A Step in the Right Direction, and the Sweetest Girl

The next couple of months were a blur of random sicknesses.

We had just switched to a new pediatrician in our town where we had moved a few months before. Funny story, I initially made an appointment with another doctor, but had the nagging feeling that I should cancel the appointment and have Kal seen by someone else. I had never met the doctor, yet, I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to listen to my gut feeling and cancel that first appointment. I did just that, and found a different pediatrician for him.

Our first appointment with him was because Kal had been acting grumpy and had pus coming from both of his ears, yet, no fever. He also had another kind of rash on his face that looked pus-like, as well yeast-looking rashes on his neck, behind his ears, and in his diaper area. It turns out he had a double ear infection, and both of his eardrums had ruptured. The doctor was unsure of the cause and type of rash he was dealing with, other than his obvious bad yeast rash. Poor little guy!

At that same appointment, after explaining Kal's whole health history, the pediatrician seemed a little overwhelmed and surprised that he'd been through so many things in his short life so far. He then confirmed all my previous beliefs by stating he thought all of these random illnesses were most likely related. Finally! I mean, when you've had doctors telling you your son was "just maybe really unlucky" with all those illnesses, even though your gut is telling you that there is probably some underlying reason, yet they refuse to entertain you concerns, it gets a little frustrating.  So, he referred me to an Immunologist to see if there's something going on that's causing Kal to not be able to keep up against all the illnesses he's faced.

Funny thing, I didn't expect much to come from our Immunologist appointment. I was so used to hearing no answer. I didn't want to get my hopes up that they would actually figure out what's going on.

But really, I was shocked and had no idea Kal's ears were that bad, and my heart ached to think how much pain he must have been in at that time, especially with his two different kinds of rashes going on at the same time. On the way home, I began sobbing. My daughter Kayelee was so sweet. She asked me, "Mommy, are you crying?"
Me: "Yes, I am."
Kayelee:"Mommy, don't be sad. Don't be sad."

In my times of no strength, when I couldn't help but cry, Kayelee somehow knew I needed her. There were some times in this whole process that when I was crying, she would just come up on the couch and sit next to me. She didn't say anything. She would just sit there and slowly lean her head on my arm. Sometimes in those moments she would give me a hug in the perfect moment I needed one. In the times she's not too busy practicing her diva skills, she really is just the sweetest girl.