There was a short window of time at the end of December in which Maya was not too sick (just a runny nose, no fever) and was able to undergo the procedure of getting ear tubes placed and a adenoidectomy. The idea was to reduce her frequency of both sinus and ear infections. Brianna had great results with no ear infections during the time she had tubes.
Well the reality is, this time there is some nasty virus going around, or maybe two or more viruses. Victoria has spent the last few weeks couging up phlegm with bouts of minor gastrointestinal distress as well, even after a run of antibiotics and prednisone. Brianna had a sinus infection and an ear infection that seems to have cleared up with antibiotics. I had a bit of a sinus infection occur early in December and again in January, but they both cleared up with antibiotics. Now I have something deep in the lungs causing tightness, nasty phlegm tinged with blood, painful coughs, occassional sore throat and some brain fog. I will be seeing the doc again tomorrow, but as for Maya...
She continues to get worse despite her operation, treatment with Ceftin, Omnicef, Prednisone and Augmentin ES (currently). She had a week of 101-102 degree fever despite Tylenol last week (finally over) and now she has a nasty rattle when breathing, which the dr. says is in her sinuses, not in the lungs, and a chest x-ray ruled out pneumonia but discovered inflammation of the brancioles, or bronciolitis, causing difficulty breathing for her. We are giving her nebulizer treatments of Albuterol every 4 hours and Atrovent every 8 hours. She has been vomiting since last week and now has severe diarrhea and is very tired out. Victoria has missed many days of work and my mother has helped out watching Maya as much as she can. At Victoria's lastest visit to Maya's dr., she was told this nasty virus is around and the symptoms may last for 3 weeks. This seems to be a new virus of 3 week duration on top of the one in December. When will it end? Poor little Maya tries hard to keep smiling, but she is crying more than ever. Grandma, Victoria and I have all been exploded upon by her various fluids several times in the last week, and Victoria and I take turns getting up nights to give her nebulizer treatments or help her when she vomits. We are giving her small amounts of Pedialyte frequently per the dr., and she is very hungry and thirsty, but giving her any volume gives her more vomiting and the idea is that small amounts will pass more easily. This is very frustrating to see Maya suffer for longer than I have ever seen in a child. Brianna always responded pretty well to antibiotics in the upper range of what is given, and shook off viruses pretty quickly, but Maya is not. It could just be a particularly nasty virus as the dr. tells us she is seeing, and I have been noticing a long-lasting cough pattern in my co-workers the past 3 weeks, so a few strong viruses may be kicking around. It just plain sucks. And you never know when a bacterial infection may creep back in on top of the virus, so do you ask for more antibiotics or what? If you do, you may be wasting money and building up the immunity of the germs, but if you don't a bacterial infection could then lead to severe pneumonia damn quickly, Jim Hensen style.
On a more positive note, despite illnesses Maya began standing up on her own on December 31, and she now walks while holding onto a chair or walker-type toys. She also crawls forward very fast and climbs over small obstacles. She still only says "Moma" definatively, but she understands many words and loves to play peek-a-boo just like Brianna used to with napkins and such. I have heard her say DaDa or PaPa on many occassions, but have been unable to get her to repeat it or to have it linked to greeting or asking for me. Ironically she has learned to imitate the "tch, tch" sound one uses to call a pet over and uses it to call to Hunter (one of our 3 cats who begs at dinner). She also waves to everyone, it is very cute. She doesn't understand when some adults, animals or children don't wave back, but when people do respond, she is all smiles.
Maya also has learned to eat just about anything. She loves firm tofu, as long as it is flavored or in miso soup. Her love of miso soup is the same thing Brianna had as one of her favorite foods as soon as she started eating, but Brianna refuses the seaweed and scallions in the soup, while Maya eats them right up. She also digs citrus, while Brianna has always refused any citrus. She was getting into canned beans, but now she just plays with those mostly. She also tries to cry for sweeter foods when meals are presented, to the point of getting angry and yanking away the spoon or wiping the food off of her tray. She picks up and eats most food herself, and is getting less patient with spoon feeding. She often yanks the spoon and shoves it into her mouth, usually upside down or in a way that leaves the depression of the spoon still level with food, which she then flings to the floor. It won't be long before she figures out how to use the spoon herself.
She seems to be very interested with how things work. She gets a hard look of concentration when studying the controls for the TV (she frequently changes channels with the remote), and she also learns how to open things, get around obstacles and find anything to put into her mouth. She seems to have great concentration on figuring out how mechanical things work, and little interest in dolls and such. When I let her play Baby Giggle on my MacBook, she is always trying to put the screen to the closed position, to look for the objects that she thinks must be hiding behind the screen, because she can't feel them by touching the screen - very funny! Quite a difference from Brianna. I think Maya will end up being my mechanical helper with repairing cars and motorcycles. She also seems to have less interest in affection than Brianna had/has. She is not a cuddly girl and does not like giving or receiving kisses. That is OK, some kids are just that way. She does respond to us with smiles and likes to be tickled or thrown around, so no autistic tendencies or anything, just not much of a hugger/kisser and very independant.
Here she is in a typical meal setting:
Brianna has been doing very well with how she treats her sister and protects her from danger (trying to touch electrical appliances, etc.). She can be so sensitive and caring at times and exactly the opposite at other times. Brianna also is doing great in Taekwondo and has a White Belt with many stripes. She listens to her master amazingly well and her self-discipline while in class is in sharp contrast to most situations outside of class. All-in-all she is a great kid, and loves school, learning to read, playing educational games on her computer, drawing and writing letters. She is very verbally advanced and her sense of humor is well-developed. She can finally trick me and knows when I am tricking her most of the time. She and I are very similar on an emotional level, which allows me to empathize with her emotional states and understand them, but that does not mean I can diffuse her quickly when she has a tantrum. It takes time and emotional distancing. Victoria and I tag off on helping her ease into bedtime, which can go well or be an hours-long struggle. Maybe that TV nanny would be interested in filming an episode or two with us...
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