Update.....
So it wasn't so bad in the long run, infection is a no. Thank goodness. The tube is ?sutured we think? not so sure about that but since we have it secured every which way to the moon it should be good enough to last until next week. 7 days tomorrow and counting officially. I will be so happy to be rid of this cumbersome thing. And I know for sure Leigha will too.
But even tho I had to make the rush into the doctors this afternoon the day wasn't a whole write off. We managed to get the dogs groomed for the holidays with Tasha being bathed and brushed and Abby her usual shave down so she isn't bald by the New Year from biting herself raw as is her norm this time of year...well any time of year really. I got the boys into the barber for a hair cut as well and Ryan actually sat in the Barber chair and had an actual conversation with Tony this time with his head up and eye contact. It was amazing. We left a bit sticky from the whole situation as we had to bribe him with candy to even get him into the chair to start and of course Leigha managed to get her hands onto the candies too, can't blame her for wanting them and I wasn't about to try and take them away either :p
I picked up the very expensive dryer motor so that we can see if replacing it will help with our problem of ours needing to be run over and over just to dry one load. It was so bad when we got home from the Stollery with Leigha that I had to run one load 5 times to dry it. Had I not needed the sheets very badly I would have hung them out. I went out the next day and purchased a new clothes line and more hangers and now hang over 90% of our clothes. My dining room looks like what a laundry room should look like if I had a laundry room that is :p I will most likely keep doing this but since the sheets, towles and socks get crunchy when I line dry them I will most likely dry them in the tumble dryer. We are hoping that by changing the motor we can get another 6-12 months out of it before having to replace it.
Either that or I am going to have to move to a warmer climate no matter what :p We were even home long enough tonight for a quick bathroom break, drop off the dogs, Nathaniel to change clothes for his Jui Jitsu class and then back out the door for another jaunt downtown for his class for a half hour. It has been a busy day and somehow in amongst it all they are fed, watered and in bed all snug. And not one meltdown by anyone today. That in itself is a miracle considering the boys usually lay into one another the instant they are in a room together for longer than 5 minutes.
IAnd considering funny occurances remember I was saying earlier about the fact that I was more than likely going to have to quit my job because I was unable to find someone to help out with the kids and the hours etc...well I got home this evening and low and behold there was a message on my machine from my boss asking if I was able to do some evening work with my little gal. Seems mom and dad want me back working with her and are open to the idea of evenings. I hope that this is a point in the right direction of some sort.
Onward and upward, a positive outlook and perhaps a glass of wine after such a long day :p I mean who wants lemonade at 10 o'clock at night?
Showing posts with label Leigha Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leigha Update. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Is It Legal To Drug Your Kids Like This
Not that I did it but I did get a good chuckle out of seeing Leigha stoned out of her tree. I was truly thankful that she was not in any amount of pain once they wheeled her out of surgery last week. My biggest fear was that she would be incredibly uncomfortable and that we would end up being sent home and have to deal with pain management somehow here at home. I am sure that no amount of Motrin or Tylenol could give any comforting effect after having your abdomen ripped open and then stapled back together again.
These were taken just after she had arrived onto the unit. She was settled in to the ISO unit, basically a ward style unit of 4 beds with kids all needing higher nursing care. We lucked out on day one having 2 older kids and one little guy with a trach. It was very quiet and we all managed to get a bit of sleep despite the whole crappy rocking chair for a bed thing.
I could not resist, the terrible mother that I am, and not take pictures of her in her stoned state of affairs. Once the nurses got her settled and I was no longer able to stay away I was at her side in about a blink and duck taped to her side for the remainder of the six days she was there, well not quite Neil came and stayed one night so I could go home and sleep apparently I began to talk nonsense so they sent me home where I crashed and slept 14 hours straight. I remember having a conversation with the secretary at Nathaniels school. she called at some horrid time because Nathaniel had not shown up for class like I had said he would (my MIL did not want to get up early to drive him over, she was tired and figured it was only Kindergarten and he was not going to miss much), I reached for the phone in reflex and only when it dawned on my who I was talking to did I clue in...our conversation went alot like this:
M: Hello,
M: Yes......what about him..
S: he is not in class today we are wondering if you are running late or if he is not coming today.
M: (now here is where I get really brilliant in the mornimg): but its only Thursday and I said he was not going to be back until Friday..
M: No!! its only the 17th (see how smart I am after 3 days of no sleep I cant even remember what day of the week it is let alone what the date is).
S: ( with questioning voice) Ummm, no its the 20th today, so does that mean that Nathaniel wont be in class today
M: Well... if he isnt there by now I wouldn t expect him. I dont have him here with me, he is over at his grandparents, and if they haven t shown up with him by now then they aren t planning on it. He will be back on Monday for sure.
S: (now very confused) oh kay...
M: Nathaniels sister had surgery on Tuesday and that has kind of turned our house upside down, things should be back to normal by Monday.. thanks for calling
And then I very nicely hung up the phone and fell back asleep for another 3 hours :p
I was up by 730 and back to bed by 9. It was wonderful and the next day I was coniving ways to bribe the boys into letting me take a nap without them killing each other while I did it. I figure I could sleep a week and still not be caught up.
Im thankful that kids are fast healers, by Thursday she was up in bed smiling and laughing and kicking the tv over the bed with her feet. It takes alot more than surgery apparently to keep this one down.
So once I finally got Leigha to let me look at her stomach with out yelling OWIE!!! everytime anyone even touched her (not that I blame her AT ALL), I was able to get a shot of the actual thing. It doensèt look to bad all things considering. We expected alot worse. The only clinch is that the tube from where it inserts her stomach, it has to remain upright for about half inch or else it will elongate the hole that the button will be inserted into, and thus mess the whole thing up. Right now we have noticed that the way the tube naturally wants to go is to the left and we can already see the tube beginning to make a ovlal shape on that side. I have booked an appointment with our pediatrician on Tuesday so will ask about it then. Neil and I vividly remember them saying to keep the hole round so that it doesnèt leak, I èm not sure how to do that with a kid who can move and pull on it.
The day before our discharge Neil got a picture of the two of us together in the room. With her being on continuous feeds it was difficult to go anywhere with her at all and more so to keep her entertained in the room. She wanted to move and how do you keep a 17 month old busy when they dont exactly watch tv.
Last night she started vommiting. I was told that once she had the fundoplication she wasnt supposed to be able to do that anymore due to the banding around her stomach. So when she woke up this morning and was still doing it I did what any mother would do and called the doctors. Of course it was luch and I had to wait.
Once I finally got in I was put right in to see the doc covering for our pediatrician (Dr Teoh, he is asian and usually dyes his mohawk funny colors to impress the kids) while she is away this week. He is great and reassured me that she probably has the stomach flu but it isnt worth worrying over. Im not worried as long as it isnt a complication from the fundo, I can deal with the flu. Heck the flu is nothing in comparison to the multiple pneumonias, cold and other bugs she has had over the last 17 months of her life.
As long as she isnt running a fever higher than 38.5 then we can keep her at home on clear fluids and half strength formula. If it gets any worse we have to go directly to the Stollery ( my very favorite place :p)
and take it from there. I think they will decide what to do if it comes to that. Probably Xrays and bloodwork Not sure how they do xrays on kids with g-tubes as they cant put her in a clam shell.....not my problem or worry right now. But I did wonder how they did it as we sat and waited afternoon. For now we have started her on Peidalyte and part of her Pediasure to fill her stomach a bit and Ièm hoping that by the weekend she will be on the mend. Then the last hurdle will be to find a sitter and I can look at going back to work.
I will appologise for the paragraphing down the page, not sure what happened but when I uploaded the pictures my typing went all wonky and I really don/t feel like spending 2 hours trying to figure it out. That and Leigha pushed some button on the computer that has turned off the question mark and the appostrophy and made them into french accent markers, have no clue how to fix that either, you will have imagine that all the words that should have an appostrophy have them and well the questions...same thing. :p
As Im re-reading this I noticed that it is all over the place and not in order. Forgive me for babbling. I know you are all brilliant people who will have absolutly no trouble at all figuring it all out. I know you all only came here for the pictures anyway;) I did go bakc and check most of the spelling and grammer, thats not to say I didnt miss about a million of them, but just turn your head sideyways then it will all look normal and make more sense to you. It works for me anyway.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Smidget's New Lease...
We are two days post surgery and things are suprisingly looking good. Leigha is amazing us in so many ways.
Tuesday morning we had to be at the hospital for 630am, which meant waking her up at 530 to arrive there on time, including the walk through the hospital and admitting time, etc. It was alot of hurry up and wait. She went in at 930, and this time Neil went in with her. Unfortunatly he had the same experience with her in anesthesia and surgery that I had the first time, with them putting her out and then whisking her away and pushing him out the door, literally pushing him out. This time tho we did know where to wait for her. After 3 hours we finnaly got to see our spaced out monkey, flying high as they wheeled her onto the ward in a stroller higher than the Beatles on any one of their records.
After a pretty quiet first afternoon and night I was up for a big surprise on Wednesday when she promptly decided for none of this lazing around in bed stuff, "I want out!!!" and then she promptly tried for the next..oh 3 hours to climb the rails. I finally was able to get her into a stroller and out onto the ward for a bit until it got to be a work trying to haul the pole with the pumps and tubes and steer the stroller with one hand. I mean I'm talented and all but not that talented.
She managed by about 830 last night to work herself into a tizzy and from about 845 until midnight switched between flat out screaming "MAMMA!!!" at the top of her lungs with huge crocodile tears and, and then quick as a wink smiling and making kissing noises at you. It's funny how morphine affects little people. I spent alot of last night pawning her off onto the nursing staff as I had had enough of her by about 9pm, and even calls to Neil couldn't make me not want to sell her to a travelling gypsy show. I know it was lack of sleep and stress on both our parts and am glad I was able to step away for a time and take a breather. She finally settled at about midnightish (1230 but who's clock watching), and once I finally got settled into my recliner (yes I got a lovely recliner chair to sleep in, it was oh so comfy), I think I managed about 4 good hours of sleep before first rounds began. Needless to say I am very sleep deprived and retarded.
Today we managed to cut down her morphine by 1mgm, and we added another pain killer (Toradol) to the mix to help get rid of the itchiness that she had been experienceing because of the Morphine, gotta love side effects. Leigha decided she didn't like the catheter they had inserted so managed to break it and make it leak everywhere so that came oout this afternoon, prompting the removal of the epidural at about 4pm as well. This is all a day earlier than originally planned. Our surgeon has already removed part of her staples and the incision looks amazing!! and her tube site is great. If we can keep the hole round for the next 4-6 weeks we will be laughing!!!
The next steps will be a walk in the park I think in comparison to this. Despite the fact that we have to now completly limit her oral feeds, so no more solids unless they are smushy (pasta, or anything not liquid at room temperature and smushy that we know she'll eat...so pasta and rice...and MiniGo's), and she can now only have thickened liquids 2-3 oz at a time spaced every 2-3 hours apart to avoid aspiration and further complications.
It's going to be an interesting few weeks coming up but I can already see how this is making her feel. She is already looking so pink in the cheeks and she hasn't gone blue yet (tho I think by writing it I jinxedit) and other than the 2 d-sats to 80% when her oxygen levels fell abruptly last night and today, she has been great with her numbers on the monitors.
I'm home right now and have sent Neil into the trenches until I can go back tomorrow and sit with her. I need to sleep for real and have a break to recharge. I'll be back later with phots of monkey, I have some cute ones of her spaced out trying to feed her dolly :p Totally cute.
Tuesday morning we had to be at the hospital for 630am, which meant waking her up at 530 to arrive there on time, including the walk through the hospital and admitting time, etc. It was alot of hurry up and wait. She went in at 930, and this time Neil went in with her. Unfortunatly he had the same experience with her in anesthesia and surgery that I had the first time, with them putting her out and then whisking her away and pushing him out the door, literally pushing him out. This time tho we did know where to wait for her. After 3 hours we finnaly got to see our spaced out monkey, flying high as they wheeled her onto the ward in a stroller higher than the Beatles on any one of their records.
After a pretty quiet first afternoon and night I was up for a big surprise on Wednesday when she promptly decided for none of this lazing around in bed stuff, "I want out!!!" and then she promptly tried for the next..oh 3 hours to climb the rails. I finally was able to get her into a stroller and out onto the ward for a bit until it got to be a work trying to haul the pole with the pumps and tubes and steer the stroller with one hand. I mean I'm talented and all but not that talented.
She managed by about 830 last night to work herself into a tizzy and from about 845 until midnight switched between flat out screaming "MAMMA!!!" at the top of her lungs with huge crocodile tears and, and then quick as a wink smiling and making kissing noises at you. It's funny how morphine affects little people. I spent alot of last night pawning her off onto the nursing staff as I had had enough of her by about 9pm, and even calls to Neil couldn't make me not want to sell her to a travelling gypsy show. I know it was lack of sleep and stress on both our parts and am glad I was able to step away for a time and take a breather. She finally settled at about midnightish (1230 but who's clock watching), and once I finally got settled into my recliner (yes I got a lovely recliner chair to sleep in, it was oh so comfy), I think I managed about 4 good hours of sleep before first rounds began. Needless to say I am very sleep deprived and retarded.
Today we managed to cut down her morphine by 1mgm, and we added another pain killer (Toradol) to the mix to help get rid of the itchiness that she had been experienceing because of the Morphine, gotta love side effects. Leigha decided she didn't like the catheter they had inserted so managed to break it and make it leak everywhere so that came oout this afternoon, prompting the removal of the epidural at about 4pm as well. This is all a day earlier than originally planned. Our surgeon has already removed part of her staples and the incision looks amazing!! and her tube site is great. If we can keep the hole round for the next 4-6 weeks we will be laughing!!!
The next steps will be a walk in the park I think in comparison to this. Despite the fact that we have to now completly limit her oral feeds, so no more solids unless they are smushy (pasta, or anything not liquid at room temperature and smushy that we know she'll eat...so pasta and rice...and MiniGo's), and she can now only have thickened liquids 2-3 oz at a time spaced every 2-3 hours apart to avoid aspiration and further complications.
It's going to be an interesting few weeks coming up but I can already see how this is making her feel. She is already looking so pink in the cheeks and she hasn't gone blue yet (tho I think by writing it I jinxedit) and other than the 2 d-sats to 80% when her oxygen levels fell abruptly last night and today, she has been great with her numbers on the monitors.
I'm home right now and have sent Neil into the trenches until I can go back tomorrow and sit with her. I need to sleep for real and have a break to recharge. I'll be back later with phots of monkey, I have some cute ones of her spaced out trying to feed her dolly :p Totally cute.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
The Next Hurdle
So the update of the last week as it stands?
In an attempt to call our Nurse Practitioner- and let me interject that I pager her at 930 and was still waiting for her to call me back when I finally gave up and moved onto the next hurdle- I had to make 2 calls, the first to the ENT office where I talked to his oh so lovely "receptionist" who told me he was unavailable...duh, do I look like an idiot? (don't answer that). So I finally after being given one number to call I finally got her pager number and did so, and waited........and waited.....until 200pm, when I gave up.
I called our surgeons office instead and got his receptionist and there I got the whole story of what was going on. Turns out the message got messed up.
What happened was this: Our ENT has cancelled his surgery on the cleft due to the fact that Leigha is going to have the Fundo application and PEG tube insertion. He thinks that having the cleft repair at the same time would be too much at once. So once we got that under control and sorted out we have a date:)
Novemeber 17th 2009 my daughter will be having surgery...again....
I'm terrified.
I know on here I can somehow seem altogether and composed, but honestly I am a mess. I have this vast medical crap inside my head and that unfortunatly is posing a threat to my sanity. Not that it was so intact to begin with, but somehow it's getting worse.
I look at her all happy and smiles and in the back of my head is the voice saying "what is she going to be like a month from now?" , "are we making the right decision?". How do I answer these questions? I listen to her in her bed at night whistling as she breathes and know that everyday the fluid is building up in her lungs and causing permanent damage. Today I made the mistake of putting a stethoscope to her chest, her left side is so congested that I can barely even hear any air moving through the crackles.
Will this have any impact on her in the future when we go to reverse it? Will she be forever turned off of oral food completly? Is she going to have to have thickened drinks forever? Unfortunatly most of these questions are trial and error. I can only hope that God will watch over her and guide our surgeons hands during the actual surgery and that she does well once all is said and done.
I'm tired of having a sick kid all the time. Even tho it sounds horrid to say and I know I am blessed to have her as healthy as she is, But I want her to be fixed up and this to be over. It's been such a long haul these past 11 months, I'm hoping I have the strength to get through the next 8 or more.
Maybe in 6 months from now I can actually be writing about a trip to Toronto for the repair on the cleft and that this will be the last phase of surgeries that we will have to be looking at in her little life thus far.
How on earth do parents of chronically ill kids do this day in and out? Maybe I am doing it and not realising it? Who knows?
If I can get through the next 40 days, I mean Noah built an ark and managed to float it for 40 days, shouldn't I be able to stay sane for at least that long?
But then he didn't know my 2 sons?
In an attempt to call our Nurse Practitioner- and let me interject that I pager her at 930 and was still waiting for her to call me back when I finally gave up and moved onto the next hurdle- I had to make 2 calls, the first to the ENT office where I talked to his oh so lovely "receptionist" who told me he was unavailable...duh, do I look like an idiot? (don't answer that). So I finally after being given one number to call I finally got her pager number and did so, and waited........and waited.....until 200pm, when I gave up.
I called our surgeons office instead and got his receptionist and there I got the whole story of what was going on. Turns out the message got messed up.
What happened was this: Our ENT has cancelled his surgery on the cleft due to the fact that Leigha is going to have the Fundo application and PEG tube insertion. He thinks that having the cleft repair at the same time would be too much at once. So once we got that under control and sorted out we have a date:)
Novemeber 17th 2009 my daughter will be having surgery...again....
I'm terrified.
I know on here I can somehow seem altogether and composed, but honestly I am a mess. I have this vast medical crap inside my head and that unfortunatly is posing a threat to my sanity. Not that it was so intact to begin with, but somehow it's getting worse.
I look at her all happy and smiles and in the back of my head is the voice saying "what is she going to be like a month from now?" , "are we making the right decision?". How do I answer these questions? I listen to her in her bed at night whistling as she breathes and know that everyday the fluid is building up in her lungs and causing permanent damage. Today I made the mistake of putting a stethoscope to her chest, her left side is so congested that I can barely even hear any air moving through the crackles.
Will this have any impact on her in the future when we go to reverse it? Will she be forever turned off of oral food completly? Is she going to have to have thickened drinks forever? Unfortunatly most of these questions are trial and error. I can only hope that God will watch over her and guide our surgeons hands during the actual surgery and that she does well once all is said and done.
I'm tired of having a sick kid all the time. Even tho it sounds horrid to say and I know I am blessed to have her as healthy as she is, But I want her to be fixed up and this to be over. It's been such a long haul these past 11 months, I'm hoping I have the strength to get through the next 8 or more.
Maybe in 6 months from now I can actually be writing about a trip to Toronto for the repair on the cleft and that this will be the last phase of surgeries that we will have to be looking at in her little life thus far.
How on earth do parents of chronically ill kids do this day in and out? Maybe I am doing it and not realising it? Who knows?
If I can get through the next 40 days, I mean Noah built an ark and managed to float it for 40 days, shouldn't I be able to stay sane for at least that long?
But then he didn't know my 2 sons?
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Updates That Are Really No Help
My phone died today of all days. I had plans to call the Stollery and play phone tag with our ENT's nurse practitioner to see if she could get into his tiny little head and find out what is going on in there.
...sigh...it's on my list for tomorrow...added to at least. I think I have a list of 5 calls to make in the span of 3 hours, most importantly being ordering Leigha's formula and thickener for this next month and then ordering it from Canmore once my credit card is clear enough to let me :p Gotta love my house today :p
I think I'm going to window shop online and it may make me feel better until I get to yell at someone tomorrow. I really felt like doing that today, but alas I didn't get to...
But I did get to spend a wonderful day with my little gal that I watch in home care who is starting to smile now that we have begun weaning her from one of her meds. She actually pointed at me on Monday when I came into the house. I hadn't seen her in about 10 days, she missed me...makes my horrid day all better with that. I spent most of my day holding her hand and singing silly songs to her
What a wonderful way to spend a crappy day hey;)
...sigh...it's on my list for tomorrow...added to at least. I think I have a list of 5 calls to make in the span of 3 hours, most importantly being ordering Leigha's formula and thickener for this next month and then ordering it from Canmore once my credit card is clear enough to let me :p Gotta love my house today :p
I think I'm going to window shop online and it may make me feel better until I get to yell at someone tomorrow. I really felt like doing that today, but alas I didn't get to...
But I did get to spend a wonderful day with my little gal that I watch in home care who is starting to smile now that we have begun weaning her from one of her meds. She actually pointed at me on Monday when I came into the house. I hadn't seen her in about 10 days, she missed me...makes my horrid day all better with that. I spent most of my day holding her hand and singing silly songs to her
What a wonderful way to spend a crappy day hey;)
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
On The War Path
I'm going to be short here as I am playing damage control. after what almost a year or so of troubles we finally get a doctor willing to do surgery to get us one step further to correcting Leigha's cleft and today when I returned from work I get the lovely message from Neil that our ENT, the guy that was so behind us before has put the brakes on and doesn't want her to have the fundo and PEG done.
Dr Lees office called and informed us today, I am shocked.
Absolutely shocked, I don't even know what to do. I don't get it. Why now? I mean last week he was all for it. Yes lets do it and see how it goes, fix the pneumonias and then we can look at the cleft and go from there. Sounded good to us. I mean we are the parents, right?
It's a bunch of crap and I'm at a loss. Here we were all prepping to go for surgery, getting the boys ready to expect this and planning what we were going to do, etc. Now I have to call tomorrow and figure out what is going through his tiny little head.
I am at a loss....
I want to hit something...hard....repeatedly.....till I break something.
Dr Lees office called and informed us today, I am shocked.
Absolutely shocked, I don't even know what to do. I don't get it. Why now? I mean last week he was all for it. Yes lets do it and see how it goes, fix the pneumonias and then we can look at the cleft and go from there. Sounded good to us. I mean we are the parents, right?
It's a bunch of crap and I'm at a loss. Here we were all prepping to go for surgery, getting the boys ready to expect this and planning what we were going to do, etc. Now I have to call tomorrow and figure out what is going through his tiny little head.
I am at a loss....
I want to hit something...hard....repeatedly.....till I break something.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Moving On Now
So now that I have gotten that all off my chest, I'd like to thank you all for you comments and support. It has helped me open my eyes and see what my mom means to me.
I love my mother and will always do so. I cannot change the woman that she is nor the woman that I have become. Thus I have to make myself someone I can be proud of. Someone that my children can look up to and see as a role model.
I hope that in the coming years I can learn to understand the woman that is my mother and hopefully build a relationship not based on misunderstandings or criticisms.
Moving on now...
This past weekend I was able to run away, literally... I love to scrapbook and have been doing so for about 5 years or so now. I'm adicted to it and seem to have tonnes of thing realted to it than I really need, or think I need. I was able to attend a retreat at Battle Lake near Pigeon Lake Alberta. A lovely area and I wish I had my camera this weekend ( I loaned it to Laura for her trip to Jasper this weekend, she broke her camera last weekend. Her and her boyfriend were trail riding up in Pyramid Lake?, way more exciting than a bunch of cows and trees). With the leaves all beginning to turn and the harvest moon the Saturday night it was amazing. I totally wish I had robbed a bank to be able to afford the camera I love so much. Someday in my dreams :o
Anywhoo, I managed to get a good chunk of the herritage album that I have been blathering about on here for a long time almost completed. I now only have to hunt down about 10 pictures of the older photos the black and whites and then I get to nag all my cousins and such for recent up to date pics of their families so I can include them in the album as well. That may be lost cause but I am going to give it a good go hoping to have them all received before Christmas and have the whole thing completed by New Years.
I have to admit... I think it looks amazing!!! I'm tooting my own horn a bit here but I am really proud of the way it is turning out and can't wait to show it off a bit. It is exactly like I pictured in my head almost 2 years ago when I thought up the idea.
Moving on again...
Leigha finally got in to see a Pediatric Surgeon on the 4th ish about the feeding tube and I have to admit, we walked in 15 minutes late after wondering throught the University Hospital (which I happened to have known quite well until they opened the new part and moved all of the pedways around), he came in and promptly announced that I was to fill his intern in and then he'd come back and talk to me after. So I gave him the 10 min crash course on Leigha and he walked away looking very shell shocked and once he listened to her chest happened to ask oh so casually " does she always sound like this?" and my favorite " do you know she doesn't breathe with both of her lungs and use her bases?" I smiled nicely and said yes to both questions trying not to scare the new docs away from us already.
Once Dr Lees came back he got serious in front of the computer he brought up all of the tests that Leigha had done over the last year or so and focused mainly on the Gastric Emptying Scan done in January and the barium swallows done over the last few months. He asked if anyone had gone over the results with us and I said "no we haven't even see the doctor who ordered them since last October" in relation to the Gastric one as Dr El-Hakim did the swallow study with me in the office when we were admitted in May. He wasn't too surprised and neither am I after hearing about the Pulmonoligist after talking to some other about her, that's another story altogether.
He turned around to look at me from his seat on the little stool and I seriously thought that he was going to say that there was nothing he could do, just like the GI guy did. Then you know what? He actually said, "I think this has gone far enough and we need to get this fixed and soon". Can you believe it? We finally found someone other than our Pediatrician and ENT who actually want to help us out. He agreed that having 10+ pneumonias at the age of 15 months is 10 too many. He also said that she has alot of damage in her stomach and throat from the GERD so that's when he threw the Fundoplication word at me. I have to admit I wasn't to keen on hearing it. I was hoping that we could avoid a fundo. The other GI guy said he didn't want to do a fundo, but then he also didn't look at anything in her history or touch her for that matter. Once he went through it all and told me what he was going to do, what he hoped to accomplish with it and the end results then I felt alot better about it. I spoke with Neil as well and he said that what has she got to lose other than more lung tissure and complications?
So the plan with her is to undergo an fundoplication and insertion of a PEG Tube at the same time. It means she will have a 4-5 inch scar just under her diaphragm as well as a small 1 inch hole essentially where the mickey (the port for the tube feed) is inserted. She will have to be admitted into the Stollery Children's Hospital for 5 days and barring no complications should be home shortly thereafter. I only hope she doesn't scar like I do :o
I am seeing our ENT with Ryan on Friday the 18th for a follow-up regarding Ryan's temper tantrums to see if they were related to his tonsils and adenoids (who knew that those could be a trigger for temper tantrums), they aren't a trigger as they have increased not decreased...that's another whole story for later on....so I will bring Dr El-Hakim up to date on all of this on that day. He has been in contact with our Pediatrician Dr Dansereau and she had spoken with Dr Lees the same day we saw him to ensure that this was what everyone agreed with as a temporary "fix" for the pneumonia so we can look now at the lung component and the cleft and get more agressive with it. We are looking at anywhere between 1-2 years of this as I'm still not 100% sure our ENT can fix the cleft. But we can alwasy go to Toronto Sick Kids as there is a doctor there who has a specialty in Laryngeal Cleft repair **( Please note that this link goes to an actual picture of a Laryngeal Cleft surgical repair. If you are in ANYWAY Squeemish DO NOT LOOK AT IT!!!, but if you are curious as to how they will fix it, then by all means this is part of it. Leigha will have to have a graft done as well to have it sewn in with the repair.)**
So that's been the last week or so. I am in allergy hell and can't breathe through my nose. But am ever so thankful that now we are moving in some direction to the next step, whatever that may be.
I love my mother and will always do so. I cannot change the woman that she is nor the woman that I have become. Thus I have to make myself someone I can be proud of. Someone that my children can look up to and see as a role model.
I hope that in the coming years I can learn to understand the woman that is my mother and hopefully build a relationship not based on misunderstandings or criticisms.
Moving on now...
This past weekend I was able to run away, literally... I love to scrapbook and have been doing so for about 5 years or so now. I'm adicted to it and seem to have tonnes of thing realted to it than I really need, or think I need. I was able to attend a retreat at Battle Lake near Pigeon Lake Alberta. A lovely area and I wish I had my camera this weekend ( I loaned it to Laura for her trip to Jasper this weekend, she broke her camera last weekend. Her and her boyfriend were trail riding up in Pyramid Lake?, way more exciting than a bunch of cows and trees). With the leaves all beginning to turn and the harvest moon the Saturday night it was amazing. I totally wish I had robbed a bank to be able to afford the camera I love so much. Someday in my dreams :o
Anywhoo, I managed to get a good chunk of the herritage album that I have been blathering about on here for a long time almost completed. I now only have to hunt down about 10 pictures of the older photos the black and whites and then I get to nag all my cousins and such for recent up to date pics of their families so I can include them in the album as well. That may be lost cause but I am going to give it a good go hoping to have them all received before Christmas and have the whole thing completed by New Years.
I have to admit... I think it looks amazing!!! I'm tooting my own horn a bit here but I am really proud of the way it is turning out and can't wait to show it off a bit. It is exactly like I pictured in my head almost 2 years ago when I thought up the idea.
Moving on again...
Leigha finally got in to see a Pediatric Surgeon on the 4th ish about the feeding tube and I have to admit, we walked in 15 minutes late after wondering throught the University Hospital (which I happened to have known quite well until they opened the new part and moved all of the pedways around), he came in and promptly announced that I was to fill his intern in and then he'd come back and talk to me after. So I gave him the 10 min crash course on Leigha and he walked away looking very shell shocked and once he listened to her chest happened to ask oh so casually " does she always sound like this?" and my favorite " do you know she doesn't breathe with both of her lungs and use her bases?" I smiled nicely and said yes to both questions trying not to scare the new docs away from us already.
Once Dr Lees came back he got serious in front of the computer he brought up all of the tests that Leigha had done over the last year or so and focused mainly on the Gastric Emptying Scan done in January and the barium swallows done over the last few months. He asked if anyone had gone over the results with us and I said "no we haven't even see the doctor who ordered them since last October" in relation to the Gastric one as Dr El-Hakim did the swallow study with me in the office when we were admitted in May. He wasn't too surprised and neither am I after hearing about the Pulmonoligist after talking to some other about her, that's another story altogether.
He turned around to look at me from his seat on the little stool and I seriously thought that he was going to say that there was nothing he could do, just like the GI guy did. Then you know what? He actually said, "I think this has gone far enough and we need to get this fixed and soon". Can you believe it? We finally found someone other than our Pediatrician and ENT who actually want to help us out. He agreed that having 10+ pneumonias at the age of 15 months is 10 too many. He also said that she has alot of damage in her stomach and throat from the GERD so that's when he threw the Fundoplication word at me. I have to admit I wasn't to keen on hearing it. I was hoping that we could avoid a fundo. The other GI guy said he didn't want to do a fundo, but then he also didn't look at anything in her history or touch her for that matter. Once he went through it all and told me what he was going to do, what he hoped to accomplish with it and the end results then I felt alot better about it. I spoke with Neil as well and he said that what has she got to lose other than more lung tissure and complications?
So the plan with her is to undergo an fundoplication and insertion of a PEG Tube at the same time. It means she will have a 4-5 inch scar just under her diaphragm as well as a small 1 inch hole essentially where the mickey (the port for the tube feed) is inserted. She will have to be admitted into the Stollery Children's Hospital for 5 days and barring no complications should be home shortly thereafter. I only hope she doesn't scar like I do :o
I am seeing our ENT with Ryan on Friday the 18th for a follow-up regarding Ryan's temper tantrums to see if they were related to his tonsils and adenoids (who knew that those could be a trigger for temper tantrums), they aren't a trigger as they have increased not decreased...that's another whole story for later on....so I will bring Dr El-Hakim up to date on all of this on that day. He has been in contact with our Pediatrician Dr Dansereau and she had spoken with Dr Lees the same day we saw him to ensure that this was what everyone agreed with as a temporary "fix" for the pneumonia so we can look now at the lung component and the cleft and get more agressive with it. We are looking at anywhere between 1-2 years of this as I'm still not 100% sure our ENT can fix the cleft. But we can alwasy go to Toronto Sick Kids as there is a doctor there who has a specialty in Laryngeal Cleft repair **( Please note that this link goes to an actual picture of a Laryngeal Cleft surgical repair. If you are in ANYWAY Squeemish DO NOT LOOK AT IT!!!, but if you are curious as to how they will fix it, then by all means this is part of it. Leigha will have to have a graft done as well to have it sewn in with the repair.)**
So that's been the last week or so. I am in allergy hell and can't breathe through my nose. But am ever so thankful that now we are moving in some direction to the next step, whatever that may be.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Quick Update
Hey, I'm short on time, brains and my back is smarting. I dragged my sister Laura out dress shopping. Let's just say that, despite having to shove my very large butt into a very small purple ruffled thing, that once on looked surprisingly nice, I had a very nice evening out. I did find something to wear. We have a wedding to attend next weekend and thanks in large part to my 3 kids my body is a disaster and I have nothing in my wardrobe to wear. Hence the shopping trip. My sister is very good at finding me something to wear, and of course accessories. Stay tuned for pictures next weekend when I am all dolled up;)
Any who...Leigha had an appointment to day with our Pediatrician and I thought I'd catch you all up on that saga as well as the debacle of the other day with Nathaniel...first Leigha. We are going to be seeing a Gastroenterologist...FINALLY..to assess her for a possible med change and a possible Peg tube insertion since we have had no success with the NG tube. So a PEG tube is explained ever so nicely by Wikipedia here and as they state: Gastrostomy may be indicated in numerous situations, usually those in which normal or nutrition (or nasogastric) feeding is impossible like in Leigha's case where we have tried the NG but have had no success with it. So we now get to wait until Monday to see what the doc says and go from there. Hopefully we have some success with it as we would like to see the blue spells go away and see her lungs improve and no more Pneumonias!!!
Onto Nathaniel. So I went on Tuesday to "talk" with the supervisor of the summer camp who ever so nicely agreed with Caughleigh that perhaps he should meet with me to discuss what had happened on Monday. He unlocked the doors of the school and we were the first ones in. I sighned Nathaneil in and he went into the gym ,josh ( the supervisor) then said " I supposed you'd like to talk with me" I of course said " yes I think I have a few concerns" It must have been my cool calm manner that set him off he looked like a deer in the headlights, sweating and I think he thought I was going to bite his head off or something. I said that we were concerned that our son had managed to get away from a supposedly secure location and end up across two intersections and 10 mins away from where he was supposed to be, unescorted. How had this happened and what kind of security measures were inplace at the time. And why in God's name wasn't I called the instant someone discovered he was missing. The oreder of calls should have been, supervisor, RCMP, PARENT!!! And even then I would put the supervisor last and RCMP first. I'm not a fan of leaving a bunch of 16/17 year olds in charge of 25 pre-schoolers without an adult at least within yelling distance.
Josh then proceeded to inform me that they had already begun to look for Nathaniel before Caughleigh got there ( I found out that this wasn't true when another 2 moms informed me that no one was looking until Caughleigh got there and raised the alarm that he was gone, they didn't even know he was missing until then) in the playground and around the school outbuilding. I later found out that thye had already locked the doors and were all heading over to the other camp across the street when Caughleigh arrived to pick up Nathaniel. Josh had been called and was driving over. He said that it took 4 mins to drive over from the other side of town to the school. I commented that it took about 5-8 mins with traffic and lights, and then asked why the RCMP weren't notifed of the possibility of a missing child. He informed me that it wasn't part of the "procedure". Not happy with that answer? Either are we. They only notify them if they can't find them after 30 mins of looking. I told him that after 30 mins you have no idea where they could be. He had plenty of time to get across to the other side of the park in 15 mins there was no way he was only gone for 5 mins...he had no answer. I left it at that and said I would talk to Neil and that it wasn't finnished with. That and how in the world could he have gotten away so fast without anyone noticing? Don't they check periodically?
We have decided that we are going to write a complaint into the city about how it was dealt with. They implemented some changes, the parents have to sign the kids in and out but that was in the info package they gave out at the camp registration anyway (apparently they forgot to implement that one), the kids can't get past a table lodged in front of the gym doors and there has to be a supervisor present at the start and end of each camp day. It still hasn't answered the question of why my son got out and what happens if someone does go missing.
Anyone else see a massive error in judgement here and some problems??
Today when I picked Nathaniel up he was upset. I had noticed it when they were all trooping past us coming back from the playground. They marched them all past us and led them into the gym so we could herd in and sign them out. He was avoiding Josh's eyes and looked like he had been crying. When I got up to the door and signed him out, Josh said to me "he's had a rough day" but didn't elaborate. I commented that I already knew that by looking at him. Nathaniel was sitting all alone at the back of the gym at a table with a little plant pot. I called him over and he clung to me, we grabbed his stuff and I walked him out to the van. Once inside I asked him what happened. Apparently he was playing with another boy, the son of a friend of ours, they were play fighting, he accidently poked him in the eye and one of the girls got mad at him and yelled at him? I asked our friend what happened and she asked her son who said the same thing as Nathaniel. They had already appologised to each other and were fine about it when the "teacher" as Nathaniel calls her got involved. I plan on talking to them about it tomorrow and finding out what happened. If he's not enjoying himself in it then why should he keep going?
So we shall see where it takes us. It's too bad really we were hoping for him to have alot of fun with this and not be miserable the whole time:( I just want to sit and cuddle with him for a bit until he feels better. I know I can't always protect him from every hurt in the world but as I said to Josh on Tuesday he is only 4 years old and cannot be expected to behave as a 10 year old would. He is a little boy and should be treated as such.
But he is my little boy too and he is growing up way too fast.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Help!! I've Fallen and I Can't Get up!!
Well not really but it seems like it in a sense. I seem to be running backwards alot these past few days. Not getting much accomplished and not getting anywhere fast.
We had our follow-up with the ENT on Tuesday and despite going in ready for a fight if need be he was surprisingly on our side about it all. He actually put us in the room himself (called us out of the waiting room too :o) and once there took my hand and said that it was so nice to see me as he has so many parents that are so difficult to deal with and that it was so nice to have ones that were so patient and willing to work the problem through without freaking first. I was shocked and told him that we were happy with Leigha's care thus far, just that we had wished it hadn't taken so long for things to happen when she had been admitted in May. He actually appologised for being away at the time and then he said..."lets get this little girl fixed up now shall we!!". He asked how things had been since last month and I brought him up to speed with the recurring cyanotic spells, tho less frequent still happening, low grade fevers, food aversions, choughing on thickened drinks like water and juice, and intolerances to the tube feedings to the point that we have had to stop them entirely now.
He seemed suprised that the cyanotic spells were still happening to the same degree as before even after the second Restalyn injection. I asked whether we had to look at a further invasive surgical intervention and he informed me that had the Restalyn injection worked "better" at the time he would have said yes that we should proceed with surgically repairing the cleft. Since Leigha is still exhibiting the cyanotic episodes and the reflux is continuing despite the Prevacid and thickened fluids that he thought perhaps we were missing something in the whole game of things. That maybe there is something else going on with her that may have been overlooked as the only people medically that have cleared her is Cardiology in May. I felt like jumping up and down when he said that, as it was mirroring both mine and Neil's thoughts exactly.
So the plan is to send us on the fast track back to the Pulmonologist that we saw in January as well as a new referral to a Gastroentrologist to ensure that there is nothing else that we are missing in the whole scheme of things. I must admit that I feel alot better to know that he at least is taking us seriously when it comes to all of this. Sometimes when you go to a doctor's office they make you believe you are making it all up after a time. I know that after explaining it all so many times I have begun to think that i dreamed up some of it. I am so thankful that I had the forethought to copy her entire chart and bring it with me to all of her appointments so that I can provide them with an update on what has been done when and where. Sometimes it helps that I am so organised.
So that's is where we are tonight. It's back to a waiting game again until we see where we go from here. I'm hoping that we get in to see these other docs fairly soon as I think we have been waiting plenty long enough already for some of this stuff to be done. I would just like her healthy and growing properly for once. It seems like too much to ask sometimes. I look at the kids that I care for in home care and thank God nightly that she is as healthy as she is but then I can only hope that she stays that way as I do know the truth about her condition and cannot always lie to myself about it. I'm trying to stay positive about it all and am hoping that we can find the light at the end of the tunnel eventually with patience and strength.
Tomorrow is another day so until then how about something nice???
We had our follow-up with the ENT on Tuesday and despite going in ready for a fight if need be he was surprisingly on our side about it all. He actually put us in the room himself (called us out of the waiting room too :o) and once there took my hand and said that it was so nice to see me as he has so many parents that are so difficult to deal with and that it was so nice to have ones that were so patient and willing to work the problem through without freaking first. I was shocked and told him that we were happy with Leigha's care thus far, just that we had wished it hadn't taken so long for things to happen when she had been admitted in May. He actually appologised for being away at the time and then he said..."lets get this little girl fixed up now shall we!!". He asked how things had been since last month and I brought him up to speed with the recurring cyanotic spells, tho less frequent still happening, low grade fevers, food aversions, choughing on thickened drinks like water and juice, and intolerances to the tube feedings to the point that we have had to stop them entirely now.
He seemed suprised that the cyanotic spells were still happening to the same degree as before even after the second Restalyn injection. I asked whether we had to look at a further invasive surgical intervention and he informed me that had the Restalyn injection worked "better" at the time he would have said yes that we should proceed with surgically repairing the cleft. Since Leigha is still exhibiting the cyanotic episodes and the reflux is continuing despite the Prevacid and thickened fluids that he thought perhaps we were missing something in the whole game of things. That maybe there is something else going on with her that may have been overlooked as the only people medically that have cleared her is Cardiology in May. I felt like jumping up and down when he said that, as it was mirroring both mine and Neil's thoughts exactly.
So the plan is to send us on the fast track back to the Pulmonologist that we saw in January as well as a new referral to a Gastroentrologist to ensure that there is nothing else that we are missing in the whole scheme of things. I must admit that I feel alot better to know that he at least is taking us seriously when it comes to all of this. Sometimes when you go to a doctor's office they make you believe you are making it all up after a time. I know that after explaining it all so many times I have begun to think that i dreamed up some of it. I am so thankful that I had the forethought to copy her entire chart and bring it with me to all of her appointments so that I can provide them with an update on what has been done when and where. Sometimes it helps that I am so organised.
So that's is where we are tonight. It's back to a waiting game again until we see where we go from here. I'm hoping that we get in to see these other docs fairly soon as I think we have been waiting plenty long enough already for some of this stuff to be done. I would just like her healthy and growing properly for once. It seems like too much to ask sometimes. I look at the kids that I care for in home care and thank God nightly that she is as healthy as she is but then I can only hope that she stays that way as I do know the truth about her condition and cannot always lie to myself about it. I'm trying to stay positive about it all and am hoping that we can find the light at the end of the tunnel eventually with patience and strength.
Tomorrow is another day so until then how about something nice???
Monday, 1 June 2009
New things
This weekend didn't seem long enough. Now it is Monday and the beginning of another busy one. Tonight we have T-ball.
I am going it alone tonight as Neil has begun reffing again and tonight he has three games back to back at Grant McEwan College doing Men's 1 games or the equivalent of men's college games. So fast paced games. Should see him losing weight just in time for his camp at the end of the month. It seems that the EBOA and ABOA and all the other Basketball acronyms are all fascinated by how much Neil weighs, they seem to comment on it every chance they get.
This year we should find out if he gets moved into the Senior A position and looked at for a contract with the EBOA and university ball in the Fall. Lets cross our fingers. Last year he had the opportunity to go to Kamloops to ref the Midget Nationals, it was a week of ups and downs as his Baba passed away suddenly while we were away leaving me to fly back suddenly. He did well none the less and got many compliments and since it was a national tournament was seen by many of the top officials across Canada as well. Helps to be seen by other officials across the board so your name gets heard...or so I've been told.
Yesterday we were at the lake with my parents and despite the typical Alberta weather of horridly cold and no sun we had a wonderful day of moving shrubbery and hauling trees so we can move the trailer that we hauled up last fall into place some time in the next few weeks. I can't wait to get in there and start making it my own. I already have fabric picked out for curtains:o So exciting. The boys spent most of the day playing on the beds, it was nice to see them enjoying the lake like I did as a child, brings back a lot of memories. I'm glad that my kids get to begin forming their own memories of the lake there as well.
The rest of the week will be taken up with house cleaning- which I loath. It seems that ever since we bought this house I can't seem to keep up with he mess. I went out to Ikea on Saturday and bought some of those closet hanger storage thingys that kinda hang down from the rod and let you put drawers into them to hold stuff. Easy enough so I'm now moving stuff around the house to be more accessible to me when I need it. I've also started punching nails into places in the basement to hang things like duffel bags and the like in order to get them off the floor so I don't trip over them in the dark. Even tho I am married to an electrician, it doesn't mean all the lights in my house work..hint, hint Neil. It is starting to look more organised providing I can get the second dryer moved out of the way and the other things that are blocking the way of Neil finishing my room. It seems that I move all the stuff that needs to be carried out into a pile and he ignores it for a month or more until he gets the drive to continue it again. I remind you that my room was supposed to be done by now..still waiting.
I also want to get in some visits with a few friends that I have touched base with but the timing never worked. I'm hoping to get out for coffee with a few of them and some of the others perhaps a play date to get all the kids out and burn the energy off. I haven't seen some of them in a while so it will be nice to sit and catch up again. Time goes so fast lately and it seems there aren't enough hours in a day to get it all done and still have time for yourself and family.
With Leigha things are about the same. At the lake yesterday and she womitted a whole can up of the Pediasure at supper so we had to play damage control with that. She stayed up partying with Neil until midnight last night, up at 130 with me then again at 330, as well as crying out intermittently all night long. She's always been a bad sleeper but last night was worse. When she awoke at 330 she was all stuffed up but no fever yet. She's sick again 2 weeks after the last time. We've decided not to take her in just yet, but wait and see how the it goes and how she does. No point in being told shes "fine" for her. I'm pretty sure she aspirated last night when the formula came up, how could she not. I don't know what to do about it all anymore, guess we'll find out sooner or later.
So that's today, I'm off to finish digging out the rubble, fold laundry and tidy a bit more. Neil left all his wine making supplies out that now need to be cleaned...what a nice wifey I am, eh? Off to the grind I go. Have a great Monday!!
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Today's Post is Brought to You by....
A Nut job...that's what I am classifying myself as right now. I haven't got a marble left to call a brain cell anymore. Not that I need it yet anyway.
Neil teaching the art of catching the ball and throwing it back. Nathaniel HATES this part of the game. He would much rather hit that ball rather than throw it. We have been trying to impress upon him that you have to play all parts of the game to understand it. He has burst into tears I think 3 or 4 times now when asked go into the out field to play. He also has this wacko habit of running after the ball no matter where the batter hits it. It can be all the way into the out field when he is back catcher and he will go chase it merrily and throw it to first plate. At least he tries hard.
I can at least say this, he has not inherited my hand eye co-ordination...Thank God. Nathaniel's Great-Grandfather..Neil's grandfather Frank played for the Edmonton Trappers back in the day (I'd have to check with Lyn for the years) but he was a pitcher and Grandpa Puff (Neil's dad) also played baseball and softball. It seems as if Nathaniel has inherited something rather nice from both his grandfather's, I'm glad it wasn't their tempers.....Ryan got that instead;)
Leigha's appointment yesterday at the pediatrician was horrid. We are looking at about 4-5 MONTHS of this NG tube. I'm pretty sure I passed out when she told me that. I also had to call Neil and tell him after..yeah for me!! She also has lost 5 grams since last week when we were discharged. Not alot mind you but since we are trying to get her weight up it's not a good idea to lose weight in the process of it all. It seems like everyone is waiting to see what Dr El-Hakim is going to do about the cleft before they make a decision about the tube. I'm not even sure he has a plan, I guess we'll find out on the 30th of June when we have the follow-up with him. I sure hope he does have some plan or other in mind. I know he has only one other kid that the Restalin hasn't worked on but he has to have a back-up plan in mind...he better have one or Neil might go mental on him.
We now have applied for subsidy for all the formula, thickener, feeding tube crap and the like so we don't have to cover it out of pocket as Neil's coverage at work sucks and they don't cover anything. It amounts to hundreds of dollars a month. On Wednesday we got 8 cases of Pedisure alone that will probably last us about 2 months as the dietitian flubbed it so that we can get enough for Ryan as well. It's nice to finally get the help as we had been dealing with it all out of pocket before. Right now they are only charging us the 79$ per month until the subsidy is approved or denied. Who knows what the next month or so will bring. I'm almost afraid to plan too far in advance anymore. Who knows what kind of hiccup will show up.
Onto other matters now. I do have two other kids. In April we signed Nathaniel up for T-ball out in Josephburg a community about 10 mins NE of Ft Saskatchewan. So I was able to attend the first of the practice sessions they had and I must say I truly enjoyed watching the chaos that ensued with all the 4-6 year olds running randomly across the baseball diamonds...too much fun really. Unfortunately I had to miss their first game, but my inlaws were able to take soo many pictures of it, it was almost like I was there. So I thought I'd share some of Nathaniel's first sports related achievements with all my internetters...
I do believe he is looking randomly for someone to point him in the direction of the bases in which to run. He had just put on the helmet and was stepping up to the plate and t-ball when I think Neil sidetracked him with the comment of "Nathaniel you need a bat", and thus we get the "confused look" we see here.
Neil teaching the art of catching the ball and throwing it back. Nathaniel HATES this part of the game. He would much rather hit that ball rather than throw it. We have been trying to impress upon him that you have to play all parts of the game to understand it. He has burst into tears I think 3 or 4 times now when asked go into the out field to play. He also has this wacko habit of running after the ball no matter where the batter hits it. It can be all the way into the out field when he is back catcher and he will go chase it merrily and throw it to first plate. At least he tries hard.
I can at least say this, he has not inherited my hand eye co-ordination...Thank God. Nathaniel's Great-Grandfather..Neil's grandfather Frank played for the Edmonton Trappers back in the day (I'd have to check with Lyn for the years) but he was a pitcher and Grandpa Puff (Neil's dad) also played baseball and softball. It seems as if Nathaniel has inherited something rather nice from both his grandfather's, I'm glad it wasn't their tempers.....Ryan got that instead;)I am so happy that Neil and I decided to put Nathaniel into T-ball this year. I only wish Ryan were 3 so he could have played too. Instead he has to play in the outfield with Neil as Nathaniel farts around in the diamond. Instead of running to the bases after he throws the bat to the ground after hitting the ball...he actually does throw it down, not drop it throw, totally funny to watch, Nathaniel will drag his feet along the ground kicking up all the slate dust, makes me nuts but at least he has fun.
The day after his first practice he awoke ( this would be Tuesday morning, they play Mondays and Wednesdays) and asked if we were going to T-ball today. I had to tell him no that we had to wait until tomorrow and he actually burst into tears telling me he wanted to go today. I hadn't the heart to tell him again that he had to wait so I said we would see how he was later. We ended up compromising after I told him we only played T-ball Mondays and Wednesdays but how about we go practice when daddy got home for Wednesday's practice? Seems to have done the trick as he was so good that day I had no issues with him fighting with Ryan at all. A miracle I tell you, T-ball saved the day, even if it only lasted the one day;)
It's the end of May already what a month it has been. I have seen Nathaniel sprout up almost 2 inches it seems overnight. He has grown into a size 1 shoe and wears size seven pants!! I have no clue what we will do come fall with him. If he keeps growing at this rate he will tower over all the kindergartners in the fall....poor kids:(
We had a meeting with the principal on Thursday to go over the expectations of Neil and myself since we have decided to send the kids to a catholic school and neither myself nor Neil are catholic. The principal was amazing and he just wanted to make sure that we understood that they include scripture into all aspects of school life, and was I okay with this.. "Well yes we are fine with this, that's why we picked catholic school" Was I missing something? Maybe he had other parents who missed the big name of the school outside "Pope John XXIII" kinda means catholic right?? I think he was relieved when I said that we had no issues with any of the curriculum, that we were happy with our choice of school and should any issues arise we would discuss them then. All is good see you in August when I will kiss my son goodbye and leave him upon the doorstep of learning so he can ask someone else the "who, what, whys" of the world for a bit. Nathaniel is so excited now that when we drive by the school, like everyday he sates "that's my school" which promptly starts a fight between him and Ryan...I love my kids...I love my kids...I love my kids....I REALLY love my kids.
Thus I end my very log winded post with this very fitting quote, it will describe my kids to a "T":
You have a wonderful child. Then when he is 13, gremlins carry him away and leave in his place a stranger who gives you not a moments peace. You have to hang in there, because two or three years later, the gremlins will return your child, and he will be wonderful again.
Jill Eikenberry
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