Sorry It’s Been So Long

Sorry for the dearth of posts recently. I guess I should just recap the last few weeks. There haven’t been any new pictures, because our digital camera was damaged in the flood. We sent it in for repair, but have no idea when we’ll be getting it back. I do have some pictures to scan and post – I hope to get to that this weekend. So what’s been going on?

First, we got a second opinion on Mikaela’s throat from a doctor at the Mayo Clinic. The doc at Mayo looked at the pictures taken during her scope procedure and immediately noted evidence of significant reflux (an issue the doctor at Children’s Mercy has dismissed, almost out of hand). The good news is that it’s easy to treat – Mikaela’s been taking a Zantac 75 twice a day, and it appears to be working. Despite having a bit of a cold on and off, it hasn’t turned into croup like it was doing everytime she got a cold. The Zantac keeps down the reflux, which in turn keeps her throat from being irritated by stomach acid, which means that post-nasal drip isn’t falling on already irritated tissue, so it doesn’t get swollen and cause croup. Mikaela doesn’t really like taking her pill right now, but it’s MUCH better than repeated trips to the ER for breathing treatments. There is a pediatric liquid version of Zantac, but it’s expensive and VERY bitter tasting. Given Mikaela’s history of spitting out medicines, getting her pills down twice a day is easier than getting her to choke down a bitter liquid three times/day.

Development-wise, Mikaela just keeps truckin’ along. She now “gets air” when she jumps, which she finds VERY exciting. She’s also become quite a climber. Last week, she climbed all the way up the little climbing-wall ladder to the swings at the park all by herself. She’s talking more in more in phrases and small sentences. She’s settled on a favorite Sesame Street episode – the special 35th anniversary episode called “The Street We Live On”. She’s memorized much (if not all) of it, and often does the lines along with the characters on the screen. She even mimics their mannerisms. She also has a Sesame Street CD that she likes to sing along with in the car. Mikaela likes to color with crayons, and she even tries (though not really all that hard) to stay inside the lines when she colors on coloring book pages.

Business is going well for Miriam. She will be moving into a larger office space soon, probably just around the corner from where she is now. She’ll have more room for files and back-office work, and she’ll be a primary tenant instead of on a sub-lease. She’ll even be able to put up signage on an street-facing window. I’m sure many of you will get announcement cards in the mail when she makes the move. Her phones numbers and e-mail address will stay the same.

I had fun playing in the Congregation Beth Torah Golf Tournament, on a team sponsored by the Rittmaster Law Offices, with Jay Lewis, Oscar Hampton, and Jim Montemayor – with Doug Polsky pinch-hitting for us after a long rain-delay. We won the abbreviated tournament, coming in at five under par through nine holes. We won tickets to the Chiefs game against the Texans this weekend. I also had a trial in St. Louis recently, and got to spend the evening before the trial hanging out with my friend Eric Vesper, who recently graduated from UMKC dental school and is now practicing in St. Louis.

I’ll try to be better about keeping things updated. Hopefully, I’ll have some new pictures up this weekend. L’shana tovah and Gamar chatimah tovah to all!