Update the Blog, Mom!

The wheels on the car go round and round...but the motor in the window doesn't. And somebody took it upon themselves to fix it. Actually it was the driver's side window that broke, but until we have some extra cash to get a new motor, Jeff is swapping the motor from one of the passenger windows for now.

Cameron's pretty good with the mechanics of how things work and Dad decided to let him have a little experience. Talk about letting a kid loose in a candy store! And with all the running around to do this week--it's always nice to have a window that works.

Today, one of the kids told me that I needed to update the blog. I guess he was tired of reading the last blurb over and over. Jeesh! As if I don't have anything else to do ;) Lots has been going on, yet not of anything worth taking pictures of and elaborating too much on, or so I thought...until now.

My week sounds like the same old story over and over...just with different kids taking the passenger seat. "I took Cameron to the doctor." "I took Braden to the doctor." "I took Jessica, Nathan, and Cameron to the orthodontist." "Taking Ashley to the orthodontist." "Taking Braden, Cameron and Jessica to the dentist...." "I took Braden and Nathan to the eye doctor...." Well, actually, I got out of that trip because Dad had to get his eyes checked too and saved me that drive since I was picking Ashley up from the girls' camp meeting on the north side. So what it comes down to is--I drive, I drive, I drive!

Nathan is now scheduled with an pediatric infectious disease team here in Spokane. Haven't decided how to handle the Spokane surgeons yet. We are still dealing with the team at the Mayo via the phone. They've ordered scripts for x-rays and blood work. Those are coming up soon and then the results will be mailed back to them for review and progress. I got a little frustrated with the global billing side of the THR and thought it would be cheaper to fly (NOT drive!) Nathan back to the Mayo in Minnesota. I think we finally have a way around that, but we are on our own for a few weeks until the 12 week billing ends. Today marked 4 weeks from cut day and it was also the first day in months without pain killers! He's still a little whiny, but on his own as far as pain control.

After some less invasive kind of appointments, we learned that he definitely comes from our gene pool...and is getting glasses. They should be in next week. (Now, when I thin him down a bit, he'll look like Clark Kent). Every time he goes to the dentist or orthodontist from now on...he gets to take an antibiotic beforehand--for the rest of his life. Yep. Good stuff. I still have to get him scheduled for his physical "therapy-a-thon". We're months from a "full" recovery, but at least we are heading in the right direction. So bye, bye muscle atrophy, arthritis and painful limps. Hello walking, Mr Nathan, even if it means more driving! (Like I said: drive, drive, drive).

Cameron is done with his battery of testing at Sacred Heart. We will start educating ourselves on his specific needs and then I'm sure we will continue to drive, drive, drive. So far he's one of the lucky ones, and still has 20/20 sight (unless he's agitated) and his hearing just fine, or should I say...only has issues with selective hearing.

Braden got bombarded with all kinds of change coming his way. We started out the week by meeting with his audiologist and doing some new testing. His hearing loss is getting more profound and has finally reached the point where we need to make some decisions. We have an appointment in a few weeks with an ENT specialist and will also be repeating a series of hearing tests before we decide which kind of hearing device would work best for him.

After that morsel, he was on to the opthamologist and got some more bad news. He needs glasses. He's not quite as bad as Nathan, but close, considering he's two years younger. But with the whirlwind of expenses, we are going to wait a till school starts to get his pair...which won't be too long, since his school starts August 13th, this year! Poor kid. His hip is driving him crazy and it's a good thing we'll be seeing Dr Tompkins in a few weeks. And even with Ashley's braces coming off in a couple of weeks, Braden is going to have to wait awhile to start working on his chompers. It looks like he's an over-achiever in the bum department, but we'll get him straightened out yet!

And inbetween all those trips, I still managed to see my chiropractor and go with Jeff to his MRI. Bulging discs...Yeah! He made it through without the mind-altering drugs, this time!

And in between all the trips around town, someone made a trip to see us on Wednesday night. I must have an "S" emblazoned on my chest (for scouts...of course. Whadya think it stood for???) Yep. Cheers! Here's to being a den leader again. I'm going to love it and can't wait to start. But this area we're in is a little more spread out then what I've been used to in the past. Driving?

Jeff has an exciting bit of news that he wants to mull over for a few days. (Nope. No cub scout assistant-ships for him this time!) I'm sure he'll love it and we can "car pool" most of the time. The kids are definitely keeping us running around. If nothing else, we are doing a lot of......driving!