Link's Birthday, Among Other Things

So, it's been a crazy month. My mom got very sick and was in the hospital for almost two weeks. She was admitted on her 50th birthday (we told her that just because she was getting old didn't mean she had to start falling apart) to Bingham Memorial for spinal meningitis. They did a lumbar puncture and took blood to culture. They kept her from the 12-16 with her cultures coming back negative for meningitis. Her doctor told her she was "unlucky enough to have a stiff neck" and sent her home in more pain than she was in when she was first admitted and told her to follow up in a week.

Five hours later, my dad took her to the ER at EIRMC. They did a CT scan and would have done an MRI right away, but they thought they would have to remove a BB from her cheek. My dad convinced them that it wasn't steel, it was lead, and they did the MRI. The doctor that was overseeing my mom told her that there was definitely something there, but it was "weird". He assembled a group of doctors which included him, an infectious disease specialist, an Ear Nose and Throat doctor, a neurosurgeon, a radiologist, and a few other doctors. They were able to determine that it was an epidural abscess and once they knew that they prepped my mom for surgery right away.

The surgery went well, but it was worse than they thought once they got in there so they had to do a little more than what they originally planned. They went in through her throat and removed the front half of C-6 and part of C-7. They then vacuumed out and scraped out the infection. They replaced the removed vertebrae with a titanium cage, plate, screws, and a graft from her hip. She felt so much better after surgery than she had before. The doctor that performed the procedure told my parents the next day that at the rate her abscess was growing, she would have been paralyzed within 12 hours and then eventually died and had it ruptured she would have been gone.

Anyway, she is home now and doing well. She has to wear a neck brace and has to have antibiotics administered through a PIC line for another month or more. Very scary, but we are so glad for good doctors who were definitely answers to our prayers.

Then, on the 27th, my little Linkers turned two! We celebrated a couple days later, but let him open two gifts on his actual birthday. Here are some pictures.

Then he got to open some presents when we partied too.

And of course we had to have cake.

I think that he enjoyed his birthday and I can't believe he's not my little baby anymore. Where does that time go. He also had a well check and is in the 25th percentile for his height and 10th for his weight. He's just growing up so fast. Tomorrow he goes in for an echo cardiogram to make sure the heart murmur he has isn't caused by a valve problem or a hole in his heart. So keep him in your prayers and I will post again when we know more about that.

On a different and very happy note, we are expecting Simonson baby #3 in October! We find out in a couple weeks if we are having another boy or a girl. Corgin told us that he knows it's a girl. When I asked him how he knows, he said "because I asked Heavenly Father." He's very excited and has shared the news with everyone! Another cute Corgin story: He was riding his scooter in the basement the other day while Clint was working. Clint hears him saying, "And Chicken Bullion wins the race!" And so Clint asked him about chicken bullion and he replied, "That's my racing name." So funny. I love my kids!!!