according.to.kim

Highlights of the week

• celebrating (Neil's) Grandma Louise's 94th birthday at Weisshaar's on Monday evening. It was nice to see Louise and everyone who was there. I think she's doing very well for 94! Also, I was pleased to get some good photos and the cake was heavenly! Angel food cake with a wonderful lemon glaze icing, topped with vanilla ice cream, and fresh strawberries and saskatoons. Best. Dessert. Ever. IMHO
• hearing Dr. Abdulhadi (Nephrologist) tell me I'm fine. I was actually doing a pretty good job of not worrying about this appointment (I was, really! at least until the receptionist led me to the examining room and placed a box of tissues in front of me. Why would she do that?! Sheesh! Yes, Kleenex-induced anxiety -- perhaps I'm a little fragile!), but it was still such a great relief to hear that my most recent lab results came back normal (well, almost all normal).*
• enjoying the summery weather. I love sunshine!
• watching the girls in their outdoor swimming lessons Friday morning (Sophia and Bronwyn at 9:45, Madeline at 10:35, and Georgia at 11:05). It's no fun being stuck at work while the rest of my family goes to the pool every morning! I'm glad I'm able to go twice anyway (both Fridays). Unfortunately, Madeline ducked out of her lesson half way through because she wasn't feeling well, and then laid on the concrete on a towel, covered by a towel, the rest of the morning. Both Georgia and Madeline (and now Sophia, as of late Sunday night) had a bit of fever on the weekend. Only Sophia is complaining about ear pain.
• taking Sophia to her orthodontist appointment and having it go exceedingly well in terms of Sophia's mood and cooperation throughout -- thanks to Bronwyn being there with us. I know her presence helped immensely! Sophia has an underbite (front and one side) and she'll start treatment next March.**
• taking the girls to Play in the Park Day (sponsored by Regina Downtown BID) on Friday afternoon, and meeting my Mom there, too (she happened to be in the city). The girls got some autographs from Roughriders (including Georgia's favourite, Hugh Charles -- favored because he does back flips) and had their faces painted. We enjoyed watching some demos such as belly dancing, hula hooping(?), watermelon helmet making (only in SK, heh), and Meihua martial arts. Sophia was delighted to keep one of the watermelon helmets that had been prepared the night before. We also enjoyed getting free hot dogs (good ones from The Frank Cart) for making a donation to the food bank.
• ordering another Blurb book made from my blog entries. I hadn't worked on one since last November, and I'm not even sure why I did this weekend (it certainly wasn't on my to-do list) but I impulsively started working on Volume 7 (May - August 2006) Friday evening. I finished up Sunday morning and ordered the book. The process is rather tedious for various reasons, but I kind of enjoyed doing it this weekend and I look forward to doing another (good thing since there will be 10 more volumes to the end of 2009). It is satisfying to have those memories printed in hard copy.
• taking the girls swimming at Dunnet Regional Park Saturday afternoon, along with L&B and the girls' Grandma Donna. It was a hot day, so a dip in the pool was perfect. Sophia enjoyed doing flips off the diving board -- without a life jacket in the deep end! This was both a 'yikes!' and 'my-baby-is-growing-up' moment for me. Madeline enjoyed jumping off the diving board, too, but with a life jacket -- thank goodness! Georgia is much more tentative in the water and she didn't want me to let go of her for a second, but eventually was more relaxed (and proud!) when I showed her she could actually stand up on her own at the end of the pool.
• seeing Sherlock... Neil's parents called Saturday morning to tell us he wasn't doing very well; he wasn't interested in eating or drinking much and didn't have enough energy to go for his usual walk with Lou... so, after that, it was just good to see Sherlock -- and see him get up and eat and drink a little -- when we arrived in Avonlea Saturday afternoon. We brought Sherlock home that evening and took him to the vet Sunday morning. An x-ray revealed three large tumors in his chest, so it was a sad weekend for us. Lots of tears have been shed already, and the hardest part is yet to come.
• having a couple quiet hours at home on Sunday while the girls went to a movie (Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs) with Laurel and Brownyn. They enjoyed the movie and I enjoyed some much-needed silence and time to plow through some paperwork.
• knocking 10 things off my to-do list on Sunday, including backing up my photos to an external hard drive (the one I keep in my office at work). I hadn't done this backup for seven months and I'm glad to have it updated. (I also have automated frequent backup to an EHD that sits next to my computer.)

*As mentioned previously, my doctor sent my past lab results to a nephrologist for a second look. He subsequently ordered more blood and urine tests, including a 24-hour urine volume. Dr. Abdulhadi (a very nice man, by the way) had the results before my appointment with him on July 22. Right away he said, "this will be a very short visit because you're fine." It was great to hear that right off the bat! Then he showed me that everything came back normal except one thing: Creatinine Clearance -- mine at 125; normal range 75 to 114 for women. He called this "slightly elevated". Essentially, this is the same thing as the low eGFR (58) revealed by two prior blood tests. Anyway, the doctor implied it was nothing to worry about considering everything else is normal. He made a point of showing me that he wrote "ALL NORMAL" on my file. :)

**She'll get a palatal expander (in place for 6-8 months; not removable) and head gear (to be worn evenings and overnight). She's taking this very well considering she gets a bit upset at the thought of braces (which likely won't happen until she's about 14). I know the expander and head gear will be awful for Sophia, and even painful at times (as with most ortho treatments; I know all too well), and I do wish she didn't need this at all, but given the circumstances I'm very happy about these developments in orthodontics. They say expanders work very well on a growing child. I wish I had had that treatment rather than surgery on my lower jaw. Apparently, they rarely do lower jaw reduction surgery anymore because it doesn't work most of the time. I'm not surprised; my bite isn't much better than it was pre-surgery. Now, when surgery is required (which is less often due to the use of palatal expanders), it involves the upper jaw. In any case, I really hope Sophia will not need surgery.

Sophia's orthodontist appt

I took Sophia to see an orthodontist yesterday. It was her third annual visit. He said they'll start work next year for sure after all four of her top incisors are in. Right now, the two middles ones are in (fully erupted) and just one of the next two incisors has broken the surface. There clearly isn't enough room for those teeth. The main concern is with her bite as all of the top teeth (including molars) are just inside the bottom ones and of course the top teeth are supposed to overlap the bottom ones slightly. Uggh. I hate this. I had the same problem before several years of treatment and surgery, so I have a pretty good idea of what she'll go through.

Daily pic: 26 Dec 07

It was Neil's birthday today and he received... Battleship! It was no surprise to Neil though. We had actually purchased this game for Sophia because she enjoys playing Dogbeard's Bathtub Battles on Webkinz, but we knew that when she saw the dragonfly in our storage room a few weeks ago, she also saw Battleship. We had to change things up. I might have saved this game for her birthday next month, but while I was wrapping Christmas gifts, I decided to give it to Neil for his birthday instead. After all, he really wanted it too! He and Sophia enjoyed playing a couple games of Battleship today. It's a good game, and very high tech compared to the one we had as children.

I'm sorry to say that Neil didn't get a birthday cake today. I've come down with another cold and was feeling rather crappy today.* I didn't feel up to baking a cake. Maybe tomorrow. We ordered in food for supper too. Neil had spent the afternoon watching Canada play in the World Junior tournament and then making tamales -- a somewhat labour-intensive Mexican dish -- for the first time. (We'll eat them tomorrow.) When it was time to make supper, neither of us had the desire to get crackin' in the kitchen. In fact, all I could manage to do at that time was lay down for a nap.

*Georgia fussing and keeping me awake for half the night did not help at all! I have no idea what was wrong with her. She never does that, and she seemed a little under the weather today, but that's all.

P.S. Sophia lost another tooth tonight. The one next to her top left incisor. There's no way there's room for a permanent tooth in that spot. The two new incisors were already buckling slightly from lack of space. I wonder if the orthodontist will decide to remove some of her teeth fairly early. She'll see the orthodontist for the third time this spring. When she was five, he said they may start intervening at age seven. We'll see what that entails.

P.P.S. I added a few words to my 24 Dec 2007 post.

Dental details

Neil and Madeline went to the dentist today; Sophia and I went yesterday. As with our family doctor a couple of weeks ago, Madeline was very shy with the dentist. She wouldn't let him look at her teeth (which is all he was going to do today). The dental hygeniest got Madeline to warm up to her slightly and she was able to count Madeline's teeth, but that's it. She certainly didn't get a good look.

I was satisfied with my visit. I have no cavities and the cleaning didn't hurt as much as I had expected, or as much as the last time, evidently. They had a note in my file that I wanted my mouth frozen for the next cleaning--a decision I had made after trying a desensitizing solution which they apply to the teeth before cleaning. I didn't even remember that. Nevertheless, I really didn't want my mouth frozen yesterday (I hate those needles and the frozen feeling too), so I chose to go with the desensitizing anyway. I'm glad I did. It actually wasn't too bad. The dentist thinks the desensitizing formula has been improved. I agree. The worst part by far was the cold air on my teeth before they applied the desensitizing solution. I took two ibuprofen about 90 minutes before the cleaning, so I think that helped too.

Sophia was very good at the dentist. She went into the exam room happy and came out happy. She had her teeth cleaned, x-rayed, and treated with flouride. It sounds like it all went well (we didn't accompany Sophia in the exam room); however, the dentist reported that Sophia has the beginnings of four cavities. I feel terrible about that because I know we don't clean her teeth enough. I take responsibility. We had not been flossing her teeth regularly. There's no good excuse.

Our dentist referred us to a specialist in children's dentistry for Sophia's cavities. He said it would be better for another person to do the fillings so she doesn't become fearful of her regular dentist. He warned us that it may be a year before Sophia can see the specialist because he's the only one in the province. In the meantime, we need to floss Sophia's teeth daily to try to prevent those cavities from getting worse. I made an appointment with the specialist today and fortunately, it's only six months away. Our dentist also suggested we take Madeline to the children's dentist, so they'll both see him at the end of August. Sophia is on a cancellation list too, so with any luck, she'll see him sooner.

Our dentist also recommended that we take Sophia to an orthodontist. I wasn't surprised at all because I knew she had an underbite. Damn genes! She got it from me, of course. I've endured years of orthodontic treatment (in my teens and again in my early 20s) and surgery to reduce my lower jaw, and it saddens me very much to think that Sophia will have to go through it as well. I just hope they've made some improvements and/or starting early will help. We have an appointment with an orthodontist on April 5. Thank goodness my work benefits now cover some orthodontics as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if Madeline too needs orthodontic treatment someday. Her top teeth already appear crowded (they're almost buckling in places), and she has quite an overbite--you can barely see her lower teeth when her jaw is closed. It couldn't be more different than Sophia's situation.

I see a lot of appointments in our future.