Touch-a-Truck

I took the boys to Touch-a-Truck in Edmond last year, and Clayton had so much fun that I knew I'd have to keep my ears open for the date this year.  Saturday was the day, the slightly cold and rainy day, but better slightly cold and rainy than blistering hot!

The event did not disappoint, and Clayton was in high Heaven exploring all the trucks.  Sadly, the tractors were missing this year, but other than that, they had all the different kinds of trucks one could imagine.

The event is always super noisy because all the kids are honking all the horns.  Last year Eli was terrified most of the day.  He was fine with the noise this year, but unlike Clayton, he was mostly content just to sit in the stroller and check out everything from afar.  Clayton on the other hand was pretty willing to climb up onto anything and everything.

A little boy's paradise...

These are two of my favorites from the day.

Driving the Gator.  Practicing for Uncle Tom's house.

And..

Eli less than thrilled about sitting in the back of the ambulance.  What's the big deal?

Of course then there's the long drive home...

Unwanted House Guest

These pictures are not great because frankly, I just wanted him (yes, him because I don't believe something so vile could ever be female) out of my house and out of my life forever!

So, the story...

I'm in my bathroom this morning getting ready to go to Bible study, which, on a side note, we've missed the last three weeks due to illness, and Clayton waltzes in. 

Clayton with a huge grin: Mommy, there's someone in the kitchen.

Me: Oh really.  Who is it?  Is it Dash?  He's very into pretending that Dash (from The Incredibles) is everywhere with him.

Clayton: No.  Come look.

Me: Is it Mater (from Cars, another often present imaginary friend)?

Clayton: No, come look!

I decide to oblidge, as I'm trying to be a good mom and supportive of my child's imaginary play.  Clayton takes me into the kitchen and around the back side of the table, and that's when I saw it.  Ugggggggg!  It was about a foot long and it was somewhere between a pencil and a sharpie in thickness.

Okay, I know it's small, but still.  A snake was in my house!  Inside my house!  How did it get there?  How long has it been there?  How is it getting out?  What if it slithers under my oven or fridge, or worse?  What if I lose track of it, and it just disappears inside our house only to later be found in one of our beds or the couch or something like that?  I immediately called my mommy!

It's a really long story, but it did take almost two hours to remove the said snake because I'm a weeny.  In the end Ryan had to drive home from work (30 minutes each way), and the two of us were able to get it onto a shovel and out the door.  He, the snake, was not happy and was repeatedly striking the shovel through the whole ordeal.  I did, once again, miss my Bible study, which I'm severely disappointed about, but at least my home is snake free, I hope.

I told Ryan that I think we are going to have to sell this house and move, but he assured me we are staying put.  How will I ever relax in my kitchen again?

Tornado Update

I just wanted to put a little note on the blog to let everyone know that we're doing fine after Monday's tornado outbreak here in our city.  Ryan had been TDY but was able to fly in early that afternoon.  We tracked the weather into the early evening, as we had been warned about this several days in advance, and we live in a particularly vulnerable part of the city.  At about 5pm we saw a part of the system coming in from Newcastle, OK that was growing pretty angry.  The sirens blared, and the forecasters were warning that it had potential to begin circulating.  At about 5:15pm it did indeed begin circulating right over our house and dumping some quarter sized hail.  We were about two seconds away from jumping into our shelter, but the system was moving so quickly that it passed over us before we had the chance to get in.  In hind sight we probably should have already been in there, but it's a steel box approximately 3 ft by 5 ft, most likely filled with spiders and who knows who else, and it takes a lot for me to want to get down in there with my husband and two small children. 

I've never seen anything like the clouds I saw that evening (we're obviously not Oklahomans).  When that system came over our house, the clouds began moving in all different directions, and they were almost exploding from the sky, one after one.  I told Ryan it almost looked like volcanic ash exploding from a volcano in every direction. 

We did not have any damage to our property.  There were a few homes in our neighborhood that sustained roof damage, and there were several downed fences, all pretty minor events when compared to other parts of the city.  Just 15 minutes after the system passed, I fired up the grill and went on with cooking dinner.  On the other side of the interstate, just a few miles from our home, softball sized hail fell and caused significant damage to a lot of homes and cars.  Ryan and I drove over there last night, and saw many rooftops that now look like swiss cheese.   We also saw many cars with windsheilds and window shattered.

We're feeling extremely lucky this week.  Several insurance companies have set up mobile claims centers in shopping center parking lots, and I've seen lots and lots of cars pulling up to those trailors.  I'm so thankful we're not dealing with that right now. 

Not So Fun Times

We were plagued with ear infections all fall and winter, and now this spring we seem to be plagued with stomach viruses. 

Dear Lord,

Please grant us some antibodies because we are tired of being locked up in this house, especially during the only few weeks a year that it's not freezing or sizzling outside!

Love,
Us

Yet Another Public Service Announcement

So, if you haven't cleaned that disgusting drip pan thing underneath your grill in a LONG time, you might want to do that.  We had an incident last night that necessitated the employment of a fire extinguisher and almost necessitated a call to the fire department.  I'm so grateful we didn't burn down our house in front of our new friends who had never been here, or eaten here, and may never come back again.  Although I offered to run out for Chinese, the guys insisted they could get the chemicals off the grill in a somewhat decent amount of time, which they did, so I did eventually get the food on.  Hopefully my cooking made up for them having to practice their fire extinguishing skills.  I'm glad we can all laugh about it now, but it was a little hairy there for a few minutes last night.  Let's just say I've never seen the temperature guage on the front of my grill reach 750 degrees!

We were in the backyard, so I guess if worse came to worst, we could always employ Clayton's firefighting techniques. 

Yet another life lesson from Wendy: 1) The grill is not a self cleaning appliance, 2) Have a fire extinguisher in your house.  Aren't you so glad you can learn so much from reading my blog lately?

A Trip Down Memory Lane: The New Mexico Spare Tire Incident

The boys and I were listening to the radio in the car, and the hosts of a radio show were talking about how many times God has probably saved them from going through some kind of an ordeal, and they don't even realize it because it never happened.  I'm sure this is true, and I often think about things like that when I'm unexpectedly delayed at a light that will never turn green or because Clayton decides he needs to potty just as I've strapped him into the carseat.  Maybe God is preventing some kind of an accident, or maybe I'm just late.  I don't know.

One thing that definitely came to mind while I was listening was an event Ryan and I like to refer to as the "New Mexico Spare Tire Incident". 

We recently bought a minivan.  I know, I haven't confessed it on the blog until now because I'm still in denial that I actually drive a minivan, but hey, three carseats were not going to fit across the back of the Highlander, so it was necessary.  A couple weeks ago I noticed a slight squeaking noise in the rear and assumed it was the tailgate squeaking as I drove over our pot hole plentiful roads.  Last week I happened to get in the back of the van for a minute while Ryan was driving, and I realized the noise was actually coming from the compartment that holds the spare.  Yeah!  That's easy to fix.  As Ryan later tightened the bolt on the spare, we were reminded of THE incident.

When we'd lived in southern NM for almost a year, Ryan finally got a slot for his Air Force tech school in Dayton, Ohio.  A few weeks before he was to leave, he was starting to make sure his Saturn was in shape for the drive to Ohio.  He decided to check on the spare tire.  When he tried to loosen the bolt to get the tire out of the trunk, it wouldn't budge.  He tried everything.  We lived on base in a VERY tight knit (aka nosy, but mostly in a good way, right Jenny?) community.  After struggling for a while, a small crowd had assembled to try to help.  It was finally decided that something plastic had melted in there, and the only thing to do was to cut the bolt to release the tire.  Someone did this, and the tire was finally released.  Wow.  That's not something you'd want to be dealing with on the side of the interstate.

Ryan left for his school, and a couple months later was making the trip back home to New Mexico.  He arrived in Tucumcari, NM late in the evening.  It was four hours from home, and rather than spend another night on the road, he decided he would drive into Alamogordo that night.  He called me from our one cell phone at about 8pm.  I knew to expect him around midnight.  I was excited he'd be home and waited up.  The drive was on a two lane winding highway, making its way through such bustling metro areas as Carrizozo and Corona.  There was no cell service out there.  Period.  No 9-1-1, nothing.

Well midnight came and went.  That's okay.  Then 1am.  Hmm.  The cell phone kept going straight to voicemail, which I expected because there is no service out there.  Then 1:30am.  There's nowhere to stop, so it's not like he stopped for food or gas, not like that takes an hour and a half anyway.  I was really starting to get worried.  Not only is it the world's lonliest road, those roads are known for drug smuggling and illegal immigrants, not to mention mountain lions, snakes, and that kind of stuff.  I was really getting upset.  I decided that if he wasn't home at 2am, I would first call a friend who often worked with civilian law enforcement, to see if he'd heard anything, and then I would set out to look for Ryan.

Just before 2am, the phone rang.  It was Ryan at a pay phone in Tularosa, about thirty minutes from home.  I was so relieved.  He said it was a long story, but he was fine and would be home soon.

I was so thankful when he finally arrived.  To this day, I don't think I've ever been more scared in my entire life.  Apparently about 10 miles outside of Tularosa Ryan got a flat tire.  It was pitch black out there, and there was no real great place to pull over.  He finally found a little flat ground and got out.  Before he could begin, he had to unpack two months worth of stuff from the trunk so he could get to the spare.  Then he had to locate a flashlight, and on and on.  It took a long time in the dark.  Then he had to repack everything.  He knew I'd be really worried, so he'd been able to locate a pay phone in Tularosa.

So, if you're still with me, Ryan and I have often thought about how lucky we were that night.  If Ryan had not checked on that spare tire before he left, he'd never have been able to loosen the bolt out there.  He'd eventually have had to take off on foot, ten miles to the nearest town.  I'd have been absolutely insane driving along that highway looking for him. 

The moral of this story is 1) I know God protected us from something much worse than a plain old flat tire that night and 2) if you haven't checked on your spare tire in a while, you might want to do that!

Cardiology Update

We had Clayton's cardiology check up on Monday.  His EKG looked unchanged, and he sounded great, so we were able to skip the echo.  Clayton weighed 28lbs even, and his oxygen sats were 82%, slightly decreased, but not too bad.  We'd like him to stay in the 80s, if possible.

The normal topic of conversation was then discussed.  When will this boy weigh 15kg (33lbs)?  Well, not anytime soon is the best estimate.  He is gaining, but it is very, very slow (1 pound this last six months).

For now, we plan to go another six months and then see where he's at weight, sat, and cardiac-wise.  At this point there seems to be no need to rush into a Fontan.  Clayton's heart function is good, and his valve leaks do not seem to be causing any problems at this point, so we're just waiting.  There may come a day when we have to just bite the bullet and do this surgery, but that day is not here yet, so for now, it's just wait and see.

FYI- There are two different ways to do a Fontan.  Clayton will most likely receive the extra-cardiac version, which is preferred by Stanford.  In this procedure a conduit is placed around the outside of the heart.  If the child is 15kg, it's likely they can place a conduit large enough to last into adulthood.  If a smaller conduit has to be placed, the surgery will most likely need to be repeated around puberty, which is what we are trying to avoid.

The other Fontan method is a lateral baffle, where the pathway needed is created within the heart using actual heart tissue.  Because a child's own tissue is used, this "tunnel" will grow with the child, so their size at the time of surgery doesn't really matter.  These children typically have their Fontans earlier than the extra-cardiac kids.

There are pros and cons to both.  From what I've seen, the extra-cardiac may be a little more popular, but not by much.  One down side to the lateral baffle is that many kids eventually require a pacemaker, something that is more often avoided with the extra-cardiac version.  I think that's the biggest reason Stanford prefers the extra-cardiac Fontan at this time. 

These procedures in HLHS kids are still developing and continually changing, and only time will tell which methods produce the best long term outcomes.  We're so grateful there are treatments available.  When I was born in 1980, there were no treatment options.  I probably would have died before anyone knew what was wrong with me.  When Colin was diagnosed in utero, an older pediatrician at my church approached me and told me that when she was in med school, hypoplastic left heart syndrome was taught as a condition "not compatible with life".  A lot has changed since then.