ENT followup

Today was Zach's ENT follow up from his ear infection, results say left ear is good, right ear needs a few more days of drops. while we were there we went ahead and got a hearing test done for zach. the good news is the tempanogram (sp) that they insert in his ear to check for middle ear problems and fluid build up showed that the ear drum was good, no fluid! this is a first!! the bad news is, after a few minutes in the sound proof room, zach failed to respond to the audiologist sending sounds in the room. the audiologist was concerned and requested zach gets a ABR done, so we are on the waiting list for this and will hopefully have his testes dropped the same time while he is already sedated. so now we wait.....

genetic follow up

today was a LONG day! we left early for austin, only to get there on time...really thought we were gonna have some time to spare. sigh. Zach was seen and certianly voiced his opinion in the matter, he wasnt happy to be there at all!! he only smiled after the exam and when the doc wasnt near him. what a silly boy!
from a genetic standpoint, we are thinking his deletion on the 22nd chromosome is a CNV,copy number variant...meaning it runs in our family somehow, so far my blood came back negative, however dad gave his blood today, we will see if his has the same deletion. zachs head was measured and its the same from the last time we were there, about 9 months ago, so this means no brain growth :( but he is making developmental gains so we will sit happy with that! she also thinks his hitting himself may be from the ears, so tomorrow when we go to the ENT i think its time to convince the doc to go on and plan this surgery, we will also need to plan to have his testicles lowered and give him a ABR while he is sedated, this is the "gold standard" hearing test. we need to see where we stand for his hearing.
after the appointment we raced back to belton to have Zach seen by a special company that was in town fitting kids for special trykes, we are hoping to get him one donated to him, after he outgrows it then we would give it to another child who needs it. he loved being on the tryke:)
by the time that was done our nurse was off duty and it was time for her to get back to the house to head home herself. if only there were MORE hours in the day...

cant hear you, i got therapiez growing outa my ears

here a therapy, there a therapy, everywhere a therapy, eeek. so today was Chance's eval for Ocupational therapy, we were able to let him take mikeys spot with mikeys therapist for the eval. ive always joked with chance that he wasnt in therapy "yet" well, those words came back to bite me! he qualifies for therapy, ill find out thursday exactly what his area of weakness is.

Zach isnt feeling well thanks to his ears. fever, cranky, diareah thanks to the antibiotic, sleepy, restless, fussy, higher heart rate, higher oxygen need, mouth breathing...stuffy nose and im guessing a sore throat! ugh. so i cancelled his 3 therapies for tomorrow. he needs his rest. i have plans to go to 2 pharmacies, do schooling with the boys, run by walmart, hobby lobby and i wanted to hit a few thrift stores,and possibly the library...we will see how much of that can get done. id like to sleep some too.

which hat now?

well its monday YIPPY (insert small bit of sarcasm). this week we have 8 therapy sessions planned, Zach has OT, and PT twice each, he has speech and developmental therapy, Mikey has ot, just once this week as Chance gets the pleasure of OT this week as well, he gets his evaluation and we will see where we need to go from there. Zach also gets his RSV shot and then hopefully by saturday Harold is home. just for fun ive decided to list "my hats" mom, wife, book keeper, records updater, cook, errand runner,appointment maker, cook(though not very good) housekeeper(also lagging behind) homeschool teacher (think ive lost my mind) therapy aid (ST, OT,PT,DT)diaper changer, medication administrator. needless to say im looking forward to Harold returning home. he has a "Hunny do" list alread! here it is...

HUNNY DO

Take Over ALL Hats....


my list for when he returns?

SLEEP!!!

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY EVERYONE

the small gestures

friday we left the pulmo visit with zach and headed over to mcdonalds for the boys to eat and run around. loaded zach into his stroller/wheelchair, oxygen tank in the front, bag of meds on the side and went in. thats when it happend, something so small it was probably not noticed by many others. inside we met an Angel, though from the outward appearce most wouldnt have guessed (never judge a book by its cover) a twenty-something guy with tattoos down his arms, and guages in his ears reached down in a nearly automatic response and waved and talked to zach, of course zach just smiled up a storm at the young guy. the thing is, not that he spoke to Zach, but that he did it without hesitation, he didnt see the oxygen from his nose, or the tank in the stroller, or that the stroller wasnt like most...he saw ZACH, nothing more. in that brief meeting i saw an Angel, not a "misfit of society" or "punk rocker" or any other stereotypical phrase that may be used. thank you for the moment....

saving resources

since im posting alot on becoming healthier and staying healthy i thought it may be a good idea to also share our way to not only save on our electricity bill, but to also help save resources for both us and the earth.

we recycle, cardboard, cans, plastics that allow for it. we try to buy items packaged in items that can be recycled.

we turn lights out when not using them, we use the energy saving bulbs, lots of our appliances are energy effecient as well. we wash clothes in cold water only, helps save electricity. i do most of my laundry and dishes at night, when the cost of electricity is down. using the dishwasher is actually better, uses much less water than hand washing. when we brush our teeth we only turn water on to clean up, its off during the brushing process.

we dont use paper towels, we use regular hand towels, we dont use paper napkins, we use cloth.

alot of what we do is just being mindful and aware that our actions will not only affect our pocket book but also our natual resources. again start small, one less bag of garbage, one less load of laundry, using real plates instead of paper....

arm yourself

knowledge is power, and ive decided to step out and lend some to you all, in hopes i wont be pointed at and whisperd "she's one of them....the crazy ones" but if i am, so be it. the info is here, please check it out.

this site has a list of 12 chemicals in beauty supplies i hope you all read and take note of, these are things that you need to rid yourself of. again my all time fav. site for ordering the healthier things is www.vitacost.com

http://www.searchforthecause.org/documents/dirty_dozen.pdf

this site lists alot of good information about BPA, im sure you have heard some of it in the media, but here is a good look and where its used.

http://www.toxicnation.ca/toxics-in-your-body/bisphenola

this is also a good link to take a look inside your body and find out where the chemicals come from, what they do inside the body, and so forth.

http://www.toxicnation.ca/toxics-in-your-body/how-are-you-exposed

here is a link to a list of good ideas for going toxic free

http://www.toxicnation.ca/go-toxic-free

finally i dont want to completely overboard anyone with info, but will give a quick summary of things we are doing in our home to help get toxic free. i use mainly homemade cleaners, baking soda and vinegar to clean items, this does just as well as soft scrub, clorox, commet or any other items your now using. vinegar can be used to sanitize, clean windows and mirrors, laundry to help remove static and get clothes softer. clean toilet bowls, mopping, etc. baking soda is used for those items i need to scrub. we use no spray cans in the house, no lysol or fragrant oderizers. baking soda and vinegar can be used in the dishwasher as well as borax, lemon juice, or orange juice to help add a nice smell. bath time we use burts bees for the kids and are making the switch for ourself we use toms toothpaste for everyone. im looking into getting some "soap nuts" for our laundry as this would be a toxic free, eco friendly way to clean clothes. we also wash in only cold water as it uses less electricity, but that is for another post. i use lots of supplements for the kids and i, including vitamin c, vitamin d3, echinacia, fish oil to help boost our immune system. i use aloe vera gel for lotions, to help heal scrapes, to help condition hair, and am looking into getting some aloe vera juice as its many benifits for health. we are trying to cut out as much processed foods as possible, making more from scratch, etc. these are just a few ideas, start small dont feel overwhelmed.