Willow's Wishes

What a year!  I could probably say that this last year has been horrible, filled with so much unknown turmoil, so many unexpected events that have turned our world upside down and sideways... But if I did say that and leave it at that, truly believing that was all that happened in 2011 I sure would be shorting myself the joys that we had the rest of the year.  Sure it has been tough, and trust me, I pray that 2012 is easier on our family and Willow... But it is indeed the road bumps that make us stronger and bring us closer together. It shows you who the true friends are, the family that will always be there regardless of silliness... It shows a lot. Willow and I are spending New Year's Eve in the hospital. I am quite sad that I cannot be with the whole family as I thought it would be.  But right now instead my thoughts are hoping that her shunt is not infected and that we don't have to have it removed in the next day or so... But only time will tell. So as I sit here...

So this time last year... hmm I was laying in a hospital bed probably updating with Willow's birth stats as she was born the 24th! This year.... Well we only spent about an hour and a half maybe 2 hours tops in the ER at Helen DeVos last night.  I had called the ped. since Willow spiked a fever after Christmas Eve Service of 101.1, which for most kids is nothing at all, but for Willow we have to call if it reaches 100.4. So, with the fever she also had a green nose, congestion at times, and a really bad green discharge from her eyes.  Well, the doctor asked all kinds of questions and really decided it was an upper respiratory infection and not related to the shunt.  So gave her some Tylenol, a prescription for an antibiotic eye cream and discharge papers!! Merry Christmas to us, we get to go home! :) We get home and we lay Willow down in bed, but she wakes up and decides she wants to play Santa with us. Then Jon is putting out a couple of gifts and he almost ...

I have been asked lately what does the shunt malfunction look like? How did you know it wasn't working?  What do they do to fix it? Then the opposite side is, but I just saw her an hour ago and she was doing fine and looked great!  Yup, welcome to the world of hydrocephalus, where the uncertain is certainly going to happen! After such a fantastic weekend, I guess the polar opposite had to take affect, after all the whole yin/yang thing we have going on in the house has to keep its balance somehow right?  (note sarcasam please)   So where am I going with all of this you may ask?  Well, Willow had her first shunt malfunction since we left the hospital in July.  So what did it look like this time?  I am not sure really.  She had been battling an ear infection for about 3 weeks now (Monday will be a month); and her last MRI was done in November.  So we had a good baseline of what her brain looks like 3 months post surgery and it was wonderful....

What a weekend! Friday started with taking Jonathan to a boy scout outing; he got to go swimming and then spend the night at another scouts place.  They have a barn, and the scouts who want to go and camp out in the barn! He had a blast I know that much; oh and apparently his team won the amazing race they did on Saturday.  Since he was there, he did miss Willow's party, but he knew that was going to happen, and I told him not to worry about it, she is only a year old, and won't remember anyway! LOL  Then after finding dinner on the run, (Wendy's sounded good that night), we head to Evan's Michigan Sings choir concert.  It was a concert that was showcasing songs by Michigan artists, so we got to hear songs by El DeBarge (Rhythm of the Night), Bob Seger (Old time Rock in Roll), Diana Ross, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, they even threw in some Eminem! It was held at the Wealthy Street Theater, so the kids loved that, they even sold snacks (which of course was Amanda's f...