Typically, I remember to write when Miles is sick, and although he is having a few problems today, I really just thought it was time for an update. It's been a good three months, and a lot has happened. Trying to fit everything in would take much longer than anyone would ever be willing to read, so I'll give the condensed version.

We were so excited that mid August marked not only the two year anniversary of Miles' OHS, but also marked a full year without being admitted to the hospital. That's not to say we didn't have our problems, and their were even ER visits, but we were able to basically control things "in house". Quite an accomplishment considering the previous year we averaged almost a stay a month. Unfortunately, our streak lasted only that year because within a couple of weeks, we were back at Primary. Miles had had a particularly bad asthma episode and being that it was either late or the weekend (it was a while ago, so I don't exactly remember), we visited the Instacare. Little was done there other than an x-ray that showed he probably had pneumonia. We were sent home for more treatments and with a prescription of zithromax. Things just seemed to get worse, so we made a second trip, this time to the Urgentcare later that night. They gave him a super-neb and a prescription for prednisone. The doctor told me that he really couldn't do anything more than I was already doing at home, so if things got any worse, he needed to go to the ER. Things seemed to improve though, so we didn't do anything else that night.

The next morning, I took him to his pediatrician, just for a follow up. He sounded so much better, so I was really surprised when his oxygen levels never exceeded 80, even after a few treatments. I think Dr. Ditty was pretty surprised too, thought his pulse/ox machine wasn't working, but a second gave readings just as bad. He looked at me and said, "I'm really sorry, but I really can't legally let you take him home this low. You're going to have to take him up the hill". Even though his office is connected to Mountain West Medical Center, he would never send me there. He just grabbed an oxygen tank from his closet, set it, hooked him up and told me to go straight to Primary.

I was surprised when after the car ride on over 2 liters of oxygen, his levels were still super low when read at PCMC. I was even more surprised when I was told that not only would Miles need to certainly stay for a few days, but that the doctors were debating on whether he'd stay in the medical unit or in the ICU. The only time he'd stayed in the ICU was right after his surgery.

Luckily, we avoided the ICU, but it did take three days before Miles was able to start being weened off of oxygen. His treatment was basically the same as in the past. And, like in the past, the exacerbation is still kind of unexplained. We've managed to stay out of the hospital since then, so I guess that's good though. Now, it's time to gear up for cold and flu season. I have a feeling it might be a tough one.

Well, that wasn't very condensed, now was it? I'll try to do better with the rest.

The week after Miles was released, we headed to Southern California with Rod, Cathy and Aubrey. It was our first time flying with the kids, and while they were really good, and it saved a lot of time, with a relatively short trip like CA, I think it was more hassle than just driving. We stayed in an amazing condo, thanks to Cathy and Marriott Resorts. It was nice to be able to stay together but still have our own room, and a kitchen was priceless. We spent the first couple of days with the animals at the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. I always love going to those places because we just don't have anything of that level here. Don't get me wrong. I do love Hogle Zoo, but we don't have a Sun Bear. The next three days were spent at my favorite place on the planet. Disneyland. It really is my favorite place, and I've been all over the world. It was so fun to see that Miles really did remember things from last year. This time he understood so much more and was so excited about everything. Conan even got excited by things. He was particularly fascinated by the big Buzz robot in Astro Blasters. We had so much fun at Disneyland that we're thinking that instead of a lot of toys and things, we're going to ask Santa to send us back to Disneyland in January. Our final vacation day we went to Universal Studios. It's been years (like 20) since I've been to Universal, so most of it was new to me. I did not remember them having so much. I know that I disappointed Ben because I am not a thrill ride person, so I skipped some of those. I loved the backlot tour though. So much cooler than I remembered it! And I thought that the Simpson's ride was really fun. It was too bad that Miles was about an inch and a half too short to ride it because he would have loved it. We're hoping that we can stretch him a little by January because he just missed out on some great rides at Disneyland too. Anyhow, it was an awesome trip, and having family there always makes it so much fun!

Because of the hospital stay and our vacation, Miles missed his first two weeks of Joy School. Luckily, we have really great neighbors that brought over a bunch of what he missed out on. I was super excited when some of the gals in the ward invited me to participate. I really wanted to Miles into some form of pre-school, mainly to get him around the other kids on a regular basis. It's been so much fun for Miles, and I just completed my first two classes. The first was on the letter "G". We based it on gardens and ghosts. The next lesson was the letter "H". I told the story of the little red hen and talked about helping, then we did some h is for Halloween activities. On Thursday, we had our Halloween party, and I think that all the kids had a lot of fun. The only complaint that I've had so far is that I have the worst child ever to wake up, and even though school isn't that early at 9:30, Miles always seems to pick those days to want to sleep in. Stinker.

Conan had a major milestone a couple of weeks ago. Literally, while I was in the process of complaining to my family about him not being able to walk, he walked across the cabin living room. I guess he showed me, eh? He's just gotten better since then. I have to say that he really doesn't have very good balance. He's very wobbly. It might have something to do with little tiny feet and legs and a great big fat body and head. He compensates very well though. Just when he's so slanted you think he's going to hit the floor, he wobbles in the other direction. It's very cute. Now that we've got the walking down, we need to work on the talking.

I've been busy the past week trying to figure out Festival of Trees. My mother pointed out that i have less than a month, and I'm getting a little frantic because I'm super disorganized. I think that my small tree and wreath are basically ready to assemble, and I have a relatively clear vision for them. my large tree is another story. After last year, I'm just not sure if this can measure up. It always seems to come together in the end though. I'm sure it will be great. Even if it's not, I know that it will sell because it's a Disney themed tree, and they always do.

Something kind of special happened a couple of days ago. I got an email from one of the publicity heads for Festival of Trees asking permission to share our story in their advertising in the next coming weeks. It wasn't a very specific email, so I wondered if it was kind of a mass email, but I did give permission. I pretty immediately got a response that said that Miles story really touched her, and she was excited to share it. I thought that that was really neat. I still don't know what exactly it all means. I replied and told her that if she needed anything further (pictures, etc.) to let me know. I basically did that hoping I could get more info on what would be happening. I haven't heard back, but that was only last night, so we'll see. My guess is that they may refer to it in one of there radio interviews or something. I'd love to know though. I was curious why they wanted our story since I'm sure it's not the most interesting, but my sister made a good point. Miles is a success story. Doctor's at PCMC caught his problems in the nick of time and corrected what they could at that moment. He gets continued treatment at the hospital, but it really is a positive story.

I can hear my kids trying to murder each other, so I'd better stop for now. I'll try to be back before another few months pass.....hopefully for good news, so stay tuned.