Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Puppy Watch

Jack continues to do well. He is still too thin, but the seizures are much better. We had 6 days with zero, but yesterday he had 2 very short ones at school. I think the same thing happened last Monday. Weekends can be tiring.

Our foster dog Bonnie is really fun and quite chubby. Her puppy is due very soon. We don't really know when, so Jack is helping me take her temperature every day. His job is to pull it out after we're done. For some reason, he really likes doing that. We have learned all kinds of things about whelping. Bonnie's temp continues to be in the normal range, about 100-101. When it drops to 98 or 99, birth should be imminent. She is only expecting one puppy. I can feel it move all around her fat tummy, so we hope it is born healthy. She was severely neglected before she was rescued.

Jack goes to the neurologist today and I hope Dr. Nelson will let us increase the baclofen again. We have been waiting for his seizures to calm down. His right arm has lost a lot of progress because the baclofen had to be reduced in case it was causing increased seizure activity. The pump is not supposed to do that, so we are hopeful the seizures will stay controlled with an increase.

We are very grateful to the men's group at our church for allowing proceeds from the May 9th barbecue to go to paws4people. Unfortunately we can't be there. Our son Jake turns 21 May 10th, which is Mother's Day. Our family will celebrate together in Chapel Hill. Jack will also be featured in an article for Lutheran Family Services highlighting his service dog, which we can't wait to get.

We'll keep you posted on the puppy...

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Newest member of the house

Whew! Sorry it's been a while but the last couple weeks have been crazzzeeee. I started a new job. I had my 29th birthday. And also... Ok, stop laughing you guys. Now, we know that many of you think we are crazy but you have to see the pictures below. We are fostering a little Scottish terrier named Bonnie. Now, as if that isn't enough, she is pregnant with a single pup. Our friend, Mary Lou, who connected us with the paws4people group, brought her to our attention. She was abused and we will be taking care of her and the pup until the little one is weaned. Then, they will go to a good home (other than ours, of course). Anyway, enjoy the pictures. If, by any chance, you are interested in adopting her or the puppy, let us know and we will get you in touch with Mary Lou.







Wednesday, March 18, 2009

More Monkey News

Wednesday, March 18th

Since our last post, we have some hopeful news about Jack's seizures. On Saturday, he had one and on Sunday zero! Monday he had one, but yesterday he had a bunch of quick ones close together. Asha (his IA) thought he may have been tired from a long walk to his resource room with Ms. Davis. He didn't have any for me yesterday afternoon, so hopefully it was just a little setback. I'm still excited about the zero on Sunday. It's been at least six months since we had a seizure free day.

Last Thursday night Jake and Natalie came home for spring break. We had a fun visit and they left for Charleston on Monday morning. They came back again on Thursday and left for Chapel Hill Sunday. Kristopher was here last week for community week, which he has done four times this year for med school. He and Shannon, his fiance, went to Charleston as well and then on to Savannah for Saint Patrick's Day. He said the green fountain was cool. Apparently it's quite a party, so I hope they had fun. He'll come back to Charlotte today and visit with us tomorrow.

Eliot started his new job on Monday and is making the long trek to and from Columbia each day. If one more person tells us, well you have to do what you have to do, I may scream. I don't see any of them driving 200 miles a day to work! We are very grateful though and he thinks he'll like the job. He hopes to be closer to home as soon as possible.

Jack is well, but still too thin. His appetite picked up after he stopped taking Toperal, but he still eats less than he did. We are supplementing with protein drinks. His neurologist also has him on B7, omega 3's and Levocarnitine. His behavior has been pretty good as well. His play therapist comes today after school and he loves her. Next week we have his IEP. I'll keep you posted...

L & E

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Status of Jack's seizures

The last few days have been very encouraging. The number of daily seizures is down to about 2-3 per day. We aren't aware of ANY seizures yesterday. He has been battling a runny nose but appears to be fine today. Lisa, on the other hand, had a nasty flu bug that put her in bed for the better part of a week. She appears to be on the mend now, though. I have been spared (knock on wood) and am looking forward to starting a new job on Monday. It has been a long four months of unemployment and I am ready to go back to work. Lisa is ready too, by the way. :) We're hoping that we can get back to increasing the baclofen dosage soon if the neurologist and rehab doctor agree. That's all for now.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

A great time!

We had a great time hosting all the "paws" people last night. We sure appreciate everyone coming and hope they had a good time as well. Jack was in his element with all the attention and seemed to handle getting to bed late and having to get up early this morning for Saturday school. Today was a make-up day for an earlier snow day.

Karen brought SOLOMON and introduced him gradually to Maggie and Moe. Moe was a bit "put off" at first at having a strange dog in his backyard but got over it eventually. When it came time for dinner, SOLOMON disappeared under the dining room table and Moe seemed very puzzled that he had somehow vanished. Maggie, being the alpha dog, also had a rough start but soon handled SOLOMON's appearance like a champ.

Thanks again for everyone coming. When Kyria was leaving, she promised Jack that she would take care of CAYLIE. Have a safe trip home everyone.

And finally, a special get-well soon to Terry.

Some pictures from the evening...







Friday, March 6, 2009

Kris on the Isle of Wight (2008)

For those of you who might be interested, you can read about Kris's trip to the Isle of Wight last summer for his internship.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Jack, this coming weekend and snow....

Good news on Jack. Although the number of seizures he is having still remains higher than we'd like, his appetite is returning. Now that we've stopped the Toprol, that seems to have done the trick.

We are very excited to have Kyria, Candace and Karen (say that three times real fast!) and others for dinner this Friday. We are hoping that our boys will be home also. Sounds like we might have an extra canine friend around to keep Maggie and Moe company. We are very much looking forward to it.

Last night and this morning we got a late winter snow amounting to about 3 inches in our neighborhood. (This is comparable to 3 feet in WV.) Jack was home from school and a lot of things were closed. Anyway, it was all gone from the roads by early afternoon. I have some pictures below of a short walk we took with Maggie and Moe. Talk again soon. Enjoy the pictures.