Making Lemonade

Look at that baby's pretty eyes and freckles. I was shooting pictures in the truck in line at the bank the other day. I wasn't really aiming. Just holding the camera down in my lap and shooting. It's a good thing she likes to have her picture taken.
She is also VERY into nails lately. At least once a month we go for a mani/pedi. I mean a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. We do our best to go twice a month, but sometimes we have to be careful or we will get in trouble. Jeff just can't figure out why we need to spend $80 to have paint put on our nails that only lasts a few days. He sweats bullets when we get the nail polish remover out. It's pretty funny. We have to show him our chipped up nails before he will let us take the polish off. WHATEVER!

After a very stressful couple of days, we decided to leave our issues back home and take a vacation. We drove 25 minutes down the road and checked in....


This is our new home for the next two days. We are in Tunica!! Heck Yeah, Vacay Red Neck Style. Tomorrow we are going to hit the Tunica Aquatic Center and the Outlet Mall. If it doesn't rain we may even hit the RiverPark and we've been told we HAVE to eat at the Blue and White Cafe.

All I know is that I'm in a comfy bed with my pink gnomes on and all is right in my world. I'm piled up with my two munchkins tonight and my husband is downstairs at a BlackJack Table. Everybody is doing something they love. Dalton is watching Star Wars on his laptop and Savannah is making videos with her web cam.

This little toot has a had a rough couple of days. Yesterday, we spent four hours at the doctors office. She basically had her whole body x-rayed, at least all of her larger joints. Today we had to go back and she had to have a lot of blood drawn. She was not so happy about that and neither was I. Ten year old little girls shouldn't have to go to the lab to have blood drawn to find out their SED rates among other things. She is now fully in the midst of a JRA work up. See why we went out of town??? It was time to get away for a day or two and be "normal".

So, we did what we had to do and bought fake nails. Don't those make everything better?

They do for this squirt. This is how she makes Lemonade out of Lemons.....

We will be home on Thursday and I suppose we will have some lab results waiting on us. We were told by our Orthopedic Doc and Pediatrician that the blood work is a formality. While it may show completely negative, the physical symptoms are there and unfortunately so is the family history. The lab tech said we could almost certainly expect a high SED rate as she clotted twice while having her blood drawn. The inflammation is obvious and what finally drove us to the doctor. We have suspected this for the last few months. I am blood negative....We don't know what to expect with her. I've been telling her that we still just don't know and that I want all of her tests back before we decide the next step. We already have an appointment with the ONLY pediatric rheumatologist in Memphis. The two next closest ones are the ONE in Nashville and the ONE in Jackson Mississippi. Given the few doctors, she can't be seen until July. Tonight when we were putting on fake nails, she said, "Mom, I have it don't I?" I told her again that we just had to take it one step at a time. She said, "That's fine, but in my heart I already know I do. I knew it before we went to the doctor." UGGHHH, I HATE IT. If I screamed it from the top of this hotel (which is the second tallest building in the state of Mississippi) how badly I hated it, it wouldn't be enough.

Thankfully, her symptoms and swelling are not inhibiting anything at the moment. Honestly, they are nothing more than a nuisance. It kills me to see her limping on the soccer field, but it isn't bad enough to make her stop. I'm thankful for wonderful doctors who love her and care for her and know the right questions to ask to get a ten year talking about their pain. I told Jeff how amazed I was at the questions and how they were able to break it down for her to answer. I have a hard time telling my doctors about mine. I wish they could ask me like they ask her. Her pain and swelling are all in the larger joints....her ankles and knees mainly but one hip, lower back and neck???? She is taking two anti-inflammatory meds twice a day for the time being.

Thanks for listening to my venting...I didn't even get into what some of the insensitive freaks around us have said. Whew, I thought it was rough when it was me....I just can't sit quiet and listen to someone be insensitive and rude to or about my daughter. Dalton lovingly announced tonight that he was now the ONLY "healthy" one in the family. It actually provided some comic relief...He said, "Well, now I'm the only healthy one we have Mom. You and Savannah both have AR-tha-ri-tis." (You should hear the southern accent on that word, WOW.) I said, "What about Dad, he's OK." Dalt said, "Well, Mom, you know he's fat." I just love kids.

We pulled a "What About Bob?" and are taking a vacation from our problems. I think it's just what the doctors ordered.

SHINE,

Kacy