Wordless Wednesday: nap style

another seizure

This morning I woke up to Collin vomiting. After the first episode he was responding to me with short one word answers. I cleaned him off and laid him beside his bed on the floor to get the sheets off the bed, when he threw up again. This time he would not respond to be with words, just with mmhmm's and uh-ah's. By this time I was on the phone with Preston to see if he had noticed anything this morning before leaving. I hung up with him and called 911, as Collin was not responding by now at all.
A few minutes later they arrived and off we went to the hospital. The ride in the squad found Collin still not responding verbally, but like he was trying to come out of the seizure and was falling asleep. I guess from what I was told by the medics that it is normal for a child to go to sleep after a seizure. 
Once at the hospital he got a work up of his vitals, but they mainly let him sleep. Then he had blood work and numerous Dr's, nurses, aides, PA's & students came in and out. The Dr. spoke with our pediatrician and with a neurologist who gave Collin's EEG from yesterday a quick read. She saw a couple trouble spots on it that could indicate a seizure disorder.
We were RX'd Keppra to prevent the seizures as well as diastat to stop one in progress. He will be seen next week by the neurologist to get a more in depth read of the EEG and for another work up by the specialist.

Right now he is back to acting just like himself.
PLEASE keep him in your prayers. And I will update you as we know anything.

A little of this, a little of that

This past weekend we went for a drive to a nearby lake. We are thinking of moving there, once our house sells.
Isn't it beautiful?  (yes, since you asked...I did take that picture. Oh, sorry you didn't ask!)

We also went for ice cream while we were there. Yummm...

Today was Collin's EEG. We won't have the results for approximately 10 days. He did GREAT. He listened and followed all the instructions he was given, including falling asleep.  I was so proud.


Since he did so well, his Maw-kle (pronounced Ma-Kohl and is what he calls my Mom, his Grandma) bought him the Imaginex Bat Cave he has been wanting. He was thrilled.


Since so many of you asked...NO I did not make the cake, but my sister did. It is a hobby of hers and she does not do it for a living, just for family. It took 8 cake mixes and many lbs of icing. But it was SO GOOD!!!
She also made his first birthday cake...

I just realized that I may have too much time on my hands. Why? Because each time I share pictures with you I first run them through scrapblog. It is a great (mostly) free online scrapbooking site. Never tried them out? You won't be sorry you did, but be warned first...it is ADDICTING!!!  www.scrapblog.com .
I would have included a picture of Collin from his first birthday party, but I do not have any of them saved on this computer.    :(          Sorry.

I am watching Dancing with the Stars as I work on this and I am very upset that Melissa is injured and won't be dancing this evening. I hope she is all right and able to return next week. I am nervous what this will mean for her & Tony.

Tomorrow we have someone coming to give us an estimate on a new fence. We are also looking for someone to install a new bath tub for us. This is one of the few things Preston is not comfortable doing on his own. What lucky buyers we will have (soon)...a new fence, a new tub, a new electric hot water heater, a freshly stained/painted deck, newly painted shudders, a 2 yr old remodeled kitchen, all new plumbing and electric, new carpet and wood floors through out, a three year old furnace. (the list could go on)  I will be so glad to move on from here.

I think this post is long enough. More tomorrow, possibly.     :)

One last thing... PRAISE the Lord...Stellan was discharged from Boston Children's Hospital earlier today and will be returning with his MckMama tomorrow to his home and many siblings and Father. What a sweet reunion that will be. Please say a prayer for MckMama and Stellan for a safe flight home tomorrow.

NITE!!!

Collin's 4th Birthday party

Last saturday we celebrated Collin's 4th birthday here @ home. We invited a few friends and family. This year was much smaller than the years past. We had roughly 25-30 people here, in the past we have had 50+. (what was I thinking?) It was so much nicer, with it being smaller.  :)

Here are some pictures from the day...
 

 

 
since his birthday his newest favorite toy is imaginex stuff. (they are pretty neat) He also got a big wheel, a new tv (a small one), a construction claw, and a bug catcher kit/belt that he LOVES. I think that is it, but I am still not sure. Can we say it altogether now...          S.P.O.I.L.E.D.

time for a change

Well, what do you think of the new Monkey look? This blog is mostly about Collin and our life with our small family of 3, so I wanted my blog to reflect that. For now at least.  :)

IRL (in real life) I am famous for re-arranging my furniture. Sometimes as often as weekly. (crazy, I know) So that obsession spills over to my blog, I guess.

So, tell me what you think. Unless you hate it, that might hurt my feelings.

Collin goes for his 4 yr check up today with the pediatrician. I will post about it later if there is anything to share. He also goes on Monday (4/27) for an EEG to help try and dx what happened on Easter.

I am still working on getting the pix together from his birthday. Once I do, I will post them. I am still not sure how he is 4 yrs old...already.

What happened to this little baby?? (sorry for the quality, it is a scanned picture)

He is now a 'big' boy!!!  :(  :)

as heard from Collin...

 

"Mommy, boys wear make-up. Them do.

They wear  boy  make-up, Mommy"

Wordless Wednesday: Chef Collin

and another, just so you all know that I don't allow my 4 yr old son to cook over fire alone...

Better late than not at all

My apologies for being so late in posting this today.

Our thoughts and prayers have been with the MckFamily all day. Here you see Collin sporting some orange in support of sweet baby Stellan.

 

I am back! Wow...what a day friday was. Whew...

Hello fellow bloggers. Boy, have I missed you. For the past month (roughly) my laptop has been out being repaired. It is back now and so am I.
I do not enjoy using the desktop computer, so I have not been around much. I am hoping to get caught up this week and stay caught up.

A lot has happened since I last posted. Well since I last regularly posted that is.

I first want to thank you all for your prayers for Collin. To see him or be around him now you would not know anything ever happened to him. (strange) This past friday we took him for his ER follow up appt with his pediatrician. She seems to be more concerned than what I originally thought she would be. I guess this is good, as she is being very thorough. On Monday (4/27) we will go to Children's @ Home clinic for an EEG. We also have an appt with a neurologist and possibly an MRI and appt with a neurosurgeon.
For now Collin is back to acting just like himself with no signs of anything being "wrong". I have heard from many of you as well as some IRL (in real life) friends that sometimes children have seizures and they amount to nothing long term and they just grow out of them. I pray this is the case, but leave it all up to Him. He knows the plan he has for Collin and we just have to play it out and trust in Him.

This was Collin's 2nd "seizure". He had a similar one back in 2006. From that they did find that his right ventricle (on his brain) is larger than his left ventricle. His spinal fluid was draining properly, so it was decided that we would just monitor it through MRI's. To this day, nothing has changed re: the enlarged ventricle and the spinal fluid continues to drain properly. So this may or may not be related to the "seizure".

Please continue to keep Collin in your prayers and I will keep you updated. We did get an RX for him. It is a shot of sorts that can stop a seizure in progress. It is a precautionary thing really and I pray we never have to use it.

Collin turned 4 over the weekend. I hope to have the pictures up from his party etc later this week.

On friday evening, the night before his party I was at the store with my Mom when I get a call from my husband that our hot water tank is leaking. ??? He called the plumber who came out looked at it, called his boss and informed us that our tank was not up to code and he could do nothing for us until it was. ??? Hello...I have a lot of people coming tomorrow for a party and you are telling me I will have NO water???? WHAT?
So, lots and lots of $$$ later...it was determined that we could do away with the gas water tank and its violations and install a new electric water heater. Doing this would save not only time, but LOTS of $$$. So we opted for that and made the appt for saturday morning first thing, so that we would have water by the time of the party that afternoon. Lucky for us Preston's good friend is an electrician and was available to come and hook it up for us. (YAY) So, friday night, 11pm-ish. We leave our house to head over to my Mom's for Preston to get a shower. We get home only to find the police sitting along the side of our house. We get out...walk back to the side where they are and discover that someone has wrecked into the telephone/electric pole in the back of our house and knocked down a piece of our fence.  ???? Again...HELLO...I have numerous little kids coming the next day for a birthday party outside in this very yard. UGH!!! (am i being tested here? is this candid camera???) Luckily we were able to tarp off the area where the fence came down to keep the little ones out of harms way.

WHAT A DAY!!!
Here are a couple pix of the fence.
 

The good news is we will be getting a new fence which we desperately needed. :)

HAPPY EASTER!!! where am I? and a prayer request for my son.

Hello fellow bloggers. I want to apologize for my lack of blogging lately. A lot has been going on around here and I have been staying busy and not on the computer too much. This may be because my laptop got ill and had to go in for repair and I do not enjoy the desktop as much. I should have the laptop back in a couple weeks. (YAY) Collin's 4th birthday is in one week. I have been busy making all the arrangements for that and getting everything together. I will have LOTS of pictures to share with you all once I get my laptop back. (I can not load my pix to the desktop) :( I would like to ask you all to add Collin to your prayers. (notice I am using his name, so that he can be prayed for by name) This morning we woke up for church, I went to get a shower and get ready. Shortly after Preston (husband) did the same. Collin remained "sleeping". (he was awake, but not up running around yet) I came downstairs to get something out for him to wear to church and he was laying on the floor looking up @ the ceiling. I went over and said "Good Morning Collin" and got no response. So I said it again and again and started talking to him begging him to answer me. By this time my husband heard me not getting a response and heard the worry in my voice, so he came running down. He picked him up, started actiing goofy trying to get him to respond and still nothing. So offer we left for the hospital. (what a ride that was) We got there and went straight back, he was hooked up to machines, etc and still nothing. The nurse started an IV line to try and aggitate him into responding. Which worked...somewhat. He started screaming "OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH" over and over again. And then "Mommy". I was standing right beside him holding his hand and his head and it was like he could not hear or see me. (talk about scary) He went in for a CT scan which revealed nothing we did not already know. After contacting the Dr. on call for his pediatrician it was decided to send us to our Children's Hospital about an hour away. Collin & I got to ride in the ambulance on the way there while Daddy followed us. They checked him out there thouroghly, but since it is Sunday and Easter, an MRI was not done. Collin started acting more and more like himself, so after 7.5 hours we got to come home. First though we went to the cafeteria bc none of us had eaten all day and anything sounded good. His DX...most likely a seizure. (a motionless one, which they refer to as a partial seize) He had one of these when he was 16 months old (he will be 4 next week) and has had numerous MRI's to monitor it. We found out when he had the first one at 16 months that his right ventricle on his brain is larger than his left one. It continues to drain properly, so they just keep an eye on it through the MRI's. Until today he has been a happy and healthy little boy. (not so much as one ear infection in his life) They are not certain this was a seizure it is just the best dx they can come up with, without this happening in the hospital while being monitored. Tomorrow I will be on the phone making calls to set up appts with a neurologist and a neurosurgeon as well as for an MRI and an EEG. We would really appreciate your prayers. I hope each of you enjoyed today with your loved ones and that your Easter was blessed.

Wordless Wednesday: C's 1st Easter

Sorry, I could not pick a favorite!!!

Wordless Wednesday: rewind about 3.5 yrs

* PLEASE don't tell my hubby that I shared this with you all. ;-) ha