Friends, I Need Prayer

I got an email this morning saying one of my friends has passed away. She is now in heaven praising God. But, she left behind her husband, 5 children, family and friends. We are heartsick.

The hard part for us is she was the mom of one of my daughter's best friends. They were in co-op about 4 years ago. After we left co-op (about 3 years ago), we didn't see this family again until this year at AHG (American Heritage Girls - like Girl Scouts). They quickly renewed their friendship and were best buddies at AHG. We went skating once a month with them. I remember having several conversations in the parking lot with the mom (the dad took the kids skating as she has little ones). She was full of life and joy and love for Her Savior.

To make this harder on my family, one of my daughter's other best friend's mom (this time from co-op) passed away in November. There were 3 little girls that were like the 3 amigos twice a week when we met. Her mom died during her 3rd battle with cancer. This family, the dad and 2 daughters (the other daughter was one of my students), moved away in March to be closer to family.

Alex is still asleep. I pray that she understands that God IS good! And, that even in our grief over the 2nd mom's death, that there is little chance that I will die. Please pray for her, and me, and this precious family as they grieve. Thanks. Dana

Home from DC & Continued Prayers, Please!

We made it back from DC yesterday afternoon. We had a wonderful trip,  but are both tired! (And, a little sick... we either have colds or possibly just allergies.)

I plan on starting to blog about our trip this evening. In the meantime, we have co-op today. I had blogged about my daughters friends, two sisters, whose mom was dying. She passed away on Friday morning. I haven't got all the details, but I heard she was responsive on Thursday (she had been in a coma) and was able to respond by blinking. But, now she is in heaven and is out of pain forever! Praise God! But, she has left behind her husband and her two daughters, Maddie (12) and Kate (8). Also, lots of other family members and friends!

Please pray for the girls as they return to co-op today. Their dear friend (a mom) told me that they need to just get out and do things at this time. Pray for all of us as we come in contact with these little girls that we will do and say the right things... that the girls will feel God's love... that we will hold ourselves together and be there for them.

Specifically for my family, I also ask for prayers that I won't cry when inappropriate- especially as I try to teach Maddie, Alex, & classmataes on Thursday - and that Alex will feel secure as she comes to grasp that sometimes mommies do die!

Thank you all for your prayers!!!

Urgent Prayer Request!

Hi, everyone. I know I haven't been blogging faithfully. I do have an urgent prayer request, though.

My daughter has two friends (sisters - and one of the girls is my student) whose mom was just rediagnosed with brain tumors 2 weeks ago. She had a massive stroke on Friday and is in a coma. They are talking about taking her off of the respirator today.


Please pray for this lady and her family! Her girls are in 2nd & 6th grades. They homeschool and are at the co-op where I teach and my daughter spends 2 days a week. Please pray for a miracle of healing! And, if that is not God's will, please pray for comfort for this family! I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through.

And, please pray for my daughter. She has never been through anything like this and I know she'll be scared and, of course, upset. Please pray that I'll have the right words to share with her. Thank you!!!

Health, Snow, and Bird Identity

lex and I are still both recovering from our health problems of the last few weeks. Alex started a second round of antibiotics tonight for her sinus infection. My back/neck/arm are still getting back to normal after a week and a half of pain. The doctor thinks it was a pulled muscle, though I'm still not sure how I pulled it. Especially as it has hurt so bad for so long.  

Our weather has been crazy. It was 70 degrees on Sunday and today (Tuesday), we are seeing another rare Houston SNOW!!! We've just had some snowflakes mixed with rain here, but other places are getting actual snow!

 

Alex and I went on a nature walk with the Family Nature Explore Club on Saturday. It was also a history field trip and I'll try to post about it in the next few days. I took over 100 photos! But, for now, I'm wondering if anyone can help me identify this cute bird!!! My bird books don't have a good match for him, and I'm hoping someone can help me. So, if you have an idea, please let me know! Thanks!

Happy Valentine's...from my back...while watching birds

I'm lying here on the couch watching the birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count. Actually, the reason I'm lying here on the couch is because I've pinched a nerve... or something. Wednesday night I had some pain in my back & neck and thought it was a stiff neck. I took some Aleve Thursday morning and was fine. I even went ice skating. It was quite a bit worse Friday. And, yesterday it was pretty much unbearable. I had to sit and walk around with my arm straight up in the air.

Well, today I realized that if I lie down - either on my back or side - I'm pretty good. But, almost immediately upon standing...ouch!!! So, I'm lying down. And, I've been watching and counting birds for GBBC. 

I can't really upload my photos right now, but here is a photo of a mockingbird I took a couple of years ago. And, here is our list of birds we've seen over the past 3 days. It isn't too late for you to count birds, too! GBBC goes through tomorrow!

• 2 cardinals (male & female)
• 10 white wing doves
• 1 black vulture
• 2 red-bellied woodpeckers (male & female)
• 2 blue jays
• 1 goldfinch
• 1 mockingbird
• 1 crow
• 1 house finch
• 2 black-capped chickadees
• sparrows - lots, but I'm not good at identifying which kind they are, so I'm not including them

The Sick Bed

Alex is sick today. She has a fever, sore throat, ear aches, and a headache. She actually felt bad yesterday, but her fever didn't show up until the evening. So, I set up the sick bed for her on the couch for when she wakes up.

Here are some of the things we do on sick days:

...lay on the couch and stay in PJs all day

...watch LOTS of TV (we just got 2 movies in from Netflix, so that'll will be an added bonus!)

...I get out a TV tray and load it with anything she needs... thermometer, tissues, drinks, etc

...drink Sprite (she rarely gets soda at home) with a bendy straw (also drinks Gatorade and clear juices)

...have popsicles anytime she wants

...have "homemade" chicken noodle soup or Ramen noodles for lunch or dinner - depending on when she's up to eating

 

...we have a special pink tray to eat on the couch with or a wooden one with legs if someone is sick and can't leave the bed

...play board games & card games

...read books

...play computer (or DS) games - we'll probably play some on Webkinz World today - I have my own account (I have 3 Webkinz which Alex gave me... they're so cute!) and we can play in the "competition arena" against each other

It's 9:15 and I hear her waking up, so I'm off to see if she's ready to come to her Sick Bed! I'd love to hear what you do special for your kids when they're sick!

From Splint to...

CAST!!!

Yep! We went back to the doctor's this week to get another x-ray to see if Alex could take off her splint. Unfortunately, they found out that she had broken a different bone than the one they thought she had. (The doctor explained that these wrist bones are very small and sometimes you can tell more about where the break is by where the healing is taking place.) This bone needs a cast, not a splint. So, we are back to the starting point. She'll be in the cast for 3 weeks and then we'll see if she can get it off.

Monday, Monday

What a Monday!

Monday morning, I needed to call and make an appointment for the doctor to look at Alex's wrist to see if it was broken. As I was waiting for the office to open, my mother called. She'd been taken by ambulance to the hospital during the night.

My mom hadn't been able to get ahold of my sister (who lives a lot closer) so I called her and made a few other calls. Then, I called the doctor's office and they could get me in if we could be there in 40 minutes! So, we hurried to get ready and I took Alex to the doctor.

We had to go to the doctor, then the x-ray room, then back to the doctor, then to the splint/cast area. Yep! Her wrist was broken! What a trooper, though.

Then, we went home and loaded up all of our dirty clothes (from camp), computers, school materials, etc, and packed the car and headed to my mom's - 4 hours away. I stayed Monday night in the hospital with my mom and she got released Tuesday. She's doing better, though she still needs to run more tests to find out what was wrong.

So, the photo is kind of a 'trick' photo. Alex wasn't hospitalized for her broken wrist, but she spent 2 days in the hospital room with her Grams! We are praising God that Alex wasn't hurt worse and that my mom was released and is doing so well! But, what a crazy Monday!

Health Update

A year ago today, I ended up in a hospital room in Missouri (the link goes to the post) while returning home from a vacation. I had blood clots in both lungs and spent a week in the hospital. My blood was "thinned out" and I went home on blood thinners.

In November, the doctor let me temporarily go off the thinners so I could be tested to see if I was at a high risk for getting more blood clots. The day after Christmas, I called the doctor and got the results - everything looked great and I could stay off of the blood thinners!

I still need to take aspirin anytime I travel, but that's about it. And, though there is a 50% chance of another blood clot within 24 months for anyone who has has had clots, I'm halfway through my 24 months and doing great! Plus, with all of the tests and since I stopped taking the oral contraceptives (which they think might have been my leading cause for clots), I am prayerfully hopeful that I will not get any more clots.

I also experienced sudden hearing loss earlier this year while having some upper respiratory problems. I went to several doctors and was told that both the hearing loss and constant ringing in my ears would be permanent (by one doctor) or it MIGHT get better (by another doctor). Well, my hearing HAS improved to the point where it isn't even techinically called "hearing loss" now! And, though the ringing in both ears is still constant, it is much quiter and I don't even notice it most of the time. In fact, sometimes I have to think about it and kind of ask myself "Is it ringing?"

I wanted to update you all and give God praise for seeing me through these difficulties the past year. He is so good and His hand has led me through these tough times. I know many of you have been through much worse, but I did want to share my story and thank you for all of your prayers. To God be the glory!

Sudden Hearing Loss

It's been kind of a rough month or so, but things are looking better. It started when I got sick about 5 weeks ago with some kind of upper respiratory virus. After dealing with it for about 2 weeks, I experienced a sudden loss of hearing in my right ear. Idon't think I could hear anything out of that ear for about 4 hours. When I could suddenly hear again, my ear was ringing. It was pretty annoying.

I went to a nurse practitioner twice that week and finally got into my ENT about 1.5 weeks after this started. She ran some tests and found that besides the ringing in my ear, I'd also lost some hearing abilities. I knew I was having trouble hearing, but I really thought it was just from the ringing.

She decided to run more tests - blood & an MRI of my brain - and send me back to my hematologist... just in case it was another blood clot. But, she thought I probably had experienced something called Sudden Hearing Loss. This is usually caused by a virus inflamming your 8th nerve and then it causes abrupt hearing loss. When it returns, 2/3rds of people experience ringing in their ear. And, to be considered Sudden Hearing Loss, you must have lost a certain percentage of your hearing.

So, this week I had an MRI early Monday morning (I left the house at 5:45 am), went to my hematologist Wednesday (he ran more blood tests, but thinks I have not had another clot) , and went to a neurologist today. The neurologist was able to read my MRI and told me it was normal. Praise God! And, she agreed with my ENT saying it sounded like a classic case of Sudden Hearing Loss. But, she said it could continue to get better as the nerve heals, where my ENT had told me I would not improve. So, I will pray for the best but be prepared for the worst!

I go back to my ENT on Wednesday to have my hearing rechecked. My left ear has started ringing since I first saw this doctor, but it is not as bad as my right. The hearing loss is more of an annoyance than a disability. And, the ringing has either gotten better or I'm adjusting to it. It is non-stop, but I only hear it when things get pretty quiet. It was hard to go to sleep the first few nights, but I'm used to it now. I just would love some total quiet!!!

I would appreciate prayers for complete healing! And, I hope to post more "fun" posts next week. We have been doing a lot this week, but I've been preoccupied with my health lately.

Prayers for My Sister

My sister was diagnosed with skin cancer a few weeks ago and will undergo surgery on Wednesday to have it removed. My family and I would appreciate your prayers.


Could you pray that the doctor removes all of the cancer, that it has not spread, that the scar will not be bad, that there will be no more cancer in her future, and for peace for my sister and our family.


And, I go in mid-August to have 3 spots looked at. Could you pray that none of those are cancer, too? I thank God for the blog-world and my blog-friends who are so willing to pray for each other.


Thank you for your prayers!

Day 6: Last Day in St. Louis

Our last day in St. Louis started with the earthquake. After getting packing the car, we stopped at the World Bird Sanctuary since the museum Alexandra wanted to go to didn't open until noon.

We enjoyed looking at raptors, but it started raining so we decided to go eat lunch while we waited for the museum to open.

We showed up at The Magic House just after noon. This is a neat children's museum with lots of hands on activities. We had a lot of fun playing with the above nail wall. We were making prints of our hands, faces, etc. I love how the above photo shows Alexandra's ponytail!

In the adds for the museum, they show a boy touching this electricity ball and Alexandra was anxious to give it a try. I didn't think her hair would work since it is so long, but it looks neat! I even paid a few dollars for them to take a photo and make a magnet for the fridge.

Alexandra's 2 favorite rooms were the library (where she played librarian) and the bank (where you could open a safe and use an ATM). I loved how they library talked about the Dewey Decimal system and had little mouse models about the various numbers. This one shows that the 400's are for "language."

Our last planned stop for the day was Meramec Caverns, and then we planned on heading to Oklahoma to spend a few days with family. The walking tour was a little over an hour and was a beautiful place I remember going to as a child.

Then, our unscheduled stop a few hours later... the ER... and then my new home for the next week, a hospital room. This was definitely a vacation week... I mean 2 weeks... we'll always remember. And, we're so glad to be home. :-)

The Long Trip Home

Yeah! I'm home. It's been a long trip getting here...


Last Friday, we left St. Louis and headed for Oklahoma where we were going to stay the weekend with some family. We stopped at Meramac Caverns and then went a little futher down the road. We stopped and got gas and a snack and then were driving down the highway, when I started feeling a pain in my chest.

Within about 15 seconds, it was a horrible pain. I felt like I was getting stabbed over and over on the left side of my chest. And, when I didn't feel the stab, it felt like there was a knife sticking in my chest that I was having to breathe around.


I pulled off the highway and had trouble getting the car in park. I was crying and screaming out in pain every few seconds. My mother-in-law was trying to get me to climb over to the passenger's seat, but I drive a SUV and there is a big console to get over. I finally made it and we set off again.


I saw that in 3 miles there was a hotel. I really just wanted to go and lie down, even though we were only 2 hours from our destination. It was about 9 pm at night.


My mother-in-law (mil) kept asking if I need to go to the emergency room and I just didn't know. I thought I'd probably pulled a muscle earlier at a museum where I was doing pullups - something I haven't done in years. My mil went to McDonald's and asked where the nearest hospital was and we headed that way.

When we were a few minutes away from the hospital, the pain got worse and I felt like my chest was on fire.

My mil got a wheelchair and wheeled me into ER where I could barely answer the few questions they asked and it took me several minutes (at least it seemed it did) to sign my name. Then, they wheeled me back and got me hooked up to various monitors and got to work.


They did a chest X-ray, CT scan, some kind of heart monitor, measured my oxygen, and just ran a lot of tests. A few minutes after I was lying down, I felt pretty much OK and then I just knew there was nothing wrong with me but a pulled muscle, especially when the doctor told me they'd found no heart problems but they'd run a few more tests and would like to keep me overnight so they could do a treadmill test in the morning.


I had my mil and Alexandra come back to sit with me then. What a shock when the doctor came back in a little while and said he'd found blood clots in both lungs. I just couldn't believe it and hated the my mil had to call my husband, who'd just gotten home from Canada, and the rest of my family.


I finally talked my mil and Alexandra into heading out to find a hotel at 1:30 am. They got me in a room at about 2 am. That first night, I slept a total of 20 minutes. Thankfully, the nurse "fought" for me and got me in a private room the next morning. What a blessing that private room was - without it I would have only been able to have 1 or 2 visitors at a time and my husband couldn't have stayed with me. Also, it was MUCH quieter. My family arrived that next day.


I was at the hospital for 7 days/6 nights. Alexandra went home with my mil and stayed the week with her grandparents & great grandparents. Besides the blood clots, the doctors also found that I was pretty anemic.


I slept a lot after that first night. And, I kept getting sick from pain meds until I didn't need them any more. I really didn't do much except watch some TV, when it didn't make me dizzy, and sleep a lot and just talk with my husband.


I'm praising God that we were in a pretty good hospital. We had a lung specialist who was great, very caring wonderful nurses & nurse techs, but we didn't care for the regular doctor. God was good to let me get off the road OK and to be so near a hospital.


I do want to let you all know that my doctors said my highest two risk factors were the fact that I took oral contraceptives and that I was on a long trip. If you drive a long way, make sure you get out and walk often and drink plenty of water. I always drink a lot, but this time we'd actually started the trip without any water.

I will be on blood thinners for 3-6 months during which time I'll have to be careful not to get hurt. And, from now on, this will have to be on my mind as I travel. I'll just have to be extra careful.


If you ever have chest pains while driving, please go to the ER! I've read on 2 different sites - one says that 30% of people with this condition die within hours if not treated immediately and Mayo Clinic says 1 in 10 people die within the first hour. I thank God that He was in control and He had this situation in His hands.


Thank you for your prayers. I'm giving God the glory for taking care of me during this time. And, I really appreciated all my family did for me and all of the people who prayed for me.

Sick: Day 4

Yesterday was day 4 of Alexandra being sick - and she's STILL sick this morning! Still running a temp and has a pretty bad cough. I sure would appreciate some prayers for quick healing and that my husband and I don't get this. Thanks!

Her energy comes and goes, so we took a few breaks from TV during the day and did a little fun "school." On our first break, we read a couple chapters of Charlotte's Web which needs to be finished for our book club next Friday.

On our second break, we did some Sweetheart math. First, we graphed the Sweethearts from the box. Then, we wrote fractions for the number of each color compared to the whole amount. For example, we had 6 white Sweethearts and a total of 26 Sweethearts. So, the fraction was 6/26. Then, we talked about how to simplify it to 3/13. This is a new concept we are working on. Our 3rd Sweetheart math was division. I had her eat 2 Sweethearts so we'd have only 24. Then, we worked on dividing them into groups of 3, 4, etc. (We got some of the ideas from mathwire and the rest I made up.)

Our last break was spent with a great art book called Art Auction Mystery by Nilsen. (There are 2 other books like this from this author and we've tried The Great Art Scandal.) We actually worked about 1.5 hours on this book and got about half done! In the book, there are 34 pieces of artwork by famous artists (really). 16 of the pieces are forgeries and you have to detect the forgeries and find out how many mistakes were made. (We usually have to cheat a little.) There is also info about each artist and their artwork.

So, not only do you learn about the various artists and pieces of art, you also get to study the art and find the mistakes. I'm not doing this book justice with my "review" - I just encourage you to try it!