Mercedez Rene

Fourth Article of Faith:

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

So it’s official: Mercedez is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was baptized October 13, 2008. My parents came down from Idaho and we had several other friends there to support her. I think it meant a lot to her to have everyone there.

Ryan and Mercedez went to the church around 4:30 to get into their white clothes and meet with the stake primary leaders to review the program. There were two other kids getting baptized from other wards, a boy and girl, but Mercedez was the only one from our ward.

Everyone gathered in the chapel and the stake had their presentation. Then each ward took a turn going to the baptismal font. The baptism itself happened fast, then we all went to the Relief Society room for our individual program. Which went as follows:

Opening Song……….. The Church of Jesus Christ

Opening Prayer……………………………………… TBA

Speaker…………………………………………….. Max Sharp

Musical Number………….. When I Am Baptized

Teresa Fernandez, Holly Sharp, Stephanie Sharp

Hunter Fernandez, Boston Fernandez

Speaker…………………………………….. Ryan Fernandez

    ~    Bishop’s Remarks    ~ 

Mercedez’s Confirmation…………. Ryan Fernandez

Closing Song……………. I Am A Child Of God

Closing Prayer………………………………………. TBA

I think it turned our extremely well. Thanks to everyone who come to support Mercedez!

The other day Mercedez was in a foul mood. She came stomping up the stairs, yelled at her sister, and kicked at the dog.

“What’s your problem?” I inquired.
“I’m mad at that girl.” She said.
“What girl?” I asked.
“That girl! Why did she have to bite the apple first?!” She replied.

It was all I could do to not burst out laughing. It was so funny. I made some comment to her that Eve was the first one to figure out that if she wanted a family, she was going to have to eat the apple. She seemed to diffuse a bit after that, but I kept replaying the scene over and over. It killed me!!

She’d come into the bathroom a couple days earlier. We had a little chat about the joys of womanhood in 8-yr old fashion. Before that we’d also had several discussions about Adam and Eve during Family Home Evening and a following Q&A session. I was a little surprised that she put the two together, but she’s brilliant, what can I say… Sometimes, I’m mad at that girl, too.

Earlier this year the health office at Mercedez’s school called and said that she’d failed the hearing test. They’d given one at the beginning of the school year and another after Christmas break. She’d failed them both. The school nurse recommended that I take her into the pediatrician and have her retested. I took her in several months ago and the doctor there gave her a quick test of some kind and said that she needed to see an ENT. Of course time flies and by the time I finally made the appointment, the ENT was booked out for another couple months, which brings us to today.

Mercedez’s appointment was at 11:00 this morning. I picked her up from school around 10:00 and we got to the appointment at 10:30 as required so I could fill out the seemingly endless stack of paperwork. When they called us back, we went into a room with a bunch of equipment, including a sound proof room. The specialist ran a bunch of tests on her, then put her in the box. Everything came out exceptionally. We were then sent back to the waiting room to see another specialist. Finally, we were called back again. A second doctor checked her ears, nose, and throat and said everything looked fine. Then a third doctor, the specialist we actually went to see, came in to review everything.

He went over the test results with me and said that her hearing was in normal range. Then he check her ears, nose, and throat again and said that they looked perfect. He said that sometimes the school testing happens after band or recess where the kids have been exposed to loud noise. Then their ears are in protection mode, so they tend to fail the test. She could have also had a mild cold which may have caused her ears to have a bit of liquid or pressure in them, resulting in a failed test. In any case, today, everything looked the way it should.

When the doctor left and we were finally able to leave, I said to Mercedez:

“Well the doctor said that everything is ok and your hearing is fine. That’s good.”
In which Mercedez replied, “It’s not good for me… Now I don’t have any excuses.”

 She’s too smart for her own good.

Mercedez is finally feeling like herself again. The rash has all but disappeared, though her skin is still a bit red in a few places. I think the drugs are also almost out of her system, though she is still a little moody, but that might just be her good ‘ole self shining through.

Today was the first day that Mercedez ventured outside. The other two have been out everyday since we got here, but Mercedez hadn’t been ready to weather the cold. However, once she made it out there, she didn’t waste any time getting right to work.

Once she was finished, she ran in and couldn’t wait for everyone to see it. I grabbed the camera and she was all to happy to pose for me by her cold friend.

So, the new diagnosis is:

Mono…… They are now thinking that she had Strep and Mono at the same time. The antibiotics wiped out the strep, but she didn’t start feeling better when they expected because she most likely had mono also. The rash is a symptom of mono, though not common. They did another throat culture to make sure the strep was gone and it came back negative. They are still waiting for the rest of her blood tests to come back to see if they can for sure rule out measles. Her rash seems to have melted into one big red splotch that covers most of her face and body, though she still has a measley type rash on her arms and legs.

While we were there, they have her an oral steroid to curb the itching. It seemed to kick in right away, but when we got home, she started complaining about the awful itching again. They sent some steroid lozenges home with us for tonight and tomorrow morning (in the event that the measles come back negative- they’ll call this afternoon.) And we’ve scheduled another follow-up appointment for tomorrow.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I’ll post another update as I get it.

What a week!! Last weekend (9 days ago) Mercedez started feeling under the weather; sore throat, stuffy nose, cough, earache. It continued to get worse and Ryan decided to take her to the doctor. Her tonsils were swollen and oozy and her eardrum was bulging, almost bursting. They ran a throat culture and it came back positive for Strep. Of course they prescribed some antibiotics and sent them home stating that she should begin to feel better in 24-36 hours later. So Thursday comes and goes and we expect that by then she should be on the road to recovery and feeling lots better. But nothing doing.

Friday she still had a slight fever and a cough and complained about a sore throat, though her ears were beginning to feel a little better. After six days of sleeping and barely eating, Saturday she seemed to be staying awake during the day a little longer and had a bit of an appetite. So Sunday we decide that she is well enough to go to church. She complained that she still didn’t feel well, and although she still looked a bit congested and had a lingering cough, I just thought that she was “used to being sick” but that she had to be feeling better. We were late getting to church and sat in the hall for 20 minutes before we went to the 2nd hour of classes. Ryan and I were in Sunday School for only 10-15 minutes before a friend brought her to us saying that she had a rash and said that she didn’t feel well. Sure enough, she had several spots on her chest and arms, so Ryan took her home.

That night the rash had spread everywhere, and I mean everywhere!! She was extremely uncomfortable due to the itchiness of the rash and was feverish. Once again, Ryan took her to the Urgent Care. They ran another throat culture, but it came back negative for Strep. The doctor seemed indecisive on what it might be for sure, but narrowed it down to three suspicions:

1. A possible allergic reaction to the amoxicillin
2. Erythema Multiforme
3. Another virus such as mono, or something else

However, she wasn’t exhibiting all the symptoms of any one thing, and more symptoms than she should for another. Bottom line is that it’s anyone’s guess. Anyhow, he said “no more amoxicillin” and suggested Benadryl for the itching. He also recommended that she go back to the pediatrician in the next 2-3 days for a follow-up.

This morning:

Which brings us to today. This morning, so woke up around 6:30 itching insanely. I ran her a bath and put a sock full of oatmeal in with her to soak. It seemed to help a little, but didn’t relieve the itching much. We gave her another dose of Benadryl and a couple Tylenol for her fever and she laid back down. I called the doctor later and scheduled an appointment for 10:15.

At the doctor’s office:

The pediatrician didn’t have much luck with a diagnosis either. Though she and another doctor added measles to the possibility. That in itself is a long story, so I’ll have to amend this post tomorrow. They sent us to go have her blood drawn to run a bunch of tests… We’ll get the results back tomorrow.

Since the she’s had another oatmeal bath and a warm shower. More Benadryl and Tylenol. Three different anti-itch lotions and aloe and witch hazel massaged all over her body. We’ve also scratched and dry brushed because she just can’t take any more.

I’m begging for prayers….. I’ll keep posted.

Tonight:

I think that Mercedez is the only kid in her class who has not lost a tooth yet. Some of her classmate have already grown in all four front adult teeth and more. She has asked on several occasions for me to feel her “loose tooth” only for me to answer that it didn’t wiggle. This morning, it was the same ritual.

Eating an apple, she says, “Mom! My tooth feels weird, I think it’s wiggly! Come feel it!”
“You probably just have a piece of apple stuck between your teeth.”
“No, come see.”
I make my way over to the table as I wipe down the counters.
“Let me see.” Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Sure enough, it’s loose.
“Wahoo!!” I holler and dance around the table.
“Mom, it’s just a loose tooth. It’s not that big of deal…”

Yeah, right. It’s not a big deal, but it’s the only thing we’ve talked about all day!!

Mercedez teacher sent me an email last week about Mercedez. I love PMMs- “Proud Mommy Moments”!!

From her 1st Grade Teacher:

I have to tell you about the sweetest thing your daughter did today!

After snack recess break, I came into the classroom to find the back table full of small, paper hearts with a card on it. On the front it has a heart with my name and on the back it says, “Thanks for Everything.” The best part is that the inside has each child’s name from our class signed. It turns out that Mercedez got together a few girls in the class, cut out these little hearts as confetti, and then spent their recess time getting each person to sign the card from our class. She even signed for those absent today. It was by far the most thoughtful and kindest gift!

It was just too amazing to keep to myself, so I had to share it with youJ

I’ve got to say, she can be amazingly sweet and thoughtful! These are the moments that out shine the rest and remind me why I love being a mom!!

-as told by Mercedez

On New Year’s Day, my dad and I went to the Grand Canyon. The view, man, it was beautiful!  Oh, and we saw some deer, and mules, and I saw a squirrel. I fed him peanuts. I almost got blown off the trail. I could have died if it wasn’t for my dad saving me! He’s a hero!

I needed to go to the bathroom. Dad said, “Let’s find a good spot for you.” So we found a big rock. Dad helped me get my pants down, but I was worried that someone would come and see me. So I decided to wait. He did say that we were close to the bathroom, and we were. But by the time we got there, I was ready to pop!! After that, I kept on going. And there was a bench and we were starving. So we sat down and had a break and had a snack. We ate some jerky, some cheese, an apple, and some Cheetos, oooh, and I ate some pretzels- they were dipped in white chocolate, and I ate some other pretzels dipped in milk chocolate. And I had some water; we put some Crystal Light in it. It turned into lemonade. We drank it. And then we were back on the track again.

When we got to the bottom, I was really tired. I asked dad where my cabin was. He said he didn’t know. So we asked somebody. He said we had to check-in after dinner. So we went and ate. We ate some dinner. I ate some steak. Everybody got some steak and some corn, and some salad and mashed potatoes. When I was done, I went to my cabin and fell fast asleep…

In the morning we had breakfast. We had eggs, bacon, and pancakes. It was good. I like this place. After that, we quickly ran to our cabin. Then we got dressed again, then got on the track again, and then started going up. 

Oh, and I passed my dad, I kept going on and on until I couldn’t see him any more. But then he caught up. So we promised not to go ahead of each other any more. We got hungry, so we ate a snack. We had some more jerky, some more pretzels, and another apple, and another piece of cheese, and some more lemonade. We also had some Cheetos.

There was a waterfall- it was frozen ice!! It was gigantic. It was so cool!! Dad asked me if I wanted to slide down it. I said, “No way!! Are you crazy?!” He said, “I’m just kidding.”

There was a bunch of mules coming by and people were on them. I said, “hi” to every one of them and they said, “hi” back.

There was snow there.  I threw a snowball at Dad. I hit him in the back.

We kept on going, and kept on going,  and kept on going,  and kept on going. Then… we saw a man. We asked him if we were close. And he said we were very close. I was happy because I was really tired and cold, and my feet were killing me. And so we kept on going, and kept on going, and kept on going, and kept on going. Finally, we were there at last!!!!!

Seventeen miles!! I can’t believe we went seventeen miles! We went 5,000 feet down and back up again. 

I asked my dad if he could turn on the heater when we got to the car. He said, “Sure.” And I slept the whole way home. Except I woke up at the gas station when he stopped the car. But then I fell asleep again. The car kept on moving and I kept on sleeping and the car kept on moving and I kept on sleeping. When I woke up, I was at home. Hurray!!!!