Need to remeber to pack clothes when leaving...

OK, now that I have a bit more time I thought I would write about Margaret and how she interjected some excitement into our trip to Utah and how surprised I am that Child Protective Services weren't called on me while I was there. LOL

After the appointment at the geneticist James kept asking to go to "the place where the kids play". This is what he calls McDonalds. John and I knew the children needed some time out of the car seats so we went to look for a McDonalds. There are only two in St. George according to the GPS. The first one I saw as we were driving to the doctor's office and I noticed there was no playland there. So we headed to the other McDonalds. OMG, this was one of THE busiest and dirtiest McDs I have EVER been! The play area was pretty small and there were LOTS of kids there playing. The equipment was super filthy but Joseph was determined to crawl around in the floor. I used three baby wipes just to clean the filth off the little toddler slide Joseph was touching.

John went and got food. I won't worry you with the unsanitary things John saw the people assembling the food were doing. He did tell the manager and to their credit they did pull all the food that person was touching. We got chicken nuggets and fries for the children. Margaret LOVES fries.

James was playing and I was feeding Joseph. We gave Margaret some fries and a couple of nuggets and we were letting her feed herself. This was mistake one. The second mistake was neither of us were keeping a close enough eye on her. She has never learned not to stuff her mouth full. She just shoves food in and does not stop. The next thing I know I hear her gag. I look over and I see her mouth is STUFFED full of fries. I knew what was about to happen next and there was nothing I could do. A couple of quick gagging motions, by this time John also knew what was about to happen and had his hands ready, and then she blew...

Margaret vomited ALL over John's hands. At first I thought we might be lucky since he caught most of it but apparently she still had a lot of french fries in her mouth because she gagged some more. Next came SO much vomit that John's arm was covered, got some on his shirt and pants and the floor was full of vomit. Margaret had vomit all down the front of her shirt and shorts.

I did not know what else to do since we were about to have to ride back to Las Vegas with Margaret stinking for the next 2.5 hours so after I helped John get cleaned up some I took Margaret to the bathroom. We get to the bathroom and I take the handicap stall. I take Margaret's shoes off and then strip off her shirt and pants so she is standing there with nothing but a diaper on. Keep in mind the day before I had scratched Margaret pretty bad trying to grab her before she ran from me. She is SUPER skinny being 25lbs and 36in tall and she is standing there with nothing but a diaper on. I go to the bathroom sink to get soap and wash her shirt and shorts and leave her in the stall. I washed her clothes and though they were not perfect they were a lot better but now they were very wet. So I think the next logical thing to do is use the hand dryer and dry the clothes off.

James has a problem with the vacuum running but it does not bother Margaret so I did not think about the hand dryer upsetting her. I turn the hand dryer on and the woman in the stall next to me comes out at the same time Margaret shoots out of the stall crying and screaming because of the hand dryer. To give the woman credit she looked at Margaret and just washed her hands and left. I ran the hand dryer some more because the clothes were still wet and Margaret screamed some more. This time she was hitting sensory overload because she started sticking her hand in her mouth (did I mention this could cause her to vomit?). Margaret is screaming, looking at me with her hand in her mouth, basically naked and behind the door to the bathroom as another woman came in. She stopped and stared at me and then Margaret. I could tell she did not know what to do....lol. I was happy when she just decided to mind her own business, I was having enough to deal with without her trying to butt in, and I was able to finish a second cycle with the hand dryer. Margaret's clothes were still damp but they were ok and living in the desert I knew they would finish drying out soon.

I have learned my lesson. MUST pack clothes when heading out of town! Margaret is my vomiter. She gags and vomits over she simplest things. This story might be disgusting to some but if you have a vomiter in your life you will understand the humor in it. :)

Trip to Utah

Tuesday afternoon we went and picked up the rental car so we could get the children's car seats moved to the rental car. To move over three seats is not horribly hard but it does take time and when it is 105 degrees outside it is not fun. On Wednesday morning we got up early. I gave the children a bath while John made breakfast. Once the bath was over I took the kids downstairs and John had a yummy breakfast prepared. We ate, loaded the children in the car and hit the road.

St. George is only about 2.5 hours from Vegas but they are on mountain time so one has to take that in consideration when you make an appointment. I have to leave at least 3.5 hours before the appointment time. Even though it is only a 2.5 hour car ride keeping 3 hyper kids tired up in a car seat is just asking for trouble. Apparently two hours is Margaret's limit. For the last 30 minutes of our car ride we got to hear Margaret scream. Each time she screamed she caused Joseph to cry and then James lashed out hitting Margaret and telling her to be quiet. What a great last 30 minutes before we get to the geneticist office...lol. We arrived a bit early. The kids were antsy since they wanted to run around.

We met with the geneticist. The doctor said Joseph may be suffering from a genetic condition but the doctor doubted that was the case. The other possibility is a fatty oxidation disease (FOD). This is something that should have been caught at a newborn screening. So the doctor does not think this is Joseph's problem but we went ahead and ordered the test because it only involves blood work. This is also a test Johns Hopkins will probably want to run so we might as well do it now.

The geneticist told me I appeared to be unhappy with the medical establishment so far. The short answer to that is yes. Joseph is 3.5 years old and we have seen numerous specialists and NOT ONE OF THEM can tell me why Joseph suffers from the severe neurological problems he has (no indepenent walking, hypotonia and mental retardation) and not one of them seem to care. To them my son is just a number because there are only a few specialists in Las Vegas and they are SUPER booked. Why shouldn't I be unhappy? I want more for my son!