Ryan started showing symptoms of a PANDAS flare this week. It might've actually been going on a bit longer and I was a little bit in denial, but this week it was obvious. He was clearing his throat excessively, he was chapped all the way around his mouth, and his hands were peeling. Plus he had a significant meltdown early this week that broke my mama heart because I knew it was anxiety based. (For Ryan's privacy, I'm usually purposely vague on what exactly this looks like for him.) For him, all signs of a strep exposure and resulting PANDAS flare. (One time my mom told me to get him checked because of a behavior change with zero actual illness symptoms and she was right, strep swab was positive!) Luckily I had some antibiotics at home from last time (and I cleared it with his doctor!) so we got that started really quickly and he's pretty much back to baseline. I didn't even swab him for strep this time. Thank the Lord he usually recovers so quickly once we start antibiotics. The plan is to try 10 days and see how he's doing at that point before deciding if more are needed. I was originally pretty sad because since his tonsillectomy in June he's been doing so well and I hoped we were done with this forever, and this just kind of snuck up on us. But today was a great day and he was back to laughing with his friends online, playing with his cat, playing outside, and wanting to spend time with us.
It feels good to have our old Ryan back and selfishly, I'm glad to be back to having at least one kid who listens to me! Lauren has been having problems being kind again this week and she apologizes profusely, "I'm sorry I'm being mean. I will try to be kind." over and over again. I know she's trying! But by bedtime, this mama is ready for a break.
Easter was amazing. The weather was 70 and sunny, which is best case scenario in Michigan. We went to church as a family, then Greg, Lauren, and I went to a friend's house to celebrate another friend's baptism (Ryan chose to stay home), and then we all went to Grandma Nita's for Easter dinner. It was PERFECT!
Today I escaped and got my hair done for the first time in forever and it was magical. The COVID case numbers are crazy high here, and I'm afraid schools will be remote again soon. I was luckily able to reschedule my next week Friday appointment to this week. We have had a few days of solid 70's, but next week is supposed to slip back down to the 60's. Perfect hiking weather! Hopefully the kids can stay in school and I can escape on my days off and spend some time in the woods with my dog or walking in the park with my twin on her lunch break.
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