New Year's Eve Fun and Proof My Kid is Full of It

Even though it was sort of nice staying close to home for the second part of the Christmas break, especially after Jacob's surgery, it became apparent as the week went on that we needed a change of scenery.  Even though Jacob had gotten a thumbs up from the surgeon's office and we had a possible aid for his chronic sleep issues (via a prescription for Hydroxyzine), it was still clear that he'd probably had too much couch time and too much time to overthink, because he seemed to be struggling mentally.  We decided that getting out of the house and getting a distraction would probably be good for all of us, but especially him.  We had previously discussed going to a St. Bonaventure basketball game because Craig's color commentator for home Knighthawks games works those games as well.  There was a game on New Year's Eve afternoon and we decided that would be a good way to spend the day.  

Originally we had talked about routing back through Buffalo on the way home and maybe spending New Year's Eve night with my parents, but it was actually only a half hour shorter drive and I suppose after the nightmare that was Christmas Eve, it just felt safer (mentally and physically) to come back home.  But two hours there and back felt like a bit of a hike, yet I felt like the mental break was worth it.  

Well, we didn't have the best start.  Jacob wanted to get some treatment with his trainer that morning.  That was at 10am, meaning that they wouldn't be back until at least 11:15, and we were ideally needing to leave by no later than 11:30.  Well, of course that didn't happen because of needing to eat lunch, so we didn't get going until two hours before the game (which is how long it takes to get there) and Craig still needed to get gas.  Then we had a couple disagreements/misunderstandings with the GPS that took even more time, so in the end we didn't get there until closer to 2:20, and they were well into the first half by the time we got to our seats.  It wasn't a terrible drive but it felt like it took forever.  I don't know how my old boss does most of that drive multiple times a week to go to Alfred, which is truly in the middle of nowhere.  Olean isn't much better.  But at least we got there. 

Interestingly, I had been in that gym nearly 30 years ago.  When I was in high school there was a foreign language fair held there, and while I participated two years (and got ribbons for both!), I remember going there in person at least one year.  It felt so cool to be on a college campus and eat from their Taco Bell Express cart (ha!) out in what I assume was a student union type space in another part of the building.  Part of the fair was in the gym and I remember being in the "pit" on the floor, or so it likely appeared with the lower seats pushed in.  I remember seeing all the banners, so I knew that's actually where they played.  However, my biggest takeaway from that experience was how out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere the school was, which was only made worse by a school bus with horrible shocks.

The game experience was interesting.  It was clearly much better basketball than we're used to watching.  One of Bona's best players is a Rochester charter school kid, and there's another kid who didn't really play but went to Bishop Kearney around when Jacob was in middle school there.  It was cool seeing a couple teams that could make it to the March Madness tournament.  I like going to U of R games, but this was definitely a notch up both in quality of play and importance.  The crowd support was great--we suspect a lot of locals and a good number of alumni, especially this time of year when students are on break and they still managed a reasonably full building.  They did a handful of promotions and the game experience was pretty fun overall.
   

I laughed when I looked back and saw this picture of the mascot during a timeout.  It reminded me of the jokes out there as people hold a couple melons in a "suggestive" manner!

It was really nice to be there doing something fun as a family, as it felt like we hadn't done anything quite like that in a long time.  

This level of basketball is definitely different.  The level of play was really impressive.  I'm also so fascinated by how they create a special time-out huddle circle on the court instead of just gathering closer to the bench.  I remember that from when we went to see games in Buffalo three years ago, but it always strikes me as odd to go to that extra effort to create an entirely different huddle area after watching lots of high school games where they simply gather near the bench.

It turned out to be an amazing game.  It was close throughout and the lead went back and forth the entire game.  As the end neared, Bona got possession of the ball at a critical time after a review, and Melvin Council Jr., the Rochester guy, took the ball in, did a great move, and scored to give Bona a late lead.  I took video of the last three seconds after that:

It was such a great win, and after watching a bunch of losses at the start of Jacob's season, it was refreshing to be on the winning end.

Celebrations and handshakes

Bonaventure exiting the court

We headed down closer to the court so Craig could say hi to his friend.  

Then we got called down all the way to the floor.  It was neat to be down there and look up to see all the banners.  The court is named after Bob Lanier, a Buffalo-born player who went to Bonaventure, went on to play in the NBA, and got voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.  

We also found out after the game that a certain local private high school would love to have Jacob there.  Of course, that came on the heels of finding out that him switching schools could be almost impossible, but we're hoping we might be able to find a couple loopholes based on our concerns with the education and the negative impacts of having to skip another basketball season (due to the transfer rules, since we can't afford to move to a new district).  Missing a season (especially after missing most of this one) would be super detrimental both for his mental health and his recruiting prospects for college, which could directly impact his ability to afford college at all.  We feel like the school might know some ways to work around those challenges, so we might just need to have a chat there sometime soon.  It's a big mess that is definitely weighing on him, but good to know someone might really want him.  I can tell he's getting to that point of no return, where once he's ready to close a door, there is absolutely no way to stop him.  He's over the school and really doesn't even want to be involved with the basketball team at this point, so he's disassociating rapidly...yet he has nowhere else to go, so that's posing a fundamental problem.  Hopefully we can figure that out soon.

The entire Bonaventure experience definitely got his wheels turning and actually gave him hope he could play for a lower D-I school once he gets himself healthy, back in shape, and working on his strength and agility the way he was before all of his health challenges.  It was nice to see him feeling positive for a change.

We wrapped things up and headed out with the Happy New Year greeting on the scoreboard sending us off.

It was still light outside when we left, but between the drizzle, Jacob's leg, parking traffic, and the impending darkness on our drive home, we couldn't really explore.  It's an interesting campus with a lot of stucco-tiled roofs and a couple newer buildings, so it would have been cool to walk around a bit.  Maybe next time. 

We made our way back, narrowly avoiding deer a couple times and being on dark, hilly backroads seemingly forever.  We decided to stop at Livingston County Pizza for dinner since it was right on our route, about an hour and a half in.  We ate there and headed home.  

When we got home, I managed to finish the puzzle I had started on Sunday (so basically parts of three days).  It's an old family favorite that I inherited a year or two ago.  It's tough but fun.  It started SO slow that I almost put it away, but slowly it started to come together once I grouped all the similar pieces.  

Our New Year's Eve didn't go quite to plan as the boys were too busy fighting over their NHL game on Xbox, so we just missed the countdown and the start of the new year.  That was annoying.  They sipped their sparkling grape juice, and off to bed we all went.

New Year's Day was fine--pretty low-key overall.  The problem came at night.  Craig and I were settling in for some alone time before his roadtrip this weekend, after dispatching the kids to bed.  Jacob had gone to bed earlier but was still struggling to fall asleep, as usual.  We heard him in the bathroom twice after he went to bed (and he went at least once, maybe twice before that), and he finally called to us that not only couldn't he fall asleep, but he thought (again) he might have a UTI.  He was having burning again, along with some back and stomach pain.  He felt like he was peeing a lot, but thankfully he didn't have the testicular pain from August.  I was dubious that he would have a UTI because it's harder for guys to get them, but there weren't a lot of other (non-scary) explanations for it.  He basically wanted to go to the ER right then and there, but I assured him that wasn't needed and we'd call the doctor in the morning.  He didn't have a fever so I wasn't too worried at that point.  But of course night is always worse for anxiety and the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced this was yet another sign that something is really wrong.  (And yes, I really, really need to get my anxiety addressed--it's becoming a major issue for me and its impacts are more obvious to me each and every day.)  I suggested Jacob take melatonin in addition to his Hydroxyzine and try again to fall asleep, but of course I was awake for a long time myself.  I finally had a thought of something else to Google, and that gave me a little peace of mind, enough to apparently fall asleep.  But that probably only lasted a couple hours and I spent the next three hours having weird dreams and tossing and turning.  I woke up by probably 6:30 and gave up after that.  And of course today was my one work day this week, so that was fun.

We went to the doctor mid-afternoon.  We had a really great nurse practitioner who seemed to examine him really thoughtfully and seemed really understanding when I explained all that we'd been through over the past six months, how we sort of feel like we're at the point of "when do we become the crazy parents and start asking for deeper investigation into what's going on with him?"  She basically said that's not crazy, which was reassuring.  She did some examinations--just what he wanted, more invasive stuff--and did a UTI test, which appeared negative.  She decided we should go to the urgent care next door for a belly x-ray, and she called pretty much before we pulled out of the parking lot to stay that he had "tons of poop up there...TONS," which was her original suspicion.  And that was actually mine as well, following my late night Googling.  I had looked to see if constipation could cause burning, and sure enough it can because the poop can squeeze the bladder and irritate the nerves in the whole system.  When he had an x-ray in October, they noted some poop in his system then (seemingly not a ton, but a notable amount) and had recommended he try Miralax then.  But we were on the verge of the SIBO breath test and you couldn't take any laxatives before that.  So it went on the backburner, and then after that we sort of forgot about it.  A few weeks ago when I messaged the GI nurse practitioner about his issues with the continued reflux and food aversions he's been having, she mentioned trying Miralax too, because if he was constipated that could put pressure on that area and make the reflux worse.  But he insisted he'd been pooping reasonably well at the time.  And even though there were a couple days lately where he'd mentioned it being a bit less easy than usual, especially post-surgery, it never seemed like what I would expect for gas or constipation pain.  It seemed more like discomfort, but I know I've had times where I was doubled over in pain from stuff like that and he didn't seem to have that.  Even when I mentioned it a couple days ago that we should try the Miralax, he kept brushing me off.  So now he pretty much has no choice but to give it a shot.  And wouldn't that be crazy if it started to solve some of his issues?  I maybe have as much hope as I've had in a long time, but I'm also trying not to get too hung up on it because the reflux seems a bit more resilient than that--or at least, I don't think he's been that constipated for that long based on what they saw in October, so I'm not convinced this is the sole source of it.  But who knows, it has gone up and down a bit so maybe it has fluctuated based on that, more than we ever realized?  We have our follow-up at the GI in a couple weeks and I would love to be a bit less spastic about everything by then.    

So, Happy New Year to us.  We had one fun afternoon to close out the year, and now to start the new one we have official confirmation our kid is literally full of sh**.  Ha.