Recent developments

So, I guess I should update the latest about Matt. He has had such a fantastic summer! His central line was removed which has meant one significant thing - SWIMMING! It has been nice to not have to worry about caring for his line.

Bye Bye Broviac! We loved having you because that meant Matt didn't need to get poked, but are happy he can now shower and swim. It was nice knowing you!


Matt started Middle school this year. His school has FOURTEEN HUNDRED kids! I am not kidding! There is only one middle school in our entire district, so the middle and high schools are the same size. Too big, in my opinion. It is a good school, though, full of dedicated teachers. Matt is enjoying it very much. The first week of school he seemed really wiped out, though. I had heard that the kids came home from middle school exhausted, so I thought it was just the adjustment of a new routine and big school. By Friday of that first week, though, I realized something was up and, sure enough, Strep Throat! Poor kid wasn't wiped out from school, he was sick! We got that treated (the butt shot of Penicillin is AMAZING, by the way - less than 12 hours after it was given he was 100% better).

The next week was a short week because of Labor Day.

Tuesday of the third week we received a call from the school reporting that Matt was in tremendous pain and couldn't walk. Of course Warren and I completely freaked out. The school called back moments later and said the pain was in his leg. He had been complaining of pain in his knee for a few days, but it seemed generally mild and we assumed he had pulled a muscle or something. Well, Warren went to pick him up from school and was startled by how much more pain Matt was in and took Matt directly to the Emergency Room. At this point, we were still assuming it was a pulled muscle, and I was worried about surgery for something like a torn meniscus or other such injury. At the ER, the doctor wanted to rule out the most serious of things that this pain could possibly be, and sent Matt for an ultrasound to confirm that he didn't have blood clots. No one was more surprised than the ER staff when it was discovered that the pain WAS from clots! It is really rare for a child to get blood clots, but we've learned that Matt is exceptional in every way! ;-) That evening ended with the adventure of Matt being transferred to Primary Children's Hospital via ambulance. He was put on IV Heparin and many tests were run to determine whether Matt has some sort of genetic clotting disorder. We are still waiting on the results of 3 of those tests, but the first two came back negative. Matt spent the rest of that week in the hospital and Grandma Julie rescued us and stayed with our other boys so we could both be at the hospital with Matt. Scary stuff! Blood clots are dangerous because a small piece of a clot can break off and go to the lungs, heart, or brain. Thankfully, we seem to have avoided that scenario! Now we just have one other thing to mark 'yes' to when we are filling out new patient forms at a new doctor's office. :-) Matt came home on an anti-coagulant called Lovenox. He has to give himself an injection twice each day. I am so proud of him! He does the shots all by himself. His belly looks awful, though! The blood thinner causes bruising so every place he injects has a baseball sized bruise. He says they don't hurt, but they sure look bad! Here's his belly after only a few shots of the blood thinner.


Matt holding Audrey. She was a tag-along on this hospital visit. Nursing babies have to stay with their mama's, even when their mama's have to stay with their big brother in the hospital!


Cute picture of Audrey in the hotel. This time, Warren and I stayed a few nights with Matt and a few in a nearby hotel. Matt seemed very well and stable and just slept all night. We often stay the whole time, but this time felt okay about leaving him to sleep peacefully while we slept more comfortably than is possible on the hospital couches! :-)