Playing Doctor

Sometime one weekend in February 2010.

Unfortunately daddy was sick one weekend morning, but lucky for him the kids and mommy were around to make him better and "patch" him up with some band aids. They first covered him in blankets and Grace even let his feet have her coveted "fly". They the got out the doctor kid and were giving him shots and checking him out. Then mommy, as the great nurse she is, gave the kids some band aids and opened them to apply to daddy's tummy to make it better after the shots. Daddy was a great sport and let them do this as I took pictures and filmed it. It was a great time and oh so funny when daddy said he was all better
and I reminded the kids to take the sticky band aids
off his hairy stomach. Kevin appropriately yelled,
screamed and hollered when
the and his hair were ripped off, Westin and
myself were laughing hysterically during this.

We just had a great morning this day playing together as a family. It seems we are all, kids including, in the best mood and happiest when we can all do things together as a family. We talk about being a family a lot so Westin has started asking if we are a family or being a family. I am very glad the enjoy "family" time. I sure hope as they grow up they will continue to enjoy family time and being together.

Big Potty Kids... Here we come....

End of Feb marked my three day weekend to do the "Three Day Potty training". This method worked for Westin's therapist sensory son so she gave us the notes for it and I marked off a weekend. We decided to go ahead and do it before surgery because Westin was finally showing some signs and interest and we didn't want to miss his "window". We bought our last pack of diapers the week before, got sticker charts, lots of thick underwear, prizes and M&M's. They were both really excited, we decided to try Grace and see how she did and if she was ready or not.
In the morning we threw diapers away and got out panties and underwear, they had picked out their underwear the nights before. Grace has been hilarious lately with what she says and is into being girly and saying thank you so sweetly. So, when I got her panties out she looked at them and said in a high pitched sweet voice, "oh mommy my pani panties are so beautiful, thank you, oh thank you." She made up pani panties and we have called them that ever since. They were both excited to get started but by lunch time we had 9 wet underwear to be washed over naptime. Westin was doing great but Grace couldn't release her urine when she wanted to, took up to a few minutes of sitting there and me singing songs for her to go. The afternoon and next day brought more of the same. Westin was doing great, only a few accidents and was pooping in the potty too and had earned lots of M&M's and his belt.
Within three days Westin was only having about one accident a day and Grace was still struggling so much I thought she wasn't ready and was about to put her back in diapers, but then on the 4th day when I was at work and Erica was here she has NO accidents. A few more tough days with her and she was staying dry. Westin had 5 accident free days right away and did great. Grace caught up and by the time he had his surgery Grace had 5 accident free days and able to go when she wanted to and on the big potty. Then the surgery and aftermath hit. Westin used a diaper for 8 days straight due to being so sick. Grace backslid some since we had to pay so much attention to Westin. So now a month into potty training we are having to redo some things, but they are still doing very well. So at 2.5 and 3.5yrs they are mostly potty trained. Westin had a bunch of dry naps and nights before surgery but not anymore yet, Grace also. We are very excited and loving the minimal diapers, just pullups for nap and diapers for bed, so awesome. And their character underwear and pani panties are so cute. I love their little butts in underwear. This has caused Grace's pants to get looser since she hasn't gained any weight in 6 months and without a diaper her butt is tiny. Yeah for big potty kids!!! :)

Scary Results

Okay, so I have to catch up a lot. This entry should have been written middle of Feb 2010.(picture is Westin practicing opening his mouth and saying ahhhh for the Dr) Well I hadn't heard from the Dr about Westin's sleep study results, have called twice. Found the results while at work and started reading, turned the page and my heart went up into my throat. He apparently has a significant apnea unlike the tech told me. He had 49 central apnea , brain doesn't tell his lungs to breath, and 79 obstructive apnea lasting from 10-15 seconds with a few oxygen saturation dips into the lower 80's, but did stay between 90-93% most of the time. That is about 30min of not breathing every 7 hours.
I could hardly think, I walked around in circles for a few minutes trying to finish up and think about my patients and what they needed. I went into a patients room that I had gotten close to over the past few days and she was finally having a good day after three tough days. I told her what I had just learned and was about to break down. She asked if she could pray for him, I said that would be great. We bowed our heads and she prayed for Westin while tears streamed down my face. I think I cried for him and all we/he has been through in his life and for the new scary road ahead. It is the probably only the second time I have cried over his difficulties, I didn't even get emotional when he was resuscitated at birth. So, the patients husband walked in and joined us. She finished her prayer and they both gave me encouragement. I apolagized for bringing my problems into their world. They both said it was okay and that it was healing for them to help someone else during their struggles. They offered to let me borrow the pulse ox they had but I told them I would get a hold of the Dr and get him on oxygen that night. It was weird for me but very refreshing to be able to get prayer and support right then. I felt much better and was able to finish my shift and then focus on Westin.
I then started calling his Dr's. The asthma Dr that ordered the test had no one on call in the evening (it was 8pm by now). The sleep clinic didn't have anyone on call. So then I called the on-call Dr at his pediatrician office. They were helpful and took control even though they didn't order it. So by 10pm Praxxair oxygen supply was at our house setting up an oxygen tank for him. (the second time we have used them and our 5th time for home health). I had told Westin he would wake up with oxygen in his nose and a little tape on his face. He understood he needed it to sleep better and was okay with it. He slept great and came upstairs the next morning bright eyed, rested, talkative and in a great mood. He said he felt good and liked the oxygen.
The next three days were spent on the phone figuring out what the next step was and who was going to do it. The end plan was; Dr Dawson (his awesome pediatrician) ordered continued oxygen at night, ENT visit the next friday, pediatric neurologist and sleep specialist to be seen at Children's Hospital Denver end of april. Asthma Dr didn't want to deal with it, condenser, tanks and more cannulas delivered to the house. Westin learning about his oxygen and doing very well with it.
The ENT looked at the results, looked at his throat and suggested a tonsillectomy and uvulectomy due to it being long. His tonsils were not large but since we had documented obstructive apnea the standard treatment is tonsillectomy. The best news from this appointment is that we learned that longstanding obstructive apnea can cause central apnea and that correcting the obstructive apnea the central can correct itself. So best case scenerio is do the surgery and cure all the apnea. So, surgery was scheduled for March 12 7:30am. We were a little leery of the uvulectomy so had a second opinion by a suggested pediatric ENT. I liked her and she didn't think the uvulectomy was necessary. We still felt that this wasn't the right decision. We decided to stick with his ENT he has seen since 10mo old and discuss the uvula with him some more. So on the day of surgery everyone compromised and felt good about doing a partial uvulectomy to get rid of the extra length but not cause speech of swallowing problems.
So then the waiting began. We prepared for surgery by getting help lined up and people to take Grace for two days and time off of work for us both. Westin continued to do well with the oxygen, occasionally complaining of a dry nose and mild nose bleeds. A little neosporin fixed that. The talkative, awake, pleasant Westin has continued in the morning with the oxygen use.