Emotional Few Weeks, Part 3

We are coping with all of the emotions & changes in our lives one day (hour, minute) at a time.

Meantime, we had a camping trip to Montana planned for over a year, so we have been busily trying to get ready to leave this weekend for Montana.

So right now my living room is stacked full of camping gear, totes of food, & suitcases. :)


The other emotional part of our lives is our 6th grader started football last Monday. Our school didn't have enough for a team, so the kids are getting bused 45 miles to another school to play with another small school.

So this week (& next week for the days we will be home), practice has been from 6 am to 8 am. That means the bus leaves the school at 5 am--that's right, 5 am!!! So I have been getting up with Zane at 4:30, helping him get ready & to the bus.

He has been tired at night, but also cranky during the day, & not as willing to help out.

That also means that I have been tired at night, and cranky during the day, & not as willing to help out :)

Thankfully, practice will be at 6 PM once school begins.

He is a bit sad, though, because he will miss some practices while we are camping.

So I am off to bed, then a busy day in town, & then CAMPING!!!

Emotional Few Weeks, Part 2

Our oldest daughter, Brienna has been monitored for almost 2 years by a back doctor. She was diagnosed with scoliosis when she was in the 6th grade & we initially went to Boise, ID to see this doctor. He comes to Idaho Falls about every 2 months for clinic, so we are fortunate not to have to travel across the state to see the doctor.

For all of the appointments, Brienna gets a few x-rays of her back, we see the doctor, he tells us nothing has changed, and then sees us in 4 months.

Well, when we went in on July 17th, everything had changed

Her curve had progressed by 7 degrees & the curvature was now above the "just watch, wait & see" point. He recommended her wearing a back brace immediately.

There is no cure for scoliosis. You can only stop it's progression, & work on keeping the spine in a better position when growing. Brienna is just starting her growth spurt, so we set up an appointment to get her cast for a back brace.

She was quite upset (rightfully so), & we have had tons of crying times at our house (mom & dad too).

Her brace is a bit different than this one--I'll have to take a picture & post it another time. Right now, feelings are quite tender, & we are having an emotional roller coaster ride while dealing with this fact of life.

She does understand that if we don't stop the progression now, then back surgery would required in the next few years. So while she KNOWS that, her heart is having a hard time coping.

Thankfully, she is able to gradually build up to wearing the brace for the required 20 hours/day--started at 2 hours on day 1, 3 hours on day 2, etc.

But because of the curvature of her back, she has part of her brace go under one armpit to make her lift that shoulder. When she lifts that shoulder, the other shoulder drops, & the brace is digging into that armpit. She was trying to "cheat" & slouch forward (so the poky part of the brace wasn't under her arm), so I got an appointment tomorrow afternoon to see if we can pad the brace or trim even 1/4 inch from the other side.

So if you know us, (& even if you don't), please keep my children in your prayers.

Emotional Few Weeks, Part 1

Our family has had an emotional, & jam-packed, fast-paced last few weeks.

First of all, my computer has been acting up--I have had to run our virus scan a couple (or more) times a day.

And today it froze up, & lost 1 1/2 hours (according to the computer clock--no wonder dinner was so late **ha, ha**)

But that is just mild, compared to what has happened the rest of the time.


Callum, our 4th child with special needs, has had extreme eczema for most of his life (I always thought this wasn't "fair" since he has so many other challenges to deal with). But he has been a trooper, tried his hardest not to itch his itchy skin, & has lived with the fact that his skin was always full of scabs & dryness.

We had tried all the prescriptions, OTC medicines, & even home remedies. So many people have offered advice & suggestions on what worked for them. We saw a dermatologist, & finally in June, our family doctor said we needed to do the dreaded skin allergy test.

So we set an appointment for when we got back from our vacation in Wyoming.

Callum went to the allergist (the #1 in our area) the Monday after we got our puppy.

I didn't tell him what was going to happen until we were already in the office (I didn't need to have him freaked out sooner than necessary). His first test was an asthma blow test, where he blows into a machine & tries to blow out 10 birthday light candles.

He was able to blow out 2 or 3 of them.

Then the dreaded skin test. They tested him for 84 things, & the technician told him that it would be itchy, but not too bad. So the poor kid laid on his tummy while she poked his back (& he is skin & bones).

Then she told him he had to lay very still for 12 minutes to let the serum do it's job (irritate his skin), & left. The poor kid started to have reactions immediately. He said he felt like he was getting stung by a bee, over, & over, & over, & over. Callum was screaming so loud, that I thought everyone would be coming in to see if he was dying. He had a juice to drink while we waited, & he chewed that straw to pieces because of the intense pain he was in.

This in not a picture of his back, (because I forgot mine), but the biggest welt you see on the left side was the smallest welts that formed on his back. When the technician came in 1/2 way through, she told Callum she was so sorry that she had told him that this testing wasn't that bad. She had never seen such a powerful, fast, & severe reaction in a child. His whole back was covered in the welts.

I have a hard time writing about this because it was something that I was putting him through. It was one of the longest 12 minutes I have ever had to endure (& I can't imagine how painful it was for Callum!!!!).

When they came in to wipe off the test site, Callum thought he was out of the woods, but then they needed to map his back with the reactions, & that took about 10-15 minutes.

We used almost 1 tube of the cream to help alleviate the itchiness & swelling. He was given a high-dosage shot immediately, & some Benadryl also. I was just thankful that his reaction was hives & not closure of the throat.

Callum had allergic reactions to 65 of the 84 items tested. Thankfully (I think), he isn't allergic to a lot of food--his top 3 that we need to eliminate from his diet are green beans (Yay, he shouts, because he hates them); cantaloupe (but not watermelon)--a bit sad on this one because he likes cantaloupe, but he can cope/live without that; & the last 1 & hardest one: EGGS--all kinds & whites & yolks both. He loves his daddy's omelette's, scrambled eggs & German pancakes.

The doctor wants to treat this aggressively, so he is currently have allergy shots 2 times a week (1 time a week when school starts), has 2 asthma inhalers, & 3 different syrup prescriptions he takes. Plus he has an ointment for eczema outbreaks.

So that has meant 2 trips to town a week, along with the other scheduled appointments we have had. Unfortunately, the office is closed on Fridays, so we will have to come in on a school day. The office is opened until 5:45 on Thursdays, so we will probably try to go in on that day during the school year.

Callum is most allergic to weeds, ,most grasses, a lot of trees, & also molds, dusts, & environmentals (tobacco, pollens). So the shots help counter those reactions, along with his prescriptions.

His skin nearly cleared up after the first week of the shots/meds. And the first 2 weeks he really hasn't itched. Then Sunday we ate macaroni, & he emptied our dust-buster, & soon he was scratching. I forgot that a lot of noodles have eggs, & if he wanted to vacuum under the table, who was going to complain??? We are both still learning & will need to be more aware.

Alright--there is so much more with Callum, but I need to get to bed. And that is just with Callum--I have more to blog about our emotional last few weeks.