This will be a long one

Make sure you are sitting in a comfy chair. Maybe grab a coffee or other refreshment. Heck, if it's lunch time, I recommend bringing it over to the computer. This is going to be a long one.

We'll start with news from the Daddy front. I spoke with Daddy tonight. The gastroenterologist came to see him and decided that he wanted a more detailed look at what was going on inside of Daddy's body. They had him eat a radioactive egg salad sandwich (I'm still giggling at the idea of a radioactive egg salad sandwich) and they took x-rays for several hours. What they saw was that his digestive system is moving very very slowly. The good news: it's moving. The bad news: much more slowly than it should be. Before he could tell the doctor about the drug that helped him back in 2003, the doctor actually recommended the Propulsid (our banned by the FDA drug) and he increased Daddy's dosage to "with each meal." He is also putting him on some kind of antibiotic that tends to get your gut moving for some reason. Dr. A, our pediatrician, tells me that it is most likely Eurythrimiacin as it tends to do a number on most digestive systems, but that it really seems to help people with slowly moving guts.

The gastroenterologist wants to send Daddy home so that he can start getting back into the swing of things, hoping that being at home will help him heal more quickly. This is exciting and terrifying news. We desperately want Daddy home, but he gets very anxious about his nausea when he is not in the hospital. Today, marks 25 days since Daddy was admitted to the hospital. We were hoping he would be home for the Super Bowl, but it looks like he'll get to watch it on his flat screen tv in room 5211!

Genetics Suck. I know what you are thinking, Mom. I have better words in my vocabulary, but right now, the word "suck" fits the bill quite nicely. At four weeks old, Gracie was diagnosed with an ear infection. In the almost 17 months she has been alive, she has had more than a half dozen ear infections, four of which have happened since September 2008. This is to be expected. I had multiple ear infections, tubes in my ears, and was generally a sickie-poo. I was hoping that Gracie and Luke would some how be spared from tonsillectomies and ear tubes. We have been referred to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to check out Gracie's right ear and to see if there is anything that can be done.

The curse of genetics does not stop there. Gracie has been on all 4 antibiotics pediatricans will prescribe to children her age. She started on Amoxicilin, then was on Augmentin, something called Omnicept, and last, but not least Biaxin. The last time she was on Augmentin, she was switched quickly to the Omnicept. The Augmentin gave her terrible diarreah and made her generally sad. This time, the Biaxin did not do its job and Dr. A decided to prescribe Augmentin again along with a probiotic to counteract the diarreah.

She started the Augmentin on Wednesday. Yesterday, the day care ladies mentioned a rash to me. I did not really see anything when I gave her a bath, but when they mentioned it again today, I took a really closer look. Gracie has a rash over her chest, back, chin and neck. It is bumpy and red looking. She hasn't been scratching it (thank goodness), but it worried me enough to call Dr. A and get her take on it. Dr. A was so worried that she had me take digital photos and email them to her. Sure enough, an hour later, Dr. A called me and told me to stop the Augmentin. Gracie is having an allergic reaction to the stuff. I asked Dr. A if she could be more specific about what part of the Augmentin Gracie was allergic to (it's a combination of antibiotics) and Dr. A said that most likely it was the Amoxicillin component. Notice the suffix "cillin" in that word. As in penicillin. Yes, just like her Nana, Gracie is allergic to the 'cillins. Great. Fantastic.

I'm going to pick up a new prescription for Omicept in the morning. In the meantime, Benedryl is our friend and I keep sneaking in to make sure she is okay. There hasn't been a peep out of them since I put them to bed at 7:30 pm. Which makes me think I need to go check on them again....

Our picture of the day is of Gracie's rash. All I have to say is "Go away rash! Go away!"

I'll be up checking Gracie throughout the night. Honestly, I'm terrified that her allergic reaction will get worse. I'll stop by tomorrow to let you know how it goes.