18 Jam Packed Years

Happy Anniversary to this guy--

my guy.

18 years- wow.

What we've been through is enough to fill

several books.  But hopefully, we are better people for it.

 Greer and Reese went all out and decorated our room

to mark the occasion.

 Here's the sad part though,

Kean and I are both sick--

we stayed home today.

He with two infected ears and two infected eyes.

Me, a raging case of Bronchitis.

He's back on antibiotics (again).

I'm on codeine cough syrup and steroids to try and clear 

up my cough.

Greer says I says I sound like a dying squirrel.

You can see our batch of drugs behind the pizza boxes.

Byron brought home Pizza Hut after I ordered Dominoes!

(This is even the shortened stack.  We pawned off a pizza on the Bodily's)!

Kean and I did venture out of the house for his big cancer screens at MSTI.

I'd already cancelled a few times because of the flu so felt we should

try and make this one since by afternoon we were both feeling somewhat better.

 Typical Kean-- he ripped off every mask-- so they kept us

quarantined into a room to do vitals, blood draws and the full exam.

All went well-- his counts are good-- even though they had

to take blood twice (they messed up his first submissions).

And the even better news-- we don't have to go back for another three months!

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.

Food Obsessed

You know how each anniversary has its designation:  gold, paper etc.

This birthday, clearly is the food birthday.

Don't believe me?

Let's see, I started the morning off with Reese surprising us all with

homemade Blueberry Pancakes.

She had forgotten that two of my girlfriends were taking me out for

breakfast.

 The afternoon was gobbled up (like that food reference?)

with taking the pups to the vet for follow-ups, a

shopping spree at the grocery store (more food)

and then dinner out with my 98-year-old grandmother...

 my sweet mother-in-law...

 and my wonderful parents.

Byron and the kids came too.

I don't know how we missed getting pictures of them.

But trust me, I need to be rolled up the stairs and into bed.

I'm stuffed.

Oh, and feeling well loved.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

I have the best group of friends.

The "Sorta" Test Results

I've had so many of you ask if we got the results from Kean's

testing on his seizures.

Well, kinda.

We don't meet with the Neurologist for a few more weeks

but Kean's pediatrician called on Friday to say while he hasn't

gotten the official report, he did not see anything scary.

However,  (and geez, doesn't there always have to be a however with 

this kid), the sleep study showed his heart stopped several times

during the night for short durations (over 2 seconds is all I know).

So guess what?!?!

We now get to add another new doctor to our stable.

Lucky us.

We are hoping it is no big deal.  But for a kid

with his health history, we don't get to skate.

Kean's new Cardiologist ordered a heart monitor harness

for 24 hours- Monday onto Tuesday.

That's Nicholle, Kean's therapist helping

me hold him down so the technician can
put the sensors in the right spots.

 Surprisingly, it wasn't too much of a battle.

And he didn't fight it quite as much as I expected

at home.

The night was a bit rough (he woke up several times

to tell me "off").

But we completed the test without having to re-attach

any of the sensors.  So that's definitely a win-win

in my book.

We turned it all back into the hospital yesterday.

And now we all wait.

We see his new Cardiologist on January 12th.

Stay tuned.

The fun sure never ends, does it!

As Good As It Gets

I have long since given up trying to get Christmas Cards out in the mail.

(Thank you to all of you who do send them to us, we LOVE them).

Our cute neighbor cornered us into taking a few "snaps" one Sunday afternoon in our yard.

So this will have to do for our holiday greetings.

Happy holidays.  How grateful we are for each of you,

for your examples of kindness, goodness and friendship.

And how thankful we are for a Savior who loves

us unconditionally.

May 2017 bring health and happiness to all of us.

Land of the Shining Mountains

Nothing like blogging about our family vacation nearly two months after the fact!

It may not be timely but we sure had a phenomenal trip.

We went with our close friends, the Borup's to Montana.

We visited the old farm where Byron grew up...

 We spent time with his mom, Grandma Kay

and some dear friends, the Morgan's.

 We strolled the quaint streets of Byron's hometown, Big Fork.

 And then headed up into Glacier Park for a couple of days.

 We all had fun taking family pics with the stunning scenery

behind us in every picture.

The Borup's were so much fun to be with 

and get this, they still are our friends after spending that 

many days with us in our camp trailer!!!

 We hiked up about half way to where Byron was chased

by a grizzly bear years ago.  If you haven't

heard his crazy story, you should.  That bear had him

and for some reason, let him go.

 We also oohed and awed over

some of the sites.  It was so pretty, it

almost looked fake.

 We walked the shores of the lake in the rain.

But that didn't stop us from spending a good half hour

seeing who could skip rocks the farthest.

 This boy.

He loved, loved being outside

and got a good work out nearly every day.

 We love visiting Glacier in the fall...

 Even though several of the hotels and lodges are closed,

it is as if we have the whole park nearly to ourselves.

 And there is a picture perfect picture to take

nearly everywhere you turn.

 Outside the park, we visited White Fish Lake...

gorgeous.

 Swan Lake...

gorgeous.

 And Holland Lake.

Yep, that's right.

Holland has her own personal lake.

Or at least she thinks so.

 And yes...

gorgeous.

We love Montana.

In fact, I think, Byron would move back in a minute.

Uh, not gonna happen.

I'd be the first white cross on the side of the road...

Too cold.

Gorgeous but too cold.