Lauren the One Eyed Cyclops (No special effects/Makeup needed!)

By Shannon's mommy:

It seems that the funniest things always happen to our youngest one. Just when we thought nothing else could happen to her, something else did.

Don't be shocked, everyone. We did not punch her in the face, no abuse, no torture, no need to call Child Social Services. This is just the work of a tiny, teeny, winney mosquito. Yup, you read me right. A irritating, bloodsucking, mosquito did this to my daughter, it gave her a swollen eye which looks like someone socked her in the face, and turned her into Lauren the One Eyed Cyclops (No special effects/makeup needed!)

See how swollen her eye is, like a golf ball

It started out innocently last Tuesday. I put her down for her afternoon nap, and when she woke up, there was a tiny bump on the corner of her right eye. 'Oh, pesky mosquito! Hope it doesnt swell too much..' thought the Mom, aka me.

Lauren is not prone to mozzie bites, unlike her sister, who once had a record 22 bites in one night. But also unlike her sister, Lauren puffs up with every bite she gets. Her body reacts very severely to bites, and the bites swell up pretty big, sometimes with pus.

When we wet to pick Mal up, a corner of her right eye was a little droopy, and all of us had a good laugh looking at her.

Flash forward to Wednesday morning, when I was in the kitchen getting all the breakfast stuff ready, and disturbed by a stunned husband with Lauren perched on his arm. Ohmigod, her eye! It was swollen shut and looked the size of a golf ball. And she had another fever to boot!

A quick trip to the clinic and after all the exclaimations from the nurses and a gasp from Dr Tan, we were given a strong dose of antibotics and eye drops.

I had a tough time administering the eye drops into her eye the first day. Her eyeball was so swollen I couldn't even get to open her eye. It was folded and folded and folded! Even her long eyelashes were missing, that's how bad it was!

See, no eyelashes, all hidden under the swell

Luckily the meds helped, and her swelling went down pretty fast, she could finally open her eye after two days and her eyelashes finally reappeared.

Yippee, finally eyelashes are out!

By Saturday, she was looking close to normal again.

Whew, still pretty as ever.....

4th Birthday Party!

By Shannon's Mommy:

I'm heartened by the number of people who still visit this blog depsite my tortise slow updating, and even more when they leave comments, a footprint to show me that they were here and read what little I have to say :)

Despite our uncertainty with Lauren's progress and what's going to happen, life goes on right? So on a happier note, here's some photos of Shannon's 4th birthday party. We celebrated it in school for her with a cake from Prima, my choice when it comes to kids coz theiur cakes are light, airy and soft, perfact for kids. We also arranged a Art decor party and from the looks of it, the kids had fun! We ended up with 30 pieces, with even the playgroup kids particpating.

Shannon and her cake - Snow White and Seven dwarfs

Her classmates

Some of the finished works, all the kids did very well!


Shannon and me

Some of the kids and her posing with their work

What a Way to start 2010, with a Big Hill to Climb!

By the Mommy:

I'm blogging this down for the few of you who has been asking how Lauren is... and also to have this noted down as one of the memorable events.

What a way to start 2010, with a BIG HILL to climb! What started as a low grade fever in November for Lauren turned out to be something more sinister. After a bout of UTI which saw her being hospitalised for 5 days in November, our doctor, Dr, Terence Tan suggested we send her for some tests just to make sure she's ok.

Me, the unsuspecting mother, thought she would breeze through it since her first two tests came back negative. Well, the brick dropped and hit me smack in the face when her final test revealed that she has a congenital defect, called Vesicoureteral Reflux (VUR) which was unknown to us when she was born. Her right ureter is classified as grade 4, and requires immediate surgery to correct the problem. Non surgery will result in further infections, which will eventually damage and destroy the kidney.

Imagine I had sent Mal off to Golf on the day of the test thinking everything was gonna be all right...in the end I struggled not to cry and focused on asking all the important questions to Dr Tan. (I have to say, Dr. Tan is our angel!)

We scrambled to get a opinion from a specialist ulurogist who initally felt that we could wait two years while placing her on a nightly low dose antibotic. Who knew another ton of bricks fell on us on CHristmas Eve. She came down with another fever, and this time it was a super agressive bacteria which nearly invaded her blood stream. Her bacteria count was over 100,000 and she required over 48 doses of two different antibotics, inserted directly to her vein to kill the nasty bug and make sure it doesn't come back.

So, we spent Christmas in the hospital and after 5 days, she was finally discharged with a tube in her hand as we still had to come back to the hospital for morning and night antibotics. Thankfully, today morning was the last dose.

Today afternoon we are seeing another specialist who will most likely schedule surgery for her this month. While I worry and am scared thinking the surgery, I know non surgery will be disastrous for her small kidneys.

So a big hill to climb in 2010. But I know with our family and friend's support, we'll make it through :) Pray for us ya?