My Blog

–

–

–

–

–

–

The poor blog has been neglected for a long time.  I even had a couple of updates started but now I’ll actually post.  This post will be the random updates from the summer through now and the next one will be picture overload.  The picture titles should help with what’s going on but feel free to ask if you aren’t sure.

Peter is officially a preschool student!  He loves school.  Peter goes Friday mornings.  I brought him the first day.  We dropped Thomas at daycare and then got to hang out for a little bit before going to class.  He was so excited and wouldn’t take his backpack off.  He bounced off the walls trying to get in the car to drive there.  He even told me to stop taking pictures because we had to get inside.  Everything was wonderful until I went to leave.  That’s when the tears started streaming.  Of course there were a whole slew of crying kids so he wasn’t alone.  I know from past experiences that it’s better to just assure him I’d be back and then leave.  It did the trick and the smile on his face was so huge when I came back to pick him up.  He couldn’t wait to show me the art project and tell me all the fun things he did.

Now he goes to the neighbor’s house on Friday mornings.  Gordon is awesome and plays with him until it’s time for class.  He drives him in and then picks him up afterwards to go to daycare.  Peter looks forward to going to Gordon’s house as much as he likes going to school.  In fact he would rather go there most every morning but we discuss each time that Gordon is probably either busy or still sleeping.  –Gordon, if you’re reading this… we talk about that all your lights aren’t on and your curtains are closed.  You clearly aren’t around to play if that’s the case.  He notices when your curtains are now open-

Thomas just figured out walking!  He’s still cruising around by crawling but one day he just started to take steps.  Everyday he walks a little more confidently but once he falls, he reverts to all fours.  My favorite thing is when he’s excited.  His smile includes the full nose and face scrunch.  It still makes me laugh when I see it.  Thomas is going to be our musical man when he gets older.  He loves music and has to at least wiggle, if not full on dance, whenever he hears it.  He is also our resident foodie.  He has outgrown the bottle and is now onto real food.  He is very particular about how he eats though.  He must have a variety of flavors and textures.  It’s the mystery as to what order it should be in though.

As far as my medical drama goes, I’ve started medicine.  I went in to the doctor’s office to learn what I am supposed to do.  She had a fun fake chunk of skin to strap on to my leg.  I got to practice with fake medicine until I was ready to do the real deal.  Injecting the fake piece was no big deal.  I thought I was pretty smooth and awesome until I had to do it on my actual leg.  I think it was the mental part that I was about to stab my leg that got to me the worst.  I have an injector pen thing to help so I don’t have to actually see the needle going in.  I still know that it’s going to happen though.  I’m getting better at it each time.  I have to inject the medicine every day.  I do it in the morning so I don’t forget.  I have to rotate where I stab.  I know what day of the week it is because of where I poke.  Monday is right hip, Tuesday the right thigh, Wednesday the left thigh, Thursday the stomach, Friday the left hip, Saturday and Sunday are the flab of the arms.  I can tell even if I’m not with it in the morning because I get a sweet big red bump from the injection that lasts a couple of days.  I just have to feel for where the bumps aren’t and that’s where I get to stab.  Other than the bumps that are tender and not so pretty looking, I haven’t really had any side effects.  I have noticed that I get worn out a tad faster.  I was tired the other day so I laid down when I got home from work at4pm.  Dustin woke me up to go to bed at10:30pmand I was still able to sleep through the night.  I’ve also noticed that my capacity for remembering has gone down some.  I used to be able to find things no problem.  Now I have a bad habit of putting things down and then they are gone until someone finds something in a completely random spot.  Also, if you tell me something and I don’t write it down, don’t be offended if I forget until after the fact.  It’s all just a learning curve that I have to figure out but I’ll get there.  It’s just my new normal.

I feel like I should update for Dustin but really there’s not much new to say.  He’s working hard for the man.  He spends time in the cave of a basement.  He brewed a new batch of beer.  He’s doing pretty well.

In October we went to the sculpture garden in Minneapolis with Grandma.  The boys had a lot of fun running around and looking at the different art.  It was nice to be out and about and get a little culture as well.

We also celebrated Halloween.  We had a little robot and skeleton.  Peter loves to dance like a robot so I thought it would only be appropriate for him to dress like one.  He was a little sad that the switch on the back didn’t really work.  I would have been okay with an actual off switch too.  Thomas didn’t really know what was going on.  We didn’t realize that his skeleton bones glowed in the dark so when he came out in the living room in the morning, it was cute to see just bones crawling around.

November brought our trek toCanada.  Karthik actually tied the knot and married Deepta.  Dustin and I flew toNew Yorkand then met up with a few friends to travel north.  It was an interesting and very fun van ride.  The weekend would have been awesome except for the fact that I was very sick.  I had a horrible stomach bug that was sort of on its way out but it took its toll on me.  Everyone else had a great time though.  I have to say that an Indian style wedding is something everyone should experience some time in their life.  Everything was so very beautiful!  You may or may not notice in the pictures that all of the pre-party ones were not taken by us.  I went back to the hotel with a lovely fever and missed the whole thing.  I borrowed some from facebook.  There are a few of the reception that were borrowed as well.

November also was when Thomas turned one.  I can’t believe my baby is already one!  For his birthday we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme.  Since he is such a bottomless pit of an eater, I thought it was an appropriate idea.  It was wonderful to have so many people smashed into our house.  It was a very visible show of how blessed we are to have so many family and friends so close.

Now we’re at December.  Christmas means lots of family gatherings.  Peter was so excited to have more parties.  I think he’ll have a hard time going back to reality, going to bed at a reasonable time, and not sleeping in.  I think I might have a hard time getting back into the swing of things too.  Spending time with the ones you love is a good reason to have a hard time adjusting though.

During this last week of December we decided to have a little fun.  Peter loves trains of any kind.  The easiest way to let him experience one up close was the light rail.  We drove to Fort Snelling and walked to the station.  Both boys had the biggest eyes as the train came to a stop.  We actually got to get on and go for a ride!  They both loved it.  We thought we should actually ride it to something so we went on an adventure toMinneapolisand went to the Macy’s holiday display.  After going all the way to the eighth floor, we discovered that eskabators are super fun.  Thomas didn’t get as much out of it but Peter couldn’t point things out fast enough throughout the display.  We learned all about what goes on in a day in the life of an elf.  Did you know that when you ride the train to somewhere, you get to ride it again to get home?

And now we’re about to start 2012.  My wish is for this year is to be better, laugh more, listen closer, and have more patience.  I wish everyone a happy new year as well!

Random Man standing in our kitchen, shoe-less, holding one of our coffee cups- “Hey man, can’t I just sit down?”

Dustin- “NO! Get out of my house! How did you get in here? Get out!”

Random Man- “I just want to sit, can’t I sit around?”

Dustin- “Get out of my house!”

So this morning around 2:30am there were noises in our kitchen. Assuming it was Peter thinking it was play time, Dustin went out to tell him to get back in bed. Instead he was greeted by a drunk random man standing in the kitchen. He had taken his shoes off, helped himself to a coffee cup, and was going to sit down and relax. Dustin yelled at him and helped him walk out the door. We called the police and while on the phone with them, the drunk random guy came back pounding on the door. He just wanted to be let in. He was confused when Dustin yelled no. The police searched the area but only found a different random drunk kid. They took the shoes and told us it happens more times than you’d think that drunk people just wander into the wrong house.

Helpful tip of the middle of the night- have a buddy while drinking so hopefully the two of you can actually find your own house when you stumble home

I mad, MAD, MAD! I the maddest boy in the world!
-Peter

Mommy, my eyes orange? I make them orange eyes so I magic.
-Peter

Arghul. Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma. AAAAAAAAAH!
-Thomas

Mom, let’s just go later. Afternooze. It’s a little winter out now. Might snow. (8/25/11)

Thomas has figured out how to get around. He loves to be up and tall. He wants to be able to stand and run. One way to get taller is to sit on the trampoline. We kept seeing him up there but thought the other person put him there. Then I was alone and came in the room to see him proudly sitting there. The only little thing is that he hasn’t figured out how to get down yet. He’ll either cry or face plant.

Then I was able to witness just how he maneuvers himself up and on.

Thomas also enjoys standing in his crib. He’ll pull himself up and shake the bars. We now have to keep the curtain up so he doesn’t rip it off the wall. The problem with that is he likes to gaze out the window instead of sleeping.

We’ve been enjoying using the picnic table and grill outside. Dustin got and assembled adirondack chairs. They have been great to sit in and watch the boys cruise around in the grass.

Thomas, in all of his cruising, has found himself in some special spots. My favorite is when he crawls into the bottom of the exersaucer. He gets so confused like it’s not working right. There’s lots of space to go in and out and yet it’s like he’s in jail. Some day he’ll figure it out.

Peter got a jar with a caterpillar and a cocoon from Grandma and YaYa. The cocoon had been knocked to the bottom of the jar so we weren’t sure if it would survive. Well I walked by the jar the other day and I saw these black legs moving under a leaf. My gut reaction was to jump and assume it was a spider or a bug. After calming down, I looked closer and it turns out the cocoon made it and a monarch butterfly came out. I let him go in the porch so Peter could see later. Peter took a little while but then thought he was the coolest thing ever. We asked him to name the butterfly. He thought for a few seconds and said “Pants, his name Pants.” We even prayed for Pants that evening. Dustin and Peter decided Pants should be let free to find other butterfly friends. Peter was excited and said good bye to him but still talks about how he misses his Pants.

We will go back to pictures of the boys since they are too cute, especially in pictures when you can’t hear them or see the tornado that they bring with them.

We pulled out the old Johnny Jump Up for Thomas. He thought it was the best thing ever to be able to bounce. It would be even better if we had more places with trim so he wouldn’t be stuck in the hallway.

Peter had to get in on the action too. He can’t let his brother have all of the attention. He decided to pose for the camera and give examples of different emotions. My favorites that got captured are his mad face and his happy face.

Lastly, Peter just finished his swimming lessons. He had a class of four kids. He had a blast and listened most of the time. It’s just sometimes hard to remember that you can splash when you kick your feet but not splash people’s faces. Such small technicalities!

The results of the spinal tap are in. I have a demyelization disease. The spot in my brain is not just swiss cheese, it’s actually something.

The brain is made up of neurons firing electrical signals back and forth. Myelin is a coating that helps the signal get to where it’s going without being corrupted or interrupted.

In my head, my body attacks the healthy myelin. The result is the lesion and dots they found on the right side of my brain. As of now, that’s all it is. Down the road it could be more though.

Multiple sclerosis is the main disease dealing with myelin in the brain. Usually someone has a neurological event first, meaning something goes wonky for multiple hours. Their speech could be slurred, a limb might stop working right, or anything random like that. After two or more of these events, then they would officially say multiple sclerosis is in play. The doctor said that most people are in their 20’s when the disease starts without them knowing. Usually someone with MS would have at least two events and then go in and find some lesions. I may have just accidentally done it the other way around

I go in a little while for a second MRI to see how the lesion and my brain are doing. Then I’ll go back to my brain doctor and talk about where to go from here. We’ll talk about which MS medicine I will start taking and get a game plan. The medicine will hopefully either stop any neurological events from happening or at least lessen or slow them down.

It’s a lot to take in but I’ve had a little time to process and I’m doing okay. It’s not the news I wanted to hear but at least it’s something to go forward with. At least I’ll be proactive with the medicine and I’ll know what’s going on if something stops working. It will be okay.

I guess we will just start to support the MS 150. I don’t remember the last time I actually rode a bike to actually participate but if we have any bike riders in the crowd, this would be a good thing to try.

My brain is still a mystery. I know that could be taken many ways but today we’re talking about the lesion. The blood they took at the first doctor visit didn’t show anything.

I guess the deer ticks haven’t gotten the best of me yet and I am good on my vitamin B12.

I don’t have lupus yet but webmd.com pretty much says you could have lupus no matter what symptoms you enter.

The next step was a spinal tap. I did that this morning. Let me tell you that the stories that I heard and made up in my head were WAY scarier than the actual process. The attempts at drawing blood hurt much more than the lumbar puncture. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not doing laps at this point. In fact I couldn’t lift anything today and I have to take it easy tomorrow. I got three new holes in my arms from failed attempts at drawing blood though. If anyone is in the health profession- it is never okay to just slide the needle after you’ve inserted it, try again!

Now we’re back to the waiting game. They said it will take a week to have the results. I am no medical professional and only sort of grasp what is going on so I’m not positive what they are looking for. I know that this still won’t be a 100% diagnosis of anything, just leading me in the right direction.

I have the chance at still having a host of different issues or I may just be a true fan of swiss cheese. All I know is that it’s a bit scary to have to wait and not know. I’m trying my best to think happy thoughts.

So here are some of my happy thoughts for all to see:

So in all of my fun tree/ hospital experiences this past weekend, I had lots of tests done. They weren’t sure if I broke anything or whacked anything. Then the second hospital had to repeat tests. Regions tests must be better than Spooner tests?

All of my bones passed but my brain is another story. I have a lesion on the right side of my brain. It has nothing to do with the fall. It hasn’t caused me any problems that I know of and we may have never found it if I hadn’t tried to wrestle the trees.

I donated lots of vials of blood to test for a whole list of diseases like Lymes or Lupus. The doctor doesn’t think it’s any of those but needs to rule things out at this point. By the look of the spot, he doesn’t think it’s a tumor. Of course he can’t say 100% but that’s not where he’s looking.

At this point he is thinking it could be the start of MS. I go back in 6 weeks for another MRI to see if there are any changes to my spot. Then if the lab hasn’t given us anything, I’m going to have a spinal tap done. This can help determine if I’m going towards MS. That can’t proof positive diagnose me either. It can just give us another clue.

I could have a random disease, MS, or a spotty brain. I have tests and appointments made but really I just get to wait and see what happens. I’m not so good at waiting but I guess I’m going to learn.