The O'Neill Family Journal!

January 2005 through March 31, 2005!!!!!

January 13:

I just got Casey's Special Ed progress notes for the 2nd quarter.  They're all good, and show improvements, (mostly!).

Anyway, I'm going to write what was on Objective 6: 

"Given a variety of opportunities to practice, Casey will increase the number of environments in which he drives his chair."  (Remember, Casey uses his power chair with a single switch, just using his thumb, so it takes more learning than a joystick)

"Driving continues to be Casey's favorite part of the school day, and he has made some amazing gains this quarter, despite having a two-week period in which the chair was out for repairs.  Casey has moved from driving only in an empty cafeteria and large gymnasium to driving in the hallways; in fact, he no longer enjoys the cafeteria!  When he first began driving in the hallways, Casey would be hesitant when other people were near him and usually stopped and waited until the halls were empty.  Now, however, he is more comfortable with people in the hall and will continue driving even when classes move next to him.  His classmates are very excited to see him driving in the hallways, and he has fun showing off his new skills.

Casey has been able to negotiate large, open corners with decreasing prompts, thus meeting his December benchmark of driving through doorways.  He consistently holds his thumb on the switch to drive straight with few stops.  Once given a prompt to turn, he will hold his thumb down long enough to make the turn and then go straight.

It is very exciting to see Casey drive, especially when we hear him laughing before we even see him!  He enjoys this independence and is making fast progress toward his objectives.  The team will continue to videotape periodically to measure his progress."

I AM SO PROUD!!!!!!

January 17:

Please add my big boy to your prayer list.  Last night he was pretty spitty.  This morning he had some pale yellow secretions.  Tons and tons of "stuff" came out, several times with the in/ex (but that is sometimes normal for mornings).  He still felt like going bowling, so he, Aunt Chris, and Nurse Julie went out for a couple of hours.  He did fine--bowling-wise and secretion-wise.  This afternoon he was pretty quiet and didn't want to play any games with Colin and us...All he wanted to do was watch his TV and hum, hum, hum, like he's spacing out.

Nurse Julie will be here tonight (she always does two shifts on Mondays!) so he's in good hands.

I'll update in the AM.  He's probably staying home unless this all turns out to be a figment of our imagination!!

January 17:  8PM

Casey is definitely sick.   I just threw him in the shower because his feeding went EVERYwhere.  He didn't even complain.   Must have been I didn't check his port last time I rolled him over...The shower did him good.  I in/exed him immediately afterwards because I heard "stuff" and I got out the yellowyest stuff from his trach that I've seen in 3 years.  After that it was just normal "stuff" but I'm worried.  His respirations are up a bit and his heart rate is higher.  His sats are perfect at 99-100%.  He didn't even bug me to read him a book.  I just got him all snuggly and lay down with him and he was out for the count.  Please be thinking of my boy, okay??

January 18, 2005

Casey is doing pretty well.  He's had increased heart rate and respirations and lots of "stuff" but he is holding his sats fine.  He had a slight increase in temp and runny eyes.   Nurse Julie gave him one neb treatment (Albuterol) in the middle of the night.   Other than that, it's our regular care with coughing as needed and some Tylenol Cold.  We moved him around a lot today but kept him laying down (I think that made him a bit mad!)  He got to see lots of TV and read lots of books and played some games.  He'll stay home again tomorrow with me as his day "nursie".   That's our report!  Hopefully it will continue to be just a bit of a cold and not the dreaded respiratory stuff that is around.

Thanks for the continued thoughts and prayers!

January 20:

Hi everyone!

See how the room is coming along!!  The paint colors are much nicer in person.  3 walls are blue and 1 is green.  The gas log stove is a chocolate brown which looks cool against the green.  We just got that hooked up yesterday.  Today they broke through to the main part of our house!   Hopefully, tomorrow, the electrician will come back and we can use the electricity.   Still waiting for flooring choices.  The guys are going to paint the bifold doors between the rooms a glossy white to go with the trim.  It sure has come a LONG way from Gene's grungy garage!!

Click here for the pictures!

Colin started with a high heart rate and lots of secretions.  He's also been wanting bipap for most of the day :(

Please say some prayers for my little guy, okay?

Julie and Casey were horsing around this afternoon and ooopsy, his tubey "separated", kind of.  So part of it was in him and part was off.  The balloon (obviously) was in him but the other part that makes up the Mic-Key came off.  It was almost like whatever holds it together disintegrated.   It was time to change it, anyway.  It had been in almost 6 months!  I freaked.  Julie stayed calm.  Casey was a little scared but was fine with it.   I held his head so he could look at it when Julie pulled out the rest of the tube and put it in!!  Weird, I know!

Casey did fine in school today.  Julie used the cough machine 3 times and got lots of stuff each time, but he acted and felt fine.   He seemed glad to be back!  Five kids were out yesterday! 

I made cupcakes this afternoon for Casey to bring to his class for his birthday.  Julie and Casey finished decorating this afternoon with some streamers and balloons. 

January 21:

Colin slept pretty crappily.  His numbers were fine, he just wanted to flip a lot.  He also woke up once crying.  I think he had a bad dream!  And, we only had the candle light in the window so it was pretty dark.  I had Gene put on the red lava light and he calmed down. 

Colin is  actually is satting fine and his numbers look good!  He is very nasally and has lots of secretions, but he's handling the cold fine.  Daddy said he's feeling like he has a cold so he's working from home today.  I took advantage of that and went out into town for a bit for some errands.  

Well, the cupcakes were a hit!  The kids were thrilled that they got to have them before lunch!  Casey had a good day at school today.  He enjoyed the kids singing him Happy Birthday!  Oh, I brought the guys (Shaun and Tom) some cupcakes and told them if they wanted them they had to sing Happy Birthday to Casey, so they came in and they did it!  Casey laughed and smiled his crinkly smile!

January 22:

I know I should not feel so affected by this, but I am.  Casey is bowling with a friend from school (and Nurse Julie and Daddy).  This really is the first time he's been out with a peer, not counting relatives or family friends.  Casey cultivated this friendship all on his own.  Of course, all 8-year-olds should have friends, I know, and no disability should stop anyone from being friends with him. But, Casey is so physically different than everyone else in his school.  He doesn't speak (in words) and looks different, too.  I really don't know of many type one kids, as weak as Casey, being mainstreamed like he is.  Casey is such a trooper and has such a positive outlook on things.  I am so happy he has found a friend like Erich.  Today, actually, is the first time I've met Erich in person.  Right away he told me how good a friend they are to each other.  He likes Casey because he "pulls my leg and makes me laugh."  He is quite matter-of-fact about all of Casey's needs and equipment.  He solemnly told me today that he "knows about Colin."  He asked if Colin needed suction, too,  and commented on how he had more movement than Casey does.  It just warms my heart to know that Casey has a buddy like Erich.

January 25:

Today Colin's new communication facilitator, Heather, was here.  They were in the yellow room, doing their thing and I decided to go in and check on them (Nurse Sue was in there, too).  I decided to go in and see how Colin was doing and he looked up at me and clear as a bell said, "Bye"!!!   He didn't want me there at ALL!

March 2:

Another precious Angel went to heaven.   Makalia Brown.  Click here to visit her website.

Casey had a two-hour delay this morning.   Only Milton and one other school district were on Delay--everyone else was on time.   We did get quite a bit of snow here, and I'm sure the back roads are quite snow covered and messy.  Casey wore an outfit today that Luke McAdams sent him.   Casey and Luke are built very similarly so it's lucky for Casey to be the younger one and get hand-me-downs!

Something is going on with Colin.  Actually, for a couple of weeks we've been noticing he's been having a higher heart rate than his norm.  And, I think he's been needing a bit more bipap, too.  We've also noticed, at times, Colin looks like he's really uncomfortable (when he's off bipap) and he fusses a bit and his hands and his feet get DRENCHED with sweat.  After a while it goes away.  I haven't figured out any correlation with being on or off of feeds--but it could be.  He hasn't had any dietary changes at all.  He's been pooping fine.   He has no temperature.  His lungs are clear.  He still has the little "creak" in there that he's always had.  It's sortof a positional thing.   One second you can hear it and then it's gone.  But that's his normal sounds.  

This morning he acted fussy, fussy during his shower--which is unusual.  Then he'd be fine the next second.  We put him back on bipap because of his high heart rate and he's still "taching" out in the 160s.  Too high.  He also has a lot of air in his belly so we're continually venting him.  I turned up his breathrate on his bipap because he wasn't syncing well with it.  So, who knows.

Some good news!  Our Cousins Kelly and Jay welcomed their new baby (first) today, March 2, at 2:52 AM!  His name is Jayden Ellwood Polk.  They're both doing fine.  Can't wait to see pictures!

March 3:

Happy 1st Birthday, Grace Coggins!!!

Colin was better today--not totally normal, but he didn't have quite the high heart rate like yesterday.  Heather came for TV school.   It was going to be out first day in the new Wish room and we had it all ready, but for some reason the school couldn't dial up.  So Heather and Colin did there thing.   They did dinosaur stuff.  Books and dinosaurs in sand, etc.  I don't know all of what they did because Colin said "BYE" to me again!!

The floor guy came to fix the tiles and realized that he needs to totally take some up so he has to order another whole box.  So they won't even get to Bard until Monday!! 

Tuesday, Cheryl King, the kindergarten teacher from school, is coming to talk to us and take pictures of Colin during class time.   Glad we changed it to then since it didn't work today!  Ed Barry is in charge of a technology in Milton Schools article so we'll be part of it. 

Tami came this afternoon for Colin.  She brought a color game for Colin to practice using his switch and the All Spin It.  We only have the numbers 1-6 overlays so we changed the game to Trouble.  Colin was click happy because he saw that Tami was getting a reaction from it.  So she changed her strategy to pretending that she didn't care if he was clicking away.  We'd have him lose his turn if he clicked the switch more than once.  It worked because he knew he wasn't getting a reaction and that he certainly wasn't going to win if he kept losing his turn!

March 4:

Happy Birthday to Connor!  You've come a long way, Connor Reilly! This picture was taken when we first met you and you were just a BABY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of our bestest buds, Connor Reilly!!! We love you and can't wait to see you at "Connor's Fun Run"!!! It's less than two months away!! Hope you and your mom and dad and Tim and Owen have a special day.

Oh, BTW, Connor is 3 today!  Check out his Fun Run website here.

So, I'm pretty convinced that Colin's high heart rate those other days were because of the plug that came out of his mouth on Wednesday evening.  Gene had put on his bipap because he was stressing and a bit later saw a gross thing on his "spit cloth."  It looked like a bug, REALLY!  It was brown, and yellow and dark red and looked like it had legs.  It was a mucous plug.  Yesterday, Colin's heart rate was much better and this morning he is back to his NORMAL.  SO, I'm hoping that he will STAY at his normal!!

Today was a "do nothing" day.  I didn't feel like doing anything.  Colin got way more TV than he should have.   Casey had a good day at school.  We were all tired tonight.  Aunt Chris got us a bunch of Chinese food from Milton. 

March 5:

For some reason, Casey was wide awake from 3AM until 4:30.  He had poor Nancy Hadd flipping him from once to another and making her pat his back!  He finally woke around 10AM!  Colin had a tub bath while Daddy got Casey ready.  Aunt Chris came and read lots of books to the boys.  Daddy put up the mini blinds in the Wish Room.  Now he's working on shortening them.  I've been cleaning and doing laundry and making beds.  Oh joy.

Aunt Chris came over and read to the boys.   Then Colin wanted TV so she continued reading to Casey for about 3 hours!  He could listen for days!  I had a nasty headache, so I slept for almost an hour.   AAAhh.  Later on Nancy Hadd came.  The boys enjoyed playing "Tent" with her and using the voice changer while playing in the tent.   Casey had a LONG bath.  I think they played with almost every toy.  Colin stayed up late and watched A Bug's Life with Daddy. 

March 6:

I feel much better today.  Much more energy and motivation.

March 7:

Happy Birthday to Billy!  He is 4-years-old today!!!  And, Happy 8th Birthday to the Swanson girls!  Quiet morning. Colin and I went into the yellow room to hang out.  We straightened up a bit for Dr DiMichele.  Then we colored for a while.  I put two short, short books on Colin's Step-by-step so he could show off for Dr DiMichele. 

Amy called and said that Lily had been exposed to the flu!  Her dad has been confirmed as having the flu.  She is freaking out.   She has a script for--I forget what--if Lily starts showing symptoms. 

Dr D came right before 1PM.  Colin was actually NICE to him!  He was smiling and maintained a nice heart rate and sats the whole time--well, except for the minute or two it took to give him 4 shots!  Yes, 4!!   He was a little behind.  When he was reading Colin's chart he noticed that he needed more than he originally thought so he called Nurse Peggy and she ran them down here and gave two of them.  Colin got a a little red, rubber lizard for being so good.   I think Dr D was pleased with Colin, for the most part.  He thought his lungs were good, and his breathing was slow and steady, which Dr D doesn't usually get to see.   Usually, he sees him when he's not feeling well.  He did notice his scoliosis.   He asked about the dentist (we're going in April) and he wants him to see the eye doctor.  He thought one of his eyes might not be tracking correctly.  He made a couple of diet suggestions.  I'd like to talk to him more about it and also have the nutritionist come back.  We've been planning on getting together, but it hasn't happened yet!   He suggested I give him Tylenol every 4 hours for the next 24 hours, since he had so many immunizations.  One of them could cause some significant swelling so we're watching for that. 

March 21:

I can't believe it's over! We will miss working with the MAW people.They've been a part of our lives for a couple of years--first with Casey's wish and then with Colin's.

We had a really nice turn out. Abby and Donna from MAW came early to setup. They brought a huge cake and soda and cups and plates, decorations, and all that jazz. Our nurse, Terry, brought some yummy strawberries and grapes and some mini cadberry eggs. Gene cut up a pineapple, and he made some punch. He even went up in the attic and got out my fancy punch bowl.  Thanks, Cami, for being a great hostess and helping set up and clean up.  BTW, you look awesome!

I found out about an hour before the party that Darrin Perron, from our CBS affiliate, was coming! AAAHHH!!! I was NOT prepared! I only found ONE SMA Support brochure and I grabbed one of the Angel Times. I talked to him for a while off camera first. He's really cool. We watch his news whenever the boys let us! Casey used to be in love with Sharon Meyer, the weather lady, but now he doesn't like it. Anyway, he was interested in SMA. I talked about it as well as I could. Then, after the party had been going on for a while, he came and sat with me and Colin and interviewed me. I hated it because everyone was watching and listening to me! But, he said I did fine and he'd edit out my not so great parts. On camera we mostly talked about MAW and what this room means to Colin and our family.

Donna and Abby presented us with a plaque that has a picture of Colin in the Sky chair. It says: Colin's Wish, March 21, 2005; Wishing you many happy memories in your wish room!

Bill, Nurse Julie's boyfriend, took charge of drinks and cake. He's a caterer and made sure everyone was taken care of!

Judy, Aunt Chris's friend from school, came and brought me a bouquet of spring flowers.

Casey really had a fun time, but you'll see him looking grouchy in all the photos. Colin was quite happy! He was very chatty and happy and was not stressed at all! He ate up all the attention!

Jennifer (Colin's teacher and our friend), brought Alaina and Gregory and Rian. They livened things up for us!

Julie's mom, Margaret, AKA Mrs. Claus, came. She's been very good to us as a family and has also been a big supporter of SMA research.

Five out of six of our nurses (Julie, Nancy H, Nancy L, Terry, and Sue) were here! It's sooo funny because we've never had all of them here at the same time--this was the closest ever! Someone is always sleeping or working somewhere else, etc.

Casey and Colin's intensive needs teacher, Meagan came. She's actually becoming involved in MAW. She is going to be one of the people that work with families on picking their wishes. She'll be really good at working with the families with extra special needs like my boys that are non-speaking.

Casey and Colin's OT from school, Clare, came bearing two helium balloons!  Of course, Aunt Chris was here and brought a balloon bouquet.  We had Kate Miller, from the Milton Independent, here. I hope we make the front page!

***BTW, we did make the front page of the Milton Independent.  I'll have to have someone scan it for me and I'll put it up somewhere on the site!  There's a sweet picture of Gene and Colin on the front page. 

   March 24:

Nurse Julie shaved Casey's sideburns before school today.  Can you believe it???  I can't believe that my 8-year-old has a razor and shaving cream in his bathroom!

March 26:

We had our egg dying activity today. The boys had fun. Well, Casey wasn't into it, but I secretly think he liked it. He's pretending so much to be a teenager lately, that he wanted to act ornery!  I took more pictures with my 35mm camera today, so for some reason I don't have any of Casey on digital.  Notice how he can lift his arms! (click here)  Very proud of him!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Later on, I ended up going shopping with Aunt Peggy and Grandma O'Neill.  Only Peggy was able to come up today.  She really wanted the boys to see the new room since they had spent so much time helping clean out the space when it was a garage!  Anyway, they were going to Filene's to shop for their Ireland trip so I tagged along.  It was nice to get out.  It was a beautiful day-still chilly but sunny and blue, blue skies.  Gene said I could buy some things for my Easter gift since he only got me some little things.  I went a little wild, ooops!  I finally bought Casey some socks.  I can't believe the growth spurt he's had! 

I guess the boys were fine while I was gone.  Aunt Chris had just arrived as we were leaving.  Nancy R and Chris entertained them with books and playing with all of our little Easter toys.  Nancy H came at 4 PM and took over helping Aunt Chris entertain. 

March 27:

Happy Easter!  Happy Birthday to my big brother, Bob!  No fair that you get to spend Easter in sunny Florida with mom and dad.  It's actually sunny today, but chilly.  We could all use some Florida sunshine to warm up our Vermont bones.  Today we're heading over to Aunt Chris's.   Hopefully, we'll take a walk and then we'll play some games and hang out.   Grandma and Grandpa O'Neill are coming over, too.

March 28:

We had a busy Easter Sunday. Casey was excited about the Easter Bunny so he was wide awake from 6AM until 8:30 "yelling". He usually sleeps in on Saturdays and Sundays, so we made him stay in bed and he finally fell back to sleep. Colin was very patient waiting for Casey to re-wakeup.

The Easter Bunny hid the boys baskets in the new room. Daddy had Colin and I had Casey. We searched and searched and found the baskets! Colin's was hidden behind his toy basket and Casey's was hidden underneath a blanket in the Sky chair! We enjoyed going through the baskets. The boy's really seemed to enjoy their loot. Lots of books and games and do-dads.

Then we got dressed up and packed to go to Aunt Chris's. It was a beautiful day, so when we got there we went right for a walk. She lives in a condo development with lots of sidewalks, so it's great for strolling around.   Sasha came with us, too.

Then we had MORE Easter baskets! We hung out and played with our goodies, read books and chatted. Grandma and Grandpa O'Neill came over. It was so nice to be there and not worry about cleaning or cooking or checking email, etc. Nice and relaxing. The boys were perfect. Colin really enjoyed being out. He didn't go out much this winter.

Then we enjoyed a really, really nice meal. We had spiral ham, mashed potatoes, swiss corn bake, green bean casserole, and rolls. Aunt Chris had the table all done up nicely. Her flowers were beautiful (oh, and she gave me a centerpiece for Easter on Friday), and we each had a chocolate rabbit at our place. The boys sat with us. They weren't too thrilled but were polite about it! We had cupcakes for dessert with vanilla frosting, coconut and a jelly bean on top. We hung out for a while longer. Then we had to pack up and go home and get the boys ready for bed. Casey was out in no time flat and same with Colin!

March 29:

Casey did not have a good day at school yesterday. It actually started before school. He was pretty quiet, and when we put his sneakers on he started crying. We thought we had hurt his toe so we took them off and started over. He was still weepy right up to going out the door. He was pretty iffy in the morning at school and he bawled twice. Julie gave him Tylenol twice, moved him around--bean bag, tumbleforms chair, cushions and he still was not happy. He perked a bit for computer time. When he came home he just wanted to chill and watch his new DVD Sponge Bob movie. We put him to be extra early. He was ASLEEP by 7:30.

He moaned in his sleep a lot in the beginning of the night. Julie said he was awake and crying once. He has a fever of 99.6 axillary with meds. This is SO not like him. He's still sleeping now. We'll let him sleep as long as he wants. Then we'll baby him when he gets up and let him hang out in his PJs and watch DVDs or play computer or read books.

His lungs are clear and his secretions are normal.

So please send Casey some prayers, okay? I have two nurses here today, so I'm going to try to get some stuff done and make sure Casey is happy.

March 29 continued:

Well, Casey really, really complained about his foot when Nancy went to put on his socks. I talked to the Ortho Nurse and she recommended that he be seen by his pediatrician. Of course, Dr DiMichele is away so we had to go up to St. Alban's 20-25 minutes away, to a doc we didn't know. Luckily, they did get us an appointment quickly so we rushed and got him in the van.   He was not happy but we had to go. We waited in the office for quite awhile. We finally get to see the doc--Dr Heidi, and she was about 12-years-old! She was very nice and comfortable with Casey. She checked his throat, ears, belly, heart, etc. She thought one ear looked pink (I checked, too, and agreed) so she's treating him for an ear infection-just amoxycillan. Then she went to look at his foot and he bawled and bawled.   Oh, we even brought the in/ex in and used it because he was crying so much and kicking up secretions. So she thought we should get an x-ray. So off we go to North Western Medical, which is a tiny hospital right next door.  It took forever to get checked in since we had never been there before.  Anyway, they did get us in quickly once we had the paperwork done. They took several different views of his foot. He cried and cried. He was a wreck! Then, we had to get his trach cleaned out and and try to get him to stop crying. The tech told us we'd get results by tomorrow. I kind of flipped over that. Then he said he'd make sure they were read right away and we could call the doc in a couple of hours. Even longer story, but we finally left after Casey and Nancy checked out the gift shop (less tears now). We stopped over at the docs office to see if she'd tell me the results but they hadn't come through yet. Nancy and I were famished so we drove through Wendy's. Then we stopped at Brooks to drop off Casey's script. Priscilla (Casey's CF) saw us and came over to the van. Then, Nurse Julie came over as she had just gotten her haircut in Milton. Even seeing Julie didn't perk him up.

Dr. Heidi just called and she said there was no fracture.  She said if it continues to give him pain, to see our ortho doc.   So, that's good.  I just don't know what we'll do when we have to put shoes or socks on him again!

Right now he's playing computer with Nancy and Colin. I just heard him laugh for the first time all day.

OH, and Colin had school this morning. He was fine but Sue put on his bipap because he seemed a little uncomfortable. We were all fussing around Caseyand I went in to see Heather and Colin and I saw yucky stuff coming out of his mouth! I'm still not sure if it was vomit or pluggy stuff. It looked mucousy, and kind of like food but it didn't smell like food. He acted really great after that. But that was like the last straw...every time I need to go out or do something with Casey--Colin usually manages to pull SOMEthing.

March 30:

Well, Colin just puked.  He was on his bipap because he was acting a bit funny.  He had had a shower and was working with Meagan.  He started to have lots of secretions and I started to suction him and boom, lots of puke.  We vented his belly really quickly and TONS of air came out.   He feels lots better now. 

Casey slept pretty well last night.   He's had two doses of amoxycillan so far.  He's been on Tylenol or Ibuprophen, which seems to help.  We let him sleep in again and he slept until almost 10AM!   He was sweaty and stinky so Nancy gave him a shower.  As soon as she started to take off his pj pants he started bawling.  I called our Ortho Nurse and she said they had clinic tomorrow and to bring him in.  We'll get the x-rays that were just taken yesterday and bring those down.  And, Pam is the PT at clinic tomorrow which works out really good.  So another day of no school for Casey tomorrow.  Friday is an off day for the kids so he's missing a whole week!  We may bring him to drive his chair tomorrow, after our appointment, if Casey's hanging in there.  Then, Friday both boys have dentist appointments.  Yikes.  No rest for the weary!

March 31:

Casey was weepy first thing this morning, but got over it.  Julie had to work pretty hard to get him in a good mood!  He had a little increased temp this morning so he got some Tylenol  Julie put his AFOs on (he usually wears his inserts and sneakers) thinking that they may support his foot better if he was sore.  He seemed pretty fine with it.  We took off for Ortho Clinic and got a great parking spot and we got there early, too!

Dr Arronsen looked at his x-rays and didn't see any fracture.  He really couldn't tell us what is it but is guessing that it's something that will just take several weeks of babying to get it feeling better.   We have an appointment for both boys at the end of the month and he'll make sure to include Casey's hips in his back x-rays.  It's very hard for us to know what Casey is feeling.  One minute he blinks for "yes" that his hips hurt and then he says no, and it's his belly or foot or some other body part.  We can't seem to tell when he's teasing us or not.  We've been concerned that he's not letting us stretch his hips and knees AT ALL.  He'll be happy on his belly, and get a good stretch that way, but any time we try to do a little ROM he yells at us.  He's getting some mighty bad contractures.  So, nothing definitive but I feel better having our doc read the x-rays.

Afterwards, I checked out 3 different furniture stores trying to find an armoire for the Wish Room.  I know what I want but haven't found anything that really fits our needs.  One place could make me an unfinished pine piece for about $450 but I don't know...we'll see.  Casey and Julie stayed in the van while I went in.  Casey wanted to stay in the van and listen to music. 

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