When we got back from the family reunion in August, Jace had been complaining of his left knee hurting. I thought...oh he is 4 he probably fell or did something funny to it. A couple of days go by and it starts to have extreme heat radiating from the knee joint and he can barely walk. He was having melt downs about every two hours and had started to run a fever himself. Brett took him to the Instacare in Tooele and they radiographed it and didn't find anything but swelling, but they were concerned enough to send Jace over to Primary Children's Hospital. So, the boys came home and then headed over to PCMC. They admitted him and ended up sedating Jace to do a knee tap. When they got the fluid the Dr. said it looked like healthy fluid. They sent him home around 2 the next morning, but instructed him to come back for an MRI and another blood draw. Come to find out...all of this was deemed synovialitis...or inflammation in the joint (arthritis). When the Dr told me this it, all came together...like an aha moment.
Jace has FCAS (a cold allergy). Some of the symptoms he will experience are rash (which we see on him all the time pretty much), fever, shakes, and YES...arthritis in the joints. What we thought though, was that the fever, shakes, and arthritis showed up more around puberty...to our dismay it has been much earlier. So about $4000.00 dollars later we know our boy is actually HEALTHY and so BRAVE! I couldn't help get teary eyed watching him go through some of the things he had to at such a young age.
What's next...
We have had my parents staying with us while my Dad does interviews and while they try to figure out what they will be doing. We have LOVED it! My Dad has found out how much of a match in teasing Mckelle is. She definitely gives him all that he deserves. Also, the relationships have been rekindled since they were gone so long. The one day, we all had places to be early in the morning and accidents just happen. But we left eggs on to boil and no one remember to turn them off. Needless to say, I came home to the fire alarms going off and the house filled with smoke. Thankfully, we still have a house and the smell is finally gone!
What else...
Brett, Grandpa, and Jace decided to go shooting one day when Brett got off early from work. Well...they did little shooting, but still had an adventure. Because it has been so dry here...the road they decided to take was SUPER sandy. At one point it gets really narrow and on the one side goes down into a ravine. Yes, you guessed it...the JEEP slid all the way down the ravine. It wasn't all at once, just a few feet at a time, but because it was SO sandy...it was destiny. The tow truck driver that was called even met him at the bottom of the hill and said "good luck buddy...I can't pull you out of there"! We are so thankful that all the boys are safe and that good friends came to our rescue with all the right tools to pull it out. Brett said at times the sand was up to his knees because it was so soft! He also said that right before it happened he had a prompting that he didn't follow and now wished that he had. But that is how we learn...right?
The other funny part of this story is that Brett has a habit of calling wolf. So, when he told me they were stuck...I didn't believe him. Then, I still didn't believe my Dad when he told me because I thought that Brett had put him up to it. I feel bad that I didn't believe...but honestly I didn't believe until he texted me these pics about an hour later. He obviously didn't want to text me pics...because he knew I would blog about it...so go easy on him if you decide to give him a bad time!
And there is more...
Brett called me the same day as the egg incident and said..."I need to transfer $1780.00 from savings." Of course my reply is "Why?" Come to find out his scholarship will not pay for more than 4 years of school...so yipee we get to pay for tuition ourselves this semester and spring!!! Needless to say, Brett has been a little more diligent with spending some time on his thesis. For those that don't understand...he has to continue paying for part time credits until the Thesis is complete. We look forward to the day he is licensed!
I don't want this to sound like poor me...but some days I have felt like a little black cloud has been hanging over me. I have even woken up and said to myself..."can I handle what life will throw my way today?" And the answer is yes, of course! But looking back everything has been taken care of and we have had the money to do what was necessary. We are learning along the way and we actually joke about most of this now.
I am so thankful for my sweetheart who is by my side the whole time! We just celebrated 10 years of marriage and I couldn't love him more, even if he does try to do things the hard way! I love my little family and all these things we are experiencing and how it is shaping us to be who we are!
I know this was lengthy...and I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings, but this is my own little journal and I really wanted to remember the comedy of the last few weeks!