STAY TUNED: Gluten-Free/ No Refined Sugar January Starts TOMORROW

As you know, tomorrow is January 1st, and the changing of the year is also bringing a change in eating habits into the Wood household. Brian and I have been dissatisfied for awhile now with the rut we find ourselves in pertaining to our exercise and eating habits since the birth of our 3rd child and move into our new house.

During the holidays, we noticed a book that my dad has been reading called "The Paleo Diet". He has already started a version of this diet. I haven't read much of the book yet but the premise is to cut out anything that contains gluten (wheat flour) and eat primarily what the paleolithic man ate: lean meats, fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and unsalted nuts. We thought it made great sense for us as a lifestyle change as well as to get the kids to eat more of what they love so we can cut out all the junk we ingest. We also decided to cut out items with refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and the like.

We are going to start by eithering purging any open item we own or donate it unopened to the Lincoln Food Bank and shopping for the items listed above with a few gluten-free items thrown in so that we don't break the bank shopping for all the "gluten-free" items stores offer.

I plan to use this blog to document the types of things we find to eat that are kid-friendly since all 5 of us will be eating this way. Also, to document how we feel, how much energy we have, and how the kids act especially the baby who is still entirely on breast milk. We will also let you know how Brian and I feel/the kids act after a "cheat meal". The book gives you three levels or options of cheats: Level 1--3 cheat meals a week, Level 2-- 2 cheat meals, and Level 3--1 cheat meal.

Happy New Year to all!!! Wish us luck or lots of willpower (we will need it.....me especially!!)

Jennie

Answered Prayers

Izzy's lab results just came back: her WBC count is at 14.6 which is down from 19.1 this am at 5. It only has to be 13.4 to be in the normal range. Her Neutraphils are also better. Wow, how prayer can move the hand of God!!! He is good!! Hopefully we can get out of here before the clock strikes midnight on the year......

Day 3: More Lab Work

Izzy must be feeling better; she was up last night until 10:30 watching movies. She then had a great night sleep; she even slept through all of her vitals throughout the night. The doctors/nurses are all encouraged by the fact that she is bouncing off the walls and eating better. She also has much better mobility in her neck when asked to lower her chin to her right shoulder!!! They are a little concerned with the fact that her white cell count is not decreasing at all. There was no decrease between her labs yesterday at 5am and this morning at 5am although her CRP has improved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-reactive_protein. She is getting a finger poke blood draw right now to re-test the White Cell Count. We pray that the Lord would lay his hand on her body and it would be dramatically lower. If the count is not lower, they will do another CT scan to see if there is more infection elsewhere in her body.

Izzy was also happy to get visits from Aunt Stacey and her best friend Kaci who brought her mom and brother and sister with her. It was nice to see her up behaving like her usual self. Her and Kaci fell right into line fighting over the dry-erase marker in the room =) She is now camped out in front of a Strawberry Shortcake movie.

Post-Surgery

The doctor and ENT visited bright and early this morning around 7. The ENT felt they abcess and thought it felt harder and closer to the surface which meant it was coming to a head. Combining this with the fact that she had the fever the night before and that her labs only improved about 10%, he thought our best choice would be to go ahead and operate. The OR had a really full schedule since it is the end of the year, but they were able to squeezer her in at 8am. I couldn't get ahold of Brian who was at home with Jace so that was a little distressing.

They wheeled us down to the pre-op room and gave her some medicine through her IV. We met the Anesthesiologist and the Nurse Anesth. who was a co-worker of a good friend. We were sad to hear that Paul was at West but comforted by the fact that he said she was in good hands. I left before they put her under and she really handled that fine.

The surgery went quickly and the ENT came and chatted with me before Brian could even get to the hospital. He didn't find a pocket of pus like he expected but the abcess had compartmentalized so he broke all those apart and put in a drain to let any pus/infection that would form escape. He said they would leave the drain in until at least tomorrow afternoon and add a second antibiotic to get rid of the infection. Izzy was a little out-of-sorts after she came out of the anesthesia. I left to go get lunch and when I returned 2 hours later she was up, eating lunch, and back to her ornery self.

The nurse just came in to do her vitals and said that the strep test from Sunday evening came back positive. We finally have our source of where the infection started. It is so surprising because Izzy didn't complain a bit until the abcess had already started forming.....I guess we have a tough little cookie!

We will be here until Thursday afternoon at the earliest and hope that Izzy's lab work and fever continue to go down =)

Day 2: Bright and Early

Izzy is staying in pretty good spirits, all things considered. All she wants to do is lay on the bed and watch movies, so I guess it is a good thing the hospital has a long list we can borrow from. Nothing else seems to hold her attention. She also found some enjoyment talking to her friend, Kaci, on the phone. It is so sweet to see her adult-like conversation on the phone. We have also been reading her Jesus Storybook Bible which holds much comfort as it continues to let us know that God is our Maker, Protector,Healer and Rock and he is all-knowing. He knows what we need even before we ask. We are so thankful for all His truths.

The ENT made rounds again yesterday afternoon and kind of gave us our prognosis on length of stay. He said the fact that we saw an improvement in her white cell count in less than 12 hours was great and that usually the best results are between day 1 and day 2. He said that if everything continues to go well we could be out of here in 3 days, normal length of stay 4-5 days, with 2 days added on if she requires surgery. She will be getting lab work again at 5am and he is be in around 7:30 to consult again. We pray that her counts continue to drop and that she has better neck mobility.

We also had a some visitors which provided a break from the same ole, same ole and some much needed non-hospital food. Thanks Paul, Rachel, Jeff, and Aiden for stopping by!! It made Izzy's night. Then later in the evening she was blessed with a visit from her 2 oldest cousins, her Aunt Niki, Grandpa Nick, and Jacer. They have been such a help with Jace during this long, ordeal (and it's not even 1/2 over yet =( ( She was a bit tired thought and fell asleep as soon as they left at 8:10. She awoke at 9pm, uncomfortable nd we realized that her fever had spiked again. With a little help from some Motrin, we got her comfortable and back to sleep.

It is now 3am and I awoke to a wet bed. It was actually a good thing because it got the vitals out of the way while she was already up and got me a bed with no crumbs!!! I have to find pleasure in the small things, right? Izzy was awesome even with such a rude awakening =) She is now back asleep and I find myself not very tired due to the fact that I just slept for 6 hours which I would consider a full-night sleep!!

Good night, hopefully.......

Day 1: December 28,2009

I deceided that instead of starting a Care Page for Izzy I would take this opportunity to update our blog and maybe make it a New Years resolution to keep at it once a week. It is almost 24 hours since we took Izzy to the ER due to what we thought was a stiff neck from a collision with a doorway. The CT scan and lab work instead showed a large white cell count and an abcess in her lymph node caused by a bacterial infection. Not related to the collision at all just a huge coincidence.....

We have been on the Pediatric floor of Bryan since 8pm last night and everyone is very nice and friendly. Poor Izzy has been a trooper although she cringes whenever anyone besides family enters the room for fear that they will poke her. She has had an IV started, many blood draws, a CT scan, a ride in the ambulence, and a very traumatic strep test that even I had to hold her down for.

The doctor came this morning and said that she would be in here until at least 7pm tomorrow. The ENT said that she would probably not require surgery to drain the abcess; he thinks the antibiotics should take care of it. We are watching movie after movie and getting some nice down time in. We had some visitors as Aunt Niki, Grandma, and the boys were able to stop by....oh and the best of all was, Jacer!!! They were so excited to see one another.

We are now awaiting her next round of blood work later this afternoon. We pray that her white count continues to drop!! Thank you to all our family and friends who have prayed for her and us last night and today and offered your help. We couldn't be strong without all your love and support around us!!

And finally a picture of the snowstorm that so wonderfully postponed half of Christmas

Love,

Jennie and Brian

Happy 1st Birthday, Jacer!!!

One year ago today, I was sending all my friends and family pictures of our 2nd little blessing. Now he is a happy, loud, rambuctious 1-year-old who takes after his big sister. Right now I am listening to they joyous sounds of him causing his sister much anxiety by messing with her toys.

Jace loves to be anywhere Izzy is and his eyes light up when he sees her. He is taking after her in the climbing department and is up on everything. This morning I caught him standing on the ottoman and yesterday it was the rails of his crib, which he could not get off of. He is also taking after her in the "slow to get teeth" department. He has one that is barely through the gums and one that looks ready to pop at any second (maybe that is why he was up every 30 minutes last night)!!

He also loves cars, trucks, and trains and pushes them all over the floor trying to make the sounds they make.

Jace is just starting to become vocal and only says Mama and Dada. He just really started babbling which is fun to hear.

Jace has really completed our little family and we are so excited to see all the things he will learn in his 2nd year. We love you, Jacer!!! Thank you for bringing more fun times than we could imagine.