The latest on Finnemore!

So last week we made our way to Bham for a Sleep Study and Swallow Study. My wonderful mother-n-law volunteered to go b/c CAJ had his work tradeshow. CAJ owes her big time! It was less than a pleasant experience. LOL
SLEEP STUDY....They had ordered this to be done when we got tubes and his oxygen was statting around the mid to upper 80s. It should be 98-100. Plus they suspected that him not sleeping at night may require meds as that is common for children like him. I was very against that and he has pulled through and shown us he can sleep at night and get himself back to sleep if he wakes. His sleeping had improved for several weeks but now he is waking a couple times a night again but nothing crazy like he was doing. So they got him all wired up which took like an hour and a half and he screamed the whole time. Finally by 930 he was done and we got our little vinyl chair/beds situated. Of course he flipped around and his nose pieces kept coming out so they kept coming in. They also kept it freezing in there b/c they can't sweat during the study. Wierd.
The results showed he had over 50 spells of apnea in the night and a majority of them were due to obstruction. Soooo we are going to get rid of his tonsils and adenoids. Not excited!!!! They assured me this wasn't just the new trend and that he really needed it done. THEN THEY DO THE STUDY AGAIN!!! OMG I think this time we will let CAJ and Papa Ricky take him! j/k!
Prayers that improves it enough b/c if not we will be looking at Cpap or oxygen at night. We aren't going to even think about that right now.
Now for the good news....the SWALLOW STUDY!
They strapped him in a feeding seat and proceeded to give him food with barium in it and an xray machine beside him. Pretty fun to watch! Dr was very pleased and said he showed no signs of aspirating. He was swallowing everything beautifully!!! WOOOWHOOO!
They have ordered us to start outpatient OT to work on him eating. It is not uncommon for kids with visual impairment to be behind on eating solids. Makes total sense and that is what we thought and we were excited they agreed with us! I mean that is pretty brave to open your mouth when you have no clue what is going in. So for now we will just keep eating lots of softer foods and encouraging him to work on eating bigger pieces of food. Lucky for him he has our permission to play with his food all he wants. This is how he will learn what it is and that it's yummy and will fill-up his tum tum!!!!



Who knows who came up this study, pretty crazy looking!!!!

Finn's TV Debut!!!!!

You never know what a day will hold when you get up!!!!

So Finn has been getting something done that we had kept on a "need to know" basis. Mainly b/c the dr didn't tell us to do this and I didn't want anyones opinion since I decided for him to do this on my own. Thanks to a friend in a support group at Children's that told me about something called Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT). I learned about this in like August and immediately started researching and decided that it was something I thought Finn could benefit from and went to work to find a place for him to do it. However I guess I mines well tell you now....he is going to make his TV debut on National TV!!! :)


So for the last 8 weeks or so we have been traveling everyday to Destin, FL for Finn to get the treatment. For brain injuries they do 40 "dives" at 17 below sea pressure and 100% oxygen.
We didn't know what would come of it but knew it was a door we couldn't leave closed.
So today Finn finished his treatment and today turned out to be a little different then the rest.
The Dr that treated Finn has been working with veterans the have tramatic brain injuries from things like road side bombs. These guys have served our country have been severally injuried and he is trying to get Medicare to cover HBOT for these guys. HBOT is covered by insurance for many different reasons but brain injury isn't one of them. So today when we got there the office was full of lights and a camera and people with a news crew. They filmed Finn and this veteran and did an interview with the dr.
When Finn was about to come out of the chamber the main man came over and thanked me for allowing him to film Finn. I said oh no problem. Then he said let me get you my card and reached in his wallet to get one but was having trouble finding it so I said oh don't worry about it. And he said No if I am putting your child on National News I want you to have my card. National news? I said wait "Who are you?" I thought you were the local news. He said oh no I am -- the producer of CBS Sunday Morning. I almost laughed! So he ended up giving me his card and telling me about his twins that his wife got a call she was pregnant with while interviewing Michelle Obama and that they had been living in an appt in Manhatten for 15yrs and were totally not expecting twins. We chatted a minute more and then Finn came out of the chamber. We packed up and left but they were getting ready for the interview with a lady named Rita and Dr.Zant. ANYWAY Finnemore will make his debut on National TV supposedly on the 15th. (8am central time I think) So you must watch!!!!! CBS SUNDAY MORNING
Funny was, this morning CAJ said what if Finn was part of what changed this for other babies like him to come. I laughed and said oh yea he is gonna be a star!!!
Little did I know he would be filmed for an interview that is airing Nation wide!!!! I thought the news that was coming was like the Destin Beach Comber LOL!

Aside from the fun day, we think Finn has benefitted from the treatments. Hopefully he will get to do another series of the dives at some point in the next year.

We have seen all kinds of brain issues being treated while we were there. Car wrecks, autism, brain bleeds, road side bombs, lime disease. While it's not a cure for these injuries everyone we met has seen improvement as well. Hopefully one day the FDA will recognize that this does help the brain also!

What a difference a year makes!!

Santa came and brought Finn a super cute Baby Baby Grand Piano!!! He also got a great swing for outside but of course I can't get the pic to upload but he loves both!!!

So as soon as Christmas was over it was on to Finnemore's first birthday! 12/30

What a wonderful fun day. We had a family lunch complete with a smash cake just for the birthday man himself. Let's just say he must have thought he was at the spa with a mud bath because he smeared greasy icing from top of his head to the bottom of his feet!!!! Loving every minute of it and he will now not need any lotion for a week!!!!

What a difference a year makes!!!

1. 35 and raining and this year 70 and crystal blue skies

2. In the bed at about 9pm and well we won't even say what time we called it a night this year!!!

3. No supper at all and The most fantastic beef tenderloin, lobster, twice baked casserole, salad and lots of Champagne!!!!

4. Finnemore was hours old a very sick angel fighting for his life and this year he is NOW 1 YEAR OLD and FULL of LIFE and ENERGY!!!

BRING ON 2012!!!!

Forgive the grey box I have no clue why this happens. But anyway having a cheese stick in his halloween costume. He loves these but can't eat them yet obviously b/c he only has 2 teeth! But he has full intentions of eating them one day!

Playing in his puffs at Lady's! You can tell from the blur of the pic he thought this was hilariously fun and couldn't stop laughing at the crunchy noise they made. Only at your grandmothers can you dump a box of cereal on the floor and play in it. He would pull them all out and she would collect them all up put them back in the box and they would do it all over again! Finally we just let him entertain the idea of eating them. And yes on the floor but it was clean and when your trying to get a kid to eat it, if the floor is clean then proceed! We were just thrilled he was interested in them!

I didn't want to jinx us so I have delayed posting but Finn has decided he likes food!!! YAY!!! We had just talked to the dr and he said we needed to see a feeding specialist. Then days later Finn got a high fever and was really sick for several days. Like 105 fever off and on for 4 days sick! Well would you know when he got over it he started eating like a big boy! Wierdest thing ever but it totally happened! We are very excited and he is getting fatter by the day! :) These pics are just with snack foods but he likes putting them in his mouth so they count!!! I have pics of him eating his daily cereal, oatmeal and fruits and veggies but they are probably only cute to his Mama b/c he is covered head to toe in his food. He loves to eat a bite and then explore what is going in his mouth. So I have learned to make about twice as much as I think he will actually want to eat!

Ah Vacation!

Well we are back! Rested and rejuvinated after a week in Costa Rica. Great fun with even better friends Kelley, Billy, Beth and Mike joined us. Don't think I have had that much fun in a long long time!

The highlight of the whole trip would have to be ziplining upside down and then Me catching an about 100lb Sailfish and CAJ catching a Bonita that might have been a foot long! BAHAHAHA! But he was a good sport he really went because I wanted to. It was on my Bucket List to catch one. However my feelings were hurt when I found out they are catch and release b/c I have no clue where it was going but I was totally mounting it on the wall somewhere. Just so you know all these mounts you see... they are FAKE they just make one to scale from a picture. Booo I'm not doing that. You can't tell from the picture but their sails are very pretty and irredescenty(sp?) blue!!! Oh and the final Highlight was a sweet card that Finn put on our bed with his little handprint painted inside!!!! I was amazed how big his hand has gotten.
We were very very lucky Lady, MeMe, and Alice all pitched in and kept the Finn Man. May never happen again but that's ok b/c I cherrished every minute just incase I am house bound from now on!

Football, Football, and More Football!

Apparently Caroline immediately questioned why in the world she bought huge WHITE glasses and Mom turned and pointed to the AU!!!! Can you say over the top! Hilarious!!!

Thanks Uncle Pete for the perfect Bulldog suit!!!

I guess they were playing Cheerleader! Who knows!!!

Pretty Dang Cute if I may say so myself!!!

Like Father Like Son! Got the laptop going!!!!

Football, Football, and More Football!!!!

It's that time of year and we are loving it! We have the best tickets for all the games and it's right here on our back deck! It's a gaurantee that we have our favorite tailgate foods and the Egg going every Saturday by lunch! Well even a little earlier the first several weeks, Auburn had those crack of dawn games! Yes I survived the loss against Auburn. Now if Bama loses someone else may not make it! He is counting on a trip to New Orleans first of January! WE SHALL SEE!!! I don't cheer against them I just like football in general so this divided house stays pretty cheerful no matter. We have been changing Finn's outfits for each game. But his cutest outfit of all was his Andy Bulldog outfit my Mom pulled out of the closet from when Uncle Pete was a lil fella!!!! Last weekend was Homecoming and I took him to the parade thinking he would be interested in the loud sirenes and the band but of course he fell asleep as it was about to start.

Oh and last weekend for homecoming they convinced me to participate in the Almuni Band at Half time! LOL!!! Sorry but no pictures of that you had to catch it when it was happening if you wanted that laugh!!!

Last Saturday was extra fun, Mom and Caroline came over b/c Dad was out of town and we had tons of fun. For those that haven't ever watched Auburn Football with my Mom, lets just say she gets way Crunk about it and the whole neighborhood can hear her cheering!(I guess anyone that had all 4 kids go to Auburn would be!) Plus she and Caroline together is always hilarious!!!

Now if the weather will just cool a touch the weekends at our house would be 100% perfecto!!
Happy Fall to You All!!!

Dr. Sugg

ok this is my post from last week it just took me a while to want to post it.

Well went to see Dr. Sugg today in Dothan.
He really didn't have anything new to say. He just said that Finn definetly has Cortical Blindness. Which means his eyes are good and healthy. However the connection in the brain is not. :( I knew deep down this is what he was going to say but you know the feeling you have when you left half a test blank and you go to get it back with fingers crossed she read imaginary answers when she graded yours! That's how I felt. I had fingers crossed, that maybe he had just learned something new the night b/f that I had not heard about yet! But he had not.

There is a good and bad side to it.

Good side is that like everything else in Finnemore's life it will take time to see the final result, he had a HUGE injury that is going to take lots of time and therapy to heal. So we will always have HOPE that, that part of his brain just hasn't recovered Yet! Or that some Genius will invent a electronic device like they have for hearing!!! But the bad side is that there isn't glasses, surgery etc that can fix it today.

I am encouraged b/c his eyes have improved in that they no longer move in crazy ways(there is a medical term for this but I can't remember). They used to bounce or flicker side to side really fast, and roll way up and down. He also has sensativity to light. Which they say means he knows day from night.

Deep down Yes of course I want him to see but I just don't let myself think about it and we just work everyday assuming that he is still healing and tomorrow may be the day. And for now I have big plans to get the cool dude a piano and plan for him to be a Big time music artist and take care of his Momma and Daddy one day! CAJ is going to drive his bus and I am going to be incharge of his wardrobe! We have to keep it light around here to keep ourselves positive!

BUT in all seriousness just please keep praying that his vision will improve, I would love nothing more than for to react to something in front of him, especially Me or his Daddy.