Lott's of fun this week

Alex's follow-up appointment went very good.  He is still draining and I have to keep adding the gauze, but only 1/2 - 1 inch of it.  Yeah for both of us.  He still has to take it easy for a few more weeks and cannot swim.  He is getting a little stir crazy and I am glad he is able to be up and about a little more now.  He gets bored playing Xbox and then still manages to play it for a few more hours without blinking.  He is living off of all the candy and treats that everyone has been giving him and is frustrated I won't let him eat sugar cereal all day.  What a mean mom I am. 

We are enjoying our new kitties.  They are super cute.  I do have to admit I favor the orange one a little.  What can I say, it even has the laid back personality like Ryan.  We are trying to teach Ethan how to be gentle.  Wish us luck.  One of our other cats is totally freaked out from him to this day.

Speaking of Ethan, look what he learned on Sunday.  He's not even four yet.  He is an accident waiting to happen.

Adam has been taking a tumbling class this summer.  He loves it.  I put him into it because for awhile when ever I would ask him to come to me he would proceed to do summersaults to me.  Talk about drive me crazy, even though it was cute.

We welcomed some new members into our family today.  We have new baby pygmy goats.  Their names are Harry and Lloyd.  Yep, Dumb and Dumber.  I couldn't resist.  We had planned on getting goats before Ryan died and these are actually the names he came up with.  It was done in his honor and it brings a smile to me.  They are super cute and friendly.  I love to watch them jump all around while I am doing the dishes.  Tomorrow we will take them on a walk.  It will be fun to see the looks we get from people.

Thank you again for all the little things that continue to be done for us.  It really means so much.

Love, Catherine

P.S.   Mike would be so proud, I didn't write a novel this time.   Hee Hee!!!  Ok, well sort of.

 

Reflections

I found a few minutes today to finish a project that's been going on since the funeral - to write up my talk and think about the events that have transpired in the last two months.

I never took the opportunity to write everything down I had meant to say.  So after the funeral, I had no documentation on what it was I'd spoken about during the funeral service.  Grandma Jeri saved the day with a partial transcript and an audio recording of my thoughts from the funeral.  I've finished transcribing them and have made it available (for the two or three of you who may be interested) by following this link to a PDF.  Don't get too excited, only my remarks are in this document.

I've been reflecting on the thought that Ryan's earthly mission is over, but we still have much to do.  I've been thinking often of the Lott family and the many others who have struggled recently with health issues.

It's the reflections that allow us to appreciate the things around us.  From Poland, 2006.

Our neighbors, for example, who nearly lost their baby daughter in a tragic fall, or Jamie Lamb Hilton, who also suffered a potentially deadly fall.  I think also of Stacy Bingham, who I grew up with in Trenton, and the three children she has with severe heart conditions.  One who's had a heart transplant, one on the list for a new heart, and one being medicated so he hopefully doesn't end up on the list. Or little McKennlie from Hooper.  And many others who could just use a little encouragement.

I'm confident that there will come a day when we'll understand why bad things happen to good people and why many suffer and some are taken in their youth, but until then we live by faith. 

As President Hinckley reminded us, may we strive to stand a little taller, and be a little kinder, and reach out a little more to those in need, because of Ryan and his example.

Even rainbows reflect on things from time to time (our house last year).

Two months

Yesterday was two months since our sweet Ryan’s passing.  We remembered him by wearing orange.  Thank you to those who joined in and did the same.  It really means so much to our family that he is still being remembered.  We even noticed perfect strangers joining in and wearing orange.  How sweet of them.  My new favorite color is orange.  I even caved and allowed Jaime to become the owner of a new little orange kitten, who happens to be named Ryan.  We didn’t want Ryan Kitty to be lonely so his little sister Texie came also.  Just for the record we do like orange things but I will draw the line.  I do not want any orange snakes, lizards, tarantulas or sharks… even if you name them Ryan.  Someday I do think it would be fun to have an orange car, hint hint.  In the evening we ate dinner as a family at Ryan’s grave and set off balloons.  A sweet little old man was there visiting his wife and was kind enough to take our picture.  Later at home, we tortured ourselves by watching the video of Ryan that was shown at the gathering.  At one point Ethan said, “Why is everyone crying?”  Later Adam stated, “This sucks.  This is crap.”  We are doing very well.  Our lives will never be the same but we continue to feel comforted.  Thank you again for all those who continue to love us and pray for us.  You truly are a blessing in our lives.

                                                          Jaime and Texie and Ryan Kitty

I received the most beautiful bouquet of flowers today.  I was surprised to see they were from our health insurance company.  I guess they are just being nice before they give us the boot.  Just kidding.  They have actually been very good to deal with.  I am sure they are really from the heart and I am very thankful.  Sorry Mike, they are the prettiest flowers I have ever gotten.

Alex is doing pretty good and hopes to be able to walk on his own soon.  Just kidding.  He was messing around at the medical suppy store.  He can’t wait to be able to do things other than sit on the couch and watch tv and play Xbox.  I will remind him of this in a few weeks when he is not happy I won’t let him play it more.  I took him for a checkup a few days ago.  The doctor poked all around him.  It was pretty hard to watch and it hurt him.  I had to look away a few times as the q-tip explored all around.  He drained quite a bit and bled.  It was gross.  Then the doctor proceeded to pack the little hole (about the size of a pencil eraser) with 8 inches of ¼ inch gauze.  I was then told I would have to remove it and then repack it myself.  What!!!!!!  Well, I am proud to say that I have become quite the nurse.  With the help of my parents I got 4 inches in my first time.  I am supposed to change it twice a day and put at least 3 inches in each time.   Alex is so brave.  Once again we have lots of video and pictures for those interested.  We are used to it now and it’s fun to gross everyone out.  Alex likes to stand up and then we just watch it drain and drain.  I still like to tease Alex by asking him, “On a scale of 1 to 10 what is your pain level?”  He was so sick of being asked that by all the nurses at the hospital.

We had a little more excitement here tonight.  We had a huge wind and rain storm.  Mike and I were watching Adam and Ethan running around in the rain on our driveway.  We saw a flash of light from a distance.  I thought it was a firework.  It then didn’t go away.  I told Mike I thought a power line had caught on fire.  We got in the car and drove a block and saw the power line on fire.  A transformer had blown.  I called 911 and a fire truck came and put out the blaze.  Ok, it wasn’t very big.   It was a little bit exciting though.  We got to chat with the firefighters for a moment.  They did say it was good we had called or it would have burned a little more and the line would have fallen.  Glad that didn’t happen.  Adam and Ethan thought it was pretty cool, and I admit Mike and I thought so as well.

                                             Thank you again to everyone.  We love you all.

Lunch With the Girls

L-R  Andrea, Catherine, Jeri, Liz

Today Catherine and I met with Andrea and Liz for lunch at PF Chang's in Salt Lake City. They are two of the nurses at Primary Children's who cared for Ryan. It was wonderful to see them again - outside of the hospital.

Pictures from July 5th - Doctor Visit

Catherine asked if I would post some of the pictures taken the day of the 

visit to the Cardiologist. 7-05-12

Alex chose Olive Garden for supper on the way home. He ate his first meal in two weeks! 

Alex having his blood pressure taken. 
They brought a lawn chair/recliner for him, as it is hard for him to sit straight. 

Jaime after she had the echocardiogram done.

Adam having his blood pressure taken. 

Ethan fell asleep during his echocardiogram.  Most definitely made it easier for the technician.

Ethan having the holter monitor applied.

Ethan with the holter monitor all hooked up. After the leads were all on, they wrapped him first with gauze, then an ACE bandage - to hold the leads in place, and to help prevent little hands from pulling them off. At Ethan's waist sits the box all the wires hooked in to. He wore it for 24 hours, and his folks say he did great!

Lotts more to tell...

We had a happy 4^th of July.  We went to the Hooper parade for the first time.  The kids got a ton of candy.  It was so fun.  Alex had been up late the night before from playing Xbox so we let him sleep.  He might not have the strength of a teenager yet and walks like an old man still but he still has the mind of one and has really been enjoying all the gaming time he gets now.  Just so everyone knows, I do not usually let the kids have free reign of playing video games.  I keep the controllers in my room and monitor their playing or they would never stop playing other than to breathe.  Later we had a nice BBQ and went to the fireworks in Hooper.  We started a new family tradition of sitting by Ryan’s grave to watch them.  It was the perfect spot.  We were by ourselves and the view was great.  We could even hear the music playing from the fairgrounds and see fireworks going off in about 5 other locations as well.  The kids made glow stick necklaces and bracelets.  We put a few on Ryan’s grave and then Ethan proceeded to take some to the other graves.  He said he was sharing with the other dead people who were his friends.  He said he loved them.  It was very cute of him.  We ate some snacks and even put a few cookies out for Ryan.  It was a special time to be there and yet hard as well.  We really missed Ryan and some tears were shed.  

 As we looked in the sky we noticed the full moon glowed orange.  It was beautiful and it didn’t last for too long.  I told the kids Ryan did that for us.  Mike asked others from different locations if it was orange where they were.  They said no. 

Yesterday we spent the day in Provo at the pediatric cardiologist.  Long story short, the kids all seem fine for now.  They all had EKGs and echocardiograms.  Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy usually shows up in teenagers so we will have to get our kids tested each year when they are between the ages of 12-18.  As adults we will all need to be tested every five years.  Mike and I go in for our echocardiograms in a few weeks.  I am sure we are fine but it will be nice to know for sure.  If either of us shows signs then our siblings will need to be tested.

We were at the doctor’s office for around 4 hours.  Our kids were very good.  I had brought treats, a portable DVD player and some iPods.  Thank goodness for modern technology.  We even brought a reclining lawn chair so Alex wouldn’t have to sit up straight.  The kids had to lay still for about 45 minutes for the eco.  We wondered how Ethan would do and he fell asleep and that made that easy.  The doctor did discover an extra heart beat with Ethan.  I am not exactly sure what that means.  He isn’t too concern since his eco came back good but he did want to monitor him for 24 hours.  Ethan had to get about 6 wires hooked to his chest.  We wrapped him up with an ace bandage so he won’t mess with the wires.  The wires and machine would moniter his heart and send the report back to the doctor.  Wow.  Crazy.  He pretty much looks like he had a bomb strapped to his chest.  It is so cute and we can’t believe he is actually keeping it on.

The staff at the doctor’s office was great.  They treated us so kindly and gave special care to us.  It really made things go very well.   Mike’s mom Jeri came with us and we played musical kids as we took turns with different kids.  It was sure nice to have her there, especially with Alex unable to help.  Alex wanted to go eat at the Olive Garden so we went there for dinner.  We let the waiter know that we needed to hurry because he couldn’t sit for long.  The waiter was very kind and we had a nice meal.  We were so happy to see Alex eat his first meal in 2 weeks.  He finished it all and we were so shocked.  So far he has lost about 10 lbs.  He still doesn’t have much of an appetite and is still super picky.  I did enjoy feeding him a Frosty the other day while he was playing video games.  I just kept shoving it in.  When he wouldn’t open his mouth I just let it drip on him until he did.  He learned his lesson quickly.  He finished it all!!

Alex is doing very well.  His incision looks kind of yucky and we are concerned it might be a little bit infected.  We do have him on an antibiotic and hopefully that will take care of it.  He isn’t in too much pain and that is wonderful.   We love Alex.  He had been so brave through this all.  It has been a very bonding experience for us all and has brought our family closer to one another.

Again, I would like to thank all those who have reached out to us and especially to Alex.  You have helped lift his spirits and make him smile.  As a mother, that means so much.  Hug your kids more and don’t let a moment go by without showing them you love them.  Life is much too fragile and they grow up way too quickly.

We love you all.  Thanks so much for continuing to check the blog.  It still touches our hearts to see how many are concerned about our family.   Catherine and Mike 

Good Things to Come

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a video worth? This one's worth at least a few minutes of your time. - Luke