We'll start with the funnies.
Livie has bad dreams. They're not scary. They're upsetting, usually having to do with someone hurting her feelings (Ella stealing a toy, the neighbor not wanting to play etc.) The last one she could explain to me dealt with my brother's wedding. He got married in September and my girls were the flower girls. A month or so ago Liv woke up crying because she wanted to go to their wedding again, but it was over.
Olivia has been anxiously awaiting her make-a-wish process. She knows what she's gunna wish for. Disneyland. So she's been trying to figure out how it's gunna work. She got her make-a-wish key and thought it was the key to disneyland. Then she asked where disneyland was. I said it was far. So her response was, "So we drive to Salt Lake and then to Disneyland and then the X to get the treasure?" I'm not even sure what that was about but it was funny still.
Next, I hate soggy grains of any kind. Bread pudding, soggy cereal etc. I said so and Livie's response was, "Ew! I don't like soggy brains either!"
And last, while watching Pete's Dragon Livie's response to Elliot going invisible, "He's dissing appear!"
So, I'm keeping Livie's regular stuff (it will reflect in the pictures anyway) shorter so I can explain a little about her urology stuff. Olivia has had two UTI's and thousands of accidents. We headed down to PCH to do some tests (one of which involved a catheter and was miserable) which told us she has grade two reflux between her bladder and kidneys. This is not normal (but is fairly common) and does cause UTI's. It sometimes requires surgery to fix the problem but thankfully Livie will not need that. In Olivia's case, they believe she will outgrow the issue. As the NP put it, the as the bladder fills it compresses the tube between the kidney and bladder. In children, that tube isn't long enough and doesn't get compressed enough and urine creeps back up into the kidney. So we wait. Olivia has been put on a daily, low-dose antibiotic until she does outgrow it. This does not fix the problem. Only growth will. So we wait. Olivia will go back in three months for a follow-up and then back in for testing in a year. She needs to be using the restroom every couple hours to keep things moving in the right direction. As for the accidents, if those don't improve on their own, we may add a medication to help her bladder relax and stop forcing urine out. Sadly, this is genetic so if Abby even has one UTI she has to go in for testing. On the bright side, Ella is old enough that we know she's fine. And let's face it, Olivia is the one who likes to keep us on her toes so she's probably the only one who'll have issues. Right? On a side and slightly related note, I love the staff at PCH. While getting lunch we ran into Melanie, Livie's old speech therapist (the one who got her off that dang feeding tube.) My hands were clearly full so she sat with our stuff while we grabbed out food. Then, we ran into Sonja, one of the cardiac nurse practitioners. She's pulled out several of Livie's chest tubes, signed discharge papers etc. She stopped to chat for a bit too, which meant a ton. It's always nice to see familiar, friendly faces who genuinely care about not just Livie, but all of us. This has been one of the big blessings that Olivia has brought to our lives. So many root and care for all of us and that makes all the difference.
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