The diagnosis....

I had Sam's file from the pediatrician faxed over to the ENT the other day. When Dr. Blotter (the ENT) came into the office he was kind enough not to mention the bulging size of her ever growing folder!

He took one look in her throat and said, "Yeah...those do not look good. They need to come out." Awesome. Yes, we can wait until January (an awesome without sarcasm). Check her ears while we're here why don't we? What? She still has a hole in her left ear drum from the tubes that were taken out almost a year ago?? Awesome (yes, more sarcasm).

Proposal:

1-Take out the tonsils

2-Check the adenoids while we're in there to make sure they haven't grown back (wouldn't that be awesome?)

3-Do a sort of sheetrock patch on the hole in her left ear drum. What the heck, why not?

When Dr. Blotter and his nurse told me that when Samantha gets older and asks why we didn't take a lot of super expensive family vacations I can just show her her medical file and say, "Because we did THIS instead!" I told Dr. Blotter I am positive we have paid for his summer home. His response? "Looks like a few over at the Budge Clinic too." Gee, thanks. I hadn't noticed! Keep in mind, this is just 1...ONE...of my children out of soon to be 4...FOUR...What in the blazes was I thinking??? Apparently not about their bulging medical files!

Dr. Blotter told me that normally to fix the hole in her ear drum they would do a 2 hour surgery where they essentially life the ear drum up and graft behind and over it. However, since she's already going to be down 30 minutes for the tonsils and who knows how long for her adenoids (depends on if they've grown back or not and need to come out again), he doesn't really want to keep her under another 2 hours. So, instead he is going to a do a procedure that has a slightly (yes, I said slightly) lower success rate (still 60-70%) but takes less time. This is where they go in and do a sort of sheet rock patch on her ear drum. He said the 2 hour surgery is super delicate and finicky as well. He did it on another patient and she got the flu the next day so her ear surgery didn't take. That would NOT be awesome!

I asked if we could wait until January seeing as how it would actually be awesome to get some of our new deductible out of the way before baby comes. It helps that we'll have a whole new year of increased medical flex spending to use as well. He said that would be fine but he's fairly certain that she'll get sick again between now and then. So, (since he's so awesome - NO sarcasm) he gave me a prescription for when that happens because as he said, "It will probably be midnight on Christmas Eve and the only place open will be the ER." To which I had to say, "Or we'll be in Manti & the only place open will be the ER." He smiled and told me "Keep it in your purse!" No need to tell me twice...that last trip to the Gunnison ER in Oct. is going to cost me over $100 - not awesome.

Dr. Blotter did tell me she'll be out for about a week for recovery. Sam's excited about that. I told her I don't think she'll be so excited when it comes. In fact, I think she'd much prefer going to school when it comes! Let the drama begin!

Since we're waiting until January they haven't got a schedule that far ahead. I have to call back in mid-December to schedule a surgery time. I'm hoping I can get a time when Trav's home that doesn't interfere with either Relay for Life kickoff that I'd like to help with and that's close to the beginning of the month so she doesn't miss too much after Christmas vacation....here's to wishful thinking!

At least all our dr.'s ARE awesome (and no, there's NO sarcasm there)! That helps me have a better attitude about it. However, one thing still bothers me. How is it that my husband and I still have tonsils but now 2 of our children won't? Blame it on recessive genes I guess??

PS I got some really cute pix of the kids last night and some good video of Sam. Unfortunately, it is nearly midnight and my children (yes, all three of them) are still awake. So, I will have to post them tomorrow!

Ramblings

Since I'm sure everyone that follows my blog is just DYING for me to update, I suppose I will! ;)

This is the new form of go-kart at our house. Apparently it's SUPER fun because I can't seem to keep the barstools upright anymore!

On Monday I took Caleb to the dr. He had been croupy and had a nose that just wouldn't clear up. We got dexamethazone from our favorite pediatrician and was pleasantly surprised when he said it WASN'T a sinus infection! When I went to pick the kids up from school I started to pull out of the parking lot but before I could hit the road Samantha was throwing up. GREAT! Awesome way to start the week. And to think I changed the sheets on all the beds today! She only had a few small episodes after school (she said she was fine until lunch but had felt junkie after that). I thought she was done and we were in t

he clear until 11:30. I put the childproof lock on the inside of their bedroom to keep Caleb in bed several weeks ago. I heard someone fumbling with the knob & figured it was him. After a few minutes I got up & went to see what was going on. It was Sam, standing in throw up and had thrown up in her bed. Yeah....had a mother of the year feeling at that moment. I was glad Trav was there to clean that one up! So, we got her cleaned u

p & back in bed. Trav thought I was mean b/c I wouldn't let her sleep on the couch (I changed the sheets again). But dude! Have you tried getting puke out of a couch? Especially one that has cushions that don't come off. Um..yeah. No thanks for a repeat in that experience department!

Trav took Caleb for a bike ride one day while he was here. Apparently, it's quite the workout for EVERYONE involved!

Tuesday was fairly quiet. I kept Sam home just to be safe. We made a trip to KMart and I finally found a baby book. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find one that's unisex? Dang near impossible!

Travis just left Wednesday morning (like 4 am) to head back to Rock Springs. We were all bummed. There was a bright side....Trav's brother went up Monday to Rock Springs and wasn't planning to come home until Thursday or Friday. At least he'd have a smidge of home that way?? His brother was going for work too.

I sent Sam to school Wednesday since she was fine Tuesday. When I picked her up after school, her first comment was, "Mom! I didn't even feel like calling you once!" Sweet! I'm thinking it's over & we're good. Stupid me. I thought I was doing awesome. I had the kids in bed at 9 pm (that's EARLY at our house) and I didn't even hear a peep out of any of them! I stayed up and made more super cute bows while I watched 2 movies I checked out at the library. At midnight Sam woke up and said she was cold and didn't feel good. I told her to go get in my bed. It should have been a clue when she took a fleece blanket to my HEATED water bed & still used my blankets too.

Here comes Thursday. Sam woke up with a fever. AWESOME! I got the boys up and dressed and fed and left them at daycare while I took Sam to Instacare. Diagnosis? Strep.....AGAIN! This is the third time this year (June, October, November). I called the ENT's office and made an appointment with our super favorite ENT whom I'm sure we've purchased a summer home for. I think Sam might need her tonsils out. On the bright side....if we could put it off until January, it would go towards the new year's deductible & we could use the money we will have in flex spending. Hmmmm...Lord works in mysterious ways??? Perhaps! Not positive she'll need them out, but I'm just saying. Nash has had his out so I think it's a possibility. Besides, the dr. she saw at Instacare (the same one that saw her with her broken arm & asked her where her cast was) asked if she snored. When I told him she snores bad (like last night I thought I was sharing my bed with Travis again) he said that's another sign that they might need to come out. So, tomorrow I get to keep Sam home again (suggestion from her teacher ;) ) and check Nash out of school early so I can take Sam to the ENT to see if I can contribute further to his summer home purchase! At least I have a good attitude about it, right? :)

I talked to Trav about 10:30 tonight. I've decided things could be worse. He got sent to Vernal (again) today. He told me that he gets to get up at 3 am & head out to the site where they will do 3 wells (12 hrs each) before he'll get to come off the site again. That means that he's going to be onsite for 36 hours straight. Awesome....glad it's not me. At least it's better than the 44 hours straight he was onsite last time. Did you know that apparently it's LEGAL to leave guys onsite for 48 hours straight?? Wonder when he'll be forced to hit that mark. Hope he gets a few naps in here and there! What a man.

Here's to TGIF!

Go me!

I just made my first sale on my etsy.com website! Funny enough to me, it was a watch band that SAM designed! She & Trav both said "Well I guess she gets the money." To which I replied "Who bought the supplies??" I think I'll give her some of the money anyway! Then I can still get her to help me! She was a bit bummed though because she didn't know that I had listed that one for sale & wanted it for herself! Oops! Good thing I have more of those beads!

Need a laugh?

I saw this on a friend's blog and it made me giggle, so I had to share!

Halloween

This year our Halloween was dad-less again. We thought he might be able to make it home for the weekend festivities, but at the last minute they switched him to day shift & sent him to Colorado & Vernal back to back (44 hours on the clock straight). Despite missing our dad, we still had quite the adventure.

Samantha was a princess in the dress Grandma Terri gave her for her birthday. Nash was Darth Vader but went light saber-less & mostly refused to wear his mask. And Caleb, well, he wore Nash's old Devil costume!
I took the kids into Logan on Saturday to trick or treat down main street. I was surprised at their mellowness. None of them wanted to venture down center or 1st, they were perfectly content staying on Main! It was nice enough to not rain on us during this trick or treating, but it was still chilly. Caleb was super cute even though he was super tired. He'd jump out of his stroller and hold Sam's hand to go in. In his quiet little voice he'd manage to get out "Tik Treat!". How could you not give a kid like that candy?
After Trick or Treating on Main, we came home for a bit so we could get ready to go out to Grandma Kris & Grandpa Scott's house. Grandma's birthday is on Halloween, so we always spend Halloween out there. All the cousins came out & we had lots & lots of fun - despite the on again off again torrential down pour. Sam being the only girl, I think she sticks out kinda like a sore thumb!
After all the Trick or Treating was done, we sang to Grandma & had cake.
This is the cake I made. I saw it in a picture from one of the recipe emails I get & thought it was super cute & I needed to copy it.
Nash was the super star trick or treater. He went out and around Grandma & Grandpa's neighborhood about 3 or 4 times and hit quite a bit of area. In fact, his bag is 3/4 of the way full. Since Caleb fell asleep on our way over, he only went out once while we were there, but he too managed to fill his bucket. Samantha went out once and when the down pour started, she was done! She was the door woman all night & was completely happy about it. At one point when I asked if she was sure she didn't want to go back out she replied, "Yep. I'm staying here. I know my brothers will share with me." A bit presumptuous for her to say about a 5 & 2 year old & their precious candy! She was however, correct!