It’s time to re-emerge from a multi-month break, one I’ll refer to as “Hibernation” since it’s winter to spring. To be honest, the past few months have been a blur.  The common thread throughout is illness.  I think all of us have been sick at some point.  Present company excluded, of course, but I make up for it with a mysterious broken bone in my foot that lingers to this day.

This winter has been a blur with all the snow we’ve gotten.  I forgot to keep track of the big total, but we easily got several feet this winter.  While I still love the white stuff, even I got tired of it after awhile.  We also started saying goodbye to my trusty shovel that’s been through blizzards with us since 1996.  It hasn’t been buried just yet, so we’re holding off on the 40 pour.

The big stagecoach keeps on rolling, and it keeps sounding like I have a ticket to ride on it.  We’ll see for how long or if I even want to stay on it.

Ethan has really taken to preschool and is blossoming from his shell.  We were already seeing remarkable jumps from him prior to enrollment – now you’d never know we needed anything for him.

Garrett continues to excel in general – he does well in school and is popular outside it.  He may be the type where we’ll need to beat the girls away with a stick.

I remain proud and thankful for all the things Jennifer does for herself and for me.  I believe I wouldn’t be near where I am without her.

We’re enjoying the national post-season basketball run the Mountaineers are putting on.  With or without Truck (solidarity through bone breaks!) it’s been a fun run to date.

It is generally accepted between Jennifer and I that we became aware of each other around this time of October back in 1994 – 15 years ago.  Since that time we’ve been on the highest of highs and the lowest of lows together.  As the vows say, through thick and through thin.

I haven’t always been the easiest person to be around, but Jen has been my advocate, my supporter, my fan, and my friend.  She has seen me at my best and she has seen me at my worst.  She has encouraged me, kicked my butt, cheered me, and jeered me when each was appropriate.  Despite me being the problem child I was, we married 12 years ago, had children 7 and 4 years ago, moved multiple times, and are back home together where we want to be.

Over time, with her help, I have worked harder to become the man, husband, and father I should be.  She has been through the hardest working times with me, so as I’m finally beginning to see real changes in myself it is only fair that she is here to benefit from the payoff.  I hope never to be the person I used to be, and I want her to share in nothing more than the man I’m supposed to be.  She’s earned it for putting up with me all this time.

We’ve been pretty much disconnected to the real world over the last week, as both Ethan and Garrett have been sick.  Garrett in particular has been really sick, enough to land him in a bed at the WVU Childrens Hospital (Ruby Memorial Hospital).  Both had rattly chests filled with junk, coughs, low energy, and temperatures.  We had been giving both of then breathing treatments for asthma, but Ethan ended up with antibiotics from the urgent care doc.  This was last weekend (9/20) but things seemed to clear up for him, enough to go back to school Wednesday.

Garrett was a whole different animal.  Wednesday afternoon he comes home and promptly goes to sleep on our couch – a big red flag.  After awhile we take his temperature and it’s 102F+.   He gets Tylenol, and eventually goes to bed early – red flag #2.  Around 7:30pm he awakens and comes out complaining of his left lower ribs hurting.  This earns the trip to the urgent care facility, where we were hoping for a simple answer.  Oops.  They take one look at his vitals and offer Jen the choice of going to the ER via either her van or an ambulance.  Based on his instability (a heart rate above 180 and O2 stats around 90%), they prefer the ambulance in case he crashes.

At the Ruby ER all hell pretty much breaks loose, not from Garrett’s condition but of being a Level 1 Trauma center.  I like Mon General hospital for the quickness and privacy, but it’s quiet because Ruby gets the region’s nasty cases.  If they had gone in without being in the ambulance they might still be sitting there today.  As it was, they got a bed of sorts and entered a land of confusion and missed notations, basically a combination of shift changes and traumas.  They had good staff initially, but ended up with a quack who tried to discharge Garrett and his still unstable vitals.  Once Jen stands up and says WTF, a previous order to send him to Pediatrics finally got executed and upstairs he went.

WVU Childrens Hospital is an entire world away from ER’s, traumas, and other medical occurrences.  It’s painted with soft but bright colors, made to look as little like a hospital as possible, has flat screens and DVDs in most rooms, and has a wonderful indoor and outdoor (on the 6th floor, no less) activities room & program.  Oh, and because Ruby is a teaching hospital, there was an abundance of doctors, nurses, therapists, and students of each program to check in on the patients.  During the day I doubt we went more than 15-20 minutes without seeing someone from the staff.

We’ve both play-by-played the illness & treatment progression on Facebook, so here’s the summary.  Garrett was diagnosed with strep-pneumonia (strep infection in the lungs) and tachycardia (very high heart rate).  From Thursday morning to Saturday morning he got several different antibiotic IVs and fluid bags.  His pulse rate reduced from the 180s to around the 100-120 range, most likely at this point caused by the fevers.  The fevers would eventually break and not return as of this writing.  X-rays continued to show fluid buildups in his left lung, but as each day passed the fluid buildup kept reducing.  Even though he’s home he still has antibiotics to take, and he has multiple devices to use for breathing treatments.  He’ll have several followups with our normal pediatrician to make sure the infections & fluid disappear.

The Childrens Hospital is nothing short of awesome. Sometimes the teaching aspects can fill the halls with a few too many people, but with the sheer number of staff the patients get a lot of attention.  Most impressively, they’ve done a good job trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for the kids.  The activity room is large and has a ton of toys from infant to young adult.  Books, drawing supplies, movies, games, crafts, video game consoles, air hockey, foozball, internet, etc…and that’s the inside room.  Outside on the exhaust/boiler/service roof they’ve fenced off an area and built a great playground where the kids can get outside in the fresh air, and have covered the surface with the soft foam.

This is exactly the type of facility that if I had money or a foundation, I’d help support it.  Should I ever come into money, the focus I’ve always pictured for myself is helping area kids.  Uniforms, equipment, fields, computer labs, tutoring, after-school, etc….if it was related to The Kids I would be interested in helping it.  Even without much donatable money, we can still support them by donating toys in good repair that our own kids have outgrown.  People can think what they want about WVU, it’s schools, or their experiences elsewhere in the Ruby system.  We’ve had several bad experiences of our own in the ER before this one, and we’re not impressed with Ruby’s maternity ward.  None of those, however, are reason enough for me or my family to want to wish the Childrens Hospital ill will.  Having experienced many hospital stays, I’d rate this as either 1a or 1b along withGarrett’s birth and Jen’s postpartum at Carolinas Medical Center.

Also, being so tight with the University and the Athletic Department specifically, Garrett got an extra treat when the Mountaineer came by.  She saw all the kids on the floor, and earned brownie points by remembering who Garrett was.  After seeing him the nurses disconnected Garrett’s IV so he could go downstairs and get some ice cream.  When he made it back to the floor Rebecca saw him and said something like “Garrett!  Did you get ice cream?”

We still have a long road ahead of us, but for now we think the worst is over and now it’s just a steady recovery of energy and healthy cells.  Still, we’re glad this part is over.

Not that anyone noticed, but the Haven went under radio silence for the week while we packed up the family (more akin to mobilizing an army) and went to the most unlikely place any West Virginia family could go….Myrtle Beach.  It was a joint effort between our house and that of my parents.  From Saturday morning to Friday night we were out and about the upper Southeast with two young kids.  They had a great vacation.  Now we need one.

The boys went boat riding for the first time on Lake Norman.  I’ve been on that lake since I was Garrett’s age and have watched it grow supersize through the years.  I’ve always hated pontoon boats like I do minivans, but I have to admit they’re nice on choppy water.

It was also the first time in Garrett’s conscious memory for seeing the city he was born in.  We drove past our old house, and if the owner would happen to see this by mistake I hope they second guess how they fucked up our old home.  Who the hell paints red brick?  Who the hell paints red brick with some creamish looking paint?

I don’t care what new roads, expressways, etc. get built…the route to Myrtle from Charlotte will always be Monroe-Pageland-Darlington-Marion to me.  I do admit that the Conway bypass is nice for reaching destinations in north Myrtle and North Myrtle.

Ripley’s Aquarium and their shark tube has to top the list of must-see attractions.  Alligator Adventure is an underdog in the category.  700+ gators of all shapes and sizes cover the lagoon, and the hourly feeds feature some of the biggest gators I’ve ever seen.

A simple rule-of-thumb for dining on the Grand Strand: if the parking lot is empty the place isn’t worth shit.

The kids are now ocean lovers and water park lovers.  Garrett prefers to walk the lazy river instead of riding it, but he’ll learn in time.

I don’t care who, what, or how it’s justified, but the downtown cruising area is not the same without the Pavilion.  Never will be.  Rest in peace, history.

Now for some much needed shuteye….

Good – the mojo of yesterday.  Our past several weeks have been challenging (to be understated), and having so many pieces fall into place correctly yesterday was a huge help.

Gone – the car.  Vehicle #3 of a two driver house had to go, and even though it’s the better mileage vehicle of the two the Corolla lost out to the Rodeo.  Compacts sell faster than SUVs and for a higher price.  We don’t drive as much as the typical family, so mileage is not as big an issue.  Plus, when it snows the Corolla and Odyssey drive like crap.

Amazing – Garrett’s testing performance yesterday.  On the second of (hopefully) four tests he nailed everything he needed to with good form, focus, and detail.  The one time I don’t bring a camera to testing is when he kicks ass.  Go figure.

Selling – the baby stuff.  Since there won’t be three kids in this house and a little extra vacation spending money is nice, we’re burning up Craigslist selling stuff.  Successfully, too.

Replaced – the old flat screen with a new.  The 37″ was not powering up, and a little research indicates Magnavox power capacitors can crap out a year or two into their lives.  Fixing the problem can be inexpensive, IF it’s soldering on new capacitors.  So we replaced it with a Vizio (triple the TV for half the original price) and so far the switch is good.  Very good.

Ironic – our favorite Mexican restaurant here opened a second shop closer to us, and they’ve been painting murals on the walls since opening.  Cartoon shows aren’t allowed to show old Bugs Bunny clips because of the “offensive” characters both obvious and subtle.  So while we cannot see old Speedy Gonzales cartoons on TV anymore our restaurant painters of Mexican heritage added a large framed image of Speedy to their walls.

Fun – Garrett’s reaction steel drum camp.  Morgantown Theater have six week long sessions on performance, and he’s having a blast learning to play the pans.  Magic and stage weapons are upcoming.

Chatty – Ethan is coming out of his shell big time.  Like so many other children and dogs, once they start speaking they can’t be re-plugged.  We still have our days dealing with his issues, but they seem to be farther and farther apart.

Ongoing – how I hope a pleasant day will continue.