It was inevitable. We all have the worst vision.. every last one of us! Owen has been going to the Ophthalmologist since he was a toddler. His eyes always looked great and just last week we went for his yearly exam. "You just made my day! FINALLY I get to wear glasses!!" He is seriously so thrilled to wear glasses like the rest of the Simmons family. It was only coincidence that his prescription was exactly the same as Kam's in 2nd grade. Only four years and he will be in contacts, if he chooses.
Picking out glasses was so fun. He knew he wanted color on the sides so he picked these super cute Nike frames and we paid a small fortune for the ones he really wanted. He wears them all the time and only gets headaches from time to time from the new script. He can see so much better.. "it's like I can see in 3d.. it's like everything is SO REAL!"
He wears them all day and has a cute little camo case that he puts them in at night. He cleans them and takes such good care of them already. I'm sure the newness will wear off and we will be glad we bought insurance on them. I can only see him leaving them on his nightstand at just the right height for a littler brother to come by and smash. I didn't think this boy could get any cuter... but he just did!
I know everyone is wondering how Owen is doing. It has been nearly 3 weeks of this darn tummy ache and I still am not sure we know totally what it is. After visits to Cardio, GI, Labs, ER and multiple abdominal xrays... I think the culprit may just be a tummy virus and poop. So I will save you the details on his poop, I am certain Owen would thank me on this one, but let's just say that he is always very regular. Nothing has changed in that department, but for some reason his xray show he is still all clogged up. So we have been doing lots of miralax and fluids.
I am not convinced that all the tummy pain is related to this, but it certainly is a theory. I think he must have had a tummy bug leading up to this because he was in so much pain he wouldn't leave the sofa and hadn't eaten 8 days straight. His tummy feels better when it's empty and he feels crummy when it's full. Another theory is that the Cellcept (one of his anti rejection meds) is wreaking havoc, but we have to rule out one thing at a time. So for now.. we focus on cleaning the boy out.
The good news is that he is eating again. Owen was 43lbs at the start of this and as of last week was just below 39lbs. He is back up to 40 and we will just watch the scale s-l-o-w-l-y creep back up. I have been utilizing his gtube all day long and I am so grateful he has that access. I can't wait for the day that we ditch that feeding tube, but it is a lifesaver at times. I utilized the feeding pump for a night drip of feeds a few nights and will continue to use that on days I cannot get enough calories into him. Mr Owen needs to pack on at least 10 - 15lbs.
Since Owen has been missing school due to all this drama.. he has been busy keeping up on all his assignments at home. I may bribe him with legos from time to time. He has quite the stash of Legos and will spend hours in his room coming up with "creations". I'll have to take some photos of them.. they are pretty amazing. He keeps asking me when he can set up a YouTube channel.. I think it would be so fun to have all the videos of him creating and talking about random things. I told him soon...
We haven't been swimming much this summer. We are still working on building back some of the stamina lost in the hospital. He is just so deconditioned so he can't swim for long. We like to go early morning on the weekends as a fam before it gets too hot out.
My little "skeletor" who is going to fatten up before the holidays. He could seriously go all day without eating anything besides peanuts, pretzels and water. He loves all his scars and can tell you the story behind each one. Such an incredible boy!
Speaking of incredible... we decided to head back to Physical Therapy today and see how things go. I didn't know if he'd make it the entire hour, but thought we should at least let him self limit. It's time for the insurance to ask for a review from his Physical Therapist so we tested him a little. His gait has gotten so much better when he runs, but he still has a ways to go.
He couldn't quite hop on his own, but did okay with assistance. He will get there.
His jumping has improved quite a bit. He jumped 19" total! Woo hoo!
It's going to take a long time to get to where we would like him to be. I don't ever forsee him graduating out of physical therapy. It's okay though. He loves his PT and he loves to go to the gym. Mr Logi doesn't think it's too bad either. He was crawling all over this mat and exploring.
Back to school tomorrow (hopefully) and we are on our way to recovery! We are all looking forward to fall and cooler temps. Owen has been saving all his Halloween costumes online for me in a shopping cart. He keeps asking me why I won't buy his costume yet... "I promise I won't change my mind." 24 hours later... "Hey mom.. did you see this cool costume.. I changed my mind. This time it's for real!"
