Summer Wrap-Up

Summer 2013 was busy, busy, busy!  We had so much fun with family.  They visited us, we visited them.  I didn't have much time to update the blog this summer.  Oh yeah, my computer died too, that didn't help any.  My camera phone started to act up so I didn't get as many pictures as normal either.

Here's a recap of our summer!

June

Dylan came with Grandma for a fun filled week. 

 

We went to Ceramics in the City.  Dylan painted dolphins and Milo painted a cow penny bank.

We went to Build-A-Bear, Panera Bread (or Panana Bread as Milo calls it) to eat lunch & Chuck E. Cheese to play.

We saw Monster's University on opening day and had dinner at Casa Bonita.

 

When my backyard exploding paint art project failed, we just painted with brushes, hands & feet.

And we can't forget Water World!

July

We went to Alamosa for the 4th of July.  We saw the parade and had a big BBQ with our family.  Unfortunately due to all the wildfires, there were no fireworks this year.  Just some poppers that were pretty fun.

Milo had some tree climbing fun.  That boy is a monkey!

 

                                                                      A pile of cousins!

Alisha came back with us.  We stopped in Pueblo and visited the zoo.

 

 I had never been to the Pueblo Zoo before.  It's a nice little zoo and was a great break in the trip.  I had hoped to go to the Royal Gorge on the way back, but it burned down in a wildfire just a few weeks before.

We ended up back in Alamosa just a week later for my grandpa's funeral.

My brother and his kids came for a fun weekend.  We went to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Keensburg.

Lions, Tigers & (Grizzly) Bears, Oh My!

 

 We got caught in a huge rain storm, luckily we were in an enormous tent at the end of the walkway.  The animals were more active after the storm because the temperature cooled off. 

The ground was completely dry before the storm.

 So many good pictures, maybe I'll have to do a post later about this wonderful place.

 

 

It was then Brett's week to stay for some fun. My camera had an issue so we didn't get any pictures :(
We went to Boondocks, Dave & Buster's, saw a movie, went to a trampoline center and did a little shopping.  And, of course, Water World!

August

Just before school started again we ventured down to Colorado Springs.  I took advantage of a photography special by Ashley Photography and had Milo's pictures taken.  They turned out wonderfully.

These photographs are copyrighted, do not print or download or use for any other reason with out written consent.  Thanks!

 After that we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  We fed the giraffes and an elephant named Lucky. 

They have a great new African animal exhibit with some wonderful statues to play with.

My brother Chad got married the very last day of August.  The wedding was a small family affair in the mountains.  It was a beautiful ceremony in a gorgeous setting.  I gained a wonderful sister-in-law and an adorable 4 year old niece!

September is shaping up to be a busy fun month too, details to come!

First Grade

It's hard to believe that Milo is already in First Grade!

 

I was honestly dreading the school year.  Kindergarten was difficult.

 

 

We didn't find out who his teacher would be until the day before school started.  Ugh, no time to prepare her for Milo or Milo for her.  I wrote down some quick "Milo Tips" and handed them to her when we met.

 

I dreaded the first day, the crying, the not listening....

 

 

He walked right in with his class, no problem. 

He had a great day. 

He had a great week. 

He had 2 good weeks.

 

  We went to Back to School Night, his teacher talked about how well he listened, and focused, and did his work and rarely threw a fit and if he did it was tiny. 

Wait, are you sure we are talking about my child? 

His teacher is great.

She is calm, quiet, and kind yet firm.

 Her classroom is organized and visually pleasing. 

 He has an assigned coat hook and desk, he likes consistency...

...and organization.

 I'm sure that helps him. 

 

The next day, "we are having to schedule his bathroom breaks so he can be supervised, he wanders the halls, is that OK with you?" 

Ahhh, there's my kid. 

 "Sure sounds very reasonable"

 

 

He took school pictures this year, goofy grin and all.

Glad I only bought a few.

He refused last year.

 

He's hungry when he gets home.

He eats all of his lunch at school. 

No reports of lunchroom antics this year.

 

He missed several days for his surgery plus the holiday vacations ran together. 

 Crying and refusal to go to school for 3 days. 

 "He's having a hard time transitioning in the mornings" 

 Yup, that's my kid....

 

Luckily he has returned back to the kid willingly walking into school

and exclaiming "I had the best day ever!"

when he walks out of the building.

 

I expect there to be hard days but am relishing in the good days!

It Is Closed....

...sorta.  Milo had surgery to close the stoma (hole) from his g-tube.  Good news is that he is no longer leaky.  Bad news is that sutures and Milo do not get along well.  After the steri-strips came off he ended up with a suture abscess.  His belly looks icky and he's on antibiotic to clear up the infection.  When it heals I'm sure it won't be the nice incision line it should have been but oh well, at least he isn't leaky!  He has been eating more now that he has healed and everything stays in his stomach where it belongs.


Before surgery, the med are working                           Not wanting to wake up and very grumpy when he did

Along with his g-tube closure Milo had his teeth cleaned and x-rayed.  He did way better than I though he would at the dentist's office but no way they were going to be able to get his teeth really clean or his molars x-rayed.  The dentist was quite pleased with the health of his teeth, no cavities, and less plaque and tarter than expected from a g-tube fed kiddo with an oral aversion for years.  His front teeth (top and bottom) are a little wiggly and 2 weeks after his cleaning his bottom teeth popped though the gums...behind his baby teeth.  Ugh, I guess there is more dentist time in the near future.

At the same time he had both a direct bronchoscopy with his ENT doctor and a flexible bronchoscopy with his pulmonologist. The direct bronchoscopy looks at his trachea from the mouth to the lungs.  His ENT was very pleased with the size of his trachea, it is the size an adult male would require at sea level.  His scar tissue is not causing any more of a problem than normal.  She was so pleased we do not have to go back to see her for about 5 years, or when he has his adolescent growth spurt.  This is totally amazing for the kiddo that was being scoped every day as an infant.  His pulmonologist did the flexible bronchoscopy which is where they look deeper into the lungs with a smaller camera.  No big surprises but really no great improvement either.  He continues to have many areas of narrow passages and floppy passages.  Because of this he has an accumulation of mucus in his lungs.  She sucked out as much as they could and cultured it to make sure it wasn't growing anything funky.  Because of all the mucus his doctor recommended we use his airway clearance vest every day rather than just when he is sick.

He also had blood drawn while he was under anesthesia for several lab tests.  The first was a cortisol level to make sure his body was picking up the slack while we weaned him off the steroids he has been on for the last several years.  Good news...his lab value came back normal and he no longer is on oral steroids for his airways!  He also had allergy levels done.  I have the results but his appointment isn't for another 2 weeks.  Lets just say they weren't the results I was hoping for.

Yesterday was Milo's annual cardiology appointment.  He has an echocardiogram done and was amazing cooperative for that.  Laying still is not one of his strong points but he did pretty well.  The pressures in his heart are all normal (for the 2nd year in a row) so the stent in his pulmonary artery is working well.  The area in which his aortic coarctation was repaired looks great too.  He doesn't need to see her for another year!

That takes us to his eczema.  It's horrible most of the time.  He sees a dermatologist but all they seem to do is give him more and more and stronger steroids.  Toward the end of summer break I remembered the Atopic Dermatitis Day Program that is at National Jewish Health geared toward helping kids and their parents get the kids eczema under control.  I was told about the program about 4 years ago but kind of blew it off at the time.  Milo had been to National Jewish a couple of times and I can't say that I was very impressed either time so I wasn't sure this program would really work, and it's long... up to 2 weeks of all day, every day treatment.  That's a lot of school to miss for something I wasn't sure would be very beneficial.



A not so good eczema day, lots of redness and dryness                                             A rare good eczema day!                                                               

 I found a Facebook group of Eczema Parents that had nothing but good things to say about this program.  People were traveling from all over the country to participate.  I was intrigued.  I asked some questions and followed one family's journey while they were in Denver.  I decided that I needed to give it a try.  Within 10 days of my initial phone call we were able to schedule a date.  I chose to have Milo go during his fall break from school to minimize the number of days he would miss.  I'm guessing our scheduling went so quickly because Milo was already a National Jewish patient (even though he hadn't been for years), his allergist at Children's primarily works at National Jewish and they have electronic access to all his medical records from Children's Hospital. My understanding is that there will be lots of baths, wet wraps, lotions, allergy tests and challenges. We should come away with a better idea of what he is truly allergic to as well as clearer, less itchy skin for my little guy.  I'm sure it will be a lot of work but we should have a good plan in place by the time he is finished with the program.  I hope to be able to update this blog several days during the process.  I appreciate the knowledge I gained from other families and hope to be able to pass some information on to others as well.

Well, that's about it on the medical side of things.  Next up...a First Grade update!