Day 308, Week 44, November 4th

Well I got my results and I learnt some big words.

The report is pretty much all big words but the conclusion is I have pansinusitis, most severe in the maxillary sinuses bilaterally.
What this means from my understanding (which is only basic) is I have an infection in all my paranasal sinuses on both sides.

There are basically 4 main paranasal sinus cavities which could become inflamed. Usually when someone gets a sinus infection one or two sinus cavities are affected but with pansinusitis it’s all of them.
So typical! Why can’t I do anything normally.
The maxillary sinuses are under the eyes and behind the cheek bones which explains why the worst of the pain is in the corner of my eye and under my cheekbone, though tonight it’s spreading around the sides of my face.
So I am now on a heap of medication including antibiotics and steroids, and an action plan for the next 3 months. Some is before food (as if I feel like eating), some with, some after, there's things to do every half hour all the way up to just daily.

The Dr gives me a 70-80% chance of avoiding surgery.

The pain ebbs and flows. Talking and eating make it worse as does blowing my nose or using any off the collection of nasal sprays I’ve been prescribed. My nose isn’t actually blocked though, I can breath just fine but I still need to blow, spray and steam.

My temperature goes up and down too. I spent most of last night and today all hot and clammy then I was cold by dinner time and now my face is on fire again.

Oh I also had a blood test today, it only took 2 goes this time :) I’ve started to get some symptoms of Grave’s disease again, like the shakes, so thought I wouldn’t put it off like everything else and asked for a test while I was there. I’ll get the results on Monday. Hopefully the symptoms I’ve had are just related to the infection but this can have an impact on my immune system and trigger Grave’s anyway.
Luckily Alex was at pre-school today and Ben was low maintenance. He had a good nap after breakfast which let me rest until we had to get ready for the Dr’s. He enjoyed the trip to the Dr and then the chemist (mega expensive!) and enjoyed some hot chips on the way home :) We picked Alex up from pre-school with hot chips as a treat.

Day 307, Week 44, November 3rd

A horrible day.
Graham had to stay home to look after all of us. Last night was a very long and painful night. I ended up taking some Di-gestic because Panadol wasn’t helping with the pain but the Di-gestic didn’t do anything for the fever and heart palpitations. It is so hard to sleep when it feels like you have butterflies in your chest and your heart feels like it’s jumping out of your throat and choking you. I seriously thought of getting Graham to take me to the hospital but dragging the kids out for an 8 hour wait in emergency was even worse than lying in bed shivering and sweating. I eventually got to sleep until the drugs wore off at 3:30am and then I just lay there waiting for morning. I couldn’t get out of bed to get more drugs and wasn’t thinking clearly enough to ask Graham. At 5:30am the cat smashed a glass in the kitchen and I got Graham to go and shut the kitchen door so Alex wouldn’t walk in the glass before we had a chance to vacuum but I didn’t think to ask him to fetch Panadol and water for me.

This morning I struggled out of bed just to go and have x-rays and it turned out that when the Dr said x-rays he meant CT scan and we were supposed to book for that and they were booked out. but they promised to fit me in somewhere if someone else was late for an appointment so we sat and waited. I would rather have just given up and crawled home to bed but Graham was my transport and he said we would wait. Alex was feeling great and entertained everyone with a continuous stream of song and dance and questions like ‘why does that lady have a bucket’ and ‘why is that chair wet’. It didn’t take long for them to find time to scan me, thanks Alex :) The scan itself didn’t take long either and while the Dr didn’t say anything about what she saw she was a lot more caring when it came to helping me up and out of there then she was when she told me to go in and lie down. It didn’t seem like a good sign. Anyway $300+ later and I’m home and waiting (sleeping) until tomorrow to see my Dr for the report. Tonight I think the antibiotics have started working because parts of my face that were swollen and my gums are itching.

Graham was a huge help looking after the kids for most of the day and the kids coped well with the change in routine. I got up in time to take my daily photos with the last of the afternoon sun and get the kids snacks and drinks, things that Daddy’s don’t think of. Alex was in his PJ’s but he was happy and that’s what counts.
Not great photos, they’re blurry but I was glad just to get some photos for the day.


and here’s a layout I did last week.

Created with Pop Summer by Glam Fairy, Agua Lemon by Glam Fairy and Bec's Shadow Mistress Action set

Day 306, Week 44, November 2nd

Sick sick sick!

Alex started coughing in the night and complaining of a sore ear so when he woke up extra early today, crying about wanting breakfast, it didn’t take much of a Mommy instinct to work out the real problem was a sore ear and a temperature. He didn’t get breakfast, he was too busy throwing up all over the kitchen floor.

So as soon as the Dr’s opened we were on the photo to make an appointment for him. Stupidly I decided that I was getting better, the pain in my face was reduced and my nose was clearer so I didn’t make an appointment for myself.
So Alex saw the Dr at lunch time, was diagnosed with a raging ear infection, prescribed some strong antibiotics and came home, took his first dose and slept all afternoon. He has been full of beans, dancing and singing ever since.

Me, I got worse. So by the time Graham came home I had a high temp, a world of pain and heart palpitations. We went back to the Dr’s and were the last appointment of the evening. They stay open until 9pm but charge a fortune :(
I now have the same antibiotics as Alex but a much stronger dose and I have to have x-rays on my face tomorrow because the Dr suspects an abscess in my sinuses. He didn’t have any suggestions to help with the pain and fever so this is going to be a long night.
Ben’s the healthiest of us all right now. He was very well behaved through all the waiting at the Dr’s and was low maintenance when I needed it most.
He did some reading today. He loves books.

Here’s another layout with the November mega from Scrap Orchard.

Created with November 2009 Mega by Scrap Orchard Designers and Bec's Shadow Mistress Action set

Day 305, Week 44, November 1st

I can’t believe it’s November already. At it was stinking hot today. Just a taste of the November weather to come.

To beat the heat we headed out early today.
Alex’s reward on his star chart for last week was a meal out if he got enough stars. So we decided to take him to McDonalds for breakfast and one of his favourite shops, Aldi (no idea why) and the extra surprise of seeing his Grampy. On the first Sunday of each Month Grampy meets up with his fellow clubman owning friends at McDonalds to ummm stand around and gassbag. So we headed out there in time to see Grampy and have breakfast. It was so hot even first thing in the morning. Alex was excited but then went all shy when he saw Grampy, probably because of all the other people standing around. We took the little point and shoot camera with us for some snaps.
Grampy’s is the yellow one.

You can tell Alex is feeling insecure because he’s picking the skin off his fingers :(

Alex soon brightened up once we were in McDonalds. He had us all organised. He knew where we had to sit and he wanted pancakes and strawberry milk. He only ate half his pancakes before he wanted to go off and play but Ben was very happy to eat the rest of them and some bacon and egg roll.
This is Ben’s feed me face. The tongue tie means he can’t stick his tongue out properly but I think he looks cute.

He wasn’t very impressed when the food ran out.

but it was Alex’s special morning out and he had a ball :)

Alex was the star of the day.

Created with November 2009 Mega by Scrap Orchard Designers and Bec's Shadow Mistress Action set
Yep the SO November mega is out and it’s fabulous as usual :)

Day 304, Week 44, October 31st

A long hot lazy day.
We’re all feeling a bit under the weather with this lingering cold so today was a slow day of domesticity.

Alex wanted to go stay at Nana and Grampy’s but he’s all snotty and they are sick too so better that he stays home this weekend. So w

e did fun things like washing and cleaning. They’re fun when you’re 4 and get to help :)

Once the sun was down a bit Graham and Alex washed my car. It was covered in sawdust from the floor above the garage. I wanted to get a photo of them washing the car but they were too quick. By the time I’d got Ben settled so I could take the camera out, they’d finished. So I watered the plants and took some photos out the back.
This is the flower on my ginger plant.

and a fuchsia flower on a plant that’s grown from a cutting I just stuck in with the potted palm tree.

Here’s where Alex really wanted to be

Created with Fresh Ideas by Faith True and Bec's Shadow Mistress Action set

Day 303, Week 44, October 30th

I was hoping Alex would bring his Harry Potter hat home from pre-school today so I could take a photo but he didn’t. He also didn’t bring his lunch box home so I hope it’s not sitting in a corner somewhere with half a sandwich in it. As part of his preparation for school next year he has a lunch box which the preschool puts a sandwich in for him and they are teaching him to open the lunch box and unwrap a sandwich, and drink from a drink bottle, and to put any leftovers back in the box which is great because it means next year at school if he doesn’t eat all his lunch I’ll know about it. Not so great if he brings his lunch box home and it sits in his bag all from Friday to Wednesday without me knowing there’s a sandwich and a drink in it which is what happened the first week he started lunch box training. When they kept his lunch box on the Wednesday I assumed it was supposed to stay at pre-school and didn’t think to look for it on the Friday but apparently they send it home at the end of the week for us to wash. So now I’ve learned that lesson I wonder where his lunch box is now. and his Harry Potter hat.
So no hat photos but here’s some photos of Alex practicing his speech therapy tonight. He was all hot and sweaty after running around after school but he was happy to stop long enough for some S’s and photos.
He has what they call a slushy S and it’s because he has a big overbite and doesn’t make the right shape with his tongue. So he has 2 rules to follow.
1 – swallow your saliva

2 – teeth together
He has a stick to hold between his teeth and if he gets his bottom teeth forward in the right position the stick will angle up so he can see it’s correct, then he can pull the stick out and do an S. Just something as simple as getting his teeth together makes so much difference. So he has to practice this every day and we have a game we play, like snake and ladders but we have to say S’s when we role the dice and he tells us if our S’s are good or slushy and we tell him if his are good. So he is learning to listen to the sounds he makes.
This one’s a bad slushy S. Lots of saliva and his teeth aren’t aligned.

so the stick goes in and his bottom teeth move forward and the stick angles up

and this ones a good S.

and a good boy too :)

Here’s another good boy.

This was for

the mgl speed scrap.
Created with Lazy Afternoon by mgl Scraps and Bec's Shadow Mistress Action set
font - sf Ivy Casual

Day 302, Week 44, October 29th

It was a lovely day today. I love Spring. Can do without this annoying cold I have though. Ben is worse again today but Alex and Graham are fine.
Alex had speech therapy today and already we can see an improvement and more importantly for him, he enjoyed it. He has some homework so I’ll have to get a photo of him practicing later.

Ben and I caught some of the late afternoon sun to help dry up our colds, when it wasn’t too hot. It’s fun to watch Ben on the grass. He hasn’t had much exposure to grass without trousers and socks on so he was torn between the need to explore and the prickly feeling on his legs.


Exploring won over any discomfort.

Willy wanted a belly rub

but Ben wanted bush tucka

luckily Graham came out in time to help fish a grass seed out of Ben’s mouth. Daddy’s so much better at that because he has short nails.
Ben thought we were starving him.

He’s got this one eye bigger than the other thing happening lately and it really stands out in photos. Graham says he can’t see it though so I must just be picky.

Of course I had to scrap a photo of Ben in orange with the green grass :)

This is a lift of Peaceful by mom2peanuts for the Scrap Orchard Lift a Layout challenge.
Created with Heart And Soul {MEGA Bundle} by mgl Scraps, Lace and string flower from Mediterranean Villa: The Bundle By Mgl, SO Useful - Fadeouts Vol. 2 from Designs by Sine and Bec's Shadow Mistress Action set