One Week Later

You may know (either because you have met them, or because I have talked about them or written about them here) that until last week, we had three dogs. We are dog people. A week ago today we had to say goodbye to our shih tzu, Stella. We were lucky in that her breeder agreed to take her and work toward finding her a good home. I am still so sad, but it was the right decision. Within one week she bit both boys. Now being such a small dog it isn't like she could maul them, but when she bit Carter she almost broke the skin. It was not fair to have the boys getting bitten, being worried about it and telling me "Stella is mean. I want her to live somewhere else." We made the right decision, but it is so hard because she wasn't a bad dog and it is so strange no having her here. It does help knowing that she is in a good home. We are back to being a two dog family. We have Maggie, a sweet and loving Golden Retriever who will be nine later this year; and Brock who is a little over two. Brock is an English Bulldog, and just the most gentle loving dog. The phrase "big dumb animal" applies pretty well to him. He just lays around lazily most of the day. He does really enjoy being loved. For example he doesn't realize how big he is and will sit on our laps any chance he gets.

I feel lucky to have my other two fur babies as I come to terms with the decision we had to make to say goodbye to Stella.

Time Flies

You know the saying... "Time flies when you are having fun." While this is certainly true, I have found that being the parent of two small boys, time flies in general. The boys are growing up so fast. I find myself making a conscious effort to slow down and enjoy each moment. I've decided that part of keeping these early memories alive involves doing a better job of keeping up with this blog.

Last week marked an anniversary for Owen that I will never forget. Wednesday the 18th marked two years since Owen's VCUR was resolved. He was scheduled for the first surgery that morning, during which Dr. G was to be removing the stent that had been placed in his ureter during his bladder reconstruction that was done in October. He had surgery on November 20 to remove both stents, at which time we were told that the reconstruction surgery did not repair the reflux as it was intended to do. He had to put one of the stents back in until he had a plan in place as to how the problem would be dealt with in the end. During a post-op appointment after the November surgery, Dr. G told us to get through the holidays and they the second stent would have to be removed. It was a terrible time for us, waiting and not knowing what to expect long-term.

On January 18, 2010 we headed to the hospital feeling very sad, worried, overwhelmed and defeated. Our hopes for a cure for Owen's VCUR had been dashed. We were in contact with two other pediatric urologist who were the best in the country. It was time figure out the best thing to do to allow him to reflux and at the same time allow his body to accommodate the amount of urine that was going to have to be held in his urinary tract. Dr. G came out into the waiting room instead of meeting us in a conference room as was customary. He was holding the x-ray from Owen's post-op VCUG and exclaimed with extreme excitement and disbelief, "It is fixed!" What?! What is fixed? The VCUR can't be fixed, that was not even mentioned as possibility. It was true, after a 1cc shot of Deflux, he was no longer refluxing! It was the best news we had ever received and the most difficult case of bladder reflux that Dr. G had ever been able to fix. When I asked how it had happened, Dr. G said there was really no medical explanation. It was partially a case of his body having more time to heal, but mostly we had received a miracle.

Of all of the dates etched in my memory in relation to Owen's health journey and his 8 surgeries, this is the date that I will forever remember as the day that our prayers were answered.

The Big S-I-X!

I can't believe it. My first baby is six. Six years ago today, Carter was born and I was given the great gift of motherhood. He has brought so much joy and love to our lives in these six years. I couldn't be more proud of the little man he is becoming. We are so blessed to have him as a part of each of our days.

This year, Carter is very excited that his birthday is New Year's Eve. He knew before that the two occasions occurred on the same day, but never seemed to care before. We have had lots of fun playing with his new Wii and Mario Kart game. His goal is to stay awake until midnight. He is, after all, a very big boy now! We love you up to the stars and back Mr. C!

Ten Years

Last month was the 10 year anniversary of the awful terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA. I chose not to write about the event, but certainly not because it didn't effect me. Quite the opposite, I will never forget that day in 2001. It is very emotional for me. I will never forget.

Our family went through our own personal tragedy 10 years ago. When I was a freshman in college and Ashley was a junior in high school, our mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The diagnosis was terrifying. It felt awful for me being over 300 mile away, having to receive updates over the phone. I made a decision early on to travel home as often a possible. I brought a car back to school with me so that I could go home at any time. We had no idea what to expect and didn't want to count on my dad being able to come pick me up if necessary. My mom had several surgeries, and ultimately had a unilateral mastectomy. This was obviously major surgery, very scary for all of us. I still can't imagine how my mom felt receiving the news, scheduling the surgery and making the decision to lose a part of her body to save her life. I did know that I needed to be there for her as much as possible. I was there for her surgery and as much of her recovery as possible.

Every year since my mom was diagnosed, her yearly mammograms have been a huge source of stress for her and for us. There was always the fear of the cancer coming back.

My mom just had her yearly testing and received NEGATIVE results! My mom is now a 10 year Breast Cancer Survivor! I am so proud of my mom! She is a very strong and brave woman.

Preschool: Fun and Germs

This week was week two of preschool for Owen. He is going for 3 hours five days a week. This milestone is huge for Owen. It was not too long ago that we were told that Owen's VCUR could not be resolved and other measures would need to be taken to save his kidneys. We were told that the only choice was to allow the reflux. The only way to do that without causing kidney damage and probably eventually failure was to augment his bladder with bowel. If that had been done, he would have had a permanent ostomy, and his bladder would need to be drained with a catheter every 2-3 hours for the rest of his life to prevent dangerous infection. This would obviously have needed to be done by us as his parents and when it came time for school an aide or perhaps even a nurse until he could be responsible for the task himself. Until his reflux was resolved amazingly and unexpectedly during his surgery in January 2010, I couldn't even think about what sending him to school would mean as far as his health. It was something that terrified me and made me so sad for the opportunities that he was likely to miss out on. Fast forward about a year and a half and Owen is in preschool every day at our church's preschool in a classroom with other typical children. It is nice to have him there because it is a familiar place. While his teacher is not a member of our church, the administrators are. As I have said too many times to count, our church family is wonderful beyond words. I love that Owen is lucky enough to have some of them in his life on a daily basis because of school. It is also comforting to know that I have friends there that are keeping an eye on him. He was medically cleared for daycare, preschool, any kind of program of that nature in June and it was some of the best news I had ever heard. The only thing that sets him apart from his classroom (other than his remaining leg length discrepancy and the fact that we need to watch vigilantly for signs of a UTI) is that he has not been allowed to potty train until recently. That being said, he still isn't the only child in his class that is not fully potty trained. Just the only one with a medical excuse. We were given permission to pursue potty training in July. Owen was interested and began asking to go potty occasionally. We also started taking him and reminding him more regularly. He was doing well and then had to have his ear surgery, which was a set back. As of now he is wearing Pull Ups to school and doing great using the potty at school. We are still working on training at home. Potty training for Owen is complicated because of how different his urinary tract was and still is.

Ok, I got off track. My point was that Owen is fitting in at preschool very well, and his medical history is not holding him back one bit. I am one very proud Mama. He loves his teacher, the chance to socialize is great for him and he looks forward to going to school. He has no problem with me leaving there. We are supposed to drive through the drop-off line in front of the sidewalk and one of the teachers takes Owen out of the car and walks him into school. Even the first day he didn't shed a tear, just said "bye Mom" and was on his way. This week he is working on his colors, which he knew before starting school, shapes and continuing to get accustomed to the school environment. One of my favorite things is seeing the craft that he has worked on each day. Today he worked on tracing circles and I was very impressed with how well he did. These activities and crafts are a concrete examples of how much he is learning and growing to be a big boy. It is amazing and thrilling to me. I think back to Carter starting preschool and doing all of these things, and can't believe we are now at that stage with Owen. His teacher and assistant teacher are both very nice. I am so glad that he is having fun and enjoying his time at school so much.

Now for the major downfall of preschool; the fact that the other kids each bring their own set of germs and generally share them more readily than they share toys. So many people told me the germ factor is not as bad with the second child, as they have developed a certain amount of immunities from all of the germs brought home from school by the first child. I don't know that I believe this. I picked Owen up about 45 minutes early today after receiving a call from the Parish Administrator, who just loves Owen and has been a great friend to our family, saying that he was not feeling well and looked just pitiful. Sure enough, even though he was fine this morning, he had a runny nose, nasaly voice, congestion, "sick eyes" and looks just plain miserable. He has picked up his first illness due to preschool germs. He doesn't have a fever and I think it is probably just a cold, but he will be visiting the pediatrician in the morning. I am concerned about a possible ear infection, especially in the ear that was just operated on. Better safe than sorry! He can go back to having fun at preschool next week!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza

This is a recipe that I adapted years ago, so much so that I kind of made it up. It is a hit with everyone, so it stuck!

Cooked chicken breast (I use one big one) cut into small chunks
Pillsbury pizza crust
Low-fat Ranch Dressing
Garlic Powder
Deli Ham
Tomatoes
Shredded Mozzerella Cheese (enough to cover the pizza, about one 16 oz. package for one pizza)

Directions:
Lay out the Pillsbury pizza crust on a baking sheet. Press thin, this will cover most of the sheet.
Bake for about 7-8 minutes at 350 degrees to precook crust.
Cut cooked chicken breast into small chunks.
After pizza crust has cooled, spread with about 1/3 of a bottle of low-fat Ranch dressing (too much will make the pizza soggy)
Sprinkle with a light dusting of garlic powder
Chop Deli Ham and spread evenly on the pizza
Spread chunks of chicken evenly on pizza
Dice tomatoes and spread evenly on pizza
Top pizza with as much mozzerella cheese as you like.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 13-15 minutes until crust is lightly browned and cheese is melted.

Enjoy! We certainly do!

Now he is Three!

Saturday, August 27 was Owen's 3rd birthday. My baby is no longer a baby, although I still tell him "As long as I'm living my baby you'll be." My boy is 3. No matter which way I say it or how many times I say it I just can't believe it. We are blessed beyond measure to have this Little Man in our lives. Watching him grow, seeing him hit new milestones, experiencing all of the love and happiness that he shares every single day is just wonderful. His stubborn streak continues to grow. At times he can be quite a little pistol, but he is also just the sweetest guy. He is strong, he teaches me new things each and every day. I think the saying "wise beyond his years" is meant to describe Owen. Not that he spends his free time reading the encyclopedia or doing long division. He has this curious, yet intuitive nature that is hard to describe but is just obvious once you spend time with him. He is our cuddly boy, always crawling up on our bed or the couch to snuggle and say I love you. He and Carter are the best of friends. As Carter says, they are lovey brothers. Of course that is when they are not arguing about who gets to be the fireman, policeman, etc. depending on what they are pretending. Or wrestling. The funny part is that Owen definitely holds his own as the younger brother, and certainly gives Carter a run for his money.

For most of the year, Owen was in great health. We did switch pediatricians to a friend from church how is a pediatrician and internal medicine doctor. He is great with the boys and extremely thorough. We were so pleased that I began seeing him as my primary care physician also. As I wrote in an earlier post, in July Dr. Bill found a cholesteatoma, or benign growth on Owen's right ear drum. He had to have it removed just 8 days before his birthday. So much for a year free of surgery. In all seriousness, it was the most simple of the 8 surgeries he has had, and he was back to his happy-go-lucky self in no time.

We look forward to a whole lot more excitement as Owen continues to grow. For starters, he will be starting preschool tomorrow. I'm not sure he fully grasps what he's getting into, but his Mama is having a hard time just thinking about it. Also, Owen's Wish Trip to Disney World is coming up at the beginning of October. He got two Mickey Mouse shirts for his birthday to wear on our trip. Again, Happy Birthday Little Man. You are loved more than you know!

I will post pictures soon. I am having trouble figuring out how to post on Blogger on my new computer. It is a case of user error, nothing to do with the computer itself!