John-Thomas and the noodle nose

I've mentioned that John-Thomas needed to have a procedure done where they inserted a probe down his nose to scope out his intestines and find out what's going on. That was in late June.

I drove him up to the Cook's Children Hospital in Dallas. He took a teddy bear and a Sonic Underground CD for comfort.

They had a TV on with some cartoons. Gotta say, the cartoons they make today are weird and ugly. While I can appreciate the weirdness, the ugly was quite off-putting. He got bored with them quickly.

Finally they gave him the "giggle juice" and wheeled him away. The doc spoke to me eventually and said everything had gone perfectly and they found nothing unusual yet.

30-60 minutes later he woke up.

He was not terribly happy to be awake. Groggy and disoriented, he was very upset that his arms were in these two sleeves that stopped him from taking the noodle out. He got a yummy popsicle to eat and then we went to IHOP to try feeding him something before our long drive home.

Folks at IHOP were understanding. JT got to watch some 1960s Spiderman as a distraction, but Sonic Underground int he car was Much preferred.

Poor little guy got all the cuddles and snuggles he wanted, watched TV all day, and was loved and comforted in any way possible.

He finally fell asleep and stayed down the whole night. The next morning, we got to take the noodle out and I delivered it back to Cook's the next morning first thing.

They didn't find any major acidity problems, certainly nothing connected to his eating times. So that's when and why the doctor told us it was time to take all the deliciousness dairy out of his diet. He's done remarkably well like that so far.

Health updates

A non-dairy pizza

John-Thomas - The probe in his stomach determined he has too many white blood cells and that whatever's going on in his intestines is probably aggravated by a very mild food allergy. As a first step we took him off milk, with instructions to bring him back in two months.

Two months (and a few gallons of chocolate almond milk) later, JT is doing better. He has gone from gagging almost every day to only gagging 1-2 times a week. Sounds like it has helped but may not have been everything. We'll have to monitor a little longer.

Just a tiny tickle

Princess - Originally the x-rays were not the best and the doc couldn't see an actual break in her arm. He figured it must have been a very mild fracture, casted her, and told us to come back in a couple weeks. After Joy got back from UT, we brought her in and this time he got a better x-ray. It turns out she knocked a piece of her elbow clean off! She'll be in a cast for 3 months total at a minimum and is supposed to not put weight on that arm, but that's a really tall order with this one.

Princess also got glasses. She's got my astigmatism and has trouble seeing at a distance like both of us. She likes her new pretty pink glasses and she cleans them 7 times a day.

First day of school: pre-K for reals, 2nd, 5th

Superstar is doing just fine. His last turn was long enough, he can enjoy the time off.

A few days after

I had a topaz surgery in my ankle for my tendonitis, which is where they poke you with a hot needle in a checkerboard pattern in the hopes of jump-starting the body's healing process again to cure scar tissue. I will have been in a walking boot for something like 6 weeks before graduating to a regular boot again. When I went in this week, the tendon was still plenty tender, but that particular area doesn't appear to be hurting while I teach so far. So, progress, maybe?


Joy is back in Utah. When she got back home two weeks ago, we planned to send her back this weekend without the kids in tow and then again a month later. Turns out Grandma was transferred to a new facility the very day Joy flew out to see her! Joy has spent this weekend moving Grandma's stuff from Logan to Ogden, and helping her get settled in. We're very glad about the move - the staff there should be able to give her more of the care that she will need and they managed to convince her to get back on her medications, so that should help stabilize her too.

As evidence of the good Joy has been doing, Grandma was stable while Joy was with her last month, but as soon as Joy got back home to us her mother was back in the ER again. Hopefully this new facility will be able to help. (Mind you, we have no complaints about the other facility. They were patient and took good care of her for over a decade by my count. Grandma just needs a higher level of care than before.)