Post Children's report

The hand thing is a result of a virus he had and it will go away, especially with help from Vaseline. Ok, and here's my $1000 check. Hmm. Not sure I agree but we will wait it out a few more weeks. With the supplements, I can imagine his immune system rising to the challenge of beating this thing, but I still wish there was something we could do to make it go away NOW. Grrr.

More soon, as I know more.

more tests - more absences

Ted is having a rough go of it. Once we started the supplements, he started randomly throwing up, every 2 days or so. So we stopped them, but it kept happening. And he started complaining about school, saying it was boring and he didn't want to go. It is NOT boring. He has a fantastic teacher. We are guessing he is under stress, perhaps from all his absences last week. Well, he was twice sent home for throwing up this week and tomorrow he has an appointment at Children's Hospital for his hands. No wonder he's feeling a lack of enthusiasm for school. I'm hoping next week he can go every day, all day!

Yesterday, after being sent home, I had a great talk with his teacher who suggested some things to alleviate anxiety (like the poetry jam tonight - he only has to come, not participate if he doesn't want to). He spent the day doing 6th grade math work and creating a PowerPoint presentation on "Pi - the most fascinating number." Neither were the homework assigned, but his teacher was ok with it. What a tough cookie our boy is.

In good news, he had a spectacular day on Saturday at TKD at a weapons seminar. And he is all registered for Spring Nationals in Vegas in March! I have opening night at the opera, so our beloved sitter, Heather, is going to take him. They are both very excited!

My conference in Chicago got cancelled, which is so disappointing. They aren't saying why, so not sure if it was lack of enrollment or if some of their presenters fell through ... Bummer. I'm glad I hadn't bought the tickets yet. Mae is sad too and I promised we'd spend enough time in Chicago to see baby Elena, G'ma & G'pa AND the American Girl Doll Store. At least we're saving money on tickets!

Dermatology Update

This morning Ted saw the dermatologist. She was lovely and knew what each issue was as soon as she looked at it. And she has a plan!

First, his bad leg eczema is Molluscum contagiosum. It's part of the pox family. She applied Cantharidin, or beetle juice (really!) to the areas and it should scab up and wake up his dormant immune system so it can fight it off.

Second, his lip (and the sides of his mouth! oops.) are a type of oral candida infection, so she has prescribed an antifungal for him to take that will clear that up.

And third, his peeling hands are a bit of a mystery to her too. She suspects it is just excessively dry skin, and has instructed us to lather on the lotion with socks duct-taped on at night (he got a big kick out of that) but she is also conferring with a pediatric dermatologist she knows at Children's as well as checking the strep test results, to be sure all forms of staph infection were cultured, just in case a simple dose of antibiotics might do the trick.

She'll see him again in a month. She says the extra zinc we are supplementing will help his body toughen up, so she's very sure we'll see quick results in the next few weeks.

I feel quite relieved and pleased at her obvious expertise, kind manner, and swift plan of action! And Ted thought she was very nice, which helps.

Now, off to make him his green smoothie for his after school snack! Ssh! Don't tell!

Results are In

• The long-wait strep test was also negative. Darn.
• Iron and Vitamin D are very low. Zinc test isn't back yet. We'll start on Iron and D drops tomorrow.
•  Next step is to see a dermatologist. Paul wants to wait 2 weeks on the "new diet" to see if his skin improves on its own. 
• I am noticing how tired he is at night - unusual. 
• I am thrilled beyond belief that I can make him a smoothie out of strawberry kefir, a banana, an apple, a few frozen strawberries, a scoop of his protein powder and SPINACH leaves, and he will suck it down enthusiastically. Twice a day. 
• This all began Wednesday January 13. What will January 27 look like? 

Iron and Zinc

I searched the Archives in vain for the same title, back in 2007, but couldn't find it. We've been down this road before. Recently Ted started having skin problems: split lips that wouldn't heal, eczema that hurt and bled, and recently, the return of blisters on his fingers. We suspected Strep again but the test came back negative. His doctor ordered a full bloodwork panel, mostly looking into iron and zinc deficiency. Iron makes sense - he is a vegetarian and extremely picky. It is doubtful that he is getting all the nutrition that he needs from his limited foods and Gummi Vitamins. A zinc deficiency apparently can cause appetite suppression, so maybe there is some hope for his appetite yet! We are eagerly looking forward to the results, but until then, back to our supplements we go!

A better multi, double fish oils, probiotics and a high protein powder are back in the meal plan, and while he isn't thrilled with the powder, he is tolerating it, so I think we are going to be OK. If the bloodwork comes back the way we think it will, we'll add iron and zinc supplements to his routine. This is the kid that learned to swallow pills at 5 years old - it was a good thing!

2011 in Review

As is our custom, here is our annual "Year in Review" movie! Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Musical musings

Because I've worked so hard to make this blog about adoption, I feel like I've lost a space to talk about myself. A bit self-centered, perhaps, but it's fun to talk about what is going on in my life, as well as what the kiddos are doing. So I've created a little blog about my music. If you'd like to follow along, the link is to the right, as well as here: ellenkmoeller.blogspot.com

The kids will be on vacation in a week and I hope to highlight each of them individually. I feel like they are growing and changing so much every day. I'm so proud of all of them - they are growing into such lovely people!

Til then, enjoy the music!