PASS THE XANAX AND VODKA INSTEAD, PLEASE

Update: Shortly after doing his cough treatment yesterday, Colby went ahead and said the Y we were waiting for. So it took him approximately 50 minutes to say the letters in his name. But wait! It gets better. Today I let Colby play hooky from school. Shhhh, don't tell. Usually I would never do this. However, I didn't want him getting in and out of the cold for both school and swimming, so I decided on swimming. He missed swimming last week, and I didn't want him missing again. Here's the deal I made with Colby. Do your morning routine, i.e. cough treatments, get dressed, washed up, fed, etc. Then let's get out the eye gaze. Spell the letters in your name first thing, then you can do whatever you want, sweet obstinate boy, the rest of the time. Holy frick, it was a nightmare. We set up his eye gaze at 10:15, and by 12:15 the only letter he had said was C. Two hours, one letter. Lots of tears, but not lots of letter choosing. Then we got ready and went swimming. Colby did a great job. I love to watch him kick those legs in the water. Got home. Set up his eye gaze again, and said ok Colby, you need to finish saying the letters in your name. More tears. Whatever, Colby, just freakin' do what we asked you to do and be DONE with it. Forty-five minutes later, for a total of almost 3 hours of time, Colby FINALLY said the letters in his name. Is this kid ridiculous or what? We're going to keep at it. I'll either break him of his stubbornness on eye gaze, or he'll break me of having the will to live. Either way, he will spell his name on that thing.

Not much else going on around here today. Went through my mountain of mail finally. I now have 7 little piles sitting neatly on the kitchen table. Didn't do anything at all with the piles yet. Don't rush me. That'll be one of tomorrow's chore while Colby is at school, along with doing follow-up calls about that Neocate Jr. we're still waiting to hear about.

So Colby's nurse and I were discussing today we thought his trach felt a little "tight". Just a little resistance when you suctioned his trach. Decided to go ahead and do a trach change, even though he's not due for another week. Good thing we did, it was nasty! I was shocked to see such a giant mess of yuck in there. No wonder the kid has had such problems taking breaks off his vent the last couple of days. Poor bubba. I think it's because of the furnace running so much and the air being so dry. I have another humidifier around here somewhere. Time to get it out, clean it up and get it running.

I know it's redundant to say how cold it is. It's cold every-freakin'-where, and the weather is certainly something you can never change. But dammit, I just can't get warmed up tonight. I've got on gym socks, fuzzy socks, fleece pj bottoms, fleece pj top and a sweatshirt on top of that and am still freezing. Poor Colby, my hands are like ice cubes. Can't wait to crawl in bed under my electric blankie. Actually it's just a blanket right now. Found the blanket and put it on my bed, but can't find the remotes, haha. I've also sneezed around 50 times today, and that's usually not a good sign. Time to break out the Emergen-C in the morning I do believe. But now it's time to tuck Colby in and get me in bed also. Swimming days just wear us out. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to report Colby spelled his name, Neocate Jr. has been shipped and the temperature will be above 20 sometime soon. Ah, who am I kidding, dream on, right?