Our Trip to Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston.

Flying on the plan was very interesting with Mark.He was very aware of all his surroundings and sitting still for that amount of time was not very relaxing for him.We apologized before hand about his behaviour.He was lifting the shade up and down and drumming on his tray table.I think some people probably wished they had a parachute to escape with.

Finally I pulled out some of his homework and that kept him busy for a while until the decent and then of course his ears started hurting.Oh My..... I felt so sorry for the poor guy.I pulled out some Motrin and that seemed to work after a while.

The car service was waiting downstairs for us and drove us to the hotel.We caught a train and walked a little to the Aquarium Restuarant. What an experience. There was a huge fish tank in the middle of the restuarant.
I think it was 150 000 gallons.Don't quote me on that.Dinner was amazing.The food was incredible.It was quite a feet to keep the boys in their seats to eat dinner.They were constantly looking at the fish.

Dr Harris had orders for Broc to be protected in public places.He had to wear his mask mainly in the airport and hospital.It did help that he saw other children with masks on too.

Mix and Cara this is for you two. The boys really loved this one.

Surprisingly Houston is really safe.We walked back to the train station and then caught the train back to the hotel.Poor Broc was not very happy that we didn't bring his stroller so we carried him part of the way.

Day 1.

We had to be up bright and early the next morning.The first day many of us were in different interviews all day.We did break for lunch.The boys were so happy that there was a Subway so they could eat a cheese sandwhich for lunch everyday.

I also had my MRI late in the afternoon.The tech asked me please to stay awake but that never happened.So he kindly left me to sleep and then woke me up and said okay you have to stay awake for the next 15 minutes.
Once that was done we hopped back on the shuttle to the hotel. We had dinner at Olive Garden that night.We tried to eat at places that was close to the hotel and we could catch the shuttle bus.The boys loved that.

 The fountain inside the lunch room.The boys could stare at this for ages.

 This is the fish tank that the boys watched and also how they spent there time waiting for mommy.Daddy read lots of books and chased boys around all day.I was in most of the interviews either about myself or one of the boys.
 
Day 2.

We were up bright and early again to catch the shuttle bus to the hospital.We had more interviews.Mommy had a 3 hour interview that included a huge cup of white moca. Little Mark also had his MRI that day.He was a champ.Daddy said that he saw his feet falling lower and lower until he was asleep.We also had our skin biopsy done.The boys were so great.They just sat there and let the Dr do his work.They put on a numbing cream for 1/2 hour before hand so we never felt anything.I was really expecting the worse.
That day we went to Kroger and bought dinner.Mommy had sushi and the men had fried chicken.It was great to sit and home(hotel room) and watch a movie.We had a lovely hotel room with a kitchen,family room and 2 bedrooms and bathrooms.

Day 3.

Up bright and early again.By this time we had made many friends on the shuttle bus including the bus drivers.It was really nice cause each person had some sort of medical "issue" going on or new someone that had one so we could all relate to each other.

Everyone was really surprised at how much Broc has been through and what he still has to deal with. Mommy was in another 4 hour long interview while the boys were having their 4D pictures taken.They had fun taking pictures.Mark and I had the much anticipated feedback with all the counselors.We learned a lot about the boys and many things we knew already.

Dx for the boys:

Both boys have possible ADHD and Disruptive Behavior Disorder. We are seeing the ped for a full evaluation for that.The counselor said that even if they don't have it then they are at least have tendencies so we need to tweak a few things to make life easier for them and us.We will also pass these helpful hints onto their babysitters and teachers.

Broc was given the dx of Developmental Co-ordination Disorder.We are not sure yet how to help him with that one.We were told that there maybe a possibility that he had a stroke during one of his heart surgeries and that could have caused the delay.Needless to say that day was very tiring.

 Our Simons VIP Team who took great care of us.

 Mark practising his numbers and letters.

 The "cows". They were all over the hospital.

 

 The Texas Childrens Hospital - where we spent our 3 days of testing and interviews.

 Another lovely fountain that we drove passed everyday.
We decided to eat at a very nice restuarant our last evening.The name sounded very nice but when the driver dropped us off we thought he had the wrong address.We saw all the wonderful food on peoples plates when we walked in so decided to stay.Oh My the food was YUMMY and very inexpensive too.Mommy had crab and daddy had shrimp with Buddy.Mark ordered chicken tenders.

Our last day we wanted to do something fun with the boys.We heard that the Zoo was fairly close.We had the shuttle drop us there until around noon.We had a great day.We saw many African animals,a seal lion show,many frogs and snakes and some animals and birds that we have never heard of.The best part was the admission was free as we have a membership to the zoo near us and they are partners.It was very hot too so we enjoyed sno cones at the end.
The shuttle came to pick us up around noon and we headed back to the hotel to meet the car and then off to the airport.Both the boys slept all the way home.What a great trip.
Please enjoy all the pictures of the animals and birds.

We even found a "cow" at the airport.
If anyone has any questions about things that happened in Houston or about the boys dx's please feel free to ask.