Welcome back to Monday

And somehow another weekend is over and here we find ourselves back at Monday. And a busy, busy Monday it has been.

I was up at three am in search of an ice pack. It doesn't help my throat that is hurting but it does help my face that aches. I'm not sure if my throat is hurting because the trach isn't in quite right, or if something else is irritating my throat. It isn't like I can drink anything that will help it...

Yes, water and Motrin would be perfect for breakfast.

Also the last of the oatmeal. The last piece of fruit. The last of those seeds and those nuts are already gone. I think we need to go to the store. Not sure when we'll fit that in.

Ice, Motrin, breakfast and the newspaper. Things are a little better.

Lesley came for a visit, which was wonderful as always. There are some people who can make me feel completely normal. She is one of them. Her visits help me so much I am so glad she is willing to shlepp over here to see me.

She also offered to pre-make some super green smoothies for the freezer for radiation. Because sometimes even making a smoothie is too much effort. She is an amazing friend.

It was a convergence of amazing friends as Jen came for her Monday cleaning. She changes sheets and picks up dirty towels, does a general cleaning, sweeping, and mopping of the house. She also does little things. Karissa notices she sorted her shoes and put them away. I notice how she always folds the pjs and sets them on the edge of the bed. There aren't enough Karma points in the world for some people. She is one of the many we have been blessed with in our lives.

I snuck in a quick shower just to get the overnight gunk off. We had to head out before Jen to pick up Karissa.

We picked up Karissa, carnival bracelets and raffle tickets for her and Hannah, made a breeze through the book fair and saw Clifford the Big Red Dog.  It was busy in there!

We had to swing by the house and pick up a snack and my phone and head up to Riverbend for Karissa's appointment with the endocrinologist.

We even made it on time. Whoo hoo. We were optimistically hoping that we would make it in and out in time for riding at four. No dice. A late start. A long appointment. Blood work.

Without sharing too many personal details, Karissa has been behind "bone age" since 15 months. She had been an average kid, pretty much 25% all the way and at 15 months she just stopped growing. Fell off the growth chart. I loved having the pediatrician ask me if I fed her. Because no one has agonized about a kid eating more than I have over her. Why don't you just stab me and get it over with?

I guess I should explain bone age. They take x-rays of her hands. All women get their period at 12 years 9 months, bone age. The age your body believes you are. Based on these bench marks and the growth plates, they can tell how old your body believes you are.

She has been one to two years behind ever since. The thought was that she would mature late and be able to catch up size wise. There was discussion of growth hormones, but those were ruled out.

In January when we went, there were some red flags. The bone age had changed. There were signs of puberty, but the blood work showed no estrogen so we were in the clear. But there were enough concerns that they had us come back in six months instead of our usual two years.

Today there were more signs of early puberty. No one knows why she would go from being behind to being ahead, but she has grown 2.5" since January, a classic "pre-pubital growth spurt." This is worrisome because not only is she only 9, she also is only 4' 1.5" tall. If she progresses at this rate, she wouldn't end up much taller than she is now.

She had blood work today. If it bears out the doctor's theories, then we would need to put her on medication to stop puberty from progressing. That is the best case scenario, because if the blood work doesn't bear it out, then we have to have more tests and they start looking for things named after people. You never want that. And it is unlikely.

Even with the meds, they can't guarantee that she will get a lot taller. Well, lots of ballerina's are tiny, but we were hoping she'd make five feet like her birth mom at least. We will keep our fingers crossed. Of course specialized blood work takes longer, so we'll have them crossed awhile...

It was 4:45 by the time we got out of there. So much for riding today. We made it home just in time for Anne to deliver our wonderful dinner. She even had separated mine out for me, although the blender doesn't mind taco shells:)

I did get out and put my hands in the dirt. I gathered a big bowl of potatoes just by getting the ones near the surface. Still loads to get with a pitchfork. I also picked a pint of strawberries and a few peas, which Karissa and co scarfed down. Dirty hands make everything better.

Kelly and Karissa did manage to get through her Helen Keller speech before the wheels started coming off the wagon. She is likely full of hormones she has no idea what to do with. She is worried about me. The end of the school year is always stressful for my girls. They hate to see it end and all that comes with it. She is excited about camp but I am sure a bit nervous about three weeks away from home. And she doesn't know how to express any of this, so we just have yelling and crying and tie shoes are hated and why can't she wear that and it is all Kelly's fault because you can't yell at mom, she's sick. And so the joyful evening played out.

Now it is 9:20, AGAIN. Where does the time go every night. I have no idea. And tomorrow is another busy day.

Thanks to our amazing friends we have clean sheets and a clean house. We had a lovely dinner and Karissa had her favorite M and Ms for dessert. Eileen has agreed to a barter for cherries and Mia to a barter for St. John's Wort Oil, which will be my best friend during radiation. The furniture repair is going to fix the sliding table and the fence guy is coming for an estimate to fix the falling down fence. Life is moving forward at breakneck pace. There are graduation gifts waiting to be mailed and thank you cards to be written. Tomorrow is another day full of happy busy life. I am thankful I am here to live it with my strands of hair and my Magna Doodle.

What are you thankful for today??? Probably me not talking about maggots...

Love,
Kiara