Katelyn

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Brendan

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Thursday, April 30, 2009

15 Month Check-up...a little early

Brendan had his 15 month check up today...it was a couple weeks early, but our doctor is taking some vacation, so it was either early or late...figured early was better. :)

Height: 32 inches (72nd percentile)
Weight: 25 pounds (55th percentile)
Head cirumference: 19 inches (77th percentile)

I'm not sure that I posted his 12 month "stats" and don't exactly remember them, but these numbers are close:

Height: 29 inches (I know that this is exactly right, as we measured him twice, as this was the same height that they had down for 9 months...so his 9 month height has to be wrong...granted this only puts him in the 19th percentile for height, which doesn't make a lot of sense.)
Weight: 23 lbs, 8 oz. (57th percentile)
Head circumference: 18.5 inches (64th percentile)

He seems to be meeting all the "milestones" right on, except maybe for speech. The doctor's chart said that he should be saying 3-6 words. The only "words" he says are da-da or da-de...which doesn't always end up directed at Chris! He does plenty of verbalizing otherwise, it's just not purposeful or anything that we can understand. So, we'll keep an eye on it. We know that he hears just find and understands "no" & "bye-bye" for sure, as he waves at all the cars leaving the parking lots when we go shopping or to the library.

As far as his ears, they were a little red today, but he hasn't seem terribly bothered, other than the throwing-up incident in my car last Saturday...not fun...I don't "do" throw-up! So we'll keep an eye out and start antibiotics if need be. I asked Dr. Derren if we're at a point to see an ENT. She thought that he's had enough to "qualify" for tubes, but if we can get thru the spring and not have any during the summer, then maybe we're in the clear and can avoid them.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I hate this day!

April 29th...
Five years ago, I lost my first dog, April. She passed away suddenly at the vet's office (I left her there to get blood work done while I had to spend the entire day down at Methodist Hospital finishing up a lab practical for PA school.) I didn't really get to say good-bye to her. It was a bad day and I pretty much have dreaded this date since then.

Today...we had thunderstorms overnight...Abby woke us up at 3am barking...not unusual for her at all...she's scared of the storms. I got up as usual around 6am, took my shower and got ready to go to work (Wednesday, so just a half day for me). Chris got up to feed and let out the dogs. Abby apparently went straight to the couch and didn't want to eat her breakfast. Very odd...not sure that I've ever since her turn down a meal. She was very quiet. I decided to take a peek at her belly and noticed a small amount of bruising. Not a good sign.

The plan was to get her blood drawn at 2:30pm after I got home from work. I called the office and they moved her appointment up to 9am and Chris took her in. Dr. Havens (our normal vet) was able to see her then. She was very lethargic and pale. He noticed the bruising on her belly as well. He decided to give her an injection of steriods and to draw some blood work to be sent off STAT. They also wanted to keep her and monitor her until the blood work came back. Luckily, I was able to be on the phone with Chris while he was at the vet's office.

Dr. Janicki was the neurologist on with me in the hospital. I let him know what was going on with Abby and he was nice enough to let me leave early. I think that I left by 10:30am or so. I went straight to the vet's office to visit with Abby. I sat down on the floor with her and read a magazine. Dr. Havens came in and chatted with me for a little bit. Labs weren't back yet. Abby did have a dark bowel movement while there, that would suggest GI bleeding. So, that was concerning, but a little better in my mind than the other thought that we had which was hemolytic anemia (the body attacks red blood cells instead of or along with the platelets). Since the bloodwork wasn't back yet, I ran down to mom & dad's house (they are vacationing in France) to pump water off the pool cover and ran a couple of errands while it was running.

I got back to the vet's office around 1pm. The lab work still wasn't back yet. I had them bring me Abby and we sat on the floor some more. She snuggled up to me and was dozing.

Dr. Havens came in around 1:30pm with the news that I didn't want to hear or was really expecting. I was hoping it was just the low platelets again and some mild anemia due to a GI bleed...fixable. Abby was severely anemic...Hgb 4.7 (normal 12-18), Hct 14 (normal 36+), her platelets were 3,000 (way, way down from just a week ago) and her white blood cells were down to 2,000 (normal 6.0-10.5). And not only were all of her levels dangerously low, there was also evidence that she wasn't making any new cells either.
Dr. Havens' best guess is that Abby has been battling a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow, which would explain why we've had such a hard time with her platelet counts for the last four months. Back in January, Abby had an abdominal ultrasound and lymph node biopsy that ruled out some forms of cancer. We didn't initally do a bone marrow biopsy as it would've been too dangerous with such a low platelet count. Later, we were given the option to have it done, but decided against it, as we didn't want to go looking for something bad.
So our options he gave us, weren't good ones. He could send us back to the Emergency Vet Clinic where Abby spent several days in Jan. to get a blood transfusion, which would make her feel better for a few days, but eventually we'd be back at the same critical point. He didn't think that she'd last very long with the blood levels that she had.

I called Chris with the news. We decided to take her home with us for a little while and think about things. We didn't want to do the blood transfusion just to prolong things. I wanted to get some pictures of Abby at home and with Elle and Brendan. We had the option to just let nature take it's course or take her back to the vet and have them put her to sleep. As much as I didn't want to have to put her down, I didn't want to wake up in the morning and find that she had passed away in her sleep, alone in her crate.

Chris went and got Brendan from daycare, while I sat with Abby. She never got up off the couch...just laid there. She looked out the window some and didn't seem uncomfortable, just very worn out. She ate a few bites of food and got lots of petting. I took lots of pictures of Abby, alone, with Elle and Brendan. We wrapped her up in her favorite blue fleece blanket and then headed to the vet...before I lost my nerve. As I had told Dr. Havens...with April, it was almost easier...I didn't have to make a choice and didn't get to say good-bye. This time, I had to make a choice and I didn't feel that there were any good ones.

Things happened quickly and quietly once we got to the vet. The ladies up front were nice enough to watch Brendan for us as we weren't sure that he should be present. We got to pet Abby and talk to her as Dr. Havens adminstered the anesthetic. She went very quickly and peacefully. We wrapped her up in a towel and her favorite blanket. Dr. Havens carried her out to the car and put her in my arms for us to drive her to my parents' house to be buried near April.

It was kind of a mess trying to bury her...it's been very rainy here for awhile and everything was a muddy mess. But we got the job accomplished while Brendan had some snacks in his stroller. She's buried across from April in the woods behind my parents' house. We covered her grave wtih some rocks from the woods and will tomorrow get more rocks and hopefully a marker of sorts.

Coming home was painful. No barking when we opened the door. No one climbing into the dishwasher as we tried to load it. No one under our feet while we ate dinner or watching Brendan like a hawk as he ate in his highchair. The house feels very empty and quiet without her.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Abby's April Numbers...

Abby's platelet counts for April. We're still battling IMTP as well as some GI bleeding issues. She's becoming a happier, calmer dog off on lower doses of Prednisone, which is a good thing and her counts seem to actually be improving on lower doses of Prednisone. She's still on a heavy duty dose of Imuran (25mg twice daily) though as well as Pepcid, an antibiotic, and Carafate for her stomach.

4/1: 142,000
4/8: 31,000 Cut Prednisone down to 15mg once daily due to presumed GI bleeding.
4/15: 46,000 Cut Prednisone down to 10mg once daily
4/22: 103,000 Cut Prednisone down to 5mg once daily
4/29: ??? Hopefully off Prednisone...will update when lab results are back!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Sushi!

Chris and I took Brendan out to dinner tonight to I Love Sushi...it's obviously a Sushi place in downtown Fishers. We've been there before a few times, but tonight was Brendan's first visit. We didn't give him any of the actual sushi, but he did eat some of the avocado and rice from my rolls. He seemed to like it too! As we were leaving a dad walked in with his 18 month old son, who he said "loves sushi"...so maybe next time we go, we'll let Brendan actually try some!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

Brendan spent the night at Mamaw & GrandBob's, so they met us at church for the 9:45am service. Brendan played in the church infant/young toddler room, while the adults enjoyed the service. We then went to the Hawthorns for a brunch.




There was an Easter Bunny at the brunch this morning and Brendan got an egg from her after sitting on her lap to get his picture taken.

Since Brendan spent the night at Mamaw & GrandBob's...he didn't get to see what the Easter Bunny left him until after his nap.

The giant ball was a huge hit!

Daddy & Brendan invented a new game...throw the huge ball up the stairs and watch it bounce back down.


Brendan's first Easter Egg Hunt!
It went really well considering he's only 14 months old...not sure that he really "got it", but we all enjoyed watching him. Mamaw & GrandBob came over as well as Mimi & Papaw (Brendan's Great-Grandparents). He didn't do a lot of walking around as he's unsteady on the grass.





Happy Easter Everyone!

Our 101 Blog

Some of you have asked for the link to our 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days Blog. I will add the link to the right --> in our new blogs we follow list! :)
~Jen

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Easter Dinner

For ease of scheduling we had Easter Dinner at my parent's house on Saturday evening.




Here's some pictures of Brendan's 2nd Easter! He's showing off his brand new outfit that was given to him by Uncle Peter and Virginia for his 1st Birthday! It's in adorable!





Friday, April 10, 2009

Brendan can cook too!

While mommy's cooking dinner, Brendan's whipping up something of his own!



And sometimes, playing peek-a-boo with the bowl!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Three new recipes, all in one dinner!

I recently got a great deal on a bunch of eggs and well as pie crusts and was trying to come up with some ways to use them. One of the recipes I found was a broccoli cheese quiche. It was quite easy to make and came out very well. We also made stuffed tomatoes (I love these! My Aunt Julie often makes them for dinners at her house, but I'd never tried making them myself...). And to complete the meal, I found a new potato recipe in the latest Kraft Foods magazine that I get free in the mail occasionally.



Here are the links for the recipes that I used in case anyone wants to give them a shot!
Easy Broccoli Quiche
New Potatoes in Creamy Dill Sauce
Stuffed Tomatoes

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Naked!

I don't think that it gets much better than this when you're one!


Romper Wednesday

In honor of Brendan's good friend Allie, he wanted to show off one of the his hand me down rompers. Hi Allie!

At least someone's using the treadmill...


Friday, April 3, 2009

Earning his keep!

Times are tough, so Brendan has gone to work for Daddy in an attempt to earn his keep around here! Here are some pictures of him in action!




Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Things come in twos....

It's been kinda rough week in our house...Brendan's been fussy with two new teeth and a cold and I've had a terrible cough for over two weeks now. On Monday evening, Brendan starting spitting up...something that he only does now when he has an ear infection...grrr.... So, today Brendan and I both went the see Dr. Derren. Guess what...double ear infection! Yeah, so antibiotics for Brendan. She gave me a couple inhalers to try for my cough, which amazingly seems to be working already!