BYU vs SJSU Tickets Still Available

Tickets to the game are still available!  For those who were waiting for the Ticketmaster.com code, we got it today.  Now you can get your tickets online here OR you can put a call in to Kevin at 408-924-1245 to avoid convenience fees.

There are still great seats available, but the game is on track to sell out by September so don't wait to get your tickets.  If you haven't already visited our Facebook page, "like" it and share with your Bay Area friends!

*To clarify how the seating works, General Admission is on a first come-first serve basis. Meaning, there is no guaranteed seat for you if you have that ticket. We have been told that this game in particular will be very difficult to find and keep a good seat since it will be a sell-out.

Our recommendation is to get Reserved tickets ($33) so that everyone in your group can sit together and if you show up 5 minutes before kick-off, you will have a seat waiting for you.* 

Narcissist

Nate often asks me if he can watch videos on the computer.  When I ask him which videos, he almost always says, "Nate".  This kid can't get enough of himself.  Should I be worried?

Trachaversary

Nate has now had his trach for an entire year.  I can't believe it.  Actually, I can.  It's been a very long year. 

After spending last April-June in the hospital, Nate was discharged. He used a combination of an oxygen cannula and a biPAP machine that forced air into his lungs (basically what the vent does now but the air went into his nose instead of his neck).  He seemed to be doing okay at home, but he definitely wasn't himself most of the time.  He was still withdrawing from the narcotics he'd been on in the hospital and just didn't seem healthy.  (If you want to catch up on more of last year's hospital saga, read this.)

One morning, after we'd been home for a couple of weeks, Nate didn't wake up. He had needed a bit more oxygen than usual that night and I was concerned so I woke him up. Only he just wouldn't really wake up. His eyes looked dead and he seemed totally unaware of me.  I called the paramedics and then my mom showed up unexpectedly with Nate's cousin Greta.

Nate was lying on the floor and Greta, who was one year old, crouched down right next to Nate and started to poke him really hard all over his body.  She seemed very confused about why Nate was just lying there not moving and was trying to poke him back to life.  It was a horrible, stressful morning but looking back on that always makes me laugh. 

When the paramedics got there I had him on as much oxygen as I could give him and his heart rate was way, way low. He was intubated immediately in the ER and had CO2 levels of 212 (normal is 30-40).  No one could believe he'd made it.

 

The next morning, Nate got his trach.  I know people will think this is really weird, but Scott and I went to the mall while Nate was in the OR.  This was his third surgery and we had learned from the other two that it really doesn't do any good to sit around waiting.  The operations always take longer than they tell you they're going to and all it does is stress you out.  We just had to put our trust in the surgeon and then get out of the hospital.  I guess it was our way of dealing with some of the stress.

We got back to the hospital just before Nate came back up to his room.  It was amazing to see the change in him after the surgery.  He just looked so comfortable.  I hadn't seen him breathe that comfortably since he was a baby.  He had great color in his face and I felt like we'd made the right decision to give him the trach.

At the time, we had no idea what we were up against.  We didn't think he'd have the trach for more than a few years, and we definitely didn't think he had anything like SMARD.  Nate's trach has complicated all of our lives in countless ways, but it is also the reason he still has a life to complicate.  So I guess we'll take it. 

Tent

Last week Nate's cousin Callie had the idea that she wanted to bring Nate into her princess tent.  She set it all up with blankets and pillows and invited/demanded Nate to come inside.  He loved playing peekaboo and going "in tent" and "out tent" over and over. 

Callie is such a sweet friend to Nate and he is always so excited when we get to go see her.  

Suction

Because of Nate's trach and overall respiratory weakness, his secretions have to be suctioned out periodically.  He can cough stuff up into the trach tube, but then it has nowhere to go.  So, we get the fun job of suctioning it out.  We use a suction machine attached to a catheter that goes right down his trach and sucks everything up.  If that sounds gross to you, it's because it is.

This has become a very normal part of all of our lives.  Nate will ask for suctions when he needs them and tell us if the suctions aren't doing their job and he needs a breathing treatment (it still makes me laugh to hear my two-year-old say "nebulizer"). 

The other day Nate's friend Holland was over and she had a little coughing fit.  Nate kept saying "suction, suction" because that is what he gets every time he coughs.  Holland's mom pretended to give her a suction but Nate wasn't fooled.  He kept pointing to the suction machine and insisting that's what she needed.  When no one went to go get it, he decided to take matters into his own hands.  He turned himself around, army crawled to the suction bag, and tried to open it up.  What a good friend.

Suctioning Mommy

Suctioning himself

This video was taken six months ago when Nate first started to pretend to suction himself and anyone else who would let him.  It's longer than it needs to be but you'll get the idea.

Happy 4th of July!

This morning we went to our church's annual 4th of July pancake breakfast.  This year included a "parade" for the kids led by Lady Liberty in an afro wig (you looked amazing, Karen!).  The parade started off with the best of intentions and the kids generally following the chalk arrows in the parking lot, but quickly degenerated into an every-kid-for-himself road rally with a fair share of crashes and tears.  It was fantastic.

Slide or Breaths

Now that Nate can comfortably spend a little more time off the vent, he's really been enjoying the slide.  Last weekend we took him to the playgroud where Scott took him down the slide over and over again.  After each time, we would give him the option of going down the slide again or taking some breaths from the vent.   Most of the time he picked breaths.  He'd take a few and then be ready to go again.