Eiche fam

In case you were wondering, Namine hates shots.

The other day, she got her Synagis shot (for RSV) – and at least one other, I’m pretty sure – but there was too much to give in one go. So even though the dosage was for a single shot, they gave her one in each leg. Gotta even these things out, you know.

Namine had redness around her distractors. It’s worse on the right than on the left, but it’s pretty prevalent there too. We were afraid that it might be infected, so we took her in to see the plastic surgeon. To complicate matters, Namine had been having increased secretions and coughing, which might have indicated a trach or lung infection. Since everything is so close together, one infection can quickly lead to another, so we wanted to nip this in the bud, so to speak.

Well, the good news is that her distractors are not infected. The bad news, she’s allergic to Neosporin. How can you be allergic to freaking Neosporin? I mean, theoretically you can be allergic to anything, but come on. So we’re not putting anything on the distractors, and instead of a 50/50 solution of peroxide and water, we’re using straight-up peroxide. Next week we can start putting some skin cream on all the flaky and ucky skin, but not around the pins themselves.

As for the coughing and phlegm, I guess she just has a cold. The trach aspirate came back, negative for infection. And the symptoms are slowly but surely dissipating, so it looks like her immune system is kicking itself some little germy virus butt. (Now there’s a picture for you!)

In her physical therapy sessions, the therapist has been working with Namine to pick things up and put them in things, like coins in a jar, that sort of thing. Jessica tells me that Namine can easily pick things up with either hand, but she has trouble releasing with her right hand. The left doesn’t seem to give her any trouble. With this is mind, I set about, once again, to prove the impossible. I picked up one of Namine’s plastic Chicken McNugget people and told her to grab it, holding it closer to her right hand than her left. Namine took it from me and signed thank you, so I signed back, you’re welcome, thus earning a smile. I then asked her if I could have the nugget person back, and I held out my left hand in front of her right. Namine placed the little nugget man in my palm and let go, sans hesitation, sans difficulty, sans problem.

As I’m winding down here, I can’t help but think that it doesn’t feel like Christmas to me. Yes, I acknowledge that it’s nearing the end of December, but the most important date of this month, for me, has already come and gone. The fifth of this month, Namine’s jaw distraction, was the event that took our time and energy away from anything else that might have been vying for our attention. All the rest of this month has been pretty much just getting her back on her feet, health-wise.

But make no mistake, I’m happier than I can ever convey here that she’ll spend Christmas at home and with family. And a real (fake) Christmas tree, not the little dinky thing we had put up in her hospital room last year. When I can find the camera, I’ll show you a picture of her helping to put the angel on top of the tree.