Thoughts...

This week has been extra stressful it seems. Just when I think I have a handle on things, a wrench gets thrown into the spokes. I don't know why but it seems as though when I expect things to happen, they don't. When I don't expect them to happen, they do. I can't even find a word to describe that feeling. Weird.

I spent many hours calling Grayson's doctors to let them know of the latest development in his medical history. I wanted them to know and also I wanted assurance that the medicines he is on right now would still be alright for him to take. Considering the fact that medicine for his migraines is also predominantly a blood pressure medicine and one of the medicines for his asthma can cause the heart to speed up, I just wanted to check. Both the allergist and the neurologist called back with assurance that he could keep taking his meds as prescribed, but both want to be informed of the findings from the cardiologist. I had to call the pediatrician to get the the referral to go to the pediatric cardiologist, which was fine...I had to call the cardiologist to schedule the appointment first so they could fill out the referral. The cardiologist wanted a copy of the findings from the genetics doctor, so I had to call them too. All of this done before 9 AM on Wednesday morning. Talk about being busy! Plus the stress of having to do this on my breaks from teaching.

My new job is going really well. I am really enjoying having the flexibility to come up with activitities to extend learning from the classroom, all the while making it fun. I really am liking the fact that the students are happy to see me when I come in the room. It makes me smile. The fourth graders are cute and adorable. The fifth graders are the same as I remember them to be from years before. They are interesting and never boring to teach. They are just reaching that age of being torn between wanting to please their teachers/parents and wanting to please their friends. Some of them do it well, while others fail miserably at balancing the two. I have adopted a few of my students, meaning I take an active interest in their personal triumphs and tribulations. I hope I can make a difference to them in some small way. I am truly enjoying the teachers I work with on a daily basis. I am getting to know teachers I never got to know before, especially the fourth grade teachers because I have never worked on that grade level prior to this year. I feel as though I am making positive contributions to my fellow teachers and to the students I teach.

My best friend moved out of town this past summer. I have really missed talking to her in the afternoons like I used to do. Her time schedule is so different from mine that I can't call her on my way home from work anymore to vent or get advice. It has been a difficult adjustment for me. We talk, but not as often as we used to. We will always be really close because we are the type of friends that no matter how much time goes by, we are as close as if we talked yesterday. She is in town this weekend and I get to see her. Hooray! I haven't looked forward to anything as much as I have looked forward to seeing her tonight.

I found out recently that my cousin Aisha is getting married! She got engaged last week. I am so happy for her. She is one of the most wonderful people I know and she deserves happiness. Since Nathan was born, she and I have become close. I have cherished every moment that we have spent together, even the time on the train with the crazy guy! She feels more like my sister than my cousin and I love her very much. I never had brothers and sisters growing up, but my cousins on my dad's side were always a part of my life. I have another cousin Nicole on my mom's side that I am close to as well. We have always lived far apart, but we are close in age and have so many things in common. I am very lucky to have family like that! I have always felt that family is among the most important things in life.

Grayson's Genetics appointment

Today was Grayson's genetics appointment. We are getting him checked for the hemachromatosis gene. He could very well be just a carrier, but it is better to be sure than to end up being sorry we didn't check it out sooner. The paperwork is incredible! I must have filled out 20 pages of information to take with us for the appointment.

The doctor has decided that before she draws any blood, she wants to see the results from Randy's test done at the hospital. So I had to call the doctor from then to fax over the information. She basically said that if the place that did the regular test was one she would use, she would use it rather than another place. Her thinking is that they know already the gene they found in Randy and they would better be able to find it in Grayson. So until she gets the information from the other doctor she wants to hold off. If she doesn't want to use the other lab, then we will have to go in to her office to the blood drawn there. Won't that be a happy day? So no news on that front.

However...

While they were doing the check on Grayson they found that he has a heart murmer. The first doctor who does the initial check and gets the history acted a little weird when he left the room, which was my first indication of something odd. When the main doctor came in, she began by matter-of-factly mentioning the murmur. She was a little surprised that this was the first time I had heard of this. She went on to say that many children will exhibit the symptom based on the fact that the lining of the heart walls are thinner in children than in adults. She mentioned that many times it is a false positive because they can hear the blood pumping from inside the heart. Then after listening to him herself, she mentioned that it was distinct. Just when you think you have explored the possibilities, a new one pops up. I am telling you...this family and medical issues. It is phenomenal.

So now we have to take Grayson to a pediatric cardiologist. I suppose the growth issue could be caused by a heart issue. My question is, with all the different doctors he sees, why has no one else caught this? OR is this some new development? I guess we shall see. I am not going to get upset about this until I have a reason to. I will not say that I won't WORRY or be CONCERNED, I just won't go bug crazy and start choking people because of it. Not yet anyway.

Halloween!

I just wanted to share the latest pictures of the boys. They had a great night of trick-or-treating. They both got tons of loot, and yes, it was all checked. :-)


Grayson had two costumes this year. To shorten the long story, we got the costume for Nathan in the wrong size (their fault not ours), but by the time we realized it was a few weeks later. A funny mistake, it just happened to be Grayson's size! With a dress-up birthday party and festival to do before the actual Halloween night, I decided that having two costumes for him was not a bad idea. We went and got Nathan a new costume and he was happy. So there are two pictures of Grayson with two different costumes. He looked so darn cute in the Robin costume!

Sometimes, Life gets Crazy

Last week was a whirlwind to say the least. This week was a full-forced slowdown for me.

To back track a little:
Last week we had the genetics appointment for Nathan. It went fine. The doctor asked that we get a few things done before she would decide to do the genetics test for the albinism. My concern was the vision change and all the signs that I had mentioned before, so she wants us to take him to the ophthalmologist again to have him specifically checked for the ocular albinism. If the ophthalmologist thinks it could be a possibility, then she will run the test. The other issue she was concerned about was Waardenburg's Syndrome. It too has to do with low pigmentation, but it affects the ears rather than the eyes. Something we haven't had formally checked yet. Hooray! Two more appointments to make.

I was able to get the hearing done on Friday. Basically the child has fine hearing...he just chooses not to listen. Apparently that is not uncommon in the male species. But, again she really just tested his hearing range and loudness. With my hearing issue unresolved...he could theoretically have the same issue with time delay that I do and thus has an understanding problem rather than a hearing problem. Anyway, that is another issue for another day. So with hearing checked and okayed...no Waardenburg's Syndrome to worry about.

All day Friday I started to feel just awful. I got worse as the day went on. Even my coworkers were concerned...as they found me face down on my folded up sweater sleeping on the pull-out of my desk during my break time. Which, honestly, I NEVER do. The fever started Saturday and continued through the evening. At 102, Randy sent me to bed (about 7 PM) when I could barely lift my head to eat something. Sunday was a little less of a fever but man I was exhausted. I had a very general feeling of yuck, a cough and a fever. I am a definitely not a "cold" person, meaning I don't get colds. I usually get bronchitis or pharyngitis or laryngitis...or one of those "itis" illnesses. I would get up to take laundry out of the washer, put it in the dryer, hang up a few clothes, and fold a few and be totally tired. So very unlike me. I thought for sure that I would be feeling better by Monday. Holy crap was a I wrong!! I woke up with 101.5 fever and a terrible cough. I called in sick to say the least. I got dressed and took Nathan to school (since I usually do anyway). On my way back, I called the doctor's office and made the appointment. I took Tylenol at 7 AM, and by the time I got the doctor for my 8:30 appointment it should have kicked in totally. I still had a temp of 99.9! Ugh. So I have walking pneumonia...like I said, I don't get colds. When I get sick, I really get sick! It is no wonder that I felt so miserable. I have had bronchitis enough to know that this did not feel anyting like what I felt before. The antibiotics have done wonders, along with my "liquid gold" cough medicine. It sort of tastes like banana...but not really. I love it though. Randy calls it my liquid crack. It works really, really well...I do advise being where you are for a while after you take it...it is good stuff apparently. :-) If you want to know what it is, email me and I will tell you. I am at least feeling better.

Nathan is officially 10!

Today is Nathan's birthday. I can't believe that he has been around for an entire decade...though there were times that we thought he might not make it that far...just kidding. He had his party this morning at the bowling place. Bowling places have certainly come a LONG way from when I was a kid. The party was terrific. He got a really cool real pin that everyone signed along with the opportunity for all 12 of them to bowl a few games. Some of the kids seemed like naturals! The adults partook of the fun a little too. I just couldn't resist one game. Nathan seemed to have a blast right along with Grayson. He bowled a game and then was done. He mostly hung out with another boy who came along with his older brother too. It was well worth the money spent. :-)

Tonight we are bravely taking three boys for a spend-the-night session. They will probably have hours of fun on the Wii playing Mario Party or even guitar hero. There will be games and chicken from Chik-fil-A. I want a party too darn it! I am thinking that for my birthday we will get the VIP room at the 300 ) the new name of the bowling place...do they still call them alleys? Oh no kids...only adults for some awesome rockin' bowling fun where they put on the black lights and fun disco decor.

An Eventful Day!

Today we had lots to do! Randy took Nathan to the local Ace Hardware to sell popcorn for the scouts. Apparently they did a marvelous job. Nathan is very good at being cute when he wants to be, so he just smiles and bats the long eyelashes. They spent about 2 hours selling and they sold quite a bit. While they were doing that, Grayson and I were at the Atlanta Parent Magazine annual Family Block Party. We were there to volunteer. I received a message this morning saying that they were going to be short-handed at the Camp Fire Boys and Girls booth (Camp Toccoa to be precise). It was right around the corner, so I decided to stop in and help out. I am so happy that I did. I got to make things out of clay with children while Grayson went from table to table grinning and getting all sorts of attention. It was pretty cool how he would walk off, but always come back to home base (me) about every 10 minutes. I was very happy with him today. Neely was there...she was my counselor-in-training when I was a counselor at Camp Toccoa back in 1993. She was with me in my cabin in Yoki for the summer. We had such fun back then. It was such a great experience for me and I met a few life-long friends there as well. I made picture to put on a button (on Facebook it is known as Flair).

Catching up with us!

Wow.

I didn't realize how much time could go by. Since I last posted we have been through the gammut of stuff. School, work, boy scouts, neighborhood gatherings, field trips, birthday parties...so much and too little time! That and I have to confess, I found Facebook. I know what you might be thinking and let me say, it is all true. I signed on because of my desire to get back in touch with my past students. Another teacher was talking about all of the students that she found from our school on Facebook, so I thought it would be interesting to see just who and what they were saying. Little did I realize just how much I would enjoy the darn thing. I have found students from my second year of teaching, that are now adults with families and real jobs!! Yes, I have been teaching for a really long time!

Most recently the boys and I did our yearly visits to the allergist. She filled out all the 504 paperwork for Nathan for school, which was good. I have the final meeting with the teachers tomorrow. The latex allergy is really difficult to control, not because people don't care necessarily, but we use so many products in every day life that are rubber that we don't even think twice about. I went out to the gym with the PE teachers last week to look at all of their equipment. I basically went through and told them what was fine for Nathan to touch and what wasn't. The easiest way for me to know usually is to touch the items. I have years of experience touching, calling, and investigating this substance. Our house is literally latex free. I have no idea if Grayson has the allergy because he is not exposed to it enough to ever know. We are cautious with him, but he has never experienced symptoms that I know of and therefore I won't make a big deal of it for him yet. He likes to tell people that he is allergic to latex because Nathan and I are. It really is cute the way he says it. But, back to the gym equipment. After touching many items I began to realize that my finger was hurting to look down and notice that I had welted and was having a reaction...that fast with so little effort. The PE teachers got a small taste of what could happen with Nathan. He now has an Epi-Pen because the allergy is one that builds over time and exposure. He is way more allergic to it than I am; imagine what would have happened if it had been him instead of me? Needless to say I went quickly to wash my hands and within minutes had taken Benadryl. The welting went down after about 30 minutes and I was a jumpy mess the rest of the day from the medication. It was an interesting day to say the least. I would rather it had been me than my child. Any day of the week! The allergist went ahead and put me on the Epi-pen as well. I am glad that she did. It was only a week after seeing her that I had that reaction. For me, that was the worst reaction I have had. But again the reactions get worse over time. Fun.

Joiner update: Three of us are sick!

You know, life around our house is never dull.

Last Friday, Randy came to my work to bring me lunch. It was then that we noticed his eye was red. In asking he said he didn't know what was going on. By Monday he said his eye was hurting, so on Tuesday he went to the doctor to get it checked. He was promptly referred to an ophthalmologist. Wednesday, the ophthalmologist told him that he had conjunctivitis caused by a virus, but that he also had iritis. Apparently, there was a secondary bacterial infection in his iris, which is what was causing the pain in his eye. So for the next 10 days he needed to use antibiotic drops and a dilator drop to make the iris dilate so it wouldn't bind to the lens.

All the while, Nathan told me Monday morning that his throat was a little sore. No other symptoms...no fever...no I gave him some Tylenol to help with the pain and he was good to go. He was fine until about mid-morning when his teachers sent him to me because he was shivering. I sent him to the office to get his temperature checked. It was elevated, but no feverish. So I got him my sweater and sent him back to class. An hour or so later, I went to check on him and he said he felt sleepy and he was starting to get a headache. I gave him some motrin and told him if he didn't feel any better to let me know and I would get daddy to come get him and take him home. He never came to me, and after school he actually seemed fine. All night I checked him for pain and/or fever, neither of which he had. Tuesday morning when I went to wake him up, he was flushed and had a fever of 102. Hooray! Randy volunteered to stay home with him and I took Grayson to school. As soon as the doctor's office was open, he took Nathan to see the pediatrician. The child had ACUTE tonsillitis. How do you get that overnight? So two days out of school, and by Thursday he still wasn't 100 percent, but he went to school. Finally by yesterday he seemed almost back to his old self.

All the while, I was not feeling great. Last weekend my sinuses were burning and I felt a little off. I assumed that I was probably getting a sinus infection. I felt this way pretty much until Tuesday. Then Wednesday I started feeling as though I was losing my voice. I have been feeling tired and heavy-chested which is usually a sign that my asthma is flaring. I think perhaps I have what Nathan had, but I don't have tonsils. And of course, it is a long holiday weekend. So by the time Tuesday rolls around I will probably absolutely miserable. I am keeping my fingers crossed that if I get enough rest and take my vitamins that perhaps I can stave off whatever is ailing me.

Thus far, Grayson has only complained that his head was hurting a little. Otherwise, no other symptoms from him. Let's hope he doesn't start too. It is so difficult living in a house full of sickies.

Nathan's Allergist Appointment

Yesterday morning we went to the allergist for Nathan's appointment. Usually we go altogether, but with three people it is really difficult to schedule them without doing it way far in advance. So I scheduled his sooner than the rest of us because we had school papers to get filled out by the doctor. Nathan has a latex "sensitivity" that we found out about when he was 3 months old. Back in the day, they still wore latex gloves to change the babies' diapers at the daycare. The first day was fine. The second I picked him up and he had welts on his arms and legs; everywhere they touched him with the gloves. The child looked like he was being abused! Poor thing. Ever since then I have done everything I can to make sure that our house and his surroundings are latex-free. This includes toys and school supplies, etc. It is amazing to find out the amount of items that have latex in them or on them! There is a really good article that was published by a teacher about her adventures with a latex allergy student (click on the word to read the article). Here is the latest list of items identified by the spina bifida foundation as containing latex along with latex-free alternatives. We decided to start 504 paperwork for him this year since I can no longer control who he comes in contact with. In the past, I would just have to worry about a few teachers needing to know and keep in close contact with them about items that they used in class. This year, for the first time, he is going to come in contact with 10- 15 different teachers on a daily basis. Having the 504 will make it easier to make sure that he is as safe as he can be when he is away from home. He is 9 and even though he has lived with this his whole life, he still forgets and touches stuff that he doesn't know for sure about whether it is latex or not. (This especially happens when it comes to a cool or neat object he has never seen before.) So now he has an epi-pen just in case. The doctor told us that there is really no reliable test for the allergy to assess just how allergic he is to it. Also, there is speculation that latex sensitivity becomes compounded over time and exposure, so the epi-pen is more as a precaution than anything. I am usually really good about checking with the company for any product that I am unsure about. I recently contacted the Bic company to find out if their pens had latex in the grip. The guy responded with, "I am pretty sure it is not latex based." Well, hopefully it is not. The fun of allergies!

Good news!

I got the lab results back from my re-check. It says I am negative for rheumatoid arthritis. I am so happy about that! I got the letter in the mail and I would have jumped for joy, but my hip was hurting! That same day, my car decided to play tricks on me. About 3 blocks from home I notice that my flat tire light is on on the dashboard. When I check the gauge it tells me that one of my tires is completely flat. I eeked home so as not to damage the tire. When I get home, the front passenger tire looked a little low. On the bright side, I learned where my spare is and how to get to it. On the not-so-bright side, I jacked up the car, took off the tire to find nothing was wrong with it, to put it back on again. I suppose it could have been the sensor going bad or something. Who knows. The next day it was fine. Ugh. I guess my car had a good laugh at my expense. (oh I do have to mention that I had to have help getting the lugnuts loosened...air drills tighten them oh so tightly.)

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for three of us! Nathan and I set off early for school this morning with binder (that is too big to fit in the book bag), book bag, and supplies. Nathan seems to really like his teacher and even found a few new friends today. Tomorrow he will get more in the swing of things by changing classes for the first time. It should be an interesting experience for him. Every year we have a few criers on the first day of school. I am proud to report that Nathan was not one of them! He really did go with the flow.

Grayson and Daddy set off later to head to his first day of Pre-K. He too has a new book bag. There really isn't much in it, but it is new all the same. He was really excited about his teacher, he knew her before and really likes her. I hope that he grows exponentially this year. He is such a bright kid.

I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off...though I was dressed nicely. I was very busy for the first half of the day and then things slowed down enough that I could sit and eat. I finally got my computer up and running. It was more of a "had to" rather than had time to set it up. I am happy that it is done though. I hope that I can take some time to finish unpacking some of the boxes and find all my stuff. I still don't know where half of my stuff is at the moment and the rest of the office would probably appreciate my cleaning up my junk!

All in all we had a really great first day.

New Ronald Information

Mimi got the autopsy report back on Ronald, Randy's dad. His condition was so unusual that she was asked to submit brain tissue to determine the actual cause of his condition. Apparently he had Prion disease. Wow! Something I had never heard of before...or had I? Apparently "Mad Cow" disease is also a prion disease...no he did not have Mad Cow! They were able to identify that the brain had the proteins, but couldn't identify exactly the type, though the markers indicate that it was Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker which is the cousin to the more common one Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Those are a mouthful...so I will refer to them as GSS and CJD when I talk about them. Click on the words to find out way too detailed information on each of them. Apparently the main difference in the two is that GSS is very rare and it's hereditary. So needless to say we will be sending Randy to get the tests done and we will be tacking that test on to Grayson's hemachromotosis one as well. Unfortunately at this time GSS is fatal. We are very lucky that Mimi was conscientious enough to have the autopsy done so that we are informed. I find it is much easier to deal with the beast that you can see rather than the one you can't.

Grayson Update

We took Grayson to the neurologist yesterday for his 6 week follow-up. The last time we were there, he was 39 inches tall and weighed 32.5 pounds. The doctor decided it was time to try something to get him to grow again so he prescribed Periactin. There is a link somewhere earlier in the blog, about 6 weeks ago, if you are interested in what it is. He first told us to give him 1/2 tsp twice a day and after a week to increase it to 1 tsp twice a day. Holy bejeezus! After about a week of the second dosing Grayson was hanging from ceiling fans and running circles around his dinner chair! I truly believe that he was burning more energy being hyper than gaining weight from eating. The pediatrician recommended (after spending a half hour with him) that we back off the medicine to only 1 tsp at bedtime. That made ALL the difference. He still talks like a tornado through a trailer park, but at least he can sit for 10 seconds before getting up and running around. In 6 weeks the child has grown 2 inches and gained 2 pounds. It's incredible! His face has filled in a little bit and he seems happier. We are going to continue with the current meds and be rechecked in 3 months. The neurologist was hoping to try and back off the Verapamil this summer, but that idea has been put on hold until he has been stable for a while. The headaches are getting less intense and shorter in duration so I think for now we are on the right path. Mimi went with us, so she got to meet the wonderful doctor. Grayson just adores him...he really is a great kids neurologist. One of my colleagues took her older daughter to him and he was really good with her too (she was 16). If you ever need a pediatric neurologist I would highly recommend ours.

The Foyer...It's Only Mostly Done

Well...the foyer is done...for now. I finished all I can do before I go back to work. I really hoped to have the whole thing finished. But as I am slowly realizing, I am not as young as I used to be. As I have progressed in age some weird things happen to me. I hurt every day. I can't understand why after two weeks of working I haven't built up even just an iota of stamina. I am just as sore today as I was weeks ago at the end of the day. Anyway, I digress.

So I finished the walls. They have been caulked and primed and now have two beautiful coats of egg-shell finish white paint. Man do they look good! I am very proud of the work I have done. I changed out the switches and the outlet that were in the hall. The three-way switch was little more difficult to do than the others but I did it! Randy helped put up the lights on the ceiling and installed the new doorbell. We have two doorbells, one at the front and one at the back. The way the old one worked we could never tell which one had been rung...one ding for the back door and two dings for the front...apparently I can't count. If I could, wouldn't I be able to tell the difference? So now the new one plays the Westminster bells for the front and one tone for the back, woohoo! Hopefully now I won't have to go running back and forth trying to figure out which door to answer. I know the image is making ME laugh just thinking about it. I spent a few hours cleaning and arranging. I put up several pictures (using Math!). I cleaned up the guest room so now my mother-in-law can walk around in it. Wink wink. If anyone has ever seen that room in its normal condition...let's just say it is a marked improvement. If only we had a basement we could stop storing junk in it. Oh well.

The trim will have to be done at some other point...say Thanksgiving or Winter break. If I get industrious I might work on it over a couple of weekends. We'll see how the school year goes!


In this picture you can see the pretty new light fixtures and the new doorbell on the left side. I am overwhelmed by how bright the hall is now with the new lights...and we used the compact fluorescent lights (there are two 60 watts in each fixture). Dude is it bright!

I had to make a decision on stopping point for my foyer. Why? Because the foyer actually extends up the stairs and into the upstairs hallway. I do not look forward to the day that I have to paint the facing wall of the stairs...it is really high up. So here was my not-so-clever solution. It probably looks pretty tacky...but what real choice did I have?

Update on the Foyer

Nathan and Grayson helped me work on the front foyer yesterday. We got the primer/sealer coat on all of the walls and trim. Boy does it look so much cleaner in there! Nathan did most of the helping though. Grayson thought it would be fun to help but quickly realized that it was messy and he suddenly decided he needed to be doing something else in another room. Randy helped him clean up from the mess while Nathan and I continued to work. Nathan soon found that painting wasn't as easy as he once thought. He did seem to enjoy helping me so that was nice. Unfortunately for him, I am a perfectionist when it comes to painting. There must be paint in every nook and cranny and it must be smooth with no drips or lumps. The way I see it is this: do it right the first time so there doesn't have to be a second. I would rather it be done right the first time than to ever have to do it again. I am priming and sealing, which was never done. I am caulking and filling holes, which was never done. I am putting on the best paint I can...the eggshell kind that is as tough as high gloss, but it is matte finish. I have it in the boys' rooms and I love it! I will hopefully have the walls done so I can get the fixtures up. My MIL is coming on Tuesday, a little earlier than I thought, so I won't have the darn thing finished before I go back to school. I will have to finish the trim (the high gloss paint) another time.

Randy Update

Randy had his second scope on Friday. It went really well. The doctor said that the ulcer is healed. Hooray! He is allowed to go back to a normal diet again. He is most excited about being able to drink carbonated beverages!!! Now maybe we can ease off of the fruit punch kool-aid. You know the one that stains everything it even brushes past? I promise you that there has not been one day this summer that I didn't find some sort of red stain from that stupid juice...on the counter, on the floor, on a shirt, on the table...ugh. Sorry I went off a tangent. The doctor did the biopsy and we should know something about the results in 10 days or so. He did say that it was unusual for someone of Randy's advanced age, I mean young age, to have these cells. So we will see I guess. One day at time.

Foyer Update

Ugh.

I spent 4-5 long hours working on the front hall today. I took down the fixtures (2 lights and the smoke alarm) along with all the plates for the switches and outlets. Surprise! Look what I found when I took the intake vent off the wall:


Can you say Gross!?!
I immediately had to stop what I was doing to grab the vacuum. Oh and the camera. I didn't think anyone would believe it unless I took a picture to document it. Just think how healthy we would all be if the whole duct system looks like this! Hooray. Once I got the vent vacuumed out I could see just how huge the gaping holes were around the vent. If I tell you that I used a tube and a half of caulk on this one area, would you believe me? I think I am single-handedly keeping Dap in business right now.


The gap between the vent and the wallboard was at least as wide as my finger! Gee and we wonder where all our cool air goes in the summer time? Once I finished caulking the intake vent I still had the air vent area to do and all of the switches and outlets. Someone must have been drunk when they did the double outlet because the hole is wide enough for two to fit in there. Sheez. I didn't finish all of the caulking because in order to totally fill all the holes I would have to caulk the switches into place or take them out. I was not ready to do that yet, but I will replace them all towards the end of the project. My goal is to have every room done using as much caulk as I can! Just kidding...though I will seal as many of the holes in this house as I can if it is the last thing I do. Today's total: 2 1/2 tubes of caulk.

Once I finished caulking, I started cutting in on the ceiling. I went ahead and bought a primer/sealer to help ease the amount of paint I was going to have to use; good paint is expensive to say the least! Our ceiling has the funky designs in stucco(?), so I have to use a special roller with a big nap on it. It took me almost three hours to do the cutting in and the coat of primer on the ceiling. And it is not even that large of an area. The worst part of it is making sure you get the paint into all the little creases and crevices. Good grief! In the picture you can see the design in the ceiling and the actual color of the walls. It almost seems mustard-like in color compared to the white primer. Yuck! It's so dreary and dismal...I really like white because it is bright and fun. Anyway, hopefully the painting will go easier with the primer on and I get the ceiling done on Wednesday.



I only have two more weeks before I go back to school. I can't believe how fast the times flies, even if you're not having fun necessarily. I have to go to work tomorrow and try to get my office in some sort of order. My office-mate will be in so we can sort out space and set up. I hope I find all my stuff tomorrow. Last time I spent an hour scouring the building looking for my chair...never did find it. Fun, fun.

Redoing the Front Foyer

I have decided that my project this summer, other than trying to organize stuff, is to redo the front foyer. To say that the house is in bad shape is an understatement. The people that lived here before us were not the handy sort of people. Here is what I have found in the hallway just today:
1. Any and all patched areas were never sanded before being painted.
2. All patched areas were painted over with a gloss paint, very unlike the paint that was original.
3. These people have never even heard of caulk, let alone used it.

Apparently, when the house was built they didn't believe in using paint unless absolutely necessary. By this I mean that they came through with a sprayer on the highest water to paint ratio and barely sprayed a single coat over the wallboard. How do I know this you might ask? Because so far, every room we have redone had to have three coats of white paint OVER off-white to cover. This is because the paint just soaks into the wallboard on the first coat. They didn't believe in trim paint...to them paint was paint. Ugh. There are several spots that actually never got any paint, like on the underside of the trim. As I noticed today because I have eyes.

I spent a few hours organizing my painting and caulking supplies (so I had to find a few items and re-bin them and put labels on the bins...). I then began to caulk. I caulked the entire length of the ceiling/wall connection. I caulked all the places where settling had pulled the molding apart. I found a HUGE-MONGOUS gap behind the top of the door molding. I seriously used about half the tube of caulk just filling the hole. I am going to have to go back over it again tomorrow after the shrinkage occurs to fill the rest in. The picture is a little blurry (one of these days I will figure out how to do close-ups with this camera) but you can see the gap was as wide as the darn molding itself. Ugh. It was instantly cooler in the hall when I finished filling the hole!

I patched all the holes I could find, as well as indentions from various objects striking the wall. Next I sanded and sanded and sanded some more. Like I mentioned earlier, these people didn't bother to sand before they "painted" over the patches nor did they wipe anything down before they painted nor did they clean up any drips or spills nor did they pull any stray brush hairs (at least that is what I am telling myself...anything else would totally gross me out!) out of the paint before it dried. I have my work cut out for me. I am including some before pictures so I can beam about how great it looks when I am done. Yay me!

House Update and Genetics Update

The electrician came out last night. He checked the box and found a loose breaker, which he put back in. Otherwise everything on the panel looked fine. He said it was far from being overloaded (I think he said 30 out of a possible 200 amps were used at the peak time of day!) Two of our switches were bad so he replaced those: the one in the boys' bathroom and the one in our bathroom. He checked the outside link to the house and found nothing of consequence other than the fact that he noticed the meter spinning too fast for what we were using. So he suggested I call the power company and have them check the meter and the power box in the yard to make sure everything was working properly. Hooray! Again, I am no expert, but I assumed our huge power bill was because of the dinosaur air conditioners and all of our old appliances. Who knows. I called the power company like the electrician told me to do. They are sending someone out possibly as early as tomorrow to check the meter and such. I really hope they find something, because the alternative...replacing the air conditioner...does sound appealing right now. Plus the lady I talked to told me that if it is the meter or any of their equipment, we would be issued a refund of some sort. That would be nice. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Oh and just so you know, because I didn't, there is a tag on your meter that is sealed. If you have ever thought about cutting it off, DON'T! The electrician told me that the fine for it being off is $400, billable to you! I didn't even know the meter had a tag, let alone that you shouldn't cut it off. If you ever have someone tell you they will cut it off and they are not the power company, don't let them do it.

I called the genetics place today. Apparently, to see the doctor there will be a long time waiting! They said once they get the paperwork from the pediatrician it may not be until October or November before they could get in to see the doctor there. Sheez. Not only that but to try to get both of them in together may be even longer (having two appointments back-to-back). So I may have to try to figure out which one is more important to get done faster...how do I do that? That is like asking me, "Which one of your children is more important?" I suppose we will need to decide which one is more urgent...perhaps once they get the information from the pediatrician, the nurse there will help me with that one. Ugh. Fun, fun in the life of the Joiners.

The House

We bought our house in 2002. It was built in 1986/7 so it would be about 20 years old at this time. To say we have issues with the house would be an understatement. Yesterday, while cleaning up my desk (for all of you that know me, you know this was a MAJOR task!) I found the home warranty information. I have had it, but I have never read it...sound familiar to anyone? I do this all the time with my electronic stuff where I just play with it until I figure out how it works. So, I digress. I found by reading this gem of a book that we have a few things that are covered that I didn't know were covered! Hooray! The electrical system and the plumbing.

The electrical system...hmmm...where do I begin? For a long time I blamed all the weird stuff that happened with light fixtures, sockets, and switches on the fact that I believed the builders used the cheapest stuff they could find. Thus all of those items didn't work properly. At some point I bought a UPS for my computer and I noticed that it would tell me when there were surges or spikes and that they seemed to happening often...without my ever having realized it of course. Mental note to self, it was odd. I also started noticing that some of the outlets seemed "broken". By broken I mean they either don't work at all, only about half of the outlet works, or it works sometimes. I noticed this happening in the kitchen, the dining room, and in the den occasionally. Mental note to self, it was odd. Recently, we started noticing a popping sound when we would turn on the light in the master bath. Note to self, it was odd. Next came the phantom in the boys' bathroom. You would turn on the light and magically while Nathan was in the shower, it would turn itself off. Now I know what you might be thinking, and no it was not Randy and I playing tricks on him...thought it is tempting. Note to self, it was odd. A week or so ago, I went into the downstairs bath, turned on the switch and presto...nothing happened. I switched off and on a few times to no avail and almost gave up when presto...the light came on. Note to self...odd. As I was talking to Randy's mother last night it occurred to me another oddity: All of the bulbs in the two front porch lights had burned out, except for ONE, all at the same time. Again, I have always thought it was the fixtures being cheap because the bulbs would burn out so quickly. You have to realize that I am not an electricity expert, so I don't really think twice or add all of this up until last night when Michelle told me I should have it looked at before there was a fire in the house. I put in for someone to come look at the wiring and lo and behold they called me today and are coming out! It will be interesting to see what the guy says. Keep your fingers crossed that it is something that is easily fixable...though with our track record I fear the worst.

I think I will wait to call the plumber! Does a house just suddenly fall apart at 20 years old? All I can think about right now is that movie with Shelly Long and Tom Hanks called The Money Pit. Ever seen it?

Check-ups!

Nathan and Grayson went for their annual check-ups yesterday. Both of them got shots...and both of them did very well. Nathan cried more before he got the shots than during. Go figure. Poor Grayson had 5 of them! He agreed to only two, and when the others came on the left arm he was not happy. But they both got ice cream for their pain and they were happy.

Both boys are being sent to a geneticist. Nathan for the fact that he has many signs of Albinism. We visited this issue two years ago when the eye doctor said that he had a very light retina (more pink than red). We went to a pediatric ophthalmologist who said he didn't think Nathan had it. After we did the eye exam last week and it was such a dramatic change I decided to revisit the Albinism information. Nathan has many signs, that could be just coincidence of course, but too many to be ignored at this point. The only real way of knowing is to do a genetic test. He has patches of white hair on his head near his temples and one at the back. It is funny because my cousin's son had the same thing but his hair is actually brown so it shows more. Anyway, the patches are called poliosis. If you would like to, there is a great article on the subject. Apparently, the patches can be an indication of an underlying condition, not an actual condition themselves. So this is on tick on the possible Albinism scale. He has the "blonde fundus" which is tick two on the Albinism scale. He now has at least the minimum visual impairment for tick three on that scale. So I just really really want to be sure that he does or does not have Albinism. Apparently there are different types, and the one we are looking for is not your typical Albino disease that you know about with bleached skin, pink eyes etc. The one we are looking into is called Ocular Albinism. If you are interested in learning more here is a link that can give you good information.
Nathan's "spot"

Grayson is being sent to be tested for the markers of hemachromatosis. The pediatrician agreed that is something that we don't want to wait to see if he has. Whatever we can do to prevent organ damage, the better off he will be if he has it. Just knowing will be half of the battle and knowing early will be so good for him. Basically we can watch his iron levels, and when he gets old enough he can begin giving blood once a month as a way to get rid of high iron stores. Heavy metals don't leave the body in easy ways...he would have to bleed it out. If he were a girl we wouldn't have to worry about it until he reached menopause because women "bleed" every month naturally. Apparently too much iron is toxic just like lead or mercury. So it is important to get this information as soon as we can so we can avoid major problems in the future.

Both boys are lean. Nathan is now 51 and 1/4 inches tall (about 4'3") and weighs 57 pounds. That puts him in the 16th percentile...which for him is about his normal...except for when he was a baby and in the 75th percentile! Now the boy eats and eats and who knows where it all goes. Grayson is 39 and 1/4 inches tall (about 3'3") and weighs 33 pounds. He is in the 3rd percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height. The medicine for the eating has definitely increased his appetite, but omigosh is he hyper! The pediatrician was in awe of his movement and overall activity during the visit yesterday as opposed to all the other times we have been there...and that is saying a LOT. She told us to back down the periactin to only once a day. Apparently he is having some adverse effects! Now I know what an ADD child really looks like. I am so thankful that he is not normally like this, holy moley am I glad! It seems to me that while he is eating more, he is definitely burning more off by running at full speed all the time. In three weeks he has gained a half a pound. So we are only going to give him the medicine once a day instead and see how he does.

Jen's Eye

Three years ago at a routine eye exam the doctor told me that I have a "freckle" on my retina. It isn't too big, but I have to have it checked by an ophthalmologist every year. I go in, they put drops in my eyes (too many if you ask me!), make me wait for twenty minutes or so, and then take me into a small room with a large camera. They take a picture of the back of my eye! I wish I could say that this is a thrilling experience, but it's not. If you think you get spots from a regular camera...you should try this sometime. This time the boys got to come with me. Nathan and Grayson have now seen the inside of me from my eye to my back to my tummy. Anyway, I go back every year so they can photograph it and decide if it has changed or not. They call it a Choroidal Nevus. The link will give you a pretty good idea of what it is and show you a picture. Mine kind of looks like a space-ship...pointy at one end and two spikes at the other. Even my retina is "spacey". This year the doctor told me that we will watch it yearly for five years and then if it hasn't changed, we can go to every other year. I keep my fingers crossed every time I go because just like your regular skin, you can develop skin cancer even in your eye. I don't relish the idea of them telling me that one day.

Grayson in Rare Form!

I have always said that Grayson is one funny child that makes me laugh. He is truly ingenious in the way he looks at the world. So the first picture is of Grayson in a paper box. I was cleaning out some stuff and actually set the box in the den for the cats to play with until I threw it out. I walked in to get him for dinner and this was how I saw Grayson. (Remember that he is small for his age...)


The second picture is us going out to dinner on Wednesday night. I was craving guacamole...so we were going to the Mexican restaurant around the corner. While we were deciding on where to go, Grayson went through a give-away box where I collect stuff to donate and found this little bag with gingerbread men on it. It now belongs to him and he was going to use it to carry his blankie with him...just like Mommy carries her purse. Let's just say that it was an interesting situation to go out in public with a four year old boy and his "purse". At some point I remember mentioning that it might have been better to have to buy him a Barbie. There was some show years ago where the dad struggled with the notion that his son wanted a Barbie doll for Christmas. Darned if I can remember which show it was...Friends perhaps?


The last picture is in the car on the way home from the Mexican restaurant. Suddenly Nathan yells from the back seat to look at Grayson, so Randy turns to see and bursts into laughter. I had to slow down the car and turn to look. Here is what we found:


Will he be the first comedian in space?

Full-Time Glasses for Nathan

Nathan and I had our eyes checked today for our yearly eye exams. It seems that Nathan did a HUGE leap this year in his lack of vision. I noticed it a few weeks ago that he was squinting when looking far away. Last year, they took him off of full-time glasses to just wearing them when he needed to see up close, like in class to read and write. It seems that his vision has changed drastically in the other direction. So instead of being farsighted, he is now way nearsighted. His eyes went from seeing fine to being almost as bad as mine. Good grief! My prescription didn't change at all, so I just got my glasses cleaned and tightened. Nathan's will have to be redone on July first, because that is the start point for the insurance to allow us to do that. Fun. For now he will just have to wait. Here is what he will look like in his "new" glasses. He will even have them transition...meaning they will turn into sunglasses when he gets in the sun. I feel that this is so important since we had the "blond fundus" scare. Apparently his retina is very, very pale and they were afraid that it was indicative of vision issues (way more critical than just needing glasses). We took him to be evaluated and the ophthalmologist said he should be fine. I hope we don't have to revisit that issue in light of the new drastic change in vision. We'll see how he does with the glasses. I suppose that it is one MORE thing to talk to the pediatrician about.

Jen's Birthday celebration

So, Friday was my birthday. I like to tell people that I am 25 with many years of experience. I think it works quite nicely rather than admitting that I am old. Okay so I am not old exactly, except that my body thinks I am. Hee hee. We went out to a restaurant, which is what our group does. We choose a restaurant and make everyone go there. It is fun trying new places. Everyone has different tastes in food, so we get to go to neat and various restaurants during the year. Last year was fun at the Mediterranean place we went for my birthday. There was dancing and fun for everyone. :-) This year I chose an Italian place downtown. The place was lovely and new. The menu was a little weird with so many different types of menus. My veal was very good and the service was great. The kids were treated well, though I got the feeling that they were an unusual occurance there. There were twelve of us total at this huge round table. I really liked the round table as opposed to the long rectangular tables we have had in the past. You get to see everyone and talk to anyone at the table. I got some great gifts and had fun conversation. Thanks to everyone for making my birthday grand.

Grayson's Headaches

We went for a follow-up visit yesterday to the neurologist. Grayson has had headaches since he was two. Back then he would get them two to three times a day every day. We did a CT-scan, where everything looked normal. Then we did an MRI, where again they found nothing abnormal. So, there is no explanation as to why he was suffering from the headaches. Then there was the huge recall of all the Thomas toys. Grayson had 13 of the items so we worried that the lead might be the cause. His lead levels were tested while it was a 3 (where 10 is the lowest number for concern) it was not high enough to cause the doctors any alarm. So still no answer as to why he was having them. He was doing really well taking the Verapamil (as a liquid) until recently. He started complaining lately that his head was hurting almost every day. So the last time we went the doctor talked about cutting back the medicine. Needless to say that that will not be happening. He is also concerned that Grayson is so small (he still only weighs 32 pounds). So he is now on another medicine to help increase his appetite called Periactin. If you read the paperwork that goes with it, it says that it can be used for people with eating disorders. As far as I know, if you have a headache, you don't want to eat...especially when the headaches make you nauseous. Ugh. We hope that the second medicine will get Grayson's appetite up and help him gain weight. We still have him on whole milk to help with that as well. We go for his wellness visit in July, so we will talk with the pediatrician about this and MORE when we go.

Hemachromatosis update

Randy's doctor called last night at 9:30! He must have been on-call at the hospital or something. What a really nice guy, by the way. Anyway, he was calling to update Randy on the results of the genetic test they ran in the hospital. Apparently has has two of the markers for the disease. I included a link in a previous post, so if you are interested in checking out the information please scroll back a week or so. I will need to delve a little further with that information because it may be important. Grayson has suffered from migraines since he was two and a half or so. Daily headaches. He has been on the maximum dosage of the Verapamil for about a year. We have never been able to figure out why he has had them. Perhaps he needs to have the genetic test done also to see if he might have this same issue. Before I get all up in arms about anything though I want to talk to Randy's doctor again and find out specifics of which markers where etc. I looked up the information on the juvenile version of the hemachromatosis, but there is really not much mention of brain issues or headaches. So for now we will wait and see.

Randy GI Update

Well, Randy went back to the GI specialist yesterday. The doctor said he looked well and to keep taking the medications he prescribed. He is still not allowed any "strenuous" activity for at least another week. No heavy lifting still for a while too. He forgot to ask about the diet...sure wish I could have gone with him. So we are still doing the low residue/low fiber diet for now until he talks to the doctor again. He is scheduled for the second endoscopy for the end of July (about 6 weeks from now) for the biopsy of the "cells" he saw last week. He ran some more blood tests. I will be interested to know what comes from them. No word yet on the genetics test that was run and no idea how long it should take to get the results. I detest non-specifics.

Both of the boys are scheduled for their yearly check-ups in early July. I am anxious to talk to the pediatrician about several issues that have been accumulating, but not pressing enough to make a specific appointment for. I worry about Grayson's hearing and his lack of weight-gain. I worry about Nathan's GI issues, which could be related to his urinary issues as well. All of these items can be addressed with the doctor at that time. There are plenty more appointments to be made. I like to do as much of the medical things as I can during the summer where there are no time limits or scheduling conflicts. Eye check-ups for vision, yearly physicals to get the boys ready for school, my retina issue (more on that later), allergy issues for all of us, and dermatology issues for Randy and I.

I am too young to be this old!

Nathan UTI update

It has been a hectic week. With everything that happened on Friday, I didn't get to mention about Nathan's doctor appointment. Last December, the week before Christmas, Nathan got his second Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). This condition is quite common in girls over-all, but not so in boys over the age of a year old. Apparently the percentage of boys that get one after the age of 5 is two hundredths of a percent...so for him to get a second one is even more rare. So they put him on antibiotics for three weeks. We went back for the check up to find that he still had the infection. So we had to take a second dose of antibiotics, but this time it was every 6 hours. We worked out a schedule that would least conflict with daily life: 7 AM, 1 PM, 7 PM, 1 AM. The most difficult one was the 1 AM simply because it was too late to stay up and too early to get up to for me. I usually am up by 5:30 every morning. Half the time, Nathan wouldn't remember getting the middle of the night dose and argue with Randy that he didn't get it. The worst part was that he had to eat or drink milk with it...so by all sense and purpose he should have awakened during that, but he didn't.

After three weeks, he was clear again. But now we were on to other stuff: the doctor wanted some tests run. Week one we went to the children's hospital to have blood drawn for all kinds of tests. Week two we went to have a renal ultrasound to check for visual defects in the kidneys and bladder. Week three we went to have a VCUG where they checked the function of the urinary tract with camera. Let's just say that January into February were hectic! They found that he had a few markers on the blood tests that might indicate some issues. The ultrasound was neat because Nathan got to see what his kidneys looked like along with his bladder. The technician was really cool because she also showed him his liver and his stomach while she was doing it. A real-live anatomy lesson! She told me that everything looked normal. Hallelujah! The VCUG was not a lot of fun. It involved a catheter, lots of liquid, and a traumatized 9 year old. The ureter was fine along with the valves. They did remark that the child had the biggest bladder they had seen in a long time...it took a whole bottle and a quarter of the solution to get the auto valve to finally open. This probably means that the child holds it too long on a daily basis. Which could be part of his problem.

Right now we are on a one year watch. He has to go back every three months for a UTI check with a urine test. He passed this time! Yahoo! If he comes up another UTI we will have to do the last test which is not one the doctor wants to do unless she has to do it and that is one where they check the function of the kidneys by using a contrast dye. She does not want to have to put him through that unless absolutely necessary. Nathan appreciates that I am sure. So for now we are thankful he is doing fine.

Swim lessons: week two

We went today for the beginning of the second week of swim lessons. Both of the boys are doing wonderfully! I am so pleased to see Nathan being unafraid of the water. The first video is of Nathan swimming...using arms and everything! The second video is of Grayson floating on his back and kicking with the instructor. Please ignore the audio from the lady sitting next to me...she was telling us about getting a flat tire in the heat. :-)

Nathan swimming

I have to say that I will be glad when the lessons are over, because I am exhausted! They make the parents sit upstairs on bleachers...in a huge warehouse...in 100 degree heat...with not much ventilation. I sweat profusely for the entire hour and a half that I am there. It is really hard to see from up there and of course heat rises so all the parents just sit and swelter. Thank goodness it is not August...though this heat wave makes me feel like it is. Pray for rain!


Grayson floats and kicks

Randy's Home (Sunday)

I brought Randy home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. The first thing he wanted was to go and take a shower! He is on light activity (no lifting of anything over 10 pounds) so that means no picking up Grayson or the cats (those fat cats!) or groceries or stuff like that. I reminded him that pushing and pulling heavy objects would not be good either, case in point: the lawnmower. He is supposed to stay out of the heat, at least until he sees the gastro-enterologist again on Thursday. I insisted that he stay home to continue resting today. I would rather he take it slow than overdo and have to go back to the hospital again. He agreed with me on that at least.

They put him on a low residue/low fiber diet. There are many items on the list that he loves to eat. Hopefully this is only until the doctor sees him again on Thursday. He can't have carbonated drinks...for those of you that know him well, you will understand how difficult that is for him! He has had to drink tea in the mornings to get his caffeine fix. It is funny because his regular doc had told him to cut down on carbs like pasta and breads, and here he is being limited to many of those things. We haven't had white bread in our house since...well, ever.

Things are good now that he is home. At least I can sleep again.

Day Two in the hospital

This morning we showed up to the CCU (Cardiac Care Unit) very similar to the ICU in the amount of supervision each patient gets. The nurse was very nice to let the three of us in the room and close the door. We had to be very, very quiet...no not hunting rabbits...trying not to get kicked out! He was feeling better, but still perplexed as to what happened with everything last night. They didn't do the procedure until late, I didn't leave until I talked to the doctor about 7:15 and Randy was still knocked out from the drugs. He opened his eyes when I kissed him goodbye and told him I loved him. He repeated it to me and then over and over again. I said something to the doctor and turned back around and he was out cold again. It was a little bit humorous. Needless to say, when he came to he was alone in the CCU with no idea where anyone was or what happened. I told him a little on the phone last night, but told him that the doctor would tell him more in the morning.

And yet, the doctor didn't really tell him much other than he needed to come back to see him in 6 weeks. After seeing Randy again tonight, without the boys in tow (thanks again Walt), we were able to talk like two humans. He is feeling so much better. He has been walking around with all this stuff going on in his esophagus and didn't even know it until Friday morning. I hope once things calm down and we get back to normal again we will be ready to deal with the next phase of this mess. It seems the doctor found some abnormal cells, he called the Barretts syndrome, that he will need to biopsy using another endoscope in about 6 weeks. Once he does that we will know what we are dealing with. He also mentioned that Randy has a fairly large iron-store in his liver. That can be indicative of a genetic disease that they are now running the test for. In looking it up, I have come across the name: hemachromatosis. I have no idea what it will mean for him.

I am telling you, if we were as lucky in the lottery as we are in medical issues, we would be rich. Crazy, stinkin' rich!

What a Day!

Well it seems that Randy was tired of not starring in his own family blog...so he cooked up a scheme to become the headline news! Just kidding about that though he is in the hospital for a few days. Apparently he was feeling badly very early in the morning, having to get up several times. He went into work only to call me around 9:30 to say he was coming home and had made a doctor's appointment for 11:30. Nathan had an appointment as well (a story for another day) at the same which put me leaving right before him. We had just gotten in the car, and I had time to pull all the leads off of me from the heart monitor, when the phone rang. I picked it up to find the nurse from Randy's doctor's office. She told me I had to come right now and that I had a very sick husband. I had to tell her that I was about 20 minutes away, but I would be there as soon as I could. Oh the thoughts racing through my head: It's 12:30...Nathan and I have not eaten...I have to go to the cardiologist to return the monitor by 5:00 today or else!...I am twenty minutes away from a situation that I have no idea about. Needless to say, I was stressed.

When I arrived at the doctor's office, I found an ambulance and a fire rescue truck blocking the driveway. I parked the car, left Nathan sitting there just in case it wasn't a good scene and ran in yelling, "All that is not for my husband is it?" To be told to come on back with a nod. Such excitement! I walk in to find him as white as a ghost with 3 fantastic EMT guys standing around him, the doctor, the nurse, and the PA. It was quite a scene to behold in the exam room that is 8 by 8 feet in total. Apparently just after the PA coming in and starting the meeting, Randy decided he needed to regurgitate. He made it to the bathroom and threw up blood, supposedly a LOT of it. He called for help several times. When they came in to find the scene as it was, holey pandemonium ensued.

We met him at the hospital (Nathan still with me, but now fed because we ate in the car on the way there...thank goodness for drive-thrus!). We spent about 6 hours in the ER, and I have to say that Nathan was an angel. He only said he was thirsty one time the entire time. Again, thank goodness for Nintendo DS! He was so enthralled in his Zelda game that time for him just seemed to fly by.

They finally came to get him to do the endoscope. It turns out that he has several ulcers and bleeding vein that they put a clip on. The doctor chose to use epinephrin rather than cauterize because it makes the lining thin enough tear easier. He put Randy in the ICU so he could be monitored closely overnight. Hopefully, he will moved to a regular room tomorrow with the possibility of getting out Sunday. He was really out of it tonight after the procedure so I didn't really get to talk to him. He called about 9:30 from his room. He sounded groggy, but okay. I felt much better after talking to him. I told him he might come home Sunday and his response was, "Well, there goes my weekend." Goober. I guess he thought he would have to go to work on Monday. I told him that he probably would not be coming home from the hospital on Sunday to go straight back to work the next day. He just said oh. He is a funny guy.

Went to the Cardiologist today

So many of you know, and some of you don't, I have a heart condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse. I am sure I have had it all my life, but was diagnosed after Nathan was born. I guess the stress of the pregnancy made it more pronounced. I had palpitations, racing heart rate (actually 90 was my resting rate at the time), I was hot all the time, and barely slept. Not only that but I was losing so much weight that it was scary! When I couldn't fit into a size zero, because it was too BIG, I knew something was awry. I take medicine to slow the heart down and normalize the heart beating. The valve just doesn't close completely sometimes and causes the heart to want to work harder is what I figure to be the case. Anyway, lately I have been having a few more episodes than usual with a racing heart rate so my cardiologist has put me on a 24-hour monitor to see what all is happening. If nothing happens then she wants to put me on 30-day monitor instead. Keeping fingers crossed that they see something in the next 24 hours that gives indication as to what is going on. It could just be the stress of having been sick all these weeks with the Fifths disease, or it could be the stress from the death in the family, or maybe even the stress of moving to a new work building. Who knows? Any or all of it could do it I suppose. Right now I feel like a spy or something with all the leads everywhere and the main box in my pocket. Pretty weird. Later I might have Randy take a picture of it to put on the blog.

Busy Day!

I have been playing catch-up with the posts since we were so busy Sunday and Monday. It seems as though there is much to share today.


Today was the first day of swimming lessons for both of the boys. I scheduled at the Dynamo swim center since we have a difficult coordinating them any other way. I am so relieved that Nathan is finally learning to swim and to not be afraid of the water. Grayson, on the other hand, has no fear whatsoever. It can be trying at times because the child will just jump in without a care in the world. They had a blast in New Orleans: they got to go on a boat ride with Auntie Elizabeth (and daddy, Uncle Corey, Mel, and Uncle Kyle). They got to swim in Lake Pontchartrain amongst the algae and fun stuff. They had a blast! Grayson with his go, go, go attitude kept yelling for Elizabeth to "Go FASTER!" Again, no fear. Aunt Sandy and Uncle Leni had a pool that they could not wait to swim in. Each time Nathan got in the pool he became more confident. So happy to see that. I wondered why Grayson kept licking the water...come to find out from Ronny that the water is salt water rather than chlorine. No wonder!


On another note, as we were driving home yesterday we noticed that there was a space center in Mississippi. Interesting. I never heard of it before so I went online to check it out: the Stennis Space Center. Apparently they are getting ready to put a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) up into space. They are offering for people to have their name go into space with the orbiter. I put all of our names on their list. You should do it too...though you can only sign up until June 28th of this year, so hurry! Go here to sign up.

Bourbon Street: French Quarters

After the gathering, Randy and his brothers, Mel, and I were sitting outside and I suggested that we get out. Perhaps Michelle will watch the boys so we can de-stress. I made Randy ask her and she said yes! Our trip started with using the new GPS that Corey had. I have never used one before. While it was convenient, it was also a huge pain! I couldn't help but make jokes the whole way because the voice was a woman. They were able to make her so she had an English accent, but I would have preferred a male voice. I piped up that she nagged and I did not like that! I also decided that I should design one for some company that would change accents based on your location...just for fun...so when you are in New Orleans it would be Cajun. If you were in the hood it would have a rough accent like "Yo homegirl, lean left! And hey while you're going through this part of town, you might want to have your gun ready!" I thought it would be hilarious!

We got there and parked in the deck and walked to the intersection of Bourbon and Iberville. It was so very, very hot! I cannot get over just how humid it gets down there...usually at 100 percent humidity it rains where we live, not in New Orleans! It was weird to be able to walk down the street with a beverage, everywhere I have been there were open container laws. Mel got all dressed up and looked really great; where I looked like a granny in my capris and long shirt. She had people slinging beads at her all night, it was jarring the first few times we got hit in the head with them. Mel is a fabulous girl and she and I hit it off famously...which is a great thing if we become sister-in-laws one day. We went to Pat O's for a beverage; a hurricane to be exact. It was pretty good. I have been told that you can't go to New Orleans and not have a hurricane at Pat O's. We went to a country bar where Corey rode the bull. It was so much fun seeing him get thrown off!



It was a good night for most of us. By the end of the night Kyle was pretty sick of the rest of us. We were loud and obnoxious, okay it was really just Mel and I being loud and obnoxious. But we let off some steam and some stress. Randy got a shirt out of the evening, long story...perhaps for another time. Mel and Corey got a shot glass for Mel's grandmother. We all got some beads and beverage. The night did what it was meant to do, and created some good memories for us. I enjoyed the French Quarter much more so than I would have at other times of the year since I am not much for large crowds. Lots and lots of walking and heat, but I enjoyed myself!

The Memorial

Sunday was the memorial for Ronald Joiner (Randy's Dad). It was amazing. The hostess was Sandy and her husband of course. The setting was beautiful and the service went really well. Most of the folks there I had never met, though there were a few that I briefly remember from the wedding almost 6 years ago; many that I remember names from sending holiday cards. It was great to put faces with names after so long! It was a nice setup with a wonderful picture of Ronald that Michelle had enlarged and a really fine box for his ashes.



Sandy and the rest of the gang made all the food and preparations. Uncle Percy made a huge pot of Jambalaya, which Randy has talked about for years. I pitched in by creating a collage of pictures to hang up and a slideshow DVD of the ones that didn't get hung up. I felt pretty useful in a time when I needed to be busy. Sandy handled everything with grace and style. I aspire to be like her! The boys did very well (they stayed in the playroom watching movies and playing with all the toys Sandy had for her grandchildren). I gave Nathan the option of being out with us but he chose not to be. It was around breakfast time when Nathan asked me where pops was. I showed him the box with his ashes and told him he was in there. He looked at the box, then looked at me, then looked at the box again and hesitated. I could sense he wanted to ask me something so I asked him instead. "Do you want to look inside the box?" Of course he has always been very curious...which is why I knew that was what he wanted. So I carefully opened the box so he could look at them. His only reaction was to say, "Oh, I thought the ashes would be black." At that point Grayson walked over to see what we were doing and asked what was in the box. I told him calmly that they were Pops' ashes. He said oh and that was it. I closed and locked the box only to have Grayson try to pry it open again. At that point I told him it would be best not to touch the box and ushered him away. I have such curious boys!

I came to the realization during the service, while hearing all the stories, that Grayson could be a mini Ronald. He is four and already flirts obnoxiously with the ladies. We cannot get through a meal without the raising of the eyebrows and the winks. We are in so much trouble! He is also smart as a whip! He has already started reading and will gladly tell everyone that he can read. In the car last week he announced that he wants to be an astronaut and wants to go into space in a space suit. He was very detailed about it for sure. Nathan wants to be a paleontologist, which I think would be wonderful. It is one of the things I would like to do in my lifetime: to go on a dinosaur dig. Maybe he will take me along on one of his expeditions.