keeping the faith

Well, the last couple of days were a bit better. On Monday, I called and spoke with R's pediatrician, who said that it would be OK to give him a Claritin each day along with his singulair. I did this, and although he sneezed a lot that day, his eyes did look better. Yesterday his runny nose and eyes were almost all better, but he had developed a dry hack. I added his inhaler in the morning as well as at night, but today his cough sounds a lot looser and more junky. He only has to get through today and tomorrow, though, so hopefully we can do that. He's been sleeping in pretty late, and he just got up but I forgot to do his eyedrops and give him his Claritin. I'll have to recall him for that.

So the next two days just involve a bit of hanging around. Brian is using his xbox a lot again, alas, and we discovered that R loves to build things with Legos, so he has been doing a bit of that. He really is pretty easygoing and entertains himself when we need him to, unlike C last year. He is also helpful (almost to the point of being annoying when one is used to kids who are spoiled and don't help out unless threatened) and does whatever he is asked to do. He's very self-sufficient. The Fresh Air Fund called this morning to confirm his return trip on Friday. Aside from this allergy issue, he has been no problem at all; although Brian has created his own problem with his latest swallowing issue, sending ice coursing through my veins.

On Sunday at the beach, not only did R wipe out but Brian did as well. He has a big bruise on his back and is complaining of rib pain, also stomach pain. He says it is like gas. I feel like he is swirling with an myriad of symptoms that may or may not be connected to the fall, to chiari, to anxiety, or to nothing. Such is the nature of the beast that is chiari and, ::knock wood:: it's been pretty tame for Brian these past few years. I hope that it remains so, but when we have episodes like this with "weird" symptoms, self-reported, that are chiari red flags, I always get very worried. We see the neurologist anyway in three weeks, and I did consult with him on this, and his advice was to wait, since there is no interference with eating or drinking, just some discomfort and a feeling in the throat and chest. The infamous waiting game of chiari. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, Megan is preparing for the swim meet in Maryland, practicing every day and then going back to her volunteering. She does have interest in being at the hospital, she brought up continuing one weekend a day for the year, but I just don't know if she can spare four hours on a weekend, with swimming and school taking up so much time. I told her to ask if she can do just one day a month, or even biweekly, because even a four hour shift takes a minimum of five hours, as the hospital is half an hour away. The only thing is that she does get down time and she can sit down and read. But she'll have a lot of AP classes next year, and what happens if the acitivty level picks up on the job and she actually IS busy then?

In other news, we have followed progress on E's Facebook and it seems she is set to have her surgery tomorrow to remove the plate she had put in. Then she will plan her return trip to the US immediately after, although she has not contacted us directly. She isn't staying with us, she hasn't asked, although we told her she could crash for a night if she needed to. However, I will not be responsible for her while she is here. The other night Megan found out that the night she went to the teen night at the club, the same night Brian went, E and her friends were kicked out for being drunk!