Medical Madness

I thought I would post the cover of the Washingtonian magazine. For those of you who don't know, that is Evan's heart surgeon, Dr. Jonas.

Last week Evan's doctor appointments started. First up was a hand surgeon, who agreed with the one we saw at Walter Reed: we need to pick a surgeon and stay with him for the next umpteen years. This doctor suggested we only go to the top surgeons in the country for this type of surgery (lengthening the ulna, centering the wrist, etc.). Only a few people have done more than a hundred of these. I guess it is a teaching case for these doctor's, so if they don't take our insurance, it may be free. Anyway, so we are waiting to hear from him if some of these surgeons are in an area where we might be moving to, or near family so at least I have some help watching Amelia if John is floating on a tin can.

Next week starts physical and occupational therapy. I am quite excited about this because they really know how to start helping out- with or without a surgery. For example, the surgeon told us to stretch his hand and didn't mention an occupational therapist. We saw one anyway and the therapist made us braces that really helped stretch him out. Why is there such a disconnect between the different health care professions? Anyway, the physical therapists will be helping out with his neck, too, which has been a huge concern of ours. Evan has many problems and I haven't blogged about all of them because, frankly, I'm don't much feel like talking about them all of the time. He does have an extra piece of vertebrae jutting into the rest, which is causing his back to curve. This may or may not be the reason he wants to keep his head to one side. We see the spine doctor next week, too. I will have to do an update after he's seen all of these doctors.

Good news is that we finally are able to pick up Evan under his arms again. We had to wait 6 weeks after the surgery for his chest plate to heal. Now he can start to hold his weight on his legs again. He was really good at that before the surgery, like Amelia, but regressed from us not being able to hold him up.

Other good news- I got to sleep for 4 hours straight last night!

Summer Lovin'

What's he talkin' about?

This is a week old. He talks even more now and pants like a dog. What talent!

Bumble chair!

We love the bumble chair! We got it for Amelia because she always wants to be sitting. Actually standing, but my arms get too tired. Here are some pics of the beloved bumble chair. And the movie!

We are so not back in business!

Well, our internet will not be functioning until the cable company digs a new line on Monday. I have so many pictures and movies! I guess I will just throw some up. It would be nice to talk about some of the crazy stuff going on, but I don't have time. I'm in the base hotel lobby right now borrowing some wi-fi.

On Athens, I will say that I love it here. The people are so nice. It is good to be back in the South for that reason. The only negative is that there is no body of water. My map shows that there is a river somewhere, so maybe I will have to check that out. Oh, yes, our welcome to Georgia: The first night I was washing bottles at 2am and a visitor welcomed me. A giant palmetto bug (flying cockroach) skittered under the toaster oven. I didn't scream, I didn't to anything. I was too tired. I decided to deny that it ever happened. Nope, I did not have time or energy for that. You may think that that is pretty gross, but trust me, it probably found it's way out (yeah, right). What I learned from living in New Orleans, which I will now resume doing, is to fumble down the hall loudly so the bugs hear me. And just in case they didn't, I will turn on the light with my eyes closed and then open them after three whole seconds. That way I will never know.

Anyway, the babies are doing wonderful. Amelia only wants to be upright. Even in her carseat, where babies are supposed to lay down, she hold her darn head up! And they are talking like crazy. Amelia is close to 10 lbs, Evan is close to 9!

We're back in business!

Wow, what a withdrawal- no internet or T.V. for a couple of weeks now. Here are a couple of pictures of Evan in the hospital. He was such a trooper. And an after shot from today. As of today, he weights 8 and half pounds. 2 pounds heavier than before the surgery! We are so glad the surgery happened sooner than later. He is a normal baby now.