One cool kid

[BadBadBad]

This has been one cool week for my son. He's fifteen. He started last Tuesday by heading to the DPS office and getting his learner's permit. He drove the car really for the first time. Then he went on a trip with his band to Disneyland in Florida, and today was a really big surprise. He auditioned for a national cable reality show and today, he got a call back! Out of thousands of kids, he may be one out of forty! Is that cool or what!

[ravenscape]

Your son is on a roll! He must be very excited about all the goings-on. What instrument does he play?

*crosses fingers for the reality show*

[BadBadBad]

Your son is on a roll! He must be very excited about all the goings-on. What instrument does he play?

*crosses fingers for the reality show*

He plays the contra and bass clarinet. His school has a big band, and it's been a big year. The first half of it with marching band was a killer. This kid was non-stop from 6 in the morning until 9 or 10 for three or four days a week. A little pay back with some fun is pretty cool. My wife and him were like so excited last night!

[ravenscape]

Yeah...my kids hate marching band. The band director hired some "marching coaches" from the Concord Blue Devil band who sucked all the life out of marching band last year. I bet the marching band they field next fall will be half the size of the 2006-2007 band.

The band trip this year was to Hawaii during spring break. They had a blast. Most of the details are covered under the "What happens in Hawaii, stays in Hawaii" clause.

Thing 1 plays alto and tenor sax. Thing 2 plays trombone.

Contrabass is a monster of a clarinet!

Keep us posted about the tv show auditions!

[BadBadBad]

Yeah...my kids hate marching band. The band director hired some "marching coaches" from the Concord Blue Devil band who sucked all the life out of marching band last year. I bet the marching band they field next fall will be half the size of the 2006-2007 band.

That's too bad. They definitely have to give up a lot to be in marching band. They've got to put some fun in it if it's going to be worthwhile.

The band trip this year was to Hawaii during spring break. They had a blast. Most of the details are covered under the "What happens in Hawaii, stays in Hawaii" clause.

Awesome.

Contrabass is a monster of a clarinet!

It's got a really unique deep and penetrating sound though.

Keep us posted about the tv show auditions!

Will do.

[seebs]

Awesome! Sounds pretty neat. I didn't start driving until I was in my 20s.

[BadBadBad]

Awesome! Sounds pretty neat. I didn't start driving until I was in my 20s.

My mother and you are I believe the only people I may have met that can say that!

I don't know if you remember, but this is my son who had ITP (blood platelet auto-immune illness) a few years ago. It's a really "dark cloud" kind of illness. It's really kind of hard to explain how seeing the sun shine makes us all so happy for him.

[seebs]

My mother and you are I believe the only people I may have met that can say that!

I know a couple of others. It's not common in the US.

I don't know if you remember, but this is my son who had ITP (blood platelet auto-immune illness) a few years ago. It's a really "dark cloud" kind of illness. It's really kind of hard to explain how seeing the sun shine makes us all so happy for him.

Actually, I didn't remember. Tell more? Is this a thing one recovers from, or gets treatment for, or what?

[BadBadBad]

Actually, I didn't remember. Tell more? Is this a thing one recovers from, or gets treatment for, or what?

I'd never heard of it either. He started having nose bleeds one day. It happened several times, and it was kind of scary. Then we were at a pool with our extended family. He's got very white skin and it looked like someone had beaten the hell out of him. He was covered in bruises. That started a two year ordeal of dealing with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

It's a auto-immune disease where the immune system starts destroying blood platelets. A normal count is like 150K-400K/uL. Kyle's would go to like 2K. There's no cure, and they just hope in kids that sometimes it will just go away. The treatments are IV immune suppressants and steroids. None of them lasted for more than about two-three weeks for Kyle. After about a year and a half, he had his spleen removed. That was about three years ago. He's been normal ever since, but still, you worry about them just a little more after something like that.

We're a real medical rarity in our house. My daughter had a bad case of hemolitic uremic syndrome when she was two (what other kind is there?). That's kidney failure from e.coli poisoning for the laymen. Our family doctor just never knows what we're going to come up with next!

[seebs]

That's insane!

Is the kidney failure thing recoverable, or is that a kidney transplant thing, or what?

One of my friends had a relative who had some insanely rare blood disease. One of the other cases (maybe five in the country?) was her boyfriend. It's not contagious. No one knows.

[BadBadBad]

That's insane!

Is the kidney failure thing recoverable, or is that a kidney transplant thing, or what?

One of my friends had a relative who had some insanely rare blood disease. One of the other cases (maybe five in the country?) was her boyfriend. It's not contagious. No one knows.

She pulled through it long ago with dialysis and a couple of weeks in the hospital. Scariest thing I've ever been through though.

[seebs]

She pulled through it long ago with dialysis and a couple of weeks in the hospital. Scariest thing I've ever been through though.

So the kidney recovered, then? That's cool.

I have a friend who might be able to beat you on horror stories; a benign growth in the throat of an infant, got to the point where he was breathing through something pinhole sized. Had to be under complete paralytic sedation to the point where they manually caused him to pee under direct supervision and had a machine breathing for him, for a week or two. He's fine now. They were giving him extra meds to keep him from forming long-term memories during the worst of it, though!

[Danhalen]

That's really awesome. There is no better feeling than the pride a parent feels in their children. Even moreso when the accomplishment is on the magnitude your child is now experiencing. Congratulations to your son.

[BadBadBad]

So the kidney recovered, then? That's cool.

I have a friend who might be able to beat you on horror stories; a benign growth in the throat of an infant, got to the point where he was breathing through something pinhole sized. Had to be under complete paralytic sedation to the point where they manually caused him to pee under direct supervision and had a machine breathing for him, for a week or two. He's fine now. They were giving him extra meds to keep him from forming long-term memories during the worst of it, though!

Hospitals with kids is not a good place to be. We've had more than our share.

[BadBadBad]

That's really awesome. There is no better feeling than the pride a parent feels in their children. Even moreso when the accomplishment is on the magnitude your child is now experiencing. Congratulations to your son.

He sent a video tape to start with, and now we'll be helping him make another. He's going to play paintball tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get some good footage of him cutting up and going rambo on his buddies. Even if he doesn't make it, the excitement is pretty fun for all of us.

[ravenscape]

Hospitals with kids is not a good place to be. We've had more than our share.
That is for damn sure! Not being able to protect our kids from health crises is one of the hardest parts of parenting. :(

[HopeB]

He plays the contra and bass clarinet. His school has a big band, and it's been a big year. The first half of it with marching band was a killer. This kid was non-stop from 6 in the morning until 9 or 10 for three or four days a week. A little pay back with some fun is pretty cool. My wife and him were like so excited last night!
Awesome! Congrats for him! Yeah, I'm a really big band geek :D I know marching band can definitely take a toll on you going non-stop for so many hours. Especially in some heated weather, or rain...it definitely teaches you that you can do whatever you set your mind to. (i play the trumpet) Where are you from? He's 15, so is he a freshman or sophomore? Do you know the average scores they were getting when in marching band?

[BadBadBad]

Awesome! Congrats for him! Yeah, I'm a really big band geek :D I know marching band can definitely take a toll on you going non-stop for so many hours. Especially in some heated weather, or rain...it definitely teaches you that you can do whatever you set your mind to. (i play the trumpet) Where are you from? He's 15, so is he a freshman or sophomore? Do you know the average scores they were getting when in marching band?

We're from Pearland TX, a suburb of Houston. His school is pretty big, like 3500 students. I don't know about scores. I don't think they did that well this year, in marching anyway. I think this was like the first time in 35 years they didn't make it to state in marching. Still, their football game performances were pretty impressive!

He did real well though. I forget the level of competitions, but he made all-district and regional, if I recall. I think he was the only freshmen in band to earn his letter jacket! I read your profile. You guys probably have a lot in common. He likes Dane Cook too!