Infected...even worse :-(

(The Maisie pictures in this post have nothing to do with the post, they’re all just cell phone pictures which I’ve been meaning to post.)

This has been like a never ending bad ride trying to get to the root of Maisie’s nasal congestion and trying to make her feel better.  Maisie is up every.single.night, often for a few hours at a time because she’s so congested she just can’t breathe through her nose at all.  She amazes me though, the fact that she keeps up with her heavy gymnastics schedule, continues to be an ‘A’ student at school and is an all around good kid…though she does have her moments, I’m honestly surprised that they’re as far and few between as they are.

Maisie has had congestion problems forever and has been on allergy meds since she was a baby.  Back in November, just before Thanksgiving we found out that Maisie had some food allergies to wheat, egg whites & diary so we completely removed those items from her diet and that helped significantly with the congestion that was “up front” in her nose.  Inside, her nose had always been wet looking and blue but after removing the problem foods from her diet her nose dried up and it was a healthy looking pink inside.  Though her nose dried up she still had congestion but it wasn’t until the Wednesday before Christmas when it got really bad and her sleep, or “lack of sleep” problems began. 

Teammates, Tia, Maisie, Alyssa & Taylor

We visited Maisie’s Pediatrician the end of December and then because the meds she prescribed didn’t seem to help we had a return visit on January 20th.  The doctor was sort of at a loss as to what the problem was, thinking it may have been Maisie’s adenoids she sent her to an ENT.  Maisie saw the ENT on January 27th and he scoped her nose to find that her adenoids were small and perfect.  The ENT could hear Maisie’s congestions so he then sent us to an Allergist for further allergy testing.  That visit was on February 1st and Maisie was a trooper as they pricked her back and did the testing but no additional allergies were found.  The Allergist felt that it was a sinus problem so he arranged for Maisie to have a CAT scan which she had on February 8.  We had a follow-up visit with the Allergist on Valentine’s Day and with the CT scan results we found out that Maisie had a major infection in her sphenoid sinuses.  The doctor put her on a 28 day course of Augmentin and said that we should follow up with the ENT.  The Augmentin seemed to help a little, maybe 10%, so on March 16, three days after finishing the Augmentin Maisie returned to the ENT and he heard that she was still congested but he didn’t want her to have another CT scan so soon after finishing the antibiotic.  He put her on an antihistamine and a stronger nasal steroid and wanted to give that 30 days before doing a follow-up CT scan.   

The follow up CT scan was scheduled for April 13th but each day since Maisie’s visit on March 16th I’ve noticed that Maisie’s congestion has gotten worse…and so has her sleep.  Monday I started calling the ENT’s office saying that she just couldn’t wait another three weeks for the CT scan and another week for the follow-up appointment, that it needed to be done ASAP.  I thankfully got through to a wonderful triage nurse, Shelley, who really helped me out.  After school today I took Maisie for her follow-up CAT scan.  We then took the disk of the scan down to Shelley at Children’s at Scottish Rite, the radiology place got a STAT report to her and she got the doctor to review everything.  From the time Maisie started her scan to Shelley calling me at home with the results was less than 2 hours. 

Last Friday morning after practice Coach Hardy was chatting with us and Maisie decided that she wanted to snuggle into him, it was so cute I just had to snap a picture.  Maisie loves working with Coach Hardy.

Well I knew something was wrong and sure enough, the infection now is even worse than before she endured that course of Augmentin.  In fact it’s severe enough that they want Maisie to see a surgeon sooner than later.  They scheduled Maisie for an appointment on Friday with the surgeon and we’ll see what she has to say.  For now though the ENT has put Maisie 30 days of a new antibiotic, Omnicef and she’s back on a probiotic to help with the stomach side effects.  My poor little Maisie Miao Miao…now we wait to see what the surgeon says on Friday.

Maisie hasn’t wanted to eat much this week but last week she requested meatballs and I was happy to oblige.  These Baked Meatballs are Maisie’s favorite and the girl can easily down 6 to 8 at a go and I’m not even going to mention how many Eammon and I enjoy each time as these are really good.  Personally I enjoy a couple of them cold for breakfast but that’s my odd little thing.  Just click on the picture to be taken to the recipe.

Other recipes posted on Cook Lisa Cook include: Mango Lassi, Stir-Fried Asparagus with Water Chestnuts, Ginger & Cashews, Curried Roast Chicken Pieces with Spicy Sweet Potato & Carrots, Grilled Corn & Bacon Pudding, Oriental Chicken Salad, Potato Salad with Bacon, Coffee Crusted Steak, Home Style Chicken Curry, Watermelon Frosty,  Mango Gazpacho, Toll House Double Stuff Oreo Brownies, Long Beans with Walnuts, Blacksmith Pizza, Rhubarb Crisp, Laksa, Math Book No Bake Cookies, Aloo Gobi, Mint Lassi, Red Curry Chicken, Lamb Curry, Grilled Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, Baked Egg Cups Two Ways, Thai Peanut Salad, Holy Guacamole, Cantaloupe Agua Fresca, Wallaby Darned, Piggy-Out Cookies, Wicked Good New England Lobster Roll, Long Beans with Garlic, Super Simple Summer Shrimp Salsa Salad, Grandma’s Teriyaki Steak, Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho, Red Chinese Long Beans with Peppers & Red Curry, 24-Layer Crêpe Cake, Fig & Watermelon Salad, Grilled Chèvre & Fig Panini, Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad, Grilled Prawns, Spicy Brown Sugar Bacon, Kicked Up Piggy-Out Cookies, Pesto Pita Pizza, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Nutella Crêpes, Mango, Lime & Chile Spiced Ice Box Pie, Roast Beef & Garlic Herb Cheese Sandwich, Layered Crespelle with Bolognese, Fresh Mozzarella & Basil, Jamaican Jerk Meat Pies, Nutella No Bake Cookies, Velvety Mac & Cheese, Welsh Cakes, Tom Yam Ghoong (Spicy Shrimp Soup), Lime Jewels, Southwest Pasta Salad, Walnut Roca Squares, Uncle Bubba’s Shrimp & Grits, Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies, Copycat “KFC” Coleslaw, Happy 6th Birthday Maisie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies, Thin Mint Irish Coffee, Caramel Apples, “Rotisserie” Chicken, Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich, Mummy Hotdogs, Mango Upside Down Cake, Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens, Aloo Tikki, Pink Strawberry Cake Balls, Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake, Apple Dumplings, Rum Cured Salmon, Apple, Cranberry & Rhubarb Crisp, Hasselback Potatoes with Garlic Sour Cream, Crunchy Oat, Almond, Cashew & Pebbles Granola Bars, Texas Chicken with Lime Butter, Biscoff Fudge, Eggnog Popovers with Cranberry Butter, Creamed Corn with Cheese and Cilantro, Potato Crusted Pork Chops, Oatmeal, Cashew & Chocolate Granola Bars, Texas Chicken Sandwich, Seared Scallops with Creamy Pesto & Lemon Pepper Pasta, Thai Chicken Noodle Soup, Glazed Lemon Squares, Chang-Style Brussels Sprouts, Maisie “safe” No Bake Cookies, Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart, Pork Dumplings with Rice Wrappers, Sweet & Spicy Apple Pork, Dark Chocolate Dipped Candied Lemon Peel, Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites, Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake, Malted Pretzel Crunch, Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing, Apple Pancakes, Baked Egg & Avocado, Health(ier) Peanut Brittle, Crab Cake Stuffed Mushrooms, Broiled Sushi, Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter, Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole, Slow Cooker Chicken Curry & Slimmed Down Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole.

Enjoy!