Infection follow up

As you can see the redness and swelling hacer subsided since our post yesterday.  Thank goodness our Mia woke up this morning feeling better than she did yesterday. We saw the dr at 8 this morning and he was also happy to see Mia doing better.  The shots of antibiotics that they gave her yesterday will last for 24 hours and he decided she should be okay with oral antibiotics for now rather than more shots.  She has an antibiotic to take 3x a day for the next 10 days.  However he is very concerned and why this infection is happening and the underlying cause of it.  He thinks it's unusual that she's had this malformation for her entire life and now all of a sudden this infection.  Mia lost another 2 lbs over these last few days. We are praying that she recovers quickly and that we can figure out the cause of this so that it doesn't happen again. 
Thanks so much to Hallie (Noahs friend) for brightening Mia's day with this kitty and some chocolate covered raisins (one of mias favorite).

Infection..cont

Infection

The last few days Mia has had a lot of pain on her forehead & eye and some bleeding from the malformation on the roof of her mouth. Yesterday while she was at school things started to get a bit worse. In the afternoon the school nurse called me to say Mia was in a lot of pain and wanted to go home.  When I got there to pick her up I noticed that her forehead & eyelid were red and swollen.  Mia said it hurt to touch or move her face....as the evening went on her face became more red, swollen and was warm to the touch.  When Mia woke up this morning it was even more red & swollen and  she was running a fever well as feeling sick to her stomach. We called her drs at UW who instructed us to try to get her in to see her pediatrician so that she could be treated faster. The pediatrician was able to see her this morning. He was very concerned with the infection ...he said this type of infection could get into her blood stream and even go to her brain, so we needed to treat it aggressively. The Dr ordered for her to have her blood drawn and then she got 2 shots of antibiotics in her legs (2 nurses did it at the same time so that it would be over quicker). Mia got pretty pale and sick after blood draw and shots,  once she was feeling good enough to get to the car we headed home.  The Dr wants Mia back at his office tomorrow morning at 8am so he can check on her. We are home now and she's been resting on the couch.  She hasn't been able to sleep or eat much the last couple of days, so I'm praying the antibiotics work for her. 

Headed home

After a long day ... the MRI is done, IV is out and we are headed home! Mia is doing pretty good just tired and ready to be home.

Doctor apts...

This summer Miss Mia has been have some pretty intense pain and it's been occurring more frequently. 

The last 5 or 6 weeks have brought on some added challenges for Mia. She has been feeling nauseous, unable to eat at times and has even lost some weight.  In the last week or she has also started to have some chest pain. 

I called her Drs at UW children's yesterday and they felt that Mia should be seen right away.  So we left home about 9 this morning as she had 2 appointments today. Both of the Drs that she saw today felt that Mia needed to have her blood drawn to check her labs and an MRI of her head & neck asap.
MRIs normally take awhile to get scheduled but they wanted her to have it before she left the hospital. So they were going to admit Mia to the hospital if the MRI could not be done today.  Luckily they got her in the schedule, she has numbing cream on her arms now and will be getting blood drawn and an IV put in shortly.
Noah and Addy had came with us today, poor addy cried hard at the idea of Mia having to stay.  Rich is taking Noah & Addy home now and then coming back here to Mia & I.
As long as everything looks okay on the MRI Mia will get to go home this evening.

Back to school

Mia went back to school today. 
She had a nice surprise from her best friend Gwen. Gwen got Mia some craft things and made her a card which she had gotten lots of kids and teachers to sign!
All in all her first day back went pretty well.
On a side note. ..
When I went to the school the other day too get some of Mia's homework, I got the nicest compliment about Mia from her math teacher. She said "Mia handles all of this with such grace and  no matter what she may be dealing with, she always has a smile on her face."
What a great thing to hear about your child. Mia never ceases to amaze us. She illustrates bravery, perseverance and strength that rival most adults. She has shown us that a bright smile can be contagious and can make even the worst of days feel wonderful.
We have to be thankful for our struggles because without them we will never find our strengths.....
So thanks to our little Mia for teaching us all to choose joy and find the rainbows in the rain, no matter what our situation may be! Here we think we teach our children and then we realize they are the ones teaching us.
We love you Mia

Snow day

Mia had a rough evening last night with quite a bit of pain. After some advil, her ice pack and a good night's sleep she was feeling better this morning.  She still has a little discomfort, swelling and bruising today. 
Mia still wanted to get out and play in this beautiful white snow we have,  so we all played outside for a little while.  Now we are snuggled on the couch watching The Santa Clause and having popcorn!