Update on Little Miss

We've knocked out just about everything from the lab work and testing to-do list.

Four vials of blood taken? Check.

Contents of two stinky diapers squished into unmercifully skinny lab containers? Check. (At least they provided gloves.)

X-ray of a tiny hand? Check.

Sweat Chloride test? Check. In fact, here's a snapshot I took of Veda wearing the pack for the test while we passed our morning away in the Family Resource Room. I was grateful to the lab lady who gave us the code to this "secret" room. It got us out of the third-hand-smoke-stinkin' , mange-scratchin', tuberculosis-riddled general population.

There was no real crying, but plenty of puckering up during the electrode-requiring portion of the test. Hence the puffy eyes.

So far, no calls, which is probably a good thing. The general rule for the office is no call unless the results are abnormal. The thing I thought was most likely was celiac, but nobody called after the blood work for that, so I guess we're in the clear. Our big follow-up appointment is coming up next week, so we'll get confirmation that everything was normal then.

The only thing that's still on the checklist is the MRI. I had a small freak out when I learned that she would have to be sedated (i.e., put to sleep) for about an hour to have it done, but with a little time, I'm freaking out less. This MRI will be checking for tethering of her spine that could be obstructing her intestines. That's tomorrow, so put some positive energy out there for us in the morning.

Her appetite has decreased pretty sharply in the last couple of weeks, which is discouraging. I know that it's normal for kids to go through fluctuations in the amount of food they eat, but when she was barely gaining anything even when she was eating like a horse, it's kind of hard not to worry about what this little phase is going to do weight-wise.

On a positive note, there are some developments in progress in the potty training arena. More on that later.