Our Vacation!

Well, we survived our first official family vacation! BARELY. :)

We had a really great time and of course, knowing us, we had a few mishaps....

We began the week in Vero Beach, Florida where Renzi had a conference he needed to attend. We rented a cute condo in an area called Sea Oaks. It was a very short walk to the beach and we were told we had access to the pool and tennis and beach club. The first day we were there we packed up our beach bags and headed to swim at the pool and the beach. Unfortunately, when we got to the pool we were told that unless you were potty trained you couldn't get in the pool. EVEN if you had a swim diaper on! So, we scrapped the pool and went straight to the beach. Jackson was loving playing in the "sand box," but he was very wary of the ocean. Isaiah on the other hand, LOVED the ocean and loved eating the sand. EEK!

The next few days it rained torrential rains in Vero Beach....so were were pretty much stuck inside. We did venture out for lunch and got totally soaked. It was really fun though and the boys laughed and had so much fun together in the new double side by side stroller I bought for the trip.

On Saturday, when Renzi finished his conference, we packed up the mini van we rented (yes, I said mini-van) and headed to Ft. Lauderdale where we stayed at the fabulous vacation home of Kathy Taylor and Bill Loebeck. They were so gracious to open their home to us and it was absolutely breathtaking. They lived downtown right near the beach and their house backs up to the Inter coastal Waterway so there were amazing boats that passed our house all day every day. The house had a pool and a hot tub which we loved! Jackson even decided he liked swimming!

We got to spend time with Ginny and Dave who flew in from D.C. and Jackson and Isaiah loved spending time with "Nee and Diddy." They were so helpful to us while we were there and we even got to go out on a grown up date with them Tuesday night. We went to the new W hotel and ate at 954 steakhouse which was right on the beach and was awesome.

There was a little bit of sadness while we were on vacation though. Sunday when Isaiah woke up he just wasn't acting right and seemed to be running a mild fever. We kept a close eye on him and after his afternoon nap when Ginny was holding him he had a grand mal seizure. This one lasted 4.5 minutes and we had to give him Diastat to stop it. It was particularly upsetting because this was his first seizure in over 3 months. We called the neurologist on call and they suggested we go to the ER to diagnose why he may have had a seizure. Renzi and I drove to Broward County Hospital (ironically, this was the exact hospital where Renzi was born!) and the nurses and doctors there were awesome. We got right in and right away we found that Isaiah did in fact have a fairly high temperature. After the doctor came and saw him he was diagnosed with a right ear infection and sinus infection. The doctor also said the tube in Isaiah's right ear was slanting sideways, thus, the reason for the ear infection. Renzi and I were thankful to know that we knew what had caused the seizure and were glad it wasn't just a fluke seizure. We opted to have the 3 day dose of rocehpen antibiotic in a shot for Isaiah just so we could make sure we nipped the infection in the bud. This meant for the following 2 days we would have to bring him back to the hospital for the shot, but we didn't mind doing that.

After speaking to our neurologist, she was a little disturbed that Isaiah had a breakthrough seizure because his medicine should prevent the breakthrough seizures even when he is sick. She upped his dose of zonasamide and we will discuss this and other issues regarding Isaiah with her on Tuesday when we have our next appointment with her. The Zonasamide seems to make Isaiah very very fussy, so I am guessing that we may have to try a new medication. He is also almost finished being weaned from the Clonazapam so that could also be contributing to his fussiness and breakthrough seizures.

Despite all of this, we still had a wonderful vacation and it was good for everyone to get out and see the sun for a few days. We ask for continued prayers for Isaiah and for the right medication. We also ask for prayers for his sleep and fussiness. We know that we will figure this all out, we are just taking it one at at time still and continuing to put all of our faith in God. We know he is with us every step of the way.

Much love!

Lee Anne