Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change. ~Author Unknown

Last Thursday was supposed to be field day for the kids.  However, there was a wind warning and gusts up to 60 or 65 MPH so they rescheduled for Friday.  Isaac and Zoey of course competed at the same time so Chris and I split up and did our best to cheer each one on.  This year they had a new gym teacher and honestly I really liked this years field day much better.  They actually had quite a few field events plus the regular tug of war, Frisbee throwing and three legged race.  The kids did great and got Popsicles and ribbons when they were done.  The weather was so nice on Friday.  Perfect for field day.

Saturday the kids and Chris went fishing.  They caught a lot of Bass out at Brad's Ranch.  Later that night we went to Justin and Shawna's for supper.  It was good to hang out with good friends and just relax.

Monday the kids did not have school so they were stuck with me all day.  Zoey had a friend sleep over on Sunday night and Ike's friend from Idaho came to Gillette for the summer so our house was busy.  We took CJ in to get his sodium checked.  With his new doctors we are working at keeping his sodium a little lower than what we have in the past.  We are hoping that by using medication to reduce the amount he pees that he can drink less water and more formula. Obviously babies don't grow with water like flowers do.  So even though I like the idea of keeping him off medicine--if he is drinking more formula in theory he should grow more.  We will see.

Friday, May 24, 2013

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

Well I guess a lot has happened since I last blogged.  Part of the reason is that my computer broke. Luckily we still had 7 days left on the warrenty.  Unfortunately, tho it was the power connection on the computer that was broken.  The company that fixed my computer said that I needed to back up the hard drive.  Well I didn't have power so that didn't sound easy to me.  I didn't know how much it would cost so I lollygaged taking it in.  But it is fixed and back and things are good.

I see my last post suggested we had a baptism date for CJ.  Um, yeah, that didn't happen.  Grandparents made it out the weekend of April 6.  However, that Wednesday before I took CJ in for his shots.  He was cranky on Thursday, which I expected and then on Friday he was vomiting all day.  I finally took him to the ER for fluids. We spent the night, but the antinausa meds they gave him didn't work.  He was still vomiting the next day.  He had a seizure.  They decided to get a CT scan and before they could take him down there they needed to intubate him.  We flew to Denver, where they decided to put in a shunt.  Apparently a canal closed up creating a blockage and the fluid in his head backed up.  The shunt re routes the extra fluid from his head to his tummy.  It was a stressfull weekend.  But everything went extremely well.  Recovery time from the surgery was minimal and getting off the vent was the biggest issue.  Even with that it was our shortest Denver stay so far.  He truely is amazing!:)

This past month we had quite a few Dr. appointments.  We used Pilots for Christ to get us to our follow up appointments in Denver.  The surgery is successful and everything looks great.  He is on medicince to reduce his chance of having more seizures but I hope just adding the shunt will help too.  He had his 6month check up here in town and is doing well.  Then we had appointments at Mayo.  Some doctors were worried that there may be more underlying conditions and if I was going to be transfered anywhere else I wanted to go to Mayo to be in Minnesota.  I couldn't go at the time but with the connection of doctors they got us in for consultations.  We used Pilots for Christ again.  Our flight out was a bit bumpy.  It was right before all the storms hit between here and Minnesota.  It was quite a weekend.  Very overwhelming.  I got to eat supper with Grandpa one night.  That was great.  Friday we had appointments all day.  We did lay to rest that there is anything else going on.  It was the oppinion at Mayo that he has the proper diagnosis and that we are on the proper track for his care and that was good to know. They did want to run some blood work that for him will be routine.  So we tried to get that done on Saturday.  The nurses couldn't get it so we left.  Because it took so long I didn't make it to Grandpa Ed's burial but I did make it to lunch.  Later that night I got to see my niece Libby at her dance recital and she was awesome! It was a late night, but the next day I got to meet my college besties for breakfast. How wonderful! Spent some of the afternoon with my brothers.  Monday came way too early, but we had to get back in time to try and retake the bloodwork.  We got it done and went to our last appointment.  During that appointment we got called out, saying that the results were not right and needed to be rested. Eventually we were directed to go to the ER at St. Mary's.  If the results didn't come back normal they wanted to admidt us to the ICU.  In the mean time we were talking back and forth with the pilot.  He was having difficulty getting to Rochester due to the storms. I didn't know what to tell him. I wanted him to get there soon, but if we were going to be admitted then I didn't want him to waste his time and fuel.Well as it turns out, it was just a difficult test to get.  The abnormal numbers were not Cole's issues but had to due with the finiky test.  All worked out in the end.  But our short day turned into all day, with no lunch. ---eehhh. 

In the mean time Isaac and Zoey are in sports and 4-H and getting started with musical instruments.  Isaac is in baseball and really enjoying it.  He plays for the Rangers this year.  Zoey has started fast pitch softball.  They use the pitching machine.  She really enjoys it also.  This is our first year in 4-H.  Things are much different here than in Minnesota but 4-H nonetheless!  We are working on demonstrations for our next club meeting. For fair this year Isaac is going to take shooting sports (which includes air riffle, .22 and shotgun this year) and gardening.  Zoey is going to take horticulture, vet science and knitting.  So we have not had a lack of things to do lately.  Zoey has had an interest in the piano so I have been working with her on that a little bit.  I hope by the fall we will be a little more scheduled that lessons might fit in better. But for now she is stuck with me.  Next year Isaac will be old enough to start band and they have chosen their instruments.  Isaac has chosen the viola.  I am so excited!! I am sure my ears will hurt for a  while, but that's ok.