Family Health Update : the good, the bad, and the ugly!

As usual, my family's health issues have kept me hopping over the past few weeks.  Here's the summary...

The good news is that Owen has been cleared by neurology.  This is great news for us.  For those who didn't know, Owen had a number of (what we thought) were seizures.  Trust me!  They looked like seizures.  I'm not altogether convinced that the first one he had in August while on vacation in Vancouver wasn't a seizure, but there were mitigating factors at the time.  The theory is that he's actually fainting, but that the lack of blood to the head makes him mimic seizure-like activity (ie-convulsing/stiffening).  This can be really scary to see, but it's better than the original diagnosis of epilepsy.   Owen is learning to recognize the signs when he's feeling faint and sit or lie down.  He comes by this honestly as both I, my mother, and sister are all fainters.  The bad news is that blood seems to be a big trigger for him, so unless something changes, we can rule out a medical profession for him :S

Felix's lip is healing beautifully (see previous post for info).  I'm actually amazed at how quickly it's healed.  He went to the dentist for an x-ray as they though he may have damaged the big front tooth coming in behind the baby tooth.  Everything looks good.  He chipped his upper, front, right tooth, and his bottom teeth are a little loose, but he, thankfully, didn't do any permanent damage.  At the end of the day we were pretty lucky.  Considering he landed smack on his face, it could have been much worse....

As for Mr. Emmett, he certainly gave us a scare this week.  He'd been running a temp for a number of days, so we went in to see our pediatrician.  She heard fluid in his lungs and sent us for an xray at CHEO as she suspected pneumonia.  The radiologist sent her a report the next day that said he had "pulmonary edema".  That means that they essentially though he was in a bit of congestive heart failure (not totally out of the realm of possibilities considering his cardiac history).  The office was, unfortunately very cryptic when talking to me, but I knew what they were thinking which led to some sleepless nights.  Our pediatrician followed up with Emmett's cardiologist who got another radiologist's opinion.  The second opinion was that "while his lungs are wetter than previous xrays, its more in line with a viral infection".   So essentially, they scared the sh¤} out of me, but it's likely just a cold!  We're keeping an eye on him, but he seems to be on the mend.

Both Dave and I have been battling something I can only describe as gastro-like.  I brought the new year in at home in bed.  Luckily Dave was able to get out to a friends house, so the evening wasn't a total bust.

So I guess that's the low-down on our health status.  Let's hope for a less eventful year!

Christmas Wrap-Up

So...it was a lovely Christmas on the home-front...minus a few gastro/respiratory type "hiccups".  We got our tree this year from a tree farm in the south end of the city.  I have to say tbat I was really pleased with our tree and would absolutely cut one down again (Dave may disagree).  It barely shed its needles, it lasted the whole season with only a few waterings, plus it looked great!  As an added bonus, we went with some good friends of ours and had a great time at the farm and afterwards at their place.  A great way to kick off the season!!

Here are a few pictures of the festivities:

The boys were great on Christmas morning.  They woke up at 06:30, which is pretty normal for them.  We were worried they would wake up WAY earlier...

One of our favourite gifts was a BEAUTIFUL scrapbook of our summer vacation in Vancouver sent by Mike and Glenda (Dave's brother and wife).  Here we are admiring it.

Emmett hid out under the kitchen table to play with his new toys while we prepped for Christmas brunch at our place with Dave's family.

We didn't get many pictures this year.  This is the only descent one of the tree.  We really need to take our camera out more often.

Felix was really into Christmas this year!  The boys school had a great fundraiser this year where the parents donated inexpensive or lightly used gifts.  The kids were then able to purchase gifts for their family for only a dollar or two.  They even had them wrapped by the grade 6's.  I thought it was a great way for the kids to learn about giving, about the value of money, plus the grade sixes raised money for their end of the year trip.  Everybody was a winner!

Here's Dave's brother Geoff and his fiancee Amy.  We're so happy for the newly engaged couple :)

GG (aka - great granny Peggy) admiring our gift to her.

Round two with my family just before heading out to Christmas dinner...

Emmett has discovered the joys of sledding!

The boys had a blast sledding!!  We didn't make it out too much because of the multiple bugs making their way through the house, but we made good use of the one day we were able to get out and have some fun.

I can't believe its all over for another year.  All the stress, and worry, and work for a few short days.  I hope the year ahead is a wonderful one for all our friends and family, and I can't wait to do it all again next year!!!