Christmas...2009

Julie: "Santa has arrived!" John: Who's Santa? Julie: "The guy who left us all this cool stuff!" John: "Oh. I really like the paper. It's great for tearing up and waving around." Julie: "Oh John..."

I could really use a nap.

Mmwah! Kisses to all. Oh yeah, Christ is Born, Glorify Him!

My favorite toy so far...Littlest pet shop rules.

I'm playing the part of an angel again, but I really wanted to be Mary.

The Clauses and the Melniks

Christmas eve day... Baking.

Daddy & Juliana helping Mommy put the hard gingerbread cookies out to cool.

Juliana admiring her handiwork!

                                      Mmm...Samples~Yum!

Tests...

Well John is slowly mending from what seems to be a cold virus in the liver. Blood test levels are returning to normal. John is still not sleeping well. Daddy held him all night last night. Still cramping up in waves at bedtime. Fever and nausea have passed. Will keep everyone updated.

Trying to schedule the MRCP to determine if he has a cyst in his common bile duct. Waiting for results of his other bloodtests.

All is as well as can be. We will be celebrating the birth of Christ soon!

My notes from yesterday...

Possible Choledochal cyst ( 6 mm swelling in common bile duct)

Need MRCP (MRI specialized) under sedation to determine if cyst exists or not.

Check hernia w/surgeons

Lactulose for constipation. (still going to discuss w/ physician) John is going every other day to every day, not sure why we need this.

Full panel of blood work was drawn  yesterday including a screening for Celiac disease (this will take apprx. 3 wks to get results.)

Current nausea/sleepiness/stomach pain issues due to virus, not related to underlying problem

Original Liver/ blood work test results were normal for his age/ #s were not converted/adjusted to John's age.

Possible cyst in bile duct. If present, it will have to be removed.

We had a very long day yesterday, & a long night. John threw up on me during the night & had the dry heaves w/a slight fever. Fever is gone now & he has eaten his first ice pop this morning & is resting.

Will update as I get more results. Sorry, no fun photos. today. :(

~Susan

Therapy tools? Hmmm...

 

OK, we spent how much on therapy tools and cups etc.? This is what John likes to eat with at our house. (Oh and the unapproved sippy cup you saw in the video). He sees a Chinese soup spoon and he goes nuts. I offer broccoli from his special fork and he turns away. Offer the same piece of broccoli from a pair of chopsticks and he opens wide.I mean, what child, unless he is Asian, asks to eat mung bean & rice soup w/ vinegar & maggi in it? Mine. I think it may have something to do with us visiting China while I was pregnant with John. He got to taste 2 weeks worth of authentic Chinese food & now that's what he expects. At least we cook it and it's healthy food in our home. Oh, and NO leftovers!Will try to post Mung bean congee recipe later.

Until next time, Zaijian!

We all slept in...

We all slept in. I only heard one peep out of John at 4:10 AM and then everyone slept until around 5:45! Yes, sad, 5:45 AM is sleeping in at the Melnik house! But I was able to get 7 hrs sleep. That's a record for the past 3 months, I think. And John is having a morning nap. Is the sky falling? Is that a pig flying? No, just things being a little more "normal".

Appt. next week...

~G.I. appt. next week... Hope we figure it all out!

Long week...& it's Monday!

It's already been a long week and it's just Monday.Ultrasounds after the enema incident revealed an enlarged liver. Follow-up blood tests revealed an elevated GGTP. Now we are awaiting an appt. w/the G.I. specialists at A.I. du Pont to figure out what all this means for John. Say a prayer for us and if you have any info. on this subject, please comment.

Man With Down Syndrome Becomes Eagle Scout

wow!

John plays with toy, watches TV

John and Julie play!

hey you!

Hey to you!