Posts filed under 'Travel'
I’ve been remiss. Much has happened since my last post.
Anna’s Casting Part II: Our last post ended with Anna having her leg casted to help stretch her tight Achilles tendon. Almost 2 weeks post casting and we can say that it was a real success! When Anna had her first cast removed the following Monday, we already saw improvements in her flexibility. They measure flexibility in terms of degrees past neutral (think of neutral as your toes pointing up to the ceiling if you are sitting with your legs out in front of you) with both a straight leg and a bent knee. When we started Anna was minus 10 degrees with a straight leg and neutral with her knee bent. After the first cast she was almost neutral with a straight leg and 10 degrees past neutral (good!) with her knee bent. After the second cast, Anna was 10 degrees past neutral with a straight leg and 20 degrees past neutral with her knee bent. “Normal” flexibility is defined as 20 degrees past neutral, so we were very excited with the outcome. We’re getting a new brace within the next week or so that will hopefully help to maintain this new flexibility.
I re-read my post from the night before the initial casting; it turns out I was worried about nothing. The process was actually not bad at all (of course, I’m not the one who had a cast on her leg). Anna did everything she would normally do without a cast (some stuff she even did better with the cast than without) – climbing, running, jumping, etc. On the first couple of nights after she received a new cast she complained a little about leg pain. We were told by her PT that this was normal, and that we should give her Tylenol/Motrin to help the pain. After that she didn’t complain at all. Anna was completely freaked out by the cast saw the first time the cast was removed, but didn’t shed a tear during the removal of the second. I’d have to say the one drawback to the entire process was the inability to bathe. Three year olds are stinky beings, and I swear Anna played in the dirt more during those 2 weeks than normal. She left a definite ring around the tub when we were finally able to take a full-fledged bath after 2 weeks of sponge baths!
This past week Anna has been attending a “Helping Hands” camp at the Mapleton Center in Boulder. This is basically a constraint therapy camp where all the campers wear casts on their unaffected hands in an attempt to encourage increased use of the affected hands/arms. This is the first year that the Mapleton Center has offered this camp, and the turnout was a bit lower than they expected. I hope that they continue to offer it in the coming years because Anna is LOVING it! The low turnout has been great for us. There are 3 kids at the camp – 3 little girls ages 3-5 – and 4 adults (2 OTs and 2 volunteers) to manage them. We get the best of both worlds – the benefits of a group setting while still getting the one on one attention from the therapists! Anyway, they practice dressing in the mornings, do all sorts of crafts, spend time outdoors, bake, and play with one another. All the activities are designed to work on particular fine motor skills with the affected hand. She’s had such a great time, and I know she’s working hard by the simple fact that she falls asleep on the way home (it is a rare day when Anna falls asleep in the car). For Mom, it is nice to meet other parents whose children have hemiparesis. We’re planning on getting together after the last day of camp to compare notes!
Noah is now 6 months old! I cannot believe that so much time has passed. It seems like such a short time ago since he was born, but at the same time it seems like forever. The little man is really progressing! We believe it won’t be long before he’s mobile. He’s holding himself up with his arms and tucking his knees under him. We should probably get busy with the childproofing now! YIKES!
Noah had his 6-month check up last week. He weighs 17 lbs. 10 oz. (75th percentile) and is 27 1/2″ long (90th percentile). I was rather surprised that his weight earned him a ranking in only the 75th percentile. He’s a heavy guy!! He’s apparently fallen off his growth curve a little, but the doctor didn’t think it was anything to be concerned about. Anna did exactly the same thing at 6 months. Noah is teething like a madman; he chews on everything in sight and drools all over. For the last couple of weeks hee also seems to have had some sort of GI infection that, when mixed with the teething, has made us go through diapers, wipes and A&D ointment like they are going out of style.
Oh, I almost forgot! Noah has been sleeping in his own room since June 29th. Although we’ve had some ups and downs since he moved from our room, he’s been sleeping much better (and longer)! Last night he slept from 7pm to 6am, and then went back to sleep until 6:45 (when I had to wake him). Sleep does amazing things for his disposition too. He’s a much happier little guy when he gets enough rest! Naps remain a challenge for us, but he’s been doing much better at home in his own bed. If only we could get him to sleep at daycare.
T minus 30…our trip to Alabama is rapidly approaching! I’m a little more relaxed about the trip this time around, but I’m sure I’ll turn into a complete basket case soon. We find out about housing at the end of this month, which makes me a little nervous. I’d much rather know earlier that we have a confirmed place to stay. We’ve been prepping Anna for our trip to AL. We have the same therapist we had when we were there last year. Anna keeps telling us that she just really misses Reggie. I hope she still feels that way when we cast her for a month and make her do difficult things with her left hand. Anna was a very different little girl the last time we were there. She’s definitely come into her own over the past year, and I hope her independent streak doesn’t affect the therapy program (and ultimately, the outcome).
July 22nd, 2009
Thankfully, we all made it.
Despite some bad weather on Thursday morning (4 inches of snow in our driveway when I left), my three-day drive to Birmingham, Alabama went off without a hitch. Gloomy skies for most of the journey, but dry roads from Kansas to Alabama. Many thanks to Debbie and Rex in Towanda, Kansas for a fine steak and finer company on Thursday night, to the Days Inn in Fulton, Mississippi for being worse than I had hoped but better than I had feared, and to the makers of Red Bull for keeping me awake during the drive. I entered Birmingham around 9 o’clock this morning, and was unpacked in our new apartment before noon.
Tara and Anna made it to the Denver airport with time to spare, courtesy of my parents who got up much earlier than retired folk are wont to do in order to ferry their daughter-in-law and grandkidlet to DIA (thanks Mom and Dad!). Tara managed to get the folks at United to see reason and actually seat both mother and child next to one another (evidently the airline computers see no problem in seating a mother three rows away from her two-year-old daughter…), and the flight to Birmingham proved blessedly uneventful thanks in no small part to a portable DVD player and several “Dora the Explorer” videos.
Our apartment here is really quite nice, and we’re in a fantastic part of town (I felt quite under-dressed wearing only jeans and a t-shirt when I walked into the Panera at “The Summit” to use the restroom…). Most of all we’re happy to be together once again, and happy that this whole scheme worked out mostly according to plan.
We’ve got the day off tomorrow to sleep in, take a look around, and generally get our bearings. Anna’s ordeal starts Monday with her orientation, casting, and first round therapy at UAB.
February 16th, 2008
The title pretty much sums up the time since our last post.
We spent Christmas in Kansas this year. This was Anna’s first Christmas, which was actually a lot of fun. She had no idea what she was doing, but she enjoyed ripping paper off. Not so that she could see what was under the paper, but so that she could eat the paper. We had to keep a pretty close eye on her with all that paper laying around. We had a great time visiting with all the grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins!
Due to the snow storm in Colorado and Kansas over the weekend of the New Years holiday, we stayed in Kansas a couple of days longer than anticipated. We had a room booked at the Burlington High School gymnasium, but thankfully we didn’t need to use it! We returned to Longmont on Monday night to find that our driveway was completely shoveled! Thank you Andy and Barbara (our next door neighbors). However, the plows finally came though on our street and deposited a large mound of icy snow in front of our driveway. After an 11 hour drive we had to dig ourselves out of the mound so that we could pull the car into the driveway. Not something you want to do at 11pm. Especially considering we all had to return to work the very next day!
Anna made it to daycare on Tuesday and Wednesday that week and by the weekend she was sick AGAIN! On Saturday she had a very high fever and on Sunday she had labored breathing. We interrupted our Christmas with Neal’s parents and cousin Sandra to take Anna to the urgent care clinic on the advice of our on-call doctor. The on-call doc said that we should begin to be concerned when her respirations per minute reached 40-50; Anna’s were 80 when we left the house and 96 when we reached urgent care! While there they had her do a breathing treatment, which is a lot of fun with an infant (NOT). They also tested her for RSV and influenza. Unfortunately she tested positive for RSV. If you haven’t had a child recently, you may not know that RSV is a potentially very dangerous respiratory virus for babies. It manifests itself as a cold for adults and older children, but it wreaks havoc on the ability of infants to get enough oxygen. It is also highly contagious, so no daycare for at least a week.
Anna was KO’d for that entire week. She didn’t begin to feel better until the following Friday. Even then she was still not her usual jovial self! The fever continued throughout the week. She developed two ear infections. And breathing remained an issue. Every night for a week we gave her a breathing treatment using a home nebulizer (again, a lot of fun). And then the cough started. It was just a terribly horrible week. Anna slept with me because the doctors wanted us to monitor her breathing; Neal slept on the couch. In sum, no one slept very well. On Monday we went back to the doctor to see if she would be cleared for daycare starting this last Tuesday. Unfortunately, she was still wheezing and rattling so we were told to wait for a couple of days. To top off that fabulous time, Anna gave me her virus. So now I’m coughing all night!
Last but not least, Anna is cutting more teeth! She now has 3 on the bottom, her two front teeth on top are coming in nicely, and she’s started to cut one of her first year molars. Needless to say, she is a drooling queen and has been quite fussy lately. It’s hard to tell whether she is fussy because of her sickness or because of the teeth. Maybe it’s a combination of both.
I posted some new pictures as well. I want to upload some new movies, but I need to use Neal’s desktop to do that. I’ll try to do that sometime this weekend. We have a couple of really good ones.
Oh, and on the therapy front, Anna is cruising around on the furniture now. We still aren’t hands-and-knees crawling, but we are continuing to work on that. I’m of the opinion now that she will walk before she crawls (on her hands and knees). She’s also doing a great job pulling to stand on her own. Now, if we could just get her to sit up from commando crawling, we’d be in business. Her OT today was absolutely amazed with Anna’s use of her left arm. She had expected a bit of a regression given the fact that Anna was out of commission for more than a week, but she was pleasantly suprised to find that Anna had actually gained skills. Baby girl truly is amazing. We’ve got some interesting therapy news on the horizon. I won’t elaborate now because it is still in the works, but I’ll be sure to share when we know more.
January 18th, 2007
It’s been quite awhile since we’ve posted anything. It would be an understatement to say that we’ve been a bit busy lately. With doctor and therapy appointments, a trip to Kansas, and family visiting, there hasn’t been much time to sit down and upload pictures or write a blog entry. I’ll try to remedy that here!
I’ve uploaded a ton of pictures to our site. Be sure to check out more than the six pictures you see in the sidebar. I guess you could say that what I uploaded today pretty much covers the month of October!
During the first part of October we traveled back to Kansas for my cousin Aaron’s wedding. Anna and I (and Max, of course) took the opportunity to spend some time with the grandparents during the week prior to the wedding. We had a great time with Granny Debbie and Papa Rex, and I think Great Grandpa Jack enjoyed seeing Miss Anna, too. Neal did his usual traveling madness: he drove out with us on a Saturday, flew back to Denver on a Sunday, flew back to Kansas on a Thursday, and drove home with us on a Sunday. He certainly put in some mileage there. Anna, Max and I were extremely happy that he decided to join us on the long drives across the high plains.
Aaron and Shayla’s wedding was very nice…short and to the point (just like they wanted it)! It was great to see all the family who drove in for the event. That’s what I love about weddings – you have the chance to see family that you hardly ever see! We also were able to spend some quality time with Great Grandma Winnie. Everyone had a great time at the reception. One highlight was the pastor teaching everyone how to do the electric slide! Henry fell in love with the DJ’s lights and was determined to touch them despite Jo’s best efforts to dissuade him. And the BBQ was excellent.
When we returned from Kansas, Anna had her first physical therapy appointment with Kathryn from Tiny Tim. She did an initial evaluation of Anna while I filled out paperwork. She seemed to think that Anna’s biggest challenge will be keeping her left hand open. I thought that was good news! We were given a list of stretches, exercises and activities to do over the next couple of weeks until we see her again. I had a good vibe from Kathryn and I think that Anna likes her, too. We also were able to finalize our occupational therapy assignment. We’ll be starting her OT with Kathy this Thursday.
Granddad Sam and Grandma Mary came to visit us the weekend after we returned from Kansas. We didn’t do anything special – like go to the mountains or zoo. Instead, we all hung out at home and played with the babies. Granddad Sam read many a book to Henry and Anna…over and over and over and over again. And I think Mary had a fun time just playing with the babies. We certainly enjoyed having them here! I hope they don’t wait another year before they come out again!
Last week Anna had 3 different doctor’s appointments. On Monday she saw the pediatric ophthamologist, on Wednesday she saw her neurologist, and on Friday we went to the Stroke Clinic at Children’s Hospital. Here’s what we now know: Anna’s vision is probably going to be fine. There may be some issues that develop as she gets older, but at this point the doctor doesn’t see anything to make him believe that she’ll have any problems.
We were able to see the MRI images at our appointment on Wednesday. The stoke is located in the area of the brain in charge of controling movement – specifically, movement of the muscles of the arm/hand and leg on the left side. The neurologist explained that this is the same area that is affected when someone has tremors due to Parkinson’s. On the computer screen the stroke area was about the size of a quarter, which seemed huge to me until the doctor told us that most strokes she sees cover a much much larger area of the brain. The image on the screen was much larger than Anna’s head, so Neal and I imagine that the actual area is more like the size of a dime.
And on Friday we spent the entire day at Children’s Hospital. During the morning Anna had a neuro-psych exam. They wanted to determine whether or not the stroke has caused any problems with her cognition. There isn’t a whole lot they can do with a 7-month old as far as testing goes, but what they were able to do indicated that Anna doesn’t show any signs of cognitive difficulties. She had problems with those parts of the test that involve bi-manual tasks, but we knew that would be the case! Otherwise she did quite well and scored above the mean.
Later that day we met with a host of doctors from various departments at Children’s: rehabilitation, hematology, and neurology. Several teams of doctors came to examine Anna. They poked, prodded, pulled, stretched, shined light, poked again, tapped on reflex points, stretched again. Poor Anna. Through it all she maintained a sunny disposition despite having snot running out of her nose (she has another cold), drool stringing from her mouth, pain radiating from her gums (teething), and a nasty nasty cough. What a trooper. I know the experience was not a pleasant one for Anna, but it was very positive for us. We learned a lot about Anna’s stroke and her prognosis. We still don’t know exactly when the stroke happened, or what caused it, but we do know that it probably happened in utero toward the end of the second and beginning of the third trimester, and that it probably isn’t due to a blood clotting disorder. They are doing blood work to make sure that is the case. The rehab doctor was extremely encouraged by all that Anna is doing so far. She thinks that there will be very few remnants of the paresis when Anna gets older, and the neurologist said that depending on how Anna responds to therapy, this may all be “our little secret.”
So there you have it…the most up-to-date information. I’ll try to be better about posting pictures and info in the coming months. For now…enjoy!
October 31st, 2006
Our poor Honda Civic is cursed. Like a magnet, our car seems to attract accidents! About 8 months ago I was rear-ended while driving to work in Boulder. This caused about $4000 worth of damage and many weeks to get it repaired. Just when we thought that this vehicle had its share of body work, it was involved in yet another accident.
This weekend we were driving up to visit Neal’s parents in Fort Collins. Neal’s dad had just returned from a 3-week trip to Germany and we were going up to have dinner and hear about his adventures. We were minding our own business in the right-hand lane when a car came up from behind in the left lane and side-swiped us going at least 60 mph. Turns out it was a couple of teenagers from Greeley. The kid driving was 16 and this was probably his first car – it still had temporary plates! I’d seen this same car earlier going about 45 mph (we passed him) – the driver looked like he was dialing or texting on his cell phone. We figure he just wasn’t paying attention and drifted over the line into our lane. Neal tried to swerve, but it wasn’t quite enough. The car took off our driver’s side mirror and scratched/dented our front wheel well and all along the side of our car.
The kid was cited for careless driving – so in theory his insurance should pay for the damages. However, instead of a big insurance company like State Farm or Allstate, he has a private insurance company out of Greeley. This means estimates (multiple) and potentially fighting for our choice of body shop. Let’s hope I’m wrong. In the meantime, I get to drive around in a car without a side mirror and some alignment issues. Major annoyance – you just don’t realize how much you use the side mirror until it’s gone! Grrr…
Incidentally, we’re all fine. No injuries aside from a little too much sun while waiting for the highway patrol to show up.
July 23rd, 2006
We had a fun-filled trip back to Kansas this last weekend to help celebrate grandma Anna Hess’s 90th birthday. Baby Anna was named after this fantastic lady, and we think that both Annas were happy to be able to spend the time together.
This was baby Anna’s first plane flight, and despite a couple of over-zealous security agents (Anna, it seems, has already managed to get herself on some sort of terrorist watch-list) and some turbulence that gave her mom some trouble, Anna slept through the whole ordeal like a little angel. As soon as we landed in Wichita, Tara’s dad picked us up and took us back to Towanda to meet with the preacher (for Anna’s baptism the next day) and then we all met for dinner to celebrate grandma’s birthday.
In addition to the birthday celebration, Baby Anna was baptized at the United Methodist Church in Towanda, Kansas on her great grandmother’s 90th birthday on Sunday, June 4th, 2006. Honestly, this was the highlight of the whole trip. Grandma Anna was recognized during the service, and was able to stand next to her great grand-daughter during the baptism ceremony, surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Later in the day she gave both Anna and Henry bibles to commemorate the event.
We stayed with Tara’s mom, who stayed up until well into the early morning hours finishing Anna’s dress baking a delicious cake for grandma Anna’s birthday celebration on Sunday.
Although the trip was short, we had a wonderful time visiting with Tara’s family. And it’s great to know that Anna tolerates the hour-long plane flight to Kansas fairly well.
We took lots and lots of pictures, which are now up on the site. Go directly to our Flickr site if you’re interested in getting the most bang for your buck. Note that we’re still working to categorize many of them, but feel free to browse! We’ll also be uploading a couple of movies here soon.
To everyone in Kansas: We miss you already, and look forward to visiting again or seeing you in Colorado soon!
June 7th, 2006
It’s been some crazy days, folks. Two weeks ago we packed up the Honda Civic, loaded the roof-rack, secured Anna in her carseat, and made sure Max was a comfortable as possible, and drove ourselves out to visit family in Kansas. The trip that normally takes us about eight hours took twelve, what with three or four stops to feed the kidlet. But Anna and Max slept through most of it, which made things go pretty smoothly.
Tara, Max, and Anna spent the whole week out with her folks, and had a fantastic time. Neal had to fly back to Colorado to attend a work retreat in Vail, and then flew back late in the week to catch up with folks and drive the twelve hour trip back home.
We’ve been super busy since then, and we’ll do another post or two about why, but we’ve finally managed to find a few minutes to share some photos. Check ‘em out. Movies should follow shortly.
June 1st, 2006
Tara’s mother Debbie left for Kansas on Saturday, and we already miss her. She spent three full weeks here in Colorado helping us prepare for and then deal with Anna’s arrival. Without her help our house would be (more of) a disaster, and we probably would have starved without her delicious cooking.
We love her dearly and know that we couldn’t have done it without her. Thanks Mom!
(And yes, we’ve posted new photos!)
April 3rd, 2006
No news on the baby front, I’m afraid. We’re all still sitting around waiting for something — anything — to happen.
Meanwhile, Tara’s mom (Debbie) has arrived in Colorado! She decided that she’d come out a bit early and hopefully get to spend some quality time with Henry. And she’ll help Tara pass the time until our little girl decides to come out and play.
We’ve also heard that Ben finally got his wish and is off to feed an elephant at the Denver Zoo. Very cool!
March 12th, 2006
Our little nephew Ben Steadman and his family have just left to start their Make-A-Wish vacation in sunny San Diego. As some of you probably know, last fall Ben was diagnosed with diffuse pontine glioma – an inoperable tumor in his brain stem. Since that time he’s undergone radiation treatment and is currently doing exceptionally well. Ben and his sister have been looking forward to the trip out to San Diego’s Wild Animal Park, Legoland, and Sea World for a long time, and the Make-A-Wish folks have done a fantastic job of bringing everything together and making it possible for Ben and more than twenty other members of our family to forget their cares for a while and frolic in southern California. While they’re there they’ll also celebrate birthdays for my cousin Dean and Ben’s sister Madeline.
For our part, all we can do is be a little bit jealous, since we’re close enough to our due date that travelling far from home is no longer a great idea. But we’re with everyone in spirit, and hope that Ben and Madie and everyone else has a fantastic time!
February 12th, 2006
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