Doozy of a month

This last month's been a little crazy. We've had 5 people on antibiotics for strep throat, Tyler had a major surgery to correct his Pectus Excavatum (funnel chest) and spent 5 days in the hospital, Melynda came to visit and ended up spending a weekend in jail for an unpaid driving without privileges ticket, then Stephen had a birthday, then we got hit with croup/colds, a flu like thing with throwing up, fevers, and diarrhea. We've also been potty training, homeschooling, and trying to keep the house from falling apart. :)

Out of all that, the only thing I feel like writing more about is Tyler's surgery. The rest can just be forgotten. (Except Stephen's birthday, but that was pretty uneventful.) 

Tyler has done AMAZING.  It is a genetic "birth defect" (they think) basically the cartilage in his chest grows disproportionately with the inside growing faster than the outside causing it to pull in. It put pressure on his heart which put pressure on his lungs. The surgery entailed 3 inch incisions under each arm. Then they put a steel bar in and "pop" it, breaking the sternum. The bar stays in for 3-4 years. Kind of like braces, but they force the movement all at once, then leave it to heal in place.His left lung was about 1/3 collapsed and his breathing capacity improved 25% almost immediately when they put the bar in. (It would be like breathing through a straw your whole life. It's not ideal, but if you didn't know better, you'd deal with it.) Usually people notice the condition as kids start puberty, around 11-13, but Tyler has had it since birth and it's just gotten worse as he got older.  

His recovery is going great, he's down to 1-2 of the narcotic pain pills per day, from 4. He's mostly bored that he can't do ANYTHING. Basically nothing for 3 months, then limited activity until 6 months, so he won't be able to ride a bike or scooter or jump on the trampoline until Halloween, which is forever away.