First week back!

School did not come soon enough for me.....  Last Friday the boys had their hour induction.  Paul had taken the day off to look after Seb, which was awesome for all involved.

We dropped Isaac first and he went in really well. Then I dropped Oliver.  Again no problems.  I headed of to Chapel for the service, and got talking to a delightful German lady who had only been here 3 weeks.  Brought back some memories.....

                                 

I then headed to Isaac's classroom to pick him up, only for him to rebuff me and tell me to get Oliver first! So I did.  I then got talking to another German mum in Oliver's classroom, who also has a child in Isaac's class.  To make it even spookier:  her youngest went to Isaac's old school, but was in the other primary class, they have also just extended their contract, and I bought our Quinny buggy from her when we first got here.  Weird........

We got back home about 10.30, and decided to do something to celebrate the end of the holiday.  We jumped in the car after lunch and headed to Greenville.  

Someone's first morning really took it out of them.....

                                  

Some of my blogging friends and other local websites had mentioned that the Upcountry History Museum were running a special exhibit about medieval times, so we went to check it out.  Entry was less than $20 for all of us, and as it was a Friday afternoon and all the Greenville school were in session, we basically had the run of the place. 

                                   

The boys had great fun exploring all the hands on interactive exhibits.  They planted vegetables, cooked up a royal feast, dressed up and built castles and chairs.  Really good fun.

                                    

The rest of the museum seems really interesting, all about the history of Greenville. I would like to return one day sans kids and take my time to read it.

It has been so hot here, so we decided on the Saturday to go exploring. Paul had a car from work, so we jumped in and headed towards Stumphouse Tunnel, about 90 minutes form here.  It was much cooler in the woods, and in the tunnel in particular.  The tunnel was originally started in 1852 to connect Charleston to Knoxville, then eventually to Cincinnati.  Construction was halted due to the Civil War, then a lack of funds.  To read more on the history, click here

Isaac freaked a little bit, and refused to go in, but we dragged him.  We should really have brought a flash light, as the light on our iPhones wasn't quite adequate....

We also explored nearby Isaaquenna Falls, a short walk from the tunnel.  It was pretty over grown, so we couldn't see much.  Plus it was pretty high up, and with 3 chimps in tow, a little prequarious.  We headed towards home, stopping in an Outback restaurant for a late lunch on the way.

Then we drove into one of the worst thunderstorm I have encountered while being in a car.  The rain was coming in sideways, you could barely see in front of you as the window wipers were working full pelt.  It was so bad the boys couldn't hear their movie over the rain on the car.  We ended up pulling off the road to a petrol station and sheltering behind a building as rubbish bins rolled around the forecourt.  Scary stuff.

Monday came, and I walked Isaac in for the first day.  Here he is with his grade.  I love the way school gives them a bag for the kindergarten year.  Isaac's school calls it primer instead of kindergarten, don't ask me why.  Maybe they are 'priming' the kids ready for school....

I also walked him in for the second day, as Oliver had a follow up at the ENT department at the same time school started.  He was a little wobbly, but fine once one of the teacherscame and talked to him.  He seems to be really enjoying it and settling in.

Oliver's ear is healing well.  The doc said he is fine to do physical activity again this week, but he is still not allowed to get water near his ear.  He has another appointment in 2 weeks time to check the progress, then we take it from there

Here isaac is on Friday in his casual dress.  The shirt was provided by the school, as a kinda welcome gift.

As I said earlier, it has been really hot here.  Paul got this temperature as he sat waiting for the boys on Friday afternoon.  

We have hid in the house a lot, due to the temperature.  We did go to the pool of Friday afternoon, but it seems so unfair on Oliver having to sit on the side.  We have started allowing him to go up to his waist, but he has to be so careful to not get any water on his ear.  If Seb goes splashing near him, he knows he has to move away, and quickly!

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I am about a week behind on my blogging, so please bare with me.  Despite the fact the kids have gone back to school, I have about 3000 words to write for my final OU module.  My degree is slowly coming to the end, with only 2 short lever 1 10-point courses left to do.  This blog post has taken me 3 sittings to complete, as I don't have much time right now.  As well as the OU work, there are various school coffee mornings and doctors/diabetic/ENT/IRS appointments in the next few weeks, so apologies if things take a while!!!!

Thanks for your understanding!!!!!

Oliver op part 2

****this post may contain yucky photos****

Oliver eventually came out of surgery at 7.30, a whole 6 hours after he went in.

The doctor talked to me for about 20 minutes about how it had gone.  I tried to take it all in, but please forgive me if I get things wrong or I get confused.  Oliver underwent a right tympanomastoidectomy.    The doctor said it was much worse than he expected, hence why it took so long.  He is fairly confident he got all the cholesteatoma out, but only time will tell.  The growth had managed to get very big behind his ear drum in his middle ear.  It has destroyed a lot of the oscilles (bones) in his middle ear.  Luckily it has not reached his cochlea.  This means his hearing nerve is intact, hopefully.  He has put a layer of clear film over the cochlea, packed it, them put another layer of film, then packed his ear canal with dissolvable wadding.  He thinks that this is a congenital cholesteatoma, meaning it has probably been there for a while.  Here are some delightful photos he took while operating

This one shows the mastoid bone behind the ear canal.  This is usually honeycombed in appereance.  The white intestine like looking stuff is the cholesteatoma.  

The white mass in this photo on the left is the front of the masteoid bone, before the previous photo.  The area to the right is the ear canal.  The white bits you can see down the ear canal is the cholesteatoma.  

Yuck, right....  This is only a small amount of what was on his ear.  Oliver came up to recovery about 7.30pm.  He really struggled to come round.  Didn't help they were still giving him morphine, as when he came round he was complaining of pain....

When the anesthetist came back and started talking about admitting him for the night, I knew we had to get him moving.  The recovery nurses were awesome, and gave him some sprite and ice chips to get him going,   We eventually managed to get him dressed.  I had loads of forms to sign and they have me a prescription for antibiotics and super strong pain killers.  We were the last people in the out patients department, and the whole building.  The security guard even helped us out.  

The nurse had warned me that he may be sick on the way home, and later in the evening, due to the anesthetic and morphine.  Low and behold, he was sick 200 meters from home in the car.  He got about 10% of it in the sick bag, the rest all over my front seat.....

We got home about 9.30pm, and got Oliver in to the house and on the sofa.  Paul went out to get the prescription, and just made it to CVS to get his prescription.  

We set Oliver's mattress up on the floor in our bedroom.  We carried him to bed about 10.30.  We went to bed shortly after.  It was a very hard day for all of us, mentally and physically.  I really feel for those who have children who need regular hospital treatment.  It is so draining.

Oliver was sick in the night, and had quite a disturbed nights sleep, regularly asking if it was time to get up yet.

Isaac was up his usual early time this morning, and straight in to check on Oliver.  Isaac was not keen to go to school again today, but the thought of daddy taking him and picking him helped entice him.  Oliver ate a hearty large breakfast, and has mostly lazed on the sofa today.  

With the help of his little brothers.  He hasn't slept though, which I wish he had.  He is now sitting here watching the NASCAR, though bed is coming soon.....

Snow again

So it snowed a lot last week.  It began on the Tuesday morning.  The boys were already declared off school, yet Seb was still in.  I kept him off though, it was coming down pretty hard.  It eventually stopped about 4 pm.  We had a good covering in the garden, though it wasn't sticking to the road.  Paul was home by then, and despite a good snow ball fight, there was still plenty to make a snow man.

Wednesday they declared a state of emergency, with a civil notice put out, warning those in South Carolina not to travel unless absolutely necessary. It did continue snowing through most of Wednesday and Thursday, and everyone was off school and work.  It was entertaining seeing the traffic reports on local news as there was just no traffic on the roads.  Due to the ice risk over night on the Thursday, Paul's work was delayed on the Friday, and the kids were off again.  Luckily the temperature began to climb and melted a lot of the snow on Friday. 

The earth moved on Valentines Day..... There was an earthquake in Edgefield, SC, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale.  We didn't feel it, or the after shocks.....

After being cooped up for 4 days, we had to get the boys out at the weekend.  We headed in to Greenvillefor some lunch.  We choose Carolina Ale House, as it is usually ok.  But the place has been going down hill.  The hostess didn't acknowledge us when we asked for a table, just started gathering menus,  all we need is a 'yeah sure' (a bug bear of Paul's, it has happened a lot recently....).  The food was mundane, service ok, but not great.  Don't think we will be back for a while.  At least we got to go for a nice walk around Falls Park afterwards.... The kids were fairly well behaved....

Yesterday was Presidents' Day, and Oliver and Isaac were supposed to be off. Sebs school is actually daycare, so it takes a major holiday (like Christmas or thanksgiving) for him to be off.  Friday night I received an email from Oliver school, saying they had decided to start making up the snow days by using Presidents' Day, and the half day before Good Friday would now be a full day.  Hurrah for common sense!  We dropped Oliver at school and headed to Sebs school.  As soon as we got out of the car, he started whimpering....he whimpered all the way to his classroom, where I said good bye.....then whimpered for the next 3 hours!  Bless. His teachers are doing a really good job.  I get a report each day, with photos and generic spiel as to what the class have been up to in the day.  It is very nice.

While Seb was in school, it was mummy and Isaac time, so we got some donuts

And headed home.  All Isaac wanted to do was play computer.  So I let him, but we did watch some of Finding Nemo together before going to get Seb.  Yesterday afternoon was spent at Anna's house, with Rachel, raiding her DVD collection.  Thank you ladies for a lovely afternoon.  Oliver came home from school with his valentines goodies.  I swear he was the only child in his class who did not give candy/stickers/tattoos stuck to his card.  His valentines is very commercialized.  They are certainly breeding the next generation of Hallmark shoppers.  They will be the people who feel the need to spend a stupid amount of money they don't have on gifts.  At least Isaac's school requests no gifts/candy.... His party is Thursday…..

All 3 headed out the door to school today, hurrah!  The older 2 were all dropped off fine.  Sebastian waited till he got to the door of his classroom to burst into tears.  but he went in, and went off with the teacher and played.  When I came to pick him up, the rest of his class were lining up in pairs to go to the gym, and he was sitting there ever so nicely on the floor.  He was very happy to see me.  His teacher said he had a much better day.  He used the computer and did some art. Everyday I get a generic report of what his class have been up to, but it is personalized with photos of what Sebastian has done.  

I think he is going to settle really well.  Isaac had a bit of a bumpy day, but I think we may be in for a bumpy time over the next few weeks with him anyway, given what is happening tomorrow….

So tomorrow is Oliver's operation.  Bless his teacher, he came out today laden down with books and worksheets of things he will miss in the next 1-2 weeks.  He has already started some of it.  I think I will go through it with him tomorrow and work out some sort of a timetable… He has to be at the hospital for 10.45am.  This is a little later than we had hoped, but what can you do?  He will be in surgery at least 2 hours, probably more.  Then at least an hour in recovery room.  I am expecting him to be home around 4, and he will probably be going straight to bed.  I have found a good site for anyone interested in what Oliver is going through tomorrow….

Will post photos tomorrow…..

Snow catch up

Oh dear, it's been a while since I posted, so this will probably be epic.  I apologise now.....

So it snowed last week.  Isaac's school finished lunchtime on the Tuesday, and everyone was off on the Wednesday.  When I say it snowed, we had about an inch tops.  The authorities did their best to deal with the roads, we even saw lorries out salting when we went out for dinner on Tuesday night.  

Isaac's school were also off on the Thursday, though Oliver was back in.  It was cold, -13 celcius at night. Yesterday, the thermometer hit 21 degrees.......

Seb has had his tetanus jab.  After getting back in touch with the doctors, they decided to give him the 3 in 1 last Monday.  Bless, he gets so excited going to the doctors.  Not sure he will anymore.  I had to hold him down, and she managed to jab him right on the muscle.  Poor mite, it obviously hurt as he was struggling to walk on it.  He was also a cantankerous little sod for a few days after too.

Isaac is off school on his winter break this week.  We went to play at McDonalds yesterday morning, and this morning we checked out Creating Artists for Tomorrow (CAT) art studios.  You may remember I bought a Living Social deal for this waaaayyyyyy back in august.  The boys had good fun making a mess.

After Oliver's CT scan last week, we had a follow up appointment with Dr Alexnder at the ENT department this morning.  Not good.  Basically Oliver has cholesteatoma in his right ear.  This is where skin cells have managed to get into his ear canal behind his ear drum.  Once there, they have started multiplying, and basically having a party in his ear.  Because of the drum there is no where for the dead cells to go, so they have built up and kept multiplying.  The doc showed me the CT scan.  On his left ear, there is lovely air (black on the image) where the bones of his middle ear can still work.  All you could see on the right ear was grey where the skin has built up.  It has overtaken his bones, hence his loss of hearing, and also worked its way into the honeycomb bones around his ear.

Left unchecked, these skin cells will keep multiplying.  They could continue to destroy the bones, and even work their way to the blood brain barrier, which would put him at a very high risk of meningitis and permenant damage.  It could also destroy some of his facial nerve.

Oliver will be having an operation in 2 weeks time.  They will make an incision behind his ear, and work their way in to his ear canal to cut out the excess skin cells.  Hopefully, they will get it all first time round.  There is a 20% chance they won't.  There is also a small chance he may lose some of his taste cells (it would only be noticeable to a wine conasiour apparently), and a chance he may lose some action of his facial nerve.  Again, only slim.

He will then have a follow up appointment 10 days later.  In 6 months time they will operate again.  Depending on what they find when they open his ear, they will either be scraping more cholesteatoma out, or will be doing reconstructive work on his bones in the middle ear, with the hope of making his hearing back to how it was. 

This is scary stuff.  I am glad they have caught it when they have, even if it does mean an operation.  I keep wondering what would have happened if we were on the UK.  Would we have been to ENT yet?  Probably not.  I am pretty rubbish at taking my kids to the doctors, unless they are on deaths door.  Would we have had a CT scan?  This problem can be diagnosed with out one, but would we even have been offered it?  Who knows?  Hopefully we will never have to find out.

And he is having his adenoids out at the same time….

Back in to routine

It has been so nice to be home.....

Monday, Isaac was back at school. Oliver and I took Seb to Gymboree, as Mondays usual routine.  It got very cold on Monday, to the point that Greenville school district put a delay on schools starting 2 hours later on the Tuesday.  Oliver's wise headmaster sent an email Monday afternoon saying that school would begin as usual on Tuesday.  The school district encompasses such a large area......Isaac's however decided to start 3 hours later on the Tuesday.  Monday night the temperature went down to -13 centigrade.  It was cold, very cold.  The water in the boys water table froze solid, 3 inches thick

Tuesday, I took Oliver to school.  It was most noticeably icy on the roads near the house, but once you go on to the main highways it wasn't too bad.  Traffic was fairly light, and he got to school early.  Isaac, Seb and I returned home and played till it was time to take Isaac to school.  If Isaac had not been doing lunch and learn, he would not have been going in.  It was cold again on Tuesday night, but only about -7....

Wednesday Oliver had an ENT appointment at Greenville Hospital.  This is the first time we have been to one of the main hospital buildings, and it went well.  We were seen fairly quickly by Dr Cooter. Turns out he has 3 kids in the upper school of Oliver's school, he recognized the uniform straight away.  He took a swab from Oliver's recurring ear infection to send away to be cultured.  He then proceeded to vacuum Oliver's ear.  All is can say is yuck, there were some big chunks of disgustingness coming out. How it has not been causing him pain, I do not know. He has been given drops and an oral antibiotic (it tastes disgusting), to try and fight the infection. Dr Cooter wanted Oliver to get his hearing checked ASAP, but we were only able to get an appointment over in Greer next week.  We also have to see Dr Cooter again in 10 days time.  I dropped Oliver back at school, and headed home.  The afternoon was spent with Isaac not really knowing what to do with himself....

Thursday morning, I went and looked at a preschool for Seb.  I have spent the week sending emails and arranging visits to local day care/ preschools.  I started with a list of about 8, whittled it down to about 5 using their websites.  Only 3 got back to me, 1 I called and left a message, the other I called and arranged a visit for Monday.  One didn't do a half day program for Sebs age.  

So the first one I saw on Thursday I quite liked.  It is convenient, the room is nice and spacious, they have a good out door area and water play area.  Seb freaked when he first went in, but settled eventually.  We took a little tour to the gym, where Soccer Shots was taking place.  Seb went and joined in, with no instruction from anyone.  He loved it!!!  I took him back to what would be his room, and he was fine, and even went off to play.  We spent longer than anticipated here, and were late for a meet up group.  We met at Acrosmiths Gymnastics.  This is a cheerleading/gym place where they had a big springy mat, a running trampoline, beams and lots of other equipment laid out for kids to play.  Seb loved it.  It was good fun, and there were loads of mums with kids all different ages.  I spoke to lots of different people, which was nice.

Friday I checked out another day care.  This one is located on Woodruff Road, so a little further than I would like to travel.  It was laid out quite similar to the preschool the boys went to in England.  The rooms are all open, and they also have a play area, half of which Sebs age is not allowed on.  They make all their meals on site, and there were plenty of staff.  But it just didn't feel right......  From there we went to Rachel's house.  So nice to catch up with a good friend, while the kids played nicely.  

As it was the second Friday of the month, it was Free Community Zumba at the Kroc Centre in Greenville.  I was supposed to be meeting some friends, but I was the only one from our group who showed up.  Didn't matter, I love these sessions, it is a good work out and lots of fun, just how zumba should be.

Today we did the costco shop (ouch), then went to the mall for some lunch, and to return some Christmas presents.   The rest of the day had been spent at home relaxing, and enjoying our time together.

I have decided to take January off from drinking.  I had my last alcohol on Sunday night, and have not touched a drop since.  I am proud of myself.  My drinking was not out of hand, but after a heavy trip back to England, and the run up to Christmas, I think my body needed a break.  So far so good.  One thing I am noticing is how tired I am, but I am putting this down to recovering from travelling, and sorting out things here.  I feel like I have done so much paper work and general family up keep this week.  I have also made a start on my course, which doesn't start till next month.

So that's the catch up..... Sorry for the lack of photos, but we have not taken any this week!  

Next week will be spent seeing friends, getting Oliver's hearing tested (the culture grew a bacterial infection, just in case you were wondering), and doing at least 2 maybe even 3 Zumba sessions.....