We Are Heading West

We are driving to Omaha tonight and will fly out tomorrow morning at 6am. We arrive in Portland at 10am. Hard to believe Meagan and Jesse will be married on Friday. Chase has been sick since Friday night. He has been running a temp and throwing up. He hasn't thrown up since 5pm on Sunday, but his temp keeps going up and down. He went to Delana's today and hopefully will start eating some more, and get some of his strength back. I hope to get a chance to write more while on vacation.

Anthony Was Discharged

Anthony was discharged from the hospital shortly after Noon today. He still has a rattle, but the doctors thought he would be fine. My mom was going to head to her house and see if he would lay down for a nap. Chase is at Justin and Anne's playing with his cousins. I will meet mom tomorrow at the Mississippi to pick up the boys. I am so excited to see them. Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Prayers Needed

The boys are up in Milwaukee with my mom. We went up on Friday night to visit, and my mom hosted a birthday party for Chase and Anthony on Saturday. It was a wonderful party, we all had a great time and the boys enjoyed themselves.

Sunday morning Anthony woke up and it sounded like he had a rattle in his chest. As the morning went on it got better. Eric and I left and headed back home. The boys were on vacation with Nana. Monday morning Anthony woke up and his breathing was worse. So my mom found and urgent care clinic and took him in. The doctor said he was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic he was on. His larynx was swollen and thus the reason for the sound when he was breathing and why he wasn't eating or drinking too well. She told my mom to keep him in humidity all day and give him ibuprofen and Benedryl.

Tuesday morning he woke up around 4:300am and sounded really bad. Mom gave him more medicine and he slept until 8am. However, once he was up she was really concerned about his breathing. So she packed up the boys and headed to the ER at St. Luke's. They immediately gave him a breathing treatment, and it only helped for a little while. They gave him another on at 1pm and he was still striding. At this point they diagnosed him as having croup. So then they wanted him to drink a steroid. Well he wouldn't do that. So the doctor said they would give it to him intravenously. The nurse couldn't get an IV started in either arm. Finally at 2:30pm they gave him a steroid shot. That immediately helped and his breathing became better. They had already determined that they wanted him staying in the hospital. They wanted to transfer him to Children's Hospital.

By 4pm a bed opened up for Anthony. They transported Anthony, Chase and my mom by ambulance over there. Chase had a great time getting to check out the inside of the ambulance. Anthony was in better spirits by then and even said good bye to the medics. Chase was a real trooper. My mom had thought they would get treatment and go home. So she only had packed a small diaper bag with a few snacks and no clothes.

Sara got to the hospital to pick up Chase shortly before 6pm. She took him to dinner, and then shopping for a new outfit and his birthday gift. They had a great time and he slept like a rock. I talked to my mom this morning and Anthony was doing better. He still has a rattle in his chest, but his temperature was back to normal and his oxygen levels were back up. He still has a rattle, so he may have another steroid treatment this morning. We don't know when he will be released, but we are hoping this afternoon.

All this happened while Eric and I were on way to Garden City, MO for his stepbrother's funeral. We found out Friday morning that Leslie and a friend were drinking and then they got into a fight. Leslie pulled a screwdriver on him and his friend pulled a shot gun and fired twice. It is very tragic and the whole family is struggling to pick up the pieces. Eric was friends with Leslie before his dad married Leslie's mom. Leslie was 44 and has a 22 year old son and a 7 and 3 yr. old as well.

So needless to say yesterday was very trying on us. I wanted to be in Milwaukee comforting my boy, but my mom is there, and she is the next best person I would want with him. So I am asking for prayers for Anthony and my mom and for me to stay strong and for Eric too. I will keep you updated.

No Training Wheels

Chase Can Ride without Training Wheels

Over the weekend we took the training wheels off of Chase's bike. I was running up and down the sidewalk with him. He was getting close, but then decided he was tired. So last night I asked him to try again. He got on his bike and took off on the first try down the driveway. I had my back to him and then I hear him say, "Mom, I am doing it!" He was so proud of himself. Chase ran to get Eric and the neighbor kids came over to watch him too. Now he just has to work on turning.