Being Thankful

It's been a long two months since my last blog update, but in my defense, I've been a busy momma!  Our wonderful nurse, Barbara, switched to nights so I could have a break.  Since she can only a do a set amount of hours, as designated by the Ontario government, I find myself alone during the days taking care of Wyatt.  Gone are the days where I can do the dishes, laundry, sweeping and mopping, and hello to the days of changing one bib after another, signing and suctioning.

Intently watching his sing-along-songs.

So...our house got a little bit messy.

Just a schmidge. Ok, a whole lot. At one point I couldn't open our bathroom door because of the pile of clothes behind it.  I also thought I lost a kid in the mountain of toys in the living room, but thankfully it was one of the older ones; they're really good at fending for themselves!

I titled this blog post "Being Thankful" because - well, paradoxically, a lot of sh*#@y things happened to our family the last two months.  How am I thankful?  I need to start with the beginning, for you to understand the end.

At the beginning of October I found out that our son Jude, was not adapting well to JK.  Even though he had passed the pre-JK program from the summer, Jude was not liking the actual classes of JK, because he realized - they were not going to end after a couple of weeks. Also, he was being bullied by two of his male classmates, and some of the teachers at this particular French school in Ottawa, do not speak a word of English.  Yep. That's right. In the heart of Ottawa. Not a word of English.

I broke down.  My daughter had had bullying problems at the same school the year before, but it was a new experience for both of us, and I thought to myself: this must be a normal 'thing' in school now, you see it everywhere, and at any age! But, this wasn't bullying, (or so I thought), this is Jude shutting down.

My husband held me, and told me what I had been hearing since our daughter came home with her first bout of bullying; we need to transfer them to another school.

Two days later we visited the new school, and Jude started to open up to his father.  He told him that there were two boys in his class who always pushed him into walls, and did this in class and at recess.  He also tried telling the teachers, but they didn't understand him.  I don't care at what age or how 'new' I was to this whole school thing, (for Pete's sake, I taught in MTL for a year, ages 12-18), a student should always be able to tell a teacher, and be UNDERSTOOD, about their feelings, especially when it comes to their own physical and emotional security.  Jude's behaviour leading up to the transfer had also changed significantly, he no longer wanted to cuddle or hug me, and would not look me in the eye.  All he wanted was his dad (which Andrew LOVED).  My way of interpreting the above: mom nurtures me, and dad protects me.

So, that was our first hurdle, and Jude is doing ok at school, although, he's not entirely adapting to the idea of school going beyond the next month.  Aila also had her first friend over, which would have never happened at the other school, since there were no means of communicating with parents.

About two weeks later, and I'll keep this short, I totaled our family van in a car accident that was entirely my fault.  We had the van paid off as of last year, (it took us three years to pay it off at EXTREMELY high payment rates), and I totaled it.  The good news: every one is ok.  We are still driving the rental van, as it has taken our insurance company this long to get a quote to us...we still don't know how much we're getting back...

During these ordeals I've had to deal with my waning health.  I have highs, and I have lows.  With the new medication I'm on, it feels like I have a perpetual flu bug.  Andrew has had to hold me in the early morning hours to keep the chills away.  It hasn't been fun.

Then, *ray of light* we discovered Wyatt was doing so well on his feeds, that he was getting fed 180 mls at a rate of 320, in layman's terms: he's getting fed in a half hour!!!   Which was AWESOME. (Plus an extra 20 ml above his usual feed)!

 Mom thinks: let's feed him more. Let's FATTEN him up!!!

 Dad thinks: let's go to four feeds.  So, you can go to bed earlier than 11 pm.

Andrew convinces me four feeds is better than five, and Wyatt's gaining, albeit slowly, and we need to focus on our end goal: get Wyatt onto four feeds.  Within two weeks of meddling with feeds, Wyatt ends up in CHEO because he was vomiting blood.  Do we think it's from increasing his volume from 180 to 225?  It's hard to say.   We were admitted for 8 days, initially for vomiting blood and dehydration, but in mid-week he had to be put on IV antibiotics because of an ear infection, so that's what kept us there for so long. That, and the fact it has taken him especially long to get to a 2.5 hr feed.  Gone are the days of thirty minute feeds.

CHEO yoga.

We've only been home for a day,  and I know Wyatt is happy.  The little guy cannot talk, but we know, he is happy to be home.  I have a feeling it may be short, as he vomited a little bit of blood on us earlier in the day, so we may be in CHEO by the end of the week.  Thankfully, I have a nurse to help me, because this time last year, I was on my own.  I still remember how STRESSED I was at all times: it was not fun being a mom.  It felt like work being performed by a medically trained person.  Moms are meant to cuddle, nurse(*) and feed.  My job was taken over with suctioning, feeding rates, volumes, and oxygen saturation monitoring.  With all of the bad things that have happened to us, I have perspective now, which allows me to see things in a different light.  I am thankful for the Present Wyatt, because the Past Wyatt scared the living-beejesus out of me on a daily basis.  The Present Wyatt smiles.  The Now Wyatt signs.  MY Wyatt is doing better, even if it's at a very, very slow pace.   He has a character, and those who know him, love him.  I am thankful that he is alive, and we are still a whole family.

Hanging out in the recently renovated fire place.

We're all in such a rush these days, a rush to get our babies into school, rushed to get them to learn things we wouldn't know ourselves until years later, rushed to get things DONE, that if we just took things a little bit more slowly, took our time and appreciated the moment for what it was,  maybe things would end up in a better place in the end.















*I use the term nurse, as in to nurture, breastfeed and tend to.

Wyatt's Blenderized Diet - Version 2.0

I hope I'm not going to bore all of you whom keep track of my blog updates, as this may seem like a repetition of other blogs relating to Wyatt's Blenderized Diet (BD).

But I can guarantee you - it is not!

For one, I didn't make as much.  The last batches were plus 16 cups, or more.  The batches I've made last week and this week didn't go over 8 cups.  I followed the advice of our dietician, and just tried to make his meals on a semi-weekly basis.  Basically, Wyatt gets a new BD every 72 hours, as that's how long it takes him to finish 6 cups.  I'm happy I took her advice, because I find it a lot less stressful to find 30 minutes in my day, rather than 3 or more hours to make a batch of his BD.  Also, Wyatt ends up getting more variety, which his body needs.

The first jar was made on Wednesday, the second on Thursday and the third was made on Sunday.  Wednesday's BD is green as it has mostly fresh garden greens and avocado.  Thursday's  BD has blueberries in it, giving it that brown/purple colour, and Sunday's has a large red beet in it to give that pink/red colour.  I add a probiotic powder to each jar before serving it to Wyatt.  Each BD includes veg & fruit, yogurt, ancient grains, oil, protein and a minute amount of salt.

Something else I've discovered, is another use for my homemade beef stock.  I made a batch of beef stock for the family, but when making it, I had no idea I'd actually use it for Wyatt!  It is the perfect thing to thin out his BD for a couple of reasons; it has the consistency of water, the fat from the stock bones are great for our little guy (he's now in the 22% for weight), and plus he gets the benefits of all the veggies and fresh herbs I boil down for the stock.  I always add ginger and garlic to the stock as well, which are great for his immune system.  The ginger in particular is good for his tummy; with his ups and downs with viruses in September, I think his tummy appreciated the calming affect the ginger had on him.

I've also made a conscientious effort to always add an avocado to every BD, because of its high fat content.  We've been battling with his weight since he was born, and it was only until we introduced the Peptamen, that he began to gain significant pounds.  The reason being, he was able to be fed less because of the high caloric content of Peptamen, so instead of 200 mls of breast milk and formula, he was transitioned onto 145 ml of Peptamen.  The sheer volume change insured Wyatt wouldn't be spitting up so much; consequently gaining weight.

So now we've got a bigger baby on our hands and he has started showing signs of becoming hungrier, earlier.  Wyatt's feeds are timed, so he's fed five times a day; at 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00, 22:00.  Our goal is to eventually drop the 22:00 (10 pm) feed, so that mom can go to bed earlier than 11 pm every night (sometimes midnight or later!).  To do that, we need to increase every feed by 40 ml, so the feeds go from a volume of 160 ml to 200 ml.   It was very convenient when Wyatt started showing signs of being hungry before his scheduled feeds, and we were right on board! Yah, let's feed you more kiddo!  Wyatt now gets fed 170 ml (50 ml Peptamen, 120 ml BD), at a rate of 190, which means he gets fed 170 ml in about 50 minutes.  Next week we'll transition him to 180 ml, but take his rate back down, to ensure he handles the increased volume.  There is real science behind feeding this guy, I never thought I'd analyze my child's food/feedings as much as I do with Wyatt's.

 But here I am.  Blogging about my baby's eating habits (again)!

Next week, Wyatt will be on a 100%  BD, and our dietitian will be coming by in two weeks to see how he is doing.  Today, Wyatt got weighed and at fifteen months, he is 9.2 kg.  This places him in  the 22nd percentile according to age, however if one were to go by his height instead, he is in the fiftieth percentile, which is not too shabby.  

Goodbye Summer, Hello Enterovirus 68

This Blog was written on Monday, September 21

I cannot believe how quickly the summer has gone and passed us by.  Gone are the days of no suctioning, no fevers and easy nights.  Hello to sleepless nights, spiking fevers and suctioning.

I thought the pebbles that Wyatt had swallowed back at the end of August was hard on us, but this virus... has been kicking all of our butts.  Every person in our house has caught it, except for the dog.  And I'm pretty sure if it was contagious from humans to animals, she would have already caught it!  The pebble incident, albeit serious in nature, (he could have lost his airway at any moment), was in the end a very short stay at CHEO.  We were admitted at 6 pm on a Thursday night and we were discharged by 12 pm on Friday.  Wyatt had to go in for an emergency intubation, so his anesthesiologist, Dr. Corvo, could remove one tiny little pebble lying against his vocal cords.  Do you know what sits right in front of your vocal cords? Your wind pipes.  That is why the pebble incident was so dangerous.  At any given moment, Wyatt could have lost his airway.  For more details on this day, please jump to Wyatt's Anesthesiologist's page.

What I'm trying to get at here, is that although the Pebble Incident was incredibly stressful, it was short lived.  This virus though, has left me stressed out, sick, exhausted and it's just the beginning of the virus season.  Do you know when CHEO typically starts seeing the Enterovirus 68?  Usually in January-February, and yes, they may get a few cases here and there beforehand, but an outbreak??  Unlikely, you'd think.  Right now, CHEO has several cases of the virus, and the testing only began last week.   The good news is that the virus is only dangerous for those who are under the age of 5, and/or have asthma.

Did I mention I have three children under the age of 5, two of them having asthma?

And it's just the beginning of the virus season. Oie.

Aila has been sick since the first day of school, and Jude... two days after school started, he started showing signs of coming down with a cold. Coughing, fever, runny nose and the like.  Wyatt was admitted to CHEO for a severe ear infection during this period of their colds, so it's unlikely they had the same thing.  But now...now, all of their symptoms are the same, and have occured staggartly.  One child became more ill after the other.  My daughter, she's now going week 4 of being in school, and is just now showing signs of getting better.  Our middle child is still coughing, but at least it's not all day long - like his mother.  And poor little Wyatt, is in the hospital, getting a chest xray.  He's been off and on febrile for the last week, coughing during the night (which in turn makes his O2 drop, and heart rate increase), and isn't tolerating his feeds.

Notice Wyatt's eyebrows are raised in that "surprised" look of his. He's in need of an adjustment!

Last night for instance, I was up with him from 10:00 pm to 5:30 am, and my only goal was to make him comfortable.  His heart rate was high, he was sitting at 150 by 1 am.  His O2 fluctuated from 88 to 94%, so his monitor was going off every 15 minutes or so.  Once his O2 dropped I would suction, and reposition.  This would help him settle for about 15 minutes, and then he would drop again.  Every time he would drop, his heart rate would increase, (because he's working harder to breath), so it was a stressful night!  By the time I handed him over to dad, (5:30 am), his heart rate was at 140, and 91% for O2.   By 7:30, when we were leaving for CHEO, he was at 175, and 88%.  So...I guess it's a good thing he's where he is.  He'll be safe there, and they have the proper equipment to take care of him.  And for those of you who are wondering what his norm is: while sleeping, Wyatt's heart rate should be between 95-115, and when awake 120-140.  His O2 should always be between 98-100%.

I have nursing care, but it's not on a full time basis. I'm thinking now Wyatt's care needs to be re-assessed.

What do you think? Do you think it's safe for mom to go without sleep a couple of days in a row?

Parenting 101: Swallowing; and Prerequisite to Parenting 102: Opening the Mouth

For those of you who have been keeping track of Wyatt's progress over the past months, you may have deduced that we haven't been in CHEO for quite some time - if we negate his visit from three weeks ago, a short one-day stint at CHEO for swallowing pebbles (a blog in itself). We have been CHEO-free for almost nine weeks! That was three weeks longer than our last stint, which was in December of 2013 to mid January 2014.

The connection between the two? Well, our beautiful kids were not in school.

School is the reason why Wyatt becomes sick.  My husband, myself and Wyatt's pediatrician are convinced that attending school is THE reason why Wyatt is in and out of CHEO at a bi-weekly rate. If you could check our admissions, you would see a clear pattern, every two weeks we're in, and the following two weeks, we're out. Each virus/bacterial infection would line up with Aila's colds caught from her school.

Needless to say, the last nine weeks have been great. No one was sick in the house, it was wonderful not having to fight off cold after cold after cold... but here we are again.

September - the beginning of a new school year. Grrrreat. Now it's not one, but two children introducing viruses and bacterial infections.

The odd thing is, my children didn't start school until this past Wednesday, and Wyatt was admitted for respiratory distress on Thursday . So, to catch a cold that quickly - without his brother or sister showing any visible signs; seemed unlikely. Dr. Issa and I both thought it was aspirated pneumonia, as I was teaching Wyatt how to eat the week before. His penchant for putting things into his mouth has become strong and I felt, why not control the situation, by allowing him to taste real food, rather than rocks off the ground? Maybe he'd be less likely to put said objects into his mouth...

Wyatt had the usual tests done, blood, stool, and chest xray. I was expecting a positive for pneumonia. High grade fever, his O2 sats were super low, he had mucus coming out of the wazoo.  Surprisingly enough, his chest xray came out clean. It looked 'beautiful' according to Dr. Issa.

So, what was wrong with Wyatt?

Dr. Issa felt that it was mix of a bacterial infection with a virus, (ear infection), and that we came in at the right time. All of Wyatt's symptoms started rearing their ugly head in the middle of the night on Wednesday, and by Thursday, at 6 pm, we were being admitted to CHEO. Whatever my baby has, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

Wyatt has since been discharged, and is happily, crawling around the house. He has extra mucous, but with our nurse on hand, things are more manageable now. The kids are in school, which always helps as well!

So, back to the dangers of teaching Wyatt to eat. One, is obviously aspirated pneumonia. Two, is choking and three being that he loses his airway completely. As Wyatt's mom, I am convinced he swallows. Now, even more-so. If we want to open Wyatt's mouth up with a masseter release (a surgeon takes a knife and cuts the masseter muscles), we have to make sure Wyatt can swallow. We cannot have his mouth wide open, and him be able to stick whatever object he wants into his mouth. That is far too dangerous.

As of two weeks ago, Wyatt has been eating lunch and supper with us. Usually, I place some puréed food in front of him, and he plays with it, coats his hands (face, hair, neck, belly, et al.), and tries to shove the food into his mouth. This didn't really work for him, as he just wasn't getting a substantial-enough amount into his mouth to allow him to feel the food on his tongue, and then proceed to swallow it. What I have done is place a minute amount of food, say, the size of two peas, on a very slender, malleable baby spoon, and lightly rest it on his bottom lip. Wyatt proceeds to use his top lip to suck the food into his mouth, and voilà, he swallows his food. At first, I was venting him to see if there was any food that had made it into his gut, and lo and behold, there it was! Plus, a ton of air. Learning to swallow is difficult, and swallowing air was a newbie mistake. Wyatt doesn't need venting now, because he isn't swallowing air with his food, and he is eating more and more every day.

With that said, he is going to be getting a Feeding Study, which will allow us to actually watch his food go into his mouth, down his esophagus, and into his stomach, simply by adding some Barium to his pureed food. I'm hoping to have to the Feeding Study completed by November.

Some of you may be asking yourself, why is Wyatt swallowing? I for one believe it's from his adjustments with his Chiropractor, Dr. Craig Hazel, from Synergy Wellness.  Dr. Hazel told us we should start seeing some changes with Wyatt's mouth movements within three to six months, and August brings us to the three month mark with him. So, I would like to believe the adjustments are working. On the other hand, one can only guess that it has something to do with Wyatt's physical and cognitive development. He LOVES to put food in his mouth, and wants to be part of the eating routine at our dinner table.

Next Blog: (and we're kind of going back wards in time here) Emergency Intubation

Wyatt's Medical Equipment and How We Adapted

The passed three weeks have been relatively uneventful for our little Wyatt, he had a couple of bouts of unpredictable vomiting, which mom and dad chalked up to teething. He's been restless, drooling and sticking his fingers into his mouth for the passed week, so we're pretty sure that's what's going on with Wyatt.

I thought I would blog this week about how we live with Wyatt's various mechanical paraphernalia, which must follow us around wherever we go. He has three essential machines; his feeding machine; The Zevex, his O2 monitor, and his suction unit. Getting around with him during the first month of him being home was a nightmare. We had tons of doctor appointments, in and out of CHEO, a visit to Sick Kids in T.O, and the list goes on. I thought the diaper bag was a pain with our first  two children, well, Wyatt's diaper bag, along with the four other bags that had to be brought along was more than just a pain in the behind, it was inconvenient, stressful and we knew there had to be a better way.

So, what did my husband-engineer for me?  A suitcase/tote bag that could contain everything I required to get me from A to B, wherever that might be, in whatever weather. My only complaint about the system, is that it's heavy. Basically what he did is get a bunch of foam, this stuff being designed for storing fragile/expensive electronic equipment, and stuffed it into the suitcase, and measured the required spacing for each piece of equipment; The Zevex, O2 monitor and suction unit. The equipment slid into the gaps Andrew created, and voila, four bags turned into one. Additionally, the suitcases' pockets contain his feeding paraphernalia, alcohol wipes, and in the lower pocket, there is enough space for a diaper, wipes, diaper shirt, and a bib.

I went from toting along 4 different bags to one. Could you expect anything less from a Canadian Combat Engineer?

I think not.

What is really convenient about this bag, is that it has become part of our regime, in caring for Wyatt. Every night for our bedtime routine with Wyatt, we tote this down the hallway into our bedroom, where Wyatt sleeps, and connect him to his O2 monitor, as well as, connect the three pieces of equipment to an electical outlet to be charged. At first, with all three pieces of equipment being seperate, we were forgetting to hook one, or even, all three up to be charged. Now, it's just a matter of connecting them to a three-progned extension cable, which takes a matter of seconds.

Once Wyatt is connected to his O2 monitor, he is eventually connected to his feeding unit, which is the Zevex. The catheter tubing to the suction unit is always found in the same position, for quick, effecient access which is always placed above the feeding bag.

When we're driving, Wyatt can be found in his car seat like any other child, but what is different in his case is that he has an O2 probe connected to him in case he desats while we're driving with him.  The medical bag is placed behind the driver's seat, tied to it by a bungee cord. This allows us to reach from our driver seat with our arm, and fiddle with the Zevex when his feed is done, or when there is a clog, which happens often enough now that he is on a blenderized diet.

With that said, if we're going on a walk, we don't bring the whole kaboodle with us. We will only bring what we need with us. So, we always, always, always bring the suction unit. If we forget it, we turn back to get it. If a feed is due, we will bring his feeding unit with us, which comes with a cute, little back pack. Inside the back pack we will make sure there is a 20 cc flush of water as well, for when the feed is complete.

I bring the bag with me outside onto the deck when I'm hanging laundry with Wyatt, I'll drag it downstairs when we want to play in the play room, and I'll even push it along into the bathroom when I need to...well you know.  Wyatt comes with me e v e r y w h e r e. And so does the medical bag. We're the three amigoes. Wyatt, mom and the med bag. Ole!

Wyatt's Birthday and New Blenderized Diet

I can't believe a year has gone by with our little guy, and how fast (errr, slowly?) he's grown. He has been in the 10th percentile since he was born. There was a time he was in the 15th percentile, but that was short lived. 

Anyway, Wyatt turned the big 1.0 a week ago, and was his birthday party a success! The kiddies had fun playing with the water balloons, petting the goats, jumping on the trampoline, bean bag throwing, and of course - the pinatas! At one point, a little guy yelled out "This is the best day ever!". I was SOOO happy to hear that. Just made my day.

Because of the weather, Wyatt spent most of his time inside, either in the arms of his godmother, Lisa Hodgins, grandparents or nurse. Oddly enough, I barely saw the little guy! Mom and dad were running around until mid afternoon, and it wasn't until 3-4 o'clock I actually sat down and chatted with an old friend - and yes Crystal, we do need a girls night!

                             Wyatt blogging about his awesome birthday

I just want to send a quick thank you to the following people:

Marie & Claude: you guys are the best, you came to help us with the landscaping, and then again early Saturday to help with the setup, if it weren't for you guys, I don't know how the party would have went;

Bob & Kathleen: thank you for bringing the goats, the kids loved them, and I hope you guys weren't too bored sticking it out with them for the whole party;

Lisa: you were a great helping hand, and you were always zipping back and forth between Wyatt and helping us with the party - one helluva a multitasker!

Quinn & Ashton Brewing Company thank you for the great beer my friend, and thank you for coming - we all know you're a super busy guy who never stops working - it means a lot to our family!

Laura & Brenna: you two ladies are the most awesome pair of people I have the luxury of knowing. It is a luxury, because things are just so much simpler when you've got an awesome nurse (or two) to help out! And - I had NO IDEA how difficult it is to fill water balloons. I was soaked by the time I did 20.

Michelle: thank you for the signing cards. That gift was so thoughtful, I couldn't have even thought of it. I didn't even know they existed! It's really what we need as a family to help bridge the comunication gap between Wyatt and us.
To all of the moms who made/brought food: thank you! I know we're all busy in our own ways, so thank you for taking the time out of your day to bring something to our party!

Thomas & Melissa: how could we have had a pig roast, without the roaster? Thank you for letting us borrow yours'!

Adam: for all of your hard work, and having to listen to Andrew's god-awful ideas. You're a good friend! 

So, all in all, it was a great day. When the sun went down, the last stragglers packed up and went home. I was able to put all three kids to bed in 15 minutes. That my friends... Has Never Happened. In the history of parenthood probably. Three kids. Down. For the count. It was awesome.

To celebrate Wyatt's official one year on this beautiful, green earth we decided to begin his blenderized diet. For those of you who don't know, a blenderized diet consists of vegetables, oils, fruit and anything healthy really. We got our first batch from a recipe taken from the website www.blenderizeddiet.com and so far, Wyatt's stomach has really agreed with it. We used Recipe No.3, with a couple of tweeks. I didn't use all of the types of greens they listed, I just went into my garden and grabbed what was freshly available, so that meant, arugula, kale, beet leaves, red and green spinach, and a little bit of swiss chard. I also replaced some of the beets for more radishes, seeing as I have tons of those. 

By the end of the process, well over two hours, I had about a weeks' worth of blended liquid for Wyatt's Gtube. None of this will be entering his mouth, this food will solely be used with his feeding aparatus. 

I've made my own baby food for my other two children, so when my husband showed me we could feed Wyatt real food, I was all for it. But it is more work than regular baby food. Regular baby food, you've got one ingredient, maybe you'll go fancy and make a medley of some sort, but it does not involve 10 different ingredients. Or Cod Liver Oil. (That stuff STINKS!) Then there's all the dishes. And clean up. So, yes, it's a little bit messier. A little bit more complicated. But, I'm happy my boy is getting real food now.

We have started him on a slow regime of 30ml per each feed. So, with the blenderized diet (BD), Wyatt gets 145 ml of Peptamen Jr., and 30 ml of BD. This brings him to a total of 175 ml for each feed. Back in the breast milk/formula days, Wyatt would need 200 mls x 5 to get his caloric intake. Now that his feeds are so much less, they are going much smoother. He's spitting up less, and he can now sit during a feed, and not barf everywhere. Yeah!

Next week, we'll be starting another batch, but dad will be more involved. I told him if he wants Wyatt to get more variety, he's going to have make it! So, stay tuned - next week is dad's turn at the blender!

Vomiting blood and 2 week stay at CHEO

This week in the life of Wyatt - his three weeks were up. By this Monday, he was admitted to CHEO for moderate dehydration, and losing weight. At the time, we were also  considering aspiration (confirmed through xray, that there was no aspiration, however, there could be a case of chronic actelectasis). We rushed him to CHEO on Sunday night for vomiting copious amounts of blood, and we were surprisingly sent home with a prescription for anti-nausea meds.
Needless to say, Andrew and I decided in the early morning to contact Wyatt's CHEO pediatrician for a second opinion.  Three hours after making the initial phone call, with Dr. Issa's AMAZING nurse, Erin, we were admitted, and had an IV line pushing fluids through his tiny, little veins.

I think as parents, we always have to look beyond the initial decision that medical staff make, and really look at the bigger picture, which is their child.  Also,  we shouldn't be too sleep deprived when we decide, that yes, we do agree, with what could be, a just as much sleep deprived, doctor.  Because, it's simply mathematics in the end:

x represents sleep deprivation  

x  + (1 dad x 1 doctor ) = 1 not-so-great decision

I think that is where our problem lay on Sunday night, when my husband came home with a sleeping Wyatt in his infant car seat, parked the seat in the crib and left.  Anyway, I unbuckle him, and cover him up in his crib for the night, which is at around 2 in the morning. Dad is already asleep by now. Wyatt's feed finishes about thirty minutes later, I stop it, unhook him from his feed line, and Jude, our middle child, like clockwork, wakes up. I go to his bed, and dad is sleeping soundly next to Wyatt.

By eight in the morning, I'm calling CHEO for an appointment to see our Pediatric doctor, Dr. Issa. Her nurse, Erin, calls up within thirty minutes of the phone, and says "Come in as soon as you're able to. We'll be ready for you."

By 11:30 am, Wyatt is being hooked to IV line, because he is moderately dehydrated. By 4 pm, Wyatt is entering into his isolated room, on 4 East. If it weren't for the MDU Clinic at CHEO, I really don't know what we would have done. The system works, and Wyatt is an example of why CHEO needs systems, such as the MDU Clinic, to be accessible by complex care patients. As his parents, we saw the proverbial crack, and jumped over it; instead of falling through it.

Wyatt has now spent almost two weeks in CHEO, quickly gaining his lost weight back. He is now on Peptamen Jr., and we'll be starting his blenderized diet this weekend. We're pretty excited about it actually. We bought all of the ingredients two days before he was admitted, and unfortunately, most of the ingredients, papaya, pears, and carrots have gone to our pig. Yes. We own a pig.

Wyatt will be celebrating his first birthday soon, so stay tuned for Birthday Photographs!

Gasp! Going Week 3 at home!!

It's official, we've hit the second longest stint at home - tomorrow it will be three weeks! (The longest stint so far has been 6 weeks, between the months of Dec-Jan). Not that Wyatt hasn't had his health issues, in the last three weeks he has thrown up blood, had fevers, constipation, coughing, runny nose and teething.

Wyatt's Gtube site has some pieces of skin growing around it, but I'm not too sure if that's a good or bad thing. We may try to have Wyatt seen by his PED before the end of this week, just to make sure everything is ok. He hasn't had a fever, but he goes through bouts of discomfort, and it's hard to say if it's normal baby stuff, or if it's his operation site.

We got some good news from CCAC last week, they are to increase our nursing hours an additional 12 hours, which means Barbara will see Wyatt for three of his 10 o'clock feeds, and five of his 2 o'clock feeds. Mom is very excited! And I'm certain if Jude understood that it now means mom gets to spend that much more time with him, one on one, he'd be excited too!

Wyatt and his chiropractor, Dr. Hazel seem to be a good match. Wyatt loves going to the chiropractor, and having his adjustment. He is very talkative after the session, usually poops, and then falls asleep. Luckily, mom doesn't have to make the trek into Kanata, dad does it!  Which is great, because it means I get 2 hours of uninterrupted peace and quiet to pump, do laundry, dishes, get our daughter ready for school. Oh, and he's also happier after his sessions, and sleeps better.

On a side note of normalcy, we went on a family outing this Sunday, and it was utterly, uneventful. The kids had fun with clowns and balloons, bouncy castles, dad showed the kids different army vehicles, and mom took pictures! It was a tonne, of cheap, wholesome, family fun at the Military Family Appreciation weekend. We'll definitely be going there next year; for both days!

Wyatt driving one of the NAVY boats:

 We also had one of those rare outings to his grandparents, nana & pepere:

 He's also taken a huge liking to playing with his big brother Jude; I think I have another boy who loves trains.

Wyatt has also started to 'actively' sign with me, he does 'eat', 'milk', and 'all done'. He's also signed 'dada'.  He has danced on his bum for me, and can go from his belly to sitting position! Here's hoping we go another week without being admitted! Wyatt's birthday is in four weeks, so I'm hoping we're home for it. Fingers crossed! 

Day 13 at Home

We are nearing that point where we are just waiting for Wyatt to get sick - or worse, have an episode. We are literally in CHEO every two weeks, and we are fast approaching our two week mark being home, tomorrow. In the last two weeks, most parents would have brought their kid into CHEO under the following circumstances, but because of the support we get through CHEO's Champlain Complex Care unit, we have so far avoided it. In the last two weeks Wyatt has:

1. Thrown up blood;
2. Pooped every 4-5 days (he gets half breast milk & formula, so constipation isn't considered normal);
3. Vomit and/or spit up his feed.

After speaking with the most wonderful, Dr.Issa, we fed Wyatt whole yogurt through his gtube line, with prune juice, and we were able to get a poop (BM) out of him within 12 hrs. With that said, he is now going day three of no poop. We shouldn't obsess, I know. It's just poop. But for those of you just tuning in, Wyatt had a gastric tube inserted into his stomach a mere three weeks ago. And don't get me started on his feeds, today he was teething. So, instead of taking 1.20 hr to digest 200 mls of milk, he took 2.5 hours! Poor, little guy has a hard time keeping food down when there is so much saliva coming out of his mouth, and then you have to remember to increase his water flushes, because he's losing so much fluid out of his mouth. It makes my day crazy-busy! 

For example: I just completed a 10k run yesterday, without any training, and I can most definitely conclude that taking care of three kids is akin to training for a 10k run.  I finished the run in  1 hr 7 minutes, about 5 minutes BETTER than my 'trained' times. Had no idea how physically demanding it is to take care of my kids until I ran over that finish line, and realized "Hey - I haven't severely, physically injured myself by running 10k."

Wyatt has also been seeing his Chiropractor, from Synergy Chiropractic and Wellness Center, Dr. Hazel. We have seen some changes in his facial muscles, but it comes and goes. Dad took a week off of work to bring him in every morning, it's very intensive right now. We have also noticed that Wyatt seems to handle his secretions better - but that may be due to the fact he hasn't had a virus in two weeks. With that said, if he's teething; we're suctioning every 10 minutes or so. We cannot directly attribute it to Chiropractic care, but it may be due to his age development, the infantile brain is capable  of amazing, unexplained things. He has also been talking a lot more, both my father and I swear we hear him say Papa today!

Before Chiropractic Care:

After:

Can you see a difference, if so: post a comment in the Comment Section!

On a side note, my father did a little bit of social media work himself - but old' school styles: he talked to his work buddies about our story.

Friends from my dad's days of old in the Air Force have now accumulated well over $1600 in donations!  It still blows my mind how many people want to see Wyatt get better. I would like to send a thank you to everyone who has donated since late April, Howard & Linda Williamson, Jack G McLaughlin, Christian Girard, Doug Dolinski, Keith Kelley, Jasmin Bergeron, Patrick Thomas, Raymond Leclerc, Michel Pilon, Stewart Cormier, George & Rachel Kim, Serge Duguay, Gary Gren, Doug Macisaac, Jennifer Harris, Suzanne Knott, Valerie Keeler, Melissa Daly, Ingo Jobling (Ingo: one donation is enough!!), Natalie Lemieux, Carmen Brisson, Michelle Conner, Sandra Morgan, and last, but not least, Marielle Richard.

Et je ne peux pas oubliée ma grandmaman Miville - merçi merçi merçi. Je t'aime grandmaman, vous etes une sainte! xox 

With some of the donations, we bought a BlueAir Air purifier. This thing is huge. But it works. Trust me. Andrew decided to do some weeding - and one thing led to another, the fire was put out, and the air purifier sucked out all of the smell from the house! 

Life with a Gtube

Life with a Gtube, even with the changing of the dressings, seems less worrisome. It's not necessarily simpler, since doing the dressing change, on your own, is a bit of a science. You have to do it quickly, and be aware of the little hands that want to explore the area. What makes it easier now, or should I say, who, is that we have a RN (a lovely woman by the name of Barbara), that comes in five times a week for three hours, who looks after Wyatt while mom gets housework done, or pays attention to the middle child, Jude. 

Jude, is unfortunately, typically overlooked. I feel as his mother, he deserves more attention, but it just isn't in me to do so. When Wyatt is having a bad day, it usually means Jude is parked in front of our 'tv' (laptop), and watches his shows until one of two things happen:

1. He has a meltdown, and demands my attention;
2. Dad comes home.
3. 
   

The poor guy is a terrific kid, he is a big helper in the kitchen, and cleans up after himself. BUT, on his bad days, he screams, hits and is honestly, just plain old mean. As his mother and father, we have to keep in mind, that Jude is feeling the  brunt of Wyatt being home. For Aila, it's status quo. She goes off to school, and her routine isn't disrupted. For Jude, everything is thrown out the window once Wyatt is back from the hospital. Jude's routine when Wyatt is in hospital VS when is home, are two completely different routines. It's hard for the little guy, but he's resilient. And tough. As a three year old, Jude is trying to be at his best, but some days, it's just too much for him. Especially when you go from mom being at your side all day, and then the next, her pushing you away, so she can get space to suction his baby brother.

I digress, Wyatt has been doing great since coming home. His gtube site looks great, still no sign of infection. Hopefully it stays that way.

He's been seeing his chiropractor for almost a week now, on a daily basis. His "surprised" look on his face has turned into a more relaxed (normal?) look. I, at first, thought he looked tired, almost weak. But, after discussing with dad, realized that that's how babies are supposed to look - 'not surprised' all the time. He is also babbling more, and his swallowing seems to have improved. We have also heard him 'playing' with his spit... not too sure what that means though. 

We are still awaiting results for his biopsy on his frontalis muscles, and have recently done bloodwork to have our genes sequenced to hopefully discover some kind of mutation, which may tells us what's wrong with Wyatt.

How's this for LIFE EVENT?!?

We began the week by having about four hours of sleep Sunday night. Mom woke up at 4, and consequently, dad woke up at 4:30. Then we did our usual thing, get our daughter ready for school, pump, pick up coffee (coffee maker broke), drive to CHEO and wait.


What we were waiting for, or more like who, was Wyatt's anaesthesiologist, ENT doctor, and PED. We were to decide if Wyatt was truly going forward with the Bronchial Scope, and if he were, would he be getting his gtube and muscle biopsy. 

Little did we know, that we would be revisiting the topic of the elective tracheostomy again.

At 10:00 in the morning, sitting at a round table, we were discussing amongst three staff CHEO doctors, as well as, Wyatt's nurse, and Social Worker what we were to do with Wyatt. Alliteration not intended.

We sat there for almost two hours. Talking about the pros - it's a second airway, if he were to choke, we'd be guaranteed a means of providing him oxygen, and a likely direct route to the blockage, and can suction it out. And talking about the cons - there was a chance he'd be in CHEO for up to three months, just to recover from it. The cleaning of a trach is difficult at best, and it would only complicate Wyatt's already, complicated care. Wyatt could pull it out, and it's usually a matter of just reinserting it, and since it's a second airway, it wouldn't be a big deal anyway. Uhuh.

Doctors have a way of making something that seems completely daunting to you, and normalizing it. Noon of last Monday, I was convinced I was going to have a Trach Baby by 6 pm, that evening.

Then mom and dad went on a little walk. Talked. Dad being the usual optimist is convinced Wyatt is going to be fine during the operation, and will not need an emergency trach. We go back to the doctors with our final decision.

Wyatt will get an emergency trach if the anesthesiologist intubates, but loses his airway with a fibre optic scope. If she cannot insert the fibre optic to begin with, we abort the whole operation.

For those of you who don't know, Bronchial Scopes, Gtubes, and muscle biopsies are normal, day to day operations for CHEO staff doctors. They don't even call it a Gtube operation. They call it a procedure. 

By 2:00, 45 minutes after Wyatt was supposed to go into the operating room, we're finally called down to the OR room. I carry Wyatt into the OR clinic, and there, there are over 10 doctors waiting for Wyatt. I look around and ask if any are students, who don't need to be there, and no. Everyone is staff. Everyone plays a primary roll in Wyatt's surgery. I hand him off to his ENT doctor. I give him a kiss. I touch his neck, for what I think is the last time will be clear of any kind of a breathing device.

I turn to leave, and can't help to look back at him - and think, he has no idea what he's going into. And neither do we.

As a mother, I take my responsibility to protect my children very seriously. And that afternoon, I couldn't help but feel, like I shouldn't have let him go.
2:30 rolls around, Wyatt's PED leaves me to go check on Wyatt. This whole time she's been trying to keep me from losing it. Dad has driven off to get our daughter from school. So, I'm waiting, and chatting with an old friend from high school, whom is by coincidence there for her son's procedure.


3:00 o'clock. Our PED comes with what cannot be mistaken for complete, and total, elation. Wyatt was successfully intubated. No trach! It doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet, as extubation, can be just as risky as intubation. But I can't help but feed off of her, and I feel so, SO, so happy. It was like a little bit of the weight on my shoulders was taken off. Dad felt the same way too.

4:00 o'clock. ENT doctor comes in and says Wyatt has done great, and after scoping his esophagus, and lungs, everything seems normal. In her words, his lungs are 'beautiful'. Which is surprising, as Wyatt has had pneumonia three times, in the last four months. (I'm going to have to say it's not just the antibiotics, but also the EBM he still gets that has helped him heal so nicely).

5:00 o'clock. Staff surgeon comes in. Gtube went smoothly, as he predicted. He confirms that Wyatt is getting the muscle biopsy done, and then it's extubation.

Waiting for the extubation was excruciating. I just felt like things were going too smoothly, something bad is going to happen. Forty minutes later, we get our answer, Wyatt had a tiny piece of muscle removed from his upper eye, and will likely carry a scar there (his dad has one too, in the same spot, but it's from a ninja sword fight...or so I'm told). And the best news of the evening, Wyatt was extubated successfully, and is recovering in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit).

Wyatt takes the next five days to recover at an amazing rate. Day 1 of recovery, he's already sitting, napping on his stomach and tolerating his pain management (Tylenol every 4 hours). By Day 2, he's gets one dose of Tylenol, (preventative for dressing change), and by Day 5, he's in the bouncer! Wyatt is just full of surprises.

The CHEO staff doctors, in particular, ENT and Anaesthesia should really give themselves a pat on the back - they have really accomplished something special this passed Monday.There is very little literature on intubating infants with congenital Trismus successfully (not having an emergency trach). They truly accomplished a great feat in my books. And in medical books. 

In retrospect, we should have bought them some wine (or beer) to celebrate their (Wyatt's) accomplishment!

The Eventful Life of Wyatt Scott

Today, mom, dad and baby Wyatt were supposed to do a live interview with CTV news at 11:30, but unfortunately, we had to cancel, because Wyatt's pediatrician, Dr. Issa, put into motion the Bronchial Scope. This means a couple of things for little Wyatt if he's going to be put under by anaesthesia:

Bronchial Scope, which may be able to remove the remainder of the chicken, which he is still spitting up three days later;

A biopsy of one of his jaw muscles;

A Gtube.

Three days ago, I was madly researching about Tracheostomies, now I'm back to where I was three weeks ago: The Gtube. Although, we have mixed feelings about the Gtube now, because it will delay his chiropractic care, we know the Bronchial Scope is necessary, and since he's under - the Gtube should be done. It may prove fruitful, as the Chiropractor felt that once Wyatt had his quasi-adjustments done, he would be more aware of the NG down his throat, and could cause even more reflux.

As I run out of more and more breast milk, (dipped to half my production from catching a nasty virus), I hope the Gtube will help Wyatt with his reflux, as it's quite bad when he's on 100% formula feed. Eventually, Wyatt will be on 100% formula, I can't pump forever after all, so it's something that has been hanging over my head.

 

Other than spitting up some random pieces of chicken, as you can tell, Wyatt is doing pretty good! I wish he was older, that way we could talk about the procedure, instead of him waking up in pain (Gtube will cause him pain), and wondering "What the heck did these people do to me???"



Wyatt's Choking Episode and his new Chiropractor

Wyatt was rushed to CHEO this Tuesday after a severe choking episode that left him unconscious for approximately 2 minutes. Dad performed rescue breathing, back blows and called 911 simultaneously. Amazing guy isn't he?

Well ladies, he's taken. So, back off.

Some of you may be thinking, where was mom when all of this happened? She was on a rainy-day stroll with the toddlers. And once she got the phone call to come home, it became a 500 meter rainy-day sprint. With a 38 pound toddler boy in your arms, and a 4 year old trying her best to keep up with you.

Regardless to say, I basically made it for the goodbye wave, but not before chucking some shoes and wallet to dad. Dad gave a detailed account in our Facebook page of the events.

Wyatt was admitted to CHEO that evening, and an hour after signing the admittance papers, Wyatt coughed out a very large piece of chicken from his mouth. 48 hours later, Wyatt is still spitting up chicken, and we're hoping he'll get a Bronchial scope to see what is left inside of him.

This choking episode ignited the topic of an elective tracheostomy for Wyatt. Its purpose is only for it to be used as a second airway when he chokes, and stops breathing. So, he'd always have the trach, until he learns how to one, open his mouth, and two, swallow. As his parents, we're leaning towards it, as we see the bigger picture right now - Wyatt is a normal, developing baby, he has the ability to become a normal adult. If he loses his airway, there is always, a very good chance, he'll have brain damage. So far, we've been lucky. I don't want to rely on Lady Luck for my child's future. It's going to suck to learn about more medical paraphernalia, just one more thing on our plate, well, mom's plate. I would be doing the cleaning and suctioning, as dad has this thing with necks. Don't ask me. I don't get it. Anyway, one more thing to learn, but I'm hoping it will all be worth it in the end.

Wyatt will hopefully start seeing his Paediatric Chiropractor next week! He's going to work on his Cervical vertebrae,which does show a definite misalignment, and may be able to explain his inability to open his mouth.

More donations!

My family just wanted to thank Midnight Runs (MR)for another awesome donation of $340, which brings their total donation to $2740!! That is amazing on it's own. A feat unto itself. BUT, consider this.

It's more than what youcaring.com has rounded up, and this has been shared across Facebook, and numerous news articles. 

So, again, MR, amazing. Absolutely amazing.

And my brother Nathaniel, I think you missed your calling. You're really good at getting people to give you money. Pretty sure all of that mobster work you did in your past probably helped you. Wink Wink.

And Nathaniel's work also donated $100 to Wyatt's fund. It's unreal how much help we're getting, even though, NONE of these people KNOW US.

Don't get me wrong, the donations at youcaring.com are great. They're fantastic. They make me worry that much less by the end of the day. I feel like a burden is slowly being taken off of me. And there are tons of people who don't know me, or maybe know of me, or thinks Wyatt is the cutest baby, and they want to give us a chance to give him a better life. Whatever your reasoning is for donating to Wyatt's fund, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's truly appreciated.

Just some quick thank yous:
Judann Cdebaca, Ashleigh Lepkey & Josh Pillar, Robin Bolhuis, Natalia Maria Pico Pareja, Sophie Lariviere, Kathryn McNeely, Anthony Fossum, Natacha Brun, Julie McNeely, Colin Barrett, Sandra Morgan, Aunt Pat & Uncle Brent, the Lovely Mrs. Wells, Linda Crawford, Melicent Lavers, Brian Reid, Brice Church, Melinda Morgan, and last, but not least, Kathy McMahon.

Personally, I'm hoping we can go down to LA in July, and do our interview with The Doctors in their studio. 

Have a great week, and stay tuned for more updates!

This Week in the Life of Wyatt

It has been a very busy week for our little Wyatt. He has been off and on febrile, so we know he's fighting something off, most likely the cold that has been going around the house for the passed two weeks. If the dried up snots around his nose isn't a sign, then I don't know what is...

We started the week off with the case study , and then we were off to Hazeldean Family Chiropractic for an assessment. In no way did the Chiropractor do any adjustments, just felt behind Wyatt's neck, and did an X-ray on his spine. Poor little guy has had so many X-ray's in his first year of life. *Sigh* 

Right after the Chiropractor, Wyatt went off to see his Osteopath, who did her usual thing with Wyatt, and things went well, not great, but well. Wyatt was fighting off a fever at this point, so he was schmidge cranky.

Two hours later, Wyatt had a great mouth opening! We took some good pictures of him just babbling (his version of babbling, not normal baby-babble), and trying to stick things into his mouth. He's always so happy after the Osteopath, he's always talking and ... just plain happy!

 


The next day, dad had a Mess dinner to go to. Unfortunately, dad had to come home much earlier than he originally expected, because Wyatt developed a fever of 39.4. 

As a mom or dad - do you feel you could handle two toddlers, and a infant with a moderate grade fever? I think I could, if the baby wasn't disabled. I'm going to tell you why.

Wyatt is connected to a Heart Rate/Oxygen monitor. It shows us his saturations, and well, the rate of his heart beat. 

Two things happen to every human being when they get a fever.

Their body temperature goes up.

Their heart rate goes up.

Before I go further on with this story, you as a reader, must know this about me: numbers scare me. I said it in math class 15 years ago, and I'm saying again. Numbers, effing scare me.

Wyatt's heart rate had gone from 135 to 175 in a matter of an hour. Ask a nurse or doctor, and they'd shrug their shoulders to this and pat your shoulder and tell you NOT to worry, but - I'm no doctor or a nurse. These numbers were scaring me! By the time dad had come home, I was a complete, and total wreck. I felt like a complete failure - I thought the probe was on wrong, I thought he was working harder to breath (his O2 sats were at 85-88%), so his heart was beating fast to try and compensate. Oh, and I tried every trick in my book for that damned monitor 'to read correctly'. (It was always reading correctly).

BUT, it never occurred to me to take a temperature, with that thing... you know...every household has one...

Thermometer.

Wyatt was febrile again. Dad had realized it the moment he strode into our room. I had become so FOCUSED on the numbers, that I didn't just look at him, and think to myself, take his temp. I felt his forehead - but little did I know, I myself had a fever, so I couldn't feel his. We were probably around the same temperature in the end.

So, after bawling my eyes on dad's crisp, white dress shirt, and possibly rubbing most of my snot on it in the process, and telling him how I can't take care of Wyatt on my own, he just rubbed my back and said "Amy, Wyatt is a two-person job." 

And that was, that.

I put the toddlers to bed (an hour late!), and dad rubbed Wyatt's back until his heart rate went down to a cool 120, and O2 went up to a lovely 98%.

I might get the toddlers 90% of the time, but Wyatt is more complicated when he's sick. Which, is often. 

To top off the end of the week, Wyatt is lying in bed right now, medicated with Tylenol and Advil. Still febrile, but at least dad is stone's throw away this time.

Wyatt's Case Study

*Insert drum roll sound*

Wyatt's specialists were all finally able to get together today for a Case Study.

3:00 pm - Meeting begins (Staff only)

3:00 to 3:50- Mom and dad wait... mom starts to convince herself they forgot about them waiting in the waiting room.

3:50 - ENT comes walking in wondering where the meeting is...they're in their scrubs. They've come from the Clinic (always busy guys).

4:05 - We're guided into this tiny room, with this TV that buzzes right against our ears to a high-pitch sound. Which everyone listens to for the next 40 minutes.

We were supposed to meet everyone for 15 minutes. That was our window. Everyone stayed. For 40 minutes.

6 Beeper pages later... (ENT mostly...)

Mom and dad leave feeling - wait for it.

Relieved. 

It's rare that I leave CHEO feeling relieved. Usually, I feel defeated, and it's not until I get home that I start to feel like myself again. But this time, it was different.

Andrew and I hold hands on the way home in the van, there is a feeling of satisfaction.

ENT: Decided that Wyatt was to have a disperse of Botox into his masseters, and his salivary glands.

Neuro: Decided that we are to meet in a month's time for a neurological assessment, and he is closely working with Genetics. He is confident that Wyatt has some kind of myopathy of the muscles, but to progress further in his diagnosis, we need a muscle biopsy. Possible local anaesthesia may be visited, to avoid a general anaesthetic.

Geneticist:who is proud of mom and dad as parents for "handling things very well", is going to get the paperwork in order for an exome. We expect an appointment soon.

PED: Dr. Issa will continue to be the hub, and kick butt. (That is a medical term, if you do not hold a medical degree).

Anaesthesia: Will likely not be in direct contact with the parents, but is definitely considering the g-tube procedure. Biggest obstacle: Wyatt needs to be well (not admitted), for at least 6 weeks.

During this time Neurology negated Moebius syndrome, Genetics is awaiting results on Trismus-Pseudocamptodactyly Syndrome, and ENT confirmed that Tongue Tie is in no way a possibility. 

If you read Wyatt's Medical Tests, you will know that TMJ is not an option, as well as, Tetanus, and CP. 

Stay tuned for the next Blog: Pediatric Chiropractor & Acupuncturist!

A big thank you to all of the donations!

On Easter Sunday, we were surprised with a $2400 cheque from my brother's car club, Midnight Runs. It was unreal. I cried. Andrew cried. Nobody else cried though. It was awkward. 

We just want to thank everyone from Midnight Runs for their generous donations. And if you ever need a website made; I'm your girl! I still cannot believe it, and my brother is still rounding up MORE donations from the car club. These guys spend so much money on their cars (because they LOVE their cars), and they somehow found money to give to two people they will likely never meet, it's truly...dumbfounding.

I also want to mention one thing on behalf of my brother. To Midnight Runs : You gave my brother a new lease on life.

From his sister; thank you. (Dude loves to race!)

I've mentioned this before, in my interview, along with anybody who will listen, I get a lot of family support. Most of all, from my mom. Mom's are funny, it doesn't matter how much you change along the way, as their child, they will always dote on you, worry about you, try to make things better for you.

And their hearts are always in the right place.

I love you mom. I'm who I am today, because you made me this way. You are... stoic, brave, unrelenting, loving, smart, beautiful, strong... and a smidge eccentric. And I love you mom.

Because of you, every time I get knocked down, I dust myself off, and get back up again. Knock me down again, and I WILL ALWAYS dust myself off, and get back up again...and maybe throw a punch (thanks dad!).

So, with that said, a big thank you goes to my mom for organizing a charity campaign for Wyatt, at youcaring.com. Wyatt's mom and dad are contemplating going to the US for exome sequencing using the donations. Google exome sequencing. I'm not explaining it.

To Midnight Runs: we'll get Wyatt a dirt bike if there's anything leftover!

BIG THANK YOUS TO:

Paula Moore, Andrea Miville, Emmanuel Bennitez, Michael Miller, Ingo Jobling, James Freeman, Larry Wilcox, Michael Magda, Carmen Brisson, Sonya & Vince Grant, Quang X. Pham, Sarah Simmons & Tom Pelland, Amanda and Pat Beauvais, Julie Mallette, Sean Smyth, Julie Fairweather, Patrick Cusson, Nora McNeely & Mike Brameld, and last but certainly not least, Matt Wilcox. 

And MOM, thank you for cleaning my floors, my bathrooms, putting away Jude and Aila's clothes, even though you don't know where they go, thank you for doing my dishes. Every. Single. Time. You. Come. Over.  Thank you for folding my clothes. Thank for doing loads of laundry. Thank you cleaning the play room. Thank you for putting Zoë out when she needs to. Thank you for trying to give me natural ways to relax. Thank you for sitting with Wyatt while I pump.

Thank you mom, for surviving cancer. Not once. Not twice. But three times.

You need a cape. And possibly a sparkly insignia with M across your chest. 

And x-ray vision.

xox amy