Got all of the nice plants from my favorite garden shop in the ground. The full-sized tree out front looks nice now. I found that I had more than one surviving Hosta transplant, and that was good news. I now have three full sized and two tinies. I'll split them out to fill it up next year. I also put in bits of yellow speedwell which is a ground cover plant that has tiny yellow leaves. I will break those up and help them spread out as they get bigger, too.
The pigeons must have missed some of the marigold seed because I have sprouts around the small pear tree that I see from the kitchen window. I put the Vinca plugs in there. Thought the blue and yellow would look good. I will always have some marigolds, even though they are annuals. It's easy to just sprinkle their seeds on the ground, and viola! Plus fall cleanup for this patch is a fast and dirty trim. At least that's the plan... The pink Baby's breath and Veronica Speedwell by the front door are looking good. I'll spread them around more next year. I have to get a pic of the back of the house, where my one (mostly) finished plot is. I have pink Dianthus and another alpine ground cover whose name I can't recall. Rock-something-or-another. And the silver tuft plants which matches the silver foliage of the one Dianthus. I like it. I have more Dianthus under the small apple tree, with some pink and white edged variegated sedum, a creeper. These were just a mix that I grew from seeds last year. They are too tall for this dwarf apple tree, so I will be moving them in the fall.
I went off to my monthly aquatic plant meeting and came home to find that my husband had torn out an area around our lamp-post by the driveway. He added dirt and wanted to see it planted. So off we went to WalMart to buy some more plants. Not as nice as GG's but cheap. I got the popular purple clematis (jackmanii?) this time, and some lavender because he wanted it. Then I just got two packs of annuals to fill in until fall (less than $4). The lavender will shade the clematis roots. Then in the fall, my dianthus will replace these annuals (Petunias and some purple fuzzy things.)
The Evening Primrose definitely have to go. They are starting to bloom, at least. I can't decide if I want to seed the South side of the house where it's hardest to grow stuff, or just eradicate them. I'm not sure if they would overwhelm the Iris, which are my focal point. The flowers are so pretty, the foliage is so unruly. Can't decide. Still have one of the front areas to do also. I bought a mum to replace the one that didn't come back this year, for the front. Primrose to come out of this area too. So things seem to be doing well enough, but I don't have the look I want yet, most places.
The spot around the mailbox is doing pretty well. Last year I painted the mailbox and put poultry mesh all around the column. I planted white creeping flox at the bottom and a lavender double-flowered clematis is now climbing the mailbox. I just transplanted some pink creeping flax to the clematis side (had an annual ornamental yam there last year). I am hoping it'll be enough to keep the roots cool. Looks good, though. I think DH liked it and that's why he started the lamp-post area. I will keep at it. When things look the way I want them on all sides of the house, I'll make them bigger, or maybe just do another large garden area. It would be nice to have more drought tolerant perennial flowers, and less grass to mow. I feel like I need to get some of them under control though, and I can't just buy everything at once. Must be patient- let things grow and spread. I'll try to get pics up soon.
Good news on my praying mantis egg cases: I saw a hatchling on the case I removed from the lamp post. I had five and stuck one there. I think he had been preying on his emerging siblings. I put it in a bush, so maybe he'll move on.
My Dear Husband downloaded the second season of "Dexter" from iTunes and we have been watching two a night together. It's not the same as the books and I'm on the edge of my seat. There are no commercials, and I can loose myself in it, like a good book. A dark one, but a good one. I actually like Showtime's plot a bit more than Lindsay's novels. I know that's a terrible thing to say, to endorse the TV show over the original author. Usually you read a book and find the on-screen details to not measure up to the pictures you had in your own head. Either way I give Lindsay credit for creating Dex. My sister says she can't believe I like something so dark. It's true that I don't enjoy movies which show kids being harmed. Maybe I'm ok with this show because it makes that distinction, too. And while I love the show, no one wants to see a real Dexter.
We are enjoying the shows so much, two at a time, that I know we'll be though them and have to wait until season 3 is released. So I trolled my library eCatalogue to see what my fave authors have been up to lately. No new Jeff Lindsay's. But I have the next Gabaldon Outlander novel en route. You know, I get distracted by her medical details. Surely everyone would know that if you cut an infected leg open to the femur and poured boiling water on it, all the tissue would be cooked- dead tissue- and worse infection. Right? The person would definitely die with a 4th degree burn on top of systemic infection. That wouldn't be a cure. And that nonsense about ancestral antibodies- no such thing. And fine work on hand and fingers under 17th century conditions... she tried to make that one up later, but not believable. A doctor would make those mistakes. And still, I'm totally hooked. These little things pull you out of the story, but the next page has you right back in it. It's riveting. I signed up for new books by Janet Evanovich, and my favorite, Charlaine Harris, as well. That's my summer reading program. We won't be driving to the metro library as often, though. When I was taking DS to preschool twica a week, we used them exclusively. Their selection is huge and service is great (online reserves). But gas is out of control. DS will be doing the summer reading program in town, and we'll get his books there. The metro library gives 3 weeks per book, so I'll just be getting mine and going less. DS has a higher turn-over :)
We also went back to a a Blockbuster plan for his videos. We don't have cable and I feel like I have more control over what he watches. He's allowed to watch any PBS kids show and the videos. We'll probably kill Blockbuster and go back to metro library videos when he goes back to school in the fall. But for now, I'm gonna try a Tai Chi video. BB has a 'buy it now' option. I'm looking for a gentle but decent workout. It seems I'll never kickbox, again. C'est la vie.
Got some flowers and plants today. I have given up on starting from seeds for all but the most hardy (read:weedy) plants. We have a very nice Garden Center close by that also has goats, ducks and fish in a pond. DS was bugging me to go there. But when we do he's impatient because I take so long to look at all the plants. We made daddy two hanging baskets. When I started putting in plants I asked DH what he would like, and the only thing he really wanted was hanging baskets. I groaned and tried to explain how I justified the expense of perennials as property improvement for years to come, but baskets are pretty much annuals. And not cheap. So I found some nice baskets off season and got some nice annuals today and planted them. They should have filled in nicely by Father's Day. I also got Hostas and Speedwell (perennials) for the under front tree and planting advise from my sister. Only one of my transplanted Hostas survived last winter. I guess they needed to be more deeply under. I got an early producing tomato, also. And lastly, I got some Vinca plugs for under the pear tree. I figure I can always put marigolds in with it. I love marigolds, even though they are annuals. And I like to watch the Goldfinches when the heads go to seed. Part of the reason for putting in all the trees is so we could have some wildlife around here. It's a new neighborhood and sometimes it just seems barren to me. I need to check the berries bushes and some of the stuff I put in last year. I put one of the blackberries in up-side-down. Oops. The rooted joint was smack in the middle of the stem they sent and I couldn't tell. Guessed wrong. The thing was making leaves anyway, so I have hope for it. Some Dianthus that I grew from seed last year are looking good. I just need to seperate them and fill in some more space this fall. My German Iris look good as well. I may get a few more bulbs in the fall. I know they'll multiply, but I'd like more colors. Iris and Dianthus are my favorites overall. Well wish me luck planting tomorrow. I think I can at least tell which end to put in the ground this time. ;)
Not the best news, but not the worst news either. The allergy blood test results are in, and they must have been
I Cap because the nurse described six categories, the old RAST had five. My son scored a low positive on Soy, Egg Whites and Banana. We may still be able to eat some of these. We'll know more once we talk to the allergist. I am hoping she'll re-test for milk, also. There is still the possibility that his reaction was partly due to a virus. And the nurse said that the rotavirus is one that can come in waves like we had. If we are able to reintroduce these foods, the conclusive evidence will be that it does or doesn't make him sick again. Overall I am relieved. Soy protein is the harder of the three and we can deal. He likes rice milk, and can do without the rest. I imagine we'll have some fuss over Toffutti Cuties, but we can still have Sorbet. I am just glad wheat was negative.
Good news from our otherwise crappy insurance: his speech therapy will be (mostly) covered. We are going to end up spending a few thousand dollars this year on insurance, but I expected that. And it'll happen later rather than sooner. That's the good news. Can't wait for Uncle Sam's Economic Stimulus check. It's already spent. All of this was a good exercise, actually. I figure we'll need some services for our daughter when she comes home and I'd gotten rusty in dealing with bureaucrats. Ha.
Today was day three with no tummy upsets and I am thankful. My Dear Son went to his last 2 soccer games and the after-party. He had such a good time that he threw a fit about leaving and had to sit in time out. Felling better, though. It was nice to just see a normal boy again, and not worry over him. I don't ant to raise him to think of himself as different. He's just a kid, really. He ran and played all afternoon and had so much fun. He's worn out. We put him down for a nap, late as it was and will wake him up shortly. We had great coaches for soccer this season. I hope we are as lucky next time. It's random selection for the young kids, except coaches get to have their own child on the team.
We got o see the allergist Thurs. He's going to be runny nosed and irritable from tomorrow until then without his antihistamines, but we want an accurate test.
DS went with Dad this morning and brought me back some flowers. Love my boys!
Rotavirus and new food allergy? I am hoping this was some virus and just the banana. The last of the lower GI tests came in negative, but they were all for bacteria (salmonella, e.coli, and so forth), and inflammatory bowl syndrome. I suppose since they tested for bacteria, then they haven't ruled anything out from lack of fever. What I remember from medic school was, generally, acute bacterial infections had high fever and accute viral infection had low fever. I talked to the nurse today about rotavirus. She said it can be active upto 30 days. Much longer than I expected. I guess two weeks is just an average. I also looked it up quickly and read, 'children under 5'. I also saw some clinical study results stating that of the test group, 77% of kids who tested positive had fever. So DS could be one of the 23%. Now I have no idea why he wasn't tested for it. He had another episode last night. But tonight he was wanting to play, and went outside with daddy for a while. The remaining three allergy results still aren't in. There appears to have been a glitch somewhere at the lab (across the country). Hopefully we'll hear something Monday. Odd to have given us only one result of four, when they all came from the same blood test. I am betting we'll be told it needs to be redrawn. My son is frantic that he not have to give blood again, and I'm pretty irritated. I asked them to do one draw for any tests they wanted. We've had three now. if they do ask to have it redone, I'm going to tell them that we'll have it done at Dr B's office, the allergist we are seeing next week. If the scratch and the I Cap are considered equal, then I want to do an ICap because I think a scratch is just too hard on him. And I really don't want her to do a scratch test on milk proteins. I don't want to have to take him to the hospital. When the nurse said she was going to have to track down our blood tests results I almost laughed. I know I haven't learned patience yet. For me not knowing is worse than the worst case scenario. So it figures. God is giving me another few days to learn to trust in Him, I guess. If my husband tell me one more time to 'think positively' I'll kick him, I swear. So the plan now is, see the allergist (Dr B) and have the Pedi do a Celiac's panel, simultaneously, if no positives on the last three.
Got a call from the Pedi office today with some of our tests results in: only one of the RAST results was finished and it's a hit. DS is positive for Bananas as I suspected. The good news is he's a RAST class 1 for banana, whereas he's a class 5 (highest) for dairy. The bad news is that Banana isn't one of the big 8 which are required to be reported on ingredients lists. "Natural Flavoring" becomes a risk again. Doc E said to me, "In my whole career, I've only had one kid allergic to Bananas...It's very rare." This was his response to me saying my gut told me bananas. A voice screamed inside my head, "DON"T SAY THAT!" I had a flashback of Doc P telling me that an exclusively nursing newborn couldn't have a cow-milk allergy from the mom. I hate going through this again. It's not as bad because he's not a baby and because I will not be talked out of checking for food allergies, now. I respect his docs, they are good, but I know my kid better than they do, and I trust my own instincts.
We'll need to know more about the banana result and will look to the Allergist for further info. There are many things that coincide with Banana allergy, Latex is the one people may have heard, but also mango, avocado, kiwi, chestnut, birch pollen, etc. He may need to be tested for similar allergens. We'll see what Doc B says about it. We will be going forward with the awful scratch test next week, and I don't know what all they'll test for. That also means DS will be without his antihistamines and runny, itchy, irritable. Seems almost back to normal today. No vomiting yesterday or today, at least. His tummy seems mostly settled. And he's giving me grief about bedtime. That's a sure sign of improvement. I'm gonna let him go to his last day of school tomorrow, but I'll stay in the area in case he gets sick again.
I'm afraid that's not the end of the story, though. It's too odd that we had three good days ion a row here (Fri, Sat, Sun) then Mon was so bad again. I am hoping he had a roto virus in conjunction with the banana allergy, that would be my best case scenario at this point. But I'm afraid that he may have yet another food allergy; Something else going on besides milk and banana. I really hope not. I am praying that he does not have a wheat allergy. I have remarked that I think wheat is the worst one to deal with; so blithely. Pray it isn't our fate. We've taken out the wheat now too, at least until we know, and it is hard. His starches are potato, oat and rice for now. He gets one of those and meat and fruit and veggies for meals. I'm also trying not to give him corn because nephew has a problem with it. High Fructose Corn Syrup is in most everything, but I'm at least really limiting it, too. I have to ask the allergist about corn as well, because we don't have a test out for it now. I'm also curious about his dairy score, will they scratch test him at all because he's so high? Will they check his blood level to see if it's gone down? I wonder. We are praying about it every day.
I know so many in the world are dealing with worse problems. I ask for prayers for people in China. Especially for the little ones in orphanages from which there's no news yet. I can't help but worry over my own boy, anyway. It's my job. Parenting is protection and providence. And I pray that the Lord will protect our boy where we cannot.
Three days of normal crazy kid and then DS woke up vomiting today. The doc wanted to see him again, and they took more blood and did more tests. At least his CBC was fine. That's all I know right now. Still no word on the allergy blood results. Found out today that they ran regular RAST on what blood they had, not I-Cap. He was fine for a bit, and wanted to eat. Then it started again after 5pm, and he's been so sick ever since. I'm worried again: His color is terrible, he's gray and pasty, He's thrown up so much today I don't think anything has stayed with him. I'm worried about him staying hydrated and I know he's lost weight. But still no fever. It's definitely getting worse. I'm going to try to not give him wheat tomorrow and see what happens. That's assuming we get back to solids. I am really worried about my boy. This has been going on for a long time, but it hasn't been this bad. I am making an appointment with an allergy specialist tomorrow. I'm not waiting on the Ped doc. When he seems ok, I'm calm and believing in the process. When he's sick like tonight, and last Thurs, I'm scared. Pray for my boy.
Thursday afternoon DS was very sick. I took him to his preschool program because he wanted to go so badly. Once there he started feeling bad and asked to go home. he was worse in the car on the way home, and he quickly got sicker. I gave him Benadryl even though he didn't have hives. My gut says this is food allergy again. I thought I'd watch him for a while and call the doc. He wanted to lay down, wanted to be carried to bed. His tummy was hurting so much he was crying. It was hugely distended and rock hard. We just got in the car and went to the doctor's office. I called on the way. He puked his guts out in the car, poor kid. And just looked awful. The doc wanted to Xray his abdomen, so we did. I had the feeling we were paying for an Xray of gas, but I did it. And it was gas. The big question is 'why are his intestines so irritated?'. He keeps having bouts of diarrhea or vomiting, and he's fine in between- normal kid, no fever aches etc. Thurs was worse. The doc wanted blood for an I CAP allergy test. They didn't get enough blood, and blew both of his little anticubital veins. Next time we will insist on driving to the Children's hospital where they know how to do Pedi blood draws. I asked if they could run the most likely culprits on the blood they have. We had to go back Friday. he was better Thurs night, but this time was scary. Doc E wanted to run four allergens. I have a feeling that it's banana. Uncommon, I know. But I am praying it's not soy or wheat. Egg we could live with. I told the doc that he hasn't had fish in a month and has never had tree- or pea-nuts. He's had food cooked with shrimp. That was a while ago, too. He's never actually eaten any shellfish. And we know milk, already. That's the big 8. I was curious to see what his score would be now on milk, but we'll just wait until next year. He's taking Zyrtec for seasonal allergies, and it's used to control hives. I wonder if he could have a full-blown anaphylactic reaction (life threatening) and not get the tell-tale welts. Would his teachers be savvy enough to give him the epi pen just on difficulty breathing, before had seizures or worse?
For the last two days we've been avoiding soy, egg and banana as well as the usual milk/dairy. I am keeping a food log. Very hard to avoid wheat; We haven't, but he's doing fine. He's back to normal. That's the good news and the maybe not-so-good news, too. I really want my boy to outgrow his allergy, not have more. Pray for us, that he stays healthy and the doc can give us some answers.
