Brant update ...

We are doing ok. Brant has a bit of an inflammation in two of his pin sites so he's been screaming whenever I clean them (I have to do it at least 2x per day). He also had a bit of the pukies yesterday but thankfully he seems ok today. Other than that, not much new to report. Brant is in pretty good spirits the rest of the time and is becoming more mobile - which is good for obvious reasons but bad for anyone trying to carry him or sit with him - that halo is quite the weapon! We all have a bit of cabin fever and I'm praying for good xray results when we go in on Feb 12 to see the Orthopaedic surgeon for his followup appointment. I'm SO hoping he is healing well and that he still is on track for the halo to come off in mid-March.

My baby brother is engaged!

He popped the question and she said YES!
We are excited to announce that our baby brother,

GREG

will be getting
MARRIED
to the lovely
VERONICA.
They of course are super excited and the big day is hoped to happen sometime in September 2008.
Please join us in wishing them your heartfelt congratulations and prayers as they plan for this exciting new chapter of their lives.

Brant with one of the surgeons that did his surgery - Dr. Reilly

Is it bedtime yet?

It's hard to believe it's only 12:30pm. I feel like it's about 10pm.

Owen has been sick with the pukies since Saturday night. Last night he woke up in the middle of the night and I had to change him and he woke up Brant - fun times - so of course now I feel like I could use a few more hours of sleep.

This morning has been a morning of phone calls - both good news and not so good. The We Care program called and confirmed that we will be getting 6 hours of relief from them per week so now I"m just waiting on finding out when they will be starting. So that was good news. But Brant's preschool called and said that they will not be holding his position in the preschool and they will be interviewing a child today to fill his spot (they can't hold it from a financial standpoint because they need the income). So that's a real blow and now we have the added worries of trying to find a new preschool in April when Brant is allowed to return. Who knows if any schools will have spots available for only the last few months ... sigh. And we really liked this school for the Gross Motor time and his aide was just awesome. And the Supported Childcare Program can't provide an aide for Brant at home because it's not in their mandate (they are a program that only provides support for children within a preschool with peers setting). I know Brant will be fine but it still isn't very nice for him not to go back since he really enjoyed preschool and this will be just heartbreaking for him. As it is he often asks when he can go to school but the doctors at this point have said they feel it's best to keep him out of situations with lots of other children for his safety since he has a broken neck. (even with an aide watching since kids can be unpredictable even when supervised).

The Physical therapist came over today and we had a nice visit. Brant was very happy to see her and enjoyed playing with her toys. She was pleased to see him using the Pony Walker and said it was a really good fit for him right now since it encourages movement (of his legs) but doesn't have a risk of falling. I just need to supervise him carefully when Owen is up and about because Owen will bulldoze into him on occasion if I'm not there to intercede.

Anyways, time for lunch and then naptime for Owen. Hopefully breakfast stays down for him this time ;)

Brant had his staples removed yesterday

They got us in super quick when we got there and were very apologetic about the other day. Brant cried a bit when they removed the staples but was happy when they were done. There was a bit of inflammation on the neck incision so the dr. prescribed some antibiotics to keep infection away and hopefully that will clear it up. Thankfully my mom was available to watch Kristina and Owen while we made the trek out there. We have to go back in 4 weeks for a checkup (I think they will do xrays) and then 6 weeks after that to hopefully get the halo taken off if all goes well. I also got a call today from Community Living BC and they have approved us for 6 hours per week of care from the "We Care Home Health Services" program which will send someone in twice a week for 3 hours at a time to help with childcare/housework/etc so that's kind of cool. I'm meeting with the coordinator on Monday to talk about it all. We can also probably qualify for increased respite but at this point we don't have a worker guaranteed so we need to figure that out before we get more hours with no one to fill them. I also got a call from Brant's Supported Childcare Worker (coordinates his preschool aide and such) and we are trying to decide if we want to send Brant to preschool with the halo on or if we should wait until it's off. There are some safety concerns if he does go back to school not to mention the fact that we are supposed to limit his travel (and it's a royal pain to put him in and out of the carseat) while he has the halo on but if we don't send him there is the possibility that we may lose his spot in the preschool as well as his aide. So she is going to talk to the preschool and find out our options. I would feel bad for Brant if he had to readjust to a new school and aide again but I guess I can be thankful that he is still in preschool and not elementary yet.

Brant is doing well though. He is able to sit on his own for short periods but prefers to be supported. We also did leg excercises today (picture Kristina, Brant, and me on our backs with our legs in the air kicking and doing the bicycle - must have been quite the sight! LOL) and I've been trying to encourage Brant to also used his arms. He is also able to flip himself over onto his tummy now which doesn't look too comfortable but he doesn't seem to mind. Now to just work on flipping back!

But all in all he is still a happy kid. He hates taking his medicine (what kid doesn't?) and doesn't enjoy when I have to clean his pins but he is always happy when it's done and often the promise of chocolate (especially for the meds) is a great motivator for him :) One of these days I'll pull out the camera again and post some more pics of my cutiepie.

Oh and I guess I forgot to say HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2008 be one filled with blessings for you all!

~Katrina