When Something Isn't Right

Dr. Marker comes to the rescue!  Last Sunday afternoon Leah woke up from a nap in the car crying that her neck hurt.  When we got home, she didn't turn her head to the right.  For the next couple days she complained about her neck, sometimes she said she couldn't turn her head right and sometimes she couldn't turn left.  I tried a couple times to move her head and I could tell it really bothered her.  Finally, the other morning daycare called me to say that she was really in pain.  We'd been googling her symptoms and the results weren't looking great.  Meningitis, shunt tubing issue, or worse.  Luckily, Dr. Marker's office was able to squeeze us into his busy schedule because she was in pain.  As soon as he walked into the room, he said very definitively it's not a shunt issue.  I was wondering how the heck he could possibly know that when he barely saw her for 5 seconds, but sure enough he felt her neck and said that her lymph nodes were swollen and she has tonsillitis.  Then he laughed and apologized that he probably should have said that on the phone when we talked to him.  

Leah was a trooper!  She was so cooperative when he looked in her ears, felt around her neck and she even opened wide enough so he could see her tonsils... which, sure enough, were infected.  Again, I still am trying to wrap my head around how he knew that.  We were only there for a few minutes and a huge relief came across us both.  We had packed a bag thinking there was a chance we'd be heading into the hospital that afternoon.  Nope!  Instead we got to go home and take a long nap.  Leah slept for 3 hours!!  

While we were there, Dr. Marker did say something that scared the crap out of us.  In passing conversation he was talking about tonsils and referenced his brother, who, at 70 years old, is a few years younger than Dr. Marker.  Ty and I both looked at each other in horror... Dr. Marker is in his 70's??!!??!!  No, no, no, no, no!  What are we going to do without him?  Oh the horror!  Seriously, I don't know what we are going to do without him.  What other doctor does what he does?  I can't think about him not being around much longer.  It's going to be a very sad day for us when he retires because of how amazing he is.  Not just because he knows a lot about SB or tonsillitis but because he's still "old school" and will return our calls at all hours of the day, squeeze us into his busy schedule, and give us such a peace of mind about Leah.  

Now that we are on day 3 of antibiotics, Leah seems to be doing much better.  She slept all through the night last night for the first time in a long time.  She still won't turn her head all the way, but that's more out of fear that it will hurt than it actually hurts right now.  She was very happy to go back to school yesterday and rolled into the classroom announcing, "I'm all betty now!"  Our little girl is on the mend.

What a Difference a Year Makes

It's now been a year since Leah switched daycare centers.  Her first day at her new school was the first week of June, and with that anniversary here, I am reminded of what a difficult time we had last year.  Can I just burn the memory from my mind and forget about it altogether?  That old saying "when one door closes, another opens" rings true for me in this situation.  I never would have found Leah's new daycare had we not otherwise been turned away.  I suppose we would have been blissfully unaware that we could have something better for Leah.  There are times when I'm dropping her off or picking her up when I just feel overwhelmed with emotions and I can't believe our good fortune that we ended up here.  But then I remember how we got here.   It's been a year but it's still very fresh, and is still hard to talk about it or even think about it without getting emotional or wanting to punch someone in the face (you know who you are, old daycare center director).

Even typing it here, I start tearing up as I think about last year how our last daycare... kicked her out because... of her disability.  Insert major heartbreak.  I suppose in all great stories, there is a plot twist, a conflict that the characters have to overcome, and this is just that for us.  Luckily we got the happy ending.  I just wish it didn't come with heartache to get here.  

As I think about other things going on in our lives at this time last year, it was also when we got her first wheelchair, the one she still has today.  That was a huge step for her, and for us, in a lot of different ways.  Getting a chair has given her a huge gift of mobility.  It has also given me a sort of finality that she is going to be a wheeler.  Yes, she is practicing standing and walking, but then I look at her little legs that are as floppy as overcooked spaghetti noodles and wonder if she'll ever muster the courage and strength to do it.  I guess I'll just have to wait and see.