Years 2-10 The quieter ones

Once a child gets past the terrible two’s most parents breathe a sigh of relief. Children are sleeping through the night and they have given up on the “NO!” word that is a response to even the slightest parental request. In addition they have begun to find themselves and have created countless of imaginary scenarios everything from friend’s to the boogeyman under the bed.

After being weaned off the bottle at 20 months, Tylyn said goodbye to her formula at around two years. Dr. Scagnelli was pleased that the times in between visits became longer as ear infections faded and she gradually began her solid diet. There still was the occasional doctor’s visit that required extra testing.

The first one was the blood work, followed by a bone scan. Tylyn wasn’t growing very fast. They did a sonogram of her ovaries to see if she was either under or over developed. The bone scan revealed her body was growing just as it wanted to. Other than these occasional visits she progressed wonderfully. She was happy and adjusted despite her father and me separating. She was a little small still, giving way to my new nickname for her “Tiny Tylyn”.

In 1997 I relocated to Rochester. During the transition Tylyn lived with her dad. On one particular visit in the spring of 1998 Ty had wanted to show me how “big girl” she was by washing her own hair. She did a great job, completing the getting ready by herself and combing her long blonde hair.

Determined to continue with her usual independent way and assist with making pancakes, she dragged over a stool to the stove. While flipping a pancake I put my hand on her shoulder, causing her to cry out. An examination reveal bubbled and beet read skin along her neck, hairline and shoulder I had touched.  I trip to the doctor confirmed what it appeared to be- a chemical burn. The culprit? Flex shampoo that she had used that morning. That was the beginning of many years of non perfumed or beauty products most of us take for granted.

In July Tylyn came to live with me permanently again.  That year she suffered from the occasional ear ache and had a nasty bout with strep throat. They were unsure if the strep had turned to scarlet fever because it seemed that she always at some point had a rash of some kind on her body. By this date Tylyn had seen four different pediatricians.

That summer she was still wearing 2T’s. As most parents know a child should be in XT’s for their age, X being 2-5. She should have been wearing 4T’s but alas they were too large. In the beginning of September of that year Tylyn woke up crying complaining that her legs were extremely painful. No amount of consultation could relieve her of the discomfort. It continued for a week. That month I kept checkmarks of her growth progress on the inside wall of her closet as I always did. By October my little girl had grown three inches and had gone through three shoes sizes.

The next few years were uneventful with only an occasional visit. She remained small for her age but not too bad. She had a love for seafood, milk, popcorn but disliked chocolate. Tylyn and I traveled to Maine and a few other places. She became independent and a self sufficient child. She visited me at my new pharmaceutical position and took up an interest in chemistry. She excelled in school and it seemed to be we were out of the clear.

I now know it was the lull before the storm.

Above: Tylyn at my take your daughter to work day at a chemistry lab that was my employer in 2000. 

Up Next: The first appearance of symptoms.