I wanted to thank each of my readers who said a prayer or sent positive thoughts our way for Andrew’s surgery. All went well and he is home recovering.
We will need to follow up with ENT in about 6 weeks. We also will follow up with sleep/neurology in the weeks ahead.
He was such a trooper. We’re happy he is home. The plan is to take it slow and easy this weekend.
Thanks again for caring.
We’ll be sending up a lot of prayers this week.
Andrew’s surgery was schedule to happen in late September. Sam woke up this afternoon saying that the ENT office had called and wanted us to call back as soon as we got the message. They had mentioned a while back that they may want to move the surgery up a little.
They hadn’t called back by the time I left for work today. Sam called me as I pulled in to tell me that they indeed had moved it up … a lot. She posted this earlier today:
Got a phone call today from Andrew’s surgeon that he went over recent testing Based on that, plus the increase in choking and aspiration, it was no longer safe to wait for surgery. So Thursday this sweet boy will go in for yet another surgery. This surgery is a big one, with a whole bunch of scary things. But we are going in with faith that this will be the surgery to fix his little throat completely!
We have no idea how long he will need to stay in the hospital. They informed us of the many possibilities that he/we could be facing. Very scary possibilities, indeed. However, we will be praying that all goes well and that he heals up quickly. This weekend will be very stressful.
If you wouldn’t mind sending some positive vibes, good wishes, or prayers our way, I’d appreciate it.
As you know, they are working on our street. They are ripping up the water and sewer lines and working on a new water main before resurfacing the whole road.
This morning as I was cooking breakfast Sam took Andrew outside because Consumers Energy was out working on something. They had two of their diggers out and Andrew is fascinated by the “Big trucks.”
As they stood watching, one of the workers walked up to Sam. She told him that Andrew loves watching and he asked if he’d like to sit in the digger. He said yes, and the man walked over and turned the machine off and put Andrew up in the cab of the digger.
He was in heaven! I guess he was loving being in there and then looked at Sam a bit scared and said, “All done.” He went back to Sam, who was kicking herself for leaving her phone in the house. She said it would have been such a cool picture.
The guy told Sam that when he was a kid, his dad took him to a building site or somewhere where there was construction going on. A man asked him if he’d like to get in the machine. When he said yes, he got a huge thrill. The man told Sam that it was a core memory that he will never forget. He said, whenever he sees a child watching them work, if he is able, he always tries to let them sit in one of the machines. He hopes that it will become a great memory for whoever sits in it.
Sam didn’t get the man’s name, but kudos to him for being such a nice guy and offering up a once in a lifetime memory for others. I wish I could extend my gratitude and let his bosses know what a great employee they have!
There is nothing that makes time move faster than watching your children grow. In 6 months, Ella will be 4 years old. It seems like just yesterday that I was blogging about getting her room and crib put together!
Moving from the crib to a toddler bed was the next big step. This is a step that Andrew is getting closer to every day. How in the world has her “big girl bed” lost that status? It is a sad reality, but true. Ella is movin’ on up from her toddler bed to a “real” big girl bed!
Sam and I looked for twin beds on Amazon and we found one that looked cute and will serve a dual purpose.
We opted to get a trundle bed, which Andrew (or a friend/cousin) can use in the future.
The mattress came Monday and It was all rolled up in a box and shrink wrapped. I opened it up and it had to sit flat for 72 hours before you could use it. Thankfully, the bed itself didn’t arrive until yesterday.
Ella was very excited to be sleeping in her new bed ASAP! When I got home from work this morning, she was asking when I was going to build it. Sam had a doctor appointment today and she took the kids with her, so I built it while they were gone. It wasn’t the easiest thing to build in her room, which still had things on the floor, but I got it done.
With her graduation to a twin bed, that meant we needed to get some new sheets and a new bedding set. Sam bought her a Disney Princess set, which she liked, but those are not the sheets on her bed.
Sam’s mom, knowing that Ella was moving to a twin bed soon, saved the butterfly sheet set that used to be on her sister Grace’s bed. You may remember that Grace passed away late last year. Ella was very close to her.
When Sam asked if she wanted her new princess bedding or the butterfly bedding. She instantly said the butterfly one! The conversation went like this:
Ella: Mommy if I use Gracie’s bed sheets then she will come visit me. I miss her so much! I need her to come visit, she has been a good girl for Jesus long enough.
Sam: When you have Gracie’s blankets they will let her come visit you every night in your dreams.
The Sam walked away crying.
May your new bed bring you many visits from Gracie and plenty of sweet dreams, my princess!
My youngest son, Andrew, has had his share of challenges in his almost two years. After his first sleep study, he was diagnosed with laryngomalacia. It was causing him to have sleep apnea. A surgery was done to correct that problem. While in surgery, a cleft was discovered and the surgeon filled it.
Three months later, he had a second sleep study and his sleep apnea index had gone down, but not quite enough. We opted to try CPAP, which meant a third (CPAP) sleep study. It worked for a while, but because of a lack of proper pediatric CPAP masks, we wound up stopping and attempting to treat it another way. Medications to help open nasal passages and the airway were prescribed and they seemed to work well, as he was sleeping a bit better (despite some louder snore).
Just before the Fourth of July, he had a fourth study and we discovered that his apnea is worse than it was last time. We also found that the laryngomalacia, which he should have grown out of by now, was still an issue.
Andrew had his visit to the ENT today and there was quite a discussion. It seems to the doctor and his colleagues that the main issue is the cleft. They will probably have to do a deeper scope to make sure there isn’t another cleft. The goal is to repair the cleft or clefts. They may remove tonsils and adenoids, too. Either way, it is a much bigger surgery than we anticipated.
He will probably be in the hospital for a few days, perhaps in ICU. We’ll be awaiting a call to schedule surgery Monday. They think it will be sometime in August or September. I found this video on YouTube, which only scared me more.
My wife and I are quite overwhelmed right now. We can only hope and pray that this will take care of Andrew’s issues and the healing will be fast and easy.
I thank you in advance for your good vibes, your positive thoughts, and prayers as we anxiously await a plan of action.
America celebrated her 247th birthday this week. It was a busy and wonderful weekend for us, as we had an out of town visit from my brother. He and Stacey drove up from Ohio on Sunday. They spent all day with us on Monday. We ordered Pizza for lunch, Barbequed chicken for dinner, and went for ice cream before they headed back to their hotel.
On the fourth, they met us at this little zoo nearby and we spent the first part of the day there. It’s been years since I have been there and forgot that they actually have some pretty cool animals. They have brown and black bears, a white Siberian Tiger, Kangaroos, Lions, and a plenty of birds (more on that in a minute).
The zoo has many places where you can buy feed to give to the animals. They kids loved feeding the goats.
The look on this goat’s face in the picture cracks me up!
The animals are so close to you and there are many you can pet.
Sam does not like birds. I’m not saying I do, but the kids wanted to go into this parakeet experience. When you walk in, they give you a stick with bird seed on it. The birds will fly over to your stick and eat the seeds. I made a friend quickly, and didn’t even need birdseed.
This bird flew to the top of my head and STAYED there pecking at it until we were done. I swear we were in there for at least 10 minutes. This bird would not leave my head. Finally, when the kids were ready to go, we walked to the door of the exhibit and the door guy had to shoo the bird off my head so I could walk out. It was freaking me out!
We went back to our house to wait for our local fire works show. Sam’s folks and a friend from college (who just moved to our neighborhood) joined us in our backyard to watch the show.
Every year, since Ella could walk, we’ve taken pictures of them walking down down the sidewalk with a flag. It was fun to put them all together in a collage and see how much they have grown.
For such a small town, they really do a fine job with their fireworks show. I wish cell phone photos could do it justice.
Ella said it was too loud and Nana and her went inside. The rest of us stayed outside and enjoyed a nice show. I wish that the tree in my neighbor’s yard wasn’t there.
As I scrolled through the photos I took on the fourth, there was one that struck me for the weirdest reason – the shadow.
I thought this was just such an amazing picture. I love the way the shadow is.
Happy Birthday, America! God Bless the USA!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Every now and then, I have to blog a story just so I won’t forget it. This is one of those times.
We have one of those inflatable pools for the kids. You know the ones I’m talking about? They kind of look like this:
Ours is a bit bigger than the one above. We only fill it half way, but the kids just love it.
Over the weekend, I was out weed whacking the yard before mowing. It was already pretty hot outside. The kids were outside, too and decided to just jump in. Sam was outside with them and just let them play in there with their clothes on. The issue was that Ella was still in a Pull up and Andrew was in a diaper. Well, you know what those diapers do when they get wet!
At some point both the Pull Up and the diaper had absorbed about all the water they could. Sam had the kids take off their clothes and they wound back in the pool naked. As I passed the pool on my way back out to the backyard I said, “Don’t poop in the pool,” and continued the yard work.
It wasn’t long and Sam called to me. “Come here! Andrew wants to show you something.” As I came around the garage, I saw Andrew standing on the driveway. It took me a minute to realize that my son is smarter than I thought. He didn’t poop in the pool. Instead, he chose to poop on the driveway.
You just can’t make stuff like this up!
Conference
Many readers know I work in Sleep Medicine. Every year there is a sleep conference in Detroit that we try to go to to earn our Continuing Education Units to keep our registry. That conference was last week.
Sam and I drove down to Detroit early Thursday afternoon. (The kids got a sleepover at Nana’s house.) The conference took place at one of the casinos. When we checked in, they asked if we wanted an upper or lower floor (we chose upper) and whether we wanted a city or river view (we chose river). It was a nice view!
After speakers were done on the first night, Sam and I went to a small mixer where guests could have a drink together. We hung out with a couple of my coworkers and folks who graduated from the same sleep program. They had raffles while we were there and Sam won a Tim Hortons gift card. My coworker won a $100 Amazon card.
We went up to our room and we were exhausted, but hungry. We decided to order room service ($$$$$). She ordered nachos and I got a burger. When it arrived, it was apparent that we should have just shared the nachos because it was HUGE!!
After the conference on Friday, we had hoped to go out to a nice dinner. Because room service was SO expensive, we decided to get something on the way home. After getting the kids from Nana’s, we ordered pizza and brought it home.
Just a side note: As parents, you can’t wait to get a night or two alone and away from the kids. Of course, when you do, you can’t stop thinking about them and are overjoyed when you see them again!
Clubs
My son, Dimitri, turned 16 on Sunday. I told him I wanted to take him out golfing. It’s something he and I have never done together and I knew it would be a good time for us to connect and chat. We decided to go Saturday morning, and the weather was perfect.
I haven’t been on a course in at least 3-4 years. I knew I was gonna really golf badly. He hasn’t been out in at least a year, since leaving the golf club at school. Thank goodness it was a slow day in the course.
I hate when you’ve always got someone waiting for you to tee off or shoot. I realize it’s part of the game, but I always feel rushed and often just want to hit so we can go. Dimitri and I were far from professionals out there, so it did take us a bit longer than usual. We finally let the twosome behind us play through.
He is like me in that he has his favorite clubs. He rarely uses his driver, but he can crush a ball with his 5 wood. I have a 7 wood that I used to hit well, but topped it every time Saturday. I had a few good drives, just enough to keep me coming back.
We bent the rules a little bit, and had plenty of mulligans (redos), and impost probably a dozen balls in the woods and water. Despite all of that, it was a great time together. He, naturally, beat me by two strokes. I can’t wait to do it again.
Croup
Sam called me while I was out golfing and said that both kids sounded sick. Both had low grade fevers and a cough. By the time I got home, Ella was sounding better after taking some allergy meds. Andrew’s fever was gone but still had a cough and that raspy voice.
Sam wondered if we should take him to urgent care or ER. Everyone we talked to said wait to see how he was in the morning.
That night at bedtime he cried a lot. He wound up in our bed. He woke us up with a nasty cough and wheezing about 3am. He fell right back to sleep, but it was enough to freak us out a bit.
At 6am he woke up sounding worse, so we rushed him to ER. Nana met us there and brought Ella back to her house. We planned to be there a while and Sam packed loads of snacks just in case.
They got us right back and he was seen almost immediately. We weren’t sure what to expect because we were there right at shift change. However, once we were in our room, the nurse came in, followed by the doc. Once the examination was done, she told us it was croup and she gave him a steroid and told us he should be back to normal in a couple days.
How fast were they? Well, we had finished with the nurse and the doctor AND the meds were administered all before the registration gal came to our room! We actually had to wait to get registered before we could leave! Total ER time – about 70 minutes.
Ella decided she wanted to have a sleepover again at Nana’s, so when Sam left for work last night it was just me and Andrew. He really improved throughout the day. Before bed, we stood on the porch and watched the thunderstorm together.
Andrew is still sleeping and Ella should be home later today. The house should return to it’s normal chaotic state shortly after her arrival.
Yesterday was the first day of summer and my family is certainly ready for it! We got an early start a few weeks ago with our day trip to the beach in Caseville, MI. At home, we’ve got the big sprinkler that looks like a fire hydrant and a blow up pool in the yard for the kids.
This week, my wife bought the kids a rollercoaster for the back yard. Ok, it is hardly a roller coaster, but the kids do love it. There is a unicorn that they sit on and it slides down a track. They love it!
It’s the perfect size for Andrew and by the look on her face in the next photo, Ella loves it too!
Once they get to the end, they take the unicorn back up and do it again. It’s fun to watch them!
Pass the sunscreen – these two are ready for a lot of summer sunshine!
Now, as far as the new kitty is concerned …. it looks like he’s packed his bags and is read to go somewhere ….
Happy Summer!!
On the old Soupy Sales show, one of the easiest way to set up a joke was to have someone come banging on his door. One of my favorite lines (that no one else finds funny) goes like this:
(Door Knocking)
(Soupy opens the door) “Yes?”
(Man at door) “Well, I guess you don’t like cats!”
(Soupy) “I don’t like cats? That’d ridiculous! Dizzy Gillespie is a good friend of mine!”
I wasn’t always a cat person. My brother and I always had dogs growing up. When I moved to Ludington in 1991, I was living alone and someone suggested I get a kitten to keep me company. From that moment on, it seems I have always had a cat around the house.
When I was living in Flint, there were stray cats galore in our neighborhood. Each neighbor had a different name for the same cat. Ralphie for us, was Boots for our next door neighbor, or Stanley for our neighbor across the street.
Larry was my cat from Ludington. My dad disliked cats, so when I moved home, he went to stay with my brother. Over the years there was Callie, Frankie, Tigger, Moe, and Lorenzo (who still lives with my older sons.)
Maizey has lived with us for about 3 or 4 years. Originally, she was supposed to be my wife’s cat, but I think she stays by me more. When I go to bed, she jumps up and wants me to pet her. She will often jump up on my lap on mornings I get up before the kids. I will have a cup of coffee next to me, a book or my phone, and Maizey purring away.
So why all this talk about felines? Recently, Sam said she felt like Maizey needed a friend. She felt like she was lonely. She said that she doesn’t really come out as much as she used to. I reminded her that it was probably because Ella and Andrew tend to chase her around or try to grab her tail!
So for a little over a month now, Sam will occasionally show me pictures of kittens that Facebook friends are selling or giving away. I did not think that she was serious about getting Maizey a friend, but I was obviously wrong. Today, we welcomed a new kitty to the house.
Say hello to Mowgli! Sam wanted to name him Bear, because she says he reminded her of a bear. When Sam asked Ella what we should name him – Mowgli came out of nowhere. I can’t tell you the last time she watched Jungle Book, listened to the story or read the book, so I don’t know what made her think of it. She seems pretty sure that Mowgli was the name – so it is. I suggested to Sam that maybe Bear could be his middle name!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 