Pyloric stenosis? And methods paper submitted!

It's been quite a busy month so far. I realized the other day, after yet another sleepless, coughing, miserable night (little TM, and me by extension), that TM had a lot of reflux as an infant. Now, she often complains of "pyute", meaning puke. Ah hah! I looked it up on the internet, and found that reflux can cause/exacerbate asthma, and certainly causes nighttime coughing.

I went to Sears and found a really cheap but wonderful chair-shaped pillow to put on her bed, and have been propping her up at night ever since. And she's stopped coughing at night! Of course, I still have to wake up relatively often to re-prop her up, but at least I have a solution. She also doesn't demand milk several times a night, and I'm sure acid in her throat needs soothing if she's not propped up.

We went to the asthma doctor today to find out the results of a lab test on a nose swab, and I went prepared. I had a change of clothes for both of us and a towel. Why? Because the last time we went there, she puked all over (me and the floor). Afterwards, she walked around wrapped in a blanket and I walked around covered in puke. Then later that week she puked in church, all over one of my friends, then puked at the recycle center, all over me again. So I went prepared today. And voila, she puked! Shocker. After I told the asthma doctor about her reflux problems, he asked if she ever projectile vomits. "Oh, yeah, often" said I. He seemed rather excited and said that this might be a much worse problem than her chronic sinusitis -- she might have pyloric stenosis, and I should take her to see a pediatric gastroenterologist or surgeon.

I had him write down those big words so I wouldn't forget them, got home, and left a message for her regular doctor. How exciting, though, that maybe there's a fix for her eating problems! It would explain so much -- how she can't eat much at once, pukes easily, doesn't like hard/crunchy foods, almost lives on soy milk, etc etc. But now the question is, do I get this fixed now (possible surgery) or wait 'till we go to India? I haven't figured that one out yet.

Meanwhile, I got another parking ticket, this time on my husband's car that is finally back from the shop. I need to fix a dent, then I'll be able to sell it. 'Till then, I have to remember to move it when the street sweeper comes around. Sigh.

On the up side, TM's been doing well at daycare, so I have gotten relatively a lot of work done! My advisor finished running some samples for me, sent me the data, and I incorporated it into the re-write of the primer note methods paper we're trying to get resubmitted. I finally sent off the final version to my advisor today, and hopefully he'll send it to the journal! Hooray!

Now I have a meeting with him and a co-author about another paper that's been struggling to get through the data re-analysis stage. We're meeting via webcam tomorrow at 10am.

Speaking of webcams, WOW, I love them! I actually got to talk to my advisor face to face for the first time in eons, and it was cheap and easy! I'm so excited! And now I get to talk to my coauthors and fix problems in real time with real faces. It's so much easier to talk to faces than to words on a page or on the phone, especially if the topic is potentially sensitive (such as, "Rhamnites, why aren't you done with this yet??? It's been how many YEARS now????" Yes, those topics need TLC).

And that's about all for now. Things are looking good -- my husband's coming back from India for a 1.5 wk visit during xmas, which will be great. Hopefully I can get TM's passport application going then, then get visas, shots, etc etc etc. Oh, yes, and vaccinations... hoping that the COBRA coverage comes through since we lost my husband's regular insurance... OH yeah, and I also have to do a final project plan for the native plant garden I helped put in at the recycle center recently as a volunteer project... Criminy. I'm glad my cell phone has a task list.