i told the witch doctor, i was in love with you...

as smiley as he is in this picture... he certainly wasnt at the begining of our stay! we originally were going to the dr. to get him checked out. he was having extreme temperatures of 102-104 WITH tylenol and ibeprophen. so we were worried about an infection. we were hoping we were going to get to go, get a blood test, and be on our merry way. they decided that they were going to do a shunt tap, and get a bacterial/viral culture. oh, my. i pray none of you ever ever have to witness a shunt tap. it was an absolutely horrible most aweful thing that a mother could go through. but, we got it done (and a big THANK YOU to my sweet cousin nort who came with and was able to sit with him through the 2nd shunt tap attempt, after i had to leave because i just couldnt bear it again. ) so after that, the dr's decided it'd be best for them to run more tests, so we were admitted until they could say that we were safe to go home. immediately after his mri, he had started breaking out in small (pimple size) red dots... we werent entirely sure what was going on. by that after noon it was a bitmore hive-ish. by the next morning he had huge welts. on his ears, cheeks, nose, in his hair line. his back, and his tummy. by this time, his temp had FINALLY after 5 days, broken! all of our cultures came back negartive (which confirmed it was viral) after some studying, and more tests they were able to find he had roseola. so it was good to finally have answers, but stunk that, there wasnt anything we could do about it.
as for a shunt update, the shunt tap didnt quite yield the results they were hoping. they couldnt get a lot of fluid (which is what they use to test for things) and that was both good and bad. good, because the shunt quit working (because it doesnt have to!!!) how great is that!!!!!!! bad, because they had to think, and review and evaluate if they needed to replace it. they feel confident that he shouldnt need a new one. so they will continue to observe him, via mri results, and once he is older/stronger, he should be able to have it removed!!!

i again, want to thank my cousin for being able to come with me. kyle wasnt able to go, which was hard on both of us! he and leon stayed home, which was probably for the best. because of leons age he wouldnt be allowed on the floor so we would have had to rent a room, and lord knows what we could have done to occupy him! all of the thoughts, the texts, the calls, checking on our little colt. it was once again, overwhelming to know how many of you think and pray for him!!! thank you from the bottom of our hearts! and i cant explain, how happy i was to wake up this morning next to kyle. and then, go to the kitchen and peek in ljs room and see him. sleeping with his tushy in the air. and know that colt is safe in sound, in his room too. our family has been through a lot, but we will continue to knock down any barrier that comes in our way :)

see? how could that NOT warm your heart?