Mobility abounds!

Lincoln is walking again, and June is now crawling as well!! Things mobility-wise are going great in this household!! :)

Here is Junebug. She just started moving forward today. :)

An interesting week to say the least...

On Monday morning Lincoln would not put his right foot on the ground, and could not put weight on his right leg. Anytime he tried he stumbled around or just collapsed and fell, crying in pain. Something was definitely wrong. I called the neuro around noon, thinking that it was just a med complication and we would be told to reduce his dosage back to the level they were the previous week. Well at 4pm Monday I got a call back from the neuro saying that this was not something usual, and that a sudden change in walking (overnight) could mean something very serious.

So with visions of emergency brain surgery in our future, we were admitted to the hospital at 6pm Monday night for a whole host of tests. X-rays of the legs & feet that night came back normal. The MRI of the brain & spine the following morning alsso came back clear of any new tubers impinging the nerves of the spine, or of any changes in the tubers and astrocytomas we know are already in his brain. Big sigh of relief.

His MRI did show fluid on the brain, which is unusual, but the cause of which was not readily identifiable. We were told that it could be due to an infection in his brain or a side effect from a particularly bad seizure he might have had during the night on Sunday night. A lumbar puncture (spinal tap) on Tuesday night, to test the spinal fluid for infection, was contaminated with blood, so that was inconclusive. An EEG on Wednesday afternoon showed no real changes from prior EEGs, or any unusual signs of a particularly bad seizure causing temporary brain wave slowing. So we were left with a possible infection of the brain, which after 3 days in the hospital, did not seem to be worsening, or maybe a pulled muscle in his right legs, and the fluid in his brain is just an artifact of something else and is not related to his current leg issues.

Basically we don't know what is going on, but the leg issue does not seem to be getting worse, and the big bads (broken bone, tubers in the brain/spine, or worsening seizure activity) were all ruled out. We were sent home with a prescription of predisone to treat the possible infection, with motrin to treat possible pulled muscle, and a reduction in one of his seizure meds. Hopefully one of these is the answer, and Lincoln will be back to himself quickly.

Because of all of this, we had to cancel our cruise. We were able to get refunds from the hotel, airline, and shore excursions, but Carnival would not give us even a partial refund for thze cruise itself. So we ended up with a very expensive hospital family vacation, before we even get the actual hospital bills. Oh well. In the end, our childrens' health comes way before any trips to the Carribean.

Also, I was able to make the appointent for the CVS test in Phx on Tuesday, which went as well as could be expected. Andy stayed in the hospital with Lincoln & June all day...alone. What a trooper! :)

Pictures

Here are a few pictures of my cuties from this past weekend.

Next week

Next week is a big week. I am overwhelmed by the thought of everything that is happening within the next 8 days...

Friday: Teaching a large full-day CPR/First Aid class
Sat & Sun: Buying clothes & supplies for our cruise
Monday: June's 6mo pedi appt/shots and my 11 week OB appt.
Tuesday: CVS test in Phoenix
Wednesday: My family arrives
Thursday: Pack for cruise
Friday: Fly to New Orleans
Saturday: Start cruising!

Whew, what a whirlwind!

He is home!

The whole family is back together again, and everyone is very thrilled. The kids did a lot of looking and watching their daddy the first day he was home, but now everything seems to be back to normal. I am really enjoying the help with the kids in the evening...getting them both to bed at right about the same time is sooooo sooooo sooooo much easier with another set of hands. Plus it is very nice to have another adult to talk to around the house in the evenings. :)

Andy says that he is glad to be home, but he is having a hard time with the jet lag. Hopefully he will be back to normal by the end of the week.

Here are a few of the pictures that he took in Australia:

Junebug

This is what June has been working on the past week or so. She is trying so so hard to figure out how to go forward. So far she just manages to scoot herself backwards. When this happens she gets very frustrated and starts screaming, which is pretty funny, but also a little grating on the nerves. I hope she figures it out soon! We will all be so much happier when she does. ;)

Like he has been doing it forever!

Still so, so, so proud of him! Watching him walk around makes me smile everyday.

1 week to go...

Well only one week to go until Andy comes home. Thank goodness! I need a nap!! ;)

The kids have actually been pretty good, all in all. They are just being themselves, and I couldn't really ask for, or expect, anything different. It just gets a bit harder to deal with it when you never ever get a moments break. You are always on call, be it 2am or 2pm.

Lincoln is doing okay. His seizures are weird and a bit freaky for me. For him they seem about the same, although somedays (like today) he woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was very whiney all day long. It is difficult to say if he just didn't sleep well or if his seizures are bothering him. Maybe both, maybe neither...? His eating has also really gone down hill in the past month, and he seems to be getting skinnier and skinnier everyday. I am going to have to start tracking his calories again. Probably starting tomorrow... :(

June is doing really well. She still is eating pretty badly, but I guess as long as I get about 24oz into her in a day, then she will be okay. She just gets too distracted and wants to be go go going all of the time. She tried some finger foods today for the first time and seemed to do okay with them. They were things that dissolve quickly once inside her mouth. She got the chewing motion down pretty quickly and only gagged a few times. Plus she seemed excited about it...much more so than any purees I have fed her.

I had a quickie ultrasound today to check on baby surprise because I have been spotting for the past week, and the worry finally got to me. Little baby boy/girl still looks like a blob, but a cute little blob that measures perfectly on time (actually 2 days ahead) and had a nice heartbeat! That was a relief to say the least. Now I am going to endeavor to ingore all future spotting...