Home Sick

So, after a weekend of being sick it seems we are not quite all put back together again yet. I am still struggling with my breathing and being tired. I had planned to tough it out today and go to school but Annika woke up with a wicked cough and a sore throat. There's no way she should be spreading all those germs around school! So, we're home today. Jake stayed with us and Abby went on to preschool for the morning. Hopefully she'll be OK since she's not been at the top of her game either recently.

On a side note, Jake has switched to walking at least 50% of the time now! It's so much fun to see him toddle around! He's getting so big!

Attack of the Germs

In a matter of one week we have gone from being a healthy family to being one rather sick group of people! I think it was the snow again last week -- it brought back the germs!
It all started last week Sat. morning when I experienced some really intense chest pain accompanied by several other fun symptoms like shortness of breath and sweating. I assumed it was heartburn (the joys of getting older!) but was still rather shaken up by the incident. I ended up sleeping for several hours after the pain finally subsided and have remained rather tired and short of breath ever since. Since my family has a history of heart disease I thought it best to contact my doctor on Monday morning just to get her take on things. What I got was a stern lecture and directions to get myself to the emergency room immediately! I was teaching and had Abby and Jake to worry about so after climbing a snow hill (and falling in up to my waist!) and physically bringing a wayward student down from the top of the hill (all the while thinking that my doctor would kill me if she could see me now) I arranged to get my kids taken care of and left for the ER. My mother was kind enough to accompany me. I could not believe how busy they were there! Still, our wait was quite short. Heart concerns get things moving. They hooked me up to several machines and then did an EKG and promptly informed me (as if this was astonishing news) that I was not currently having a heart attack. Considering that I felt mostly fine except being a little tired and short of breath I was not real surprised. They took chest x-rays and did blood work and finally concluded that I appeared to be fine. Their best guess was that I had some sort of heartburn issue on Sat. and that I would be fine. They did order a stress test though just to be safe. So, four hours later (not bad for an ER visit) I was back home and anxious to have the whole incident behind me.
On Tuesday morning, Annika woke up with a croupy cough. Five kids had been out sick on Monday from her class and she was sure she needed to stay home. We pushed her to go to school and promised to come get her if she couldn't make it. She made it, which was good, since now we needed to deal with Jake. Jake had developed a diaper rash on Monday which seemed to be getting worse and worse despite our generous use of diaper rash cream. We attributed his rash and rather crabby nature to teething and assumed it would improve. By lunch time on Tuesday his little bottom was actually bleeding and he screamed bloody murder anytime we tried to touch it (poor guy!). I called the doctor and they had us take his temp. Since he had one we had to bring him in. It turns out his rash was infected and on top of that he has a bad ear infection too! That explains why he's been so crabby! So now Jake is on multiple meds.
In the meantime, Abby's cold is back. It looks like it may be another sinus infection (she had one a few weeks ago) as it is not clearing up. The child oozes green snot! We're just a real mess here.
On the bright side, I had my stress test today and everything looked great. My heart is healthy and doing everything is should. Unfortunately, I am still having breathing problems which seem to be getting progressively worse. My doctor has ordered a visit to the pulminologist and I am scheduled to go see her tomorrow morning in hopes that we can discover something before I go see a specialist. Let's all pray for warmer weather, more sunshine, and open windows to air out the germs! Our family needs the respite!

That's it,...we're moving!

When I look out my computer window all I can see right now is white. The snow started around 10:30 this morning and hasn't stopped since. The Husky's who walk the track behind our house look like they're in heaven. Everyone else thinks we're somewhere else! All the local Good Friday services have been canceled as have sporting events. Boo for Michigan weather! We're ready for spring!

Jake's Wonderful Head

Today Jake had his last appointment at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. After five months he is officially done with his helmet and his plagiocephaly is considered to be "cured". His scan revealed that over the course of five months he had a 6.1% change in the ratio of his head circumference which places him now in the average range for head shape. Although we still notice a slight area where his head is flat, overall, we are delighted with how well his helmet worked. Most people will never know this was a part of his life.






This is the scan which shows the before and after look. The red is his initial head shape and size. The blue shows the changes. The goal was to keep him from growing on the sides (which is did) and to allow him to grow in the back. He also grew a bit in front which is OK. Jake's flattest spot on his head was actually above the scan line so if they had been able to show that on the picture you would see a more dramatic change.


This picture show's Jake's head as we prepare for the final scan. I wanted to show a before and after picture but it turns out the before pictures are on my mom's camera so we need to get them from her.









And this picture shows Jake enjoying a well-earned celebratory Chocolate-Chip cookie!








We are so delighted to have our little boy's head back. It will take a lot of will power on everyone's part now to keep him from going bold with all the kisses and rubs his little head is getting! The process was well worth it but we're thankful to be done!

A Sympathetic Cat

Well, God bless Tate. It seems he was feeling sorry for Greg and so he decided to go and have his own back problems just so he could relate better to how Greg is feeling. It all started a few days ago when we noticed he was laying around a lot and not nearly as active as usual -- we naturally interpreted this as "he's a cat and he's getting lazy!" On Tuesday however, Tate remained sitting on the sofa in the same spot for over 12 hours. Now, while cats may be lazy at times, we thought this was a bit extreme. I put him on the floor and he slowly hobbled over to a large stuffed dog on the floor and laid down again. It was an awful sight to watch. I brought his food and a water dish over and he took a couple licks and ate a couple bites while laying down. Something was clearly wrong. We had to carry him down to the liter box and back upstairs Tuesday night and Wed. morning wasn't any better. SO...I spent an hour and a half on the phone trying to find a vet who could see him Wed. My goal was to avoid the emergency clinic since it cost $100 just to walk in the door there. We ended up going to Woodland Veterinary Clinic and the people there were wonderful! We will definitely being going back there. Upon initial inspection the vet said Tate seemed fine -- his heart rate, respiration, temperature, etc. were all normal. The vet asked several questions about his symptoms and agreed that something seemed wrong. When I mentioned how Tate was walking he asked me to put him on the floor so he could watch. Tate pathetically walked over to where his carrier was sitting on a low bench and tried to hop up. It took him almost a full minute to make the jump. The vet could now see where the apparent problem was. He ordered x-rays and blood work and I left him there for a couple of hours so the procedures could be completed. Up on returning the vet showed me the x-rays and the results of the blood work. The x-rays did not show any problems with Tate's spine or hips but it did sh0w an enlarged kidney. The blood work also indicated a possible (although slight) kidney problem which could be related to the fact that he wasn't eating or drinking much. Of more concern though were levels of his white blood cells. They decided to run a couple more blood tests to rule out cancer. They came back negative -- Tate does not have cancer. Interestingly, the kidney trouble does not seem to be related to the pain Tate is experiencing. So, the final diagnosis is: possible kidney issues (we got back in 10 days for more blood work), and an apparent back injury (of unknown cause). Tate was put on some major anti-inflammatory drugs and told not the play with the kids or jump on high things for 2-3 days. He had his first dose of medication last night and as of this morning he already seems to be perking up. He has climbed on top of the sofa and is happily sleeping there right now. He also ate and drank almost normally this morning. $450.00 later our cat seems to be headed in the right direction! Now, if we only had good insurance like Greg and Katelyn!

Jake Does Laps

Jake is on the verge of walking on his own, but he doesn't quite have the courage to try it yet. However, when using his little push walker he can do circles around the house. Here he is:

Easter Birthdays

First off: it was great to see Dan and Rebecca this weekend, who brought Greg and Katelyn up as well, surprising all of us. Kudos to D & R for blindsiding us with very happy news, too.

Jake turns 1 in less than two weeks, and this year his birthday, March 23, is on Easter, for the only time in his life, unless he lives to be 153. In case you didn't know, here's how the date for Easter is determined: it's on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox (basically, the beginning of spring), which is fixed at March 21 (sometimes the real beginning of spring is on March 20). Therefore, the earliest possible date for Easter is March 22, but that's a rare occurrence, last happening in 1818 and next in 2285. The date for Easter actually has a 5.7 million year cycle. All of this is on the Internet, of course. The early Easter this year made for a goofy schedule at Ferris, as the students return from spring break, have class for 3 days, and then get Easter break.

Annika was nearly an Easter baby, about three hours shy. When we mentioned that Jake's birthday is on Easter this year, she asked about hers. Last night I found out that she'll have to wait for her 46th birthday, in 2047. But then it will come around again in 2058 and 2069, so she could very well have three Easter birthdays. Yay, yay, fun, fun.

Helmet Update

I didn't want to jump on top of Lisa's post too soon, but here's the latest on Jake's head:

A few days ago he started to develop some bad red spots from rubbing right on his forehead. So, we called the doc and made an appointment, but we had to wait two days, and we were told to just leave his helmet off until then. As a result we had two helmetless days during which we enjoyed his nice little baby head. We've missed it - he's much nicer to cuddle in before bed when there isn't a hard piece of plastic in the way. Plus, he slept really well, which may have been a coincidence, but maybe not. He didn't smell like old hockey sweat either. Then on Thursday Lisa took him to the doc, he was measured (he's having a growth spurt, and thus the rubbing) and his helmet was reshaped inside to fit better. We also made an appointment for March 20, when he will get a final scan and we'll put that helmet away forever. I'm counting the days already, and the timing will be perfect, since his 1st birthday is March 23 and we're having a party on the 22nd. Overall, we're glad we went through the process, even though it will have lasted a week short of five months. Five months without his cute baby head! And now, he awakes...