2 Days in Cincinnati - More Answers

We spent two more days in Cincinnati last week for Taylor. First of all, the test at the Bladder Clinic showed that her bladder still isn't completely emptying. Her urologist decided a stronger dose was in order. We will report back in two weeks and give them an update if we see any change.

Secondly, she underwent a test for the Colorectal Center and a follow-up x-ray the next day. The test was NO fun at all and landed Taylor in the bathroom for the remainder of the day Thursday. The x-ray Friday determined how "cleaned out" she was. The specialist determined she has Idiopathic Constipation (which is a fancy term for chronic constipation with no known reason). The contrast imaging was quite alarming. Her bowel/colon is VERY distended and proves that she never completely passes all of her stool and it continues to back up. As it backs up the stool continues to stretch her bowels causing a very serious situation. She is now involved in their bowel management program. This involves the use of laxatives, pectin and enemas if she doesn't have a movement each 24 hour period. We are looking for anything with fiber to add to her diet (easier said than done). She will also have x-rays 2-3 times a week to send to Cincy for review to make sure the stool is moving. The goal is to get her bowels under control on our own - if we can't accomplish this we will need to spend about a week in Cincy for their supervision.

On a positive note: The Colorectal Specialist is hopeful that we can "fix" her urological problems if we get her bowels working correctly. The hope is her bowel/colon will return to a fairly normal size once stool is moving as it should. They don't believe at this time she will need surgery to correct the distention.

A huge thank you to my parents for traveling with us to help care for Bryce while we were at the hospital. We managed a little fun in those two days. Taylor's highlight was swimming at the hotel swimming pool. I'll post those pics later.

A lot to take in....a lot on my plate to keep her "managed" correctly. I am still trying to come to terms with it all...

More later...

Results for Bryce

We had our follow-up with Bryce's GI specialist on Monday. As this point all of the tests and biopsies have come back normal. He does weigh enough now to be on a higher dose of Prevacid, so he is rec'ing two doses a day. We will follow-up again in 6 weeks to see if this makes a difference and discuss further.

FINALLY - we have appointments with the Colorectal Center in Cincy for Taylor. We will be traveling there Thursday and Friday of next week. She has one test with the Bladder Clinic to see if her new med is making a difference, then she will have 2 different tests with the Colorectal Center and we have a consultation with one of their specialist.

I am thankful to report that Jared got thru his knee surgery great and is healing nicely. Unfortunately, I need to ask for more prayer for my Aunt Linda as her cancer has returned. She meets with her oncologist this week to make a new plan. Please pray for strength as she faces this ugly giant again.

In the midst of all of this medical junk - we have managed to have some family fun:

Taylor had the opportunity to bowl for the first time with our friends from church at family bowling night. She had so much fun, but was VERY worn out by the end of the night.

Jumping up and down with joy after throwing her first ball!

One of her favorites parts of bowling was waiting for the ball to pop up from the return. :)

Mommy, Daddy and Taylor had lots of fun bowling together - Bryce stayed home with Nanny Austin. Maybe he can go in a couple of years.

Just a cute pic of how Bryce spends some of his time...reading and looking thru books.

Princess Kelsey invited Princess Taylor to her very fancy birthday party. All of the girls (mind you they were all middle school age except for Taylor :) dressed up and were served dinner by the boys. They decorated cupcakes after the meal, which Taylor loved! The older girls stayed for movies, but Princess Taylor had to return to her castle and get her beauty rest. (Btw, I'm so bummed that this pic isn't clear!)

Watching Kelsey blow out her candles - Taylor will be blowing out her own candles in less than a month!

Need to run - school day and doctor appointment for Bryce. Just his "well" visit since he will be 18 months soon - can you believe that?! Mommy and Daddy can't.

More later...

When It Rains...

You know the saying...

Our little man took a bad fall last night (and no it wasn't off the couch). He tripped over a toy and fell onto the edge of the entertainment center (a low table - like a coffee table). Boy did he mess up his face. He cried and bled for about 20 minutes and then he noticed that supper was on the table and decided he would rather eat - geesh! He was laughing and playing within 45 minutes like nothing ever happened.

We gave him Tylenol twice through the night, but he seemed to sleep fairly well. He is a tough cookie! We are thinking of nick naming him "Rocky" :)

I forgot to mention in my last post that Bryce did great during his scope. They took several biopsies and lots of lab work while he was under. We will receive all of the results on the 16th.

More later...

In Like A Lion...

Here comes March! We begin March with more medical news from Taylor. Her Urologist contacted us about the test we had ran last week. Taylor not only has the kidney reflux, but she also has a spastic bladder. Basically her bladder muscles do not coordinate with one another and send the right signals for emptying. Therefore she might pee a very small amount one time and a flood comes the next. Soooo...she is on another med to try and get this under control. The Urologist explained that everything needs to be running a correctly as possible to help the reflux surgery have the best outcome. Having that said - he is basically waiting to see what Colorectal says before we move forward.

We have heard from the Colorectal Center. They called on Friday which led to a 45 minute phone conversation. We covered every detail of Taylor's health from birth....do you know how exhausting that is? Plus Neal was working a side job, so I had frick and frack in the background melting down (did I mention this was from 5:00 - 5:45 p.m. - when we normally eat supper?), beating on each other, emptying drawers in the kitchen (that would be Bryce), etc. They were tired and hungry and sick of seeing me on the phone. Thankfully I made it through the call and the woman was very understanding. The Associate Director of the center will be reviewing Miss Taylor's medical records and notes and will decide on a plan for her. We are in wait and see mode as to when we will go for a consult.

Okay, enough medical junk for now. We did have a great visit with our good friends Steve and Nancy Taylor on Saturday night. Steve served almost a year in Iraq and returned just before Christmas, but we haven't had the opportunity to visit with them until now. Nancy and I usually get Brady and Taylor together for playdates, but that has even been months ago. Needless to say, we were all very excited to have an evening together. Steve had only seen Bryce a couple of times before he left, so he couldn't believe how big of a boy he is now. Bryce took right to him and they even snuggled together before Bryce had to head to bed.

Isn't that a lovely smile?! Can't wait until he's out of this stage.

Taylor and Brady getting ready to have a stroller/shopping card race through the house....how funny!

And they're off!

Did I mention that Bryce has some new tricks up his sleeve? Well, this is how our precious boy starts his day....what a sweet baby!

Then before you know it - you find him STANDING on the couch and then either standing on the side table or on the back cushions of the couch.
Or running on the couch...
Who me.....I didn't do anything?! I'm just cute!
Taylor was so delayed in her development we didn't have to worry about her climbing on the couch until she was like 2 and 1/2! Let me tell you - I have found many white hairs since the arrival of Mr. Bryce John Austin! :) Geesh!

Our new routine is to remove all of the couch cushions first thing in the morning, therefore if he does fly off the couch he has a shorter distance to fall. I see an ER visit in our future - don't you think?

That's about it from our little corner of the world. I will let you know when we have a date with Cincy.

I do have one prayer request. My nephew Jared (Jason's son) will be having surgery on the 10th for his knee. He injured it snowboarding and it has never healed so they have decided to move forward with corrective surgery and get him on the road to recovery. He is a great athlete and loves his sports so this will be a major challenge for him. Please keep him in your prayers on the 10th - plus his 13th b-day is on the 11th. Not a very fun way to spend your b-day.

More later...