Sunday, September 14, 2008

Out Of Touch

It has been awhile.  Life has been predictably busy.  Let's see...where to begin...

After my last post, Tyler was in the hospital.  Again.  It was only for four days, thank goodness, but it was a long four days since I was pretty much confined to the room just like he was.  Poor kid.  I have new respect for how he must feel when he is confined.  After four days and finally getting his antibiotic levels back on track, we came home.  We were thrilled!  He has been doing really well since although he is still on the IV antibiotics.  He continues to fight the MRSA around his g-tube.  Because of that, he is having surgery tomorrow to replace the long tube with a mic-e button.  We're hoping this will make a big difference for him.  He also has a scheduled lumbar puncture with spinal chemo therapy medications.  It's great that we can do it all at once so he doesn't have to go under anesthesia more often than necessary.

Brent's mom went home on September 3rd and I have missed her every single day.  We tried to convince her to stay and live with us but she really did have other things to go home to so we tried not to be too pushy.  LOL  She is incredible and we are so thankful for the time she was able to spend with us.  

My mom got here on the 10th.  It has been great to have her here and the kids are starting to settle into a routine again.  She is planning to stay for about a month.  By then I should be back on my feet.

Speaking of my feet....they are healing.  It is a slow, often painful process, but happening none the less.  I went to the doctor and she gave me permission to take off my left boot, as tolerated.  I pushed it pretty hard last weekend and then regretted it.  I ended up having to wear the boot all of this past week.  I have been keeping it off again this weekend and it is getting stronger.  I'll probably need to wear it again for a few days but it is nice to take a break, (no pun intended!)  The right foot is healing.  They took x-rays again and the surgery seems to be doing what it should.  I have several weeks left in that boot, with no pressure on my foot.  But, I am getting more and more mobile all the time.  I am getting quite creative when it comes to getting around. 

Brent is feeling better but again, it is a slow, sometimes painful, process.  He is getting stronger but still gets tired really easily.  We realized, too late, that he was allergic to the antibiotic they put him on to fight the MRSA.  Poor guy.  We thought all the awful symptoms were side effects from the infection.  Only after the antibiotic was finished did we realize that he was actually having an allergic reaction to it.  Luckily it did seem to kill the infection in the process.  Still.  I feel terrible for pushing him to finish all the pills!

Emma is doing well.  Feisty as ever.  She can be the sweetest girl in the world and then turn into a little stinker in a split second.  I suppose that's part of being a three year old.  She is starting pre-school at the end of the month and she is thrilled!  We ordered a super cute backpack and a few school clothes and she has been in girl heaven!  I am really excited for her to go.

Nathaniel is amazing.  I simply can't say enough to express just how incredible that little boy is.  He is the easiest baby ever.  He just hangs out, happy to get his bottle, happy when he gets his diaper changed, thrilled when we sit and love and play.  He doesn't cry much.  He doesn't get too upset.  He has grown so much!  He is rolling all over the place, trying to crawl some and working on sitting up.  He smiles non-stop, makes all sorts of fun noises and eats his toes as often as possible.  Quite frankly, he is the perfect baby.  :)  He turned one on September 1st.  (I still have to get that post put together!)  I can't believe he is one already.  Of course, he wasn't due until December so he is still small for his age but catching up all the time.  We just can't imagine our family without him in it!

I suppose that's enough from me for now.  I will try and do better at keeping up here.  Thanks, as always, for your continued love, support, prayers, emails, phone calls, cards, etc.  We simply could not make it through all of this without each of you!!  We love you!