Anisten's Bad Day(s)

For those of you don't know Anisten has had some issues with getting UTI's (urinary tract infections). She got one last summer and then didn't get another one until February and then she got three in the next three months. She was put on all kinds of antibiotics (some costing up to $150) and they would help for awile, but usually a week or two later, she'd have symptoms (having accidents, redness, saying it hurt, etc.) of another UTI. My pediatrician was concerned so he decided to have her got to Primary Children's Medical Center where they would do some tests on her to see if there was any reflux in her ureters or bladder or to see if there was something wrong anatomically.
The last UTI that she had before going down to Primary's we couldn't find an antibiotic that would work, so she had to go and get injections in both of her legs of an antibiotic. Anisten is absolutely terrified of shots and also bandaids, so a combination of the two is disaster. She cried and whined for an hour before we went to get the injections (I made the mistake of telling her) and then she screamed while she was getting them and then she cried and whined for an hour afterwards. We went to a birthday party for my friend's (Melissa) daughter after and I thought that would cheer her up, but to be honest it took about a half hour before she would smile. Every party has a pooper and that is why Ani came I guess. :) She is just such a paranoid little girl and can be so untrusting sometimes. She doesn't believe that what we are doing is for the best, she just knows that she doesn't like it. I am surprised at how much she doesn't believe us. It's really sad. So anyway, that was bad day #1.
Bad day #2 is probably easy to guess...her visit to Primary Children's. I was dreading this so much because I know how she is and I didn't want to have to go through it, but at the same time I wanted answers. Rob took the day off and came down with us and brought Aivree too.
On our way down to Primary Children's she wanted to hold my hand the whole way. She was not looking forward to it. Nothing could cheer her up.

Anisten really only wanted me in the room, but it was nice having the family there because then we went and did something fun after to help erase the bad day. The first test was just an ultrasound which after throwing a fit because she didn't trust us once again, she realized was no big deal and she actually liked looking at the pictures on the screen. That was the easy part. I just gotta say they are so good at Primary Children's. The nurses were all very helpful and after each procedure/test they gave her a prize to take. The next test wasn't so pleasant. They had to stick a catheter up her and fill her bladder with dye and then she had to pee out the dye all this done while lying on a table with an xray machine over her middle taking pictures. The nurses showed Anisten on a little doll what would happen and she seemed okay but when I took her to get changed she said "I can't do that." She started out really well and she was looking at a book or watching me color a face on a doll they gave her and then they put the catheter up and she kind of got worried because it hurt. Then as they filled up her bladder she started to flip out and began screaming at the nurses and me "Get me out of here!" "Get it out of me!" "I don't like this!" We literally had to hold her down. She didn't want to have to pee while lying on her back (they put a little tub thing under her to catch it) and because the catheter was still in. We kept telling her that as soon as she peed she'd be done. Well, she finally couldn't hold it anymore and let it out, but it was quite the traumatizing experience for all involved (although I can't speak for the nurses). One of the nurses told me that there is an option of doing sedation on this procedure, but it would've needed to be rescheduled so she said we'd give it a try. After it was over she said "If she ever has to do that again, you'll know to just use sedation." It was so hard for me and I was fighting back tears the whole time. I so wanted to take away the whole thing for my little girl and at the same time I was a little embarassed about how she was acting. When I was getting her dressed she said "That was not fun. This is a bad day."

We were able to leave after that and we went and ate lunch at Sizzler. Anisten was back to her normal self by the time we were done eating and she was happy as can be. Myself on the other hand, I was still a little shaken by the whole thing. I told Rob about how she was acting and he was actually proud that she was able to fight back so well. He said that he liked knowing she could hold her ground if someone was doing something to her that she didn't like. I guess that's a good father's perspective. :)
Such a different girl now. She was so happy to have that over with (we all were)

After Sizzler we took the girls to the Living Planet Aquarium which where the fun began. They absolutely loved it and we had a great time.

Anisten's very favorite thing was these jellyfish (the light made them look like they changed color). She looked at them for so long.

More jellyfish

Cool starfish

I actually got in trouble (not really) for taking this picture of the octopus. I was too busy looking at my girls and all the fish to read the signs that said "No flash pictures"

They fed the stingrays while we were there and it was so cool to watch. Aivree almost climbed in with them.

This tank was the coolest one. It had sharks, a big turtle, a big yellow eel (we thought it looked like Rapunzel's hair), and lots of exotic fish. They just kept swimming around and would come right in front of the window. So cool.

The penguins were soo cute!

Lots of big fish

My Princesses and the Frog

Aivree looking at all the frogs..there were like 12 in there but they all camoflauged really well.

Those are some big fish Daddy!

We had our appointment with my pediatrician the Thursday following this (her apptmt was on a Monday). I had very mixed feelings about getting the results because I really really didn't want Anisten to have to go through surgery, but at the same time I wanted to know what was causing all the infections. Well, we found out that all the tests came back normal. Which means that all that was pretty much for naught, but I guess we have the peace of mind of knowing that she is physically the way she should be. My dr. had a couple of guesses as to why she would be getting these infections and we came to the conclusion that it's probably due a lot to the fact that she gets constipated really easy (my poor girl, she's gonna shoot me one day for publicly writing all of this). My doctor said that it's pretty common among petite kids to get constipated. So I have to give her Miralax everyday, make sure she drinks a lot and he put her on an antibiotic for three months so that she can go for awhile without having any infections and hopefully get the problem fixed by then. I was actually really relieved with this news because this is much easier to deal with then surgery. In fact, just explaining to Anisten that she may have had to have surgery (after we found out she didn't) she got tears in her eyes and said "I don't wanna do that." My fearful little girl. What am I gonna do with you? Needless to say we are glad to have the month of May behind us. It was a month of heartache and dread, but now we look forward to brighter days.