Because I Don't Want To Break My Goal...

I'm writing this post.

I know I told you to stay tuned for a post about how much I heart good physicians, but that's been more difficult to write than I anticipated. I am sure you probably couldn't really care less if I ever got it done or not, but I do, so it's coming. Just not tonight.

My husband is home. My kids are in bed (ok, so that's a lie.. Connor's screaming in time out right now, but he's on his way to bed :) And I want to do nothing more than collapse on the couch and catch up on my favorite tv shows.

Hope you each have a night as wonderful as mine!

Update #1: Doctor's Visits

Since I last posted about James a lot of good has happened.  His blood counts began improving without any intervention shortly after our weekly visits to the hematologist began.  In fact, he just had his final visit with the hematologist last Friday.  His blood counts were not quite back to normal, but with the progress he has made, the doctor's feel certain he will fully recover on his own within the next few months.  It was the news I expected going into the visit, but it was wonderful to hear anyway.  He will just need to follow up with his pediatrician this Summer.

He also had his EEG last month and the neurologist said it looked normal, which was fantastic.  James has been diagnosed as having a generalized seizure disorder, though, since the doctor's are certain the seizure was not a result of another condition or stimulus (fever, virus, etc.).  The seizure we witnessed was either a series of smaller seizures that gradually worsened, or a quite lengthy seizure that really took it out of the little guy for a while.  We are just playing the watch and wait game with him now.  If he has another one that we see, he will return to the neurologist for further evaluation.

Connor had his 4 year well child visit the day after his birthday and he's doing as good as ever.  After spending his entire life under the 2nd percentile for height and weight he's finally catching up!  His stats are as follows:

Weight: 31.5 lbs, 10%
Height: 39 in, 25%

His vision was normal for his age, as was his development.  He failed his hearing test, however, and has to follow up with an audiologist the middle of next month.  It will be interesting to see how the appointment there goes.  He seems to be able to hear fine in everyday life, so I'm not worried about him, but he genuinely struggled with responding to some sounds during the test.  I'll keep you posted! 

I have been thankful these last few months for incredible doctors.  Those of you who have read this blog for a while now  know how sad I was to leave behind the physicians we had back in Utah.  And those of you who have read this blog for a while now know what a struggle I had finding ones I love and trust just as much here in Texas.  Stay tuned for tomorrows post all about our awesome doctors and why finding good ones matters so much to me!     

30 Days of Blogging

I desperately need to get back into the blogging groove. I swear I have been trying to rejump my blogging drive, many times actually, but a post or two goes by and I'm all of a suddent back in a slump. Time passes, and I start to get overwhelmed by the amount of things that I have neglected to write about. I start one post after another that I never actually finish or publish. Blah...

SO, I am challenging myself to 30 days of blogging. I figure 30 days is time enough for me to not only get back into the habit, but maybe also get caught up. We'll see!

Wish me luck and stay tuned!

P.S. Does anyone know where to spell check on the new compose menu?  I can't seem to find it anywhere...

Four Years Ago...

From this very minute, my teeny-tiny 4 lb Connor was born, and my life changed forever for the better.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN!

5 Years Ago...

I married my most favorite guy in the world.


He's still one of my favorite guys in the world...

Transient Erythroblastopenia of Childhood

Just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?

Well, we had a good time at the Hematologist/Oncologist place yesterday (James really didn't enjoy it much) but we found all the answers we were looking for and it's GREAT NEWS!

Our little man has Transient Erythroblastopenia of Childhood and basically, as far as blood disorders go, it's one of the best things you can have. For the past little while his red blood cell count has been significantly decreasing. This happens to children with TEC until eventually they recoup and start producing normal levels again. It is not uncommon for a child to need a transfusion if they drop a bit too low... but that's about it. James was at a 7 yesterday, and the Dr. will continue to monitor him for the next several weeks. If he drops under 5.5 they will need to consider transfusion.

So, Marcus and I are thrilled with the diagnoses and now his pediatrician is back to exploring what caused his seizure (the blood and seizure are definitely unrelated). His EEG is scheduled for next Wednesday.

Update on Sweet Baby James

Although my little James has been acting as healthy and normal as usual (well, with the exception of having a cough, runny nose, and vomiting once during a coughing spell) his little medical saga continues. Here's the basic recap of what has been going on:

Thursday, January 21: James had a seizure. We took him to the ER and they diagnosed him as having a new onset seizure and mild anemia. James was first tested and diagnosed with anemia at 12 months and was simply but on a multivitamin with iron to solve the problem. At 15 months his blood was retested and it was determined he was no longer anemic.

Friday, January 22: James had a follow up appointment with his pediatrician where he appeared to be in general good health. She discussed seizures with us and determined he needed an EEG to explore the possibility of a seizure disorder further. She drew his blood for testing to take a closer look at his anemia.

Monday, January 25: James' pediatricians office called with the news that his anemia was not being caused by iron deficiency but may be caused by blood loss. They immediately ordered a CT scan of James' abdomen and pelvis to check for internal bleeding (a CT scan of his head was preformed at the ER and was clean). Everything looked good with the scans.

Tuesday, February 2: James visits his pediatrician for his 18 month well child visit and follow up. He again appeared to be in general good health. She did diagnose him with allergies (he had been coughing for three weeks without a fever and had a runny nose on and off). She prescribed a medicine to help him with it. She sent him to a lab to have more blood work done to look at his red blood cell count and speed of cell reproduction.

Thursday, February 4: James' pediatrician called with the news that his recent blood test looked worse than his previous ones. His red blood count and hemoglobin were even lower. She is now sending James to see a hematologist/oncologist today or tomorrow. We are waiting for the office to call back with his appointments for both that and his EEG.

It's been a little crazy because every time I leave a Dr's appointment I feel relieved... reassured that James seems to be doing so well. I know they are doing follow up tests but I tend to assume they will come back just fine and life will go back to normal. I continually am caught off guard when the pediatrician herself calls with the news that James has abnormal test results and she's concerned for his health. At this point I am definitely wanting the doctors to be able to get to the bottom of his problems and work towards fixing them.

Poor little baby! He is an absolute mess every time he sees a physician because he knows he's going to have blood drawn or IV's inserted and go through tests that have been scary for him (he was not a fan of being restrained for the CT scans).

His 18 months stats were:

-21.4 pounds (less than 5th percentile, but normal for him)
-31.5 inches (25th percentile)

At 18 months James is:

-LOVING meal times and snacks.

-Sleeping pretty well at night (12 hours or so.. sometimes waking up once or twice).

-Taking one nap each afternoon.

-Learning to talk more and more each day. James can say: Mama, Dada, Thank you, Please, No, Choo Choo, McDonalds (yeah, I'm not proud of that one), Snack, Bite, Hi, Bye-Bye, Night Night, Nap, Baby, uh-oh and I'm sure a few others that I'm missing right now.

-James loves to makes animal sounds as well. He knows what a monkey, kitty, and puppy say.

-James is learning all about his body. He knows where his belly button, head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, bottom, tummy, and feet are.

-James LOVES his Daddy, Mommy, and big brother Connor. He also adores (and torments) the kitties.

-James LOVES his puppy and monkey (stuffed animals).

-He still has a pacifier, but is not addicted to it. We let him have it when he goes to sleep (which his pediatrician says is JUST FINE...no hating please :) .. We've also let him have it whenever we need him to be quiet out in public or lately when he needs comfort at his doctors appointment. He loves that bink!

-James loves bath time and even likes to shower.

-He is a big time singer and dancer.

-James definitely is a fan of Elmo's World!

-James gives "lovies" and "kissies" with the best of them... and we ALL love that!

-Overall James is a HAPPY little guy and WE LOVE HIM SOO MUCH!

Big Plans for the Future

Before I make the point of this post, let me just quickly say that James is doing well. Thank you to all of you who have shown him (and us) love and concern. I'll give an update on his whole saga later. Until then, here's a bit of what's been going through Connor's head.

The last couple of days Connor has been talking a lot about his future... and I mean his "way down the road" future. I'm not sure where the whole thing has come from, but it's been pretty hillarious.

Here are his big plans:

-Move to Nebraska.

-Move to Utah.

-Go to school to become a doctor.

-Get married to Abigail or Aubrey (I guess that's yet to be decided).

-Work at The Bodies Exhibit.

-Have a baby and have a lot of heartburn.

-Name the baby Hoses.

-Buy a house with a swimming pool.

-Dress Hoses up in a lot of different hoodies so he will never have a cold head.

-Buy a duck and a rabbit.

And I think he plans on living happily ever after at that point. I'm just trying to remind him that he has plenty to look forward to before then... This kid just thinks he can't wait to grow up.

Seizures

James gave Marcus and I the scare of a lifetime the other day when he had a seizure out of nowhere. Here's the story:

It was Thursday morning, and Marcus was home since his new class schedule doesn't begin until 11:00 am. The two of us loaded our boys into the car, after a completely normal morning, to drive Connor to preschool. The sun was nice and bright and we noticed James kept closing his eyes because of it. He continued to act sleepy once we turned and were driving away from the sun. I thought it was a bit odd for him to be so tired so soon after waking up, but didn't think much about it. We dropped Connor off and continued driving to run a few errands. James was in and out of little naps in the car the entire time (a little over an hour) and totally quiet.. this is not typical behavior for our little James.

When we arrived back home we took him out of the car and put him on the ground to walk into the apartment. James was staring blankly off into space and wouldn't walk unless Marcus took his hand and pulled him a bit. I finally just went over and picked him up, and he responded to me when I did. I carried him into the house and sat him down on the sofa. Marcus went back into the bedroom to get ready for school and I hopped on the computer. I was only on for a few minutes before I noticed James was sitting totally quiet, in the exact same position I sat him down in, and was staring off into space. At this point I thought he was really quite exhausted. I talked to him, but he didn't respond at all.. I thought he might even be asleep with his eyes wide open. I grabbed one of his stuffed animals and tried to "wake him up" with it. No response. I grabbed his favorite little stuffed puppy (who he ALWAYS greets with a hug, kiss, and smile) but he had no response towards him either. I called for Marcus and told him I thought something might be wrong with James.

Marcus picked James up and carried him into his bedroom, figuring that he would either throw a fit when he laid him down in his bed, or roll over and go to sleep. When he didn't do either, but just continued to stare off into space we really became nervous. I grabbed the thermometer to check his temperature, which ended up being normal, and Marcus checked his heart rate and found it was quite elevated. This is when I became scared. I ran and called our pediatricians office and asked where the closest ER was.

When Marcus lifted James out of his bed he was limp, staring at nothing, and unresponsive. We ran him out to the car and buckled him into his car seat. I sat next to him and put my hand on his heart.. I just wanted the reassurance that came from feeling it beat.. although it was RACING. As we made the 10-15 minute drive to the ER James became increasingly more limp and I had to support his head to keep it upright. His color changed, his eyes started rolling, he began drooling, then bubbling around his mouth, and finally vomiting. He was in and out of consciousness and I just kept praying, "Please keep my baby alive, please keep my baby alive." Remember, I didn't know it was a seizure at this point and was scared it might be something worse.

When we arrived at the hospital Marcus took James from his car seat, his body totally limp, eyes wide open and blank, and ran with him into the ER. I parked the car and then ran in to meet them.

It was SUCH a relief once I saw James in the arms of the Dr's and nurses. They immediately began asking all sorts of questions and hooking James up to all sorts of monitors. It took him a good 10-15 minutes before he started making eye contact with others and started crying. It just got better from that point on and he made a full recovery within an hour or so.

We were sent home from the hospital later on that afternoon and you would never know anything happened to James by the way he acted the rest of the day. He was his normal, giggly, energetic, little self. Of course, he was quite spoiled the rest of the day...well, even now he's still getting his own way far more than he probably should :)

He had a follow up appointment with his pediatrician yesterday and will have some more tests run in the near future. Everything continues to be well at this point. Seizures aren't terribly uncommon in children James' age, but the doctor was a bit surprised that his seizure came on out of what seems to be nowhere.

I'll keep my blog updated as we find out more. Until then we're just keeping a close eye on the little guy and enjoying him being back to normal!

Things I Learned in 2009

Last year was definitely a crazy, unpredictable, and challenging year. Instead of recapping the happenings of 2009, I thought it might be more meaningful for me to sum up the things I learned. After-all, I think the only thing that makes challenges worth while is to learn something from them.

-Gratitude. Marcus had three different employers this last year (not completely by his own choice, mind you), but never went a day unemployed. We were offered help and support in a variety of ways through a variety of circumstances by family members and friends all through out the year. How can you not learn to have a bit more gratitude when you feel so loved and blessed?

-Sacrifice. Sometimes it's not about what you have that brings joy.. but what you are willing to sacrifice to help yourself or others. Time, money, things, etc. Making sacrifices for meaningful purposes truly bought joy into my life throughout the year. I learned that to give really feels better than to get. And to give up sometimes feels better than to keep.

-Hope. I would say that hope was the biggest lesson I learned in 2009. I learned that hope literally means to look forward to something with desire and reasonable confidence. Hope is based on positive and possible expectation. I didn't realize how often I expected the worst out of situations or people until this year. Hope is a beautiful thing, and I think there are many reasons to have a bright hope for the future.

-Lastly, I learned that my family has strength. Through all the challenges and struggles Marcus and I just grew closer and closer together. We became stronger for one another, for our children, and for ourselves. I have less fear about what trials life may bring us, because I feel quite sure that through it all we will be ok.

So here's the thing. I keep saying how hard last year was for us.. and it was. But in retrospect, it feels like one of the best years of my life. It was certainly one of the most blessed years of my life.