Monday Moments

• DH is feeling better and went to work today. The worst of it lasted only one night, and nobody else seems to be coming down with it so far.


• Baby E went to sleep without a 3-hour struggle for the first time in several days for her nap today. She's sleeping now. She has been increasingly fussy and short-fused lately.
  
  I can tell the reflux is bothering her a lot more now that she's been off the medicine for a few days. Sometimes I can hear her reflux, and then she'll start crying sharply. She woke up screaming this morning. She cries and says "ow" when I lay her down for diaper changes, etc. She's crying and saying "ow" a lot in general.
  
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  Our compounding pharmacist made up a few doses of omeprazole for her in a new batch, just so we can be sure it's actually the medicine and not some cross-contaminant that she's reacting to. If that doesn't work, I'll have to call the GI specialist to see if she can prescribe Zantac for us to try instead.
  
  I think those two are the only options for reflux medications that can be compounded free of Baby E's allergens, so I really hope one of them works. I'd hate to have to decide whether the pain and damage from the reflux or the mild allergic reactions are the lesser of two evils for Baby E.



• Speaking of compounding pharmacies, I spoke with the pharmacy that handled the Nystatin fiasco again today.
  
  They said that the reason they didn't disclose the glycerine and xanthan gum in the suspension was because they thought both the doctor and I were specifically asking whether there was glycerine or any other ingredients in the stevia itself, not in the entire medicine. So they didn't feel a need to disclose the other ingredients--even when I was calling trying to figure out why Baby E was reacting to it.
  
  That seems patently ridiculous to me. I did ask a lot of questions specifically about the stevia, but that was because they'd already told me there was nothing but water and stevia added to the nystatin powder. The pharmacist apologized and said it was a miscommunication. Ugh.
  
  At least she finally offered to refund my money.


• I e-mailed the company that makes the oxygen masks used by the children's hospital again. I hadn't heard anything more about what Baby E might have reacted to in the mask, so I wrote a follow-up e-mail.
  
  The medical supply company rep e-mailed back to say that she hasn't been able to get either the doctor or the hospital to return any of her phone calls. I'll have to call today and see if I can get them to give either the rep or me the product code so that the company can research it.


• It's amazing how much work, persistence and pushing it consistently takes just to get such simple pieces of information. Sometimes it seems the whole world is trying their best to make it difficult to deal with Baby E's allergies.


• After Baby E went down for a nap, I taught AJ and M&M their Bible lesson for the day. The lesson was about Adam and Eve, and the serpent in the garden.
  
  I had fun making my arm and hand into a snake and acting out the story with all the different voices. Two sets of eyes glowing, and the interest with which the girls discussed the story, made it the highlight of the day so far.