Last Hurrah?

Carter had the day off school last Friday.  He always has a random Superintendent's Day near the end of March, and we've usually used it to do something that's too busy to do during area-wide school breaks.  At least a couple years he's ended up at the Rochester Museum and Science Center.  I had mentioned it as a possibility this year mostly because there was a cool Lego exhibit and I thought that might be fun, if nothing else.  I know that he's aging out rapidly and as a result he was only lukewarm to the idea, but I figured it might be one last hurrah to usher out that phase of life.  I sweetened the deal with breakfast and lunch of his choice, and then he was cool with it.  Breakfast was more because our first order of the day on Friday was getting his blood work done.  As I mentioned in my last post, we had made the decision to move forward with testing him for Celiac Disease.  His skinny physique and the struggles with the skin around his mouth had both made us wonder, but he wasn't really having any GI symptoms, so the doctor wasn't convinced.  I ultimately didn't go through with it last year because I was trying to measure what was my anxiety vs. a legitimate worry, and once he was able to gain some weight, I was less concerned and didn't want to put him through an unnecessary blood draw as that's been a major phobia of his.  But more recently, the people with working noses in our house have noticed that certain GI activities of his have been a bit smellier than average, and that's yet another possible symptom of an intolerance.  So, at this point it felt important to just get it over with.  If it was positive, we'd figure it out and get him healthier, and if it wasn't, we'd have some peace of mind and possibly explore a couple other things, like maybe probiotics or something.  He did amazing with the blood draw, especially considering when he was a toddler he once punched a phlebotomist and also screamed bloody murder to the point that the waiting room people looked at us in horror when we walked out.  He has mostly gotten over his needle phobia now, even skipping the freeze spray he's gotten for shots over the years.  He didn't even flinch!  Of course, I was super annoyed when I figured out that I wasn't getting results because I lost access to his medical information when he turned 12 because of privacy laws.  That meant a whole additional weekend of not knowing any carrying around that worry.  I was even more annoyed when I went through Monday with no word from the doctor's office.  MyChart did get back to me later in the day that day, but I needed to call them with Carter present and didn't see that until 15 minutes before they shut down for the day and I wasn't home with him.  Ugh.

Anyway, because he got blood work done and had to fast, I offered up a fun breakfast.  He picked Taco Bell, much to my delight because I love their Cinnabon coffee that comes with the breakfast meal.  I figured a big breakfast would also give us more time at the museum before needing lunch.  We came home so he could eat his breakfast, and then shortly after headed back out because we also needed to get the museum done before a certain time when Jacob would need to be picked up.  We had to first stop at the library to pick up the BOGO pass for the museum.  That's the only thing that made what I figured would be a shorter visit worthwhile, since admission is up over $20 now!  Of course, it figures that the library I picked was randomly closed for the day!  So, the next best option was the same sketchy one in the city we had to go to last time we used that pass.  I should clarify, the library is not sketchy--it's actually sort of sweet and old-school homey, the kind of place you imagine a city kid finding some peace in a quiet corner where they fall in love with books--but the neighborhood very much is.  But it was fine, we got our pass, and off we went.

It was a much more abbreviated visit than our past ones, but that was okay.  We felt fine skipping over some things we've done before or avoiding field trip crowds.  We did a lot of "drive-bys" of certain areas, just making sure there wasn't anything new that we needed to see.  Carter has definitely outgrown quite a bit, but we still had fun.

This was new since the last time I was there.  Well, it was there but set up differently and definitely not lighted like this.  It looked so cool.

Unfortunately, our favorite canal lock model wasn't working quite right, but we tried!  I have such a better appreciation for this since we took that canal boat tour years ago and experienced the locks first-hand!

My big kid in a barrel chair...

...and on the pirate ship!  He was trying his darnedest not to smile for this picture because I'm pretty sure I was embarrassing him, but I got him!

Had to take a selfie with this big guy...

I will always have a special affection for old-school dioramas at museums.  I know they're not nearly as captivating as all of the electronic, hands-on stuff museums have now, but I still think they're cool.  I had never really noticed the odd life form in this aquatic one--what is that long, skinny creature?!

And every museum needs some bones and some taxidermied animals.  This guy is always pretty cool.

I liked this Bills hat in the (new-to-me) Native American display that was under construction last time I was there.

I always liked looking at the rocks in a pair of display cases, but sadly a lot were off exhibit this time.  But I thought this one was cool.

Seeing a wampum belt was fun since Carter learned about them a couple years ago in school.  That whole unit (the one that included building a working lacrosse game) definitely stuck with him.

We played around with the section focused on sound, and then had some fun in the optics/light room...

We also stopped by my favorite, the blob of magnetic iron filings...

After that we headed up to the top floor for the Lego exhibit.  It was really impressive, as usual.  This one featured a bunch of animals and shared how many pieces they took and how long they took to build.  Most were between 200-600 hours and tens of thousands of pieces.  That is dedication, for sure.

I loved this lizard!  So colorful!

Carter pretending to pet the buffalo (and its baby)

The physics alone of this one were impressive!

Carter for scale with the tree frog

This is a pangolin, and the detail on the rock and his tongue of a bunch of bugs was pretty cool.

This bee was giant and a little intimidating from this angle!

It's hard to tell here, but this one was so long!  I bet it was nearly six feet!

This Venus fly trap was huge and super impressive.

One even had the fly!

Even the sponsor and artist were Lego-fied! 

We even got photo proof that Carter is just a couple inches behind me!  And 160 Lego bricks high!

This whole mural was Legos, too.

My monkey... :)

It was a pretty neat exhibit.  I probably preferred the artsy one we saw in Buffalo back in 2019, but it was still really cool.

We headed back down because Carter wanted to do his favorite flight simulator one more time before we left.  We ended up having to wait through a couple kids, but he finally got a chance.  

We headed out and stopped at Little Caesar's for his lunch of choice.  They have these new crazy puffs and he's been begging to try them.  We opted for a pack of those and a pizza that was half pizza, half cheesy bread.  Pretty cheap and all good!  I had to eat fast, though, because I had to run out and pick up Jacob.  But in the end, it was a pretty good day and I'm glad we had one last trip to the museum before he's too cool for it...or me!

On Tuesday, Jacob had his GI follow-up and we also had the boys' routine med checks.  Jacob's appointment went well.  Most of his symptoms have decreased significantly, and the nurse practitioner was happy with where he was at with going off the iron.  She did prescribe a different reflux med that I think is more for when he's having an attack (which has been much rarer), rather than a daily med.  She was happy to hear we were looking into anxiety meds, as that could help him, as well.  So overall, that went well and I think put his mind at ease--aside from his blood pressure, which still sits a bit high these days (but not as high as it once was).  At the med check, we were finally able to get Carter's test results.  The doctor mentioned his iron was low, which I sort of knew, and we'll be supplementing for a bit.  He also mentioned a couple things were a little high, but didn't seem too concerned about those as they can fluctuate if your body is fighting off something.  However, the Celiac numbers were perfect, so he does NOT have Celiac Disease...woohoo!  That was great news.  He was very relieved and already started planning his next visit to Raising Cane's...haha.  

On the way home from the doctor, I called the MyChart number since I had Carter in the car, and we got my access restored by the time we got home.  So, of course, I hopped on to see the results myself, and immediately I got a bit concerned.  His white cells were just a bit high, but his sedimentation rate and CRP were both high.  Both are related to inflammation in the body.  The upper normal for CRP is a 3 and Carter's was over 30!  That was alarming, especially because we really didn't have an answer for the smelly GI situation or his skinny physique.  He hasn't really been sick--maybe some sniffles and I think he had a touch of loose BMs a little over a week ago--but that the level was that high freaked me out.  I messaged the doctor back asking if there was more testing or anything we should be doing in the meantime, given that there wasn't an immediate explanation for it.  Apparently they had multiple providers look at it and they weren't concerned, but it still freaks me out a bit.  So, I guess we just keep an eye on him?  We're supplementing with iron and added in a probiotic for now, so I guess we'll see how that goes.  It seems like the low iron could cause inflammation itself, I think we're going to retest in a few months, but you can bet that if anything comes up as suspect in the meantime, I will be knocking on their door again rather quickly.  I've been grilling him a bit to make sure there aren't any other aches or pains or ailments he's not telling me about.  It's like when his swollen face/jaw was at its worst and I was staring him down every day and asking lots of questions. I might be doing that again for a while here.  For the record, I think the other side of his jaw is still a little more swelled from the resurgence a few weeks ago, but it's definitely not as bad as the first round.  For all I know that could be causing inflammation, or maybe we'll find out the iron is enough to rectify things.  There's a whole host of things that iron impacts, so I guess we'll see.  Even still, I found it ironic that we got the all-clear on one kid and two hours later I was freaking out about the other one.  It's just relentless.  

As a side note, it's been tough to tell how my anxiety has managed through all of this.  I did take a couple days of klonopin to get through the worrying about the test results and then the subsequent inflammation concerns.  I wasn't spiraling, but I was thinking a lot and wasn't perfectly calm either.  My GI stuff has been off-kilter for about a week and I wondered if all of this was contributing to it, but it's hard to tell.  The serious stomach gurgling that was audible to anyone nearby has eased, but nothing's really making it through in solid form.  At least it's not painful, but I didn't really want a cleanout until my colonoscopy in a couple weeks.  I did go to the doctor today, especially since I have to be on the road this weekend, and she didn't have a lot to offer.  It might be a virus and go away or it might be a side effect of the Zoloft (which I could test out if I felt brave--definitely don't this weekend), but that might go away too if my body is adjusting.  I could try a BRAT diet for a bit (but not ideal when traveling), or if it's something more it will likely get either figured out or simply reset in a couple weeks.  I guess it's good I'm not in pain, losing weight, or too weak, but it's definitely not ideal.  A few days of Imodium will no doubt be on tap.  If it isn't one thing, it's another.

So, on to basketball season we go...