Spina Bifida Occulta

Crazy discovery last night. I visited my grandparents yesterday & my grandmother was telling me about me having to have my urinary tract stretched when I was little (which I never knew about). So, when I got back to my parents house my mom brought me my medical file from my pediatrician. It had all my weights & heights, sicknesses, and then the report from when I was having bladder issues. I had a VCU done when I was 3 years old. I was reading the report and the first line says, "Scout film shows spina bifida occulta of L5" What?! I read my parents the report & they had no clue! There are 3 types of spina bifida: occulta, meningolcele, and myleomenigocele. Most people have no clue they have sb occulta unless they get an x-ray or procedure done at some point in their life & it is discovered. There is a gap in the spine at the level but no nerves are damaged in this type of SB. Autumn has SB myloemenigocele which is the most severe form & the one that does have nerve damage. If you have SB occulta though you are 5-10 times more likely to have a child with SB. If I knew this information, I could of known to take higher doses than normal of folic acid to maybe prevent Autumn's SB BUT I trulyfeel God is control either way & know no matter what I do, His will would be done & believe His will has always been for Autumn to have SB & touch many more lives than she probably would of as a "normal" child. It just blows my mind to think that I have SB as well. Makes me wonder how many SB parents have it as well & even if my others kids may have it? So interesting.

Gage (he seems to have more going on than Autumn these days)

On Thursday, Gage was accidently knocked down at school and fell face first into the cement.  He got a knot and it scraped the skin on his forehead.  Nurse checked him out and he was fine & stayed at school.  Well, that evening he started running fever.  Friday morning he still had a low grade fever so I kept him home.  I was thinking maybe strep again but his throat looked fine and nothing seemed to work.  We cancelled our plans that evening & stayed home.  Saturday he started running a little higher temp but still acted and felt fine.  He would cough a little here and there but nothing major.  Also, at night when most kids run a higher temp..his fever would go away and not return until morning.  We kept him home from the 2nd party his was suppose to attend that weekend.  His temp stayed around 99-100 on Sunday but he really wanted to go to the 3rd party we were suppose to attend that weekend so I decided to go ahead and give him meds & go.  I know, I hate those parents who send their kids to school or places when running a temp but we NEVER get to go out on weekends and Gage was dying to go to the party & it was for one of our friends kids.  So, we went and Gage had a great time.  Jumped in the jumpers and never coughed once.  He felt great but I still made him rest but I did not want him to push it.  That evening I noticed he had these bug bite looking marks around his ankles.  Not sure where those came from & they were not itching him. I also listened to his lungs and checked his throat and they were both clear. So, Monday morning his temp was only 99.0 so I decided to send him to school (he has already missed 3 days this year).  He was complaining EVERYTHING hurt though.  He was fine over the weekend when there was no school but now his arm hurt, his head hurt, his tummy hurt, his foot hurt, it hurt to stretch his arms back, etc.  He went to school anyways and was fine all day.  He came home and I noticed he had bug looking bites all over his legs.  It was strange and he was still running a 99 temp so I told James to take him to CVS minute clinic.  While there James called and asked how long his foot had been swollen.  What?! It has not been but apparently the top was swelling up.  Anyways, CVS said he had bronchitis and needed to be checked out in the ER about his foot and to make sure he did not have pneumonia. James came home, we fed Gage dinner, and then I took him to the ER. I listened to his lungs when he got home and sure enough he was wheezy.  Our experience with Autumn has made us really good at listening to all the different lung sounds. This is the same ER that we took Autumn to & they ran EVERY test possible & wanted to admit her even after finding out she had a UTI & her neuro cleared her of a shunt infection so we had to plea our case to go home. ;) I was nervous to take Gage but figured he would be admitted because his foot looked so bad and was extremely painful to him.  They take us back and I explain everything.  Gage wanted "walking sticks" but they let him ride a wheelchair back.  The dr came in and glanced a his leg (which looked really gross by now).  It was started to whelp up all over both legs.  He was ofcourse concerned about his foot and said it looked like an allergic reaction but wanted to take x-rays to make sure it was not a break.  I told him about the bronchitis but no one even listened to his lungs or did a chest x-ray.  The dr did not even look in his mouth or ears!  They took x-rays of his foot which made him cry.  A nurse came in to give him a steroid for the bronchitis and benedryl for the foot.  I was waiting for the dr. to come in and do his exam and talk about the x-ray but nope.  The nurse came back instead with our discharge papers and prescriptions.  I asked what was the verdict and he said cellulitis and bronchitis.  I had to ask questions for him to explain anything to me or suggestions of home care.  It was crazy!  I'm so use to drs over-reacting to Autumn with her trach/shunt/etc but with Gage they were so laid-back & I had to pry info out of them.  Amazing how different they were treated.  Anyways, instead of insisting more I decided to just go home, give the meds, and see about following up with his pediatrician.  They said he would need to stay home 2 days from school and stay off his foot so the infection would not spread.  So, I have been home with a CRANKY boy!  The foot swelling was gone by Tuesday morning and the meds seem to be working.  I am waiting to take him to his pedi since he's doing well.  Still has a 99 temp every once in awhile but goes away without medicine.  He is resting a lot and using Autumn's chair to get around when she does not need it.  :)  Cellulitis is a bacterial infection that starts from an open wound.  I am thinking he got it from his fall on Thursday at school or from the bug looking bites on his ankle.  He has been coughing a little more and his lungs were crackly last night but sound clear this morning so far so I think it's breaking up & clearing out.  I can hear air passing through the lungs so that is good.  James & I had planned on going a date this week but ofcourse a kid would become sick.  We did manage to go to lunch together yesterday while my SIL watched the kids.  I told James that it's okay, in about 15 years we will be able to date again & I will get to sleep in.  Life with kids is never boring!!!

Halloween Fun (yes, I know I am behind)

Our new Halloween tradition since moving to the Dallas area is to go to Fright Fest at Six Flags in October.  It's so nice to be able to drive right on over to Six Flags after school and come home the same night.  The cousins had a wonderful time as always!

Such beautiful girls, such silly boys

Our church puts on a Fall Festival every year but this is the first time we have gone.  Autumn was sick however so James stayed home while I got to freeze while watching the kids have a blast.  Glad Jen & her kids came along to brave the cold with us. It was a fun time however and the kids each won a goldfish..so we now have 8 animals for mommy to care for.  ;)

One tradition we did away with was carving pumpkins.  The past 2 years we realized Gage breaks out when digging his hands in the pumpkin and I was really just too busy to think about it.  Madison though informed me how her childhood is officially over now that I dropped the tradition....she still doesn't realize I am NOT supermom. haha!

Do you think Gage got enough candy? Our neighbors are generous!

My cute (I mean scary) Frankenstein

My adorable watermelon

(the hat only stayed on for pictures)

She was not thrilled that we go her out of her comfy bed while watching her "soaps" and put on a ridiculously looking outfit that was bulky and then stuck a hat on her head and made her actually leave her room to go our into the dark to see crazy dressed people walking around to ask for yummy candy that she can not even eat. 

We tried taking her in the wheelchair but she only cried so we put her in her stroller and she cried until we laid it back so she could pretend to be asleep & peek only when she felt like it.  She was so mad at us she would not even hold our hands & did not want us to touch her the whole time we took Gage trick-or-treating.  Once home and in front of her TV again the diva was happy!

Madison really did not have a name for her costume but I was able to take a quick picture before she ran off with her friends...apparently we aren't cool enough to trick-or-treat with anymore.  :(

Autumn has been doing AWESOME lately.  School and outpatient therapy has been wonderful for her.  It's a lot of work for the both of us but so worth it.  She is getting therapy 5 days a week and the consistency really is paying off.  We are still waiting to get in for feeding therapy as well (not sure how to fit in our schedule when she does start).  We have LOTS of doctor appts these next 3 months, I think 8 or 9 which makes it difficult on trying to reschedule therapy sessions.

Our adoption is at a stand still right now.  We completed all of our paperwork and just waiting for a caseworker to be assigned to us & schedule our home study.  I'm so ready to get this done so we can get the process moving.  There are several boys I have bookmarked as potential matches for our family and just want to get our son in his forever home asap.  I know it's all in God's timing though and we just pray for each of them every night that God is protecting them and keeping them safe until they are adopted.  November is adoption awareness month so please take time to pray for all the children in foster care or orphanges.  Right now there are 6,000 kids just in Texas who are available for adoption who had been abused or neglected and deserve to be loved by a forever family.

In a week the kids and I will go back home for the holidays. I am super excited to be home for a week to actually have time to visit family & friends whom I miss SO much.  It will be a nice "vacation" for us to get away from our busy daily schedules just to spend time with people we love.