Coby's School Adventures

Coby's class has been learning about history and how we all have a past. As part of learning about our past his teacher took them on a field trip to the cemetery down the road from the school. The kids got to look for names of families that have lived in the Sunnyslope area for years and look at the dates for how old some of the...headstones are.

Of course Coby and a few other boys were very excited to see any head stone that had any military mentioned on it.

Coby really like this one because it reminded him of the George Washington Monument.

This one had many of us puzzled, kids and parents. Now of us could figure out the star and what it meant. It's hard to see but each piece has a symbol but it's random things, we decided it may have been hobbies she had in her life. My mom always like to visits cemeteries. I guess this would be one reason why, interesting puzzle.

I got to help at Coby's Halloween Party. Coby's teacher had them all in groups of 3-4 kids and there were about 6 centers of activities. I had a really fun one of helping the kids wrap each other in TP as mummies. We were out in the hall so I didn't get to many pictures of the other centers, but here's a few of the groups....

Coby is the one with his arms out and you can almost make out the black nail polish... Daddy loved that lol. Darn I forgot to have them take my picture, I had fun decorating myself in TP. It was actually a lot of fun:)

Cora's School Adventures

Cora's 1st bus ride. The class went on a field trip to the Community College where they learned about trees.

Here she is building a habitat for a bear. She was wearing her favorite Halloween pants from last year and by the time she got home that day they had holes all the way up & down her legs:)
She also learned how to paint trees.

A few weeks later, they went to the Sunnyslope Fire department for tour.
The kids really liked learning about the trucks and seeing all the gear the firefighters wear. They had lots of fun passing the gear around and feeling how heavy it was.

Halloween Party! They had so much fun singing songs for the parents, doing fun centers for getting ready for the party and then finally eating the goodies.

Cora was a very beautiful kitty that kept sliding her make to her fore head, so when the mask came off the hair was crazy fun! And we can't have crazy hair without crazy eyes!





A few weeks ago she got her 1st massage. Just like her momma she has some nice sized knots in her neck. Kate is a good friend of mine who is a massage therapist and graciously showed me how to work the knots out.

PKD Walk in Seattle

On September 12th, we joined many others in "Walk For a Cure for PKD". It was a little chilly and damp but no actual rain while we were down there.

Before the walk they had snacks & displays for us to check out while visiting during check in. The kids had fun challenging the 'balloon artist' in making them fun things. Coby got a sword and Cora got a dog. Sandy had him make a motorcycle. It was pretty cool!

Getting geared up to walk.

Once we started to walk we all stayed pretty close together... for awhile. Scott was having a good time talking fishing with Brant and so they ended up a bit behind the rest of us. We all ended together though.

After the walk they had a Penny Dash 4 Kids (PKD). Coby and Cora ended up in different races because of age. Coby ran hard against some bigger kids, and Cora being the oldest & biggest in her race was so proud to win.

It was lots of fun! I'm sure we'll continue with this walk each year in support of finding a cure for PKD. It was bittersweet that Scott was able to walk in it at all this year. My My how far he has come in these few months.

Posting way late is better than never right.... I can't believe I'm just now getting the pictures on the computer so I can do this!

Follow Up w/ Dr. Newell

Today was the follow up appointment with Dr. Newell to make sure the shunt setting was still good and Scott is on track with recovery.

Most important thing we learned: We don't have to go back for 6 MONTHS!!!!

All went well! His shunt setting is to stay the same. The bubble is almost gone, with just a small amount by his left eye. The doctor said that it's fluid and muscle from the bone flap replacement surgery, which is why it's taking longer. He said that in a few months he expects it to be gone. It go faster, if Scott keeps pressure over the fluid. Back to the athletic cap in the evenings pulled down nice and low, for the authentic thug look :)

Scott got a Full Medical Release today! He now gets to work with Hillary at the Y to get on a stricter work out plan. YAY progression! They were very impressed to hear he does a 4 mile jog twice a week along with lifting and cardio at the Y.

Next Monday he has an appointment with the neurologist here in town. We were actually given some good question to direct to this doctor, so I'm looking forward to that... I wonder if when the doctors see Scott's name they think, 'Oh crap he has that wife who always comes with a list of questions!' Today Scott was making fun of me for having so many and I said, "Hey they are the ones who trained me to be like this!"

Before we left for Speech Therapy yesterday morning Scott was saying how much he'd rather not go...but go we did. He had a great therapy. As Scott was working, we were asked if we would like to meet a patient that is currently at the rehab center. She said he was in a similar situation and that they would like to meet us. Of course she knows Scott & I really well, and knew we would love it or she would have never asked either of us.
Once his appointment was over we met with this couple. It was exciting to see that it was someone we already knew about. He actually preformed the knee replacement surgery on Scott's left knee 14 years ago.
It was an amazing experience for us all.

It seems like every time I start to get weighted down by life, something brings me back and that's what this was for me. I'm sure it was something different for each of the 4 of us. But in the end it is hope for us all. Hope that we can continue to move forward, whatever forward brings.

Jogging

Scott went jogging for the 1st time since April yesterday!

He's feeling it today but it sure was worth it to say he's jogging again. Yay for once he'll enjoy going to yoga in the morning :)

Other than that life is pretty much the same. Moving from one task to the next each day, which translates into, Scott being stuck running around with me all the time. He says he doesn't mind, which is good... I'm kind of enjoying him having a taste of what life is like for me when the kids are in school :)

Randomness

Last week Scott and I went to a stroke support group. He wasn't very excited about going but it was very helpful for me. They had speaker come in and talk about health insurance and medicare. Although Scott has great insurance, I do not. So I will share some info I got.
If you live in Washington and have to get health insurance outside of work you can there's a group that will help you for FREE! SHIBA (Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisers) they will look at all plans in Washington and help you get what's best for your needs. they also help with prescription drug programs if your on a bunch of meds. ALSO if you know anyone who has Medicare, give them this info and have them look at their plan between Nov 15th -Dec 31st. Come Jan 1 they will be locked into whatever they have for the year.... I learned so much about the system it was amazing. I'm going to make sure my grandma gets with an advisor to make sure she knows what she has.... Sorry for the rant...here's the info:
SHIBA: 1-800-562-6900 OR http://www.insurance.wa.gov/

Scott's doing so well with the shunt setting being changed. The extra fluid on the outside of the bone flap is finally going and staying down! He's finally back in the pool and lifting weights. With the kids in school now were pretty much running from morning til night too. So life on the road to recovery is GOOD :)

another day @ Cherry Hill

What fun having multiple appointments in one day all spread out...

Scott had a shuntogram to test how the shunt is working. He came back saying "I never want to do that again! They shaved the back of my head and stuck a 4 inch needle in it!"

They have to inject gamaradiation into the shunt and watch the flow. They were nice enough to numb the spot 1st, which felt like ice cold water being injected into his head. After that was the 4 inch needle with the gamaradiation. Followed up with the pain & heartache of laying in the fetal position. (wow it's really fun to write this together while chilling waiting for the next appointment). The only thing to the pass the time was watching a small computer screen on the other side of the room to see the super slow drain of the shunt... now is the fun of guessing what that means, will it be turned up or replaced... no bets please, you'll have the answer if you keep reading lol.

After that he was lucky enough to have his CT done early. YAY one procedure in this hospital he likes. It's fast and easy. Lay down on the board have a camera circle your head for a few minute, get up and your done. Nice and Easy! The lady was laughing when she took him back and we were joking about how much he likes to have a CT.

This appointment with Dr. Newell was a good one. They talked with us a bit, turned the shunt from a 1.5 flow to a 0.5 flow. We go back in about 6 weeks to check if the flow needs to be changed again. He does have to wear a fun athletic cap to keep pressure on the outside of his skull. It will force the fluid through the shunt and allow the skin to tighten. Mostly he needs to wear it when he's laying down.

Good & Humbling Day

Today was an interesting day. Scott was able to change the battery on the truck and get it running so he decided why not drive? When we were in the hospital I had been told that his license was revoked and Dr. Newell would have to have change that. At the beginning of August, I asked about it and found out that this is not true. He never actually had a seizure so he is fine to drive when he felt ready (I forgot to report that with all the other we learned that day).
He felt ready today, so off we went over to Walmart and off to Cascade.

The volunteering at the Y mixed with working out is helping build stamina for getting back to work, but it is a long road ahead of him to get back to working full-time.

On to the humbling part. While visiting at Cascade, we found out that another auto body painter in the Valley had a brain aneurysm recently. The little they know is that he is not doing well at all. It was shocking to stand there and hear that someone so close to Scott's situation and younger had something so similar!
It's so easy to get wrapped up in the pile of To-Do's. To let negative thoughts take over. But we always seem to get the wake up call when we need it that life could be Much Worse!

I'm not sure how much I'll be posting in the next few days, because we have a fun weekend coming: Saturday I have a fitness training. Sunday we are all participating in a walk for PKD (for more info go to www.pkdcure.org/betsyfarmer ) Then on Monday is follow up appointment for the VP shunt.

First day of School

Cora was excited to go to school. Coby not so much.

He did have fun posing for pictures before we left for school.

I just love Cora's style. She can wear anything & make it look cute! She decide that pink boots were the way to go this year.

Once we got to school, Coby went right out to find his friends and catch up on the summer happenings.

Coby's thoughts on the first week: It was OK.

Cora went to class to get settled in. Cora's thoughts on the 1st week were a little differant:

1st night while in bed she said, "I just don't think I should go back to school. There are 19 kids in my class and I can only handle 10 like I had in preschool."

The ride home from school on the 2nd day, "It was no fun! I really don't think we should have to go to school after preschool!" Coby said, "But Cora you have to go to college to get a job." Cora answers, "No I think that after preschool you should be done!"

Ride home on Friday the 3rd day of kindergarten, "I had so much fun today. We listened to books, had nap time, and free time. We even got to watch a movie."

WOW it only took 3 days of being in public school for her to realize Friday is the best day of the week!

Visit to The Museum of Flight in August

Coby & Cora loved that one of the 1st planes they saw looked just like Jetfire from Transformers 2 Revenge of the fallen.

They each got to sit in 2 different planes and learn what it takes to fly.

We got to go into the 1st jet Air Force One and the Concorde.

Coby's Baptism

On July 31, 2010 Coby was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-Day Saints. Scott was able to do the baptism with little problems.

It wasn't until the next day that I understood the comments of how exciting it was that Scott was able to baptize Coby. My thoughts kept going to, why wouldn't he? He's come so far in these last few weeks. On Sunday it hit me that he was very close to not being here at all only a few months before.

Coby wasn't going to let a broken arm stop him from anything. He had such a great attitude about having to deal with a cast.

Diane's Birthday Fun!

Cake For Breakfast! What a great start to a great Birthday!

I had a much better birthday this year than Scott and he reminded me of that a few times lol.

Kate was looking for a reason to have a party and with my birthday being on a Friday, she threw me a party. We had so much fun playing in the pool and eating super tasty food!

This is a picture of the cake Scott bought me. When I found out that Kate was making tasty treats and a cake for the party we decided that starting the party early at home was a great idea. When I had them take this picture I realized the camera was blinking low battery. I was so smart and charged it...which is where it stayed all night.

Picture this cake twice the size and that's what we had for the party:)

Scott took me to lunch at Denny's for a Free Birthday Grand Slam. I love Grand Slams! I've been thinking... maybe this year I'll find all the free things you can get for your birthday and next year have a day of free fun...

I finally got the summer pictures on the computer... one step closer to getting them posted!

I think the words insurance and social security are now on my naughty words list lol! I have spent hours, days, weeks, months dealing with them and I don't care to do it any more... But I will because I must.
Ok ok my rant is over... The kids are back to school tomorrow and Scott and I are going to work together. What Scott's going to work, well kind of... I have a project at the Y that I get paid for, he on the other hand just gets to volunteer :) We're both looking forward to having a project to do while the kids are at school this week. We'll deal with next week and what fun that brings next week.

I hope to get some fun pictures on here soon...

Home Again

We've actually been home since Sunday, I just have had a pile of things to work on...what fun!

Since we've been home:
Scott is feeling better but pain is still an issue. He went to Speech on Tuesday and the tremor is pretty much gone. I had noticed that in the last month it was only noticeable when he was in deep concentration. After 1 &1/2 hours of ST it didn't show up. YAY!

The kids are getting ready for school to start. We went for the root beer social last night to meet teachers and drop off supplies. They are really excited to start next Wednesday...so are the parents.

BoogZ is back from his amazing vacation! He got to go horse back riding and made lots of new friends! How does a dog ride a horse? Well I don't have pictures but he ran along for the 1st little bit and then when he was all tuckered out Kathy had a sling that held him close to her. He slept while riding a horse! When we take him out for a visit we'll have to get pictures.

Scott endured a ladies movie night on Tuesday. Kailey is headed to college next week so Allie, Whit, Kailey and Lauren came to watch 'The back Up Plan'. We had a great time...even Scott thought the movie was pretty hilarious.

Seattle Trip

We were up and at it pretty early this morning for Scott. He had to be at the hospital @9:45am for the staples to come out. His bubble doesn't seem to be much less to me and we asked about it. She said like always that it takes time, but they may have to change the settings on his next visit if it is still there by the 13th.

We decided to make the trip to Seattle worth it so we went to the Flight Museum.
Originally we were going to do a tour of Boeing, because Coby has been begging to see where grandpa works. Cora is not tall enough to tour the Everett Boeing plant. I told dad that Tara and the Farmer's went to the Flight Museum on Saturday and told us it is very cool. He said the kids would like the Flight Museum much better, I agree.

We spent about 2 & 1/2 hours there. Scott finally had to tell me to stop asking me if it was too much for him. I'm sure in the end it was a little too much, but he was ready to do something fun and different! He says it was worth it.

Well the family is here now for our big dinner. So I better get off to visit. How weird it's a Friday and we're all able to be here from well around the country...gotta love summer.

Care's Home

Life has been slow and steady these days. Scott hasn't done to much more than rest and try to control the pain he's having. The kids have been playing around here and enjoying being where they each can have a computer. It's pretty funny when they play webkinz or club penguin at the same time.

This morning we went to pick Care up at the airport and they could not stop talking. Scott was lucky he got to stay home and sleep lol.

On Friday morning he has an appointment to have the staples removed, and then he has a follow up appointment from this surgery on September 13th.

Off to take the kids to IHOP because they keep seeing the commercial of kids eat free 4-10pm and they love the International House of Pancakes. They decided it's a must that we go, and I have been putting them off far to long in their eyes.

Church Day

Scott was able to go to church today for sacrament, because he is feeling so good. Never fear I am keeping tabs on him and over doing it. After getting back to Nana's we, sat and chilled for the rest of the day. He did help with dinner... BBQ burgers, so tasty!

Out of the Hospital

Scott did so well with this surgery. He obviously has had pains, but other than that no problems. This morning his doctor let him decide if he leaves today or tomorrow. Of course he chose today. We are now sitting at my mom's watching Blue Crush. Ok so I'm watching it and typing, he is sleeping next to me. Everyone else went to Festival of the River in Arlington giving us a chance to adjust before kids are running crazy:)

Wow I'm must be really relieved that this is over because I honestly can't think right now.

The family is back and Coby got a cool chair that a lumberjack made at the lumberjack show. They had lots of fun and are super excited that we are home when they got here.

We are staying over on the west side for a while to hang out and be here when my sister Caroline comes on Wednesday. We have to go back and get the staples removed from the back of Scott's head and then it's another follow up appointment in 4-6 weeks. This time let's pray it's just a follow up appointment!

Scott has two new scars to add to his collection. The head one is almost like a horse shoe and the stomach is close to where the feeding tube was and is about and inch long. they had to go in at the stomach to place the end of the tube correctly.

Sleeping in the hospital

I think it's pretty easy to forget what sleeping in a hospital is like. At 2am Scott woke up with pain in his abs and head. He said it felt worse than anytime he's worked his abs to the point of pain. So he had a hard time getting back to sleep because of pain and "this room it so loud, the beeps and noises are annoying". Yay for meds though not long after getting some he slept fairly well.
By 6am the nurse was in to check him over, get him up and give pain meds, by the time she was done we were both wide a wake and waiting for the kitchen to open at 7am for him to get breakfast. Luckily we have a frig in our family room. I was able to save his milkshake last night and he had the other half of it while he waited for breakfast. What a room!

Micheal, who works closely with Dr. Newell was in this morning and very happy with the amount his 'bubble' has gone down. He said the more he sits up the faster it will go down, good old gravity. He ordered for PT and OT to come in. By 9am we had the PT here to take Scott on a walk. He was able to walk the whole hall and back without 'troubles' his gate/stride is very small again and he feels uneasy on his feet, but we're hoping he feels up to a walk later and will put on his shoes so he feels more comfortable.
OT came in just after lunch and really worked with him. He got up and dressed in his own clothes, ran through the morning routine and walked the hall with his shoes on.
The kids came later to visit with Suz and Whitney. They were able to stay for over 4 hours without the kids getting to restless because they had their own room to watch shows and play in. Once again being a VIP is AWESOME! But I don't recommend going the route we did to get this room :)

the things inbetween

Scott's Surgery went well! I don't completely understand blogger yet, so the Surgery Day post is suppose to be before this one...

Last night was an interesting night in that sleep never really comes when your anticipating something unpleasant. The MarQueen was an amazing place to stay. So prefect for us! I didn't get a chance to take pictures but check out their website at http://www.marqueen.com/ it's amazing. Scott kept asking where the piano player and bar maids were though lol.
We walked down the street to a open market and found dinner. He's pretty lucky I didn't see the Melting Pot resturant until the way back from the store or dinner would have cost much more than it did. I have wanted to eat there since I was in High School... maybe some day we'll go now that I know where it is.
The bathroom had a huge cast iron soaking tub that was actually long enough for me to soak up to my neck. Ah I love a good soaking bath, so relaxing for sleep. I had talked to the pre-op nurse about Scott having melatonin before surgery, she said it was fine. So by 8pm we were beat, medicated, and headed to bed. I was in & out of sleep for a few hours to start, then Scott was and by 1:30am we were both awake, after a short visit to calm the fears we were able to sleep a little better, but man 5am came fast and we were both wide a wake! So off to get ready and get to the hospital. What took us 20 minutes yesterday took us 10 minutes today so we were nice and early just the way Scott likes it:)

The kids had a fun day going to play with cousins. Debbie who is Scott's cousin some how, and my long time friend...whatever she's family on both sides to us and she hooked Scott and I up by the way... why yes I said hooked up, cuz after these last few months I'd like to see someone try and say Scott & I aren't hooked at the hip lol Any way she took the kids to play today. They had so much fun. It was a great distraction for them while dad was back in the hospital. I know they have put on strong faces for their parents, but they have struggled too. I wasn't ready for them to see Scott in bed and so heavily drugged today, so we're looking forward to them coming to see us tomorrow.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to call and get updates on the rest of the family, see how the animals are doing. Not that I really need too, I bet Thomas is wrapped up with Karen right now and BoogZ is probably passed out after a hard day of playing.

Thinking about family and the choices I have had to make has got me to realize something... I think you learn something about yourself when you have to choose between your spouse and your children day after day. Usually the choice is made for you through what you're doing. In this situations, I have decided to find someone I trust to take the kids and I stay to be with Scott. I think this choice is a life altering one that says a lot about me. I could have gone the other way. Stayed with the kids and had others for Scott, it was doable. But anyone who knows me, knows kids is not the way I'm going... obviously.... I haven't quite put it together in my mind but it feels profound, maybe even scary. Nobody likes to look deeply into their choices and see what these choices have made them as a person.
Maybe late night blogging on little sleep is a bad idea, then again maybe my thought will break clear someday and I'll be a better person. Wow my blogging sure has been a lot about me... I guess that's what happens when things go so well you have room to think about more than the threat at hand. The level of what's most important to watch for is so low! It's amazing how little to do there is...just like a normal surgery should be! So Happy It's Over!!!

Sugery Day

First things first: Surgery went very well. Actually much better than anyone expected!

After hours of trying to get this posted, I now realized that I should have done small posts each time I got on today...unfortunately I'm planning to NEVER have to use this knowledge, because I'm hopping for no more surgeries.

Dr. Newell said that they didn't find a reason to go in and remove the fluid on his brain or on the outside of his skull... "the bubble" stays for a little longer, but hopefully not to much longer. It's already down a centimeter.

Scott says he feels so much better waking up from this surgery than when the flap was replaced, as exciting as this maybe, he also said that it feels like "an ice pick has been stabbed into his head" or "he's been hit with a board that has a nail in it." That part is not good, but the pain meds are helping. Wow it sure takes a long time to blog when nurses come in and Scott wakes up every few minutes, he's totally out now though.
The reason Dr. Newell came in to see Scott so soon after surgery is because he was complaining of chest pain. I found out how they route the tubing for the shunt. It goes from the back of the head down the middle of the neck around to the front and through almost the middle of his chest. The tube is just under the skin in the fatty tissue. Ouch no wonder his chest hurts, there's hardly any fat there, good thing it's a small tube. Him getting up and moving some didn't help his chest that much, but it does help his body in recovering faster. He was up twice today after surgery for the bathroom... OK OK I know that's an over share, but remember the catheter... enough said:)

I am now sitting in the family room that is in Scott's room! I don't think it was a secret that I was not looking forward to sleeping in a hospital bed chair or cot again, I had done that for 1 day shy of 12 weeks. We had been home for 6 weeks. Life is still about getting the most important thing done by the time it needs done, which means crisis management only. I didn't want to go backwards so far. I'm sure anyone who saw me will agree, my attitude sucked. BUT that makes the reality I am now savoring that much better. We are in the VIP suite. They say and I agree, it is the nicest room on the floor. I guess it's given to people who have to come back for more surgeries....lucky us.
I didn't feel lucky when we found out about the VP Shunt. I didn't feel lucky coming here for the CT yesterday. I started to feel lucky when we checked Scott in and we were sent to a different area (what there's an area of this hospital I don't know lol) It was very calming in that waiting room. Then they allowed me to go back with Scott. Betsy and Tara were able to come back when they got here too. Nice!
After a while he went off to surgery and I went off to drown in music and organize some computer files Scott's been telling me I should work on, went I have time. Besty, Tara and Susan sat and chatted. A little later my parents came and had to deal with my attitude, so they went and chatted a bit too. I knew that I was going to have a hard time, so I made a plan of what I needed to do to get through this and the plan worked. To bad that kind of meant ignoring everyone else, at least I did forewarn them of my plan. I knew the drill sit in the waiting room until the person at the desk gives you info. So I sat plugged into my laptop, while Scott was being cut into and a tube inserted into his body!
And now we find our selves in the VIP room! It's funny each time Scott changed rooms before I felt like we were upgrading. Something was always better that made the stay bearable. I did not expect that this time and yet we received it in full force. It's amazing how things work out sometimes. A few times today I thought dang we should have had this room last stay, we were here so long. As nice as that would have been, I think the way things worked out are best! I really did appreciate the room we had before, besides that we needed an upgrade for this surgery. It's nice we had the opportunity to have it when we needed it most!

Post finished at 11:30pm. Not sure how to make this before the post I started after it. Sad.

Night Before Surgery

We made it over to the west side of the mountains last night. After a relaxing visit at the Farmer's, we headed to my mom's house to unload the kids and sleep. Scott had his stealth CT at 3:30 this afternoon, which is just a different way they take the images. Scott asked and they told him that it's 1mm sliced images instead of 3mm sliced images. I finally got Scott to try the bacon cheese burgers at the hospital. I have been telling him they are so tasty, he now believes:)
We are now sitting in our hotel room at the MarQueen Hotel, it's a nice rustic old place that's super homey. Just perfect before a surgery... good thing we got a discount for staying for medical reasons. I'm getting pretty good at asking for discounts lol.

The kids are hanging at my mom's with Whitney, Suz, Nana and Grandpa.
The cats are at home with Karen staying again. What a life saver.
BoogZ is at the Thackery's having the best time ever. They live on lots of land in Cashmere and have horses. What a fun visit he's having.

I suppose we're all set for another hospital stay... we'll see when 5am comes. We have to be at Swedish Cherry Hill Hospital by 6:30am for check in. Ouch so early!

Is it OK to be annoyed with reality?

Why yes Diane annoyed is an understatement!

Scott says, "It's miserable waiting to be cut into again."

Diane says, "I'm angry that we have another hospital stay without any warning. I mean come on we went in for a follow up thinking he was progressing well."

The kids say, "What? Whitney's coming to Nana's with us! That's cool!" I asked if they had any questions or how they felt about dad going back to the hospital. They just said "It's not as long as last time right?" Correct. "They'll fix dad's bubble right?" Yep, it'll take about a month for it to be completely gone though.
Oh to be young again!

So although we are not excited by any means about the whole staying at Swedish again, we can see some positive things...
- It was caught before it caused damage.
- It was caught by a routine appointment and not him experiencing any pains or worse.
- He's pain med free, which means a lot when adding higher pain meds to cover new pain.
- It's still summer time, so the kids aren't in school yet.
- He wasn't back to work yet, so although it feels like a huge set back, it could have been a lot worse!

Appointment w/ Dr. Newell

When we left Swedish Hospital we were told to make a follow up appointment with Dr. Newell. Here it is 6 weeks later and the appontment is over. When we went it felt like a step forward, just a follow up apointment no big deal right? I had my list of questions to ask him not realizing the one question everyone wanted to know had a not so great answer....
On august 12th, Scott will be going in to have a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VP shunt) placed. This is a long thin tube that starts in his brain with about 2 inches going into the brain and ends in his stomach. The start has tiny holes that absorb the cerebral fluid around the brain then has a larger pocket which holds a magnet that regulates the fluid disbursing into the stomach. This will be located in the back of his head and is sensitive to strong magnetic fields, like if he has an MRI it will have to be reset by the neurosurgeon.
We have to go in on the 11th for a stealth CT before surgery due to the need for different imaging and being able to place the tube. (We won’t have the time for any of these until its closer to the date)

The reason he has to have this placement… The fluid build up that is visible on the right side of his head is only a portion of the excess fluid. Dr. Newell said based on his CT today, there is fluid under the prosthesis bone flap as well. His brain is not absorbing cerebral fluid where the bleed was, which causes the excess. There is also still fluid from the surgery that has not absorbed. They have an option where they do a spinal tap and wrap the head to force fluid to leave the body through the spin. This is a one time procedure, but in Scott’s case they believe the fluid will just return due to the spot (I don’t know how large it is) that is not absorbing and probably never will.

The surgery will take about 1-2 hours with 1-1 ½ hours in recovery, then 2 days in observation. They said usually 1 day in ICU and 1 day in medical room. Oh how fun an over night stay on each floor. We actually visited each floor between the CT & the check up thinking we wouldn’t be back…not sure we’ll do that again…ha…ha…
Scott’s now feeling the 1 step forward, 10 steps back that we felt for so many days in the ICU. It was shocking to hear that surgery was needed again. The post surgery effects were even worse. They said to expect headaches and stomach discomfort for possibly a month as the fluid drains and the tubing finds a home in his stomach. He wont be able to lift anything more than 5lbs for 3-6 weeks and no swimming until the wounds are totally healed. These are all the things we have been doing the past few weeks to get him stronger... At least we had a really long up hill climb before this small down hill... Let's hope the hills through the next few weeks are all nice and small!

Thunderstorm Livingroom Campout

I have been wanting to get on and post for days about our thunderstorm experience... I guess now is the time...

On Wednesday Cascade Auto Center had their company picnic out at Ome Gardens. It was really exciting to know we were going to go and see everyone Scott works with. As we were leaving the rain started to pour, we weren't sure if there would be covered areas, but who cares when you get to go visit people you haven't seen in months! Off we went. There were covered areas of course, lots of friends and co-workers and tons of tasty food! What a great combination. We stayed late visiting so by the time we got home, got the dog out for the bathroom and kids ready for bed the rain, wind, thunder and lightening started. BoogZ loved it! He was running and playing, just having a great time... the kids on the other hand, not so much. They didn't like the noise and the lights flickering off for a second. Then add that lighting could hit our house, no good. At least it was pouring rain so I could add that if it does hit by the house the rain is wetting everything so a fire wont start at our house. Finally after lots of talking and me saying we could all sleep downstairs, they settled down.
So off to collect all the air beds and blankets to setup our family camp out in the living room. By the time I had everything set up the thunder and lighting had stopped, but the rain was still pretty loud upstairs so I guess it was worth it. I don't think Scott or I slept very well but it was a fun experience over all.

Weekend Fun

Scott came to my Saturday Morning Y class. We alternate step cardio and biking. This week was the spin class and he came for the full hour! There's options to get off for ab work so that helps but I was amazed he was ready to trek up the 4 flights of stairs to make it to class. It was extra fun because Whitney and Carly came too, actually Zach (a sat am regular) was the only other person in class... So much fun!!!

Christina brought the boys for a visit and Whit & Carly came over to the house too. It was fun having girl chats and hanging out before Carly is off to College. Wow it seems like just last year that I met all the girls I worked with in Young Women's and now they're starting to go to College! Time sure flies which is obvious since Coby gets baptized on Saturday. Wow I have an 8 year old? He's half way to driving lol scary!

The only not so fun part of the weekend is that BoogZ has decided that 100 degrees is too hot to go out in. So every time we go out for the bathroom, he goes to the stone wall that has an edge of dirt and lays down. What Fun!

Pictures of the week

Coby's ER visit on Monday evening. Here he's getting an X-ray of his elbow to find out he has a small fracture.

He just kept saying "they better give me a cast." When he found out that they were putting on a splint, he was not happy!

But after he found out what a splint was he was OK with it. He didn't like having to relax his arm while it dried though.

The next day the swelling was at a point that they wanted to put a cast on it. He was really excited to choose the color of his cast like his friend Noah who had a bright green cast a few months ago.

On Wednesday July 21st Coby turned 8 Years Old! WOW SO EXCITING! It was a great birthday! So low key that mom actually made the cake :)

We just had a few friends over and of course Whitney had to come too. It was a nice surprise for him to see her. But mostly he played with Skylar, Emily, Johnathan, Austin and Derek.

Scott enjoyed the extra kids so much he slept for the most of them being over lol.

Mommy and BoogZ talking about going potty OUTSIDE!

Today is one of those days where he doesn't seem to care about bathroom needs as much as lounging needs!

Can't beat 'em.....

... join 'em

For more info on the happenings of the week see the next post. Life being what it is, I had to do these in 2 posts :)

It feels like ages!

I have had so much going on these days that I haven't had a chance to blog. It feels kind of funny to think about blogging so much now and yet only a few months ago I had never been on or posted on a blog. So let's see what can I remember that has happened.

Scott: Last Friday we went to the pool for the first time. His swim endurance is not where it was before but hey he can still do the whole breathing thing which is more than I can say:) Later that night he went back with to the Y to lift. Wow already trying a 2 a day. We're continuing with him working out as often as possible. He has ST on Tuesday's and going a full hour and a half is more taxing than he expected but so worth it to only go once a week! It's been fun having Scott see what life is like through the summer with all of us home.

Coby: He has had a fun summer of playing that is now hampered by a broken arm! We went to play at the open gym time at gymnastics on Monday and well I'm still not totally sure how he did it but he hit his elbow just right and chipped the bone. It was something to do with running to fast, jumping on the tramp that goes up to the vault, loosing his balance, falling off and hitting the only piece of metal that didn't have a pad on it...given the angels of everything, I still don't get it lol. He was a trooper about it too. We iced it and with in 30 minutes he was back playing. It took hours for it to start to swell so we didn't even know something was wrong until almost 6pm. All he could say was why does this always happen near my birthday! Over the last few years something always happens, usually it's just getting sick.
He turned 8 yesterday and we had a small gathering of a few friends. A nice and low key play date not a party, just perfect! He really enjoyed having friends to the house, we haven't done that much this summer.

Cora: Has been...I'm going to say growing...she has complained about her knees hurting at least...but with this she has been a pill box! She constantly switches from Cora, nice lovable girl to Corkscrew, the name Scott gave her when it feels like she's driving a corkscrew in his head :)
A lot of it is she gets bored and Cora doesn't do bored well. She has spent a lot of time with her 'other brother' Johnathan which has been very helpful in keeping her mood in check. I noticed this weekend if she spends more than 3 days without playing with someone other than her family she goes a little stir crazy...hopefully I can remember this for the future.

Diane: Let's see outside of all of the above and trying to train a puppy to go potty outside I haven't done much else. I did make it to the church on Saturday to make a few projects at the Relief Society craft thing. To bad I haven't finish them yet, I think I was the only one who didn't too. I taught my Saturday Combo class and was late, mix that in with lots of chatting & well what do you expect lol.

Once again I have been reminded of how fortunate we are!
Scott and I have randomly watched the show Deadliest Catch. It's pretty much been watching reruns here and there on the weekends. We watched a few times while in the hospital in Seattle so we both knew that Captain Phil had passed away. We actually were in Seattle the day they had the memorial service for him and saw the news broadcast of it, but today was the first time I found out what he died from. It was a shock to hear he suffered a stroke the same as Scott only 2 months before. I don't know what the cause was but I had seen the episodes where he talked about and went to the doctor for blood pressure & stress issues. What a humbling experience to know that we were blessed to be in the right place for getting the medical attention that Scott needed relatively quickly.
I sat today listening to Scott's ST talk about the advances he has made in the few weeks since she had worked with him (he has ST with Tracie and the clinic, where we stayed when we 1st got to Wenatchee). He has been promised through priesthood blessing from the beginning that he would make a full recovery and I realized that it is because of so many things in our life that have been slowly taking place over the last year. There are so many things to be Thankful For!

By the end of that episode of Deadliest Catch, I had been through a full memory of Seattle. But watching the stories of the others was amazing as well. It really gave me a touch of understanding of what it must have been like for others. By the end with the boats all out in a huge storm with the waves crashing... it was a beautiful way to capture what I felt through so much of our time in Seattle. Once again I am grateful for a little look into others lives to see how they are effected by traumatic situations.

Back to Therapy

Well today was the 1st day back to therapy. We're looking at going once a week for an extended session of Speech Therapy to start. At the end of the session today we talked about what Scott's goals are and we decided that it would be best to focus on speech therapy now and continue going to the Y doing what he has been. I guess I should explain why I have bee pushing yoga so much. Part of the progression with ST is doing deep abdominal breathing, really working to strengthen the vocal cords and diaphragm. Yoga and well Pilate's both focus 1st on breathing then on the movement, so that is the reasoning for pushing yoga lol. He now has deep breathing as homework so I'm thinking we'll have to get the yoga mats out and practice some total relaxation at home. As far as other therapies. Our speech therapist suggested not starting with them until we felt he had a specific concern to work on.

As far as today, he took the same cognitive test that he's done 4 times now and has shown huge improvement. His eyes are slowly focusing better which showed a lot when it came to the reading paperwork she had for him to do. We actually left with Scott saying that ST was good today.

BoogZ is here

An addition to our family has arrived in the form of a cute little puppy!

Scott's excited he's finally here.

Twixy & Thomas are amazing with him. I thought for sure they'd hide for days with a dog here. Thomas is the worst with new things and here he is smelling BoogZ for the 3rd time!

The kids are way to hyper & running crazy with him here. But they, especially Cora have been actually helpful.

Me, I'm trying very hard to not think about all the 'fun' this puppy will add to my life:)