At Home

Last week I was blessed with a trip to San Diego! What a week! Hopefully I can write about it soon. I just need to keep things in order, so here's what happened around here just before I left. (And while I was gone.) I know, the suspense! :)

Remember Aaron had to give up his dresser for his new cousin-to-be? My sister-in-law has the crib now. I can't wait to see pictures! Aaron went through a brief period of sadness when we took his dresser away. However, that didn't last long. Immediately after the crib dresser was gone, Derek put together the new dresser we bought for Aaron. It took an entire Sunday afternoon. Good thing Derek had so many helpers! :)

Assembling the new dresser...can you spot Derek's 3 helpers?

He likes it! It might seem like an odd place for a dresser, but a nightstand doesn't
provide enough storage. When 2 growing boys share a 10X12 room, this works!

While I prepared to be gone for a week, Ginger decided to stop eating. Wonderful. One more thing to deal with, right? I thought she had a parasite. Diagnosing her myself and taking in a sample to have tested at the vet's office, I sure was glad to save us the cost of an office visit. However, her sample came back clean. No parasites. When she refused her food day after day, and wouldn't even drink water for me, I decided it was time for an office visit after all.

Poor girl, can't you tell she's not feeling well?

We found out Ginger has a perineal fistula. That's a fancy way of saying she has a painful sore in her bottom. Why does she have this? What is it? How do we get rid of it? And most pressing on my mind...how much will this cost us? Turns out it's costing us a whole bunch. (But it could be much, much worse.) She requires a special diet for the rest of her life. She needs to be on medications for at least one month. Oh, and even better. Even if we do everything right, she might have a recurrence of this at any time. It's kind of like Crohn's Disease for dogs, with the fistula being the external evidence of the disease.

We're all giving Ginger lots of extra love and attention.

After switching her dog food and starting her on the medications, Ginger seems to feel much better. She's eating and drinking again. In fact, the prednisone she's taking makes her excessively thirsty and hungry. Next Wednesday she returns to the vet for a check-up. Hopefully we can stop her medications and we'll have our Ginger Girl back to normal. Kaleb noticed she had something wrong "down below" before I even took her to the vet, but I didn't pay attention to what he described to me. Lesson learned. Today after brushing Ginger, Kaleb told me everything looked all better "down there." I believe him! I'm thankful for a good report from Dr. Kaleb. :)

Now, moving on to the next patient. Aaron's latest blood test shows us he's within therapeutic range with his Depakote. He's at 60, and the target is between 50-100. We are still seeing several seizures every day, although it seems like some days are better than others. I'm not sure if this is the best we can hope for, or if there's still a way to eliminate these absence seizures. I feel like I have lots more questions than answers lately.

Derek did an amazing job caring for our boys and home while I was away. One thing I missed out on is the Blue and Gold banquet for Cub Scouts. Kaleb earned his Webelo rank, and Aaron earned his Tiger badge. Both boys received the Sportsmanship trophy from the Pinewood Derby Race, and we are super proud of them!

One more thing I missed is Braylen's band concert. For this event, Daddy taught him how to tie a tie. What a special father-son milestone for them to share. :) Braylen played the bass drum, suspended cymbals, and gong. Good thing Derek took videos for me to watch! Braylen loves following in his daddy's footsteps by becoming a percussion player. Pretty soon we'll be setting up the trap set in our basement...Braylen's dream come true. Oh my!

Handsome 12 year old

They're growing up, aren't they?