Under the weather

Matthew has been trying to fight off nasty cough and cold sypmtoms for the past 10 days...
and he just couldn't do it. Talk about grrrrrrumpy, fussy, whiney and clinging. Uh Muh Guh!!!

He never did get a fever. (?) After listening to him wheez and try to breathe last night on the baby monitor, I decided it was time to take him in to see the doctor. This morning during a "retch" I noticed that his lips were a bluish tint, so off we went.

He's now on Zithromax and extra breathing treatments. We are trying to get away with NO STEROIDS... if his wheezing isn't better in about 4 days... we'll have to put him on prednisone.
Cross your fingers... steroids are not fun for these little guys... OR THE PARENTS.

Anyhoo.. that is the latest update on the GooMan.

And, in case you missed us on the CNN program tonight.....
you can watch "Broken Government: Health Care - Critical Condition" Sat 6 a.m., and Sun 4 a.m., 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. (all times eastern).

CNN just informed me that it will re~air Saturday, Feb. 9th at 8 p.m. Pacific time and 3 a.m. Pacific and the next Sunday 3 a.m. Pacific.

The Zeigler's were up first, then us.

The Zeigler's Story on CNN

I got this off of Dr. Gupta's website. I sure wish our politicians would watch this kind of thing!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
It can happen to you

By Dr. Sanjay Gupta Chief Medical Correspondent

The Number 1 cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is unpaid medical bills. As we found, it is not just the uninsured, but also the underinsured. It is also people who think they have excellent health insurance, but it is simply not enough.Dawn and William Zeigler were living the American dream with a nice house, cars and plenty of money. When their daughter Brooke was born too early and required multiple surgeries, they never considered the cost because they thought they were covered. And, they were, at least for a while. They were amazed at how quickly the bills piled up, though. Tens of thousands of dollars a day, and soon their policy no longer provided any money. (Watch Video)Brooke Zeigler died when she was 18 months old. Her father told me that he had to tell the doctors to stop working on her. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life. The bills that arrived for nearly a million dollars may pale in comparison to losing one's child, but the Zeiglers are now at real risk of losing their dreams.The health care debate is complicated. Again, the Zeiglers were covered, but not enough to cover little Brooke's millions of dollars of expenses. This is the reality of our broken health-care system and continues to be one of the biggest domestic issues on the minds of voters. Any thoughts on how to address this specific issue within of our health-care system?Programming note: Watch "Broken Government: Health Care - Critical Condition" on Thursday and Sunday at 11 p.m. ET (8 p.m. PT)

This was a bullet we dodged last year, but thank God we didn't lose Matthew.

Remember when this story aired in November 2006 right before we ran out of health insurance for Matthew?

CNN this Thursday night after debates

Keep an eye out... we are going to be on a CNN special about our healthcare system, hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta called "Broken Government ~ Healthcare ~ Critical Condition".

Not sure how they are going to edit the interview ... or what they are going to air .. you all know I had a lot to say.

I think we'll be on for at least a minute or two discussing the issues we faced. Two other local friends of cardiac babies will be on as well.

I must admit, every time I do something like this, I swear, I'm not doing it again ... it's very draining to re~live all that... plus, I get so dang nervous about it. I just think something needs to be done.. but we are only one of hundreds of thousands of people to go thru this.
Not sure if our system will ever change, it's too big of a business and there are too many lobbyists out there.

Now, before you leave this blog... you must go listen to Matthew count to two on the next post...
it was a huge breakthrough for us and we're just so thrilled.

Matthew Counting

All the kids up in Beaver had a positive effect on Matthew. He tried new foods, interacted socially, and even had a speech breakthrough. I was counting to him with one of his books and he actually started counting back. I quickly grabbed my cel phone and shot this video.

Pictures while in Beaver

*giggling* Isn't this the funniest picture! If you look close, you can see a bit of a "shiner" over his left eye... he took a little tumble down the stairs. (yes, it scared me to death, but he was just fine) He also biffed and fell on his bottom lip in the mudroom. He was officially broken into boyhood this past week.

Matthew's little Beaver girlfriend, Ashland ... she is so cute! They each wanted that chair.

Here is Vanna Banana reading to Matthew. He was quite spoiled with all the girlies reading to him.

Mom got him this cutest snowsuit, mittens and boots ~ it kept him quite warm.

Watching his daddy and Uncle Timmy being "spidermen" on the scaffolding.

Taylor and Shania spoiling Matthew w/ book reading time.

Trying some of Aunt Tanji's mac and cheese.

Just chillin.

Shania (Nia Bug) reading to the Goo Man again.

He's been having cold and cough symptoms since the day we got home. So far, he's not feverish, but he is coughing his head off and very snotty ~ QUITE GRUMPY and not sleeping well.

I am hoping to avoid taking him to the doctor.... I am keeping an ear on those junky lungs.

Oh well, maybe it's good that his body is having to fight off this kind of thing.... but it sure isn't fun.

Isaac's Blog

Isaac's Blog
The Rollers found out tonight that Isaac will need a third heart surgery, scheduled this coming Friday at Stanford. Poor little guy, he just had a 13 hour surgery in November ~ they've only been home for one month. This was very unexpected, please keep the Rollers in your prayers.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! Here is our Annual New Years Eve picture before I headed to the Las Vegas Strip. Thankfully it was a quiet, albeit cold night.

Matthew's 1st and 2nd New Years Eve

The Workbench

Matthew received this 100% Dad approved workbench for Christmas. For the first few days he was a little wary of it. But last Sunday our Friends Trish & Avner brought their son Ethan over for a visit. He had such a good time in the workshop that it inspired Matthew to give it a try.

Snow Suit

A few weeks ago when we were in Beaver, UT Terri snapped these photos of Matthew in his snowsuit. Doesn't he remind you of the little boy from "A Christmas Story"?