Almost a year

I didn't realize how long it had actually been since I posted anything. It has almost been a whole year. Some much has gone on. Lots of ups and downs.

1. We finally got Gavin's mystery disease diagnosed. He has Parsonage Turner Syndrome. Essentially, the nerves in both of Gavin's arms got attacked by a cold virus he had. It is pretty rare and has a two year recovery process. Gavin has gone through a lot of pain and has been unable to do a lot of things he loves. He is almost a year out at this point and while his nerves are healing he still fatigues very quickly.

2. Again fun for Gavin. Gavin had a perilymphatic fistula (hole from the middle to the inner ear) on his mission. It took 18 months of his mission to figure out and he then had surgery to correct it. The summer before I met Gavin he started having problems with vertigo again, but he is pretty good at covering it up. Last summer he was scheduled to have surgery on his ear but we weren't sure what was wrong with his arms (see above story) and didn't want to risk putting him under. So on March 17th Gavin went into surgery. It was just an out-patient surgery so we figured we would be back home that night and I'd go to work the next day.

Gavin ended up throwing up as they were taking his breathing tube out. He then threw up again when I was brought down to recovery to see him. They threw every anti-nausea medication they could think of at him and finally gave him ativan (a sedative) and he went to sleep for a couple hours. Needless to say, they kept him over night for observation. I have the best in-laws. Gavin's mom stopped by the hospital and kept me company. Gavin doesn't remember much from that night. Then Kelson and Jill kept Jack with them over night. Kelson was kind enough to bring me my pillow, retainer and such, plus dinner. The next week Gavin was still pretty nauseous and in a lot of pain. He couldn't sit up for very long. Gavin's sister Holly and her boys came and stayed with us over spring break. The two oldest helped do projects. Holly and the younger boys entertained Jack. It was such a blessing having them here.

Gavin is still on the mend and we aren't sure if the surgery was a success and he blew blood vessels in both his eyes, is still in a lot of pain, has blood draining for his ear and still gets pretty nauseous at times. Here's to praying it will all heal okay.

3. We ended up getting Jack a helmet due to his plagiocephaly (flat head). Jack didn't like to turn his head to the left and got a very flat spot on the back of his head on the right side. Due to Jack being a premie we were able to get the cost covered through the infant toddler program. He had to wear his helmet 23 hours a day. I can't even remember how long he wore it. It seemed like an eternity, but was probably more like 4-5 months. It turned out pretty well.

Halloween

4. Gavin got an internship with a teacher from his program. She loves his writing and has him doing research for her grant proposal. He will finish up his bachelor's degree in December and the plan is to start graduate school next summer.

5. I'm still working at the hospital. I've been a charge therapists, which is a step down from our team lead position. I care a special phone number with me and it is my job to put out fires during the day. It started doing it a couple days a week, but for the past several months I've been in charge everyday I work. It has been stressful as the hospital has been full for the past 5 months or so. I'm getting a little bit of a break these days.

6. Jack is getting so big. He just has his 15 month check up today. He got bored while we were waiting for the doctor to come in  and discovered he could climb in the cup boards under the sink. He was very upset when I took him out when the doctor came in.

He is just shy of 30 inches tall, at 29.75 inches. Adjusted he is 25th percentile, not adjusted he is 10th
He weighs 19 lbs 1.5 oz. Adjusted 10th percentile, not a 5th percentile.
Head circumference 18 inches. Adjusted 25th percentile, not adjusted 10th percentile.

The doctor is pretty pleased with this. She took one look at me and figured he would be fine.

Jack is a pretty active little boy. He just started walking some but still uses crawling as his main mode of transportation. He is just too quick crawling to make walking worth it yet. He loves to be outside and gets pretty upset when he has to go in the house. He will talk your ear off and loves to point at things. He can say: all done, outside, mom, dad, uh-oh, wow, yeah, bye, hi. He will also mimic other words at times. He is very much a people person and flirts with anyone who will look at him. I'm excited to him to go to nursery in June. He has too much energy to be cooped up for three hours.

That is the quick and dirty version. We are excited for summer coming up and the fun trips we have planned. I'll try to be better at posting updates.

No I didn't cut my hair, it is in a braid.