Casey ears and first time at Trader Joe's

Casey's follow up with Dr. Hubbell went okay.  Casey's left ear was "moist" and looked like it had some debris so Dr. Hubbell used his trusty suction wand sucked it out :)   He wants us to treat Casey's ear with Ciprodex two times a day for a week.  He also had, at my request, a little talk with Casey about listening to music too loud with his ear buds.  I forget what words he actually used but maybe Julie will remember, but we were going to use them as our mantra when Casey asks to have his ipod music turned up.  I guess my poor brain is still fuzzy and tired from camp if I can't even remember, oh dear.

We were in the exam room for about 6 minutes tops.  I think I waited to make a follow up appointment longer than we were in the exam room, sigh.  But that's okay.

I turned the keys over to Julie and she drove us over to Trader Joe's.  Ran into Lynne Moon on her way out.  Good to see her, if only for a couple of minutes.

Casey and Julie did their thing and wandered around the perimeter while I poked around on my own.  Very overwhelming!  I had planned on getting some goodies to send to our counselors at camp so I focused on looking for snack foods.  Found some freeze dried blueberries, some yummy looking trail mix and some chocolate covered sunflower seeds.  Then I looked for the Orange Chicken that Jennifer always talks about.  Picked up some yummy sounding side dish with quinoa, sour dough bread and a Greek salad. 

Casey asked one of the employees if they had any magazines....that's my boy!!  Then he promptly asked Julie to take him to Barnes & Noble, ha ha.  He also wanted to buy Dada flowers so I had him pick out a bunch.  He picked out a very vibrant looking bunch of sunflowers. 

Ears

We made it out of the house on time today--8:15 or so.  Gene had warmed up the van and got us a little gas so that was a good thing.  It was 0 degrees! 

Ran into Debbie from school in the lobby of Fletcher Allen.  I guess she works as a customer service rep as well as at school.  She tried to get Casey to chat with him but he wasn't having any of it. 

Got in to see Dr. Hubbell pretty quickly.  I noticed that the person checking in after us had an appointment with him 5 minutes after us.  He must rake in the bucks seeing patients for only 5 minutes!  And, he literally did see us only for 5 minutes.  But I guess it was okay.  He tried to look in Casey's left ear and couldn't see a thing because of all the debris in there.  So he got a good sucking out.  We teased him because we said we wished the suction hose was clear so we could see the junk coming out.  Nurse Julie and I love that kind of stuff--as long as it's coming from Casey, anyway.  He suggested we now do Ciprodex drops for 7-10 days and then come back in 3 months.  I had asked about new tubes but he said let's wait and see. 

Got a coffee from the kiosk and headed up to see Mrs. Marshall, Julie's mom.  She was in for a 'tune-up'.  She is getting some IV antibiotics and respiratory treatments (no, she does not have a flu or anything catching).  So, we made her day :)  She was happy to see Julie, and then I came in and then she was over the moon to see Casey.  He was perfect!  No loud vocalizing.  He was nice and quiet and listened and said a few things on his DynaVox. 

Hit the gift store and Casey wanted to get Grandma (well, we call her that) a book.  We know she likes puzzle books so we picked her out one and some Jolly Ranchers.  Julie ran them upstairs to her while Casey and I got him on wifi. 

We were fading, at this point, so we headed home to get some food. 

Colin was good for Gene. He wanted to doze and listen to the radio so Gene just worked from the wish room and Colin hung out in bed. 

I got Colin washed up and dressed and everyone settled into the living room. 

Had a little lunch.

Took advantage of Julie being here and Gene so I went up for a nap.  Julie and the boys played some wii. 

I made some Rice Krispies treats.  Played some more wii.  Talked to Chris, Mom and Dad.  And that's where we are now. 

Oh, earlier, Gene said, "Where's Jaxon?"  Usually Jaxon is in the living room or up our butts following us around.  I went and looked for him and found him, Moxie and Nugget staring at a dead vole in the yellow room!! GROSS!!!  I guess the voles taste really bad so they don't eat them, but they were still interested in watching the dead thing.  I think it was Nugget that got it.  I had seen him sitting by the back room not long before--that's usually a sure sign that there's a creature.  Thank goodness Gene was home to get rid of it!

Ear infection for the big