Pop Goes the Eardrum (remix version)

Here I go again on my own, going down the only road I've ever known. Well if you haven't guessed it already or heard (no pun intended), my right eardrum decided to let loose, and not in a good way. My eardrum went kaboom on Tuesday night. I woke up screaming, inconsolable from the pain, and my parents were clueless as to what had happened. Once again, I exhibited no symptoms and was acting normal. It was not until 1.5 days later that anyone noticed that my ear was oozing goop.

So on my 18th month birthday, off I went to visit Dr. Engle and low and behold, its a popped eardrum. This time I had so much pus in my ear that he had to take a special tool to suck it all out. I'm sure you are all thinking that I had to be held down, and you are thinking right. With my dad's assistance, he pinned me down and let the sucking begin. They finally stopped but then Dr. Engle wanted to put ear drops in immediately to start a course of antibiotics. With my mommy at a deposition, we placed a call to her so she could speak to Dr. Engle. After a discussion about something related to "risks and benefits" it was determined that to keep me on medication was not proving beneficial. The goal now is to clear the infection, heal the ear drum and insert tubes. Due to the fact that I exhibit no symptoms, can not appear to clear the fluid on my own, and constant medication is not good for my little immune system, it appears that this is the only way.

You read that right my friends, I am going to have tubes inserted. This will all take place at a to be determined date, but I will be placed under laughing gas. Sounds like its going to be a good time, doesn't it? First, I will have a hearing test on Thursday, February 4th, to determine my hearing level and afterwards I will see Dr. Engle for a checkup. It will be at that point in time that my surgery will be set up. A few weeks after my surgery I will return for another hearing test to determine if there was any hearing loss. Hopefully having tubes will allow me some much needed relief from the pressure in my middle ear that is constant and my inability to sleep through the night. Stay tuned...

Running Just as Fast as I Can

Hello Thad followers, this is Kacie, the cat. I'm hijacking the blog to fill you on the recent torture this crazy kid has subjected me to. Lately he finds it amusing to chase me all around the house. I run behind the couch to escape to the other side, and low and behold, he runs around and waits for me to come out. I can find no peace with this little monster in the house. I have always had "my spots" to lay, and now this kid can reach wherever I am laying. He loves to pull my tail, my feet, and poke my nose. I am sure you can only imagine how annoying this becomes.

Just the other night I'm minding my own business and out of the blue he comes running for me. So I jumped up onto the steps to get away from him. Not taking a hint, he keeps bugging me. So I take a swat at him as a warning. What does he do, laughs hysterically at me, and swats me back. So the battle ensues and lasts a good five minutes. The parents also found this funny so they decided to record it for your viewing pleasure. Go ahead, you'll see the torment I am subjected to daily:

Needless to say, I suppose for free food and shelter, I have to put up with this as I have no other alternatives other than hijacking this blog for support. Long live the Queen!

In a Manner of Speaking

Wow is all I can say...well I can't say wow yet but it definitely describes what my parents think of how much I'm talking now. Here's what I can say thus far in my brief lifespan:

THREE! Remember how I could count along and say two, well now I can say three.

ELMO! Well it really sounds like me-mo, but usually its just Mo. I love Elmo and the fact that I got one for Christmas, I now walk around and say Mo repeatedly whenever I see him on anything.

BYE BYE! You probably have not heard me say this and if you have, you definitely are one of the lucky ones. The only reason being is because I have a delayed reaction. It's usually not until I get into the car that I start saying bye-bye. I continue until we reach the destination or I feel that I have reached the maximum capacities for bye-bye's for that time period.

HI/HELLO! Every time the phone rings I will shoot up and say hello. When I enter a room its only appropriate to say HI in a loud booming voice to make sure you know I am in the room.

BABY! The first time I started saying baby I used it in the correct context. However, since then I have forgotten. Anything and everyone around me is baby. Or it could be that I'm saying something else and no one can figure me out.

OUTSIDE! If you know me, and know me well, you know that I love to go "outshide". Whenever we get ready to leave some place my parents say, we have to put on your jacket to go outside, whereby I follow with "outshide" as if its a question. I then point to the door, walk over to it and grab the handle. When peering out windows I make sure that everyone knows that its "outshide."

BOY! Did you know that I'm a boy? We play the boy/girl game at school and after several weeks of being told I'm a boy and Emily is a girl, I can now say boy!

BOOK! I love to read and can now point to the book saying "book" at the same time.

CAT! Oh my poor kitty. I have renewed my love of Kacie. I love to chase her, torment her, and do anything to push her buttons. I can say Kacie, but definitely know the difference between her and other cats as she is Kacie and the others are "Cat."

MANNY! I am addicted to Handy Manny...he is my favorite handyman with the coolest tools ever because they all talk. I am the proud owner of a Manny plate set and tool set with a working flicker. I'm working on learning all their names but for now Manny is sufficient for my vocabulary!

Pop Goes the Eardrum!

Since we have been home from vacation I have had a difficult time sleeping in my own bed. After spending 2 weeks sleeping between the awesome individuals that raise me, I just can't stand being away from them. As my parents haven't been getting much sleep lately they thought they needed to kick this habit in the you know what. So Sunday night into Monday morning, at approximately 1:30 a.m., I woke up screaming, again. They decided that they would just let me have it out in my crib with me screaming at the top of my lungs. Eventually, or what seemed like forever to me, I decided to quit and just lay down and go back to sleep.

With Monday morning upon us and the hustle and bustle that every week brings, it was not until my mom brought me to school that she noticed that my right ear looked a little funny; it looked as if I had ear wax coming out of my ear. Now I don't like when people touch my ears, so naturally I pulled away and went about my business. There were no other signs until I woke from my nap and Ms. Liz noticed something coming from my ear. My mom and dad were both called and within a half hour I was whisked away to Dr. Manfredonia.

Upon arriving we waited forever to see her, but once we did, she took one look at my right ear without sticking anything in it and said "yup, he's got an ear infection for sure." Then out comes that annoying ear thing (otoscope). There was no way she was going to get a good look, in fact she barely got the otoscope in my right ear when low and behold, she said my ear drum had popped! Then she put the otoscope in my left ear, of course I was being held down, and she said I had a minor infection in that one too. Once again, a double ear infection. If you we all wondering what I inherited from my mother, here you have it, her HORRIBLE ears! I was recently informed that her ear drum popped when she was a kid too! Dr. Manfredonia prescribed Augmentin and ear drops and told me to come back in 2 weeks if I could not get into an pediatric ENT.

So I started the Augmentin and the ear drops are going better than expected. My parents realized what all that screaming was about early Monday morning - gotta love the guilt trips don't you! I also have an appointment on Friday with Dr. Engle, a pediatric ENT with New Jersey Coastal Hearing. He's a Wash U grad just like my mom. Hopefully he'll tell me that the hole is healing as it should be and all will be fine and well. More to come...keep an ear out for me!

UPDATE: We saw Dr. Engle on Friday and he informed me that my hole has closed. In four days flat I went from having a punctured eardrum to a perfect one with scar tissue. I should have no issues but I have to go for a hearing test in 3 weeks...that should be fun.

Back To Life, Back To Reality

Ugggh! Thats all I can say as I had to be dragged back to school. Boy it was hard getting up and with it this morning after having so much time off. One thing is for sure, over this vacation I definitely developed a fond affection for my DA! And my separation anxiety is back in full effect, crying and clinging on to mom's leg for life; just when I had it kicked before vacation started.

There is also some new kids in my classroom - Dia and Rohan. They are twins and a little older than me. In the middle of breakfast today I stood up and Rohan attempted to steal my chair. Well I showed him who was boss and made sure that it would never happen again. And Emily, my best buddy at school is gone until January 18th...that's a long time from now! Guess i'm going to have to play with the new kids. But weird Steven a/k/a International Food Stealer moved up. Thank god, because I was really getting sick of him stealing my food all the time! Ms. Liz also noticed that I'm talking a lot more. Over this break my vocabulary really blossomed. She reported to my parents that I like to point to things, look at her and say "that" in a questioning voice seeking an answer.

They say the first day back is a rough go, or is it the first week? Only time will tell but as of now, i'm making a go at getting back to reality!

Life is a Highway

The week between Christmas and New Year's found us traveling west to Rapid City, SD and the Black Hills. We left Monday morning after a rough night as I had been running a fever. The trip to Rapid City is approximately 5 hours across Interstate 90. Most of this I missed as I slept pretty much the entire way. This was much needed as I had not gotten much sleep the last few days. We arrived at Aunt Janice and Uncle Roger's house and enjoyed a dinner of buffalo prime rib sandwiches and playing with Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnsrud. It was a great time minus the fact that the Vikings lost to the Bears! After dinner we took off and headed to Deadwood to meet up with Jessilyn and Nolan. They had flown into Denver and made the 6 hour drive that day. By the time we saw them it was late, so I didn't spend to much time with them on Monday night.

Tuesday we awoke and made the trek up to the cabin atop Terry Peak. Prior to us arriving, they had received 41" of snow. We checked in, unloaded and packed some lunch for the trip to Mount Rushmore. I also unpacked some toys from Jessilyn and Nolan!

It wasn't long after arriving at the monument that I decided to splash in some puddles, place my knee in standing water and soak my jeans all the way through. But I did get some pictures in before rushing back to the truck with dad to stay warm.

Wednesday we decided to explore Deadwood's gigantic downtown. It took about 30 minutes to walk both sides of the street and explored some casinos. It was here that I had my first gambling experience. I have no pictures as cameras are not allowed in casinos. Regardless, my mom plugged the machine with some money and let me grab the handle and pull. We won some, but ultimately lost everything; guess I can't go to college now! Just kidding, we only lost $5.00. My mom is not the risky type when it comes to gambling. As we were receiving some odd looks from the staff, we packed up and headed back to the cabin. On the way back we stopped off for some burgers and milk at the burger joint at the bottom of Terry Peak. Later that day Barb, Todd, Anna and her friend Tyanna arrived. We spent the day playing in the snow, playing pool, and exploring every draw available to me. I found the draw with all the towels and proceeded to walk around with them on my head. I even managed to break a little trinket that the owners left in the draw plus a christmas tree bulb. That evening, we treated ourselves to a steak dinner and stopped off at the local Kmart to find a sled. That night I was schooled in how to chalk a pool cue, rack the balls, and where the balls go.

On Thursday, New Year's Eve, we woke up really early and headed to Terry Peak to get our ski rentals. This was Jessilyn's first time skiing and my first time watching. After eating breakfast, mom and me hung out at home and took a nap while dad got some ski time in with everyone else. We even tested out the sled that morning and I absolutely loved it. Everyone came back to the cabin for lunch and then we all headed back to the peak for an afternoon of skiing. Mom skied a few hours in the afternoon and I hung out with dad in the lounge watching the beginners biff it on the hill. Barb, Anna, Tyanna, Jessilyn and Nolan stuck to the greens, while Todd drug my mom down some blues. Mind you, Todd, Nolan and my dad had skied the greens and blues all morning. My mom was pretty sore after a few runs and was in relief when Todd turned his knee and decided to call it a day. That night my mom made some awesome chili with the assistance of Jessilyn that everyone enjoyed with biscuits. I didn't make it to midnight but from what I heard it was a tame evening ringing in 2010!

Friday found us relaxing and enjoying the day at the cabin catching up on some zzz's. Everyone took their turn pulling my sled up the hill and watching me zoom down.

Saturday we bid farewell to the cabin and headed back to Sioux Falls and Jessilyn and Nolan headed back to Denver. When we were packing the car on top of Terry Peak it was 30 degrees and comfortable. By the time we got to the bottom it was 10 degrees...burr! It only got colder as we drove further east and the drive was much longer this time as I did not sleep most of the way. We stopped at Al's Oasis to meet Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnsrud for lunch. By the time we arrived in Sioux Falls at Danny, Bryce, and Brooklyn's, it was -5 degrees. I spent the remainder of the evening playing with my cousins. On Sunday we got up and made the rounds to different family members to say goodbye. We brought Great G&G Johnsrud lunch and I had the best time playing with his electric chair. Great Grandma has this great stash of toys in the closet that I discovered.

Although I had a great time sledding, next time I'm going to try skiing. Todd and Barb gave me Anna's old ski's so I'm now ready to take on that challenge. Watch out for me on the slopes!