Doctor's appointments, surgeries and stuff

I forgot to mention in my last post that we are fortunate that the girls felt well enough to enjoy our vacation. The Friday before we left, Emily got strep throat. Their pediatrician said he wouldn't be surprised if the others got it over the weekend and he was on call so he said to call if they got symptoms over the weekend and he would call in antibiotics for the others. Saturday evening, Madison was complaining of sore throat and fever so he called her in antibiotics. It seemed that Alexa was going to escape getting sick - until late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. Since our flight was supposed to leave at 1pm Wednesday, we got up and got her into the doctor early that morning. And I'm glad we did because she ended up with an ear infection and likely strep throat (they didn't test her, but she had all the symptoms). Since we were in a hurry to catch our flight, the doctor was nice enough to run across the hall to the pharmacy and see if they could expedite her prescriptions. We got to Mamaw Linda's just in time to pick her up and get to the airport. Anyway, so all three girls were on antibiotics during our vacation so I am thankful that they felt well enough to enjoy it.

The day after we got back from Disney, Alexa had an appointment to see her eye surgeon. It really bothers her that tears fall down her cheeks uncontrollably (and daily) and her friends/teachers, etc always thinks she's crying. After a consult with the surgeon that did her tear duct surgery, he determined that she needed the same surgery again. UGH. Not looking forward to that, but she's not acting the least bit nervous or scared and is asking often if it's time for her surgery yet because she's tired of the tears. Her surgery is scheduled for April 15th.

Madison ended up back at the doctor on Friday and was diagnosed with Strep throat again. Doctor said he thinks she was just unlucky enough to catch it a second time from one of her classmates, but if it continues to be a problem we would have to consider removing her tonsils/adenoids. For the moment, she's just on another round of antibiotics.

Emily had gone for an ultrasound of her kidneys a week or two before we left for vacation (a routine procedure after her kidney reflux surgery). During the ultrasound, we saw what we thought was a kidney stone in her right kidney. They wouldn't be able to tell for sure until they did a CT scan. They did the CT scan this past Monday and confirmed that she does have a kidney stone and it appears to be about 3 mm. I haven't heard from her urologist yet (she's not in the office until Friday) to see what the plan is. Right now the stone isn't causing her any pain. I hope it stays that way.

All 3 girls went back to see their endocrinologist on Monday to follow up on their progress with the growth hormones. The girls are growing at very different rates at the moment. Emily she said was growing as she expected, Madison grew much more rapidly than she expected, and Alexa was less than expected. She thinks that the advair (steroid) that Alexa and Emily take might be affecting their growth. But as she said, the health of their lungs is much more important than them gaining height, so if the advair is needed then so be it. Of course, if we are able to cut the dose back at all (even if just seasonally) it could prove beneficial. I'll have to remember to discuss it with their pulmonary doctors at their next appointments.

I don't remember their precise height and weights, but Madison was around 40.5 inches and weighed 32 lbs. Alexa was just under 40 inches and weighed 32 lbs. Emily was a little under 40 inches (slightly shorter than Alexa) and weighed 36 lbs. Until we started the growth hormones, Alexa had always been the tallest (even at birth). At birth Emily and Madison were the same length, but Emily weighed the least and Alexa weighed the most. Shortly after that Emily passed Madison in height and before they ever left the NICU, Emily had easily passed both girls in weight. That left Madison as the shortest and by far the lightest of the three. Now all of the sudden, Madison caught up to Alexa in weight, and passed them both in height. It has been really unexpected. Nice to see that the daily injections are helping!!