A Lump of Nothing

I entitled this post "A Lump of Nothing" because that is the diagnosis I received on Monday. I have been having trouble swallowing for about a month now. It feels like there is constantly something that is stuck in my throat that won't budge, no matter how much water I drink or swallow. The first thought from my doctor was acid reflux. But the two weeks on Prilosec didn't do anything to help the problem.

This past Monday I had an Upper GI endoscopy. It is where they put you to sleep and stick a tube with a camera down your throat to check your esophagus, stomach and the first part of the small intestine. It didn't hurt and I was unaware of the whole process. The doctor didn't find anything wrong. There was no lump or anything that he could tell that was preventing me from swallowing well. The diagnosis: "globus sensation" or "globus hystericus". It basically means that I feel a lump in my throat, but there really isn't one there. Hmm.....it kind of makes me think I'm a little crazy. To me, it feels like there is one there, but apparently there isn't. Josh and I have been doing some research online about it. He found that it could be caused by some problems in the swallowing muscles. I found that it could be caused by stress and anxiety. Whatever the cause may be, I'm hoping that it will either go away on its own (and never return) or that the doctor will have some other ideas on what could be causing it and we can try something else. I guess until then, I will just have a "lump of nothing" in my throat.

Short Synopsis

I guess its been 2 months since I last posted. Oops! Well, to catch you up on what's been going on I'll go by month.

November: We celebrated Samuel's 3rd birthday. We had "Mommy's special pizza" (otherwise known as cheese free pizza) and a birthday cookie. He was very excited since he now understands that he turned a year older.
We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year. It was exciting and very busy to have all of the cousins in the same household. They played well together and I got to spend time with my twin nieces.

December: I celebrated my birthday at the beginning of the month with REAL pizza. Woohoo! Josh was very kind to bring home a pizza to help me celebrate. This month has also been filled with the busyness of getting everything ready for the holidays. We will be heading to spend Christmas with Josh's family this year. I'm looking forward to seeing his family again. Its always fun to attend the various Christmas celebrations that his extended family has. We will stop over at my parents' around New Year's Eve to break the trip up. I'm sure I will have a lot to blog about after the holidays.

Singulair Experiment

For around a year, Samuel has been on Singulair to help keep his asthma under control. Within the last few months there have been some medical studies done that showed a link between Singulair and depression and suicidal thoughts. Our pediatrician downplayed it and said the study focused on teens and adults and that Samuel should be fine. Well just recently, one of our local TV stations aired a story about a four year old who experienced major mood swings, aggresive behavior and major tantrums after being prescribed Singulair. This started us thinking about Samuel. Over the past year (since being on Singulair), he has been very moody (to the point of being bi-polar), and has had major tantrums. We are talking about uncontrolled anger that consumes him and leaves us bewildered as to how to react. It seems that lately its been getting worse. We decided to take him off of the Singulair to see how he would do.

Last Friday was his last dose of Singulair. I'm happy to report that just 5 days later we are seeing results. Since Sunday, he has not thrown the massive tantrums when he's been reprimanded. He gets upset, but no more being sent to his room and hearing him kick the door and screaming at the top of his lungs. He's much easier to discipline now. He gets upset, but gets over it pretty quickly. We are amazed to see the results this fast. Praise God! And another praise is, so far, his asthma has not flaired up. He's also on Flovent for his asthma and so we are diligent in giving him that and it's working on its own.

I'm glad that we figured this out now. It will save a lot of sanity as he gets older and will help him in the future also.

Brotherly Love

Today, I witnessed the best act of brotherly love between Samuel and Darius. Here's the background to what happened today. This week Samuel has been running a fever. On Tuesday, his fever spiked and he was very mopey and just layed around. I grabbed his pillow and let him lay on the couch with it. Usually his pillow and blanket have to stay on his bed, but I made an exception since he was feeling so bad.

Fast forward to today. Samuel was on the couch watching Word World and said that he was tired so he was going to lay down on the couch. Darius heard him say he was tired, so he ran to Sam's room and grabbed his pillow and brought it to him. Then he brought him his blanket, and gave Sam his little stuffed hamster and bear blankie that he (Darius) sleeps with. He followed it up with James (steam engine and tender, that Sam loves), another blanket that they like to sit on, and was trying to pick up the Fisher Price barn to give to him. (I had to step in before someone got hurt with the barn.) It was so heart-warming to see how Darius was taking care of Samuel. I admit that I did have tears in my eyes when I saw the kindness.

Darius is starting to show sympathy towards Samuel. Lately when Samuel gets upset, especially this week with him being sick, Darius has tried to give him his favorite toys to comfort him. Samuel has done this to Darius when he's been upset. Its nice to see that they do care for each other, even though chances are in five minutes that they will be fighting over something or pestering each other. But I hope that they continue to show love to each other.

New Food Allergies & More........

We've been busy this summer with various activities that have been going on. One of these "activities" has been trying to get Darius tested for food allergies. We tried three times and finally got the results we had been hoping for. I was beginning to wonder if it was some kind of conspiracy within the health system we are a part of. It is a blood test, which made it worse. If you've never held down a child while blood was being drawn (and they are screaming at the top of their lungs), it's no small chore. It also makes you feel like the worst parent in the world, when it has to be done three different times because of someone else's incompetency. BUT, we finally found out that he is severely allergic to peanuts. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being most severe) he is a 4. Plus he tested positive for eggs with a 2 out of 5. This is great news, because we had been thinking that he was allergic to soy and corn. Praise God that we will not have to adjust anything in his (our) diet, since big brother Samuel is also allergic to eggs, peanuts and also milk.

This summer, I've also tried to potty train Samuel. I hit it hard one week ago, by putting him directly in underwear. I cleaned up a lot messes, but thought we were making headway until Friday. Samuel had decided that he wanted to exert his stubbornness and throw a fit every time he sat down on the toilet. Needless to say I backed clear off and decided not to pursue it anymore. But this morning he wanted to wear his Thomas (the train) underwear and he did keep them dry. Yay! He's back in a diaper (his choice) but it was headway and I'm hoping that he will slowly want to wear them more often.

We are now gearing up for the Fall. MOPS is getting ready to start and I'm the coordinator for the third year in a row. We are experiencing some stress right now, due to the lack of volunteers to work with the children. We are contemplating some changes that might free up some more people to work. Hopefully my Steering Team and I can all agree so we can meet as scheduled.

Josh has finally slowed down. He taught a graduate level class that met twice a week this summer. It kept him very busy and away from the family in the evenings. But his class ended the last day in July and so he hasn't been so busy. He is not teaching this Fall, but has to concentrate on his research project for tenure.

Hopefully I will start to blog more often.

My Own Fault

We had been wondering what would happen if Samuel got a hold of Darius' cup and took a drink of it. Well, I found out today. I had given Samuel a drink after lunch and Darius had spotted Samuel getting one and wanted one too. He won't drink water, so I grabbed his leftover cow's milk from the fridge and gave it to him. Samuel and I were looking for a letter, when he left my sight for no more than a minute or two. He came back to me itching his mouth and looked like something was wrong. I asked him if he'd drank from Darius' cup and he said yes. I wiped his mouth off and gave him a drink of water. I was just about to give him some Benadryl when he emptied his entire stomach contents onto the kitchen floor. (I'm so glad it was on the tile and not the carpet.) I got him and the floor cleaned up without any more incidents and gave him some Benadryl.

I'm still kicking myself for this. I usually keep a pretty close eye on Darius' cup when it's out of the fridge and off of the table. It's amazing how quick Samuel drank it and reacted to it. I've had others ask if his reaction is lessening any to his milk allergy. I definitely have proof now that it is not. He has a 1:3 chance of growing out of it. Not very good odds, so I've taken on the mindset that it will be a lifetime allergy. I just hope that his sensitivity to milk (and eggs, and peanuts) will lessen over time.

No Soy Allergy

We found out a couple of weeks ago that Darius is not allergic to soy. Even though he is not allergic to soy, his body still reacts to it through the eczema on his skin. We had taken him completely off of soy and his skin cleared up. After the allergy appointment, we put him back on soy and his eczema came back. Because of that, we are going to keep him off of soy as much as possible.

Darius is now officially a toddler. He had been taking a few steps here and there, but within the last week or so has really taken off on his feet. He gets a huge smile on his face and has a very proud look when he's walking. Samuel is stringing more words together and said a five word sentence the other day. Yay for him! It's fun to say hard words or phrases and see how he copies them.

Josh is enjoying the spring weather. He's been busy planting vegetables and flowers in our garden and yard. Our garden has tripled in size from last year and we already have veggies coming up. I am loving the nicer days also. I can get the boys outside and have a break from being cooped up inside all day. Although now that I have the windows open, it helps too. I guess that's all for now. I will try to post more often than once a month, but sometimes life gets in the way.

Strange, But True

We are pretty sure that Darius is allergic to soy. Several instances of him not eating food with soy milk in it has pretty much sealed the deal. He has a weight check on Thursday and we are looking forward to seeing how much he has gained. His little arms and legs have fattened up and his belly is definitely bigger. Once we see how much he has gained, we are going to attempt a "soy-free" week with him. That will take a LOT of planning, since soy is in everything!!! Check your food labels sometime. If vegetable oil is listed, it is most likely soybean oil. I will have to detail plan everything he could possibly eat during the week. I will also have to make my own bread, since store-bought bread has soy in it. I am not looking forward to it, but it will be worth it if his congestion and his eczema clears up. If that happens, we will be getting him in for allergy testing.

Now for the strange, but true part. We think Darius is allergic to peas. Seriously!!! He has never really eaten them, when he's been given them. But, we tried last night and was going to make him sit there until he ate some. Well after awhile, he started rubbing his arms along his tray, like they were itching. We got to looking at them and they had red spots that resembled hives on them. The only other thing he had eaten was spaghetti and we knew it wasn't a reaction to that. I had done some research earlier in the day on soy allergies and one vegetable in the "soy" family is peas. It kind of makes sense, that if he's allergic to soy, he would be allergic to peas. I don't totally understand it, but the evidence is in the reaction. Leave it to my family to be affected with crazy food allergies. I keep wondering when it will stop. I guess that my cooking skills will be put to the test even more. I know that things could be far worse, but for us, this is a crazy situation that seems to be continuing on with even more food allergies. If it keeps up, the only thing we will be able to eat will be meat, fruit and vegetables (minus the peas)! Oh well, I guess that the Lord is trying to stretch us in this area. I hope that the stretching stops soon!

A lot going on...

I can't believe it's been a month since I blogged last. It has been a busy month. Darius fought a double ear infection which caused high fevers for several days (in the 103-104 range). Finally got over that to celebrate his first birthday on the 20th. My parents came to help celebrate. We made him a birthday cookie and he received lots of fun presents that both he and Samuel enjoy playing with.

Last week, we had Darius' 12 month doctor appointment. I was looking forward to seeing how much he had grown, but found out he hadn't grown at all. He ended up losing weight and dropping off of the growth curve. At his 9 month appointment in December he hadn't gained very much and was at the bottom of the curve. He hadn't been eating or drinking very well, so we were told to put him on soy formula. Well, he wouldn't touch it, so we decided to try Pediasure instead. It has milk in it, so we have to be very diligent in keeping Samuel away from it. Darius loves it, but it is expensive so we have resorted to milk formula. He will drink it a little bit, but I hope will get used to it soon.

I am wondering if he has a soy intolerance. If he does, than that would explain why he doesn't drink the soy milk very much and wouldn't touch the soy formula. We will just have to play it out to see for sure. I think once he's gained a little, we may try soy milk again and see how he reacts to it.

If it's not one thing it's another and I hope that the food allergies/intolerances will level off and hopefully decrease soon.

God's Providence

If I wasn't already a believer in providence, I would definitely be after this morning.

This morning while Josh was getting ready for work, I went to raise the blinds on the windows and saw what I thought was a small fire on the roof of a neighbor's house. I quickly called Josh to the window and he confirmed it. We called 911 and he really quickly grabbed his coat and ran across the street. Another neighbor was there also and they both started knocking on doors and windows to wake up the neighbor. She finally woke up and came out to see it and then went back in to comb her hair. (Can you believe that?) Anyway, a fire truck arrived soon after and started running hoses. Then more started coming. All in all there were a total of 4 fire trucks, a rescue truck, two battalion chiefs and an air & light truck in front of our house. They managed to get the fire under control and out in about 20 minutes. Needless to say that caused quite a stir in our neighborhood and our street had quite a few neighbors gathering. The whole time Samuel kept running from window to window making siren noises. Two of the local news stations sent camera crews to cover the fire. All in all the fire department was there for probably an hour and a half inspecting and cleaning up. No one was hurt and there was minimal damage done to the house.

It was definitely God's providence that I pulled the blinds up at that particular time and that the other neighbor saw it also. It would have been a totally different story had it happened during the night sometime. I've just been praising God all morning that it happened when it did. Talk about a crazy morning!

Long time

It's been a long time since I've blogged last. A lot has gone on since then with the holidays. Christmas went well. It was nice to stay home and start some of our own traditions. The boys liked all of the toys they received and we liked all of the clothes that they received also. ;-) Darius had surgery right after Christmas. The surgery went well and he was army crawling on the floor that afternoon. We spent New Year's at a condo in Branson with Josh's family. It was fun to get away for a few days and not have to travel more than 45 minutes. Josh and I even managed to get away for an afternoon to ourselves. Yay!

The boys are growing like weeds and are learning so much right now. Samuel is saying more and more words and is putting them together in sentences now. He can say and recognize the letters in the alphabet. He was even matching numbers last night. He is sleeping in a "big boy" bed now. We got a bunk bed right after Christmas and he does really well with it. He stays in bed and sleeps the whole night through. We still put a gate in front of his door in case he wakes up in the middle of the night and decides to go exploring.

Darius is crawling on hands and knees more now. He also likes to walk around holding onto our fingers. Just last night we were made several laps around the house. He likes to stand and walk along furniture. He really wants to walk by himself, though. He has taken a couple of steps unaided. We figure that he will be walking by his first birthday. (Which is only about a month away. My baby is growing up so fast!!) I'm also starting to wean him in the hopes that he will be completely weaned by his birthday. He was refusing to drink from a sippy cup. It wouldn't matter what was in it, he would just take a sip here and there. We ended up getting a sippy cup with a straw this weekend and he loves it. It took him about a day to get the hang of it, but he can drink really well from it. Yay, a breakthrough!

Life is busy, but it is so much fun to watch them learn.