Ellie 10/12/11

So Ellie had her eye appt yesterday and it went great! He was very happy with how much her hemangioma had gone down and said no surgery for now! YAY! We will just continue on her meds and eye drops and hope they continue to work. She will go back to the heart Dr next week for yet another EKG and heart ultasound. Hopefully that one goes good too.

Ellie update

lets try this blog thing again...
Ellie was in the hospital last week for her eye. The hemangioma was not responding to the heart meds so they decided to hospitalize her and up the meds drastically to try and get a response. She was in from Tuesday morning to Friday night. They up'ed her meds fast and she had to be hooked up to oxygen and heart monitors 24/7. She was such a trooper. they had a really hard time getting her IV placed. it took about 7 tried but they finally got it in and then never had to use it. But we are thankful for that because it was only placed to give her meds if her heart stopped beating. We went home with a 24 hour monitor on and Saturday night was her first night without wires! she was a happy girl. They also put her back on her eye drops to see if they can attack the hemangioma externally and internally. She has stayed on the same dose of her meds this week and seems to be doing just fine. She has an Eye appt tomorrow to check her vision and see if the hemangioma has reduced at all. Fingers crossed! Will update with new news.

One step back, two steps forward

So....Andrew got a job!

He decided to go back to Zumiez until he leaves for the Air Force. He is excited to do something he knows he is good at. I am happy that he has something to keep him busy. Back to Zumiez means back to different days off, no vacations, and a lot of text messaging. But what is better for our wallets and his sanity is fine by me.

Hayden is so excited to go back to school and play with his friends and teachers but I think that both he and Andrew are going to miss the special time they have had together for the past 4 months.

We took our one step back in stride. We learned and grew from that step and we survived. WE WILL ALWAYS SURVIVE! Now we have good to look forward to, Andrew's job with Zumiez (one step forward) and his enlistment in the US Air Force (another step forward).

More to come in the next post...always more to come.

Love the life you live.
Take every step, back and forth, in stride.

You Can Call Me Trainee Zehm

Andrew finally was able to go down to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) on June 4th, 2009 and finalize everything with joining the Air Force. He passed his physical with flying colors and after a long day (5:45am to 5:45pm)...he swore into the Air Force. Since there is no guaranteed jobs right now joining, he was put into the DEP program (Delayed Enlistment Program) until his job selections become available. Now the waiting game again! No word on a date that he leaves for basic yet. Hopefully in the next month he should be hearing what job was selected and then a date to leave. We are excited to start a new chapter in our lives.

Stay tuned for more of the Air Force Saga and Andrew's quest to play with airplanes!!!

Camping

So we decided to take Hayden camping for the first time this weekend. Friday was great! We took our time getting to Flagstaff and stopped by Heather's old work to say "hi" to a few friends. After visiting everyone we walked through down town, eat lunch, and of course had to say "hi" to EVERY train that went by. We drove out to our camp site which was at Pine grove camp grounds by Ashurst Lake and got everything set up. Hayden and Andrew wondered around in the woods for a while and then got the much needed fire going. We hung out and played with Hayden and let him toast his own marshmallow. It was beautiful out and was a much needed relaxation time for all of us. We wandered to bed and went to sleep only to wake up at 3:30AM freezing to death. Hayden was fine, because he was covered with every blanket we had, but Andrew and Heather dying. Hayden and I got up at 4:45 and sat in the truck to warm up. We all got up and went out to the lake to see the water, SO BEAUTIFUL. As we were there a huge storm started to roll in. We got back in the truck and headed to camp. right when we got there it started to rain, then hail, then pour, and eventually out tent started to leak. Andrew and Heather were running trying to cover the tent with a tarp to stop the pouring rain from continuing to invade our sleeping quarters. Barry and Karen got there right after it started raining. Hayden napped in the truck while Karen and Heather sat in the front seat playing cards trying to stay warm. After rain, hail, lightning, thunder, and a flood warning, Karen, Heather, Hayden, and Chevy decided to call it quits and head for Amy's house. About 3 hours later Barry, Andrew, and Marley followed suit. We all rested peacefully and might I add warm and dry at Amy's house. So needless to say Hayden's first camping trip was an exciting one that ended at his cousin's house playing and giggling. We all had fun and are SOOOO glad to be home. Hopefully next time will be better.