Brian here - it is so good to be able to offer some good news, finally, and lots of it. Preschool has been awesome. The boys love being with other kids and they’ve also been medically well. Sweet. JT still visits the ER every 2-3 weeks with unexplained fevers, but so far all of these recent episodes have resolved themselves with time and he’s been released from the hospital in the morning. Jodi and he return to Cincinnati next week, and after that trip, he’ll move to a once-every-three-weeks schedule. This is huge, for JT, for Jodi, and for our family. Less time in the hospital, more time at home. Things are finally moving in the right direction.
In other big news, JT lost his two front teeth! He’d been complaining that one was hurting him, and after a morning of roughhousing, it fell out. He was a little scared at first, but after he realized that the process didn’t hurt, he began working on the other remaining front tooth, and it was also out within the hour. So the Tooth Fairy had her hands full for her first visit to our home. JT had his first visit to a dentist’s office two days later. I don’t think he enjoyed it much, but the X-rays taken there revealed that he has 6 and 12-year molars and some permanent teeth too. He’s missing some, to be sure, but some kids affected by Ectodermal Dysplasia have zero adult teeth, so we feel very lucky. We hope to take him to the Dental School in Pittsburgh sometime this spring to develop a game plan for his teeth.
The boys can’t get enough of the pool. Lessons continue weekly. Justy is especially fearless, sometimes alarmingly so. They enjoy diving underwater to pick up toys from the bottom of the pool. It’s fun. And we were able to secure a pool membership at the club down the street, so summer promises many, many poolside days. Since JT doesn’t sweat, this will allow him to be outside a whole lot more often. What an improvement over last summer.
Otherwise, we’ve been enjoying the heck out of the spring weather. We’ve already been to Moraine State Park twice to play Disc Golf and found a lakeside playground which has become the boys’ favorite. JT even brought our Frisbee Golf basket to show-and-tell at preschool and his friends all had a chance to test their luck with a few tosses. Last weekend we went geocaching to the south and found the treasure behind a 30-foot waterfall after a beautiful hike. We’ve been out for evening strolls on the bike trail, shot goals at the soccer fields, thrown rocks into Wolf Creek, and this has all been a welcome respite after this year’s winter.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support. We’d like to see the fever-issue reach some resolution as trips to the ER in the middle of the night several times a month are far from ideal in terms of exposing JT to germs. Plus, it is downright exhausting. Otherwise, there’s big-time reason to celebrate. With the coming of the springtime, our lives are starting to open up.