Poor M

It's been a long four days for M. On Friday, M had her regular monthly transfusion. She had a terrible night of sleep that night which is common for her after a transfusion (we think it stirs up bad memories for her). However, that night was worse than usual with sleep of only about 3 hours. On Saturday, she complained consistently of pain in her legs and hands that would come and go. We called the pediatrician who wanted us to go to the ER, thinking she was having a reaction to her transfusion. To the ER R and M went. There she was diagnosed with an infection based on preliminary cultures and sent home with a diagnosis and antibiotics. After 48 hours on the antibiotics, she woke up today with....HIVES. Poor thing. Another visit to the pediatrician confirmed the rash and she was taken off of the antibiotics. While waiting for the NEW prescription to be filled we received a call from our pediatrician saying that they had just received word from the hospital that M's results were back from the cultures sent to the lab for full review. In fact, she had NO infection in the first place...was on antibiotics for no real reason....and now had hives because of it.

Poor thing may have them for up to two more days. She's such a trooper. She's not even complaining. Just smiling and trying not to scratch. Benadryl and Calamine are helping.

We have no idea why she was complaining of pain in her hands and legs. We've shared it with her doctors and they'll be watching for signs of anything else going on...we'll keep you posted!

Love is in the Air

All good things must come to an end...we wrapped up the vacation with a few days in a nice cabin on the Georgia/NC border (strangely close to where we started!). M and I took a moment to pose in front of the beautiful view. I sure love this girl!

Beach Time

(M waits for the fireworks. We're sure she had NO idea what was coming!)

Someone from my parents' church kindly offered the use of their house on the Gulf of Mexico for the Fourth of July weekend. The boys enjoyed the days of boogie boarding in warm water (unlike our CT waves) and M enjoyed squealing as the Gulf tickled her toes. Adults enjoyed the porch at night with its views of the moon over the water.

R and I got to take a moonlit walk on the beach together with NO CHILDREN! It ranked near the top of our vacation experiences.

On the Fourth of July, we got to see fireworks on the beach. What a wonderful way to enjoy the holiday!