Happy Birthday Nana!!!

Chan got one of his canine's this week and we didn't even know it!  He's been sleeping thru the night just fine and waking only a little early but nothing unbearable.  He continues to eat just about everything that we eat.  He recently stopped liking string cheese (one of his old favorites) and now likes to nosh on apples, grapes, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, rice, noodles, avocado and crackers.  He still goes nuts in the morning for his banana-papaya-kale-lilikoi-greek yogurt smoothies.  He gets pretty upset if we don't have it and he even likes it when I make it more on the tart side with the lilikoi.

Happy boy!

Chan's checking out that handsome guy in the mirror at Nana's sewing class

Look how excited Chan is to sew with Nana!

The kids got to celebrate their first Halloween party of the season at the Yacht Club this weekend.  Chan got a Yoda costume from Nana but he wasn't too happy about wearing it so he went half naked most of the night.  And Esme was a cowgirl because mommy found that costume on sale at Target after Halloween last year.  She was a good sport about wearing it so maybe next year she can pick her own costume :)

Makena and Capri were disco kitties

Charlie the astronaut and Esme the cowgirl

Chan as Yoda

Aunty B the butterfly

Uncle Sterling was Bumblebee

Dancing after all that candy!

We also celebrated Nana's birthday this past weekend.  The first birthday with all the family home together.  We went to dinner on the eve of her birthday - a reservation for 20!  We ate at Kaleo's in the town of Pahoa which is just about a mile from where the active lava flow is right now.  It will most likely not be there in the next few weeks which is so strange to think about.  Then on Nana's actual birthday we had a nice brunch and family day at her house.  The kids loved helping her open all her presents.

Dinner at Kaleo's

My new favorite color on Esme

Thanks for the dress Kenny!

Goodbye Hurricane Ana

As if life hasn't been exciting enough, we had a hurricane to deal with this weekend too.  Luckily Hurricane Ana passed us by without much trouble.  We've just had some rain and lots of humidity to remind us that she's out there somewhere south of the island chain.  The kids didn't seem to notice anything different.

Esme is doing well on her road to recovery.  She returned to school last week and that helped to get her back into routine and out of the hospital mode.  She was used to having two parents hovering over her and getting all kinds of cool things.  She took a little time to transition to having Chan around once we returned to the Big Island.  It didn't help that I then had to take off for a conference in San Diego so it was just her, daddy, and Chan-Man.  They all did fine though and made it through the following 5 days.  Esme's rash is fading and now her palms and fingers are starting to peel.  Her voice is also still a little sweeter souding than normal and we just call this her "sick" voice.  She's still saying the funniest things too.  The other morning she woke up in a great mood and I told her that I love it when she wakes up on the right side of the bed.  She told me "well the left side is where the blinds are."  And then later she told me "Mommy, I'm hungry" so I told her "nice to meet you, I'm Zoë."  She then said "hey I'm not new, I'm your kid."  Too cute!

Chan is happy to have everyone back home again.  When I got back from the conference he kept coming into the room and asking "Momma, momma???" and then once he'd see me or I'd answer him he'd smile and say "Mamma, mamma!!!" :)   He's such a lovey little guy.  He has this habit of coming over to people he's comfortable with and putting his head down on their chest.  It's one of my favorite things!  His last molar finally popped through yesterday!  That thing has been sitting right below the surface for the past few months.  Now he just has all his canines left.  Sheesh!

Cousin Charlie feeding Chan

Wagon ride with popsickles on a hot day

Esme Goes Home

Esme got discharged from Kapiolani Hospital yesterday in good health!  She had been fever free for 24 hours after her Remicaid infusion and passed her second echocardiogram.  No cardiac changes noted so all is well.  She's to remain on a dose of baby aspirin once daily for the next month until our next follow up at Kapiolani on November 13th.  If all's well at that visit then we shouldn't have to check up with them anymore.  In the next month we need to monitor her closely for any fevers and if she has one then we need to go back to Kapiolani too.  Esme had tons of energy on her last day in the hospital which was a nice change from when we admitted.  However by the time we flew home she seemed overwhelmed and tired.  It's been a lot to take in for a little girl like her.

Her rash is still slightly present but the pains seem to have subsided.  Her lips are going through a molting process and she refuses to put anything on them.  I tried to smear Vaseline at night and that seemed to help slough off the dry layer that developed.  Her hands and feet might also peel in the next few weeks too which is part of the healing process.

Since there's a genetic component to this disease the doc advised us that Chan and all Esme's cousins are now candidates for it too.  Yikes!  She also told us there's a 12% chance of getting it if you're Japanese or Korean, and an 8% chance if you're Chinese.  We participated in some research study to look at the genetic component and hopefully isolate the gene that predisposes a child to this disease.  Now we're all well educated on Kawasaki's Disease but hopefully no one else gets it!  

Mimi's Better!!!

So I can't remember exactly where I left off but Esme was admitted to the hospital on Monday and given a 12 hour dose of IVIG.  That kept her fever away for just 12 hours and then it returned for a full 12 hours despite a high dose aspirin regimen (that's normal protocol for Kawasaki's and there's minimal concern for Reye's syndrome).  So yesterday, Wednesday, she received a new medication called Remicaid and that seemed to do the trick.  She hasn't had a fever since then and it's almost been 24 hours.  Last night she slept well and this morning she actually ate breakfast!!!  She had 2 pieces of bacon and a banana.  Her rash is subsiding and she can finally tolerate being on her feet.  The pain and swelling has kept her from walking since she got admitted.  This morning they got rid of her IV so she's no longer hooked up to IV fluids or the pole.  She's a happy camper!  Esme's gotten her fill of Frozen, the only on-demand movie that she's wanted to watch this whole admission.  And she keeps talking about going home to see her Nana and Chan-Man.

Chan's been a trooper through all of this too.  He's been at either Aunty Amy's, Aunty B's, or Nana's house while we've been gone.  He's gotten a lot of papi (pacifier) time for comfort and his beela (special blanket) but at least he's had those things.  We've been able to Face Time with him and surprisingly didn't cry at all.  Seems like he's having a lot of fun without us!

Esme Goes To The Hospital

I almost updated the blog the other night but wasn't sure what I had to write so I skipped it.  And that's what I get I guess!  The next day Esme was diagnosed with Kawasaki's Disease and admitted to Kapiolani Women and Children's Hospital on Oahu so now there's no lack of stuff to write about.  She'd had fevers for 2 days prior and slowly started developing symptoms that could have been caused from a virus but as time progressed started to look more and more like Kawasaki's - injected eyes with swollen lids, dry cracked lips, rash on her palms and body, irritability.  She was missing some of the other hallmark symptoms but the ones she had were enough even though we were hoping otherwise.  Kawasaki's is an immune disease where the blood vessels in the body become inflamed.  It's common in Asian children under the age of 5.  It's usually a diagnosis of exclusion after fever of at least 5 days so we were lucky to catch it early.  She'd had fevers for 3 days by the time we got to Oahu and started treatment.  One of the more serious complications is how it affects the heart so she's had multiple tests and we're still waiting to hear back.  Today she's seeming more like herself and wanting to play, Face Time, smile for pictures, etc.  Her eyes are less swollen and lips a little less red.

This is Esme when we checked in.  She was pretty tired at this point.

This is the next morning after treatment.  She even tried to smile!

Watching her Kindle.  I have no idea how we're gonna wean her of all the tv and juice she's had since we've been here.  Eeekkk!  She's barely eaten anything in the past 3 days but she'll sip something every once in awhile.  They've also got her on IV fluids. 

The activity coordinators brought her all kinds of new toys to play with.