My friend, Kenny, passed away peacefully at the hospital. Emily was able to be with him at the end. Over the last few days he was awake and able to communicate with Emily. She made sure he knew they all loved him so much and that they would be okay.
I'll never forget the first time I met Kenny. I was living in Cedar City and down in Vegas visiting Katey and Emily. Kenny was pursuing Emily and he was coming over to their place for a visit. I was standing in their living room when Kenny came over. I remember this huge guy coming in the front door and making a bee line right to me. I said hi and he responded with a giant bear hug! I could hear Emily panic a bit as she said, "Oh! Courtney doesn't really do hugs!" Kenny continued the hug and as he pulled away told me that he needed me to like him. He felt like he needed my approval so Emily would date him. In all honesty it wasn't hard to give Kenny my stamp of approval. He was genuinely kind and caring. He had the best dance moves and a fantastic (albeit kinda dirty) sense of humor! He made it his mission to make sure I was comfortable (by being uncomfortable) and always felt welcome in Vegas with their group of friends. [I don't know if you know this about me, but I don't have a lot of friends] He wanted to help me break out of my bubble. He would sit very close to me or stand very close to me when we talked. He always made me feel safe and I'll always love him for that.
Rest in peace, my friend. Don't worry, we'll take good care of your family. They are so loved.
[Emily and Kenny]
[Kenny and Emily dancing at our wedding]
[Kason, Kenny, and Emily at their wedding]
[Kenny and Emily at Katey and Paul's wedding]
[Goobers]
[Such a beautiful family!]
I'll be flying out to Utah next week for the funeral.
Monday, December 4th:
Theo and I went to Peoria to see one of our favorite doctors, Dr. Steve with Ophthalmology. He checked Theo's eyes and determined that Theo's prescription was good for now. He was also happy to report that Theo's eyes were responding symmetrically, which means he sees the same out of both eyes. Theo's left eye does still wander a bit, but he isn't too worried about that. Dr. Steve said that he can fix it, but it's not a priority right now. We will see him again in June for a dilated visit.
Theo had three observable seizures today.
Tuesday, December 5th:
After I put Theo on the bus, I went and finished my strength training series. It's a 12 week program with 3-4 workouts a week. It's tough, but this is the second time I've gone through it and I can tell how much stronger I am. I was able to lose fat while gaining muscle. I'm going to do a round of PiYo next which will help me maintain my muscles and then I'll figure out what strength training I want to do next!
[Finally the Village sent guys over to trim our trees]
Josh went back to the dentist to have a chipped tooth fixed and Theo had a great day at school. A lady came and evaluated Theo for a speech device. After the evaluation Theo's speech therapist called me to tell me how he did. She was so excited to report that Theo cooperated AND was able to show off a bit with the devices. They tried a visual device, but Theo didn't like it. He did really well with the buttons and choices on the iPad. She said that the lady will come back two more times and they will try the visual device again.
After school I took Theo to High Hopes for PT/OT. Theo didn't have horseback riding lessons today since it's the end of his 8 week session. We signed up for another 8 weeks, so we'll see Sherman again next week!
Theo had eight observable seizures today.
Wednesday, December 6th:
Theo went to school and Josh headed to work. Josh's job is wrapping up and they are getting ready for a few more tricky tie-ins that will happen next week.
After school Ms. Jen came over for feeding therapy. Theo is being stubborn again and doesn't want to eat anything. It's a battle, but we'll get there.
Sara sent Josh a couple pictures of her and Brodee! It sounds like they are doing well in Kingman.
Theo had six observable seizures today.
Thursday, December 7th:
Theo went to school and then I took him to OT with Ms. Laura. He usually works hard for Ms. Laura because he knows he gets to go on the swing at the end of their session!
After OT, Josh, Theo, and I went up to the Christkindlmarket in Aurora. We usually go to the market in Ottawa, but my favorite hot chocolate place (Bob's Belgian) was going to be in Aurora this year, so we decided to try that market out. By the time we got to Aurora it was dark, but that just made the market more magical!
It was fun to walk around, check out the booths, and get some delicious food! We got raclette, hot chocolate, and frites with mayo (just like Belgium). Theo slept through most of it, but Josh and I had fun!
After exploring the market and getting our delicious food, we headed home to watch the Lakers take on the Pelicans.
We won, so we are going to the Championship of the first NBA In-Season Tournament!
Theo had five observable seizures today.
Friday, December 8th:
Theo had another great day at school! The speech evaluator came back and they tried using the visual device again. They said Theo did fantastic and they are going to look into getting a device for him to use in the classroom!
After school I took Theo to PT with Ms. Cody.
Theo had six observable seizures today.
Today is also my dad's 65th birthday! My mom threw him a party in CA and it looked like they had a great time! Happy birthday dad!
Weekend:
I caught Theo's cold over Thanksgiving, but it didn't last long. I had a small cough and a runny nose for just a few days. The following week I started to get really bad sinus and ear pressure. I can usually take meds, use a heating pad, and do facial massages and it will go away, but this time the pressure got worse. I finally caved and saw the doctor on Saturday. Turns out I have an ear infection. Hopefully the meds will help clear it up before I fly out to Utah next week.
This giant iceberg, A23A, is 1500 square miles and broke off of the same area as A57A, the iceberg we saw in Antarctica back in 2018! A57A was only 55 square miles and we thought it was HUGE!
On Saturday, we watched the Lakers beat the Pacers in the first In-Season Tournament! LeBron James was named MVP and it was a fantastic game!
Now we'll see if the Lakers can hold it together through the rest of the season!
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