Christmas Eve Eve

We weren't sure if we would make it to Blacksburg this Christmas with Colin feeling so bad but he started turning a corner and feeling better. So we did our family Christmas on the 23rd.  

Watching them give gifts to each other is my favorite.  

The plan was to take Colin skiing a few days after Christmas but we have put that on hold until he gets his stitches out and can actually eat more than ice cream and soup. He is very excited and it'll be a fun weekend when we get to go. 

We like to wrap their gifts and put them under the tree al of december.. We did that growing up and its fun to shake and guess what they are. Its also fun to notice new presents put under there that day. Joel came to me and asked if he was naughty this year because a few of his presents had a bad word on it.  I went and looked and somehow only Joel got allllll the gift tag stickers with a bad word on it.  

Afterwards Colin said it didn't really feel like Christmas yet but then this whole year hasn't felt normal. And since Colin was feeling so bad we didn't do any of the typical Christmas things we do.  We slept in the next morning and then headed up to mom and dads where Colin said then it started to really feel like Christmas. 

Gingerbread Houses

The last week of school before break I found a Christmas Gingerbread House Unit on Teachers Pay Teachers and decided it would be perfect for Norah. It was an entire week of activities and tons of math problems. It was geared for 4-6 grades so some of the activities were a challenge for her.  At the end she had to build and create these gingerbread houses and then  find the area, perimeter, volume of each. It kept us busy and she loved every minute of it.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We haven't done too much this Christmas.  But have managed a few Christmas fun activities. 

Last weekend we went to see Elf in the movie theater. My friend rented out most of it for us and it was just our group and one other family there.  

Shaking presents and trying to guess what they are.

Our elves returned this year.  But the best elf this year the kids have said is Grandpa's elf named Erik. Erik has way more fun Norah says. 

The kids have been busy elves themselves making and wrapping presents.

Norah and I had to perform for our piano teacher all the Christmas songs we had been learning so we facetimed with the family the night before and gave them a concert. This is a really bad picture but it makes me laugh. And thankful for technology. 

 A friend and I took the kids on the tram ride through the Botanical Gardens one night to see the lights. 

 

So brave

This boy is my hero

He had his tongue surgery last week.  And it was pretty horriffic.  For reference I had 3 stitches in my tongue. He has 8-10.  The surgeon said he had to go really deep to get out the infected tissue. He sent it all off to get another biopsy to make sure its all just infected tissue.  We go back January 7th to get those stitches out.  The ride home the pain meds wore off and he was sobbing. He didn't cry once in the hours before his broken wrist was set.  This time has been awful.  He is still  in so much pain.  He is so scared he will have to go through it all again.  Thankfully his mother has gone through it and knows what to do and what not to do. I talked and tried to eat way too soon.  And had to go through a second surgery because of that. So I'm very strict with Colin not talking. The doctor has him on a liquid diet the next 2 weeks. He is so hungry and his tongue is still so swollen. And through it all he is such a sweet pleasant kid.  Joel and Norah spent hours sitting next to him playing just to be near him. 

I've wondered this whole time why two people in our family have had weird strange tongue surgeries. If there was a connection and how to prevent it.  I've spent years researching my issues so I don't ever have to go through that again.  Seeing your son go through similar experiences is heartbreaking. I was praying for Colin the other night and to be honest complaining that our family has to go through this again but I heard God say that I went through it first so I would be able to help Colin heal through his. I’d go through it again to help him. But I think we can both say we wouldn’t wish this on anyone. 

 

A Tale of Two Brothers

This morning Joel slept in until 7:00.  His preferred wake up time is 6:00am,  5:45 is optimal. But since he has been on these supplements and diet he is sleeping deeper and longer.  So this morning when he woke up at 7:00 it was the end of the world. He is old enough for an alarm clock. But since he shares a room with Colin and naturally wakes up in time we haven't seen the need for one. Colin has the alarm clock because he gets up later.  I have been instructed to wake Joel up at 6:00 and how could I not get him up early.... well Joel, Mom was enjoying the peace and quiet in the morning drinking my tea by the Christmas tree lights.  

 And for reference Joel is virtual today and doesn't have to log on until 8:55am.  Almost TWO hours after waking up. That is clearly not enough time to wake up fully. 

Colin on the other hand, hits snooze repeatedly until we realize the time and wake him up 5 minutes before his virtual class.  He is not bothered in the least about having to log on right away. 

Thankful. So Thankful.

Right before Thanksgiving Joel went to give blood for us to test to see if this new diet and supplements are helping. It was his choice. The doctor said we could wait 6 months, or decide when to test but Joel wanted to test to see if it was working. So after that last 3 nurse fiasco we looked up everything to see how to give blood quickly and not have veins roll. Everything said drink a lot of water.  He chugged water all week.  And it worked. We only had 2 nurses this time try to find a vein. And then his vein clotted too quick to get all the vials filled but thankfully they got enough

Then a week later we got this email: 

He was so excited.  That's a huge difference from 6 weeks ago. I'm so glad we found a doctor that finally figured out what was wrong with him. 

The same week we got Joel's results back we were seeing an oral surgeon for Colin.  We went from thankful to very prayerful. 

After Halloween Colin said he had a sore on his tongue he said felt like a canker sore. It didn't go away and 3 weeks later was bleeding at random times so we sent a picture to the dentist and he immediately sent us to an oral surgeon. Colin's mouth looked like every picture they use to show mouth cancer. Yet he didn't meet any of the typical check marks for getting it. We were hoping to go into the appointment and walk out knowing what it was. This surgeon  said he would biopsy it. Then he said Colin would have to come back and he would remove the rest of it, he just needed to know what it was so he could make sure he got all the margins.  Then he looked at me and said "I know what you are thinking and I cant say that it isn't bad. I can just say that its a good thing you are here because we caught it early." I've had 3 mouth biopsies and every time the doctor says what he thinks it is but that its always good to send it away to biopsy it to make sure it isn't cancer. I think that scared me the most. He couldn't say what it was except that it was bad. 

Colin did great in the biopsy. It only took 20 minutes but then the doctor came out  asked me if I wanted to come alone without Colin when the biopsy results came back to discuss the next steps. I asked him then if he thought it was cancer and he said he couldn't say but that it was a good thing we got it early. 

 Colin is very thankful his mother has been through tongue surgeries because he got all the ice cream and chickfila milkshakes he wanted. He is back to eating normally as of yesterday. 

 

We've been really worried but the doctor called today. He was out of the office but our results came in and they called him right away. He then called us immediately.  It is not cancer. Its some rare inflammatory tissue thing.  I didn't catch the name but we will get the official biopsy results soon.  He just wanted us to know right away.  We will be going back next week to get the rest of the tissue taken out.  So more peppermint milkshakes and ice-cream. And very very thankful parents.  

Christmas has already come early here in our house.

Cascades

 Over thanksgiving we went hiking to the Cascades. Robbie had never been there. And Elizabeth slept most of the hike. It is such a beautiful hike. We had just done it this past summer with the kids and I was amazed at Joel. It was a struggle for him to do this summer and this time he didn’t even stop for water. It’s moments like that where I know we are on the right track for him and have finally figured out what’s wrong.