update

It's been a while since I've written...it's hard to write with a hurt tailbone.  I hurt it about 3 weeks ago, and well...it's hard to sit.

Anyway, Russell is doing AWESOME!  He started going up and down the stairs-WALKING, not crawling-2 weeks ago, and is a pro now!  I had decided that he would not walk up or down stairs until the cast was off, because I thought he couldn't get his legs up high enough with the cast on, but he sure proved me wrong. 

He seems stronger in a lot of areas lately.  He can open Ziploc bags, marker lids, and is doing better all around with his grip.  We're also thinking that the reason he has a hard time throwing balls, is because how tight his cast is around his shoulder and armpit.   I think he doesn't have all his shoulder rotation.

He can stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything.  He's really doing amazing.

We still haven't heard from Shriner's hospital since he had the testing done at PCMC for his nervous system and muscles. Since it's been 6 weeks, I'm starting to think I may call them. ;)

Last week, we had an interesting couple of days with Russell.  We were down in Utah to visit family, and on Friday morning, he woke up with hives.  As the day went on, they just got worse and worse.  Huge welts were on his legs, arms and bottom.  Around the bottom of his cast he had welts that went all the way around his torso.  And he was sad and itchy.  I took him into Instacare, and they said he was having an allergic reaction to something.  I can't imagine how that itching felt under that cast.  I just felt so bad for him.  But once we got him on a steroid and benadryl, they started getting better/going away.  However, the next day, we went for a walk outside and after about 15 min, he started coughing.  I looked and could see what looked like hives inside his mouth, and he had some new ones on his neck, arms, and legs.  We went back home, gave him some more steroid and benadryl and once again they started going away.  So now, the question is, what's he allergic to?  It seemed like a serious reaction to me, so I really want to know.  He finished up a round of amoxicillin two days before he got the hives, and they're saying that's the most likely culprit.  He had some antibiotics in Jan too, but had no reaction then.  However, they're saying that doesn't mean he doesn't have an allergy to penicillin now.  I also looked up the pollen counts (on the great advice of my m-i-l) and they were really high for cottonwood, maple and cedar while we were down there.  I wonder about the pollen because it seemed to be worse on our walk.  We have an appt with the dr tomorrow (Wed), so hopefully we get some answers.

Now the hives are almost completely gone.  Yea!