The Bankston Family: Another Baylor Checkup, an Asthma Attack and more!!

Here's miss priss at therapy with Riley. Riley had just finished IMOT and at the end of IMOT they throw each kid a party with their family. Well, Addison happen to be there during that time and they invited her in on the fun. She kinda thought the party was for the both of them so she got to wear a crown too. They love each other and get super excited when they get to see each other up there. Riley always yells out, "Addie Cat, Addie Cat!" It somehow became Addison's nickname up there and there is even a stretch that they have titled the Addie Cat stretch. It's a stretch that benefits Addison the most and is very important.

Here you are enjoying your favorite treat- Krispy Kreme donuts!

Thought this was hilarious! You did this set up all by yourself. Just lounging in the backyard. You got it figured out little lady:)

The time had come for another Baylor checkup and we decided we would do things a little bit different this time around. We have learned that we have to keep anything really exciting a big top secret from you right up until we are ready to show you. In the past we would let you watch us pack your bags and help us load the car, etc. You tend to get really anxious/excited about packing and it just gets to be too much. You always knew where we were going and it would be like that commercial, "Are we there yet, Are we there yet?" AND we would barely be out of Shreveport! Then it would be, "Where's Dallas, are we in Dallas? Is this Dallas? Over and over and over. Oh, and there are always terrible meltdowns in between all of that because you can barely handle the anticipation of it all. Sooo, we really wanted to try Great Wolf again cause you had been talking about it alot. BUT we had a strategy this time. The night before we had your bags packed and in the car and you had no idea where we were staying. You did know that it was time to go see Dr. Raji though. So as soon as we woke up that morning, we just got you ready and off we went. There was no prep work and no time for any tantrums! If we move quick and don't say much then things move so much smoother! So, these are out of order but here we are in the room about to head down to swim. You are so pumped at this point!

Hanging out with your mouse. There are a bunch of different rooms you can get there and not all of them have "the mouse" in them. We have to make a point to get the same kind of room each time just so you can feed the mouse:) I think you would be devastated if we stayed in a different kind of room!

This trip was the best one yet. Everything about it was great. I think one of the reasons is you're just getting older and moving out of the massive tantrum stage. Oh praise the Lord! Another thing that made it better was the location of the room. Once you get off the elevators to find your room, you will see a hall that is literally never ending. It could go on forever. Like to the other end of Texas. So, that has been an issue with Addison just getting up and down those long halls while you are screaming and freaking out. It just gets exhausting having to haul all of your stuff too. So, this time Matt requested a room closer to the elevator and thank goodness they had one. We literally stepped off the elevator and walked a few feet to our room!

You LOVE trying on all the medical gear and pretending you are a doctor. I have no doubt that one day you will be. When we are at Baylor, you just own that place. You know everybody and just work your charm everywhere you go. You are just so comfortable there.

Hangin' with Dr. Raji! We had great news this time!! This was the appointment we had been dreading cause Dr. Raji told us last time that she would more than likely want to do botox this time around. We had strongly considered it and then quickly changed our minds and were curious to see what she would say. We just never really know what she's thinking! She was so happy with her progress and said that Addison could dorsiflex (flex) both feet this time. She couldn't do any of that as of last time! She said there was no need for botox as long as she could do this! Now for the next appointment she wants to see even more improvement. She wants there to be even more range of motion. So we've been doing lots of exercises and doing the e-stem machine alot at therapy. This has really helped her. She is also finishing another round of IMOT as we speak. She got fitted for some new braces this week and hopefully will be finished soon. It's time for some new ones and you are so excited about getting them! I love that you look at them that way- they are just an accessory to your outfits:) You seriously love them. The new ones will be bigger since your feet are obviously growing but they will be a tad bit taller in order to keep your heels down better.

I have mentioned before that you LOVE Dr. Raji's "sticker" on her forehead. You are obsessed with it and insist on touching it. Makes it very awkward for us! She doesn't mind thank goodness! Well, this time you told her you wanted one. I was just freaking out inside. But Dr. Raji just went with it and said, "Ok, I'll go get you some out of my office, be right back." No Way!! She totally came back with a small sticker book of red dots. Then, she put it on you and you wore that dot with pride the rest of the day! I think you had about 5 of them on your face at one point. I think you are going to expect a book of red dots every time we see her!

This picture comes with a story. This was sometime in May after a few hours at therapy. That morning I was getting you dressed and ready for therapy when I heard some wheezing. I kept listening for it and we were so late that morning that I figured we would just do a breathing treatment when you got home. I mean, you were playful, silly and acting like your same ole self. So Matt loaded you up and off you went. I had mentioned it to him but he didn't think much of it either. The night before you were breathing just fine. So, I get a call from Matt saying your therapist had called and wanted us to bring you to the doctor. Matt had told them about it that morning and to watch out for anything and to take it easy. Well, apparently it got worse and real fast. They had you hooked up to the pulse/ox machine at therapy checking your oxygen and it was dropping. Matt rushed you to the doc and I met you there and y'all didn't even wait in the waiting room. It was that serious. They set you up in the break room and started you on treatments immediately. You had your blood taken to see what was going on. The doc said she thinks it was the start of bronchitis since your white blood count was up. It just happened so very fast and really worried me what could have triggered such an asthma attack. You were in distress as the doc says. She loaded us up on prescriptions and as I was scanning them all (all 6 I believe) I noticed Prednisolone. I begged her to give us something else cause you have been on that before (when you had your first peanut reaction) and the results are not pretty. It makes you nuts! She said you had to take that drug cause we have to be very aggressive with this since it was so bad. So, you took about half your doses and we called and begged for us to stop. You were just not the same child for those few days. It was really scary and as soon as they approved us to stop, we got the old Addison back! Hallelujah! This pic was on the way home from the doctor that day. We were all just done. Do you see how pale you are?

We had to do so many breathing treatments it was not even funny. We used two different kinds of medicines with the nebulizer and did them forever. Any time we travel, we have to pack the nebulizer just in case.

Poor baby. You were sooo emotional and would scream/cry over anything. You ate lunch in our bed that day. That was the ONLY way to get you happy. You were watching Dora of course.

Daddy doing a bedtime breathing treatment while telling you a story.

I had to take this cause it is so typical of you. You just LOVE accessories and will rock as many as you can! Lets see, you have on a stethescope, bunny ear glasses, valentine and mardi gras bracelets and holding some more toys. You're just keeping it interesting!