The Past Few Weeks, Including Last Day of Kindergarten

In case you missed it, Travis tested negative for Cdiff (the nasty bacteria that landed T in the hospital) when his lab work was done last week. Travis' liver enzymes were good enough for Travis to resume taking  rapamycin starting last Friday.

Travis joined his classmates for a few hours the last day of Kindergarten back on June 4th. He was excited to see his classmates, teacher, and classroom aids again; and they were all excited to see Travis too. T's Kindergarten teacher was amazing and we are so thankful and grateful for her. T made great strides in her class, both in learning and confidence. She understands T and has many options for learning, even away from school. Thank you Ms. Carla!! Since Travis' energy level started dropping after 45 minutes in the morning, I took him home to rest so he could rejoin his classmates for the fun activities at the end of the school day.

Barrett, Travis, and Nolan before the last day of school

Travis at school before his last day of Kindergarten

Travis returned to school in time for the fun end of Kindergarten activities. Each Kindergartner had an autograph book for their classmates, fellow Kindergartners, teachers, classroom aides, etc to sign. Then it was bubble time also out on the Kindergarten playground.

Bubble fun

After bubbles, the class went back to their room for end of school year announcements and winners of the Ken Garff reading folder prize drawing. Travis' name was drawn as one of the 2 grand prize winners. He won a gift certificate good for a bike, scooter, or iPod shuffle. Travis chose a blue iPod since he has his great Shriners bike and Cars scooter. Although Travis was pretty tired at the end of the school day (early release even), he felt good enough to go pick out his prize.

Travis' blue iPod shuffle he won

The last day of school fell on a Tuesday and we spent the rest of the week doing small adventures to help build Travis' energy level back up. Even a quick trip to the local branch library on Wednesday wore him out enough to take a 3 hour nap.

The next week brought Kingdom Rock Vacation Bible School at our church, Christ United Methodist Church. Travis had fun participating as an older kid this year and loved his crew leader Alicia (sorry Sarah, she filled in for Alicia the last 2 days when Alicia was traveling with the Wesley Bell Choir). Travis loved dancing and singing all the fun songs we learned throughout the week.

Since Travis tested negative for Cdiff and his energy is returning, we hit the water park on Monday that is part of our pass of all passes and the zoo on Wednesday. Travis enjoyed the wave pool and learned that sitting with mom on a tube in the lazy river is lots of fun also. Thank you to Kim and Rita for your help at the water park.

Travis, Nolan and Barrett with Rizzo the polar bear at Hogle Zoo

Travis continues to have leg and back pain where he wants his "pink medicine" ibuprofen most days. Taking ibuprofen daily can create other issues; however, we talked with Travis' docs and the dose he gets is less than the recommended dose and also less often. Travis is also asking for me to rub his back more often, sometimes it's about 30-45 minutes throughout the course of a day. He also commented his bed is too hard and he liked the soft hospital bed. There may be things we can do to his bed to help out.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. T's doctors continue to keep a close eye on him and how things are going.