Long time no blog.

I'm feeling a bit blah about blogging. More people are communicating via Facebook than reading my blog. Which is good. I started this thing hoping that my friends in GA would be able to keep up with us. FB sure makes that easy. It's one-stop shopping, the Wal-Mart Super Center of communication. The dismantling of my blog is under consideration. I'm going to give it some time and thought and see what I want to do. In the meantime . . . a long overdue blog post . . .

We've taken a few trips since I last posted. PNW was gorgeous. I can definitely understand the "pull" people feel toward the area. Mike would never survive the cold, the rain and the liberals, though. :) I would love the cold and the rain. And I'm much more tolerant of liberalism than my husband. :)

Our last trip was to the Midwest again. Visiting family and going to Cincinnati Children's for Thomas's medical stuff. Thomas got to spend Halloween with his cousins and trick-or-treated in the neighborhood I grew up in. Talk about a trip down memory lane. I even ran into a childhood pal roving through the old 'hood. Good times.

Remember Thomas's 'flowchart' for his Halloween costume last year? I couldn't talk him into being anything really new this year. I swear the kid is 8 going on 38. The *only* thing he mentioned other than re-vamping last year's costume was wearing all black and being a spy. So I jumped online and started the search for a trenchcoat and maybe a fedora. He saw me and said "Nooooooooo. I just want to wear REGULAR black clothes and be a spy." I nixed the idea for safety reasons. I knew he'd have a hissy about using reflective tape or something so he'd be able to be seen. So, no spy. In the end, we used last year's jetpack (glad I saved that!), and changed the front. Last year he fell down and could not get up because his 'armor' would not let him bend at the waist. So we found a catcher's chest guard and spray painted it silver. Added some starburst glitter Christmas ornaments to be "gravity grenades", some duct tape and the letters S.P. and voila -- Space Police costume.

The trip to Cincinnati Children's was more eventful than usual. Long story. We've been taking Thomas there for over 4 years now and feel like old pros when it comes to routine endoscopies there. We don't really feel anxious about it now. Thomas doesn't get nervous or upset. We've really become comfortable with the whole thing and have come to trust the staff there. So I have to say, we were utterly shocked when something did not go well. It is minor in the grand scheme of things and no lasting harm was done. Here's the e-mail I felt compelled to send to the hospital's Patient Advocates after the incident. I did take the Dr's names out. I don't want my blog coming up if someone googles them.

Yesterday (Tuesday, October 27, 2009) my son, Thomas, was seen by Dr. "X" for an upper endoscopy in Same Day Surgery and Dr. "Y" was the anesthesiologist. After going over Thomas's history with us, an anesthesia assistant or student (I’m not sure which) named Sean (?) asked Thomas if he would rather be induced by mask or IV and Thomas chose IV.

As I discussed with Dr. "Y" in the PACU, if I had been in earshot of the conversation, that would not have happened. From prior experience I know that Thomas's veins are difficult, and prone to "blowing out." I had stepped away from the bedside momentarily (to the section of the room right outside of where the endoscopy takes place, but still inside the doors of the endoscopy room) to get a consent form for research that had accidentally been left in the pre-op room. Though my husband was standing nearby, he could not hear this conversation and did not realize Thomas was being asked this question, or that any decision had been made to do things differently than usual. (Thomas has undergone numerous upper endoscopies at Cincinnati Children's, all with a relatively smooth induction of anesthesia and without incident.) Neither his nor my opinion/input/permission was sought. By the time I returned to the bedside, the IV was being started. It did not go well. Thomas got upset and felt pain when the IV was inserted. It was difficult to get it inserted, but Thomas was "talked through it", being told that it would only hurt for a minute and that it was like "just a bee sting." I regret that I did not stop the induction via IV at this point, but felt torn, thinking that it would be over soon and that Thomas would be "out" in just a moment. The vein blew. Dr. "Y" told the student that the vein had blown, but the student insisted, "No, he's getting it." The propofol was causing him pain and a new IV had to be started after anesthesia was partially induced. At some point, I said "I'm going to step in here and say let's use the mask." The student put a mask on Thomas and said "It's only oxygen." Though Thomas was "out", I could clearly see that he was in physical pain and clearly not completely anesthetized. He moaned, grimaced, pulled his arm away, his entire body stiffened and he lifted his body off of the table as the second IV was started.

I understand that "things happen" and I appreciate Dr. "Y" taking the time to come speak with us in the PACU. Upon further reflection on yesterday's events, I find myself still angry about Thomas being caused needless pain. I am also frustrated that I did not get a chance to speak with the student who made the decision to induce via IV.

I simply cannot believe that it is Cincinnati Childrens' procedure to ask an 8 year-old, without any parental involvement, to make the decision as to how anesthesia will be induced. Thomas has, thankfully, forgotten the experiences he has had with IV placement prior to yesterday and had no idea what that decision would involve. I know that he does not like the mask and would likely have chosen any alternative offered to that. On previous occasions, I have helped hold him still so that the mask could be held in place. Many times, with great success, the mask has been forgone in favor of holding the anesthesia tube close to his face. What I am getting at is this: though I know that he may not "like" the mask, I know that it causes him no physical pain. Based upon prior experience, I would not have opted for an IV induction. I would have guided Thomas toward choosing to be induced via gas. I feel as though my opportunity to advocate for my child was taken away in yesterday's situation.

What I would like to see happen is that today's incident be used as a teaching point to the student (Sean??) in regards to what age it is /is not appropriate for a child to make healthcare decisions without parental input and about making sure parents are at least aware of healthcare decisions their child is being asked to make.

So, what say you, people of the internet? Am I asking too much to think that my 8 year-old should not get to make that kind of a decision without my input?? I was just stunned. And downright pissed!

OTHERWISE, everything went really smoothly as far as the endoscopy goes. Though Thomas did fail his wheat trial rather spectacularly. Dr. X's first words to us in the conference room were "NO MORE WHEAT!" Well, that's pretty emphatic. His esophagus was in bad shape with exudates & furrowing showing up again. It was so bad that Dr. X said "I'm not even going to call you with the biopsy results. Unless, of course, they are not what I expect. If you don't hear from me by the end of Thursday, just go ahead with our plan." Honestly, it is easier if he fails, that it is a clear failure. No having to continue trials to see what happens. No notion that his next few trials may be colored by continuing a food that is "iffy". So now we wait 6 weeks for his esophagus to have time to heal and then we move on to new food trials. That means that our next trip to Cincinnati will be a ways out. Maybe that will prove to be some incentive for my parents to come visit.

Dr. X did lay out a plan for the next several food trials. If Thomas passes foods on the next 3 or 4 endoscopies, he should have a pretty healthy dietary variety. And then we'll start moving toward getting rid of his feeding tube. Which is a good thing. But it is also slightly unnerving. Thomas started out life below 3rd percentile in size (preemie). He moved up to around 25th %ile in his first year. Then in his 2nd year, he dropped back to 3rd %ile because he was so sick with (what turned out to be) eosinophilic esophagitis. Since he got his feeding tube and we've been able to get him nutrition even when he can't or won't eat well, he's moved up to 50th %ile. Possibly that's still below where his genes would take him without a medical condition, since Mike is 6'5" and no small fry and I'm *not* a petite flower myself. But, plain old average is GOOD. He's healthy because he is getting proper and adequate nutrition. I'm just concerned about what his growth might do when we drop the tube. I'm sure it will be a gradual thing. I'm sure we'll keep it in for a time even if we don't use it just to keep an eye on his growth. But it is still something that gives me a case of the "what ifs".

In other news . . . my best friend has set a wedding date!! WooHoo! I am so excited for her and her future hubs. Congratulations, Carrie!

lazy days

So much of the time it seems our family is dashing from one place to another. Not day-to-day, my-kid's-life-is-overscheduled-school-karate-Monday-scouts-Tuesday-church-Wednesday dashing. We don't do that. Thomas had been activity-less for a long time before we joined Cub Scouts. I'm talking about our constant traveling. We've been staying put since New Year (except for my grandmother's funeral and that was just a few days and just me and I don't think it counts, right?) and I like it. I mentioned this to Mike's mother when they were here Valentine's weekend. Mike gave me a look. So I asked him about the look. It meant he was going stir-crazy and is getting the travel bug. Like a friend said, I think he's part Gypsy.

So we've really just been hanging here at home. So nice. I've been pretty much staying caught up with the laundry and the housework. There are no suitcases in various stages of packing and unpacking littering my bedroom. Things are downright calm. So calm and mundane that I'm not finding much to blog about. Nothing seems really *noteworthy* so the blog had gone without much updating. Sorry folks. I can tell you the mundane things we've been up to. Hold on to your seats, kids . . . ;)

Cub Scouting is going along swimmingly, despite what appeared to be a rather unorganized and haphazard first few den meetings. I think the poor lady running the den is just overwhelmed. I've offered to help, but she's not taking me up on it. Oh well, we'll just truck along and do our thing. Thomas finished his Bobcat stuff and one Wolf requirement after the first week. He finished 2 more Wolf requirements the next week. This week we'll turn in 3 more requirements. Sadly, I think that puts him ahead of a few of the boys in our den.

We went to our first pack meeting last Wednesday (an aside . . . WHY WEDNESDAY?!? Do these people not know LOST is on?? Seriously, it's the only show I really care about on TV.) which happened to be the Blue and Gold Banquet. They asked Mike to be the Cubmaster. Did I mention that it was our FIRST pack meeting?? The guy who is doing it now has been for the past 3 years, I guess and is ready to not be Cubmaster anymore. And they know that Mike is an Eagle Scout. I guess that's all they need to know?? Now, we did mention when we signed Thomas up that we'd be happy to help and asked for adult applications. "Help" and run the whole show seem to be two different things to me, but we'll see.

Speaking of LOST . . . DANG! It is sooooo good this season. I'm geeking out over it every week. Just about every Thursday I'm ending up spending the morning over at The Fuselage reading what the other geeks are thinking and theorizing. Then my pal Toni and I hole up in a corner at park day on Fridays and talk about it. BEST. SHOW. EVER.

We've been making it to the library regularly again. Regularly enough that we're not paying fines every time we check things out now. I've been having time to read again. So nice. Mike's sister, her husband and I are doing an A-Z challenge over on Goodreads . We're supposed to read books from authors with names beginning with every letter of the alphabet. The group is open to anyone, so if you're a reader and want to participate, you can find me on Goodreads and join in. Right now I'm reading A Prayer for Owen Meany. That would be my 'I' selection. So far, so good. Except that it was seeming really, really familiar to me, yet I knew I hadn't read it. Wikipedia to the rescue. Turns out the movie Simon Burch was loosely based on the first part of the novel. Weird. Why only the first part?

25 Random Things

This has been going around Facebook. And since I'm in a blogging slump, I thought I'd post it here, too. If you read this and you have a blog, consider yourself tagged.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

1. I felt compelled, nay, duty-bound to correct the open parenthesis in the instructions of this thing.

2. I have a brown streak in my right eye. Mike calls it the sh!t streak.

3. Speaking of sh!t, I used to curse. A lot. It sometimes still trips me up. It's a terrible habit and I hate it about myself.

4. In 4th grade I lost a tooth in music class and got in trouble. I was chewing a Starburst candy when I wasn't supposed to be, which took out my loose tooth.

5. In 4th grade I cried in class one day. I can't remember why. Probably because of the teacher. I hated my teacher that year. What I do remember is the girl sitting behind me making fun of me and calling me a crybaby. I got up, slapped her across the face and said "Who's crying now?" 4th grade was a really bad year for me.

6. I went to Purdue just because Mike was there. I never admitted that to my parents and fed them a bunch of baloney about it being a great school for my chosen major, etc. But really, I was following a boy. Good thing that worked out.

7. I changed my major half-way through college. I decided I did not want to go to graduate school, so why major in psychology? I chose my new major based solely upon what I could still finish 'on time'. Why? Because I knew I wanted to marry Mike and didn't want to wait for that or be separated for school. Kids, I love my husband and my life, but don't do this. I now have a degree in social studies education that I pray I will never have to use.

8. In order to finish 'on time' I had to do some crazy stuff. I took all summer school available and took 21 credit hours + worked the semester before I student taught. Consequently Mike and I got married on a 3-day weekend I had from 'Maymester.'

9. Even though I don't want to do it, I have great respect for good public school teachers. One changed my life and I hope everyone had someone like Mrs. Wade. She saw potential and challenged me to do better than I had been doing in school.

10. The semester I took 21 hours, one of my classes was History of WWII. I think I might have failed it. The first day of class the professor made some sexist remarks. I showed him (ha!) by never returning to lecture and rarely cracking the book. The class had only 2 grades: the mid-term and the final. I got a D on the mid-term. When I checked my grade on the professor's door at the end of the term, he had me down for a B. It was barely mathematically possible, and not highly probable that I had aced the final. Still, I never said anything because I needed the class to graduate. I still feel guilty whenever I think of it.

11. My parakeet and my sister's hamsters all died one Christmas day. My family was heating with a wood-burning stove that winter because we were BROKE. My dad stoked the fire up really high so it would still be warm when we got home from visiting grandparents. It got too hot in the living room and the animals literally roasted.

12. Mike and I had the first fight of our marriage over a pot roast. I bought a roast that I had planned to get 3 meals out of. I didn't know it, but Mike didn't really like roast much. So he ate the *whole thing*. Makes sense, right? He did it so that he wouldn't have to eat it day after day. Mike didn't have a job yet post-college and I was still in school and working part time. We were broke and there was no more grocery money until my next payday.

13. We play card/board games as a family nearly every day. Our favorites are Blokus, Stratego and Apples to Apples Junior.

14. Despite going to nearly every GHS football game in high school, I never understood how the game worked . . . until Mike begged me to play Strat-o-Matic Football with him.

15. Not only was I a nerd in high school, I was a State Champion Nerd (English Academic Bowl senior year). Just because I used the past tense there does not mean I am no longer a nerd.

16. Thomas was born at 27 weeks gestation because I had pre-eclampsia. He weighed 1 lb. 14 oz. and was in the hospital for 2.5 months.

17. I totally believe that happened so that God would be glorified in his life. See John 9:1-3.

18. http://www.biblegateway.com/ and http://www.apologeticsindex.com/ are 2 of my favorite websites. And, um, FB if that's not painfully obvious by now.

19. I should be ordering homeschool curriculum *right now*. I promised Thomas we would do chemistry after we finished his astronomy text. There are only a few lessons left of that.

20. I didn't want to homeschool Thomas when we first started. I thought it was the best among some not-great options we had at the time. I love it now and cannot imagine doing anything else!

21. Sometimes I laugh so hard that I get tunnel vision and feel like I might pass out. This is usually Carrie's doing.

22. People who have known me awhile don't believe that I am an introvert. Really. Myers-Briggs even says so - INFJ for those who know the lingo. I am terrible at small talk and get incredibly nervous being around new people. I rarely make the first move in a new friendship. I often come across as self-centered because I am too nervous to ask people questions about themselves. I'm working on it, though.

23. I speak fluent Sarcese.

24. I went to 10 National Parks in 2008.

25. Mike and I were the Phi Kappa Theta Disco Dance Champions of 1990. Seriously.

super slacker

I am such a slacker. Between my addiction to facebook and having computer problems, I haven't blogged since December. SLACK-ER! Mike changed out the motherboard in this machine, though, and so far so good. *crosses fingers*

We've been good, though. Mike's parents came here for a Christmas visit. (I think that's the last I posted.) We went to Indiana for a Christmas visit. I went to this guy's New Year's Eve party in Greenwood. Had a good time with friends from high school and *bonus* saw Subway Jared there, too! There are photos & I was going to share one. Not on the hard drive, though and I can't locate the CD right now. Hmmmmm.

My grandmother passed away in January and I went home for the funeral. It wasn't unexpected and she was in a lot of pain at the end, so it was really a relief. I wasn't sure, because of the timing (a few weeks after our Christmas trip and only 1 week before a scope trip) if I'd get to make it. Things worked out with airfare, Mike being able to take care of Thomas and work from home one day. And I'm glad they did. Closure and all that, you know.

Thomas was supposed to be scoped in January. But while I was gone for my grandmother's funeral, he ended up with croup and a trip to the emergency room. We did manage to avoid steroids at that time, but because of his history with post-op complications and a narrow airway, it was decided it was best to postpone. So now we're playing the rescheduling game with Cincinnati again. So much fun.

Japanese culture day put on by my friend at A Spot to Reminisce and Discourse

Thomas and his friend Optimus Prime doing Japan-related crafts

Schoolwise things are going well. We're back in the groove and cruising along. Thomas is about to finish up his astronomy text, so we're moving on to chemistry soon. Placed the order yesterday and am hoping it will arrive pretty quickly.

We've been spending time getting to know Mike's boss's family lately. They're a really great family who moved here from Spartanburg. Went to their house for the superbowl. They were all dressed in Steeler's gear, including the dog, lol! Too cute!




We've finally gotten Thomas started in Cub Scouts. We didn't want to join a pack run by one of the wards here and had trouble getting the info from the community pack. Finally ran into the right person, at our church, no less! Thomas is pretty into it and spends a lot of time with his wolf handbook thinking about all the cool stuff he's going to get to do.

We are alive.

Really. Just been busy traveling some more. I never finished up my last vacation re-cap and I've got another one brewing. I let the last one drag too long. sorry, peeps. I won't get as detailed this time around. I just don't have it in me.

so I'm back

We've been traveling. Again. Got back this evening from a 10 day trip. Lots of blog fodder and pictures collected during our travel. Just letting you know I'll be posting soon. All 6 of you will be waiting with bated breath, I'm sure. ;-)

home again, home again jiggity jig

And let me tell you, we're getting jiggity around here. What with the laundry catch up, the lice treatments, automobile issues & trying to prepare for the next round of travel, I just didn't know one person could have this much fun. Yes, indeedy, the good times are rollin' here!

So Thomas picked up a case of head lice somewhere in our travels. I saw 2 little critters when I combed his hair yesterday morning. Yes, right before we walked out the door to go to the airport. My sincere apologies to the folks at Southwest, but seriously, what was I supposed to do?? I made sure Thomas did not get a pillow or blanket and comforted myself with the thought that at least the seats were leather or vinyl and didn't really have anywhere for the parasites to hide. Oy. When we made it back into town, our first stop was the evil empire, er, Wal-Mart for lice shampoo, tea tree oil & a few groceries. Treated Thomas, checked Mike over & made him check me. I put some tea tree oil in the shampoo & conditioner as a preventative measure. I hope it works as well as internet lore says.

The a/c in my car is acting wonky. This is decidedly not good. When we left wal-mart yesterday afternoon, the temp was 106. But it's a dry heat. (Sorry guys, I think folks who live in the desert are contractually required to say that.) It runs sometimes and sometimes not within the same drive. Mike detailed all the reasons why it might do that, all of which went over my non-mechanically inclined head. All I know is that the dude has been threatened that he needs to get it repaired out before I get back in town from GA.

I think I've reached a new level of blog nerdiness - staging photos of food. I took my little white plate outside, perched them in some good light & shot away. Aren't they just perfect, though?? My first ripe yellow pear tomatoes of the season. I'm going to have them at lunch as my dessert. Dressed with a bit of basil from the garden, a touch of balsamic and olive oil. They promise to be two little bites of sheer perfection.

The garden has done well in my absence since I managed to get the irrigation timer & sprinkler heads figured out. The apricots are ripe. I have no idea what I will do with all these. Seriously, the picture is only one branch. There must be a few hundred of them. I'm thinking freezer jam and maybe about purchasing a dehydrator. I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow.

I'm sure you guys heard lots about the flooding in the midwest. My sister & her family live out in the boonies in some of the area that was hit pretty hard. Fortunately they weren't flooded, but 90% of the town where her postal address is was under water at one point. That meant lots of impassable roads her way and the wedding reception shin-dig had to be cancelled. A few of us were out there already before it got bad, so we barbecued & had a good time anyway. Here's what the kids got up to:

Good times, indeed.

Bandwagon

It's official. I've jumped onto the blogging bandwagon. I stalk the blogs of strangers and friends alike. Reading. Absorbing. Consuming. It almost feels like eavesdropping. I read whatever they put out here, into the ether -- never commenting, never contributing to the conversation. So I guess I decided it was time to throw some stuff out here and see if it sticks. This will, likely, turn into another, oft-maligned, "mommy blog". I guess it can't be helped. It's what I do. It's who I am.