Gracie on the mend and Nana knows best

Apparently I should have posted about Gracie's illness a lot sooner, because "calling her out" about it on this blog seemed to do the trick!

Thanks to everyone for all your well wishes... we truly appreciate it. It's been so hard to see her so sick and listless - - we've missed her so much over the last several days.

Nana had been saying since arriving, "She looks like she has allergies... or a terrible sinus-induced migraine." While we agreed with the migraine part (we've seen this countless times with her), we weren't sold on the allergy part. She hadn't been sneezing and she didn't really scratch at her nose or eyes much (except for Wednesday - - the horribly windy day). She's been comprehensively tested twice with no major allergies (although I know it can change at any time). I figured if it was allergy related, it would have subsided by Friday and thought the fact that she'd been closed up in a dark room with the humidifier running non-stop should have helped and it didn't.

Late Saturday night, I gave her Benadryl, hoping that if it were allergy-related (like Nana thought), she'd get some relief and maybe a bit more rest. She spent the better part of the night with her head hanging off the bed, despite my repeated efforts to move her back. She seemed to be much more comfortable with the pressure in her head if she was "upside down" and when I finally decided to leave her alone, she rested a bit more comfortably... another indicator that she was suffering from serious sinus pressure. (Her bed is on the floor without a box-spring, so she's not in any danger! It's like this so that she has the freedom to get in and out of bed on her own.)

She woke up Sunday morning with her right eye swollen shut... and I mean shut. She'd been puffy-eyed for a couple of days, but today her left eye was normal and her right eye looked horrible. However, she immediately stripped herself naked (yes... diaper, too) upon waking and waited for me to come change her. While we are working on modifying this behavior, I was thrilled that my girl appeared to be making a comeback! I got her dressed, washed her face, did her trach care... and then she went back to sleep about a foot from her bed. While she napped, I talked to her opthamologist, explained the last few days and her fabulous "shiner" and she, too, thought it sounded "reactive" - - either sinuses or allergies. She recommended an allergy eye drops and wants me to call her Monday to let her know if her eye looks better.

Around noon Gracie emerged from her room. Her coloring looked a bit better, she wasn't as light sensitive and she was wanting to interact. Soon after, she signed, "shoes" as in, "I want my shoes so we can go somewhere." She continued to improve throughout the day and even joined us on an outing to the grocery store. Being upright in her chair and in the car seemed to help with the swelling in her eye, as did the eye drops. By evening, she was pretty much her sassy self (with the exception of a still-swollen eye and a bit less energy) and was acting as though the last 3+ days hadn't even happened.

Looks like Nurse Nana was right! Hopefully tomorrow we'll finally get to celebrate her birthday. And, it looks like Wednesday will go on as planned afterall!


(Despite how different their symptoms are, Preston is also suffering from allergies. His pediatrician put him on an antibiotic, which didn't do anything but tear up his tummy. I mentioned allergies to him, but he wasn't convinced. Nana was right about Preston, too... another point for Nana! Guess we'll be taking both kids in for allergy testing... something in the air here is not agreeing with them right now.)