more from the last--additional to the previous--post to the pre

I am also thankful for babysitters.
I am thankful for hookahs and strawberry tobacco. Thankful for Grouse.
Thankful for great-grandmothers that are still sending money "just because" 28 years later. Thankful for hot water and cold cokes. Thankful for electricity and Huggies. I am thankful that I do not have to use disposable diapers and thankful that there were alternatives to breast milk when Jack needed it. All you jerks out there that wanna say that breastfeeding is the only way--you can jump off a bridge. I am thankful for bridges. I am thankful for breast pumps. I am thankful for the right to speaking my opinion and I am thankful for the rights of other people to share their opposing opinions with me. Which leads me to being thankful for President-elect O'Bama.
I am thankful for my home and right now my computer. When it breaks in a few minutes I will be thankful that I am married to a man that can fix my computer screw ups.
I am thankful for JP the most. He helped give me my beautiful son that I am so incredibly blessed to have. I am thankful to have the choice to have more children with him but I am also thankful that at this time he and I agree that one is enough. I am thankful to be able to give all of my extra time to both of my boys.
I am thankful for my crazy sister sitting next to me. She has sneezed all night long so I am thankful that Jack is not here to hear it at 1AM.
I am thankful for boxerjam.com which I shall visit now...

to be continued.

Thanksgiving

We are thankful for (in no particular order):

1. Amazing friends. During Jack's hospital stay we had so many friends call or come by to visit. Kim spoiled Jack like crazy. Kristin called me every day. Denali and Tanna came to visit. Ginger and Chris came by and came by the house a few days later. They even got our KIA running by replacing the battery! I told them not to do it--but they certainly have a mind of their own and heart that just keeps giving. Kris came by to visit too. He is like a third parent so it just made Jack's day! Dr. B came by and donated her doctor badge to us so that we could break in to the doctors lounge for food and drinks. Taylor and Spencer came by and totally lightened the mood. I thought I might need to give Spence a Tetanus shot after he decided to climb under the hospital cots and bang his head on the metal underneath--but instead he left with a good ole frog to the shoulder full of love.

2.Amazing family. My parents and JPs parents came by everyday, multiple times a day. Our parents took time off work to help babysit Jack for us. We stayed at their house when we felt insecure and needed a hand. They were always there. Matt literally took the shirt off his back for us and we still have not returned his ONLY pillow that he let us bum. Kara and Bobby came by to visit a few times and so did Melanie. I got multiple emails from family inquiring about the J-Man too.

3.Amazing bosses. My bosses never said ONE WORD about me missing 3 weeks of work, basically. They called us to see if we needed anything but NEVER put on the pressure to be back at work any sooner than we needed or was ready for. I am so lucky to work with such great people. I am so lucky to have such great managers. I am so lucky to like (and even love some) of my co-workers. I am so lucky that I never dread my job. As for JP's job--they brought a basket of goodies for Jack that he loved and very much needed. It was full of toys and books that were perfect for sitting in a hospital bed for 4 days. JP asked if he needed to fill out FMLA papers to protect his job and his bosses said not to worry about that. How awesome is that? They are wonderful people. His bosses came by to visit at one point. Did I mention that he works with Ginger? From here on out I will refer to her as "GTG"...Ginger the Great!

Oh! We had an insurance issue too. Like, a BIG problem. Like a $50,000.00 problem. Thanks to a buddy in Human Resources that was all squared away. THANK GOD!

4. Great medical professionals. Even though we had to have emergency surgery--we have had great doctors, great nurses, great techs, great pt services/ billing people (shocking, huh?) and even decent hospital food! A hospital is not the Hilton. It is there for healing. By the time we left I was a little burned out-but it was a very positive experience.

5. Jack's health. He must be a pretty sturdy kid. He almost bled to death a week ago today and yet we went to Chuck E. Cheese tonight! What the what? What a spectacular kid.

6. I am thankful we are getting a room mate. I am not so sure that Kris feels that mutually but I am very happy about it.

7. I have the coolest dog on the planet. No offense. Let me back that up a hair--Ellie May, Cole, Cooper and Murphy are the coolest dogs on the planet.

8. To be continued...........

i am tired of blood

Long story short...

Jack has his tonsils removed last week and did great.

He had several spells of bleeding out this week--which we were finally able to control. We saw ENT 1 week after surgery due to bleeding and all looked well and we were told he would heal up fine.

We went to the ER last night (midnight) due to copious amounts of bleeding and vomiting blood. The ER staff met us at the doors. He had emergency surgery at 1AM and did great. He has, however, lost A LOT of blood. We were all set up for a blood transfusion but he finally leveled off (to those who know much about labs his hct was 18). Those labs are VERY VERY low and we VERY NARROWLY avoided a transfusion--which is very scary. Our pediatrician called hematology and discussed it in detail.

He is running a fever but a chest xray showed clear lungs. So now we have another lab in the morning--but if it is stable, he is feeling okay and there is no fever we may get to head out in the morning.

We have had a VERY positive experience with everyone here at MTMC (excluding one person). Everyone likes to talk like it's the armpit of middle TN hospitals--but I have NOTHING but good things to say. It is a hospital--not a hotel and it's important to remember that too.

They call it a little T & A

but for obvious reasons I prefer to call it a tonsillectomy/ adenoidectomy. To those who inquired...thank you and Jack is doing great!

We went in to MTMC at 6AM 11/11. Jack was given some Versed in a cup and was quickly on his way to La-La Land. He was soooooo funny. He was waving at everyone and smiling. He was kicked back in the bed in pre-op WASTED! I was literally in the floor I was laughing so hard.

Shortly after the Versed Jack went to surgery. We got a call in the waiting-room about 20 minutes later that surgery was over and he did great! We just had to wait for him to get out of recovery. Recovery did not go quite as well and that took close to am hour. We eventually met up with him and his nurse that told us he had been upset and they had to give him a little extra medication. He still had blood coming out of his nose and mouth (all crusty and dried).

When we got to his room he was out of it. He needed oxygen-but that was not a surprise. The reason we were staying to begin with is that the surgery is harder on children under 2. Several hours and 3 different attempts at different levels of oxygen and 2 respiratory therapist later we were able to SOMEWHAT control his oxygen saturations. We just had to hold a very loud (as in we didn't even bother with the TV) and very large tube to his mouth (nearly inside) in 2 hour shifts. If whoever was holding the tube (he wouldn't wear a mask) fell asleep and moved the tube away from his mout--his sats would drop in to the low 80s. This would set off an alarm and the nurses would run in to wake him up. After I requested that we back off on his pain meds a bit--his sats improved some. We were told we would likely need to stay another night. Luckily we just stayed another day.

Since coming home things have been MUCH better. He is finally drinking and eating. His voice has changed a lot! It is so weird! He had a cold before surgery and now there is no signs of drainage! I hope this keeps up!

So other than needing a little prune juice thanks to narcotics and being WAY off his sleep schedule he is doing really great! Thank everyone for the calls or emails. It means so much.
As always I think we have the best friends and family on this planet. We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and 1 more....

One more pic. This is Jack WITH tonils. Jack without tonsils coming on Tuesday.

 
 
 
 
What have we been up to?
Jack was a chicken on Halloween.
Kristin has been drunk at work....again.
We went to the MTSU parade.