Two words...

WE'RE HOME! I have finished school and the boys and I are now home with Doug! It still hasn't hit me that I'm here for good...other than graduation next month. We got in last night and the boys are loving it (for now)! We'll see how it is once the holidays are over and they are bored out of their mind.

I finished nursing school on the 16th of December. It's such a nice feeling to not have anything to study for. All except for my nursing boards. I'm playing the waiting game right now for authorization to test, until then it's studying the review books and playing with the boys!

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Drew's first week

We survived our first week of kindergarten! Drew is absolutely loving school and asks everyday if he can go back. His teacher is fantastic! I couldn't ask for anyone better. She is so great with the kids and knows how to keep them interested and wanting to keep going. He comes home everyday with something new to share with us. In fact, the other day he asked a girl at school if her name was Ashley. She said, "How did you know my name?" Drew said, "I read it on your backpack." This was so awesome for me to hear that he read her name! I didn't even know he knew that "S" and "H" made the "Shh" sound!

On Wednesday, Drew was given the "math bag" to take home. He had to put something in it to take to school that they could do math with, and come up with a question(s) for them to solve. So Drew got some candy and each kid got four pieces. The questions: If you have four pieces of candy and you gave two to a friend, how many pieces do you have left? If your friend gave you one piece back, now how many do you have? Drew was able to solve both of these questions and then teach his class how to solve it.

On Friday, he told me that his teacher gave them green magic potion to drink and it turned them all into Spiderman with invisible webs! His imagination is getting bigger and it's only been the first week of school!

I have become a very proud mother! This week will be interesting since I start school again and now we'll both have homework to do. I can't wait and neither can Drew!

1st Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe it, my boy started kindergarten today! It's so amazing how time flies by. One minute you have these little kids, and before you know it, they are in school.

Drew has been so excited for this day. He has talked about it non stop for the last week. Last night I couldn't even get him to go to bed because he was just too excited! Drew said, "Mom, I get to start kindergarten tomorrow. And that means I am going to be a grown up boy now." It's true, my boy has grown up!

Well Drew isn't the only one excited for this day, I have to say that I am too. Drew gets bored really fast now and needs something to keep his mind going. I am so excited that he will now be challenged a little and learn so many new things.

Drew is in the afternoon kindergarten class and we did it this way because the daycare that he goes to, the owner buses the kids to this school. So Drew is in a class with some of his friends from daycare, which for me is nice because he already has friends. In fact, when we first got there, he was able to see the older kids from daycare out at recess, and they were telling him that they can't wait until afternoon recess so they can play together!

Preston was so cute this morning. When he saw Drew with his backpack, Preston had to get his as well. When I took Drew's picture this morning, he had to have his taken as well. And then when we dropped Preston off at daycare, Preston looked at Drew and said, "I love you Drew!" It made my heart sing to hear him say that!

Well, there you have it. My oldest is now a school goer just like his mom, and we couldn't be more excited!

It's me again...

Time is getting so far away from me that I feel like I'm losing my mind...I probably am losing my mind! A quick update for Drew. Since he has been on his medicine we have not had a single seizure...knock on wood! The medicine seems to be doing it's job and I am so thankful for that. The only noticeable thing is that I feel like I have a teenage girl at my house sometimes! His mood swings can be all over the place. But if this is the only side effect we are facing, then I can handle it.

Preston is still Preston. As mischievous as ever and oh so full of attitude! But I'm loving every minute of it! He loves to be outside, and we are so thankful that Utah has finally graced us with some warm weather.

As for me, school is taking up most of my time. When the boys aren't around, (they spend the days in preschool), I can usually get my studying in, but when they go to bed, I am frequently found with my face in a med/surg book, or working on a case study of some sort. I am doing 12 hour clinical rotations on Saturdays at Timpanogos Hospital and am loving every minute of it. I couldn't ask for a better instructor, especially since my instructor last semester was so rotten. This is my second to last semester and I am super excited...and super nervous!

On another note, my sister-in-law comes home tomorrow from a year or so deployment in Iraq! We are so excited to see her and can't wait to hug our soldier! Thank you Jayme for all you have done for our family and this country. You rock!

Day 1: A choice was made

Well, the neurologist decided that the right medication for Drew would be leveriracetam (Keppra). He will be on the lowest dose to start out with and if he does ok, then he'll stay on that dose. If not, then they'll increase it. The good thing about this drug is that the side effects are minimal (tiredness, sleepiness-which will go away, irritability, and sometimes insomnia) and you can't get toxic off of it. The aggression and irritability are a couple of my biggest concerns, but the doctor said that if he shows signs of this, call them back and they can adjust things. My other big concern is that being on drug therapy requires a two year commitment. Drew has to be on the medication every day for two years. If in that time he has no seizures and a normal EEG, he can come off of the meds. I'm hoping this works, and that I don't forget to give him his medicine. That would be bad. So, today was day one of the drug and so far so good. Even though it was day one, and it's not really in his system yet, I have felt much better. Drew did good today, but it was only day 1! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this drug works. Love you all so much!

Drew's results

Ok, so here is the big update about Drew. Tuesday we went to his appointment for his EEG. This is where they put about 27 electrodes on his head, then covered the electrodes with a gauze wrap to hold them in place. It looked like he was wearing a bicycle helmet!

He was then asked to do all sorts of things, open his eyes, shut them, open them, shut them. They then asked him to blow on a pinwheel for 3 minutes. It was such a long time for him! He would blow little bursts of air, and then a few long ones! After that the technician told him to close his eyes and try to rest. I ended up having to lay in the bed with him to calm him down. He was so restless. After they did that, the technician came back in and did a strobe light test. This test is done to try and cause a seizure. Well, Drew handled it just fine and no seizure happened.

When that was over, we headed down to have his MRI done. They were initially going to sedate him because they needed him to be really still. But they decided to do a trial run so see if he could in fact hold still. They put headphones on him and goggles which played a movie. I went to the recovery room and waited. They came back about 30 minutes later saying that he was able to hold still and the scan was done. We could go home. This was about 10:00 in the morning.

Later that afternoon, about 1:50, he had another seizure. This was probably due to his lack of sleep (they wanted us to sleep deprive him a bit before the EEG). I was so glad that we had an appointment with the neurologist the next day, Wednesday.

Well, when we got to the neurologist's office on Wednesday afternoon, the most wonderful PA came in and did a full neurological check on Drew. She was fantastic. The results to the tests the day before were in and she and the Neurologist gave us the news. Drew's MRI was normal. No tumors or lesions were found...Yay! Then the EEG. They found an abnormal burst on his EEG during his rest period. So what does that mean? It means that the likelihood of Drew having a seizure again in the next 6 months in 90%. It also means that since his MRI was clean, he has a great chance of outgrowing the seizures!

Another thing we found out is that he has Epilepsy. The definition of epilepsy is two or more seizures. Also, epilepsy is basically a diagnosis for idiopathic seizures, meaning they have no idea why or what causes them. And since Drew has had two unknown seizures within 10 days of each other, this is his diagnosis. So, now what do we do? The neurologist said that it is a good idea to treat him with medication. He told Doug and I to think it over and decide which drug route we wanted to start with. The drugs will prevent him from having seizures. Which, being that summer is coming and he'll want to be swimming, he should be medicated. What else does this mean? That this will require a two year commitment. He must be on the drug for two years. If within those two years he doesn't have a seizure or any severe side effects, then he can be taken off the medication. This also means that we will be experimenting with the drugs and their doses, since the side effects can be tamed with dosage adjustments.

So, there you have it. Our son has epilepsy. But don't be too afraid by that word. If you don't like it, use seizure disorder...it's the same thing. Epilepsy isn't as scary as people think it is. It just means that from now on, Drew needs to stay hydrated, have enough rest, and needs to have some sort of supervision. Other than that, he is a normal kid who can do normal things, like play T-ball-which he had his first practice yesterday!

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us. It has meant the world to me. Please keep us in your prayers that we might find the right drug for Drew and that it will control his episodes. I love you all. I couldn't ask for greater family and friends.

Update on Drew

Drew has been doing really well since the seizure on Saturday. In fact, he has more energy than he has had in a long time. It's the weirdest thing. We are on a waiting list to see a Neurologist and they are booked at least two weeks out. So who knows when that will be. But I did get an appointment for his EEG and MRI. He will be having those done on Tuesday. He will have to be sedated for the MRI, but I am really glad we are having it done. I'll post the results whenever I hear. Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support. It has meant the world to me. It's nice to have friends and family that love you so much. You all are absolutely wonderful!

scariest moment of my life

Just thought I would let you all know that last night at about 5:00pm, Drew had a seizure. We were on our way to dinner when he had it. I can't even begin to tell you how terrified I was. In fact, I was sobbing so hard, so much that I couldn't keep myself together. You think I would be able to handle that, but I couldn't. He was taken to Primary Children's Hospital, where he was checked over and observed. Today he is doing fine, although he is under constant supervision. The poor kid can't even go to the bathroom by himself. He will be seeing a neurologist sometime this week to determine the cause, but for now he is doing well. Thank you to all of you who have been there for us and who are praying for us. I will update you when I can.

what's happenning

Things here have been quite busy. We are in the process of getting Drew registered for kindergarten, signed him up for tee-ball (he is very excited for), and I have been quite engrossed in school. In fact, I just finished a huge paper...23 pages...and am getting ready to begin another one. Oh how I can't wait for this semester to be over!

I've been doing my clinical rotations at St. Mark's hospital. It's been a great experience clinical wise, not so much on the paperwork side! I have been able to go to every unit except two right now. Those two would be ICU and the Women's Center. We will actually do the Women's Center next semester.

My favorite place so far has to be the Emergency Department! I have been able to assess patients, start IVs, run IV fluids and lots of other things. It is definitely the place to be to learn how to do things. And the nurses that work there are so willing to teach. They love having students around, and I love that they love having us. It makes for a really great time.

Drew and Preston have been playing outside as much as they can. The weather here has been so "bi-polar" in a sense. It's good one day and the next is crappy. A couple of weeks ago, we had a huge snow storm. We had 14 inches at my grandparent's house! So the boys put on their snow gear and headed out to play.

They were having fun making snowballs. Well, I was the one making the snowballs, they were the ones throwing the snowballs!

Drew was loving that the snow was piled on top of the deck railing. He would take his snowball and throw it at that pile to make a hole in it. This made for some entertainment for him!

Preston loves the snow. He didn't want to come inside at all, even after his gloves were soaked and he wanted them off. That kid could play anywhere in any kind of weather!

Preston the other day came up to me because he had to show me some artwork he had done. He was so proud that he was able to make such a unique picture. "Mommy, look! I did it!"

Yep, at least he was honest!

Well, we are doing pretty well here, just waiting for the weather to warm up.

Ready for spring

Oh spring, where for art thou? The boys are chomping at the bit to get outside. So, the other day we played in the snow. Drew will play in it for only so long, but Preston on the other hand, could stay outside forever.

Preston either wants to be in the deepest part of the snow, or eat it! I'm trying to teach him that if he is going to eat it, it has to be "clean" snow. Drew tells him all the time, "Don't eat the yucky colored snow, it's not good for you!"

Things here are going well. School is getting really busy. I feel bad for my boys, they don't get a whole lot of time with me. They are in daycare five days a week from 9-4 and then on Saturdays they are with their grandparents until 3. I can't wait until I'm done and can actually be a mom again!

Doug, I believe, is doing well. He and Daisy lounge on the couch in the evenings watching Sport's Center or some movie! I know he gets bored, but he is doing well. We sure miss him.

remaining open

Due to the influx of people who have enjoyed viewing our blog, and the amount of requests I have been getting, I have decided to keep it open. I didn't realize how many people liked it, so for now, the blog remains open. I hope you will all enjoy reading about our adventures here. Thank you everyone!

going private

I am making this blog private. All those that would like to view this blog please email me at dandcgiles@msn.com. I promise, this new blog will be updated at least weekly. I have made it a must, so please, come and visit us!