One more thing

Because so many of you first started reading about this on my LJ, I feel the need to update you all here (since I never remember to even log in over there anymore!). FIL is officially on hospice. He is not getting any active treatment for the cancer. He is continuing the fluids that he has been receiving, which is good. If he were to stop the fluids he would be dead in a couple of weeks. He only has one functioning kidney and he just can't keep up with all of the drinking to keep himself hydrated and flush his system... Since he is continuing the fluids he will just get weaker and weaker until his heart eventually gives out. I would not be surprised if he decides after Christmas to stop the fluids, but I could be wrong. They can't say how long it will take but I think months rather than years is likely. He's on pain medication now which seems to be helping a little bit. The important thing is that there is a nurse there everyday and one always on call so MIL will never have to decide if he should go to the hospital or not. She just calls the nurse and the nurse comes and decides. Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts over the years... especially the academy (you know who you are).

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Dear PBS Kids

I'm one of those parents who actually watches TV with her child. Even if I'm on the laptop... I'm sitting right next to him on the couch answering his questions and interacting with him. When I had to watch the same Caillou episodes a million times I thought hmm, that's funny, there must not be very many episodes. Then I started noticing that out of the 3 vignettes in an episode only 1 would be new and the other 2 would be from other episodes. When you watch every day you notice these things. Imagine my surprise when we started DVR'ing Curious George and the same exact episodes are repeated week by week. If you're going to play a TV show EVERY SINGLE DAY, have more than 30 episodes to choose from. And if you have to repeat, maybe you can wait more than a week? Or here's a cooky thought, just don't show them every day. Twice a day. I know you get away with it because kids don't really give a crap about watching the same thing over and over again and again. And most parents use the TV as a babysitter so they wouldn't care. But I'm not a kid and I'm not most parents and I need a little variety. Thanks so much.
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The Princess had her first taste of peaches this morning. I couldn't get the spoon to her mouth fast enough. She has had a couple of successful poops so hopefully it is doing it's job. I've done things so much quicker with her than with SkyWalker but it's not like I'm shoving it done her throat. I didn't even want to give her cereal. But she's hard to refuse. And I really didn't want to be feeding her every 2 hours like a newborn!
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The FIL is still in the hospital since last Friday. The earliest he'll be discharged is this Friday. His kidneys are still swollen, don't look normal. They had to catheterize him again. They want a kidney specialist to take a look at him now since they still don't look normal after being there with a catheter for days. What will probably happen is that he'll have to catheterize himself (i.e. MIL will have to do it) on a regular basis. It's not related to the cancer at all--it's just a problem with the new bladder. But he only has a new bladder because of cancer in the old one so I guess it really *is* related.
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SkyWalker was wearing his snowsuit around the house yesterday. Refused to take it off. And then decided he needed to "shave" so he took everything off and walked around with no shirt on. Today he is sitting on the couch wearing nothing but underwear and socks. I guess I should be grateful he is wearing underwear.
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If Isaac is not allowed outside by himself soon I might lose my mind.

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Pause

Ever wish you had a pause button for life? I swear this week has gone by in a matter of seconds.

The Princess had her surgery on Monday. She did very well. It was a bit more complicated than originally thought--apparently the bad ureter was going into the urethra and not the bladder at all. So instead of re-routing the bad one onto the good one, they took both (since they were very closely attached to each other as well) and moved them both into a more appropriate spot on the bladder. The bad ureter was kinked a lot and this was the best way to fix it. There's a 95% chance that this will fix everything and she won't have problems in the future.

When we first saw her after the surgery she was so puffy from the fluids in the IV that I almost didn't recognize her. It was hard seeing her like that and I couldn't pick her up right away. Luckily she was very calm and actually trying to smile. The nurse handed her to me and I was able to nurse her immediately, unlike SkyWalker who was too weak to nurse. That was good. And she lost the puffiness pretty quickly. She was up ALL night long and when she wasn't nursing, her little roommate was crying (with no Mommy to console him). Or the nurses were in and out giving meds. I did not sleep and am still trying to catch up. She's been up every night this week. We started her on cereal yesterday and I hope to be back on routine starting Monday. Having my mom here this week was a huge help and yet one more reminder of how far away I am.

The news on the FIL is not so good... a cat scan showed a mass (carcinoma) on his spine so now he has to have radiation for 10 weeks and then follow up with more chemo. MIL mentioned that they are working on "just eliminating his pain" right now. Which doesn't sound very promising to me... but nothing is ever said directly.

One of our pipes has yet another leak and it looks like we will have to have major work done one way or another. Good times.

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Good News

Just got a call from my MIL. FIL has a bladder infection. They're sending him home with some antibiotics. I guess it's common when you're on narcotics. This has been handled so wrong from the very get-go and I don't know who's at fault. They should have told him the warning signs so he could get seen right away. He should  have been seen by a doctor at the hospital right away. And his own urologist didn't even see him until today! Didn't know he was there! He should have been the first one called. I don't know if my FIL didn't give all the information right away or if the hospital just didn't process it right away but it seems like a lot of balls were dropped. In any event, he's being released and I really didn't think that was going to happen. 

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There's always something

Right? There's just always something.

FIL is still in the hospital. He wasn't eating and was getting sick, which is common with chemotherapy, but it was really bad. After being in the hospital for over 24 hours they finally talked to a doctor. They thought his bowels were obstructed, but after talking to him more they decided to check his bladder (the new one). They put a catheter in and it was totally full. He wasn't emptying it... that *might* be why he didn't want to eat. Now they have to figure out what's wrong with his new bladder. And if that's even what's causing this latest setback. Cancer is a bitch.

SkyWalker is using his new laptop right next to me. It's very cute but I wish the volume didn't chirp.

Yesterday I took both kids to the local firehouse so I could vote in a very important primary. They wouldn't let me vote! Apparently when you switch parties it doesn't take effect until after a national election. What the hell??? So I registered as a republican for no reason, I had to drag the kids out for no reason, I had to drag Haze into the house so I could leave FOR NO REASON! Argh. When we got home I only had an hour before we had to leave for the doctor. The Princess had fallen asleep and miraculously stayed asleep in the garage (she does not sleep outside the home), so I left the kids in the car, ran in the house, got SkyWalker's school bag (with his extra underwear) threw some books in there, and we left again. SkyWalker fell asleep on our way to Burger King. I went through the drivethru and headed to the pediatrician for the Princess's 4 month check up. As soon as we got there she woke up. At least she got 45 minutes to sleep. SkyWalker was still sleeping so I scarfed down my burger. He woke up, ate most of his chicken nuggets and we headed in to the doc. (for those who care, the Princess is now 14 lbs, 4 oz, 24 5/8 inches). Everything went fine. Finally got home at 4 pm and my wonderfully understanding boss (thanks The Nice Librarian) had left a message on the machine telling me to just stay home (we weren't sure if Vader was going to make it home from the hospital in time and it turns out that because he was able to stay later he could actually hear what the doctor said, so it was really good that I was home). It was a hell of a day.

The Princess slept like crap last night and now has a fever from those damn shots. SkyWalker was adamant that we not go to gymnastics again, and since the Princess needed her sleep I decided to just drop out, I was glad I did when I woke her up and she had a fever and screamed for 30 minutes before I got her to nurse. I feel a little bad about giving up on gymnastics after only one time, but SkyWalker was very insistent that he did NOT LIKE GYMNASTICS and he kept saying he likes soccer and wants to go there. So we'll have storytime on Tuesdays and soccer on Thursdays and the Princess (and Mama) will get to recover at home on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If he didn't have soccer, or was saying the same thing about soccer I would still bring him to gymnastics. But because he so strongly stated that he liked one and not the other I don't think this is just a "I want to stay home" ploy.

Oh yeah, I read in the paper that the very important primary was decided by only 6 votes (and not in the way I wanted it)!!! Damnit! I wonder if anyone else was turned away for the same reason. I'm sure if anyone did change parties to vote, it would have been for the same reason I did it and our guy might have won if we could have voted!

Damn local politics.

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Little good, little bad

Today is SkyWalker's 3rd birthday. It's been a wonderful day. Lots of fun and Denny's, can't beat that. :-) He had a great birthday party on Saturday and I had 4 boys going down the slide head-first. I am so glad we got that playset this summer and didn't wait! He did so much better at soccer last week than he did at gymnastics and when we went to storytime at the library he got into it and danced with a teddy bear on his head. So good times.

FIL is in the emergency room today. He hasn't been eating and has been in pain. Not good when you have cancer. We haven't heard anything yet. I feel so bad for my husband... only child... he has no one else to really share this with.

Break time is over. I swear the Princess just said "Hello". Maybe it was "eeooowww." Hmmm. Anyway, there is fussiness now.

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Time slips away

I close my eyes and open them again and another week has passed. It's amazing how quickly time goes when you're not cutting it up into work weeks and weekends. Every day is the same and they all speed by...

Anyway. I have  no idea how much time I have to write since the Princess has refused a nap and SkyWalker just fell asleep nearly half an hour ago. Maybe I won't write in complete sentences so I can update everything that needs updating. There should be a new rushed mom blogger language. Ha.

1. The Princess had her ultrasound and VCUG yesterday. She does not have reflux. What she does have is a duplicated system on the right kidney. Which means that instead of one ureter coming out of the right kidney she has two. And one of those is a little messed up. We'll do another ultrasound in 3 months and if the dilation has gotten worse then we may need to think about surgery. But for now it's so slight that they are willing to "wait and see". The fact that she has two ureters doesn't matter. Lots of people have them (and in telling the in-laws this we discovered my FIL has it. Umm.... hmmm we could have used that information...). She's doing quite well, gaining a lot and starting to sleep in longer chunks at night. We're getting a good day routine going (which of course she is rebelling against by not napping right now.)

2. FIL's cancer has not gone away. The radiation did nothing. In fact the tumor may have grown a bit. He's getting another round of chemo. If that doesn't do it I don't know how many options are left.

3. We bought one of those playsets today. Well, we picked it out and put it on the credit card and the in-laws will be paying the bill. Which is a good thing since if we were paying the kids would have an imaginary playset. It was over $3k. That's a lot.

4. Isaac hurt his leg. We thought it was a torn ligamant and that he might need surgery but the radiologist said it looked more like a soft tissue injury so we're just giving him pain pills and hoping it will get better in 2 weeks. He's been limping bad. He is my problem puppy. :-( And this comes on the heels of my brother putting his dog down (the dog he got right after we got Isaac).

5. Big changes at the library. Seems as if when I go back in September Bossman will not be there. I'm surprised but not surprised. I didn't think he would ever really leave. But he's been doing things lately that I didn't think he would ever do so I guess I'm not really all that surprised. I hope whoever gets hired fits in because we are a funky department.

6. Finally, since I just heard SkyWalker start whining, potty training! It took just a few days but they were hard. SkyWalker is now potty trained, wearing big boy underwear. Still in diapers at night but getting drier and drier and waking up in the middle of the night wanting to pee on the potty. I tried to do that every 30 minute scheduling thing and it was a nightmare. He held in his poop and screamed and cried. Finally I told him he could poop in a diaper he just had to ask me for one. So he did. And then he proceeded to poop in the potty and just wear underwear. As long as he thinks he's in control... We haven't had any accidents in a while. But he has a habit of getting up prematurely and walking out of the bathroom with a turd in his crack. Because he just goes potty by himself and then tells me about it later. Which is somewhat helpful when I'm feeding the Princess, except when he leaves turd trails. He's doing really really well though and looks amazingly cute in his cars underwear.

I try to get on vox whenever I can and read even if I'm not posting. Crikey, the Princess must be hungry sooner than she should be (the nerve!). SkyWalker has momentarily quieted down. I'd better take care of her while I have the chance.

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Bad plumbing

And unfortunately I'm not talking about the kind with copper (do they still use copper?) pipes.

We had our second Level 2 ultrasound yesterday. Those of you who have followed me from my LJ will remember that 4 weeks ago we had our first L2 ultrasound to check on the status of my evil placenta. The placenta turned out okay, but they saw some dilation in a kidney. Hence the second L2 ultrasound. I had hoped that it would clear up on its own, but apparently I just can't escape children who have pee-pee problems. SkyWalker had to have surgery at 6 months old to correct hypospadious. This one will need surgery too. There is still dilation in the right kidney which means that something is either pinching the ureter or there's reflux, some kind of obstruction. They'll keep giving me the L2s every 4 weeks to make sure that there is enough amniotic fluid (baby pee). There's plenty of fluid now which means that the kidneys and bladder are working. If there is not enough fluid that could be a problem... We'll meet with a surgeon, the same guy who did SkyWalker's surgery, he'll check out #2 after its born to diagnose the actual problem and we'll go from there.

I wonder what will happen to #3 and #4? Will their pee-pee problems be worse? Will they tell me I can't have #3 and #4? That will suck.

In other plumbing news FIL is not feeling too well and is actually in pain. I think he starts the radiation next week. He's been on some pain medication that made him sick so now he's back on something he took when he had chemo last year.

Think maybe there's a reason my kids have bad plumbing? I'm going to blame my husband's side of the family.

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Tread lightly

The long and the short of it is that the FIL has cancer again. Radiation seems to be the only option. I don't want to get into details here, now, but suffice it to say that our house has been filled with gloom once again and we're not exactly optimistic.

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I needed this now, thanks

Isaac is having a cyst removed from his ear tomorrow. He had to have blood work to make sure his kidneys could handle the surgery since he's had prednisone for his allergies. The blood work came back okay for his kidneys but also showed an elevated level of white blood cells. We were originally not going to have the cyst checked out because the vet said the odds of cancer were low, but why else would his white blood cell count be up? So I think we'll probably have it analyzed now.

I don't need this.

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