This 'N That

Abby's First Communion went really well! She was chosen to bring up the gifts and I just prayed they wouldn't give her the wine glass! Luckily, an adult took up the wine and Abby got the basket. She's started her medication but it won't really be effective for another 6 weeks, when we ramp up to higher dosages. Until then, she will continue to drop and spill. The party afterwards was awesome. I couldn't have asked for it to go better. She explained to her Godmother when she dropped her card,"I have Absence Seizures and I drop things when I have them". She is so matter of fact about it. It's really cute. Abby's MRI is Wednesday evening at 6:30pm. I have to arrive at 6:00pm for the paperwork. A half hour of paperwork??? I asked what I could do to help make this more successful. I'm worried about her not being able to stay still for the necessary period of time. They said she could listen to a CD on their player. No MP3's. They said she could bring a blanket because the room is a little chilly and that one parent could be in the room. I can't wear any metal. I'll have to make sure I don't wear jean shorts that day (metal button). She said it is an open MRI. That's good.

Combining Abby's First Communion with Ben's birthday worked like a charm. Killed two birds with one stone. I don't think anyone felt cheated.

The day after Abby's First Communion, I was supposed to go to an all day crop with a couple of friends. We do it once a month at my single friend's house. No kids, no interruptions. It amazed me how unmotivated I felt. Then I realized, I was busy accomplishing and preparing all week for Abby's First Communion! I was TIRED. I did crop a bunch of pictures for my family album, but it was like...I hit a stopping point which felt like a brick wall. I couldn't motivate myself to go further. I called Ted out of boredom. He said, "Why don't you just relax and not feel like you have to accomplish anything? Maybe even take a nap on the couch!" That sounded good! I can't believe I had the guts to ask my friend if I could nap on her couch. I did. And it felt great. I was the worst guest. I left her all alone to do her crafts (our other friend couldn't come) while I slept on the couch. Ha. It was a beautiful day too. I think I would have preferred to be relaxing at home. It was so weird. I'm never like that. I'm always all about the task, and getting as much done as I can in the time period allotted. Funny.

Ben keeps saying, "When I go poop in the potty chair..." he fills in the rest of the statement with whatever he is desiring for the moment. Like..."When I go poop in the potty chair, I'll get a Spiderman race car!"...or..."When I go poop in the potty chair, I'll get a race car piggy bank!". Each statement either has "race car" or "Spiderman" in it. He'll turn 4 in 6 days and there are no signs that he is going to go poop regularly in the potty chair before his birthday. Darn. We are still pooping in pull ups. It would be nice if we didn't have to go into pre-school next year with pull ups on.

I'm so close to my Mom's Day Out, I can taste it. Unfortunately, it will be another day IN. Sam is sick this time. Three weeks ago it was Ben with diarrhea, the following Tuesday it was Mary with a fever and a vomit under belt, and now it is Sam with a fever. Granted, I'll still have the higher maintenance children gone at MDO, but I won't be free to run to the store or go to lunch with someone. Luckily, Sam will be very easy. I can handle fevers...better than puke.

Abby is Diagnosed

First, I want to thank all of you for your prayers. It was quite a trip to see Abby get her EEG. She had 24 electrodes attached to her head…each measuring a different section of the brain…amazing. I never thought Abby could fall asleep on command, but she did (of course it helped that she was sleep deprived and in a big, comfy recliner). They really need to measure, both the sleep and wake modes to get good readings. After the test, the doctor talked to us. He said the readings confirmed what he suspected right away…that she has been having “absence seizures”. He said they are "generalized" seizures, which means they affect the whole brain, not just part. Absence seizures have a "heavy genetic influence". Which means it was inherited in the genes. Ted did have seizures between the ages of 10 and 12. He only had five and eventually grew out of them. My mom had them also, but they were because of a brain tumor, not epilepsy. Absence seizures are the most mild form of seizure and most treatable.

He prescribed Lamictal for her. It needs to start out very slowly because of the possible side effects of a rash. We gradually build the number of pills a day to 3, and then after 6 weeks, once we’re sure there is no reaction, we ramp up to 100 mg a day (from 6 mg!). After 6 months we assess the effectiveness of the medicine. It should stop the seizures. If it does the job, she will stay on the same medication for 2 years. At that point, we will try to take her off the medication. Often, the seizures should be gone permanently, at that point. The part that worried me is that he said he also wanted to do an MRI to rule out anything more serious (infection, congenital disease, tumor, etc). I couldn’t let go of this thought. Why an MRI? I thought he just diagnosed it! I was quite worried. But it comforted me later when I remembered that I had many people praying for an accurate diagnosis. I need to have faith in these prayers. We are still hoping to get this MRI scheduled right away to get it over with and dispel our fears. It’s just a little rattling to have all this happen so close to her First Communion. It’s hard for me to keep focus on the big, family party this weekend. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Abby's "Tic"

For about a year now, my 8 year old daughter, Abby, has had a "tic". She would roll her eyes as if finding words to say or even looking very tired. My son, Sam also had tics at her age. He would do very strong blinks and fidget with his fingers. Tics commonly show up in this age range and her pediatrician thought nothing of it when we brought it to his attention. In the past couple of months however, we noticed an increase in dropped drinks. She even dropped my sister's baby once. We've always considered her to be somewhat clumsy, tripping over her own feet sometimes...we just thought of it as a personality trait. Her teachers became concerned it was more. After Spring Break, she had an increasing amount of eye rolling. Her teacher brought her to the nurse who observed her. She dropped a box of band-aids while counting out an amount for her classroom. The nurse called me and explained their concerns. We used this as an excuse to bring it up to her pediatrician. We brought her in and he asked some questions. He felt the dropped drinks and clumsy falls were good enough reason to see a neurologist.

Yesterday was our appointment with the neurologist. He asked us about seizures in our family. Ted had about 5 seizures as a boy and just grew out of them. They were different from Abby's eye roll...more severe and interruptive. He fell on the soccer field once from a seizure. My mom had seizures and so did her uncle. My mom's seizure's were from a benign brain tumor. He asked us how long they last, how often they happen and what types of situations can bring them on. I notice it a lot when she's talking to me. When she rolls her eyes, she stops talking and then just resumes right afterwards. I notice them when she is focused on a fine motor task and it's like she's catching her breath when she tilts her head back to roll her eyes. Sometimes the eye roll is behind a long blink.

The doctor did an exam of her. He had her walk in a straight line with one foot in front of the other. Her balance was fine. He asked her to breath in and out rapidly as if trying to blow out a candle that won't extinguish. After a couple of minutes he told her to stop. When he was finished, he sat down with us. I asked him what he thought it was...and he said "absence seizures". Ted and I recognized the term from our own research. Ted felt strongly that this is what she had. I still felt she just had tics. But this doctor was now confirming Ted's suspicions. This is a good description from Wikipedia: Some people with absence seizures have purposeless movements during their seizures, such as a jerking arm or rapidly blinking eyes. Others have no noticeable symptoms except for brief times when they are "out of it." Immediately after a seizure, the person can resume whatever he or she was doing. These seizures can happen a few times a day or in some cases hundreds of times a day to the point that the person cannot concentrate in school or other situations. Childhood absence epilepsy usually stops when the child reaches puberty. Absence seizures usually have no lasting effect on intelligence or other brain functions.

Medication helps to control them and limit their life. It may take only 2 years to grow out of them with medication as opposed to maybe 5-7 without. An EEG can measure the brain activity and show signs of an absence seizure. He told us he wanted Abby to take this test tomorrow (today). Last night, we had to wash her hair to help the nodes stick better. She had to stay up two hours later than normal and wake up two hours earlier than normal. She only got 5 hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation was important for the test so her seizures would increase for the test. They also want to monitor her brains activity during sleep so it would be important for her to be tired enough to sleep in the doctor's office. Only one parent can sit in the room with her. Ted agreed to let me do it. He will meet us afterward to talk to the doctor and discuss the results.

I'm tired. I got up early with Abby while Ted stayed up late with her, but I still feel I didn't get much sleep. The kids are crabby...and I just want them to take care of themselves. I'm looking forward to getting the appointment done and finding the results. I'm not really worried about the results because she's already experiencing them, after this, it will just have a name and we'll know how to better deal with them. By nature, they get worse if they are left untreated. I'm not excited about Abby taking medicine daily...but it could be so much worse. Growing up, I saw my mom have seizures that actually scared me. Her face would contort and sometimes she would make a noise. It took a while for me to get used to them and my dad would set the example of how to be while she had one. With medicine they would be controlled down to just blank stares for maybe 30 seconds and then a short "coming to" period. They started when I was born and lasted through to my college years when they discovered she had a very small, benign brain tumor. She went from 30 pills a day to maybe one because of scar tissue that would still aggravate her. Anything will seem mild compared to what my mom went through.

During the EEG, they will stimulate her with things that can bring on seizures with those who are prone to them: strobe lights, hyperventilating for 3-5 minutes, and fatigue. I'm actually looking forward to watching this test. My sick sense of fascination makes me want to take a picture of her with all the nodes on her head. I might try to sneak one in with no flash...or maybe I'll just ask permission before the test is administered. My neighbor says the junk they attach the nodes to her head with, might be hard to get off before First Communion. I don't need to worry about that right now! Don't feed these thoughts into my head!

Sometimes I can get into the heady medical stuff that barely makes any sense but I feel like I'm decoding a secret language among doctors. Here is some good stuff:
In typical absence seizures...
--Background activity is normal (I assume in the brain...in between seizures?...or it could mean while one area of the brain shows the seizure, the other areas look normal?)
--A routine awake recording is often pathognomonic (huh??...looked it up...means that a routine awake recording will diagnose absence seizures)
--Bursts of frontally predominant, generalized 3-Hz spike-and-wave complexes are seen during the seizure (yah, whatever)
--Bursts of generalized polyspikes and waves (multiple spike-and-slow-wave complexes) may also be seen, especially during sleep and in syndromes with older age of onset (older is 7-14 years...younger is 4-7 years)

Anyway, that's enough of that. I always think about people who might be searching this stuff and get my blog. I like to provide as much info as possible...but in the meantime risk boring everyone else. I'm leaving in a half hour. I better go. I will blog the results...

Updates

It's obviously hard for me to get around to blogging lately. I'll give you some updates on how things are going:

--Sam and Abby just finished swim lessons. I'm so glad I did it. I feel like they are more ready for swim team now. They seem more confident.
--Sam has had about 3 piano lessons already. His teacher said he is doing very well. He's almost ready for the next level.
--Ben and Mary have actually been really good lately! This whole week they have been fairly happy and easily entertained. It's weird, because, so many things correlate with Ben and Mary's good moods: my mood, the cleanliness of the house, and how on top of things I feel. I can actually focus!!
--I got sick of waiting for a used refrigerator deal to "show up" so we went out and bought a cheap 16.6 cubic Frigidaire. I'm SO EXCITED!!! I have space in my fridge now!! For parties, I won't have to pack coolers of soda anymore, I can actually just fill the extra fridge with drinks! I can cook in advance for First Communion and not wonder where I am going to store everything. It was only $400 at Lowe's with a deal on free delivery. Can't beat it. Who needs to wait for a used one?
--My cut hand brought my cooking obsession to a halt. It is now mostly healed, but I can't seem to muster up the same enthusiasm I had before I got cut. I'm still cooking, but not trying a new recipe every day! If there is one thing I can consistently say about myself...is that I am inconsistent! One minute full of passion in one area...the next it is diverted to something else. Which is my next topic...
--I've gotten into sewing tote bags. It all started when I wanted one for myself. Then I thought they would make great gift items. I researched some methods on the internet and the same day made a run to Wal-Mart for cheap material...and voila!! I have two made already. Sew fun!!

--I went on my weekend get-away this past weekend to the Lake of the Ozarks. We had so much fun!! I bought four soup crocks, a couple of tote bags, "tip toe" socks (no heels), Bath and Body lotion, and Harry and David pepper and onion relish. Shopping was fun, but the best part was spending time with the ladies in my group.

--While I was gone on retreat...I got a new concrete driveway!! My brother is wearing the baseball hat with a holes in his jeans. It was so exciting to come home and have the old asphalt be torn out and in it's place is a new, clean concrete driveway. It motivated me to clean up my garage.

--Oh yah, I picked out my suit from Lands End. I chose the periwinkle one. It's a tankini that comes with a skirt. It was so awesome to get free shipping, order three suits, try them on and bring the two I didn't want to Sears. She refunded my return on the spot. That's the kinds of catalog ordering I like to do!

--The countdown continues for Abby's First Communion. We are celebrating Ben's birthday on the same day. Only five more days!!

I think that's a good update for now. Hopefully, you'll being hearing more often from me. By the way, I drafted this on Thursday, but finished it Monday.

This 'N That

Stitches: Well, I got my stitches out last Wednesday and I feel like a free woman! I can wash my hair with two hands!! What a relief! I went back to the tool of pain (mandolin) to slice onions for the French Onion Soup. We ate it last night with a shrimp pasta (didn't like) and homemade bread. I need a good shrimp pasta recipe. I wasn't too happy with the one I tried. It was too dry. Like 2 tablespoons of butter is supposed to coat a pound of pasta? We added olive oil and seasoning which helped.

Easter: Easter is tomorrow and I am SO ready. I'm bringing salad to both gatherings and mostaccioli to my in-laws too. The salad I'm making is really simple and a favorite of my neighbors. Use your favorite leaf (I use green leaf with some iceberg), mix in pimentos, sliced red onions, provel cheese and Imo's Italian dressing. Mmmmmm!!! It is really good!

Weight-loss: I've lost 5 pounds!! Cutting out chips, cookies and soda has worked!! I don't think soda tastes the same anymore. I'm not used to it. I think for home, I will drink flavored water from now on. They have nifty powder packets to flavor your bottled water. I'm going to try this system out.

Swimsuit: On my birthday, I went shopping with Ted for a swimsuit. I tried on all of them at the mall and didn't like any!! Except, I did like the Land's End ones at Sears but felt the selection was lacking. I decided to buy a suit from Land's End catalog. I really liked the quality and fit. I've been looking at tankini's with no deep "V" in the front. Hard to find! I'm all set to order when, lo and behold, what comes in the mail? A Land's End catalog with free shipping for me and a friend!!! I decided to order 3 suits (since there was no charge to ship) and try them all on and keep the favorite one. I can easily return the ones I don't want at Sears. What a deal! I like this one the most.

Riding Mower: One day last week I mowed the lawn with our 20 year old riding mower that we bought used a year ago. The grass grew quick and fast with all the fertilizer, sunshine and rain! I had only mowed it the week before and it was already towering!! After I mowed it, it looked terrible because the mower blew all the tall grass blades everywhere. We decided to get a mulcher blade. Ted tried but to no avail. Nobody sells the mulching kit for that mower anymore. So what do we do? We took the kids and bought a new mower last weekend! I might have mentioned it in my last blog. I don't like those big tractors. We got a small, rear engine Craftsman 270320 riding mower. It's got a 30" cut which is fine by me. It will be delivered on Monday and the mulching kit/blade is included! I'm glad we went with a used one first to decide if it was worth the money to buy a new one. It is. I love using the riding mower. It's so much faster. We only have 1/3 of an acre, but it's still worth it. My sister Lisa is going to take the old mower in exchange for watching our kids for a weekend. The old mower works fine and is a Honda so we're not totally ripping her off. Her riding mower shuts off when you try to make a right turn. Isn't that funny? She has to cut her lawn always turning left.

Anniversary weekend: Since my sister has agreed to watch the kids, we've decided to celebrate our 15th anniversary at the Lake of the Ozarks! We were going to go to Jamaica, but didn't have enough vacation in Ted's new job. Jamaica will happen someday...*wistfullook*. We'll go either the first weekend in June or the 2nd weekend in July.

Spring Break: The kids are on Spring break. Tuesday night, they each get to have 2 friends over to spend the night! Ted will be out of town Tuesday through Thursday. Yikes!! Am I crazy? It's too cold to go to the zoo or to the park.

On the menu this week: Leftover French Onion soup and shrimp pasta, hamburgers (using my awesome Cuisinart Griddler), Roasted Whole Chicken with vegetables, and pork tenderloin (tonight).

Report Card rewards: I took Sam and Abby shopping for to reward good report cards. Abby got Nintendogs to play on Sam's DS and Sam got Sim's Executive Edition. They are both playing with each other's new toys. I keep hearing Abby say "Sweety....Sweetie....SIT!....SIT!....SIT!". Then I see her taking the stylus and poking on the screen. "What are you doing?", I asked. "I'm petting her!", she said. I guess it's a lot easier and cheaper than a real dog! Meanwhile, Sam is building is own house, letting me work (Security Officer), while he buys things for the house like furniture...on this game of course. It's like real life on the computer. They eat, wash up, go to school and play basketball and listen to music in their free time. I told him he couldn't get married. One time his house caught on fire. It's all strange. Just now Abby said, "Sam, can I take your dog for a walk?". Hmmm....

A Pictorial Snapshot

*slapshand* Bad blogger...bad...bad!! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I really have a good reason. I'll get to that in a moment. I'm calling this a "Pictorial Snapshot" because, wherever I can, I will insert a picture.


What's at the top of my to-do list?
--I'm hosting my next CRHP group and we are going through the Catechism. I need to teach this chapter so I need to read the chapter and prepare a teaching. I also need to clean my house because I'm the host too!!
--Look up a novena to the Holy Spirit to pray for a friend who's daughter does not feel ready to be confirmed with the rest of her class.
--Help Ted clean out the bed near the garage and decide want to plant there. I like plants with year round interested. This picture shows the bed and the dead holly (it was transported from our neighbor's yard and the root ball was too small). I hope to plant a weeping redbud, another holly in the middle, some Little Henry Sweetspires, Creeping Jenny (ground cover), some euyonomous bushes, and ornamental grass. I'd like to show you the after pictures later.

While I'm at it...here are some pictures of the other beds. This picture is the bed to the left of the porch. We have a Fosters Holly (center upright pyramidal), boxwoods (under the window), lemon thread cypress (two big gold bushes...one by the angel, and the other is past the ducks), a euyonomous and barberries (near the ducks), with a rhodadendrum at the very end along with a Beckman's Gold Arborvitae. In the foreground of the picture are some Princess Spirea.

This last picture is of three Pieris in front of the porch. All of these plants (excluding the Spirea and bayberries), keep their foliage year round. That's what I love about our landscaping...we get to enjoy the color year round!! And that's what I hope to continue in the bed near the garage.

What have I accomplished?
--Did my Palm Sunday liturgy with the kids at church and it went great! Many of them got to stand up and take a part in the Passion story. We held up color pictures and took them step by step through Jesus' last days.

--I've managed to shower, change diapers, wipe poopy bottoms, refill sippy cups...all with stitches in my hand. Yes, I cut the heel of my hand while using a mandolin to slices onions, last Wednesday. My mom came over to watch the kids while I went to urgent care to get a tetanus shot and 4 stitches.

What's been bugging me? This...and this...

What’s been making me happy?
--Watching the kids play in the sandbox and swinging on the swingset
--Using my new Cuisinart Griddler
--Eating healthy
--Easter is coming
--Lisa and I are celebrating our birthdays tomorrow by spending the day together shopping. My mother-in-law is watching the kids