Jon's Hospital Visit...

It's become a regular thing in our marriage... random trips to the ER here and there for things that pop up out of the blue. If we go a whole year without any ER visits for Jon, then we're doing really well.

Last week half our little family had fevers. It started with Parker on Wednesday evening, who got taken to the doctor on Thursday and was given an antibiotic even though his strep test was negative. The Jon started getting fevers on Thursday, pretty high though- up in the 103's, regularly if the medicine wore off. And then Mia got a fever on Friday.
By Sunday, Parker and Mia were better but Jon was still fighting it. His fevers were pretty bad with shaky chills each time they'd break. He also sweat every ounce of water in his body every time, having the change his shirt 4-5 times each night.
By Monday everyone was telling Jon to go to the doctor but he didn't, and I quote, "have time". On Tuesday he said he felt better, and his fevers had gone away, but he had a MoNSTeR headache. He went to class that evening (the evening MBA program at ASU) felt okay still, came home about 11pm and went to sleep.
12am, September 1st arrived and our new Student Health Insurance kicked in and we were no longer on COBRA... well we paid for it, so why not use it now??? I'm sure they're loving us.
Fast forward 2 hours...
Tuesday, 1:30am Jon was out of bed, walking around, holding his lower back because it all of the sudden hurt so bad. By 2:15am we had pulled up WebMD and decided to go to the Emergency Room. Jon called our good friend Tim 3 doors down, who came over and gave Jon a Priesthood blessing. In it he mentioned being able to ask the right questions to the doctors in order to receive the right answers in getting relief.
Jon's brother Jay is visiting for a month, so the nice part was that he was already here to stay with the kids.
We got to the ER at 3am, were the only ones there and by 3:30 Jon had a nice big dose of morphine. The doctor was 100% certain it was a kidney stone and would run a test or two and then send us on our way with some medication. Well that sounded quick and easy... maybe we'd be back home by breakfast... Think again.
His back/abdominal CT came back showing not a kidney stone but a calcified deposit just outside the lining of his kidney. Also, their standard blood workup came back with several red flags which could be related or unrelated to the kidney thing. His white blood cell count was very low, his liver function was elevated to 480 (it's supposed to be below 80) and some other fancy things which I didn't get a medical degree to understand came back Low. The next thing they did was a Spinal Tap to test for Bacterial Meningitis. Then they did a head CT because of his MoNSTeR headache. That combined with his achy neck were signs of Viral Meningitis.
They started a broad spectrum antibiotic right away and then would adjust it once they had more information. Jon's pain was dulled by the morphine, his headache was starting to come back, but he was happy to finally be able to rest. The doctor decided to admit Jon based on the blood results to see if his numbers would improve over the next 2 days. And all this was done before 5:30am... now that was and efficient trip to the ER!
I was able to run home from 6am-8am to get the kids ready and off to school and find 3 different babysitters at a moments notice. Mia went to my neighbors for the day who also happens to be my visit teacher--Thanks Lindsey! Parker went to Jen's (supermom/neighbor) who was able to get him to preschool, and then he went to Nikki's (the Primary President in our ward with the cutest little boy you've ever met) after school. Abby went to school and then to Jen's (neighbor who saves my life daily) until dinner time.
 It was crazy and amazing all at the same time. I had so many people drop their day to help out with mine. Seriously I don't know what people do without Relief Society. These women are amazing and offer to help out without being asked... and when you let them help you, they don't make you feel guilty or like you owe them somehow. You just feel like they genuinely care and want to do something anything to ease the situation. I had several more offers from others as the day progressed to help out with the kids and sincerely appreciate you more than you know.
8:30am Dropped all the kids off and headed back to the hospital. Called family and friends to give them updates... which was actually No update. See they had worked so quickly and efficiently in the ER and had given us so many results so quickly that it got in our heads that that's how things worked there. However, we were sorely mistaken. The whole day we sat at the hospital in our room thinking the doctor would walk in any minute with some answers. Nope. We just sat and sat and sat. Jon's back and side were comfortable with the morphine. He had no appetite though and still had his MoNSTeR headache.
3pm they took him for an ultrasound which could tell us more definitively about what they saw on his right kidney.
5pm I went home to get the kids fed and in bed. I was exhausted and falling asleep having been up since 1:30am.
6pm Jay (Jon's brother) came to stay with Jon and got the nurse to track down the doctor at home to ask him what was up. See the only time Jon had seen the doctor was at 6am down in the ER. All the nurse could tell us is that they were running more tests and waiting. We were put in a room way at the end of the hall which kind of made us feel forgotten about. The doctor said there was a cyst on his kidney and they had ruled out meningitis. The Spinal Tap came back clear and the head CT was clean. Also, his spleen was enlarged. A Hematologist would be by to figure out the blood work at some point. Well Thank You sir for giving us some kind of an update! Hope we didn't interrupt your dinner.
7pm the hematologist came by and talked to Jon, read his file and ordered some blood work.
I stayed home to sleep and Jay stayed with Jon until about 10pm. Jon slept OK through the night and his headache was finally relieved by early morning.
4am the nurse came in a drew about 5 vials of blood, Jon slept right through it and doesn't remember a thing.
6am the nurse came back and drew about 17 more vials of blood. Now that was a lot! He was awake for that one.
10am the hematologist came back and said that Jon's numbers had all improved slightly. They tested for mono, Hepatitis, different Autoimmune diseases, and a slew of other things which all came back negative. He then recommended him for discharge.
11am the other regular physician came in and said his liver function had come down just a hair- it was now 475. He told him to follow up with more blood work in a weeks and that he could discharge him with instructions for a low-fat diet to bring those liver numbers down even more. His conclusion was that Jon probably had something viral in his body and that it just had to run it's course. And that it probably irritated the cyst on his kidney. I personally feel like Jon had a kidney stone and that all of these other things were evidenced because of it... but I don't have a medical degree.
11:45am FaSTeST DiSCHaRGe eVeR! And we've had our share of hospitals stays to prove it.
12pm we're home! Jon is resting and planning on going to class tonight...
and we are a happy somewhat-healthy family once again!

Parker at Preschool

Parker gets to go to preschool now 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. It's a nice break for me and so far he Loves it! He walked into school at Ms. Dawn's the first day like he had been there every day of his life! I'm so proud of him learning to be a big boy... although he will have A LOT of growing up to do over the next year if he is really going to go to Kindergarten next year. He is leaps and bounds away from where Abby was a year ago (if that makes sense)... but he's a boy, and that's why they start in kindergarten instead of 1st grade. So I'm not worried about it. I'm just excited to see him grow and develop new skills and abilities!

Abby starts Kindergarten

Abby started Kindergarten last week at Boulder Creek Elementary. This has been the much anticipated event of her life! I got to go with her for parent orientation the first day, which lasted only until 10am. The night before of course she was so excited that she didn't actually sleep until about 9:45pm, despite being in bed at 7:30. So then I was sitting in "class" with her while the teacher read up The Kissing Hand and what does she do? She laid her head down on my lap... which she continued to do 3 times! School was only 90 minutes long that day, however would she last?
Her first week went well, she got to ride the bus home on Day 2, which was just as exciting as actually getting to go to school finally. She LOVED the bus! On Day 3 she got to ride the bus home again, but it was a different experience... The bus drive took a different route than the day before, putting her at our stop 10 minutes earlier. So of course I wasn't out there, but my neighbor Heather was. The unwritten rule (because I can't find it anywhere but through word of mouth) is that kindergartners are absolutely not allowed off the bus without an adult there to get them. So Heather called me, I RAN my little heart out there to the bus stop (Parker got to babysit Mia)--thanks to the driver for waiting--and Abby ran of the bus to me and burst into hysterical tears.

Of course it was 110 degrees and I got to carry my 50 pound child all the way home. I felt SO bad, mostly because it was only her 2nd time on the bus and the driver kept telling her that she couldn't get off. I explained to Abby that the driver wanted her to be safe and that she would have just taken her back to school and mommy would have gotten her there, but that wasn't enough. "No more bus." is all she said that whole way home through her sobbing tears. I drove her home the next 2 days (Thursday and Friday) and we started anew this week. So far so good.
I was able to talk to "Victor" at the department of transportation who tracked down a waiver I could sign, letting her off the bus even if I am not out there. So problem solved! I still love meeting her at the bus and taking her scooter so that she can ride it home, but now I won't panic if I think I'm a minute too late!
I thought Abby would be the tallest in her class by a long shot. She is taller than some 2nd graders at her school. The good news is that there are a few boys just as tall as she is. Thankfully she doesn't mind being so tall.

Mrs. Webb is her teacher for Kindergarten. She has taught for 19 years, is a mom of 2, and was a clown before becoming a teacher... so my impression of her is that she knows how to rule the roost but doesn't forget to have fun at the same time. I was really happy the first day when she said her door is always open. She wants the parents to feel like she can stop in at any time of the day to come play at school. So this week I did just that.
On Tuesday Abby said she didn't want to go to school and why does she have to go every day. Then that night she planned with me that she would go 2 more days that week and then take Friday off. Ha! seriously. We're on day 6 of kindergarten and she's already planning on playing hookie?! So of course I had a nice talk with her and made her go on Wednesday. And while Parker was at preschool, I went and surprised her at lunch with a burrito to make sure she was feeling better about being there. She was so excited when she saw me sitting at her table and gave me the biggest hug! Then I was the talk of the table. All of the girls wanted to sit by us, and meet me, and was I a teacher, and what was my name, etc. etc.. We ended the day with swimming at a friends house to remind Abby that she could still have fun on school days!

Abby wanted to match with me for her first day of school... how sweet!

Summer Fun

For the first time in a long time we were able to get away as an entire family for a much needed vacation (on my part since Jill is always going somewhere)

For 2 weeks we took off to the midwest for various adventures. With a quick flight to Chicago we took a long drive north to Wisconsin to the cabin for some fun on the lake. We were lucky enough to trick my mom and dad into a 7 hour car ride with Abby and Parker so we only had Mia with us. It made the drive a lot easier.

At the Cabin we were able to spend time with Uncle Jay, Uncle Jack & Aunt Mel and their son Lit'l Jack. It's always good to see family. We played on the water and just hung out. It's so peaceful up there. The kids loved the water. Abby and Parker were both brave enough to ride the tube alone even with me driving. Abby also tried water skiing 1 time but that was a disaster filled with tears (Jill drove that time). All and all a peaceful time up north. The only issue we had was a bear decided to come visit the area and made some mess of the garbage. I guess in Wisconsin having a bear in the area comes with the territory, we're just not used to that being from the desert.


Mia just liked wearing the life jacket suit under her clothes. It was tough to get her to take it off.

Grandpa with his lit'l grand kids

peaceful...

After our fun up north we headed to Nauvoo to spend some time with the Wilsons. Although it was super hot and super muggy (90 degrees plus humidity is a lot worse that 110 degrees in the desert) we had a really fun time. While there we went to the Nauvoo pagent, a frontier fair, and some of the sites.

Best friends have to match, right?

Puppet shows keep anyone entertained


Mia loved the horses on a farm nearby

I guess Parker did not like this house as much based on his expression

Family pictures are just so hard sometimes...

After the Nauvoo adventure it was back to Chicago for fun. Grandma Suz has been wanting to do a girl day for Abby so all the girls took a day and went downtown to the American Girl doll store and got Abby a new friend. They made an adventure of it by going on the train and buses to get there. Jill did say that Abby was really friendly with all the strangers on the bus and the train. I guess she just likes making friends. I wasn't too sad that I didn't get to go to the doll store, oh well.

All and all it was a really fun time to get a way. Unfortunately by leaving it meant we were going to have to come back to reality at some point. Now with a few weeks of summer left we have a lot to get done before Abby, Parker and Daddy go back to school. I'm sure we'll manage just fine.

Parker!

So, I find that it is usually me updating this blog even though it is something that Jill wanted to do. It's amazing how time flies by. The latest gap in time has included Jill's annual trip to Cincinnati as well as another birthday for Parker, which means the big 4! (she can share some of her memories from that, while she was gone I was slave labor for a few weeks with projects around the house)

For his birthday we decided to do something outside before it got too hot. We figured it would be fun to make a slip and slide for him and his little friends. With a little heavy duty plastic and a really long hose we were able to create a bowling ally of kids over at our park. It was a lot of fun with a few tears but what do you expect when you have a half of dozen kids sliding at a time into another half a dozen at the bottom?

We weren't too surprised to find Parker sitting on the side with a popsicle. He has his priorities...

Even Mia got into the excitement. I tell you, if you turn your back for a minute this little monkey is climbing on everything and getting into whatever she can.

Mia

I know we're not supposed to have favorites but this last month we've had a chance to think about our precious little Mia. For some reason we have been really lucky with Mia, she has been a happy baby and we are so happy that she is a part of our family. From the time we came h0me from the hospital we have seen the happy spirit that Mia has been. Now that she is walking and exploring she can be a little more demanding but we are fine with that, after all she is still our baby. The kids have been really sweet with her and accept her as part of the family (glad to know that we have their approval). Although she's a red head she doesn't have the fiery attitude yet (we expect that to start anytime), for now we'll take what we can get.

Balloon Time

A few weeks ago I called Jill during a break from class on a Saturday and she told me they were doing a balloon glow up near our house in Cave Creek. North Phoenix has a lot of hot air balloons so we thought it would be fun to go and see. My thought was there were going to be a ton of balloons. I was let down when there were only 9 or 10 but it was still fun to get up close and touch them. I think it's inspired us to go over to New Mexico for their balloon festival with 600+ balloons.

Late Holiday Update

So we had a really good holiday with all of Jill's family in town. We had Hotel Peterson in full effect this year but although it was crowded it supplied a good amount of memories for the future. Every year we are here in Arizona for Christmas I appreciate the warmth versus the frigid winters. For some reason the sunny blue skys and 70 degrees is nice. We were able to be out and about for the holidays and have fun with family.

This may look funny, but a human hamster ball is a great workout!

Every family needs a superman!
Our little Christmas Claus