We're Back!!

It's been a very busy Spring! Renee is finally doing much better. She lost some time and confidence with her eye/thyroid incident. She had to sit on the sidelines for almost 2 months. Her vision is back to 20/20 (with contacts) and she feels really good. She has learned a new respect for medicine and proper usage.

Lauren just kept chugging right along the whole time. She did wonderful in school and balanced that and softball very well.

I have to remember how to use this wonderful technology. I still never figured out how Mandy can put so many pictures on at once.

This picture is from Memorial Day weekend. The Future Rebels had 4 teams entered and all 4 placed. Our 14U '95's won the 14U's, the 18U's won the HS Gold division, the 16U Teal won the HS Silver and the 16U Black took 2nd in the HS Silver division. This all of them. Can you find Renee? (She's on the left of the red-headed 1 with white sunglasses on her head.)

Better News

Renee went to the Opthamologist and was diagnosed with inflamed corneas. She also has seriously dry eyes, which could each be factors of the other. She has steroid drops to use 3X's a day and tear drops to use as often as she wants. She goes back on Monday to see if this has helped.

Still not sure...

Well, Renee was doing better when we got her off of her extra dosage of medicine. Her vision improved, but it has not returned to normal. She still is only 20/30 with a new contact prescription. We have ruled out the MG and other neurological disease they suspected could be the culprit. Everything they rule out makes us feel a little better. There were some scary diagnosis(es) floating around. Her blood has been tested this week to make sure she is at the right level on her medication, and the Dr. said her results were perfect.

So, why can't she see consistently? She has light sensitivity and her vision vacillates between clearish to fuzzy. We are taking her to an Opthamologist on Monday morning. We hope he will have an answer/solution/diagnosis for her. We have read on-line of symptoms of too much of her medication. Those symptoms really fit what she is experiencing. We've read that it can take up to 6 months for the effects to wear off or they could never. There could be swelling in her brain putting pressure on her optic nerves. She did have a CT scan of her head when this all started and nothing showed up.

Sorry, no cute bunny pictures.

Back in the saddle....hopefully.

Renee has been cleared by the Optometrist and the Neurologist to play softball again. There is a game tonight, so, we'll see if the Coach lets her play. Previously she has started every game either at 2nd, Pitcher or Left Field. There are girls who rarely play at all. Coach may let them play and have Renee sit because she missed a week of practices.

Here's hopin' she'll be out on the field!

Happy Birthdays!

This was a busy birthday week! Karlton and Don had their birthday Monday! Happy Birthday to the Old Farts!!

Wednesday was Konrad's 1st Birthday!!! What a big boy! It's hard to believe it's been a year, but also hard to remember a time when I was not asking Laura every week how my guy was doing.

Thursday was another Old Fart Birthday, Uncle Bill!! But, he had the bonus of getting 3 new members of his birthday club this time. Congratulations to Vern and Stacie and Allison on the arrival of the 3 newest Smith's! We hope you are all doing well!

Lots of love to all the Birthday boys and girls!

Status update...

Well, I knew it would happen...I slacked off. The girls have been cruising along with school and softball. Getting lots of A's and making great plays.

We have had a little hiccup with Renee this past week. She told me Tuesday morning that she couldn't open her eyes all the way. They just wanted to close. It was fine when she looked down, but not when she looked straight ahead. It was FCAT day, the state's standardized testing that determines everything. She said she could do it so we let her go to school. We called her Endocrinologist and the Optometrist while she was at school. The eye appointment didn't help. The Dr. couldn't get her to 20/20 in either eye and she was a 2 out of 10 for eye dryness. She said the muscles weren't responding properly. The thyroid Doc got back to Rod late in the day and said we needed to get her tested for Myasthenia Gravis the next day with our Pediatrician.

She went to school the next day and then to the Ped. Doc. She couldn't run the test and refereed us to a list of Pediatric Neurologists. Beginning of April was the best any of them could do. Of course that was not good enough! Thursday, the Ped Doc told us to take her to Florida Hospital Pediatric ER to get blood tests started and a CT scan run. The good new there was that the ER docs really didn't think it looked like MG and the brain and blood were both fine. They sent us home that night.

Friday, we let her sleep in and then took her for a follow-up with the Neurologist. They did a bunch of tests on her and she passed. The woman working with her said her eyelids looked more swollen than droopy, but that we knew her best.

This morning we knew she was out of her Rx for her thyroid medicine and Rod went to get the container so we could get it refilled. He said that there were 15 pills in there, but it should be empty. Renee had taken 1/2 of a 125mg pill every morning. She cut it in half with the cutter every other day. In Feb. the Dr. upped her dosage from 62 (half of a 125) to 75, just a straight 75mg pill. The 75 mg pill bottle had 15 pills in it and was sitting next to the 125mg empty pill bottle. We believe that she has over dosaged herself. She thought she was taking 75, but actually was taking 125, BIG difference!

Today she took a 75mg pill and tomorrow she will not take a pill. The symptoms of too much include blurred vision, sensitivity to light and swollen eye lids. We are hoping that this is the real problem and that she may be back to "normal" soon.

This has been the scariest few days. We hope this will be over soon. I did not share sooner because is was too upsetting. Now, that we might have some answers, I can share.

2 Future Rebels!

Renee made it onto the 16U Future Rebels team yesterday! She is very proud of herself! It is really neat to see that when the girls have that pride in themselves. Renee has had a lot to be proud of lately! Way to go Renee!