January 2012
January 8, 2012 - Happy New Year! Cannot believe 2011 is over and already a week into 2012. We had a wonderful holiday although it went to quick. The kids got spoiled and were a lot of fun. Megan loves her kitchen and nightly she asks us to go in her room and play. It's pretty cute. Scott got his new BBQ and the food he's been making has been excellent. He hasn't done a brisket or pulled pork yet but I think that is coming next weekend.
We've been fighting sickness still. Megan was on antibiotics for a sinus infection starting the week of Thanksgiving, finished that up in 10 days and within 7 days had symptoms again. Luckily our pediatrician had given a refill on the medicine so I just filled that and started her right back up. Another 10 days of that and within 2 weeks she had symptoms again so we had to take her to the pediatrician for more antibiotics. The pediatrician thought it was time for us to go back to the ENT and discuss tonsils. Luckily I had already booked Megan's 6 month check up on her ear tubes which is this Tuesday so we'll see what the doctor says on that. Ryan has also been fighting sinus infections. I finally called the ENT on him and we've been doing a 6 week course of oral antibiotics, nasal spray antibiotics and nasal washes. He goes in to see the ENT Tuesday as well and we do expect a surgery for him. We think it will be to scrape his sinuses but may also include tonsils.
This Wednesday we go see the orthopedist and will have more discussions on the intrathecal baclofen. I called our neurosurgeon last week and he gave his blessing so we've started doing research and will have a list of questions for Wednesdays appointment. Our biggest worry is placement of the pump as we don't want it to cause Ryan problems army crawling. We'll let everyone know how these appointments go.
Then Thursday I am having Lasik. I've been so excited since October to do this. I'm tired of glasses, contacts and my eye allergies. Hard to believe in a week from now I will be able to see this computer screen without contacts or glasses.
Other than what we've had going on above we've all been doing great. Ryan is making progress. We think it is because he finally feels good for longer than two weeks at a time. No big changes in eating but he is eating some table food that is chunky like ravioli, macaroni and cheese - things that are soft. His caretaker made him a crawling device to help him work on crawling and we've seen improvement with it. I went to preschool with him one day and followed them around. It was great to see what all he does. I'm posting a video of him working on the treadmill and in the pool.
Megan continues to develop at lightning speed. The words coming out of her mouth and the things she is picking up just amaze us. She got a little karaoke machine for Christmas and she is so funny with it. I haven't been able to get it on video yet but she loves singing into it - especially the ABC song. She is a singing machine. One of the funniest things she does lately is blame Ryan for everything that happens to her even if he isn't even in the room. Another funny thing she is doing is if she doesn't like something you are doing she tells you to walk away. Scott was in our bathroom one day and blocking her from coming in (so she was in our bedroom) and she pointed to the door and said, "Walk away Daddy. Walk away." Then she went to the bedroom door and pointed out and said it again. So funny. We did find out that daycare will tell the kids to walk away from the door if they aren't suppose to be by it. She's really good with her flash cards so we got a bunch more to work on. They are working on days of the week so she likes to say them over and over. Cannot believe she is 20 months now! Time is flying.
Scott & I are doing good if we can stay healthy. Scott came down with strep throat right before New Year's. We're both busy at work, busy at home and wishing there was more time to sleep. We did get away over night to go to Vegas for the Las Vegas Bowl on December 22nd. We watched Boise State kill Arizona State. We had a good time and got to see Chuck from Alabama and Pete from Arizona. It was just too short. We went down the morning of the 22nd, went to the game and were on the 6:30 a.m. flight the next morning and home around 12:30. Ryan's caretaker took care of the kids and they had a good time.
My friend starts a clinical trial next week for his rare cancer. Again while you don't know him he could use the prayers! Also prayers go out to a little boy in Spokane named Brandon. He is losing his battle with cancer. I learned about his story from a Facebook friend only to find his mom is friends with my friend Heidi. It is a sad story and we hope that they can keep his pain down so he can go peacefully.
January 15, 2012 - What a busy week we have had! Tuesday we went to the ENT. After 6 weeks of Ryan being on oral antibiotics, nasal antibiotics and nasal wash, his tonsils have white puss pockets all over them. They are coming out on January 23rd. We had a CT done of his sinuses because if Dr. Beck is doing the tonsils I want his sinuses cleaned out too if they are plugged up. We have always expected them to be plugged because of how long he had the NG tube in for feeding. CT scan showed that his sinuses were not plugged. So we'll just battle getting tonsils out. We are going to be in the hospital overnight because with our eating issues the doctor is worried about dehydration. It is going to be a tough battle but we're hoping it will improve his eating and gagging along with reducing sickness. I've started to let Ryan's ladies at the hospital know so they can come visit. Just hoping they will put us in oncology so we have less chance of picking up bugs. Megan was on antibiotics up until the day before we met the ENT and within a day she was already showing signs of the sinus infection coming back. Initial look showed tonsils were big but they scoped her and adenoids are huge (just like her brother) but tonsils are small from the back so they are staying in. Megan is having outpatient surgery for adenoids on February 1st. We started her back up on antibiotics by Friday because her symptoms are back and she is hacking all night long. We're hoping between these two surgeries the kiddos will start feeling much better.
On Wednesday we took Ryan to see the orthopedist. We had a list of questions regarding the intrathecal baclofen. Unfortunately Ryan needs something now and with how rough the tonsils are going to be we can't pile inserting the pump too so we're doing one more round of Botox tomorrow and then in 3 months we're going to insert the baclofen pump. This will really be the best thing for Ryan but once we take the tone in his muscles out of the way, he's going to be weak and we're going to have to start over in a lot of places to strengthen and stretch them. It is going to be a lot of work for all of us but we're expecting it to be worth it in the end - less pain, better sleeping, and possibly better eating.
Thursday I had my Lasik. I was at the office about an hour with the procedure taking only 15 minutes. It definitely sounded about 10 times worse than it actually was. It wasn't bad at all really. I went in blind as a bat and went out being able to see. It was a little funky wearing the patches the first day but now I only have to wear them at night or wear the eye guard around the kids if I'm worried they might hit me in the face. I went in Friday morning for my post op appointment and had 20/15 vision. I've already thrown out all of my contact stuff and donated old glasses. It is such a nice feeling although at night I do find myself thinking I need to take my contacts out. Scott then yells at me to not touch my eyes. I highly recommend Lasik for anyone that is thinking about it. A lot of my friends did it about 10 years ago and I do not know why I waited so long but I'm so glad I finally did it.
We'll update after the surgeries to let everyone know how they went!