Mia: There is no good news!

Yes, we'd like to think there's good news and bad news when it comes to Mia, but recently, it's been nothing but bad news. I wrote recently that her hip got screwed up one night (it's true - here it is!), and we've been dealing with that. This past week was "fall break," so I was at home with both lovely children. This wasn't as awful as you might think, because I scheduled a bunch of appointments for them for this week, so we were zipping around a lot, plus there was the usual stuff - Little Gym, Norah's swim lessons, and Mia's therapy. However, Mia chose this week to get sick. We're still not sure what's wrong with her - she has a cough (which is greatly improved today) but nothing else. Her nose is a teeny bit runny, and she had a mild fever the one time Krys took her temperature, but that was it. Of course, everyone knows what happens when you get a bit of a cold (and the clogged sinuses that go with it) - you lose your appetite. The skeletal Mia really can't afford this, but she decided around Wednesday to stop eating anything, and then late on Thursday, she decided liquids really weren't her thing either. So for two days (Friday and Saturday) she was wildly dehydrated and we kept thinking we'd have to take her to the hospital. This morning she woke up and drank something, so we held off that drastic measure, but she's still barely eating and drinking anything. We think she's healthy enough (cough-wise) to go to school tomorrow - maybe they'll be able to get her to eat. If not, a trip to the hospital to get her pumped up with fluids might be in order.

But that's not all! On Thursday morning we went back to the orthopedic surgeon for a follow-up X-ray. At least her "avulsion fracture" of a "heterotopic bone" is healing. It's still not perfect, but she's able to stand on it (she was standing on it in therapy on Friday and is standing in her gait trainer as I type this), and as it heals, presumably she'll be able to get back into a regular therapy routine. I guess that's sort of good news?

After that, it was off to the dentist for their six-month check-up, and more bad news! After her surgery, we started brushing her teeth less vigorously, because she would twist her hips when we brushed, causing her pain, causing her to cry, causing her to gag. In the past nine months or so she's thrown up more than once as a result of brushing her teeth too vigorously. I wish I were making that up. Of course, that means her teeth aren't as pristine as they should be, especially the permanent molars that are growing in. So they were caked with plaque, and now she needs them "sealed." Nothing more fun than dentistry! I tried brushing her teeth more vigorously, and of course, on Friday night, she puked when I did. Yay, brain injuries!

She has been much better today. She is drinking and eating a tiny bit, as opposed to nothing, and she's been in a better mood. She's obviously strong enough to do work (she's been standing in her gait trainer for about an hour), so I hope we can get back to that with her other therapies. Before the avulsion fracture, she was making some good progress in the physical aspect of her therapy, and that will, presumably, make her a bit more eager to eat and drink. She has an appointment with her gastroenterologist soon, and if she's not making any progress, she's going to have to get a feeding tube installed. Yay, more surgery! Good times!

Oh well. Norah is precocious as ever, and Mia is slowly getting better, so I hope that continues. It's frustrating when she gets sick, because she has absolutely no weight to spare for when she loses her appetite. That's our biggest concern. But we keeping working!