Motor Mouth Becomes Metal Mouth

It happened.

Gigi got braces today

and I think she looks adorable.

 Okay, so maybe she looked kind of like a platypus during

the procedure but she looks cute now.

And here's my update on Kean's medical issues.

We drove through a snow storm (again) on Monday

to make it to the hospital for his meeting with

the Pediatric Neurologist.

 In short, all is well.  

 Dr. Foy didn't find anything scary from his EEG and found

no reason why he had those two seizures.

So we are not going to do anything, we especially are

not going to worry and we hope we can be done with this nonsense!

The Best Possible Results!

I'm hoping Kean won't remember how traumatic

it was for him to go through all this hospital testing.

I tell ya, I never want to go through it again. Holding him 

down was traumatic for me!

As a refresher, Kean had a couple of seizures a month or so ago.

Lucky us, we got to spend the night in the hospital

to test his brain activity and his sleep patterns.

That miserable, miserable test showed he has moderate

sleep apnea and surprise-- his heart was stopping several times in the night

for two seconds or more.

That new, little trick earned us another trip to the hospital

to take home a heart harness monitor.

More fun times, especially in the middle of the night

as Kean woke me up time and time again to say "off"!

We finally got in to see our new Pediatric Cardiologist

(super cool Dr. Womack).  We still have to wait

to see the Pediatric Neurologist and the Pulmonary Specialist.

We got the best possible news!

And I think Kean even sensed what the doc was going to find. 

 He ran more tests and talked our ears off...

 But here are the cliff notes.

He said, and I quote:  "Bottom line, your son has a good ticker".

In other words, this mama doesn't need to worry!

Now to get through the next two appointments.

And certainly hoping for the same good results.

Our Hospital Reward

Today was one of those days where if I let myself, I'd mow my fingernails

down to nothing.

We had Kean's cancer screenings.

And even though we are now just over a year out, it still scares

the spit out of me to have to wait for his results.

Kean, of course, wasn't nervous one bit.

In fact, he fell asleep in the car and snoozed through

much of our wait to start the tests.

 It was kind of rude of us to wake him up just in time to 

stick a needle in his arm for blood samples.

But he was a trooper.

If anything, he had a harder time holding still for vitals.

That is, until we gave him a little dog to put the blood pressure

cuff onto.  He liked that.

 The clinic was getting used to a new computer system

so we had an extra amount of waiting.

Kean just decided to look cute while we waited.

 He kind of gets me with that toothless smile.

And all the waiting sure paid off. 

 Kean's counts are getting better and better

with each month.

In fact, drum roll please... we now only

have to go into the hospital for testing

every THREE months.

Christmas came a little early for this mama.

Back In the Saddle Again

Blue skies and bearable weather (actually beautiful weather)

means it is that time of year again.

Time for Kean's Hippotherapy sessions.

 We even have Clark joining us...

to not only lead the horse but more importantly,

help keep Kean in the saddle.

You should have heard our boy giggle non stop

when we started trotting.

Not sure he was laughing with glee at going bumpity bump

or laughing at Clark and I trying to keep up.

 Holland has some big news-- finally, finally (she's been 

excited about this day forever), she got braces.

 Her mouth is a little sore but so far, so good.

 We also had Kean's second session with  the Neuro Psychologist

at St. Luke's.  If you remember (from my past rants), the state

is requiring Kean have a lengthy IQ test to make sure he

is still eligible for therapy services (read still has Down syndrome).

 Dr. Deidrick is one of the good guys.  She thinks this testing

is as ridiculous as I do-- but has slogged through getting 

Kean to cooperate (with lots of breaks).

 And she thinks she has enough for him to pass (or fail)

depending on how you look at it.

Yes, he will qualify for services again.

 And finally, after spending the day at the hospital, I got  to

spend the evening with Miss Reese.

Our church held a Luau for the girls around Reese's age.

 The party featured a yummy dinner, hula lessons,

 a hula performance for the mom's,

 games, the limbo and lots of fun with friends.

It was the perfect way to unwind and relax after such a long day.