Closed Nasal Reduction

On Sunday, March 11th Aidan caught a baseball with his nose. 

I raced outside to find him on all fours with "a bloody waterfall" coming from his nose.

Those are his exact words when he told the ER doc what had happened.

It wasn't pretty, and I did the wrong thing by lying him on his back. Evidently this will let the blood run into your stomach. My friend, Liz, loaded him up into Scotty's truck since it was closest. It didn't start. 

Of course. 

We switched cars and ran him to the neighborhood life flight nurse. 

With one look he said, "Broken. Head to Primary's."

We did. 

Aidan cried and held a towel over his face. 

Eventually, he fell asleep on the 40 minute drive as blood trickled out his poor little nose.

Primary Children's Medical Center had several docs take a peek. Some were being tested on their knowledge.  All concluded, not broken, damage to cartilage, take something for pain. The swelling was masking the real damage.

Aidan rated his pain a 5 at that time. After some grilled cheese sandwiches dipped in A-1 (Liz's addiction) we headed home and put him to bed with a puffy face. 

By Thursday, the swelling was reduced and a hard lump on the side of his nose had us back in a pediatrician's sweltering office. Aidan and I both started to fall asleep as Dr.McCune bounded in. 

"Looks broken to me. You need to see an ENT soon."  

Monday morning I pulled the boy out of school yet again and we went to the much praised Dr. Heidi Heras. Mind you at this point Aidan has not had an x-ray.  I learned that x-rays of noses just aren't really used much (unless you've been in a car wreck or such where there'd be other injuries to look at and insurances to appease).  Heidi used her skilled hands to find the break on both sides and guided me to feel them for myself.  Then I looked up the boys left nostril.  There was just a small space for him to breathe through. When she held the right side shut you could hear the air squeeze through the left side.  

"It's been too long and this is too set for me to work on.  I'm going to send you to Dr.Denys this afternoon." She spoke of tools that resembled butter knives being used to realign things.  As we left the tears started. I tried to console them with a smoothie and fries.  That afternoon we were in yet another Dr.office. Dr.Deny, who'd received mixed reviews from my peers.  He was a quiet man, who made small talk with Aidan and then drew me 3 diagrams, at different angles, of Aidan's nose fracture and how he could fix it. He really made it sound like no problem to fix. It was somewhat set, but he could get those bones to move back into place. 

Monday morning at 6:00 Aidan received a Priesthood blessing and we headed out in the dark to American Fork hospital.  

Cole got up early to tell Aidan good luck.

We talked about how lucky we are to have doctors who can help us feel better, and clean comfortable hospitals to be treated in.  Then we went through the list of surgeries in our family.

Daddy- brain

Mommy- C-section

Chloe- ---

Asher- hernia

Aidan- nose

Cole- -----

Grace- MRSA infection

Without the help of modern medicine some of us wouldn't be here.   

Aidan checked himself in and grabbed a beeper. 

 He checked out the awesome fish tank in the empty waiting room.

 Changed into the awesome gown fitted with a plug for a hot air blower to be attached after surgery.

 Then he sat back and enjoyed the t.v. as doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists came in and out checking paper work.

 I waited about 45 minutes and they brought him back to me sniffling from crying so hard.
The nurse said he had the anesthesia blues.  I guess this was his reaction to the meds.
 Of course it was. He's a tender-hearted boy, and I tried to soothe him and tell him he was all done and okay now.  He slept for a time, then I was able to get him to eat some grape slushy.

 We were home around 10:30, and the medicine had taken a toll on his stomach.
I tried to cheer him up by bringing him a package the UPS man had delivered.
It was his battle axe he'd purchased from Amazon with his birthday money.
Great timing, but until he reset his stomach he wasn't interested in anything.

This is where he spent his day.
In his box fort with his blanket and battle axe.


Glad the worst is behind us.

A couple of firsts for Cole

On February 18, 2012

Cole Michael Browning

lost his first tooth.

 On March 5, 2012

Cole got to walk home from Kindergarten 

by himself.

He was just beaming when he got home.

Crazy Hair Day 2012

It's Crazy Hair Day at school today.

It's a quick do when you've got a bunch of boys. 

Not too many options, but we came up with 3 different ideas here.

You know, I always thought I'd be a "girl Mom".

I was sure I'd have a house full of girls. Giggling, crying, tattling.

I came from a house full of girls and one brother who, frankly, fit right in.

My sisters who'd had kids had mostly girls. 9 girls 2 boys. 

So when my firstborn was a girl it fit my ideology. 

But then there was a blitz of boys. 1-2-3.

What! This can't be. I had made brothers.

And you know, it's a perfect fit.
They're fun, loud, rowdy.
They eat with their fingers sometimes and laugh when they fart.
They hug and kiss me, they don't mind the dirty jobs, they forgive quickly.
They pee on the seat and smell like sweaty dogs on hot summer days.
They love to wrestle each other until someone is crying.
They always thank me for their meal (especially if it includes mashed potatoes), and share their thoughts about God and testimonies with me privately.

So it turns out that by the numbers, I'm a "boy Mom".  A boy Mom who has two incredible bookend daughters and 3 wild boys stuffed in the middle. These boys are growing up fast and I'm loving what I see.

Playing with your mind

This posts been a long time coming.

Since the boy it's about turned 9 yesterday it was fitting to complete and finally submit.

Aidan is a thinker, a creator, and a tender-heart.

Over the last little while I've been collecting photos of some of his quirky and creative behavior.

Captured for future generations to look at  and nod in understanding.

So here was his idea for a Valentine's box.

He figured his love box should be worn... on his head. 

Inside he used a cereal bowl that would form to his head. 

Here he is modeling some of his creations made from everyday items.

He used some of our neighbors tubing to make himself into a robot, complete with mask.

Can you guess what this box, doomed to the recycling bin, became?

Uh-huh, a large stash of weaponry was created from this cardboard. Machetes to AK-47's. 

This is a very common way for Aidan to use his extra time before school.

He creates animals from winter gloves.

This would be a rabbit. He can also produce a dog or fox.  

This was an invention made during a visit to Will and Kelly's

 where he spent time hanging out in the garage. 

He was pretty sure that this could make a spark that could light a fire. 

This is Aidan's nightstand.

He keeps his most beloved items here, and occasionally sets up a wild animal scene.

Aidan came home from Miles' after doing "self-makeovers".

Improvement, no?

I will often find photos on my camera of projects Aidan's done.

This was one .

A lego plane.

 To celebrate nine years of Aidan I picked him up a giant octopus balloon and delivered it to the school.

Nothing makes a kid cooler. 

The birthday dinner of his choice was, "chicken, peas, and broccoli".

I helped round it out with some mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful boy. 

Aidan arms, weapons, etc.

The benefits of Scripture Study

There are many promises made for those who will study their scriptures.
I don't think this is one of them.

While we were reading as a family Cole was brushing my hair. When he switched to a comb I noticed, but wasn't concerned. However, after a few minutes I realized we had a problem. He was done working my mane over and the back of my head was heavy. He'd successfully trapped that comb in my hair. 

 Honestly, I wasn't to worried about it. 

He switched to a remote control car while we finished out the chapter. ( Remind me to work on his attention span).  After we wrapped up our scripture study Asher went to work on my hair. 

It wasn't good. 

Eventually, he took scissors and cut chunks of the comb off to free my hair.

After 1 1/2 hours my head was sore and it was past his bedtime. 

 We left it looking like this and headed to bed. 

 I woke the next morning in a bad mood.

The comb was swinging at the back of my head as a reminder of the mess

I had to tackle. It was there taunting me as I stirred the cream of wheat. I decided to put out a call

for help on facebook.  Within minutes Jen called, clearly not understanding this was still a serious situation. 

To her giggling surprise the comb had lasted all through the night. I accused her of calling for her own pleasure as she could do nothing to help my situation.  While I was on the phone I heard a friendly voice at the door.

Help had arrived. Heather was at my door with willing hands and a reverence for my beautiful red hair. (She's got a red headed sister).

When she saw what she was up against she was concerned. The picture I had posted online was taken before Asher's hour and half procedure. 

Things were tight and tricky. 

 Heather applied conditioner and water to loosen things up. It helped some and she rescued a sizable chunk. At this point a haircut was discussed. I had phone calls and facebook posts suggesting WD-40, baby oil, and a skewer to loosen the hair from the comb. 

I used the skewer idea. I asked for Mom's help. She half- heartedly stuck that skewer in then 

danced around me in some sort of ritual dance while chanting. 

I knew I'd have to go in search of outside help. I headed over to the Whiffens. Liz answered in her bathrobe with sleepy eyes. You okay? she asked.

NO! I turned the back of my head to her. 

With patience and her delicate fingers she continued to pick away.

Then she started using Asher's technique and would snip away big chunks of comb that would go flying across her living room and were quickly retrieved by Izzy and Ziggy. 

After about an hour the comb was gone and there was a class V rat's nest to tackle.

With the help of a special serum used on her daughter's tangles she slowly picked the nest apart.

It was a miracle.

All because I read my scriptures.