Oh the Medical Drama

No I am not talking about "Grey's Anatomy" or "ER"... this is our life, our home, our family.  One giant Medical Drama.

The last few weeks have been interesting.  We got to spend an evening with another family we met while we were in China.

My dear friend finally got a visa to come visit us in the coming months, we found out that Jack LOVES chicken, and can read a 200 page book everyday for a week and not hate reading.

We have also found that Isaac is really an amazing big brother.

We knocked out a bunch of medical appointment for Jack, got an update on Isaac, and put our cat in a cone.

Let's start with Gary.  Yes you read that right, his name is Gary!  Gary had something under his skin about the size of a golf ball when we got home from China.  We of course thought it as cancer and began to say our goodbyes.  But after a few days it busted open and Gary did his duty and licked it till it was nasty.  Thinking still that he would die from the infection we raced to the pet hospital and they yelled at us for being bad pet owners.  But in the end charged us $200 to tell us that he got bit by something, it got infected, and bam it opened.  They cleaned and and put him in the cone of shame.  Along with a rabbies booster and an antibiotic shot.  One hour later we emerged from the pet hospital feeling a little bad about ourselves with a cat that felt even worse.

Wednesday we headed to CHOP to see what was up with Jack.  It was an amazing trip mostly because we had a translator with us that the hospital provided.  We got to have full on conversations with him for the first time since China.  But the fun stopped there.  We found out the following.  Spine is not a one time fix (in fact we will have 10-12 surgeries over the next 5 years and his foot needs major surgery.  We have to be at CHOP every wednesday for the next month for this appointment or that.  This poor kid is going to be in it for the long haul.  That being said when we tell him that one day his spine will look like Isaac's and his back will too, he smiles and I know that he will do just fine.

Jack is also taking martial arts.  I hate to point out the stereo-types, but he is good.  A natural.  He has the elegance of someone who has practiced Tai Chi for years.  His sansei loves him.

Isaac is doing really well.  He is muscling up for wrestling which will start in a few weeks (full-time).  We are shooting for one more win than last year.  So his goal is 4 wins this coming year.  Doesn't seem like a lot but in wrestling it is.  I know college wrestler that have 4 wins to their entire college career.  It is a tough sport and Isaac loves it.

That being said, Isaac will have surgery on his right foot (again) in March or April (as soon as the season is over.)  His big toe is starting to have skin breakdown (exactly what is sound likes) because of the way it twists around in the brace, so they have to go in and break the foot to reset it.  Sounds fun doesn't it!  But he is looking forward to it, because when the pain is over he will feel a 1000 times better than he does right now.  He walks in constant pain and this will alleviate a lot of that.

Jack is still nil on the meltdowns.  He is a really happy kid.  I will be honest and say there was one afternoon where I asked him to come outside and help us clean up the yard.  He wanted to stay in and wear his spiderman costume.  His way of showing his extreme displeasure was to give us a death stare like I have never seen before.  I swear in his eyes he was telling us that he wanted us dead in the most painful way possible.  Of course 10 minutes with daddy picking up leaves and he was all smiles and back to himself, but for the few short (yet felt like eternity) minutes, the fear of God came over us all.

Jack has his 3 hour MRI on Halloween and then we should have a game plan on what we are going to do with his spine.  In the meantime... Adios!