Erin measuring her arms against the wings of a condor.
Erin riding the carousel.
Alvin riding the carousel.
Cute river otters.
Eric goes out to sea, and all hell breaks loose. Emali was riding her bike the other day and managed to wipe out bad enough to warrant going to the ER. Luckily, its all bruises and road rash, but she looks horrid. (Sorry, no pictures. She wont let me post them).
Then, I go to give Alvin a bath the other night and notice a dark spot at the base of his skull. Well, what the hell? I take him out of the tub to get a closer look and find out that its a damned tick! How on earth did he get a tick on his head? He doesnt play outside, the girls werent around him all day, and Charley isnt allowed near the children.
Then, last night, I fell down the steps and manage to slightly tear my MCL in my knee. So, now I have a brace and get to be homebound for at least 3 days. Grr....
Well, the blood test results are in. Everything was normal. Some of the liver enzymes were high, but, they feel that that is just how his enzymes are. As they arent high enough to indicate disease.
So, now we continue on with the no-dairy/high fiber diet until the end of June. Then, we will go back to Hasbro to go from there. As for the diet, so far. No results. He is pooping about every 3 days, which I guess is an improvement over every 4. But, what comes out is wider than previously. So, its not a miracle cure.
Let the waiting begin.
Well, the blood test results are in. Everything was normal. Some of the liver enzymes were high, but, they feel that that is just how his enzymes are. As they arent high enough to indicate disease.
So, now we continue on with the no-dairy/high fiber diet until the end of June. Then, we will go back to Hasbro to go from there. As for the diet, so far. No results. He is pooping about every 3 days, which I guess is an improvement over every 4. But, what comes out is wider than previously. So, its not a miracle cure.
Let the waiting begin.
What a sad day for me. Apparently, blogger decided that I didnt need to stalk anyone and summarily removed all my blog links. So, please, if I have missed you in the sidebar leave me a comment with your blog URL.
Well, our sack of praying mantis babies hatched over the week. We were so excited to see that they had hatched. Now, I know that a lot of you are wondering why we would be happy to see ~30 praying mantis babies. Simply put, they are a beneficial species for insect elimination. As they grow, they will help to regulate the 'bad' bugs around the area.
Eric with Alvin standed beneath a life-sized brachiosaurus.
No. That isnt how the song goes. And well, it wasnt lions and tigers, but elephants and gorillas. But, there was a haircut. That is right. Alvin got his hair cut! Then, we went and picked up Emali's friend Katie. Then headed up to Hartford to the Rainforest Cafe. (Thanks Kim for the suggestion!). Here are the pics from the day.
The world's best sparkling volcano.
Death by brownie, caramel, ice cream and whipped cream.
So, we decided to go to the Kids Karnival here at the Youth Center today. Eric had duty yesterday, so we weren't able to go while the sun was shining. Regardless of the sprinkles, the girls had a really good time. I didnt take my camera to the carnival because I didnt want to lose it. Here are pics of the girls' face paintings after we got home.
Emali had a rainbow butterfly.
Erin was a pink sparkle kitty.
Let me just say this.
I LOVE THAT HOSPITAL!
They were very good with Alvin today and were willing to actually sit down and listen to me and Eric. We feel as if a great weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. Finally, someone who is listening to us!
To see how the visit went, check over on Alvin's blog.
Warning: This post discusses bodily fluids/etc.
Well, we took Alvin to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, RI today. He had an appointment to meet with GI there for a second opinion. (Since Yale has maintained that I am not feeding him and he would gain weight if I just fed him).
There we met his new GI, Dr. Alexander. Dr Alexander is a wonderful man. He sat down and listened to Alvin's entire history before saying anything. He asked alot of questions and gave us the decision on what was more important to us right now: the failure to gain weight or the constipation. Dr Alexander was glad to see that we chose to treat the constipation. He fully believes that the failure to gain weight it due to the length and severity of Alvin's constipation.
So, starting tomorrow, we start on a totally new therapy. We are going to completely flush Alvin's system via enemas. (3 given over 3 days). Then we are going to start him on a dairy-free diet. This is to rule out lactose intolerance as a cause of the constipation. Dr Alexander is also running like 35 different blood tests, including Celiac, and other diseases. The test results for those will be back in around 10-14 days. So, we are to follow the new non-dairy/high fiber diet until we get the blood test results back.
After that, where we go is dependant on the test results. If they find nothing, then we will stay on the new diet for 8 weeks to see if his constipation lessons and he gains weight. They will also do more testing if these blood tests come back normal. Dr Alexander told us today that they WILL find out what is wrong with Alvin. They are very concerned about his chronic constipation. So yay. Finally. Someone who can admit they dont know what is wrong, but are willing to find out.
Warning: This post discusses bodily fluids/etc.
Well, we took Alvin to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, RI today. He had an appointment to meet with GI there for a second opinion. (Since Yale has maintained that I am not feeding him and he would gain weight if I just fed him).
There we met his new GI, Dr. Alexander. Dr Alexander is a wonderful man. He sat down and listened to Alvin's entire history before saying anything. He asked alot of questions and gave us the decision on what was more important to us right now: the failure to gain weight or the constipation. Dr Alexander was glad to see that we chose to treat the constipation. He fully believes that the failure to gain weight it due to the length and severity of Alvin's constipation.
So, starting tomorrow, we start on a totally new therapy. We are going to completely flush Alvin's system via enemas. (3 given over 3 days). Then we are going to start him on a dairy-free diet. This is to rule out lactose intolerance as a cause of the constipation. Dr Alexander is also running like 35 different blood tests, including Celiac, and other diseases. The test results for those will be back in around 10-14 days. So, we are to follow the new non-dairy/high fiber diet until we get the blood test results back.
After that, where we go is dependant on the test results. If they find nothing, then we will stay on the new diet for 8 weeks to see if his constipation lessons and he gains weight. They will also do more testing if these blood tests come back normal. Dr Alexander told us today that they WILL find out what is wrong with Alvin. They are very concerned about his chronic constipation. So yay. Finally. Someone who can admit they dont know what is wrong, but are willing to find out.
