Lulu's ophthalmologist's appointment today took close to 3 hrs! She had to have her eyes dilated, and that wait alone was close to an hour. I'm so glad we waited this long before scheduling this appointment, since she is now much more patient and knows a lot of English. She did a great job answering questions to what shapes were on the screen and the small pictures she had to pick out. They also patched one eye, and then the other, as well as put strange looking glasses on her. Those she kept wanting to take off.
Lulu has astigmatisms and her vision is a little poor with both distance and seeing close up. Her right eye that has the micro cornea is worse than the left. The doctor said there was not much difference in the sizes of her corneas. In China, her right eye was measured at 9 mm and I believe 11 mm is about normal. We have pictures of her as a baby and toddler in China, and her right eye was obviously a lot smaller compared to the left one. Now they are looking a lot more equal. Other than her vision, the health of her eyes are good. Now we just need to go and pick out glasses!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Haiden's Bday Party, Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year
The past couple months have been pretty busy and I hate being so behind again with posting. A big event for us was this year's FCC Chinese New Year. I am so bummed though that I hardly have any pictures! Brad bought a new top of the line camera but didn't have enough time to try it out before the event (although he read up on it a lot, practice is what he really needed). So, although I saw him take a lot of pictures and video, he deleted a lot of them since he said they were blurry. And when he recorded Lulu's dance the sound was very muted, although the dance just before hers came out well. So, very bummed that I don't have one good family photo, or much of anything else. I didn't bother to take many pictures with my camera since I thought Brad had it covered, and because I really need a better camera. At least I have good memories and was so glad that my family and Lulu's teachers were there. It meant so much to her and she had a blast!
For Valentine's Day, Lulu and I made little gift bags for her classmates and I attended her school's afternoon party. We bought her some cute little trinkets, a little bear, and some chocolate. I'm really enjoying experiencing all these holidays and events with Lulu. They are all firsts for her, and firsts for me as a mommy.
This afternoon Lulu is finally going to the ophthalmologist. She was diagnosed with a right microcornea in China, and I just know that her vision is affected. I think she is farsighted. I've been trying to prepare her that she may need glasses, and how cute they will look on her like they do on her friends.
We are planning our first trip to Disney World!!! We were going to wait to go in April for Lulu's birthday, however we keep being warned about the crowds at that time. So we may be going the first weekend in March. Lulu is very excited about it. I think she is ready for it, and we will plan to make two half days of it if we need to.
For Valentine's Day, Lulu and I made little gift bags for her classmates and I attended her school's afternoon party. We bought her some cute little trinkets, a little bear, and some chocolate. I'm really enjoying experiencing all these holidays and events with Lulu. They are all firsts for her, and firsts for me as a mommy.
This afternoon Lulu is finally going to the ophthalmologist. She was diagnosed with a right microcornea in China, and I just know that her vision is affected. I think she is farsighted. I've been trying to prepare her that she may need glasses, and how cute they will look on her like they do on her friends.
We are planning our first trip to Disney World!!! We were going to wait to go in April for Lulu's birthday, however we keep being warned about the crowds at that time. So we may be going the first weekend in March. Lulu is very excited about it. I think she is ready for it, and we will plan to make two half days of it if we need to.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Happy Chinese New Year!
Today is Chinese New Year... year of the Rabbit! I kind of messed up since I just found out last night that Feb. 3 is Chinese New Year in China. Our FCC group is celebrating Chinese New Year on Feb. 12 and I didn't realize that the actual CNY is today. Lulu's preschool celebrated CNY today and the kids had fried rice and eggrolls for lunch.
Lulu is going to be one of the dancers at our FCC Chinese New Year celebration. She will be doing a ribbon dance with girls in her age group. She only has one more practice and I hope she does okay in front of such a large group of people. She has not seemed too in to the practices, but tells me she wants to do it. Two weeks ago she didn't want to go to practice or be one of the dancers. She later told me it was because she was tired that day. I can't wait to finally be able to celebrate the event with Lulu here. We attended 2 of the FCC CNY celebrations, and we really enjoyed them. My family, Lulu's teacher and one of the school's administrative assistants will be attending this year.
Lulu has also been practicing 2 dance routines for tap and ballet, and her recital is in June. I'm so glad they're starting to practice this early so she will have plenty of time to learn the routines.
Lulu has been doing great at school. She has become a little social butterfly and all the teachers and school staff knows her. She has known the alphabet for awhile now and can recognize all the written letters. Her English is a lot clearer now and she has an amazing vocabulary. We have seen a lot of improvements with self control, attachment and patience, and when she does have meltdowns or tantrums, they are now a lot shorter in duration. She has come such a long way in the past 9 months. We are so very proud of her!
Lulu is going to be one of the dancers at our FCC Chinese New Year celebration. She will be doing a ribbon dance with girls in her age group. She only has one more practice and I hope she does okay in front of such a large group of people. She has not seemed too in to the practices, but tells me she wants to do it. Two weeks ago she didn't want to go to practice or be one of the dancers. She later told me it was because she was tired that day. I can't wait to finally be able to celebrate the event with Lulu here. We attended 2 of the FCC CNY celebrations, and we really enjoyed them. My family, Lulu's teacher and one of the school's administrative assistants will be attending this year.
Lulu has also been practicing 2 dance routines for tap and ballet, and her recital is in June. I'm so glad they're starting to practice this early so she will have plenty of time to learn the routines.
Lulu has been doing great at school. She has become a little social butterfly and all the teachers and school staff knows her. She has known the alphabet for awhile now and can recognize all the written letters. Her English is a lot clearer now and she has an amazing vocabulary. We have seen a lot of improvements with self control, attachment and patience, and when she does have meltdowns or tantrums, they are now a lot shorter in duration. She has come such a long way in the past 9 months. We are so very proud of her!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Pictures leading up to Christmas
Lulu is peeking in on Santa in the second picture. She was so great with him. Forgot to take a pic with my camera, but purchased the one that they took.
Lulu's First Christmas and Baxter update
We had such a wonderful Christmas yesterday! Lulu got so excited Christmas Eve, she was actually squealing with excitement when she was playing and putting her stuff away. She wanted to make sure the house was picked up for Santa. We left cookies and milk out, kept the Christmas lights on, and she left glitter in a ziplock bag outside the door. I don't know what that's about, but she said her teacher told her to do it. Lulu received a lot of great gifts. My sister was extremely generous and bought us a Wii and Wii Fit. I can't wait for us to use it! Lulu and I have been playing all day. I know she is exhausted, but still revved up to even think about sitting down and relaxing.
Our dog Baxter's preliminary lab results show that he has stromal cancer, which is a less aggressive cancer than the more common hemangiosarcoma that is usually found in the spleen. Stromal cancer is usually found in the GI tract of dogs, and if I remember correctly, in the uterus/endothelium of females. We are still waiting on the results of the lymph nodes and liver that was biopsied. We are very excited so far since the first news sounded very grim. Baxter is healing very well. He is much more energetic, eating like crazy, and seems so much more comfortable. He looks like he got a tummy tuck, but also looks like he is quickly gaining back muscle mass and weight. I'm so happy with how well he is doing, and can't wait to find out the rest of the lab results.
Our dog Baxter's preliminary lab results show that he has stromal cancer, which is a less aggressive cancer than the more common hemangiosarcoma that is usually found in the spleen. Stromal cancer is usually found in the GI tract of dogs, and if I remember correctly, in the uterus/endothelium of females. We are still waiting on the results of the lymph nodes and liver that was biopsied. We are very excited so far since the first news sounded very grim. Baxter is healing very well. He is much more energetic, eating like crazy, and seems so much more comfortable. He looks like he got a tummy tuck, but also looks like he is quickly gaining back muscle mass and weight. I'm so happy with how well he is doing, and can't wait to find out the rest of the lab results.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Our beloved Baxter has cancer
Our dog Baxter underwent surgery two days ago. He had a huge, "grapefruit" sized tumor on his spleen. His spleen was removed and the tumor is malignant. The good news is that no tumors were seen on other organs. The bad news is that the type of cancer he has is most likely hemangiosarcoma. We should know soon for sure. If it is, Baxter only has a few months to live since the cancer will eventually show up in other organs. They also found out that he has a heart problem. His heart does not contract very well and he probably had that for a long time. It just amazes us how 2 weeks ago he was running around in the yard, going for long walks, eating just fine. Within a week that changed, and now he is recovering from surgery. He did well with surgery and although he is groggy from the medications and anesthesia, he already seems to be more comfortable. He looks like he had a tummy tuck. Baxter is the sweetest dog, and we are so sad that we only have a little time left with him.
Lulu is finally feeling better, and now Brad is sick with a bad cold. I'm still in a funk due to lack of sleep and being totally bummed out about Baxter. The last week and a half has delayed a lot of Christmas shopping and planning. I still have so much to do, and I hate being this behind with everything. I wanted this time of year to be really special for Lulu and all of us. I'm just glad that last week is behind us and hope I can get everything done this weekend. I've gotten everything for Lulu already since she is so easy to shop for. I have to keep stopping myself from buying more stuff for her.
Lulu is finally feeling better, and now Brad is sick with a bad cold. I'm still in a funk due to lack of sleep and being totally bummed out about Baxter. The last week and a half has delayed a lot of Christmas shopping and planning. I still have so much to do, and I hate being this behind with everything. I wanted this time of year to be really special for Lulu and all of us. I'm just glad that last week is behind us and hope I can get everything done this weekend. I've gotten everything for Lulu already since she is so easy to shop for. I have to keep stopping myself from buying more stuff for her.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Lulu has strep throat and Baxter is heading towards surgery
What an emotionally and physically draining few days. It started Tuesday night where I woke up and had 4 episodes of vomitting and nausea. I think it was from food poisoning, but I have swollen lymph nodes and still don't have much of an appetite, so I'm not sure what's going on. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday since I'm also having strange leg pain that's been bothering me for several weeks now.
On Wednesday night, Lulu had a fever of 101. I gave her Motrin and she came to our room in the middle of the night and wanted to sleep with us. I felt her body and she was burning up all over. She had a fever of 104. With alternating between Tylenol and Motrin, it kept going down a little, then back up. I took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with strep throat and prescribed Amoxicillin. The doctor said she should start feeling a lot better, but it turned out her temperature escalated to 105.5 degrees last night. We rushed to the hospital and they gave her a Tylenol suppository. After an hour and a half her temp went down to 100 and they let us go. We still don't have her temp completely down and she is just miserable. Her nose has been running nonstop for the past 2 days. I may take her to an urgent care center in the morning. She has also been scratching several bug bites on her legs that are looking infected. I am so worried that she may have a staph infection as well. She has been getting Aveno baths and the scratching improved a lot, but the look of the sores has me worried.
Our dog Baxter was diagnosed today with having multiple tumors on his spleen, one the size of a baseball and others the size of golf balls. They did not see any tumors on his liver or other organs. His heart if functioning extremely low as well. He was put on 2 medications and we should know on Monday when he can have surgery. If the tumors are not in any other organs, they will remove the spleen. But if they have spread to other organs, they will not proceed, and not have him wake up. I am still in shock about the news, but knew it wasn't going to be good. He is so skinny. He has to remain calm and only be let out on a leash for toileting since the tumors can burst, which will be fatal. It's so hard to believe what is going on and I feel so helpless right now. I hate seeing my little girl so sick and am really worried about Brad if Baxter does not get through this.
On Wednesday night, Lulu had a fever of 101. I gave her Motrin and she came to our room in the middle of the night and wanted to sleep with us. I felt her body and she was burning up all over. She had a fever of 104. With alternating between Tylenol and Motrin, it kept going down a little, then back up. I took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with strep throat and prescribed Amoxicillin. The doctor said she should start feeling a lot better, but it turned out her temperature escalated to 105.5 degrees last night. We rushed to the hospital and they gave her a Tylenol suppository. After an hour and a half her temp went down to 100 and they let us go. We still don't have her temp completely down and she is just miserable. Her nose has been running nonstop for the past 2 days. I may take her to an urgent care center in the morning. She has also been scratching several bug bites on her legs that are looking infected. I am so worried that she may have a staph infection as well. She has been getting Aveno baths and the scratching improved a lot, but the look of the sores has me worried.
Our dog Baxter was diagnosed today with having multiple tumors on his spleen, one the size of a baseball and others the size of golf balls. They did not see any tumors on his liver or other organs. His heart if functioning extremely low as well. He was put on 2 medications and we should know on Monday when he can have surgery. If the tumors are not in any other organs, they will remove the spleen. But if they have spread to other organs, they will not proceed, and not have him wake up. I am still in shock about the news, but knew it wasn't going to be good. He is so skinny. He has to remain calm and only be let out on a leash for toileting since the tumors can burst, which will be fatal. It's so hard to believe what is going on and I feel so helpless right now. I hate seeing my little girl so sick and am really worried about Brad if Baxter does not get through this.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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