Sunday, October 30, 2011

Happy Birthday Logan!

Its so super late, but in September Logan had his 3rd birthday.  We celebrated with a day at the beach and an experiment chocolate cookie layered with ice cream cake.  It was a beautiful day and we spent time in the boat and even had an adventure when the boat ran out of gas (cell phones left on shore).
  Logan wanted a DQ ice cream cake, but I decided I could figure something out.  Its not like I remember it in Martha Stewart Living.

 Some of the toppings fell on the floor, so Carson did his job by cleaning up the mess for us! What a good boy. 
Looking back Emily was in last years birthday pictures of Logan.  Dude, I must not understand how to delegate so that I can be in these pictures. 
Logan had PE tubes replaced May 31 along with a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy which from what I understand is the next step when the first set of PE tubes fail.  Within the first 2 weeks the left ear tube fell out, but the hearing test showed that his hearing was normal in that ear.  During the summer we started to be able to understand him a little better.   Everyday it seems like he is saying something new and on Wednesday we have a follow-up appointment to see if he's done with surgeries.  It was noted that jis right side fell out a few months ago after his second ear infection after surgery.  I notice that he covers his ears which must mean he can hear something, right?  He's getting so big and independent.  At school his best friend is Tegan and it is so sweet watching them play together.  See is this petite little girl and he's this beefy kid. 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Doctors

Tomorrow is a full day of doctors appointments.  It's so funny; all growing up I always thought once you start taking one pill you will start taking more and more and more, until you have a mini pharmacy in your bathroom.  Well it's true! Tomorrow my schedule is as follows:

8:00 Echocardiogram
9:00 Appointment with Dr. Sype, my cardiologist
9:40 MRI of my Cerical Spine (my neck)
11:00 Ultrasound of my Right neck and shoulder
3:40 Appointment with Dr. Liu, my neurologist

My appointment with my PCP isn't until next Friday.  Now you maybe thinking why in the world would someone go to so many doctors, well I will tell you.  In December 2010 I found out I have Cardiomyopathy which basically translates into meaning cardio (heart) myo (muscle) pathy (disease).  The left side of my heart is thinning.  There are many factors that play into this.

A. Pregnancy: While pregnant growing a baby is the number 1 priority for your body and stresses all the functions in a woman's body particularly the heart.  The heart must now pump more blood in the same amount of time, which is a factor to high blood pressure during pregnancy. I have been pregnant 3 times int he last 5 years.
B. Mono: I had mono for the first time in February 2010 while pregnant with Carson.  I had 2 other episodes during the fall of 2010 that came on for no apparent reasons.  The thought behind this is that it could be a viral thing, which means it will get better in time with medication.
C. Unknown: In 2003 I had an echo (ultrasound that looks at the blood flow around the heart) which found that my EF (Ejection Fraction: the fraction of blood pumped out of the right and left ventricles with each heart beat) was at 63% (normal healthy adult is between 50%-70%).  After I started having near fainting spells (presyncope) my PCP decided to do a follow up echo (December 2010).  This time my EF was 35%.  It doesn't get worrisome until you get down to 20% I believe.

I have also had a lot of headaches and migraines.  The neurologist is interested in the branch of nerves in my right neck.  I occasionally have sharp pains in my right chest and then pain down my right arm and into my fingers.  Dr. Liu does acupuncture, so it maybe fun to see where that leads!

In December I also tried to upgrade my life insurance which requires a simple blood and urine testing.  When I got the results back on that last week (February 2011) it showed that my liver functions are low and after a repeat testing they have gone a little lower.  Lets just say I didn't qualify for the upgrade, instead my life insurance is still low and doubled the price.  Today during work I was imputing patients blood work into the computer and a pregnant patient with Hepatitis B had a few numbers lower then mine.  I have been tested for Hep B and C and I have neither, no worries.  And so the adventure continues...tonight I have 4 bottles of medication sitting next to my bed.  Who knows what it will look like tomorrow!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

It's been a while


It has been a really long time since I have actually done anything to add to my blog and yes, I apologize for that.  I think about it often, however thinking is not enough action to put words on a page.  The last few months have been a blurr to me.  But I tend not to do too much dwelling in the past, so lets move on!

I start a new job on Monday at Island Women's Healthcare as a Medical Assistant.  It will be a change of pace from the job I just left since I will be one on one with a provider instead of the floater/support staff.  I am a little concerned that it will be too fast for what I am used to, but I usually figure out a way to accommodate to meet the needs for each situation.  The doctor seems really young so it will be fun to figure it out together.  I have really enjoyed working at South Whidbey Healthcare, but from a financial standpoint I feel like this is a great opportunity.  I am in a union now...my first time ever, so I will let you know if that is worth being excited about.  I will also be working 32 hours a week instead of 40, but with the pay increase I will be making just a little more to leave extra money for the commute I now have 4 days a week.

School will be starting soon for me as well.  I haven't worked out a plan to achieve this goal, but it is an actual goal now instead of something I should do in the future.  I have recently had the opportunity to talk to a few people that have received their education through Red Apple University (Skagit Valley College) and all have had lots of good things to say.  I thought at first I would just get my foot in the door and do my LPN, but the more people I talk to the more I think I just need to get my RN.  It isn't much more schooling and the pay is much better and because I want to be in surgery that's the route I need to go to not be scrubbing the floors to get into the room.  I looked into getting my Surgical Tech certification, but again I would be the low man on the totum pole and I gotta live, so if I have to go into debt I might as well go all out!

James will be 5 in just a few short months and is still enjoying preschool.  He seems to have fantastic days and horrible days,  good days and bad days, but I think we are more on the positive side now instead of it more of a half and half.  He surprises me with his kindness to his brothers, especially Carson.  He never seems to mind stopping whatever he is doing to help our baby out.  James will also start Gymnastics again as well as his first outdoor sport of Soccer this Spring.  We were talking about it today and he is more then a little excited.  We got to go to a few of his cousins games over the last year and although he has spent most of the time playing on the jungle gym, I think he understands there is a ball and running involved. 

Logan is 2 and more clumsy then ever.  About a month ago he got dizzy while dancing (spinning in circles) and fell and hit is head on the train table at school.  No stitches but a nice little 2 inch laceration.  Exactly 1 week later he fell off his brothers bunk bed and spit open his head and had to get stitches.  Two weeks later he fell off the bunk bed again and reopened it, but it seems to be doing better now! Since he had tubes placed he is talking much more although he would prefer not to use his new verbal skills and continue grunting to get his needs met.  He is getting taller and bigger.  Logan has been in 3T clothing since the beginning of the year and could have started wearing them long before then.  When James wrestles with him, Logan always wins and James usually ends up calling in help to split them up.  Logan is not one to back down from a situation. 

Carson is sitting with 2 teeth, which means more teeth are on the way.  He still has made no attempt to crawl and I haven't even seen him on his hands and knees yet either! Carson is an excellent eater.  He will eat an entire jar of baby food with each meal with some rice cereal on the side and a chaser of a bottle.  He sure can put it down.  He seems to have really taken well to the schedule and the lifestyle my mom lives.  She says that he just sits and listens intensely to her lessons not making a sound or moving a muscle.  She has been helping High/Middle Schoolers prepare solos for competitions and she has found he doesn't share a love of all musical instruments, but does for the most part enjoy brass.  He seems to adapt well to strangers too...unless you have facial hair, but seems to enjoy all ladies with grey hair and glasses. 

Sunday, January 2, 2011

I know this was the end of November, but I just want everyone to know we are still here and kicking! 
Carson about to enjoy his Thanksgiving feast of Rice Cereal and Sweet Potatoes!