Tell me where it hurts

Today Dan finally met with his Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) doctor that he was referred too 3 months ago.  One of the first things this doctor said was he wished the doctor had called him directly and he would have gotten Dan in a week instead of 3 months since he is young and the arthritis is so bad already.  The doctor wants to be "super aggressive" with his treatment of Dan.  He is currently on some old school RA treatments (Prednisone, Methotrexate, and Arava).  The goal of this new doctor is to eventually get off those 3 (we stopped the methotrexate a couple weeks ago already) and to get on a once a week shot of either Enbrel or Humira.  This shot will start in 2 weeks (Aug 11) once the results of some baseline lab work, x-rays and ultrasounds come back. The doctor compared the 2 treatments to trying to kill 8 people - using his current treatment its like tossing a grenade at the people and hoping it gets them all and using the new treatment plan its like a sniper killing each one with precision. 

So hopefully this new shot works well for Dan.  The current meds do work but Dan is still having joint pain and lots of side effects from the current drugs.

Walking the dog

Ophelia lets me walk her when we go for our night time walks! I love it

Current Favorite Toy

My Aunt Heather gave me this toy before I left Ohio and it has sat in the corner of my toy area for months. A week ago I discovered it and I love it! I take it everywhere with me. I love to walk and pull it behind me or try to carry it while I walk.

Helper

I like to help around the house.  Vacuuming is probably my favorite chore.  It's pretty heavy but I try to push it around to help out.

Also, thank you Gram for making me a awesome pillowcase for my pillow!  It even has a fancy D on it!

Well Dressed Man

Sometimes I put away the gym shorts and t-shirts and put on a nice collared shirt and jean shorts. I have to look nice for all my fans out there!

Working outside

I love, love, love to be outside. I also love to stick out my tongue.

Looks like I need to help mommy and daddy with some weeding.

Ouch!

I fell down while walking today and slammed my head against the TV Stand. That was not fun!

Flex

Just getting a good workout in during our evening walk. Fitness is very important!

Day Care

I thought I should show you a few pictures from day care.

Here I am with all my friends enjoying story time with Mrs. Tammy. Well I was enjoying it until I spotted mommy and daddy coming then I couldn't crawl over my friends fast enough to get to them :)

Here is one of my many works of art I made at day care. We have art time a few days a week.

Here we are walking out of day care. Yea, walking is cool.

Olympic Triathlon

I kicked it up a notch this weekend and did a Olympic distance triathlon. My goal was to finish between 3hours 30min and 4 hours - well I did just that with a time of 3:45:54 The race conditions were pretty perfect for New Mexico - it was hot in the 90s but amazingly there were clouds out (usually there are hardly any clouds here) so it was a bit of a break from the intense heat. The race elevation varied from 5200-5700 feet above sea level.

My breakdown times were:
0.9 mile(1500meter) swim: 38:56
25 mile bike: 1:44:01
6.4 mile run: 1:16:59

Each leg was about 10-15minutes longer than if I only did that single event in training but I was trying to pace myself and just finish more than anything else. The swim was definatly the hardest part for me. Swimming in a lake with waves and other people is kinda overwhelming, the first 500 meters took a lot out of me and I found myself just flipping over to my back several times to just relax and breathe easier.

My next race is back to a sprint distance (400meter pool swim, 15 mile bike, 3.2 mile run) and is in 2 months. Although it is a shorter distance this one is in the foothills of the Sandia mountains so it is going to be very hilly for both the bike and run. Also part of the run is on trails so it will be a different type of challenge!

The picture is of my friend Kim and me right before the race. Kim kicked my butt and finished in 3:28:45!!

Real Steps!

Well I did it. Daddy let go of my hand and I didn't fall to the ground I just kept on walking over to mommy. I am offically a walking man now. I can't wait to practice some more tomorrow!

Mobile Computer

I like to bring my keyboard with me when I drive, you never know when I will need to blog something.

Standing Up

A fun video of Dexter trying to stand up without pulling himself up by something.  I didnt even know he understood the command to stand up before tonight.  Fun Stuff!

Walking progress

Walking is my favorite thing to do. I like to walk holding on to people or pushing my car. I can walk really fast and stable when holding on to my car but I am still pretty wobbly holding on to people. I am consistently walking holding on to one hand now. I have taken a couple steps on my own but really my feet just happen to moving as I lunge towards daddy. I am 14 months old today and all my cousins have been walking for months now, hopefully I can walk as good as them real soon!

Training

I am helping mommy train for her triathlon next Sunday. My job on race day is to cheer her on when she comes through the finish line - it's a very important job. Until then I am helping her with her stretching.

Chalk!

Chalk is fun. I like to carry it around with me on my travels in the back porch.