Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Ups and Downs of 2010

There is a crazy song on Yo! Gabba! Gabba! that is all "Up, up, up, up...down, down, down, down" while a rocket floats up in the sky and then drops back down. It's an easy song to learn (two words!), and you'll find yourself singing along. Here's a link to it:

That's what 2010 was like for the Russell Family. Up, up, up we went as we our family of three became a family of four. How wonderful that was, is, and always will be!

In June, our rocket dropped as Logan became sick. His appetite was weak, and when he did eat...well, he didn't get to keep it. He began losing weight, and over about a three month period, he would lose around 40 pounds. We visited our family doctor, and Arkansas Childrens Hospital. No one could pin down his problem. Since we had been to China, our first thought was that Logan had picked up a parasite. But that test came back negative. However, we thought, that had to be a false negative. It was just too coincidental that we returned from a foreign country and in a few weeks had a sick child.

In July, his appendix became inflamed, and with some relief, we thought that was the answer. He had his appendix removed, and did feel better, but that wasn't the end.




In October, Logan became worse, and spent a week in Arkansas Childrens Hospital. Finally, though, we had an answer. Logan has Crohn's Disease. His inflamed appendix was a reaction to the Crohn's. A dose of Remicade (a scary "biological" drug delivered intravenously) brought his Crohn's under control. An infusion every eight weeks now keeps it under control.

The great thing is that our up, up, up 2010 rocket only went down a little. Logan is feeling better, and now we're only a little worried (instead of really worried) about the long-term effects of Remicade. We are very thankful for modern medicine, God's help, and for two terrific children.




It makes you want to say "Yo! Gabba! Gabba!"