Go Broncos!

Okay, so they lost. Eden watched the game with Daddy though and showed her support with her one-of-a-kind tshirt, courtesy of Auntie, (for more wonderfully hand crafted items visit www.5eggs.etsy.com, custom items also available). Oh, and by the way, yes, we do know it's too small- we're working on the crawling thing and hoping she'll work some of that weight off, until then... Oh well.

Eden's no-fun day #4, in pictures

Here's a quick photo montage of all the action last Tuesday. And I mean quick; I didn't even take the time to edit out my fat pics or the shots of us looking about as bad as we feel--I just threw 'em all in the slideshow, for better or worse. And no, we didn't do massive amounts of sleeping pills just before the hospital. We actually were as tired as we looked, mainly because someone-who-will-not-be-named-but-whose-initials-are-Eden-Lair didn't sleep much the night before, which meant we didn't either. I'd say it was because she was all a-twitter about her big day the next day but I'd be lying, because it happens more than it doesn't these days. But that's material for another post (most likely at 4:30 in the morning).

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

And we interrupt this infanthood again...

I haven't posted in almost three weeks now. And no, I'm not bragging, just making an observation. I've had several things I wanted to write about flit through my head, but I must have two windows in my brain open--one for ideas to flutter in, and one for ideas to flutter back out--because I've already forgotten them all. And yes, I attribute that travesty of a metaphor to my recent lack of writing practice.

One thing that probably won't be flittering away (that's the last time I'll use the image, I swear) any time soon is today's blood test result. Today was the first day Eden has been back to the blood clinic in a month; assuming her test went well, she was scheduled for a long-delayed VCUG to check on the enlarged ureter the doctors discovered back when her general health first spiraled down the drain. And don't ask me what any of that means, although VCUG would be a great name for a death metal band, if any of you are thinking of starting one. And Ureter would, I don't know, make a good name for a pitcher for the Royals. Or something.

Well, guess what: Eden's VCUG was postponed (again). And guess why: that's right, her platelet count is down (again). And guess how low:

57.

How she went for 8 weeks strong--her previous test was last month, 8 weeks after her most recent transfusion--with no problems, only to drop precipitously in half that time, I have no idea. Or rather, the hemotologist had the idea that I was looking for, which would be that Eden might've had a virus that knocked her system off track. And, in fact, she did have a virus: Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (that was one of my missing posts! I knew I'd remember eventually), which sounds like she'd been hanging out at the wrong leper colonies but really just means she had some cold sores on her lip and a diper rash. Who knows, maybe she just caught one-third of the virus.

Anyway, the hemotologist said that HFMD, otherwise known as coxsackievirus A16 (another good death metal band name), usually isn't serious symptom-wise but can play havoc with an immune system; almost all kids who catch it have their platelets knocked about while trying to recover. So I guess the good news is that this may not be ITP related as much as a case of bad luck and timing. The bad news is that Eden has to go in for another batch of IVIg tomorrow; this will make Round 3 (or is it 4? I can't remember anything anymore) with the transfusions.

So for those of you who usually skip to the end of these posts to see the pics, Eden is sick again, it may just be one of those things that happen, and she's getting pumped full of antibodies one more time tomorrow. And hopefully, hopefully, that will finally be completely and totally it.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Our trip to Colorado in pictures

When the cat's away...

...the mice sit around all weekend in front of the TV, extremely bored and completely lacking in ambition, self-discipline, or personal hygene. Or mouse, I should say, since both Sarah and Eden flew out in Colorado since Friday--much like the pic above, but in a plane instead of a swing--leaving me here all by my lonesome. Their trip came about so suddenly (web-fare email alert on Wednesday! Purchase ticket on Thursday! Fly out on Friday!) that I didn't have time to make any plans for myself, like climbing Mt. Everest or seeing how many hot dogs I can eat in 5 minutes. So instead I planted myself on the couch and got lost in hours upon hours of football, sitcoms, and other mind-numbing network programming. My brain actually feels lighter after this last weekend.

Anyway, Sarah and Eden have been making the rounds back west, seeing family and friends and new nieces and cousins and what-not. It sounds like it's been a fun yet exhausting trip for them, and they're just about ready to come back tomorrow; Sarah will describe all the gory details when they get back, including a certain unpleasant surprise that goes by the name of a small bird. Those of you who were breastfeeders and had it know what I'm talking about. For those that have no idea, you really, really don't want to know, trust me.

...we now return Eden to her regularly-scheduled infanthood

I just realized that I forgot to post the results of last week's clinic visit, which proves that good news does indeed travel slowly (at least from my brain to the keyboard). That's right, after four and a half months, Eden's ITP saga might actually be coming to a close. We met with the hemotologist last Monday, who said that even though he is not normally an optimistic person (glad he didn't tell us that at the beginning of all of this), since Eden has been relatively stable for seven weeks now, he's willing to cut back the clinic workups to once a month. And she's okay to fly. And we can finally get the long-overdue kidney test out of the way. And she can play soccer again (wait, that's still a few years away).

We decided to test if the doctor was a quack or not by immediately putting Eden in an airplane and sending her halfway across the country (more on that later). We're happy to say he passed.