2 hrs

2 hrs-that's how long he was able to wear his right processor today...due to pain. He refused ibuprofen saying he doesn't need it-but the processor is too uncomfortable to keep on for long periods. If we go any looser or get a weaker magnet-it won't stay on is head-it's barely attached now. It's not read or anything so the mystery continues.........and this isn't even the side that had the staph before! His scars have brightened up a bit also. We see the surgeon on April 19 and I will keep charting the randomness.

Roller Coasters

I get car sick and I'm 35 (for 2 more days!). I have no intentions of ever getting on another roller coaster in my life. The thought makes me nauseous. Real life has instead put my family on a roller coaster. About a week ago, I just KNEW Gage's ci needed to come out, he had consistent pain/tenderness but tomorrow marks a week of being pain free. So we have canceled the 'tenative surgery' and even canceled our ENT visit for today. Gage is still doing SATs at school and even his doc wouldn't want him missing those without necessity. We are rescheduled for April 19 for a visit and maybe by then I will have collected even more of those "symptom free" notes I have beginning to show up on my chart I'm making for his doc. I just believe letting the surgeon's office SEE what I'm talking about rather than trying to go from memory on pain levels, swelling, etc. especially when you are talking about over such a long time period. My memory can not be relied upon these days! Most of his pain and symptoms show up when he comes off meds, then dissappear on their own so I need to show them that. So I've charted!

Brook is doing great, she is in love with her new pet rabbits. She takes good care of them. She sings Justin Bieber songs every single day and I love it...at least hearing her sweet little voice. Her brother will tell you a different story! Can't wait for summer-home with the kids-relaxing (hopefully) and spending the majority of our time outdoors.

Day by Day

Just as a quick update on Gman...we are back to weird and random and inconclusive issues. He is scheduled to see his surgeon on Tuesday March 29. Today, I would tell you we need to cancel his 'removal surgery' and watch and wait some more, but then tomorrow I may be a nervous wreck again trying to contact the surgeon!

Last week he had several days of pain on the side in question. This week so far, he's had tenderness on the right side, and NONE on the side in question (the side in question is the left side that had once been infected). This morning he flinched when I brushed his hair on the right side...no other symptoms. He's not needed ibuprofen in days which is great nor has he needed Benedryl for itching.

Unfortunately, I found out he will still be having SAT testing the day of his appointment and unfortunately, it's not easily rescheduled with the doc going out of town. So, I plan on taking him to his appointment and getting him to school as fast as possible so he won't have a full day of testing to make up. And who knows, he may have NO symptoms next Tuesday and then again, he may be needing his doctor anyway. Only time will tell what this crazy mystery brings...

Brook is doing fabulous-she's still pursuing photography-lol

Ugh

Well, I can't say we didn't 'expect' it...our doctor has been quite clear on the chances we have of winning the battle of a recurrent staph infection in Gage's left ci...so when we finished meds last week, it only took 2 days for the school to be calling me saying he had removed his left processor due to pain. I had them give him some of his Tylenol til I could get to him. There were no other symptoms at that point (Thurs) and he did his news thing the morning after. He needed ibuprofen all weekend for pain around his ci and he even was itching last night so I did give him some benedryl also. He took off his processor each day over the weekend because it bothered him.

This morning he woke up fine-no problems but that is quite common-it comes and goes for a while til it decides to hurt for good, forcing removal of the device. We go in for mapping tomorrow-Gage has a friend spending the night with him so he'll be going along with us too, he'll get to see how it all works. We go see the surgeon on March 29 which gives this problem time to either develop more or disappear completely and at that point, we'll either decide to wait-should he not have any issues for the next 2 weeks-or keep our semi-scheduled removal surgery in April. I want my child healthy so parting with a device that is causing him pain will not be that hard to do. We will update later as more develops in this mystery.

Whatever happens, I am determined he has a great birthday coming up in May! He's been through so much-he just needs to catch a break! This will be like his 3rd or 4th O.R. trip this school year if he has to go back (at least I think so-I am losing track!)

Gage's Big Day

So we woke very early and headed out to Birmingham so Gage could be Mickey's Weather Kid. He was so excited (and nervous) but they were all so kind and friendly! Here is the Fox 6 Studio building.

Here is Gage chillin' in the break-room with one of the news anchors Rick Journey.

And here he is with anchor Janice Rogers who has a niece that is severe to profound but does not wear cochlear implants. Janice is going to be helping out with the benefit Hear Me Roar that helps raise funds for our HEAR Center.

And here he is with Mickey the weather man. He is nuts!

An we couldn't leave without a nice shot of Vulcan's backside! lol

We had an awesome visit and Gage was so happy to get a free scoop of ice cream from Jack's (lol). Wait til I tell him he gets a free burger too!

I think the highlight was when we stopped off at a Jack's to collect his ice cream (it was morning and since they weren't serving burgers yet, I didn't bother to tell him that part yet) and HE WAS RECOGNIZED!!! A lady working there said, "Didn't I see you on the news? You did good with your remote control truck!!"  that tickled him to death!! He's back to school and I'm off to buy groceries before we begin our 9 days at home for Spring Break!!

Mickey's Weather Kid

I will put up all of our pictures and stories in a separate post. Right now you can watch the uncaptioned videos of this morning's news appearance. He did great and details to come shortly. It takes a moment for the videos to start.
http://www.myfoxal.com/Global/story.asp?S=14232100

It took me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get them to play correctly so maybe you'll have better luck than me...it could be my browser or something giving me issues. But we finally got them up, he had fun! More details to come.

http://www.myfoxal.com/global/category.asp?c=195956&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=5650381

if that first one doesn't work....

Getting Nervous

We are down to our last few days (less than a week) of meds. I'm hoping and praying this child eludes the return of swelling, itching, redness, and pain of what could be a returning infection. We've had a few pop up and random itching episodes (few and far between) during the meds but nothing severe at all, along w/one pain/swelling episode during the first week of meds. So it seems that they have done their job of at least putting off the infection. Let's pray it's put off permanently! 

Gage will be on the news (again) next Friday, March 11 to help out the local Weather Man. He'll be Mickey's Weather Kid on Fox 6 and I can actually post up the link of the video when it's over so you all can see him. Mickey is insane hilarious so I'm excited about it!!