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I’m a terrible daughter – I didn’t send my mom a Mother’s Day card. I didn’t really forget per se, more like ran out of time. You certainly don’t even begin to appreciate your own mom until you become one yourself. Then you not only understand the things your mom went through and did for you but you are SHOWN them. You must now do the laundry every night to keep clean clothes in the drawers, cook you own dinner and make sure there is enough food to share with the others, and pick up everywhere you go. And I mean EVERYWHERE! It’s the circle of life, I drove my mom crazy and now I am slowly going crazy but at least I recgonize that and that makes me ever so thankful for my mom and her mom and the ones before. They ultimately made me the mom I am today. My grandmother gave birth ten times, I think twice was quite enough. She raised her family with love and pride. My mom gave birth three times, once more than me and raised my brothers and I to be quite decent people. I mean none of us have any SERIOUS defects or anything. Here’s the line of great mothers that started so many years ago.

My mom as a baby

Me before car seats were the law

The Z and Grandma

Me and the CaseyJ

So to all you moms and mother figures out there (aunts, grandmas, etc) I hope you had a great Mother’s Day and a wonderful weekend!

I think God has a pamplet on parenting. In particular one He chose not to print up for parents or even share with us. In that pamplet contains such things as – when your child gets sick it’s bound to happen on a weekend because that’s when your doctor is closed. Or if you child has a stomach bug you will find out in the middle of the the grocery store while browsing the cereal isle, then have to flee before everyone sees it was your child who yaked on the floor. Or the day before you leave on a pre-planned, non-cancelable vacation both of your children will get really ill. Along with all the other things you don’t hear about in parentening classes because if they told you this folks may actually reconsider having offspring.

Kids get fevers, it actually shows their fighting some infection. I understand all that. Except when CaseyJ gets a fever, particularly one above 100 degrees I worry. I want to know why he has that fever or what’s causing it. Main reason I become more concerned when he spikes a fever over his brother is because we went through the whole “my legs hurts so much I scream and can’t walk” thing bouncing from doctor to hospital to x-rays to bone scan to MRI.  The little tough guy also is slow to say he doesn’t feel good. It took him complaining of being cold and just laying around (not being himself) for us to find out he had a fever and a sore throat. All I could think was I remembered the sign on the school board saying two cases of strep throat were reported last week. Yipee. With all our options for seeing a doctor closed on a weekend I decided to make the 15 mile drive to the ER in Luling. Yes, the same one he was in a year ago for a bad case of strep (high fever and all over body rash) a day before we left for New Mexico and the same one we waited in four years ago for more x-rays of his hips. So these memories always seem to be fresh in my mind anytime he becomes ill. Although we got in and out fairly quickly I still have issues with hospitals.

I’ll tell you this though, the little dude is one tough hombre. The did the strep test (stick the q-tip like thingy so far in your throat you gag) and he made a face then announced “that didn’t hurt at all” and went back to reading his book. Note this is the same thing that sets his big brother Z off into a seriously dramatic crying fit. Then the flu test (a skinny q-tip like thingy shoved up his nose into his brain) he did not like that and pulled it out. This upset him and he cried a little but as I hugged him he wiped his tears from his eyes and in a half-tough half-wounded voice said “i didn’t like that but it didn’t hurt either”. Both tests were negative but with a really red throat and a fever he got the pink antibiotics anyway. A few doses of Tylenol later he was full of energy, until about 4:30pm or so. I noticed the other room was awfully quiet and when I walked in he was half asleep with the Wii remote in his hand, covered up on the couch just about passed out.  He took about a two hour nap and then spent some time watching a little tv before their bedtime.

I was able to prop my camera up onto the tripod to take a few pictures of him resting. He’s always in motion so these pictures are rare. Plus he’s so darn sweet looking when he’s asleep…. He’ll be fine in a day or so I’m sure, they have Monday off so he’ll have extra time to rest up. Let’s hope no one else gets the “germ”.

Today was CaseyJ’s 6 month check-up for his hips with the orthopedic in Austin. I am constantly amazed by the technology throughout the Dell Children’s Campus, we noticed high-end wireless devices, all digital x-rays, phone systems etc. It’s hard to not think your child is getting the best of care while at that facility. The drive was quite easy and we arrived early for his appointment, at check-in they placed a band on his wrist and each place we went (x-rays, etc) they checked his band each time to assure it was him.

If there is one thing both Big C and I are reminded of each time we make the trip to Austin for these follow-ups is how truly blessed we are to have children in good health. While in the waiting room a young man about 15 or 16 years old was sitting in a wheel chair with an ace bandage on his shin area, playing video games with his dad. They had called him back and as his mom wheeled him back I heard his dad making a phone call talking about how this round of chemo would only be two days long not three. I cannot begin to imagine what they are going through as parents. In the imaging waiting area an EMS brought in a boy maybe about 2 years old sitting in his car seat secured to the gurney. He had a tube in is throat to help him breath and was hooked up to some complicated machines, he had to have an EMS escort whenever he left the house. Each time is such a humbling experience, to know how truly blessed we are.

CaseyJ is a pro at the x-rays, and although he gets silly nervous he is much calmer knowing there will be no “ouchies” involved – just superhero bone pictures. The particular center we went to today has a multitude of occupations under one roof. It was a small party in the exam room – a nurse, a physical therapist, the orthopedic doctor, and for a brief moment a social worker (I think he is there to help families who are caught off guard by a diagnosis, etc).

GOOD NEWS – no significant changes in the x-rays, recent complaints of lower leg pain were attributed to growing pains. And let me tell you, this kid is eating like never before so he must be growing!! Still sticking with the Meyers Dysplasia diagnosis, his symptoms still don’t tend to arthritis or anything else, follow-up in 8 to 12 months and keep a journal noting pain, limping, time of day symptoms occur, if advil given etc… for the next time we see them.

On the way back to San Marcos the little guy was so hungry he couldn’t wait to get to the shop to eat so I passed back his cheeseburger with “sausage, cheese, and plain” so that he could eat it NOW… I am more thankful than you can imagine for my healthy children…

This morning was Casey J’s follow up with the rheumatologist in Austin. After dropping Zach off at school and a quick stop at the shop we headed north bound to the Dell Children’s Hospital Specially Pediatrics. Wow, that’s a mouthful. We did finally find out that they had located his last round of blood work and while it was still elevated, not near as much as the previous one and Dr. Carrasco said it was within the limit. He handed us a stack of paper work with all the lab results and went over them with us one by one (sort of). All the markers for any arthritis work were well within their limits, the LDH which was quite high on the first draw in July is a test that measures a certain chemical given off by muscles when there is swelling in them. We have connected the time when he was limping and complaining quite a bit to the exact same time he had that blood work done. The last set he had done the limping was almost gone and the LDH had come down.

All his other tests for white blood cells, etc were normal. He did mention that some of his iron levels were low so he either needed to eat a lot more red meat of take a vitamin with D and Iron in it, being as picky as he is I will be finding the little guy some yummy vitamins. The MRI confirms the Meyers Dysplasia and the reason they want to watch it is to be sure it doesn’t develop into Legg-Calve-Perthes which is the much more serious hip disease. The boys have their four and five year check-ups Monday morning and Casey John will be done with doctors appointments for awhile! Yeah! I have a folder full of all his paper work to hang until such a time we don’t need it anymore. We will just keep hoping he gets strong and outgrows it all!

This morning we had an upset boy who didn’t want to talk about anything but Legos. I got him on my lap to ask him why he so upset and he wanted to know if the doctor that he had to go to this morning was a “pokie doctor”, I told him no pokies and then he asked “no medicine either mommy?” After I convinced him it was not a pokie or a medicine doctor, and that it was a talking doctor only he was able to relax a little. Zach rode with his Grandpa to work this morning where is Aunt MaeMae met them and took him to the park. Casey, Casey John, and I headed up to Austin for his follow up with the orthopedic doctor.

He showed us his MRI results and basically they point to what the originally thought he had Meyers Dysplasia (this description really seems to fit especially the part about symptoms presenting at age 2, that’s how old he was) or Legg-Calve-Perthes, but he said he is really to young for it to be Perthes. The MRI shows some dark spots in his hip bones which is where the blood vessels are not getting the blood they need and he had a bit of fluid on his hips (but he marked there was no need to worry about that) and they are fairly well formed. We worry here about the roundness of the hips and them forming completely, he actually has this in boths hips, one just more than the other.

Today and yesterday he has really limped more than in the past few months, when he does show the symptoms we are supposed to limit his pounding activities (take him swimming or let him ride his bicycle tricycle) and give ibuprofen if needed. The next steps if the symptoms are persistent it to put him in a brace or traction. Our next follow up with the orthopedic will be at the Dell Children’s Hospital Specialty Care Center so that if that is what he needs to do in February he can do it there.

As far as the blood work goes that is still under the direction of the rheumatologist Dr. Carrasco, we have that redone next Tuesday morning and will probably have the results by the end of next week. Monday afternoon he has his appointment with the eye doctor and then two weeks after that his follow up with Dr. Carrasco. I used the color pink in my calendar for all his appointments and there are so many it looks like Barbie took over my calendar! I think we’ll have a bigger sigh of relief when the blood work is done and comes back ok! I leave you with a different shade of color tonight – yellow!

Casey J picked these PJ’s out for him and his brother!

You know that feeling you get in your stomach when you are apprehensive or nervous about something? That’s the pit I have in my stomach right now, and no I’m not hungry, well I may be it is lunch time. The new doctors barrage of tests results have come back, whatever showed up on his MRI has us going back to the orthopedic doctor next Tuesday morning. His last bit of blood work came back this afternoon and one was elevated (don’t ask the medical details I didn’t get any) but he has to have that lab work repeated in one month and if it comes back elevated again with have to undergo a Bone Density Scan again. They asked us to try and limit his physical activity – no running or strenuous exercise – but understood that may be difficult being that he is a four year old little boy (not to mention belongs at the zoo in with the monkeys). So we will wait until Tuesday morning for more information and I’ll pass it along to everyone. Thanks for the prayers.