Updates

Flara met with a new endocrinologist this week.  We had been seeing a doctor in Chattanooga, but with her 'crisis' period over, we were able to switch to a doc in Knoxville... much more convenient.

Looking over her records, our new doc said that Flara had a much thicker file than most adults he has ever seen.  We just wanted to make sure each family member stays consistent.  ;)  After reviewing many of the pages and quizzing me beyond my now-lagging memory, he concluded that he agreed that Flara appeared to be more 'impending' in her hypothyroid issues, but he had concern that she might have pituitary issues.  His explanation was that, typically, if brain damage has occurred in one area, then the injury can reciprocate in another area, which often occurs in the pituitary... I think... I'm pretty sure that's how he explained it...  Anyways, it was a combination of her history of a brain bleed, her not-fully-thickened corpus callosum, and her newly-discovered lagging cerebellum.

He sent me over to Children's for labs.  He was checking her current thyroid hormone levels and functioning, as well as her water-retaining hormone, and her pituitary functions.  He called me the next morning to tell me that her pituitary for now is operating normally, her water-retaining hormone was normal, but her thyroid levels were slightly down.  So, he told me the changes in her Synthroid dose that he wanted implemented, and then to repeat levels in one month.  And, at some point, he would like to have an MRI done of her brain, mainly to visualize her pituitary.

In a nut-shell, this all confirms the 'impending' state of her thyroid.  When she was smaller, her thyroid was producing enough hormone to cover her body's needs.  When we discovered the problem, her body was still able to keep up, but other hormonal levels were elevated as her body was compensating for the shortfalls.  Now, even while receiving hormone replacement, her body size has finally outgrown her thyroid's abilities.  Praise God it was all discovered before her brain was adversely affected.

We also had an update on her heart a couple weeks before.  Our cardiologist opted out of doing an echo.  She was too fidgety and fussy, and he felt good enough from what he 'saw' on her EKG, her blood pressures, oxygen saturations, and what he could hear...  the murmurs were diminished.  Plus, we were able to report that she has been without symptoms for the past several months.  So, follow-up in a year!

We're on a waiting list for speech therapy.  We're switching to a new location for physical therapy.  This will start this upcoming Tuesday.  We had taken about a two-month break from our prior PT locale-- Flara was having a terrible time and was uncooperative.  Flara's physiatrist (the doc who evaluates her brain functioning and developmental state-of-being) thinks that Flara was pushed too early, and so she has formed negative associations that she has been unable to break.

She will turn an amazing 19 months in three days.  She's now 23 pounds and measures 30.75 inches tall.  Big girl!

Noël remains drama-free.  =)  She does have her fair share of ear infections, strep throat, and random pukings (as in, this week, everywhere... poor girl)... but, otherwise, nothing has happened that has raised concern for momma and daddy.  Thank you, Lord!  She keeps herself busy with her birds... we have three nests on our little quarter-acre plot, has been tending to her strawberries, and picks flowers from those she planted-- on the last day of winter!-- daily.  Needless to say, but momma has stayed busy until this week fussing over the flowers to keep them alive during cold spells and frosts by covering them at night and strategically placing jugs of hot water to warm the air around them-- and, fussing over the birdies.  Our bird house with our Eastern Bluebird babies keeps coming apart, and I have done countless repair jobs with duct tape (HUGE disappointment) to keep it all together.  I thought duct tape was practically permanent?  Not in these rains....  When we're not outside, Noël is busy with her cooking, dressing up as a princess, and dancing.

Flara, the wood sprite... That girl is so spirited.  Our pediatrician even commented this week that, "well, Flara is... Flara... and, you have.... well, two extremes in personalities."  She keeps us laughing.  She always has a sparkle in her eyes to let us know she's up to something.  She does things... to bait us... and, we fall for it.  She loves it.  She 'got' momma so good this week, that I screeched the SUV off the interstate, slammed it into park, threw off my seatbelt, and was diving into the back to rescue her...  to discover her giving me a look like, "I sure got you this time, mom," then giggled at me.  What did she do?  Well, she feigned choking-- she went from flopping her head back-and-forth violently, quickly, then flopped her head down and let it bob with the bumps on the road.  She did not respond to my voice.  Yeah.  All an act.  Once back on the interstate, she tried her 'trick' again a few minutes later.  Momma did not fall for it that time.  She was always known as a opossum back in her NICU days.  This took it to a whole new level!

And, Dogg remains Dogg.  He had a rough week last week.  We were preparing our hearts for his death.  =( Whatever he got into, whatever had sickened him, seemed to pass after four rough days.  During those days, I had to keep close watch over him because he was trying to leave.  He constantly was asking to be let out, would walk down the stairs, stand on the sidewalk and lift his nose to the air, then try to go.  Not cool.  For the first time in his life, he refused to sleep in the bed at my side.  He was guarded, wanted no one around.  Normally a gentle dog, he bit me and bruised me on three separate occasions.  The weekend was long and I was anxiously awaiting Monday to come so I could get him to the vet.  But, he woke up Monday morning with a different look in his eyes and a slight pep back to his step.  Huge sigh of relief.  He's back to his normal antics, so all appears fine now.  : /

March passed us by.  Although known by practically no one, it brought about the one-year date of losing our third little Veitz baby.  Sad times.  We were nearly 11 weeks along when we learned that sweet baby's heart was no longer beating.  I wrote a long, long post on it, when it happened, but saved it to draft and never published it.  Perhaps, one day.  The beauty of it all is the peace that God has given me in such a heart-wrenching loss... even from the day 'it' happened until now.  God's ways are perfect, often not understood (for me, at least), but, constantly display how good He really is to me.