Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and we felt privileged to be able to share it with Edward's parents, sisters and my parents, too.   A lot of photos were taken, and I picked a few that would give a flavour of the action-packed, yet still surprisingly restful, days that surrounded Christmas 2012:

Auntie Jane came down from Toronto a couple of days early, so we managed to take advantage of a fresh blanket of sticky snow to make our first snowman in the backyard:

Aunt Jane provided the muscle to get the snowman assembled.  Here I am adding grapes for the eyes.  Keith merrily ate them, and so we moved to Plan B...

Colin and the second incarnation of the snowman, with pebbles and cedar leaves as eyes/eyelashes.  Keith tried to eat those, too, but they didn't prove as tasty.

Not everyone was enamoured with being cold and wet

But we still had fun playing peekaboo

Auntie Jane's presence also meant that I had time to finish the felt board I made for Christmas.  I got the idea for the board and some basic shapes from this blog.  Of course, I had to add the OpaNanaCar, as well as Sprocket (the black, spikey, slightly devilish-looking creature against the barn).  You may notice that almost every vehicle has a steering wheel and a door handle.  For whatever reason, those items are a must in Keith's opinion.  The Ducklings love it!  We already had Sprocket driving the ambulance.  I'll add more shapes as inspiration and demand strike.

 Grammy, Colin and Keith enjoying the wonderful family photo album that Aunt Pinie put together.  If there's anything the Ducklings like better than seeing pictures of family, it's seeing a picture of Monkey!

This is what Christmas morning looked like.  We waited until the kids were in bed on Christmas Eve before we put up the tree in an effort to minimize the potential for damage by grabby toddler hands.  Colin didn't participate fully in the experience, as you'll see, because he wasn't feeling well.  He woke up with a fever and was out of sorts for most of the day.  Happily, he's feeling much better today.

Keith getting down to business.  Santa brought him a huuuge digger.

Santa brought Evelyn a new "baby".  We hope it will tide her over until, say, the end of June when she'll have the real thing to play with....

Yes, that's right!  Edward and I are over-the-moon and tickled pink to announce the pending arrival of our best DIY project to date:  Baby Z.  I'm half-way through my 14th week of pregnancy and the baby (and Mama) are doing really well.  We'll get our next peek at baby at the end of January, so stay tuned.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2013!

Quiet is Good

Life has been pretty quiet around here the past few weeks... as quiet as possible with three busy two year olds.  But Edward and I greatly appreciate the uneventfulness.  No middle of the night hospital trips - not even a sniffle since Evelyn recovered from her tangle with whatever it was that Keith had.  We both know that this good run will necessarily come to an end, but in the meantime, we've enjoyed an evening out with friends, had Nana and Opa over for dinner, finished Christmas shopping and accomplished a few things on our colossal To Do list.  All of this is easier to achieve when everyone is healthy.

I wouldn't say we're well rested, but one can only hope for so much!  Keith has been struggling with settling at bedtime, and has resorted to several hours of howling.  I think it's mostly separation anxiety, but he is extremely hard to soothe once he works himself into a lather.  Last night, he started up as soon as Edward left the room.  He cried for ten minutes, and then I heard Colin talking to him.  Keith stopped crying and started chatting, and within another ten minutes everyone was asleep.  I've noticed them starting to reach out to each other a lot more and really enjoying each other's company.  In fact, as I type this, they're giggling madly upstairs, singing along to Raffi and pretending to drive their car (they sit under the craft table and use the chairs as doors).  At first, I spent a lot of time encouraging them to help and comfort each other.  But now they'll do this on their own initiative.  When something really goes awry, they still want Mummy.  However, for the little trials and tribulations, they will turn to each other.  Of course, it's not utopic - they are, after all, two years old.  I still (and will for years) get called in to arbitrate regularly, but these guys are getting pretty good at negotiating on their own.

Hmm... maybe those greedy hockey players and owners could learn a few skills from our two years olds.

Back To Normal... Almost!

As you can see, Keith is feeling much more like himself.

Here they are with Aunt Pinie... of course, the perfect group shot is pretty much out of the realm of possibility these days.

Edward's Aunt Pinie and his mother (Grammy) have been visiting since last Wednesday, and the kids are totally relishing the fun and love being showered on them!  And Edward and I get a bit of a break.

Of course, yesterday morning Evelyn awoke with a fever that slowly climbed to 39.2, and she had a restless night.  She seems better (if not slightly overtired) this morning, so here's hoping her illness is just the usual flash-in-the-pan, and not a repeat of last week!

Keith - Well On The Mend

Edward and I took Keith back to CHEO yesterday morning for his first outpatient blood draw at the Medical Day Unit (MDU), which is divided into Oncology, Dialysis and Hematology clinics.  It was very sobering to take Keith into that waiting room, and I spent my entire time in there feeling supremely grateful that we are not known there by name, like some of the other children.  I saw a man I was in Air Cadets with 20 years ago.  He was there with his 9 year old son, who is battling leukemia.   The waiting room is filled with toys, puzzles, games, a big screen TV and even a classroom for kids missing school due to treatment.  Keith was in his element playing with a box full of Matchbox cars.

Of course, Keith's itty bitty veins caused even these very experienced nurses a ton of trouble, and it took them four tries to get the needle in for the draw, but to no avail.  By then, Keith had screamed himself hoarse.  For the fifth try, they brought in a special nurse who was able to complete the blood work in about two minutes, much to everyone's relief.

The pain was worth the gain, however, because Keith's blood results were really good.  His neutrophil levels were a whopping 1.6, and his platelet counts were normal.  His liver enzymes had only recovered a smidge, but she told us that can take time.  We're supposed to do a repeat blood test next Friday, as well as a repeat ultrasound to make sure his liver and spleen are no longer enlarged.  Very good news, and hopefully after next Friday, we will be lucky enough to never have to see the inside of the MDU ever again!

WE'RE HOME!!!!

When I showed up this afternoon for a quick, fly-by visit, Edward couldn't wait to tell me the amazing news:  Keith was discharged!   Today's neutrophil levels had increased to 0.4, so although we have a ways to go, they felt that he was on an upward swing.  We packed up and left before they could change their minds.  Keith couldn't believe that he finally got to go in the elevator, and then was overjoyed to be treated to a car ride AND Raffi.

Opa, Grammy and Aunt Pinie arrived at home virtually the same time we did, and Nana was waiting for us with open arms and lasagna in the oven.  Keith felt a little overwhelmed to be home, and is still a little pale and wobbly.  Our Pumpkin will be thrilled to learn that he can finally eat all the ice cream he wants as we try to regain the weight he's lost.  He keeps asking for a bath, and we are only too anxious to accommodate him - he hasn't bathed in a week!   We're looking forward to a relaxing evening with everyone at home.  What a wonderful, wonderful early Christmas present.

Keith has to go back to CHEO Friday morning for a blood test, and he will continue to be treated as an outpatient by Hematology until they are satisfied that all his levels and liver enzymes are within the normal range.  For now, we're avoiding public places, as Keith has virtually no immune system.  Hopefully, he'll recover in time to visit with Santa at the mall!

We all remember (Santa too, I'm sure), how that went last year:

A Happier Keith

Here's Keith, taken this afternoon.  We're so very pleased that he's looking this great, and that his hearty appetite is slowly returning.  We know that will only improve his situation.  The pediatrician wants to see him walking around, as he is wobbly on his feet, and she wants him to start drinking on his own.  They decreased his IV fluid intake in the hope that this will encourage him that direction.

The hematology report wasn't as rosy.  His neutrophil count didn't drop, but it also didn't improve.  As well, there are some underlying liver issues that need to resolve before he's allowed to go home.  They're still working to rule out Microphage Activation Syndrome (MAS), for which he meets some of the criteria, but not all.   MAS could have been triggered by the viral infection, which still tops the list of their theories as to what befell Keith.  In any case, they believe that should his neutrophil levels reach an acceptable level (his is 0.2, and they should be over 1.0), Keith can be seen as an outpatient at the Hematology clinic.  In fact, we were given our first glimmer of hope today that Keith would be out before the weekend!

It was wonderful leaving his room with a smile on my face.

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Unfortunately, today's hematology report wasn't any improved on yesterday's.  The neutrophil and platelet counts were exactly the same, or lower.  Keith is still perking up very nicely, so we know he feels better; but his body is very much still in recovery mode.  With a neutrophil level like his, his immune system is almost non-existent, so if they were to send him home, he'd be laid flat by the next little sniffle he caught.  If we allow for a few days for the levels to improve, we're now inching closer to the end of the week, and we're worried that a Friday release is becoming a bit of a pipe dream.  Looking forward to seeing Keith tonight, and giving him an enormous kiss n hug.

Keith - A Better Day

Much to our relief, Keith started to perk up a little yesterday afternoon.  Of course, this meant that he had to sample the tubing, press the "Call Nurse" button, watch Shipping Wars (big trucks!) and try to climb the bed rails.  And do a lot of screaming when anyone came too close to him, or when Daddy escaped for a 10 second shower.  He desperately - and vocally - wants to go home.  All very, VERY good signs.

His ultrasound showed an enlarged liver, and a spleen at the upper edge of normal size, but otherwise, nothing of note.  This allows the doctors to rule out the immunological disease.  They are now almost fully convinced that Keith had an extremely strong reaction to a very nasty virus.  They are still working to figure out what that could be, and a Hematologist will be in later to discuss this with Edward, along with the Infectious Disease Specialist who has been part of the team since the beginning.

The only worrying result is that Keith's neutrophil numbers were still dropping as of yesterday's blood panel.  They will not discharge Keith until these numbers show a significant jump, and so we're still in that holding pattern.  They took another two vials of blood this morning, so hopefully we'll get some good news about those levels later this afternoon.

Edward FINALLY got a chance to leave Keith for a few minutes, other than when I show up for a quick visit/laundry exchange.  A volunteer with a basket full of toys (including a police car!) showed up, and Keith didn't even see Edward slip out.  He's on the prowl for a few car magazines, which hopefully will keep our increasingly busy little guy out of trouble.  But then, you know Keith.....

Thanks everyone for all your well wishes.  We'll be sure to keep everyone posted.