Flying south!

They just couldn't take it anymore!  The snow and coldness of the glorious northern country of Canada.

I was so excited when my aunt said she would come to visit and bring her daughter!

Aunt Terry and cousin Anna came for a short and SUH-WEEEET visit last week.  It was so fun to have them here.  Aunt Terry was so impressed with the green and trees.  (Which I love, too.)

I really wish it was easier and cheaper to visit family where ever they may be living.

Thank you so much for taking the time to come see us.  We LOVED having you here.

And we LOVE LOVE LOVE you!

ON WITH THE SHOW!

I finally got over to my camera bag and got the cable cord things out to get pictures off my various apparati.  So hang on to your pants!  I am photo laden and ready to share!


First I need to show you some pictures from our enlightening time in the hospital with Carter last month.  


He doesn't look so chipper here!  He had a hard time getting used to that thing in his nose.  It went up his nose and down his throat into his stomach.  Every time he swallowed it kind of pulled a bit and that drove him nutters.  He might even say that was the worst part of the whole sleep study/pH probe ordeal.  Even given after a few hours of just nose wire his whole head looked like he'd been treated for some disastrous head wound! 

I wondered how he would EVER be able to get to sleep like this.  But he also had wires stuck to his legs and two more wires over his face measuring air output from his mouth and his nose.  What a mess.
He fell asleep right away though.  Then the show began with all the seizures.  Crazy night.


We have been increasing his medication slowly and I think we have finally got a dosage that has stopped the seizures.  So he is sleeping all night and some.  I cannot get him up very easily.  I have to literally swing his legs over the edge of the bed and stand him up. 


Yea for and stink eye to medication.





As I was getting all the pictures off my phone I found a bunch of this:

That is my hand after the removal of my little hand bump.  Norma got me home and to the couch and had to leave to pick up her son from school.  I was still a little drugged.  I took a lot of pictures of this hand.  I don't remember doing that. 


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I skipped #3, but this is hilarious. Behold! Kid History #4!

It's been a while.
I have some stuff to share.
This video reminded me of the blog.

I JUST have to get the cord for my camera out of the bag!  It's just over there.  To my left.
I can't quuuiiiiiite reach it.

more tests and another one to make you smile

The sleep study was quite an ordeal! Whoa. Poor Carter had wires hooked and taped all over. His head was wired up and bandaged so he looked like he had had brain surgery. I wondered how they could possibly get anyone to fall asleep under those conditions. It was also crazy cold in the room because they didn't want him to sweat and have all the probes and junk fall off.

I was asked to record the time every time he burped, coughed, or had one of his episodes we were attributing to reflux. I didn't get a lot of sleep either.

Come to find out he is not having reflux at all. Well, that's what the pulmonologist said who watched the taped and deciphered all the recordings. I still have to hear back from the GI Dr. to see what she read on the ph probe test. I am guessing there will again be no sign of reflux.

So, okay. He isn't having reflux. He is having seizures. Every hour all night long.

And a few during the day, but not every day.

Tomorrow we are going in for an MRI and then we have an appointment with a Neurologist and epilepsy specialist guy. We have an appointment for a "sleep deprived EEG" in April which I am hoping for another miracle to get that pushed up.

They already started him on seizure medication but he is still having them. In fact Erin just came down and told me Carter was having 'reflux'. I just put them to bed twenty minutes ago.

sigh.

I am so glad we are on a track, though. I hope the MRI is clear as a bell tomorrow. But it will be good to have that picture.

Now, go watch the Kid History video.

You wont be sorry.

good things on a cloudy day

My kids and I have been watching and quoting from these videos for the last few weeks.
You should check them out.  Really.  You should.  (there are two more episodes I can post here or you can just go find them on you tube.  Kid history episode 1, 2 and 3.  Two is my favorite, I think.)

Here is the biggest awesome miracle though.

Today I got a call from the sleep study center and they said there was a cancellation and could we be there Thursday night!  Duh!  We WILL be there thursday night for the probe thing!!  She called the GI clinic and they thought we already had a sleep study set up for Thursday night which is why they told us we'd be staying over night.  Apparently the probe thing is an outpatient deal.  Did not know that...
SO they said we could come in and get the probe placed and then take our stuff to the sleep center room and then we could leave and go to the zoo or the movies or whatever until 6:30 when we'd come back and get all hunkered down for the night with all the sensors we will need to monitor Carter's night time crazy happenings.  Awesome!

"We DO believe in miracles don't we?!"  I said to the receptionist.
"Yes, we sure do."  She said.  Then she said, "You know, you're name was the last one on the waiting list to fill in any openings.  I just felt I should start from the bottom of the list today."

Answer to prayers.

Thank you for listening to those promptings.

We are on the path to answers and a good nights sleep.

Yay!

one recovery and the hopes of one recovery

My hand is feeling better.
Still a little stiff and looking grody still, all green from healing bruises and my fingers have a strange band of bruisy color across the middle knuckles and finger joints as well.  I have tape over the incision and you can see the string ends of the stitches an inch long taped down from either side of the scar.  So needless to say I was a BIG hit in my Sunbeam class today.

I couldn't teach last Sunday because of the meds and my hand was still pained, so the little kidlets colored me a get well card.  Today they asked about my boo boo and it came quite in handy calming a weepy boy who wanted his momma.

"Hey!  If you stay I'll let you look at my scar."

Worked like a charm.  It still has a little dried blood under the tape.  Gross.  Also, you can see the marker marks they drew on there to know where to cut and stitch.  I told them that NEXT week the tape will be off and they can actually see where they cut it open.  Oooooo.
I have a very fun Sunbeam class of 4 boys and two girls.  All very rambunctious and Crazy, but adorable and I love them.
One little boy got up during Singing time walked right in front of me stood there for a second and then carefully started pulling my curls straight and watching them spring back.  Gosh.  It was so cute.

Anyway.

Let me tell you something else.  My Carter has been waking up every hour all night long since who knows when.  We started treating him for 'reflux' in September because he would have these weird things happen where he couldn't breath and he'd grab his tummy....I don't know.  Our best guess was reflux.  And I knew he woke up a few times a night even way back then.
I found out it was very often when Brian went out of town and Carter was freaked out about something and couldn't stay in bed so I relented for the first time ever and let him stay in my room.  I was so tired.  It was 1:30 am!  He promptly fell asleep and then proceeded to wake up with these seizure like reflux things every hour!  He didn't remember anything although he'd talk to me a bit when he could breath again.  So I had him stay in my room for the next 2 nights and wrote down every time he woke up with these episodes.  EVERY HOUR!  Seriously.  How can a kid endure not getting a good nights sleep.  I know by that third night I was a weepy basket case.
So.  His endoscopy and biopsies came back with no evidence of reflux.  On Thursday we have an overnight hospital stay and he is having a different test done to better measure stomach acid and occurances of reflux through the night.   We also have a sleep study set up to look into something other than reflux, but we can't get that in until May.  What is going on with this poor kiddo, I don't know.

Next week, or in a few days, depending on how on the ball I am, I'll post a picture of where they cut my hand open.  Then I'll be investing in lots of Vitamin E and duct tape.

Just kidding on the duct tape.

I'm going to go eat a cookie.  I love cookies.

Have a good week!

Ow!

The surgery is complete.

Now there is a scar where there was a bump.
And a pain where there was no pain.

Ugh.

I'd show you a picture, but I don't feel like going through ALL that hassle.

The nurse did fill me in on some of my ramblings when I was all drugged up for the surgery that I don't remember a bit of.

She said I talked about creme brulee and asked them all what they were making for dinner that night.
She also said I asked them if they had to choose would they pick a cook or a housekeeper.

I sort of remembering telling them that I didn't feel ignored and I guess I wouldn't really have noticed if they had ignored me anyway.

My friend Norma stepped up in a BIG way for me and was my care giver and chauffer for the day.  She said when they brought her into the recovery room I told her it was pretty fun and I'd do it again soon.
She also told me I asked her how long she'd been there and started on a list of questions and comments which ended with another query as to how long she'd been in there.  I guess I went throught the same line of questioning three times before I was supposedly lucid enough to realize I'd already said some of the things I was getting ready to say again.

She took me to get my perscription (which I only took that first day.  It made me feel woozy.) and picked me up some Cadbury creme eggs while we waited.
Then the sweet thing rubbed my back as I puked up my grape juice in a parking lot next to a church on the way home.

So.  Three days later it is NOT fun and maybe I'd ask more questions about just living with Lumpy, making him a part of the family no matter how bulbus and disturbing he may have been to some people.

I am not a trooper.

NOT AT ALL!