Brendan saw the cardiologist today. We got the Echo out of the way last week, but today they had to do an EKG. Brendan has been pretty stressed out about the flood of doctor visits and tests and hospitals, so I tried to help prep him as much as possible.

We looked at an old picture of him getting an EKG and talked about what we were going to do. We even decided to get out “Jacque the Peacock” and take him along again. He was Brendan’s all time best buddy back in the day..

Brendan was pretty offended by the stickers. He did really well up until the first stick-on touched his skin. I am proud of him because I did not have to pin him down and he sat still for a good reading.

The tears still flowed. 🙁

No amount of hugs makes up for having to peel those sensors off. He was not happy.

The biggest news of the year is that the cardiologist feels like it is necessary to wait on his next major heart surgery. They will not be doing it this summer. The echos and EKG and all the other tests have shown that his heart is as good as it gets with his condition and that he has time to wait and grow. The next operation will be hard on his lungs and other organs. They want him as big and strong as possible.
They also want more time to understand and solve the trach problems. Having the trach out first would be ideal. At least now we have an answer about this summer and we can move on with planning our lives.

We zoomed to Walmart like he asked to pick up the reward that he had selected before. Then we picked up Trevor from school.

Yesterday, I had my first ever parent-teacher conference at Trevor’s school. He is making great progress on reading and writing his letters and numbers. He absolutely loves all the science experiments and art they do there and is getting along well with the other kids. Having a twin makes him great at sharing too. He wants everything to be fair. He has only one weakness…

He can’t sit still in “circle time” and just listen. Anyone surprised? Both Bill and I have this fault too, the genes were stacked against him.

Our party last night was a really nice night out, the boys had a great time. It is good to see Bill’s side of the family get together. We don’t see them often.

I always feel like I am trying to catch up now, it doesn’t seem like a week since the last post.

Tuesday, Brendan had an Echo. We see the doctor for the results this coming Tuesday.

Wednesday, the boys both came down with another little cold. It has been minor but it makes for some long nights with little sleep.

Thursday, I had a little surgery to remove a couple of benign cysts from my scalp. A few stitches and a sore head later, all is well.

Friday, the boys were doing better so they met their friend Landon at this mega-park called Playtopia. I didn’t take a camera, I had too much else to manage. I actually lost Trevor for a few minutes. Brendan fell down and I went to tend to him and lost sight of his brother in the giant play structures.
A few panicked moments passed before he turned up. He wasn’t far, just hidden in a school bus climbing thing. I hate that feeling! Bill was at the dentist.

Yesterday, Beth and Steve arrived from frozen Illinois and we had a cookout in 70 degree weather. Bill and I are fighting off the cold.

Today, we had a day all to ourselves with no appointments, no guests, no work, no plans. We decided to introduce the boys to a very old hobby of ours – geocaching!
We bought an updated GPS unit and connected it to our account at geocaching.com so that we could start hunting. We got on our bikes and rode down the canal where the map said that we could find two caches.

Brendan rode in the kid seat on my bike, but Trevor rode himself. He did 2.6 miles all total! We are getting close to a find here.

Spotted it!

Small mint container – a log to sign. We left Robin as a prize for the next hunter.

Trevor wanted to throw pine cones in to the water.

Next site – Some construction going on here.

Found it!

This one had a log and a few other items. Trevor pulled out a little snowmobile dude and we put in a Joker figure.

Awesome weather!

As if the ride was not enough, the boys really wanted to go to a playground. We tried another one that we have never been to before.

The digger was too big and heavy for Trevor to manage

Unless he had help

Tube slide!

Different technique

Somehow we convinced Brendan to go “on his face”

We have a big family reunion-style party to look forward to tomorrow. Trevor keeps asking “Can Daddy’s friends come back?” Beth and Steve give them a lot of attention. 🙂

I have to rattle my brain and try to remember everything going on this week. Brendan went to the dentist on Tuesday. I was really worried about his teeth because they are more yellow than Trevor’s. Because Brendan does not eat, plus his reflux issues, plus general trach issues, his teeth are high risk. We had to pick a special dentist that has privileges to work in the hospital with the cardiac anesthesiologists if Brendan needs any procedures.
I was pleasantly surprised when the dentist told me that Brendan’s teeth looked great. Far far better than what he would have expected, compared to other kids like him. Brendan was stressed and unhappy about the tooth exam and we had to hold him still, but it went well enough. He will go back in 6 months, but to my shock, he does not need anything else right now. Yay!

He went for an eye checkup on Thursday. It was mostly to see how he was doing with his new prescription. Brendan actually stayed calm and let the doctor check his eyes with no fuss. All is well so far, he just needs to keep wearing his glasses!

Today was a really special day for the boys. We have had this tree stump in the corner of our yard for years. Bill and the boys have casually worked at digging and excavating here and there and it was a deep dangerous hole. Trevor enjoyed playing there though.

We are ready for work!

Giant heavy stump/root ball. It is too much to lift. We just needed the right tools.

Brendan is getting buckled in.

Ready for work

It is kind of loud when it fires up

Ready – years of waiting….

Over in less than a minute! The best part of this video is the little foremen shouting commentary!

Then the boys got their turn to drive the bucket

When I lifted Brendan down, he kept kicking his feet and saying “I’m not done!!!!!”

They love dirt clods

Work’s all done, time for a cold one. 🙂 Pulling out a giant root calls for a root beer

Bill loaded it into his truck and took it to the dump

The whole afternoon in time lapse! 🙂

I am happy that we are all healthy again for now. Other than the truck suddenly needing some expensive transmission work, the week has been ok. Busy, but good.

We have the rental digger until Monday… what should we dig next?