JUMP!

Cameron wants to Jump SOOOOO BAD! And we want it so badly for him.

Anytime he sees other kids jump he has the most amazing laugh, and you can tell he just thinks Jumping is the best thing in the world.

His school PT told me last week the class was working on jumping in hoops, and how badly Cameron wanted to do it. Of course they work with him towards this goal and he sort of jumps, but I think he knows it's not the real thing.

Last night we went to "Family Fun Night" at the school, Cameron LOVED that he got to go into his school at night. I swear this school experience is the best thing in the world for Cameron. The joy on his face when he's in the school is just immeasurable. Several of the kids know him by name and would call out to him, Dad would say to me "who's that?" I had no idea, but Cameron knew them, and they him. I guess this is what happens when your kids grow up, you don't actually know EVERYTHING about their lives. That's a tough one...

Cameron and Connor played all sorts of games, well Connor really just monopolized this one car game, I had to bribe our 12 year old neighbor, who was running the game, to just let him play it 5 times in a row.

Cameron's favorite was the "Cake Walk" - he really just liked being in the auditorium (this is where the Talent Show is Cameron would tell you if he were telling this story!). I got him to actually do the Cake Walk with me twice, but the rest of the time he just loved sitting in the seats and watching all the kids walk around and then JUMP off the stage when the game was over. I would ask him if he wanted to play the game, "I want to Jump!, I want to Jump" So he jumped off the stage with Mom's help and loved it.

Saturday we geared up for a trip to the circus, as we got ready to leave Cameron stood on the front porch and prounounced that he was going to jump off the porch. Oh no you don't!!! This would not have ended well and our trip to the circus would have been re-routed to an ER, interception successful!

The Circus was good, it's the first time we have ever taken Cameron to such an event and he handled it pretty well. I won't lie, at one point we tried to bribe him with Cotton Candy, which he's never had. So he opens it up and says to me "Do we eat this?" I wanted to say I wouldn't, I am sorry to all you cotton candy lovers that stuff is just wrong. But I didn't want to deprive him of the whole circus experience.




He also picked out some "noculars" at the overpriced gift table. We just love that he calls them "noculars", oh and he also likes to look at them from the wrong side.

Cameron, we love you!! We want you to jump, just as badly as you do, one day you will!

Connor is not forgotten, he got to spend the day playing with Grandma Randi and I'd say he really enjoyed it! As we pulled away from Grandma's house after dropping Connor off Cameron asked "Are we going to come back and get Connor?" I think he really loves his brother. I am sharing this with you all so I have it on record in a few years!!

The Croup, The Swine & A Powder Keg

It's been a long 7 + days, nothing too terrible, but draining.

Both boys got a nasty virus right after Halloween, little sleep was had, many tears were shed. Cameron is a trooper when it comes to medical stuff so we knew he must be really sick to be crying everytime he coughed. I have slept every night with him since Sunday to keep his temp in check, and ease the pain.

A pediatrcian visit on Tuesday of last week ended with a potential diagnosis of H1N1, maybe Croup for Connor. I learned alot at this visit:
* Dr's are not eagerly testing for H1N1 anymore, many insurances have stopped paying for the actual H1N1 test that costs $600, for the most part if you have flu symptoms chances are it's H1N1, as it's too early for seasonal flu.
*Over 30,000 people die every year from the seasonal flu, Swine Flu is nowhere near this number
*Croup is not nearly as serious for children over the age of 2, so while Cameron was definitely worse off it seemed, Connor was the one in more 'danger'.

He proved that to us overnight Wednesday, he was breathing so loud I seriously got out of bed at one point because I thought someone was talking somewhere?? In the morning he was having some stridor (breathing issues), drooling, with a terrible barking cough. After a discussion with the Pediatrician he sent us to Children's to get him some steroids.

That was fun, all I can say is avoid that place unless it is a serious emergency! Connor got his steroids and we got the hell out of there in less than 4 hours, and considering the ER line that was good.

Those steroids did the trick he was back to Bam Bam status within 8 hours! amazing.

By Friday both boys were still coughing a lot, but playing so that is good. Fevers are finally gone, after 6 days of regular rectal temps I am very happy with this development.

So the "Powder Keg", this is going to go down as one of those things someone in the medical field tells me that I will never forget. The saving grace for this particular Dr., he's amazing with Cameron, very informative with Matt and I and always answers ALL of our questions.

With that disclaimer, he did refer to Cameron's brain as a Powder Keg! Many have asked what is a "Powder Keg" - something in a potentially explosive state. Definitely not a term you'd like used to describe your child's brain.

The last time this Dr. saw Cameron was at 9 months of age (he's the Dandy Walker guy), he reviewed the most recent MRI from March 2009. He saw a few things that stood out to him, I will spare the nitty gritty details.

In short there is some narrowing in the spinal canal, and this could pose a problem and may be an explanation for the problems Cameron was having earlier this year with his gait pattern etc. The cerebellum is wrapping around his brain stem, which is not normal, but might not be an issue? It's all very speculative. Bottom line we are to watch him like a hawk and report any sudden changes in behavior, walking, stability to our team.

The Dr. talked about a potential surgery called a Posterior Fossa Decompression, let me tell you this, Cameron will not be having this unless there is a MAJOR problem.

Most curious is that our current Nuerosurgeon made no mention of any this after the MRI in March, which leads me to believe this might be nothing to worry about. But it certainly has our anxious for our January appt with the team. We'll see.

Tell me if you see a Powder Keg in this image ?

Halloween Madness

The boys LOVED Halloween, and so did we!!
Cameron screamed and ran to the door everytime there trick or treaters, he was also heard bellowing from the front porch to all in the neighborhood:
"I'M DR. CAMERON!"

Connor was a perfect "Bam Bam" despite the fact that he would barely were the hat, so he could easily be confused with luke skywalker.

enjoy...