Back to square one?

So a few weeks ago we were back at the hospital meeting with Olivia's gastroentologist. We have been seeing him for over a year, he originally discovered how she is all clogged up and has had her on a laxative for over a year now. She is mostly cleared out now and has put on some weight but has hardly grown in height. I showed him her blood tests --indicating celiac disease and asked him about the biopsy my GP requested. We ended up having a conversation that went something like this.

Doctor: "Why did you even get this test done?" looking at the results....

Me: "Because Olivia's not growing and the GP was worried that progress wasn't being made."

Doctor: I hate this pathology center, they test everything correctly except celiac serontology. I am going to order a new blood test and analyse it myself and it WILL come back negative.

Me (thinking): why get a blood test if you have already decided what the outcome will be?

Doctor: If I had to do a biopsy on every positive celiac blood test I would never get to go home at 5:00

Me (thinking): well, I do pay you $400+ for one visit, you are the #1 at this posh private hospital in Sydney, so maybe a few late nights wouldn't kill you.

I finished up with him and then we went and got some more blood tests. He said he would call with the results in 3 weeks and if it was negative he would not see us again until 6 months. I figured since he already decided it would come back negative that I would start back at square one and go see an pediatric endocrinologist (dr.s who help kids grow). I haven't taken Olivia off of gluten yet, as we need her to eat it in order to get accurate tests for both her blood work and also for her biopsy. If the doctor won't do a biopsy then I might go gluten free without his consent. My grandparents sent me a book about going gluten free and Olivia fits all the typical symptoms to a T. In addition, after doing some homework, we discovered that her grandma has also tested positive for celiac disease, and her other grandma is allergic to yeast so --whether it is an allergic reaction to yeast or gluten we can hedge our bets by getting rid of the same food.

Overall, this might just be a smaller piece to the puzzle...I was kind of hoping it was the finally piece!

School pictures!

We are half way through the school year, and it is time for school pictures! Below are the girls, their class and some fun facts about how they are doing!

Mary-Adelle Swinton (Kindergarten)

Mary is in Mrs. Stephensons class, and her best friend is Georgie. Georgie is from Fiji and she is two girls to the left (girl with bangs). Mary is fantastic at reading and pretty average with math. She is again the tallest girl in her class and also one of the oldest. The cut off date is July and Mary is a September birthday. Mary still loves her dad (the most) but has warmed up to her mom a little bit more this year than previously!

Olivia Sue Swinton (Second grade)

Olivia is in Ms. Rigneys class. There were two year two classes this year and she was put in the one with the girls; the other one is all boys. Total there are 40 boys in year 2 and 11 girls at the infants school (Kindy--year 2)...which makes for a lot of drama regarding who likes who, love notes, and apparently engagement rings. Olivia had a boy bring her a ring at school. His mum said he spent his own money on it. Olivia was thrilled and immediately asked him, "is this a wedding ring- or an engagement ring?" He said...."NOT wedding- so I guess engagement!" I asked Olivia what an engagement ring was and she said "a best friends ring- Duh!" The kid had his bases covered because he handed another girl a ring 5 minutes later (Olivia's best friend)....they have agreed to share him which I find odd with 40 boys to pick from.

Aside from recess drama, Olivia does well in school. Highest reading group and first one to learn her multiplication tables. (0, 1,2, 5, & 10's). Still not sure which school to send her too for next year! Still doing heaps of school orientations, wait lists and school tours! She is still small but working hard to find answers to her failure to thrive!

Moving to New Delhi?

GUESS WHAT! Stan's company asked him if we wanted to do a project in New Delhi (India) in three weeks (for 6 months). He said YES, but soon found out that he needed more time at Bain (must have been at the company for 6 months min) so it was suggested that the dates to start be pushed back until January- June. We said YES to that too but nothing has been set in stone so we will see what happens. Overall the later dates work better because there would be a lot of things to do and such as:

• Get immunizations (6-8 weeks)--kids need shots in half doses!
• Let the kids finish the school year (especially since we are half way through school and India has an American school calendar year so we would miss out until September)
• Get Olivia's biopsy results and figure out how to eat gluten free etc...
• Go on all our trips we already have tickets for (Deep creek- USA, Melbourne Cup-New Zealand)--that would be a pain $$ to change!
• To be around for everyone who has tickets to Oz to see Olivia get baptized in the ocean etc...

Plus, who wants to show up in New Delhi in July?....120 F....

I have started looking up cool things to do and these are a few that came up on the list!

(1) Desert camping --ride the camel, and camp for 5 days....but it is posh camping--the tents are like Harry potter tents (lots of rooms) made out of bright fabric and the tour guides do all the cooking and stuff!

(2) Nepal... Himalayas... gorgeous!!!

(3) Taj-mahal...plus all the other cool temples....!

Just getting started if you know of any other cool things to do--let me know! I in the meantime will be renting all the bollywood films and watching with an open mind ....thank goodness people don't base their assumptions of America on Hollywood hu!

Thomas....

How I spend my days with Thomas.... so glad the other two are in school!

why wipe when you can eat the toilet paper?

Peanut butter....don't worry!

Getting a snack while I take a shower