My leg-warmers have toe-loops!

I have just discovered a brilliant feature of my bouclé leg-warmers: they have toe--loops that hold them close to the front of your foot to maximize the warm factor. Before I go into further detail, let me help you pick your jaw up off the floor. Yes, I have leg-warmers. And yes, I'm aware that they are not that cool unless you are a professional ballerina, but frankly, I'm not sure why they're cool then because if you're chilly in the studio, maybe wear leggings instead of butt shorts which necessitate the wearing of leg-warmers. Since I am not a ballerina and thus do not actually know just how critical the butt shorts are, I will let this go because at the very least, ballerinas look great in both butt shorts and leg-warmers.

Back to my leg-warmers and their magnificent toe-loops. I bought my l-w's last year because you cannot do yoga in socks and aren't suppose to do Pilates in socks either but in the winter, my feet are like ice blocks so something had to give. L-w's were the meet-in-the-middle solution and a good one to boot. I then came to find that when you get a pedicure in the winter, you cannot risk polish smudge but your damn feet are freezing, so again, l-w's are quite a fix. After this ludicrous week, I treated myself to my first Gingerbread Latte (coffee aficionados, I know this is sinful; I don't otherwise sweeten my coffee. Ever.) of the season and a pedicure this afternoon, came home, immediately was beset with ice block feet and recalled my l-w's which just last week I had moved into my winter-wear drawer. Out they came, and as I donned them it occurred to me that the second hole might not be an ankle slot but rather a toe-loop.

Shit, now that I write this I feel certain it actually is an ankle slot, but whatever, I've got my big toe looped in and my feet are cozy.

On a different note I am so over my dog tonight I could cry. He's drinking water like he just sand-sledded across the Mojave in the hottest part of the day and keeps begging to go out and come in, go out and come in. No, he does not have any sort of urinary tract issue, nor is he ever deprived of water or the outdoors. Back off, Percy!

Holy Peace and Quiet, Batman!

Ol made it back to school today. I know he's bushed but also really happy to see his friends and be there; a quick email from his teacher confirmed just that. I was certain he'd need to come home early so have been sticking close to my phone but so far haven't heard a peep. I have taken advantage of these few hours to catch up on many a pleasurable task here at home: more holiday card addressing; lots of cooking (pecan-oatmeal pie, gumbo, granola, and roasted pumpkin so far) some of which is for a Southern Feast I'm catering tomorrow; laundry; etc. Let me tell you, I am relishing the hell out of the silence and feeling grateful that my little guy is on the up and up. If you missed the roux tutorial video I posted previously, click here to watch!

I was also thankful for a glorious evening with J last night. Yesterday was his last day of after school comic book drawing, and he was ebullient the whole way home. T gave him a haircut, I gave him his spelling quiz, he showered, we read, and then, after Ol was asleep, J wandered downstairs - decked in the now-standard PJ get up of undies and giant, fuzzy reindeer socks- and pronounced that he was hungry again. Y'all, the amount that boys eat continues to astound me. Literally, I am astounded by what Jack eats for dinner each day. T and I had ordered Indian food, and J asked to pull up a chair and join us for some. Swear to god, I fell in love with him anew. He is so earnest and dear, and any kid that will chow down on channa curry, rice and onion kulcha is welcome at my table any time.  He told us a story about a gal he knows who described herself as quiet and shy. His response was "I didn't so much go with that, but I just went on with it because I didn't want to hurt her feelings or anything." Hah! Then he said, "it's really nice to sit here and eat with you guys. I love you." What a pumpkin.

Happy Friday, readers. I hope you're having a wonderful, delicious day!

Let's talk about PFAPA

When Jack was very, very young, he started to be plagued by recurrent fevers with incredible periodicity. Every four - five weeks, he would get a really high fever (~103 - 104) which lasted for five days straight. It was easily treatable with children's Motrin but came back immediately at the five hour post-med mark. His tonsils were enormous, like giant boulders moving towards each other, and the glands just under his ears towards his throat were regularly enlarged. But his throat never hurt, and he was never contagious. The fever would arrive, he'd lose his appetite for the duration, and then everything would go back to normal. Until the next bout. For at least a year, doctors told me he kept catching random viruses. But no kid catches a virus with the exact same presentation, month after month like clockwork. We saw specialists, we changed pediatricians, J was missing a week of school of each month (thank goodness it was only  nursery versus elementary!). Finally, finally, during a random weekend trip to the pediatrician, we saw an elderly doc as our usual physician was off call. This wizened man who'd obviously seen years of everything under the sun suggested we try Cimetidine, aka Tagamet. It's an over-the-counter histamine blocker that prevents stomach acid production but docs have found that it also boosts the immune system. He seemed to recall it linked to successful preventive treatment of PFAPA, or Periodic Fever, Aphthous Stomatitis, Pharyngitis, Adenitis Syndrome.

Believe me, no one can ever recall what PFAPA is an acronym for so your main take-aways should be: recurrent fever with clockwork regularity perhaps accompanied by mouth sores (the aphthous stomatitis, aka ulcers), sore and red throat (also giant tonsils) and adenitis (enlarged glands in the neck). Jack never had an aphthous ulcer but, as I mentioned, had the fevers and adenitis. In fact, his tonsils are now just huge all the time, and I have to remind physicians not to fret about their size.

The Cimetidine was an incredibly benign wonder drug. After starting it - a half-teaspoon twice a day- Jack was never sick again. For three years. Until he contracted a regular old virus just before his 7th birthday. And then it was gone, and he's been healthy as a horse ever since. If you think I felt immense relief, you're right. He hasn't taken the Cimetidine in years (kids very often grown out of PFAPA). And I have never missed that horrid PFAPA.

Until today. When I was grateful that our pediatrician agreed that Oliver might very well have a later-onset of it. Little mister has missed a week of school each of the past three months. This is awful for him, sucky for me, and in crass terms, really flipping expensive when you think of the cost of his schooling. The fevers are awful, huge spiking heat fests that make him shake and vomit and feel truly deathly. He doesn't have the adenitis but does get an aphthous ulcer here and there and his tonsils grow pus and get red and ache. 20 minutes after he swallows some Motrin, he is regular Ol, jumping, dancing and carrying on happily. The loss of appetite is still there, but otherwise he is fine and not contagious.

It has been a real challenge for me, with each boy, to convince our doctors (who are fabulous, and I love them) to let us try Cimetidine. PFAPA is rare, and the original suggestion was for us to use steroids as treatment. Uh, scary. So I'm really glad I pushed and studied and asked around, and I'm terribly hopeful that this will be the magic pill for Oliver too because three weeks in three months absolutely blows.

If your child demonstrates symptoms like these but most noticeably the febrile regularity, start tracking the fevers and associated symptomology. The periodicity is key; I can't emphasize that enough. Ask about Cimetidine as a first step versus steroids or a tonsillectomy. The latter might ultimately be necessary, but why not try a basic heartburn med first?!

Helpful links include:

The American College of Rheumatology: PFAPA

Wikipedia's entry on PFAPA

Basic but utterly clear info about PFAPA on Nomid Alliance