Glasses...

Kiersten is going into get her eyes checked again August 4th! Can't wait to see what her eye doctor says and see if she has to continue to wear them. As you have noticed the last few pictures she doesn't have them on... she hates them anymore. I'm just wondering if her prescription is off...and she can't see as well with them on. Anyhow we will see August 4th! And i'll let ya know! and hopefully...if she has to continue to wear them we will order new ones...cause hers are terribly scratched up these days!

Camping over the 4th of July

Wow,  Its been a month since I wrote on here. So i'm not sure I updated everyone on my throat issue... No news is good news, i guess because everything was fine.
So this summer has already flown by... we went down to southern idaho right after the 4th of July and had an amazing visit with George's Family.  We were down in HSB for the 4th of july so we went down to the HSB firework show.  It was a very very good show for such a small down.  Kiersten loved them.  She just sat on her daddy's lap and watched the fireworks go and blow up.
(Later we were camping and a gun went off and she pointed to the sky and said WOW, i guess she really remembered the fireworks). Anyhow the fireworks were great on Saturday and then on Sunday we took all day pretty much to get ready for camping.  We went shopping for food and packed everything and then Monday morning we headed out to camp.
We camped outside of Cascade, up by Warm Lake.  It was a great relaxing time.  Kiersten loved camping although she was up atleast once every night while out camping, and she slept through the night the first night home.  So I think she was glad to be home.  Anyhow Kiersten had a blast with all of her cousins.  Carson and her played together so well, while Ciara and Calvin were big enough to go fishing with the guys!  We had an amazing camp area set up and it was so fun and relaxing seeing all the family and hanging out, outside all week.  The only bad part about the whole even was the bugs.  There was alot of biting bugs!
We arrived home on Friday, and we picked up everything through the weekend and got back to normal life...however Monday rolled around and George started getting sick.  He didn't sleep through the night for three nights.  I didn't really realize he felt so miserable because he hadn't really complained.  Until Thursday when he got up and went to work and then ended up back home by 9am.  I asked him what was wrong and he said he was sick, and hurt. 
Anyhow his symptoms were severe neck and back pain, cough, and high fevers.  And all around muscle aches.  We went to the doctor, and he tested him for alot of things and ruled everything out.  His diagnoses was that he thought George had West nile virus, and had pneumonia from his body being week and trying to fight the virus.  Anyhow the doctor said that if he gets worse he needs to come back in, however...there is nothing they can do except treat the symptoms. 
So he is on antibiotics for the pneumonia and on pain medicine for the pain.   He was still is very week...however he did start going back to work.  He has to rest alot and gets very week and tired when just walking from the vehicle to the house!  Its a little crazy but I believe that he is getting better!
So here is the pictures from the week of camping...

 On Our way home, waiting for dad…

to fix the flat tire we got on the camper on the way home!

All in all, it was a great camping trip and we can’t wait to go again!!

Giggler in the Rocking Chair

Slightly Scary News...

So I have to write about this right now becuase I just found out today and i'm slightly scared. So I'm not sure if many of you know, I have had a cough for about two months. I finally broke down and went to the doctor. My doctor, I love to death, and she took my complaint pretty serious. Which i'm thankful for. I can see doctors saying, oh you have had a cough for few months...lets give ya some antibiotics and see if it gets better. However, Dr. Jacobson, started with a chest xray, and lab work. The chest xray appeared normal, and my lab work was normal. She was looking for pneumonia and or tumors in my chest, and to make sure I didn't have a clot that went to my lungs. They were both negative, so with those test being negative. She ordered a pulmonary function test. She said she was looking for allergies or asthma. Well my numbers showed that I have asthma. That I'm fine with...a little medication, and i'll be fine. However it also showed that I have a "possable upper airway obstruction, vocal chord dysfunction abnormality." Who knows what this can mean...it can mean a multitude of things from a little vocal chord swelling to something growing in my upper airway/vocal chords. I'm a little nervous about it. When I think about it, I feel like someone is pressing on the front of my vocal chords. (this is probably just me being a hypochondriac) Anyhow....

With these results, it means I have to have more testing done. So my Primary Doctor is referring me to an Ear Nose and Throat doc so he can take a scope down my throat to make sure there isn't something obstructing my airway! Yes, I'm a little nervous about this!! We will see with time. In the mean time i'm trying not to stress about it. Hopefully its just a little inflamation from the pollin in the air!!

Well on a happier note... here is an absolutely adorable picture of kiersten....

SURGERY....

Hello everyone,
I'm glad to say that surgery went WELL. We went in to Kootenai Outpatient Surgery at 6:30 this morning and they pre-op'd Kiersten. They took her out of her PJ's and put her into a little disposable shirt and pants. After asking many questions, and us seeing the doctor, and anesthesia, They invited one parent to carry Kiersten back into the operating room. We had discussed this prior to surgery and it was whatever parent she really wanted today. However... she really didn't care who's arms she was in this morning... and George decided he didn't want to go back there. So I gowned up and carried her back into the OR. After getting back there I set her down on the operating table and she really didn't want to be sat down. She starting crying and reaching for me...and anesthesia put the mask over her face... YES. She put up a good fight. She didn't' want the tight mask on her face. However, after crying and taking deep breaths of the anesthesia she became very tired....and that is when we laid her down completely on the table. By the time we got her head down to the table...she was fast asleep.
The anesthetist was great and said he had three kids, and would treat her like his own... although it isn't the same as your own...he stroked her hair as she fell asleep which made me realize that he probably did care!! Anyhow...fast asleep and then I had to confirm her to the doctor and what surgery he was doing on her and then they whisked me out of the room.
I went and de-gowned and then met George out in the waiting area! After about 5-10 min waiting, the nurse came back and got George and I. We went back into a consult room...we were suppose to talk to the doctor in there prior to going to Kiersten however their was some communication breakdown between the nurses and the doctor. They thought he had already came and talked to us, and he hadn't, so they took us back to Kiersten. While waiting in the conference room...we could here her crying in the post op area. When we got back there...she was screaming uncontrollably. She screamed and was throwing herself around for about 30 min at the hospital... and cried all the way home and then cried for a while at home. So it was probably 1.5 to 2 hours of crying. Then she started to get better. You could tell her ears hurt though. Every time she would cough, or burp...she would start crying a painful cry! After some Tylenol and ibuprofen...she was better. She finally started playing around the house. She ate lunch, and now is taking her first nap for the day. So much for her sleeping most of the day like the doctor said most kids do
The doctor did come in and talk to us after we were with Kiersten, however it was hard to hear him and concentrate on him since she was screaming and flailing all over the place. I do remember him saying... We will talk to you tomorrow, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to call, and that he wanted her on antibiotic ear drops for a while! He did say her ears had lots of fluid but he didn't think it was infected. Anyhow that's about all I remember from the conversation with the doctor. Well I better go.. I'm sure Kiersten will be awake soon.

~Jocelyn Drake~

Monday...

Monday is the big surgery day... i know not such a big surgery! But it is for parents when there child is getting anesthesia! I pray everything goes well and we are much better after wards.

Friday Night Kiersten started getting fevers again and has been very cranky. I called the surgeon's office yesterday and got ahold of the oncall doc. He prescribed antibiotics again for her! So we have been druging her up with tylenol every 4 hours and ibuprofen every 6. And aumentin twice a day! We didn't have any real high fevers through out the night (while sleeping). She was 103.6 at 8pm last night!
So she seems to be a little better today! I don't know we will see. Still pretty needy though. She doesn't like to sit on your lap until she is sick, then that is all she wants...poor baby!

Alright...well pray for us!! hope the surgery goes well. Will update everyone tomorrow afternoon!

Tubes...

So we went to the ear doctor today. The ultimate decision made by me was to get the tubes. The doctor informed me of the risks and benefits...and the decision was up to me. I opted to get them put in at this point. George is out of town...we have talked a little bit about it over the phone but will discuss it more for sure this weekend and an ultimate decision will be made. But as of now We are scheduled to have the surgery May 18th early in the morning!

Will let ya know more after george gets home and the final decision is discussed between us!

LONG WEEK!!

Its only wednesday, and it has already been a very long week. George is out of town for work all week. Kiersten and I took him to the Spokane airport at 4am on Monday, and then came home and her schedule has been off ever since. Although I don't really think it was the 4am wake up call. I think her ears are bothering her again. She was up 2 times the night before last and up 3 times last night. Last night one of the times that she woke up, I couldn't get her to stop crying. She would want down out of my arms, then she would want back up, then she didn't want in my arms and she would through herself down on the ground. I didn't know what to do for her. I felt terrible. I gave her tylenol and motrin, but it didn't seem to change the night... she was up 2 more times after the medication. Although without the medication, maybe she would have been up a million more times. Who knows!
Anyhow it was a very long night, and although I'm back on my diet....breakfast this morning is a triple shot latte!
I don't think i could get through the day without it!

In a few hours we go to the Ear doctor. I can't wait to hear what he has to say!
I can't wait to get tubes in and be done with the whole ear infections.
I'm hoping that he will give her antibiotics again to get us through the weekend... and then maybe next week do the tubes! I'm not sure what the plan will be but i don't want to do tubes this week while George is gone!!

Her Daddy needs to be hear for it!

Anyhow i better go for now! I'll update later this afternoon about the doctors appt!

~Jocelyn~

Follow up appt...

So we took Kiersten into her pediatrician again for a follow up to look at her ears!
Looks like we have a tough girl.
She has been sleeping normally and acting normal, so i figured her ears were better. THEY WEREN'T. The doctor said both ears are full of puss. So she prescribed the third antibiotic in the last few months. We have been on augmentin, omniceph, and now zithromax.
So she prescribed these antibiotics and then she referred us to a ear nose throat doctor, to have possably have tubes put in her ears.
We see that doctor in two weeks...and we will see what they have to say! Dr Prince, our pediatrician, said she has had 5 ear infections in a little over 6 months.

I'm hoping that once we get the tubes...that she will start talking better. Not that she isn't talking...she does talk some but mostly baby talk. But I have a feeling that what she is hearing when we talk to her is muffled due to the fluid that is in her ears most of the time. So hopefully her verbal communication will get better!

okay...i'll fill ya in, in a couple weeks when we see the EENT.

First Camping Trip…

So we went camping for the first time last weekend… Kiersten loved it.  She just loves being outside so much , and now that the weather is good we have the option of being outside!
so here are pics from camping trip.

 She loved her cheeseburgers!

 We also went to the play area… she loved it. She loved playing on the slide…but I couldn’t get any photos because I was busy catching her.