

After getting it all cleaned up, they were able to GLUE it!! So cool! It really is like super glue and she should have less of a scar. She was NOT thrilled about the whole process though. Big sister Kayleigh tried to keep her smiling...


Some betadyne, a little bit of superglue, one big bandage and she was all set to go in less than 45 minutes! She's already back outside playing!

Look Ma... I Got My Stuff By Myself!

This was quite the sight to see! Before bed, Paige came running into the living room all excited that she could carry all of her medicines by herself! Look closely... 3 bottles of liquid medicine, a medicine spoon, a spacer (the yellow thingy), and her inhaler (under the yellow thingy)! That's a lot of stuff for 2 little hands!

Anyhow, as you can see... she is feeling better. She got out of the house to go to church with us today and played Mario Kart with her brother.

I think we're on the road to recovery...

She's STILL Got It!!!

Yes, Paige is still trying to get over this pneumonia once and for all. Look how purple her little eyes are... She does pretty well between about 10am and 6pm... but between 6pm and 10am she really struggles and gets all junked up. Last night she woke up and just kept saying "it's all stuck in me" as she was trying to cough it up. Poor kid!

I called our doctor this morning and more or less demanded that they change her meds immediately and put her on antibiotic (which they did not end up doing earlier in the week). Within 15 minutes I had a call back from the nures... Paige is now on Omnicef antibiotics, Orapred oral steroids, Pulmicort and Albuterol neb treatments, and Mucinex D cough syrup.

If this mess of meds doesn't kick it we're in big trouble!

Gotta Love P-nonia!

We spent the morning with Dr. Irion... sure enough, Paige has pneumonia. The odd thing is, we think she looks and sounds a whole lot better today compared to the last few days.

She had a bad choking spell late last night that was nothing more than mucus. Dr. Irion felt that probably helped to start breaking it all up. She has a lot of crackling in her lungs, but hears a lot of popping when she breathes deeply... supposedly this is a good thing and means it's loosening and moving a bit.

After a few stronger neb treatments at his office, she was popping even more and moving air really well. So, we're home with more medicine and she seems happy. We should start to see Paige returning to her normal happy, healthy, self soon.

Still Pluggin' Along...

Today, it was Mommy's turn to snuggle on the couch with Paige. She did have a little bit of a better day today... even went outside for a short while this afternoon when it was in the 80's.

Tomorrow we see her doctor and will (hopefully) switch to the oral steroids to kick this out of her once and for all!

Daddy Makes It All Better...

Too sweet not to share...

The Return of the Nebulizer...

Our sweet Paige is not enjoying the first 78 degree day this season... instead she's curled up with a blanket on our recliner watching cartoons. She's trying so hard to not let the croup and crud get her down... but it's hard with all the non-stop barking, wheezing, and stridor making it tough to breathe and talk. Add to that the exhaustion of being up all night with it.

She thinks that asthma and croup suck! I'm pretty sure we all agree with her!

Uh Oh... Not Looking Good....

This is what a little girl with a croupy cough and wheezing looks like... She curled up on Mike's recliner with her blankie around 6:30 this evening and didn't move. Look at those puffy eyes from coughing so hard she tears up!

Before she went to bed she got quite angry with me when I asked her if she felt ok... she said "I'm NOT sick and AM going to school tomorrow"!!!

Guess only time will tell...

Prepping for Spirit Week...

This week is Spirit Week at Paige and Chase's elementary school. Kayleigh and her friend Ashley decided to give Paige a few tips and even let her do a dress rehearsal for Tacky Day and Decades Day... For Decades Day she chose "The 80's", a good choice in my opinion! Here's a few snapshots of our little Diva prepping for the big week...