the latest from Trey

"Mom, you wook wike you dussed calved!"
(Matt says Trey is the only one that could say this and get away with it)

Mom: Trey, what do you want for your birthday?

Trey: An Awigator

Mom: K, I'll get right on that!!

. . . and that's not all

Friday afternoon found us at our Pediatrician's office. Kael's fever had still not let up and I was determined to not go the weekend without a plan. I called Primary's and they said to take him in to our pediatrician (dr. brown) and have him listen to Kael's chest. Things checked out great but he said if the fever wasn't gone my Monday to call him back. Saturday and Sunday he ran a fever all day. He woke up this morning at 5:30 with a temp of 103. I gave him tylenol and sent him back to bed and when he got up he seemed great I was so excited and his temp actually read normal!! By noon he was back down. By 1:00 he was 102 and by 2:00 he was back to 103. I called Brown's office and he wanted a chest x-ray done. Kael was feeling a little better by the time we got there so I was sure everything was on the mend. It only took Brown about 2 seconds to read the x-ray and say "looks like he has pnuemonia". He listened to his chest again and said he still couldn't hear anything. We did a blood draw and his counts are still unbelievably high. We talked to Primary's again tonight and they seem to think the counts are high because the neutriphil or basophil (can't remember which one) #'s are way high. They also looked at the x-ray and would like us back in clinic tommorrow. Say a little prayer for our little guy!

My mom said she e-mailed Jordan and Justin this morning and mentioned that Kael was not feeling well. She got an e-mail back from Jordan saying he thought about Kael all last week. He said he couldn't get him off his mind and wondered if everything was okay. The spirit speaks to us in so many ways! I am so thankful for a little brother that listens, this little story was heaven sent today:) Thanks mom for sharing!

Bacon Bits

Just a warning - this is a long post. Probably confusing at times, good luck!

Saturday afternoon Kael started fevering and complaining of his legs hurting. Throughout the evening his temp kept getting increasingly higher but we were able to keep it under control by giving him Motrin. His fever finally broke just after we put him to bed so when I went and checked on him he was drenched in sweat. Gross. Sunday came, it was the Primary Program and I was looking forward to him doing his part. He had it all memorized and was ready to go but I knew he couldn't go. So sad for me. (Matti and Trey did well though.) Anyway, we fought a fever all day Sunday and Monday morning I called clinic to see what they wanted me to do. Of course all the dr's and nurses are in their morning meeting but because he had a fever i was told "Bring him down right away, keep a mask on him, we will room him as soon as you get here". So two hours later we walk into clinic. Everything is going well. His fever was gone because of the tylenol I had given him before we left the house and he was acting great - which he always does while in clinic. The nurse comes in and draws blood, sends cultures off to see what they will grow, ect., ect. Then the PA comes in to examine him. He immediately jumps my case for not calling/coming down as soon as he started with the fever (so I immediately take offense). My reasoning for not calling was fear of recieving this answer, "Give him some tylenol and if he still has a fever on Monday, call us" or my justification that he is on his 'maintenance' doses' and I am sure clinic is packed with other sick kids, higher on the list than we are. Anyhow, the PA continues with the exam and he just can't believe how good he looks and is acting. "It is just a virus" he says but lets see what his counts are and we will decide from there. So we wait for counts to come back and they are awesome!!! His ANC is 3.0 (they don't want leukemia patients to be that high but since he has had a problem in the past with meds and his counts, they are leaving them be.) They take his temp and he is fevering again so they give him more Tylenol. At this point I am told not to give him Motrin because it lowers his platelets (so much to remember!!). The PA prescribes him some Rocephin (antibiotic) that has to be given there in clinic. So after that is administered we are free to go. His temp is taken again and it is higher than before the Tylenol. "If he gets any worse, get him to the ER or get back down here". I calmly tell the PA that we have had terrible luck in the Logan ER and that they (Logan) will not call Primary's as instructed. He doesn't have an answer and really gives me no hope in his ability to do anything. I am quite upset as I leave the clinic and am wondering why I never got to see a DR. So on my drive home I start asking myself all sorts of questions like "how will I know if he needs to go back in?", "how many days do I give this "virus" before I call or go back in?" and then I think back to when the PA was given me the old "why didn't you bring him in" lecture and I thought to myself "wouldn't that be a bad deal if he got after me for not bringing him in and then when I did, he didn't get the neccesary care/treatments that he needed". I had worked myself into a pretty good mad but by the time I got home the other kids needed me, we had chores to do, life must go on. I started dinner and headed out to do chores. When I got back in and checked on him he was to 105. I gave him more Tylenol and put cold washclothes on him and calmly called Primary's. Of course it is after clinic hours so I wait for the on-call DR. (which happened to be another PA) to come to the phone. She preceeds to ask why Lucas (the PA I saw in clinic) didn't take a viral panal and start him on Tamiflu. I explained to her how unhappy I was about the way things were handled in the clinic but I just need to know what to do now. She told me to go to the ER and be stern with them until they called Primary's. Then she happily said "my shift ends right now but I will give this info to the next on-call Dr. Let me see who it is . . . (pause) and then I hear her laughing) your not going to believe who it is!! It's Lucas." Just great! So I load Kael up and head to the ER. On the way in I decided to call our Pediatricians office to see which Dr. was on-call in his office. Maybe, just maybe, I would luck out and get Dr. Brown. I lucked out!! He was in his office doing Kids Kare until 9:00 so I decided I would just go there. I was the stoplight away from the hospital when the nurse from Dr. Brown's office called back and said he had just been called out for a delivery and wasn't sure when he would be back. All hopes dashed, so I took him to the ER. Things actually went quite smoothly at the ER. Again, we saw another PA. He tried talking me out of having the viral panel done because if a kid walks in with a fever, they are calling it H1N1, treating them, and sending them on their way. That is great bud but call Primary's and see what my favorite friend (lots of sarcasm) Lucas' says. So we finally get what we want. The nurse comes in and does a nasal flush (awful, awful) and they have to call a curiour to take it to a lab in Salt Lake. They give us Tamaflu and send us home. What a day!
I was suppose to check back in with the clinic the next day to let them know how he was doing. It was afternoon before I called them because I wanted to make sure they had the results of the viral panel. Still no results. However, I am informed that because he is still fevering he needs to go back to the ER for another dose of Rocephin. The blood cultures are not growing anything but as a precautionary thing, that is what we have to do. So I wait for Matti to get off the bus, load the kids up and drop them off at Merr's while we have a sweet round #2 at the ER. Thankfully the lady at the desk was the same but she gave me quite the look when she realized we were there the night before. We saw the same PA and the nurse that came in to do his temp looked at us like she was having a spell of deja-vu. At least that was funny:) Anyway, we get another round of Rocephin and head home. Next day I call - no results to be found. I didn't much care though because I figured he had been treated with either treatment, viral or bacterial. The nurse called me later and confirmed that it was Influenza A or H1N1. So we haven't really changed anything. No more Rocephin and we are off oral chemo for a few days. He is feeling pretty good right now but I will not be sending him back to school until next week. So far so good for the other kids. It's been an eventful week so far around here but I am still thankful for my blessings and grateful it is just the Swine Flu:) I feel like sausage!

I have to say a big THANKS to Matt. He kept Trey and Kays all day Monday, worked on the phone/computer, and it was his day for chores on the farm - not easy to do with a 3 and 1 year old!! Anyhow, THANKS honey and a BIG thankyou to our neighbors and good friends, Brad and Joni. We called them at 11 o'clock Monday night because we were out of Tylenol. Not only did they have tylenol, she sent a dozen homemade pumpkin/chocolate chip muffins!! Lovely. Also, Joni picked up a few groceries for me and has insisted that she drive this week, even though it is my turn to take kids for the carpool! I am so grateful for great friends and family. THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Grandpa's Birthday

(This is a very rare photo. Gwampa Shauna is not on his list of favorites at this time. As we all know, Matti wasn't either for about 2 years and now you can see where she rates herself!!)

(front of card)

I'm still

Farming

and I'm

57!

(inside)

Dear Teasing to Death Grandpa,

I am maybe happy about your 57th Birthday and I will not eat your cake if it has black licorice on it. Happy Birthday

love your favorite granddaughter Matti

(gotta love the honesty! written all by herself and the illustrations were awesome!!)

I have to say . . .

. . . I absolutely loved the weather yesterday, loved the pumpkin roll I just ate, and am loving a quiet Sunday evening at home:) I know it is still October but I have to express my thanks to a loving Father in Heaven that has given me so many blessings; two wonderful families, 4 great kids, an awesome Husband, a nice home, fall, caring friends, health, strength, the Gospel, and the list goes on . . . . Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We had the Primary Program today and it was a great success! Gma Leak, Aunt Merr and Uncle Denny came and watched. Why is it that kids always get to the 'heart' of the matter?? Anyway, great program.

Yesterday while the weather was nice:

Matt and Lonnie. I don't know which one I am more impressed with - Matt or the horse. I think they are a great fit for both being beginners and I am so excited to beable to get to use her . . . that is, if he will let me:)

Kael just shootin' the breeze with his sister. He wasn't feeling well so didn't stay out with us long but he did get to enjoy riding a little.

Trey. I don't know if you can see the expression on his face but he was so excited when he would get Mego off of a walk. He would giggle. So fun!!

Here's Mattie trying to get on by herself. I have been trying to teach her how for quite sometime but I think she has it mastered. It brings back so many memories for me. When I was her age my horse was twice that tall (anyone remember JJ) and my stirrup didn't hang down that far (here goes my "walked barefoot in the snow uphill for five miles one way barefoot, just to get to school" story). I think it is so cute and if I looked that good doing it, all the better!!
Madness and Mego

Matt came home one night with all the stuff to make homemade Strawberry icecream. The kids had a great time and I thought it was extremely thoughtful!!


It's football season at our house!! Kael and Trey have their game faces on. I have tried and tried to capture this face that Trey pulls (he actually talks out of the side of his mouth when he does it) but no luck. Guess we will take it through the football helmet.

Kays' favorite time of the day - chore time! He really thinks he is big enough to pull the cart all by himself when we feed calves. It is just so cute:) (Nice photo op Molly.)

Yikes!!

. . . it's October!!

We chopped corn a few weeks back and Trey was just dying to ride in the chopper. Matt told him that he would come and get him after he did a few things. Trey sat at the door and waited for him like this for a half hour . . . then he spotted the chopper in the field and his poor little heart broke. He thought his dad had forgotten him and wasn't coming back. I have never heard him cry like that before. So sad but luckily Matt came to get him after a few minutes!

YAY!! It is DONE!!

Here are a few of the family pics we had taken before J & J left.

Wish you all could have been there for the drama that preceeded this pic. It turned out well considering . . .

These little angels are the only reason my parents had kids:) Kidding!!

Peyton, Trey, Kays, Mattie, Teegan, Kylan, Landree, Kylee, Britnee, Kirby

Front: Kael, Hayden, Tad

(Sorry I can't get it any larger) I am so happy with the way they turned out. What a great family I have. Love you all!!