Normal life

Well as I sit here and type this Tatum is still sleeping and hasn't woke for pain medicine all night. Very exciting. We have found in the short two and a half years we have had Tatum that you never know what is going to happen. We must be prepared for anything when it come to her health. She has been hospitalized 7 times since she was born and all for various reasons. The last two visits seem to be due to the sickle cell pain crisis. Once she was admitted for dehydration as she use to get high unexplained fevers. Once for a positive blood culture, and twice for problems with her stomach being bloated up and a lot of abdominal pain. Just last December she was in the hospital for extensive testing to find out why she didn't gain weight good and was so small. She also had a feeding tube put in at this stay. They finally determined that she didn't have anything medically wrong, just a food aversion. For me it is hard to believe that an infant can have an eating disorder but with the help of a great psychologist things have turned around and she has been eating great until the hospital stay. We also were able to remove the feeding tube about three weeks ago. The feeding tube was a great thing for her as she had a huge growth spurt and has been able to maintain that weight so far. If things start going in the other direction then we will have to put the feeding tube back in. Lets hope that isn't the case. Tatum has been through so much and it is heart breaking to see her have to go through more than most people go through their whole lives. But she is very strong and very brave and handles things great. When we were in the ER one night she got blood drawn and then said "No more pokes?" and I told her she had one more. That is when she asked "Am I getting an IV?" She is very smart and knows what is going to happen to her and we explain it all to her very well. She is also very cooperative when we are in the hospital by lifting her arm for temp checks, putting her leg up when they want to do blood pressure, and taking oral meds like a champ. When we adopted her we knew that she had sickle cell and that she may be sick a lot but it didn't matter we knew we would love her anyway. Things do get crazy and busy sometimes but this is our life and we love it no matter what. We would never change anything about it and will adjust to whatever happens.