Cub Scout Day Camp

We've reached the part of the summer that we are in camp-mode. Braden's camp is this week, the twins next, and Ashley the week after. Braden's is the shortest stint at only three days long. But being that I'm attending with him...that's long enough.

Archery and BB guns are favorites every year at day camp. But the boys got lucky this year and the BSA is offering a round of each sport on all three days.

Braden memorized all the rules today and earned an archery belt loop in addition to passing off some extra electives towards his ninth arrow point!

Braden has buddied up with Trevin Larsen for camp. Both are bears in my den. They both whittled a bar of soap into dinosaurs with Popsicle sticks. [Pocket knifes come with the BOY scouts, not the Cub Scouts. But, oh, what Mad Skills they already have!!]

Wildlife conservation officers from Turnbull Park, just outside of Cheney, were on hand to show the boys how to mold wild animal foot prints. Braden made an elk print out of plaster of paris. There were about 30 different animals and molds to choose from.

Braden's Turn in the Hot Seat

Yesterday was dedicated to Braden and the four important doctors' appointments he had. We started at the hearing lab for another round of tests. They were a little alarmed 6 weeks ago with the discrepancy in his lower decibels and wanted to repeat the tests. The audiologist repeated them twice again...both times were worse than before. But, overall, he's still only picking up only 44-50% of the conversational traffic in his left ear. He's holding "steady" with the original ratios from three years ago.

We went on to see the ENT. After carefully charting Braden's medical history and taking notes about his upcoming surgery...the doctor concluded what we were already knew. Braden needs a hearing aid. The school has placed him on the front row, on the left side, and he still needs some kind of hearing props to catch the full story of what's going on. Put's a whole new slant on "paying for your education". It's no longer optional, which means that we made the appointment to have him fitted with his new device on the first day of school...about the time his glasses come in. Watch out school: I don't know what he'll do when he realizes everything he's been missing out on!

Dr Mark Bassett, the ENT that saw Braden, thought that his shirt was pretty cool. I didn't even realize what he was wearing until he was sitting in the chair with the doctor looking down his throat. The innuendo is priceless!! It turns out that Dr Bassett graduated from BYU the year after I was born. He's been a doctor for a very long time. He's also a Colonel in the Air Force with special recognition for his service in the Air National Guard right after 9/11.

He took chart notes on the other kids and their medical histories to see if there was a pattern to follow. He shook his head and said he couldn't believe the number of issues that we've been challenged with in our brood. I just shake my head as well. Dr Tomkins comment about our odds being 1 in 1,000,000 are still echoing in my head. Hearing loss and glasses are gravy compared to some of the other challenges that Braden is going up against.

The doctor said that he puts people in hearing aids with hearing loss of 30% or more. Braden's need is doubled the minimum requirement at around 60%. He has definitely reached the stage where it's apparent that he's not hearing everything that he needs to. Our next challenge: to wrangle with the insurance. We've already been told that hearing aids aren't covered. Maybe there's a loophole. I never really understood how "hearing" can be seen as optional or as a vanity--especially at 9 years old. With his hip failing him, needing glasses already, orthodontics in the near future...the kid deserves a break somewhere ;) Maybe some Chinese wisdom will bring clarity to the situation.

We had an hour before we needed to head over to his MRI and orthogram. I let him pick anywhere he wanted to go for lunch. Taco Bell or Panda. He turned it back to me to decide between his choices. We went for Panda! I figured he deserved it before the trauma was about to start.

I had an idea what they were going to do to him because I'd seen something similar done almost four years ago with Nathan. Instead of an aspiration of fluid from the joint, the doctor would be injecting dye into the joint under x-ray, so that the soft tissue would be easier to detect during the MRI. But in order to get the dye down into the hip, they had to bring the movable x-ray machine over his hip and then use the image to guide the needle down into his joint. The Valium only took the edge off of his alarm. He giggled most of the time, in between some loud "Ow"s and "That hurts!" Band-aids on or near your privates is almost always never a good thing! Nathan didn't commiserate very well with him either because his surgery last week left him purple and blue in the same areas. But lesson learned. When the nurse says it's going to sting just like a little bee sting...they're lying to you and probably have never had anything done to them like it! Beware: It's going to sting, burn, ache, bruise, and be tender for days.

The MRI lasted almost the full hour afterwards. He did great. I kept joking with him about the medication because he said that he couldn't even tell that he had had anything. He was in great form and was anxious to get back for his turn on the X-BOX. In all honesty, you couldn't tell if he was off in his game...but his swagger was a little cocked to the right. He's on for surgery in another six weeks. He's very upbeat about it too. I think he's been taking notes from Nathan about all the perks of being a patient at Shriner's'! He asked the nurse for an I-pad to play with yesterday. They just laughed and said they wished they had one for themselves, let alone, him. Then he informed them that they did over at the Shrine. Too funny!

Hip, Hip, Boo, Hiss--Hate!!

Our morning started off with an early phone call from Dr Trousdale, from the Mayo Clinic, regarding Nathan's x-rays and lab work. Things don't look too good, so he ordered his hip be aspirated and the fluids checked for cell counts and then cultured. He will call us back on Friday and follow-up with our results. Which will inevitably turn into not knowing anything until Monday, since we couldn't get Nathan on to the Shriners' OR schedule until tomorrow. He's concerned because he said that Nathan shouldn't be having any pain at this point in his recovery; so the 7s and 8s on the pain chart is highly concerning, especially with his sed-rates and inflammation markers still 2-3 times normal, even with the antibiotics. We haven't even started him with physical therapy because of the pain. Everything expected has been so atypical from the very beginning. What does all of this mean?? We just want the kid to have a simple life, free of pain. Subconsciously, we must be on the 5 year plan, from start to finish, or something. I'm just hoping that we can get everything resolved before the insurance rolls over in the new year and we have to pay those deductibles again!


So I called Darlene Ramelow, nurse coordinator for Dr Bryan Tompkins, at Shriners'. I told her what Dr Trousdale said we needed to do and she said she would call me right back. Ironically, Braden had an appointment this morning there and Dr Tompkins made sure that Nathan was taken care of immediately! Gotta Love, Love, Love Dr Tompkins and his compassionate heart. For the convenience of mom, Nathan would be doing his pre-op tests and paperwork, while Braden got seen in the clinic. It was such a relief that they were able to work Nathan into the surgery schedule for tomorrow. Accruing more hospital bills from Sacred Heart wasn't what I had in mind when Dr Trousdale called. We need the money for airfare...not co-pays. And before we know if we have to go anywhere, it's vital that those fluids be checked immediately if we have any chance of saving the new artificial joint.


Several of the Mayo doctors that have called have prepared us for what may come. Dr Tompkins hinted last week that this is going to take some radical twists and skills to get the infection out of his hip. The entire new hip will have to come out first, be packed with some kind of cement filler. Then they'll go after the infection intravaneously until they can knock it out. We have no idea how long that could take. But once it's back to healthy tissue, then a new total hip would be put back in and then we start the recovery process all over. Then physical therapy and so on. Months and months of work ahead just to get to a normal baseline. So that's why our hands are tied on making travel arrangements to Minnesota, if necessary, until we know the urgency and extent of the staph infection.


Dr Tompkins is going to be out of town tomorrow, so Dr Glenn Baird will be doing Nathan's operation. He's fabulous and helped in Nate's first surgery at Shriners'. He'll be the 4th surgeon inside Nathan's hip this year! He'll be drawing the fluids out of the joint and then taking a tissue sample from the bone above the ceramic hip. This infection is nothing to mess around with and is causing some drama in four different sets of doctors' offices.


Every time we talk to Dr Tompkins about the first surgery, we get a little more insight into what he saw the first time he opened up Nathan's hip. Today he said that the hip was already basically dead, only held in place by one vein, when he saw Nathan in December 2010. He did the surgery immediately after Christmas because there was no time to lose in trying to buy some time before the next reconstructive surgery was needed. He was entirely optimistic in his language to us at the time, but now hearing his gut opinion of what he saw, tells an entirely different story. Nathan came to him already needing a THR. Dr Tompkins goal was only to buy him some time, mostly because of his age, and the accessibility of having it done locally or not. He was hoping to get him a year or two. (He told us 5-10 years initially--obviously still being highly optimistic, at the time). We got 7-8 months from that surgery, which Dr Tompkins confessed was totally miraculous compared to the original state of his hip. That kind of gives more insight into why he didn't cut Nathan's femoral head off and plate it at the time. Instead, he chose to grind it down and pin it in six places, to make it easier for the next surgeon (Dr Trousdale) to cut the bone right out and put a new hip in. That surgery was 7 1/2 hours. Hardward removal because of impingment, in January 2012, was 4 1/2 hours. Total Hip Replacement in May 2012...less than 1 1/2 hours! If nothing else--Dr Tompkins saved Dr Trousdale a bunch of time, at least!


And, so with that being said, he looked at Braden's x-rays today and told us we have bad luck running in the family. The first set of pictures weren't encouraging, so we were sent back for another set--from different angles. They've determined that the Perthes is done compromising the femoral ball. The body thinks it's been flattened enough, I guess!



Braden now has adequate blood supply to the hip, but he's been having a lot of pain because the flattened head has created an impingement in his hip socket. The cartilage is getting caught between the the hip cup and the femoral ball. A few months ago, he was hoping that the steroid shot would give him a few months of pain relief. It did, for all of two months. But the limp is getting more pronounced as his right side is trying to compensate for the shortened muscle on the left side. Only one option was given--surgical intervention, either to grind the sides of the femoral head down or to cut the head off and reposition it at an angle that relieves the cartilage. Our only choice was when we wanted to do it.



Dr Tompkins ordered an MRI/arthogram be done first, to make sure that the labrum around the head, hasn't been torn. The first availability for that is July 5th. That's going to be a busy day for the big guy. He meets with the audiologists for his second evaluation on his hearing tests and then with the ENT to discuss his hearing aid. We'll just have to cross the street after lunch and go for his MRI. I can already hear what kind of consolation meal will be in order for his cruddy day in small rooms and tight tubes!


The surgery is going to be similar to the one Nathan had in January 2011. Only with Braden, the femoral head will actually get cut off the femur and then repositioned with a plate and pins into a straighter position in the hip. It will automatically lengthen his left leg to match the other side, and should correct his limp and gait. He'll be in the hospital for a week and then two weeks in a wheelchair. By 6 weeks, he should be weight-bearing with crutches. And with physical therapy, he'll hopefully be up and about by 8 weeks. He shouldn't have any pain and should be healed enough that he can ride a bike and even participate in sport-related activities at school. [He'll have to have some of the hardware removed after about a year, but Dr Tompkins seems to think that this procedure should get him into his late 20s before he needs a THR. And with some extreme luck...the kind we haven't had as of yet...his hip may be corrected and healed enough that a THR won't be necessary.]



He'll have the same kind of gruesome scar that Nathan has--even on the same side! 14-16" gashes should make for some interesting small talk later in life. On the upside--he still gets to go to Cub Day Camp, the end of July. The downside...school starts August 14th. Surgery is August 16th. He's going to miss almost the first month of school. Ugg!! At least they can start working with him almost immediately, so that he doesn't fall behind. If he gets the same teacher that Nathan had...she'll know the drill already!


I'm sure that we'll look back in a few years and know why that everything worked out the way it did. We thought 2011 was our worst year on record. But I'm starting to think that 2012 might have it topped--and it's only half over! My only hope is that we don't have a complication with a third surgery before or back to back with Braden's. Crossing our fingers! Who knows...maybe God will be kind with us and either get Nathan back on track before Braden's big day or at least get things squared enough away for awhile so that we're home before the next big event happens. It might just be easier to haul both of their butts to the Mayo so that they can recover together. Wouldn't that be something? [I should have been a nurse...at least I'd be getting paid for all this non-sense!]

Fourth Grade Science Project

I really don't mind helping out with the kids' school projects. But this one might take the cake! The entire 4th grade at CCS has to turn in a project for the Science Fair. No problem, right? Except there's a 12-page packet that came with the assignment, outlining just how it's to be completed and presented.

Um.......yea! I think they might be a little hard-core with the requirements, but who's to criticize a school that is actually making the kids work for their grades! It's just like the project that Ashley turned in, not too long ago, for her eighth grade Honors science class. So. Been there, done that. Now it's Mr Braden's turn. And being that he's my happy-go-lucky boy, it didn't seem to bother him that he delayed getting me the packet that he has had for almost 2 months. We started only 7 days before the project is due. (This is supposed to be well thought out, hypothesized, created and then reported on, with the results going onto a tri-fold poster board presentation).

No problem...I thrive under pressure. I asked Braden what he wanted to do. He thought that we should get two plants from Home Depot and see how long it would take to kill them. Killing things. Now, that's a boy for you. I quickly vetoed that idea because that was no project to learn from! Most of my plants don't survive very long...so what's there to investigate and prove? Then I came across a great project on a cub scout blog a few days ago--making crystals from sugar. There are several artificial sweeteners that are made from sugar...so the question will be: Do various forms of sugar or sugar-derived products make crystals? Braden was enthused and we started immediately, as it takes several days to grow the crystals.

We compared cane sugar, Splenda, and Equal. The density of each was different from the beginning. Equal and Splenda grew nothing. Splenda is supposedly made from sugar, and the natural conclusion would be that it too would grow crystals. (WHY do we even think that a chemically engineered by-product is better than what's organically found in nature? I love all the new studies that are coming out and exposing the truths behind the chemicals people inhale as fast as they can swallow all to avoid real sugar. Such non-sense! But that's a whole 'nother post.) The real sugar solution was the only one that grew crystals. That means yummy candy confections can't grow from the other two because they've been chemically altered.

Upon reading some of those 12 pages...I came across the part that said that the data section should include grafts that document the experiment. Sunday night, people!! It took me a minute to figure out how to create one in Microsoft word...but never fear, mother's here! I think it turned out pretty good. Braden did a great job. I can only accept grades for keeping it NEAT and in order. The boy conducted the experiment, sampled the goods, and crafted the board--exactly where I told him to.

**Disclaimer: We had a little catastrophe in the kitchen last night. Ironically, it was Braden that whipped a blanket around and knocked three of his glasses over, breaking two of them. He was in tears and got very upset about it. (A very real lesson in how all actions have consequences.) Obviously you can't childproof a kid's project. In his gripy-ness, he accused me of putting the solutions together wrong and that's why the Splenda and Equal solutions wouldn't grow crystals. WRONG! He quickly forgot that he was conducting a science experiment, and was collecting data to draw a conclusion, not an accusation. You can't force the hand of nature because 2 of the products he was testing weren't from nature. You can't get blood out of a turnip.

And the only winner is: Sugar! (Now is it any wonder! Seriously--when you can't get things to even grow from the artificial stuff...that you tell us something about it's composition and nature!) We'll be making the board this weekend. I'm sure the project coordinator will have me wielding a hot glue gun as he oversees the placement of his numerous photos and write-ups. And now that I know how much work this little charmer takes...we'll start looking for ideas now for my next fourth-grade project (in 3 years).

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!

My Hippy Dudes

Nathan and Braden had their appointments with Dr Tompkins at Shriner's Hospital yesterday. As in most comparable situations, we got some good news and some bad news. I'll start with the good news.

Things look great for Braden right now. His femoral ball is definitely in the collapsing mushroom shape, but the steroids from his surgery in September seem to be doing the trick to keep him pain-free and not limping for now. He's normally a perky and easy-going boy, so it will be easy for us to recognize any decline as his hip starts to eventually disintegrate--for lack of a better description. He has a fancy problem called Legg-Perthy's disease, which is the dying of the bone inside the hip socket in children. It happens in adults too and is typically called Osteonecrosis--since it's the dying of a fully mature bone, at that point. But kids are a little tricky because they are pre-wired to grow bones, not kill bones. And for some reason unbeknownst to any earthly being, Braden was born with a compromised blood supply to his left hip and was diagnosed with this anomaly at the sweet age of three. His gait and leg positioning was classified as "on the extreme side of normal" then, with the promise that we'd just see what happens as he gets older and taller. We feel pretty fortunate that we've only had to start "treating" the disease this year--six years after the original diagnosis.

When Dr Tompkins went into the hip back in September, he said that he would have to have the exact same surgery on Braden that Nathan had last January. (Talk about having that sinking feeling going through you!) And he said that the odds of this happening in the same family from completely different causes was 1 in a million. Wow. Lucky us! So somewhere between the age of 14-15 years old, he'll be split open from mid thigh to high waist, and have the femoral ball ground down and repositioned inside the socket. Or cut off, rounded and repositioned with plates and screws. It's a pretty grueling surgery (Nathan's was 7+hours), and will include several months of recovering and physical therapy for sure. Oh, the things we look forward to.

As a parent--I just want both boys to be normal, healthy kids when all the work is done. Normal--as in walk, put their own socks on, and go to their room (downstairs) when I tell them to!

These surgeries are so sophisticated and impressive in the results...for which I'm extremely grateful to live in a day and age that we have such miraculous abilities to heal and correct problems...but at the same time, I have a little bit of that "Why us?" attitude to work through. My boys were built for and bound for boy stuff--like typical roughhousing, football, soccer, karate, and trampolines. But now those activities are forever shelved and we need to foster a love of some solo sports--like swimming, cycling, and low (and if possible NO-impact) aerobic exercise. That's a little tough since my chatty boys would rather be involved in team sports rather than the lonely ones. So we have some more things to brace ourselves over and to work on in the upcoming years.

Now for Nathan. He's a little upset right now and I don't even know what to tell him to help him through the next few weeks. The x-rays didn't look too good. He's been complaining of aggravating pain in the upper socket. I put him off a bit about getting him in sooner because of the holidays and because we had an appointment scheduled already. But so glad we didn't wait any longer. Dr Tompkins said that it looks like his hip has collapsed a bit more and the screws are impinging in the hip socket. What does that mean? The bones have healed together but the screw tips has gone through the femoral ball and are scraping down his hip bone when he moves. In short--LOADS of pain and discomfort.

(picture from his check-up in August 2011)

We were told that Nathan's case was pretty serious and was the second worst case this team at Shriner's had even seen. Our odds for a great recovery were small and truth to tell--he has not had the best outcome hoped for. But in contrast, he had SO much pain relief from the newly ground down femoral ball, that the doctors were shocked that he was moving along in his recovery so well. He was determined to get back to school, get out of the wheelchair, off the walker, and in front of the crutches. He wanted to see his friends and get back into a "normal" routine, although he went through five months of physical therapy and several more months of swimming lessons this year.

In August, the x-rays showed that he had lost about an inch of bone length on his left side. He was limping...and because it was so exaggerated, we thought it was a learned behavior. Not so, come to find out. He got two new pair of shoes and under doctor's orders, we had 1" lifts added to them. [Let me just add--at $60 a shoe, not including the cost to actually purchase the shoe first, lifts are NOT for the vain, because you couldn't afford to alter more than one or two at a time. So he got his new school shoes and a pair of dress shoes for church done. So much for variety ;] But even with the lifts, the limping has been getting worse and worse. His body is trying to compensate for the immobility and poor muscle structure in his bum hip and so it throws the weight distribution to the opposite knee and leg, contorting his body line into an S-shape.

With the testing yesterday, it was determined that the hardware needs to come out to stop the screws from scraping the other bones. And the surgeon is hoping that while they are in the socket, they can get a better look at what's going on behind the femoral ball. After he heals a bit, he'll have to go back to the motion lab and reevaluate the degrees and angles that would work best for his mobility. Then we'll have to move to the next step from there. He refuses to use a cane, even though that would probably benefit him a lot right now. He refuses adamantly to even consider using it at school. Kids would never tease or taunt, right? Ugh! They have an elevator to get to the upper level, and come to find out--he's never used it. That will be changing when the kids go back to school... Mom will see to that!

Hip Fusion. That was the latest possibility brought up by Dr Tompkins for Nathan. He said that studies are showing that since teenage boys are "harder" on their hips then girls (what?--'ya think?), fusions seem to work better and last longer in males. Some are showing that they are lasting 10-20 years before hip replacements are needed. That sounds like a piece of cake compared to what we've been preparing ourselves for. We've already gotten used to the idea that Nathan will probably have his first hip replacement while he's still living at home (sometime between the ages of 15-20), but 40 sounds really good!

So Nathan is going in for another surgery almost a year to the date from his last ordeal. Obviously, he won't be in nearly as long as last time--and we're definitely praying for good results and pain-relief for him. It will be nice to actually have the doctor see with his own eyes what is going on inside that hip--rather than trying to guess what is not seen between bones. A cat scan was a possibility, but with work needing to be done anyway, a first-hand look is the best option right now. So on January 3, 2012, Nathan goes in for his 8th surgery.

He's bummed. But he is a true optimist. Just before the appointment, he was going through and listing off last four years in order and how he's had one or two surgeries in each year. He was hoping that 2012 would break the cycle. But it's not to be. So then he decided that it would be better to not hurt then worry about breaking the cycle. Very mature understanding for an 11 year-old, so I thought.

And so Nathan also informed us that he should benefit from this malady a little more, like with a trip to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, his last meal before the big Surgery day to be at the Olive Garden, and to have his best friends come over and hang out the day before. As parents, we aren't putting up too much resistance to his requests, because in all honesty--it sucks to be him right now and if movies, play dates, his favorite meal, or a few new toys distract him from the agonizing pain--they're his!

Legg-Perthy's Strikes Again...

Braden was diagnosed at 3 yrs-old with something called Legg-Perthys Disease. It's a condition in the hips where the blood supply is not reaching the bone and so the bone starts to die and collapse. It happens in older people as well--and it's called Osteo-necrosis; usually treated with a hip replacement and life goes on. But in children, they are still growing and trying to develop with this condition, compromising the growth we take for granted. They say the the younger a person is diagnosed, the better the results. And being that he was so young...we've really haven't given it much thought through the years, because he's been so active and undeterred. Until the third week of September. He came home from school complaining that his leg hurt. It's always the left leg...Ok. We pacified him with some video games and an early bedtime. But Saturday came, with endless complaints and some funky walking strides. By Sunday morning, he looked like he'd been pole-axed through his tail and his legs didn't go together straight. What to do, what to do.

I called Shriner's on Monday morning. They are not the easiest place to get into right away because appointments are made months out. But we had just received a card in the mail reminding us to call and schedule the 6-month follow-up that he needed since his April appointment. When I called, I mentioned the problems that we were having, and they got him in immediately with a PA. She ordered x-rays...and this is what she came back with.

(April 2011--the left side still has a circular ball-shape)

Braden had had a lot of pain since April, because his femoral ball is no longer round, but in more of a mushroom-shaped collapse. Pictures really do tell a broader story of what's going on, than just watching him walk around.


(September 19, 2011)

There isn't a lot they can do right now...since he's only 9 yrs-old. But they said he needed to have steroids put in immediately for pain-relief. So between Jeff's crazy graveyard work schedule and the other kids' activities...we got him in for surgery on September 29th. We had to be at Shriner's pre-op room by 6am for check-in and medical scrubs. We were lucky to be first in the day's operating room line-up.



The same surgeon that did Nathan's surgery back in January, Bryan Tompkins, did Braden's. He injected the femoral head with steroids and put some dye in the socket to see what was going on the the joint. He said that thankfully the head is matching the socket, despite the shape, and not impinging his movement too much, otherwise. His range of motion has decreased a lot compared to what's normal. He is 100% exempted from PE and contact activities--which is totally sad for him. (He loves a good brawl with the boys, if you know what I mean). They are hoping that the steroids give him enough reprieve to walk and keep up low-strain activities, at least for the time being. They warned us that he would need the exact same procedure as Nathan when he is about 14-15 yrs-old. AGG!! The doctor explained that it's really 1 in a million chances that two boys from the same family with totally different diagnoses would have to have the exact same surgery. But that is how they have to treat Legg-Perthys as well as the SCFE in Nate. Wow. Both boys will need hip replacements before they are 20...or sooner.



The two boys we thought were destined to be our football players have been forbidden from the field. They are in swimming right now...but need to work hard to increase their kicks and strokes because of bum hips. Core build-up and work-outs are going to be the goal this winter, to help the muscles around their hips increase in strength, so that they can swim better. They both love the water--so hopefully--we can have some strong swimmers instead of footballers!

What to expect? A gradual limp in his walk. A surgery to stunt the growth plates on the good side to allow the left side to catch up. Massive reconstructive surgery in his early teens. Constant monitoring. Treatments as needed. Hip replacements. No big deal. Just par for the course in our family. We seem to have the fiery challenges in life well-stoked. At least Nathan can be a morale booster for his brother. We'll have to compare the pain thresholds between them...and see who's the winner! But I already know that they are both winners for the amount of crap they've had to go through for their young ages.

I thank God every day for hospitals like Shriner's. I don't know what we would do with even 10% of the hospital bills that we've accrued so far and will continue to mount in the future. We were hoping that Braden would grow out of his childhood bane, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The doctors are amazing and the hope for a normal future is on the horizon!

Braden has a Birthday!

Look who had a birthday!! Braden turned nine years-old on August 1st. (Don't you just want to reach out and grab those little cheeky globes and give them a nice squeeze and listen to him giggle?) Like any other soon-to-be 4th grader, he was anticipating his prospective birthday gifts and everything he'd like to do for his special day. As a family tradition, we let the kids choose their favorite dinner for their birthday. He chose to go out to Sushi. He could have chosen anywhere--and he went with the seaweed and rice. Mmmm. A boy after my own heart.


He did put in a request for a very specific birthday cake though. He wanted an Ice-cream cake with mint ice-cream. I don't tend to remember the details of every birthday, because they all start to run together with four out of the five kids having birthdays in quick succession to each other. But Braden reminded me that I made him Ice-cream cake for his birthday last year. I have a feeling that I won't forget what kind of cake he'd like on his next birthday, because he is staying consistent in his choices. And it was a yummy cake complete with fudgy frosting and festive sprinkles.

After shaking the packages and throwing out guesses...he got a new scooter (mainly because he won't leave his sister's alone), a U-Build It Battleship game, and a Kinect game called Wipe-Out for the X-BOX. The fourth gift was a tease. It wasn't really for him--but was a family gift because the game that Braden got couldn't be played without the new Kinect.... And there was pandemonium when he opened that because it was instant joy in a young boy's heart! His dad said the reactions to the machine were worth the cost.... Kinect allows the players to react and play the video games in 4-D on the TV...using their body motions are their "game controllers". Braden wanted the game Wipe-Out, because it's a obstacle course challenge, much like the Japanese endurance courses seen on TV. My house now sounds like a heard of elephants are running through the living room--but their dad says he loves that noise because he knows that they aren't sitting on their tail-ends with glazed over eyes. Running in front of the TV is better, right?

Braden had a great day...and loved the cash to spend from Great Grandma. He can't wait till Grandma and Grandpa Eibert get here this weekend to extend his birthday celebration a little longer. I think that he's finding that birthdays are a great way to spend time having fun with your family and loved ones.

My Muddy Buddy

Braden has been hounding me for awhile to make a treat that he learned how to make at Cub Scouts not too long ago, called Muddy Buddies. They are a chocolatey, peanut butter, and cereal treat made with Rice Chex Cereal. He did all of his chores and helped put the dishes away after school today to earn his privileged time in the kitchen.

I didn't have to go very far to find the recipe. It was on the back of the cereal box. Good thing. It called for some very basic ingredients that I have a year supply of...chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. We did follow the instructions to the letter. Braden measured out the ingredients and we put everything in a big Ziploc bag and shook it up. After the cereal was covered with the chocolate peanut butter concoction, it was time to pour 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar into the bag.

The treat came out looking a little less appetizing than before we started, but it was tasty. After the sugar is worked around all of the cereal, you pour the yummies out onto a cookie sheet to dry a bit. It didn't take too long for everyone to figure out that they were really pretty good.

I'm surprised we haven't made these before with as much cereal we usually keep on hand. This was just another testimonial that anything with chocolate and peanut butter together has to be good. I know that Braden had a lot of fun introducing his family to a new treat and he was sure pleased with the results!

My Braden Baby

Today is Braden's 8th birthday. He was born August 1, 2002 in Orem, Utah. He is the third son, and fourth child of his mom and dad. He was almost 2 weeks early and weighed in at 8lbs 15 oz. He had dark hair and a distinct look of his father's family.... Mom loved the name Braden from before his twin brothers were born. But with no twin bearing the name, it was still available that hot summer morning. And somehow--it just felt right with this boy. And like his brothers before his, he has a family middle name...Braden John Eibert.

He was quite excited about his favorite breakfast (Souffle), opening his birthday cards from grandparents and Toys R Us, playing a few video games before church, and laughing at how cute he was in pictures throughout his few short years. If you note a pattern in all of his pictures, it is one of pure delight. He is always smiling. We have a family friend that says she just wants to pinch his cheeks every time she sees him. He does seem to have those kind of pillowy cheeks that invite loving fingers that just want a small pinch of the rosy apples--which is always followed by an infectious giggle.

Braden topped his great day with dinner with his friends, the Cleaver family, followed by his ice-cream cake request. We came home for presents--his cub scout shirt, target, and new airsoft pellet gun. (Now each boy has their own gun to shoot--yeah!) When you are 8........Life is GREAT.

We sure love this little Brady-Baby lots and lots. He is the pep, the fire, and the energy that keeps many of his peeps, and his family, moving. He's a good-hearted, sweet-tempered boy that loves to play games, eat, and visit with his friends. He's a boy after my own heart.

Cub Day Camp

I knew years ago that this day would come--when I would have three boys in cub scouts at the same time. The twins and the runner-up all attended Cub Scout Day Camp this week with the Thunderbird District's Mad Scientist Camp, held near our home in North Spokane. We attended all the camp activities as a large den, each learning new things and accomplishing activities that can be signed off in their individual books. Good thing the program builds on itself year after year, because the twins are brand new Webelos and Braden is a brand new Bobcat--and all of them get to sign off what we did.


Braden realizing that his putty makes farting noises. It was a hit for all the boys. You should have heard all 16 of them going to town on their new toy. Some even got up and sang some songs with the putty as their back-up music. Oh to be a boy and bask in the glory of bodily noise.



Cameron sampling homemade ice-cream that he made with his buddy by throwing a bag of milk, vanilla, and sugar inside of a bigger bag filled with ice and rock salt.

Braden and cubs making their lava lamps from oil, water, food coloring and alka selter tablets--pretty cool stuff.

I also knew that when the twins joined scouting, I would have a new calling...something to do with cub scouts, because who has a more vested interest in how well the program runs than a cub scout's mother. Thus, 2 years as their den leader has been quickly followed by the last year as Cub Committee Chair. And as we had to have 3 walking leaders per day for 3 days of camp-I attended all three days with my boys. It was hot, a little sticky (in more ways than one), and sometimes challenging--the boys loved it and we had a lot of fun.

Cubs getting ready to thread the mentos for the diet coke bombs

Braden turns eight in three weeks and so registered him to go as well so that he could have a great jump start onto earning his Bobcat and Wolf--and there's no better way to do that than Day Camp. So here's the newest cub scout in our family--reveling in paint, pellets, and potty noises!

Braden ready to shoot paint darts.

We attended the Mad Scientists day camp that was closet to our home. It was really nice being only 10 minutes away from the park where it was held being that I had to be there early every morning. I was one of the walking leaders that had to be with the boys on all their activities. Our group consisted of the 13 boys from our home den/ward, and 3 boys from the district that we did not know. We did lots of great activities that got the boys quite excited. We made bug houses, "noisy" putty (putty that makes farting noises) and then performed with it, ice-cream, diet coke and mentos bombs, lava lamps, and carvings from soap. They dissected owl pellets, shot paint darts from a straw, and made up a silly skit. They did a lot of sporting activities like kickball, water baseball, capture the flag, and swimming.

It was in the 90's for all three days and we were ever adventurous and out of the trails hiking--looking for bugs, plants and animal prints. The boys were taught the necessity of 'Leave No Trace' and even had to haul their garbage home everyday. The twins had their 10th birthday on the first day of camp. I was so done in by the heat and activities that I did not have it in me to do the family birthday party. They got their gifts (airsoft pellets guns/ammo/safety goggles) with the promise of cake and ice-cream on Saturday. But all in all, day camp was a great experience for the cub scouts--and Nathan, Cameron, and Braden loved it!

Nathan and Cameron with their lava lamps.

Cameron cleaning up after owl pellets.