How Megan is Handling Things . . .

I've had several people ask me how Meg is dealing with all these tests. She is actually doing incredibly well :) The techs at Cooks (the children's hospital) are really good :) Meg says the blood tests barely hurt and one she didn't even feel. She hates it when doctors use tongue depressors (she once threw up because of one), but she has learned that as long as she opens her mouth really wide, they don't use one. At her last visit, Dr Eger (the Infectious Disease specialist) joked that she could see all the way down to Meg's kidneys because Megan opened her mouth so wide. I've tried to explain to her what each of the tests are and I tell her what she is going to get done so she doesn't have to worry that they are going to do something else. I'm not quite sure how to explain an echocardiogram to her as I've never had one. Can anyone tell me what they are like? I'm assuming they are similar to ultrasounds, but on your chest.

Megan's drs have been wonderful. Our pediatrician, Dr. Robert, calls us several times a week from his cell phone after he gets off work to see how she's doing, make sure he's gotten the latest test results, and answer any questions I have about them. All of the nurses and drs we have worked with at Cooks have been wonderful. The other night we decided to do a "family date" and asked the kids where they wanted to go. Megan asked to go to Cooks :) At least she's not dreading it!

I've worked hard to make sure she has things to do while we wait. We work on homework or read books. She and I are reading "Little House in the Big Woods" - the first book in the Little House on the Prairie series. She draws pictures and writes letters. Christy and Molly have both gotten her coloring and activity books to give her something new to do.

Along the lines of writing letters to people, Megan has now learned to send emails. She has sent them to several people and she and my grandmother email each other several times a day now :) I think I may end up setting up her own email account . . . :)