Last Friday night was the annual Father/Son Campout with our Ward at church. We did not get to go last year since we went on a family campout with some friends that weekend, so I was looking forward to going this time around. I know that Nate always has a good time camping and being with his buddies. Also, it was exciting this time because for the first time William was able to go with us! Will loves camping, too, and we even got Grandpa to join us so it was a true Father/Son experience.

So this year the camp was not too far from home - at Little Avalon park near Lake Lavon. It was really only about 15 or 20 minutes from the house, so not too bad. We got there and began setting up the tent right away. It wasn't until it was all set up that Nate spots some poison ivy nearby. Then we started looking around and noticed more..... and more ... and well, you get the picture. It was ALL OVER the place near our tent. There was two grassy areas at our camp site, separated by a driveway. So I walked accross the drive to the other grassy area and noticed there really was not any poison ivy over there, so I decided it would be worth it to take the tent down and move it. Since people were still just arriving anyway, I figured we had some time.

So after setting the tent back up, we cooked dinner. We just had some burgers and hot dogs, nothing too fancy - after all, it's camping right? After dinner, the scouts put on a program with some skits and a spiritual message. It was quite nice actually. The only bad part was having to sit and get swarmed by mosquitos the entire time. Man, the mosquitos were bad! All of us got chewed up, even after putting on a bunch of repellant.

But the real fun came that night after we went to bed. We didn't put the fly on the tent because it was so hot, I wanted to allow some air to flow. Also I had checked the weather the day before and it was not supposed to rain until the next day in the afternoon. So I figured we were safe. We went to sleep around 11pm and all was good .... until about 3am. The noise of sprinkes woke me up and then I felt the drops on my face. Great, I thought. So I went outside and strugged for a bit trying to get the fly on the tent in the dark, as the rain started to come down a bit more and the winds were picking up. I finally got it on when the winds and rain really picked up and one of the stakes holding the tent down came out since the ground had gotten so wet. Since the stake would not stay in the ground, the fly was not very secure on the sides of the tent and water started coming in on the sides. I struggled with this for about an hour, getting drenched outside because by now it was DUMPING rain and we were in the middle of a classic Texas thunderstorm. Finally I got it to stay somewhat secure and came inside. It continued to rain the rest of the night and into the morning. The kids stayed dry luckly, as the water coming in really only got the floor of the tent wet around the sides. There were a few drips coming down from the top but we managed to avoid those areas.

Come to find out the next morning, several people left - those who were looking up weather reports on their iPods and saw what was coming! I never really thought about leaving, though, especially after it had already started raining a ton and it would have been more work to take everything down in the rain and try to get the kids to the car. Raechal called during the storm to check on us and scared me for a minute because she said the worst stuff was coming, and I noticed the wind pick up a bit after that but luckily the tent stayed in tact! I wasn't going to leave unless it blew over or something. Besides, it was kind of fun. It was a fun experience and gives us some memories we can look back on and laugh about.

I wish I had some pictures to post but we did not take the camera. But it was a great experience to spend some time with the boys and my Dad and we really had fun just hanging out for a little while. I'm not sure how many of the wet campouts I want to go on in the future, though!

Things have sure been crazy in the life of William lately. A couple weeks before we left to go on our vacation, William got very very sick and ended up with beginning pneumonia in his right lung and ANOTHER sinus infection. (This made #4 since the beginning of the year!) Our pediatrician sent us back to the pulmonologist for another opinion, and it wasn't great. I got quite and earful from the nurse practitioner about why I had not been giving him his preventative breathing treatments and why he never had a follow-up swallow study after he finished his vital-stim last summer. The reason we were not giving William breathing treatments was because when he finished his vital-stim last summer, he was doing FANTASTIC! We really thought he was all done with aspiration and lung issues. Also, his preventative treatments were making him CRAZY! He was getting so destructive and aggressive from them. He also would not rest well. What child can improve if they cannot rest! He never had a follow-up swallow study because the pulmonologist said he was not going to do any more. His words were, "We are going to treat William symptomatically." (Hence the reason we had not been back to the pulmonologist since July'08. Sam and I were very frustrated at that decision. How would we know if the vital-stim worked!)

Well, after feeling like the world's worst parent, the nurse told us to come back in 6 weeks for another evaluation. HOWEVER, if William got sick again before the end of the 6 weeks, they would want to see him right away. Famous Last Words! On our drive home from Florida, Sunday morning, William wakes up with a horrible bout of croup. We were so glad he made it all the way through our trip to enjoy it, but also very concerned. William spiraled downhill from there. I continually called the pulmonologist office to let them know what was going on, but they were too busy. I was madder than a hornet when all was said and done. William ended up in the pediatrician's office twice that week with severe asthma and low oxygen levels. They thought he had pneumonia again, but luckily his x-rays came back with fluid, but no infection. We definitely have now confirmed that William HAS asthma. As much as I was in denial about it, that it would go away, or never truly existed, I could not hide any longer that my son needs his treatments to stay somewhat healthy. My ideas that all his lung issues would clear up if he was no longer aspirating were wrong. His lungs have had so much fluid, of all kinds, dumped into them that it makes good sense that they would be damaged. William's highest fever during this spell was 102.7, which miraculously cured itself after 1 breathing treatment, never to return.

After all was said and done, William finally did have his follow-up swallow study, which turned out fantastic! I was thrilled! He did have a little trace penetration, but nothing like we have seen in the past. The radiologist and speech pathologists agreed that we should thicken his drinks still when he is sick or starting to cough with his liquids. They also really feel like he is still having reflux issues. They told me that his reflux will make his lungs worse more than his aspiration alone. (We have yet to hear from the pulmonologist on the results of the study.) Also, when William had his 2nd visit to his pediatrician, in the same week after we came home, the pediatrician recommended having William tested for Cystic Fibrosis. He told me it is highly unlikely that William has it, but he just wants to make sure he leaves no stone unturned in trying to get William on a healthy track. I am very grateful for that! We will see how William does over the next few weeks. As for now, he is finally doing better, just slowly increasing his activity level. After he has been sick, it takes him a while to get back up to speed.