The Latest Plan

Well, I kept thinking that I was going to post as soon as I got some good pictures of the boys to post. But that hasn't happened yet, and my camera has been claimed for the purpose of taking pictures of the wildlife that Ryan is currently hunting. Ahh, yes. The deer archery hunt is in full swing. So far I have handled the hunt very well. No crying and no bitter feelings toward the deer. Just a few more weeks to go.
I am actually rooting for Ryan to get a deer this year, as opposed to the last few that I have sided with the deer. That way Ryan will be happy, and I have my husband back home again. We'll see.

The only real change in my life is that I was called to a new position in YW. I had been the Beehive Advisor, but am now the Secretary. I'm really looking forward to this calling. I love being in YW, but this way there is much less time and preparation required.
I will have 11 piano students this fall, and am ready to have mornings for my boys again.
Otherwise my days are about the same. Dishes, laundry, storytime, walking, etc.

The boys are doing great. Tyler has done awesome with his potty training. Since the 'pink potty' came along, he only has accidents when I forget to remind him and he's too busy playing to stop himself. More and more he's going without reminders. He still resists BM's, period. He started doing that a while ago, and hasn't moved past it. According to the nurse practitioner I take Andrew to, that is really normal with potty training.
Tyler has also become quite the singer, and frequently sings while he plays. He likes to sing songs from the movies he watches and the songs from nursery. Most of them are classic children's songs like 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', 'Hey Diddle Diddle', and the finger song. He knows the words to several now. I even heard an attempt at the alphabet the other day. It's really fun that we can sing together now.

Andrew's had a busy month. After last months dilation, he continued in the old pattern of needing dilations every 2 weeks. He had a dilation on the 13th. The procedure went fine, but after we got home Andrew started to get very uncomfortable and by the next night had stopped eating. He laid, moaned, whined, and slept for 5 days! I had to put him on a continuous feed to keep him hydrated. He would not eat and cried even harder when I tried bolus feeding. We could not figure out what was causing his pain. We tried pain meds, oils, the heating pad, but never found anything to soothe him. Finally, the doctor said we needed to take him in for an upper GI scan. We were scheduled for Thursday. Andrew somehow popped out of his discomfort and woke up at 4:30 am ready to eat and play. He was fine and happy until we went in for the next dilation on the 23rd.
Dr. Barnhart has recommended that our next plan be to dilate once a week for 6 weeks and apply mitomycin to the stricture during the procedure. The 23rd was the first of the 6. Things went great, but two days later Andrew fell into a strange funk again. This time it lasted 4 days and included 'the runs'. He didn't seem to be in as much pain as the first time, and he ate some, but it was still rough on all of us. We are so glad that he is back to himself this morning. I recruited the help of my friend yesterday. She is amazing with natural healing. She helped us to know that it was a stomach problem, and what oil to use. I put Physical Touch blend on him several times last night. He ate dinner, but still laid around all evening. He woke up 4 times for bottles last night and woke up back to his happy self this morning! I had given him whole milk last Wednesday, and I think that is what threw him off this time. He's been on soy formula for almost a year, so we were trying to transition back to a more 'normal diet'. I'll start looking for another option now.
Five more dilations to go. They will be the 1st, 7th, 13th, 20th, and 28th. We are really hoping that this will take care of that stubborn stricture and allow Andrew and I to be free Primary's Same Day Surgery for a long time. Please keep him in your prayers.

Fundoplication Diagram

This is a little hard to read, but it at least gives an idea of what the fundo is. The highest part of the stomach (or fundus) is wrapped around the esophagus and stitched back to itself. The last picture also has a G-tube coming out of the stomach.

Andrew is doing great. He is the same kid as before except for 2 things. 1) He's hungry more frequently. Which makes sense because his stomach is smaller now. 2) The lack of reflux symptoms. He had slept with his mattress flat now. Before I always kept it inclined to help decrease reflux while we ran his pump at night. He used to reflux and choke on it if he cried too hard, or laughed hard. One day he drank some water, and then was crying over something, and the water came right back up with such force that it came out his nose! I laughed, but it was a good demostrate of the ease of his reflux. He was really mad about it.

Since the fundo, I haven't seen any sign of reflux. He still sleeps with his back arched, but I think it's because he's used to sleeping that way now.

We did do dilation on the 29th. His striture had narrowed some, but not nearly as bad as before. The surgeon said that the incisions look good. We are scheduled for another dilation and to get the tube changed to a button (the smaller version of the tube) on Aug 26.

We spent a few days after that at my mom's. We visited with my aunts and cousins on my dad's side, and also went to my Grandpa Noyes 90th birthday party.

When we got home Sunday, I was nearly out of diapers for Ty. I mentioned it to Ryan who replied, "Don't buy anymore." I'm not sure how serious he was, but I thought it was a good idea. We've had several potty training attempts, but something always stops me after a couple days. This time we were out of diapers, so there was no way out unless I went to the store. The first day wasn't great. Tuesday I had to go to Price, so I decided to buy a potty chair while I was there. I had told myself I would let him choose whichever seat he wanted, no matter the cost. I figured if he was excited about it we had a better chance. So what did he choose?

The PINK 'froggy potty seat'. They had a green one, but Ty wanted pink. To my joy, it was only $13. We got home, and he used it right away. He's only had 1 accident since. He has bargained to wear any diaper (including Andrew's diapers, which are way too small) to bed. He's found diapers even I didn't know I had. That's good enough for now. He wears his underwear the rest of the time. In previous attempts I would have him wear a diaper when we went places. This time I've just left him in underwear and he's done great! Even our 3 hour trip to Price, and 3 hours up the mountain. He just held it until we got home. I am sooooo excited!