It's official

i forgot to add this to the last post. The wichita trip is ON. The kids and i will head up to wichita on sunday june 8th and brian will join us on friday june 13th. ben's birthday party will be the evening of june 13th. we will all head home on monday june 16th. please post to this message or email me or call me so i can get all our visits set up and scheduled.
i've already been kidnapped for monday the 9th so that isn't open! :)

I hate painting

it's official. i absolutely hate painting. when we moved into this house it was pink..like steal magnolis pepto bismal pink. as you know i HATE pink. it is definately NOT my signature color. We have now painted the kitchen, dining room, family room/office, emily's room, jace's room, and the master bedroom. i have left to paint 2 full baths, 1 half bath, ben/ari's room, and that's all. i'm sooo needing this painting project finished. It won't be done but close. then it's time to start making curtains and hanging pictures and shelves and all of those decorating kinds of things. I've also gotta get the quilt finished for the formal living room. so many things to do but ultimately it will look so good! this place was just screaming to be decorated! :)

in other news...
ari had her appt at the U of I and they that its not technically out of normal limits to walk until 20 or 24 months and that her gait would be something for a neurologist not an orthopedic doc. So we are back at square one. she had her recheck at the doc today from her hospital stay. Her ear looks good and her lungs sound much better. She's put 3 ounces back on so that's good as well. She got a shot, but we are still refusing the MMR. we just feel like that is the right decision.

i had my appt with the hand surgeon today. He is going to try supplements, wrist braces and some exercises for 3 wks and then will recheck and probably schedule surgery on both hands. I'm ready to get this done as i'm sick of the pain and missing being able to use my hands fully.

brian had a doc checkup today and has lost 16 more lbs in the last 7 weeks. that takes him to 60ish lbs lost total so far! YEAH!

tomorrow is ben's final IEP meeting for the year. should be interesting. after how the last meeting went brian has decided to go to this one with me. i'm very glad for that. i'm hoping that we are all able to come to an agreement on what works for us, for the school district and most of all for ben!

brian's sister and her husband are coming in town this weekend. they will be moving to iowa this fall so they are coming in to look at housing and such. we are super excited to see them for a few days and show them around the area!

that's about all in the world of us. more news and pictures soon! Promise!

Normal

We are attempting to get back situated into normal life..whatever normal is. Ariana is getting a bit better each day. She's playing more and starting to eat more. Still being a bit of a pain about drinking but getting better. Benjamin still has a bit of a fever and cough today but he also seems to be doing a bit better. Nobody else has gotten sick so that's a good thing!
My mom left to go home this morning. Yesterday the 3 adults spent the day painting and we got the kitchen all done! It looks so much better. Today Brian and I are hoping to get the TV room done and then hoping to get the bedrooms painted this next week. I will post pictures once it is all done.
Benjamin has 3 days of school left, Jace has 6 days, and Emily has 9. I'm so ready for the school year to be over for them! Will save soooo much driving! Brian is off tomorrow as well so we will have another day at home to relax, or to paint, one of the two! :)

Home

Ariana is home. We got home late yesterday afternoon. I will update more information later as we are trying to get situated and such. But just wanted to atleast let everyone know that she is home.

Also Mr Ben is sick. he's got her fever and horrible cough.

home real quick

It's been a long 24 hrs. Last night when I got back to the hospital Ari was trying to sleep. She started screaming every 3 minutes and this went on for 2 hours. Finally the nurse figured out that her IV had infiltrated, and was pumping the fluid into her tissue. this is apparently fairly painful and her little hand and wrist were horribly swelled. They took out the IV and she was asleep in 2 seconds. They decided to see if she would drink and didn't put in a new one. She played a little bit on the floor and tried to eat a bit but wouldn't really drink. Doc came in and was concerned about how her breathing and chest were sounding. He decided to do some breathing treatments and ordered a chest xray. He also wanted the IV back in. The chest xray came back showing inflammation but not pneumonia. Her blood works shows that she is still dehydrated. They also started her on iron supplements. When I left she was finally asleep and resting. so we have no idea what is going on with her little body, or when she'll be coming home.
I will go back up to the hospital around 9pm and brian will head home.
more updates when i can....

Ari update

I'm home for a few and Brian is at the hospital with Ari. She has 4 separate things going on with her. She has a horrible ear infection in her left ear, she's on antibiotics and pain killer for that. Then she has a yucky sinus respiratory thing. She's on a cough syrup and a decongestant for that. Her nose is pouring, and she's got so much drainage that she literally gags on it. Next she has rotovirus. The throwing up has stopped, but the diarrhea is still going, as well as stomach cramps and gas pains. She's running a fever. The lab work shows that she is very anemic, low iron, really low. They have no idea what's causing that and are going to use supplements. We had no idea, they just happened to run that in all of her blood work. She's on iv's (obviously) and all of the meds. The doc is thinking that she will be in the hospital for 2-3 days. She is on day 5 of pretty much no food or drink. this evening she had a popsicle and some jello. Her throat hurts alot and her tummy so that makes it doubly hard to get her to drink.
My mom is coming in town to stay with us to watch the other 3 kids. She is about an hour away. I don't know how much I will get home but that's al the info I have for now.

Day 5 Ariana sick

Ari still sick, super sick. Lab work came back bad. Lots of issues, anemic, levels low, rotovirus, raging ear infections, sinuses and chest full of mucus...doc sending her to hospital to be admitted. i will have my cell, no computer right now. i'll try to have brian update.

Neurologist

I had my neurologist appointment today. He did a nerve conduction test and tested the muscles. Turns out I have severe carpal tunnel in my right hand and arm and moderate in my left. He thinks that we should skip everything and go straight to the neurosurgeon for surgery. I have my consult with the neurosurgeon on the 28th. So we shall see.

Also Ariana got sick again this morning so I had to postpone her appointment at the U of I until the 27th. She goes to the doc tomorrow. Apparently her lab work from the ER came back low so they want to retest and check on what's going on. She's back to throwing up today and refusing to drink. She's spent most of the day sleeping and laying on the floor.

Quick Ari Update

She's got a cough and a slight runny nose. No more throwing up, still has the dipes though. She isn't wanting to drink this morning. So it's a fight to get her to drink each sip. She had a banana for breakfast and seems to be keeping it down. Everybody else is still doing good, no other sickies yet.

Today is Emily's piano recital. I will take her and Brian will stay home with everyone else. Will try and get a good video of it!

Ari's Sick

Little Lady woke up this morning and had 2 very yucky diapers. Then she started throwing up. she's take on sip of her drink and throw up 3 times as much. Called the doc and he said to take her to the ER. Got there and waited and waited and waited. 4 hrs in she hadn't drank or peed, and she was just laying on the floor of the ER waiting room. I called our doc and he called the ER and complained. Finally after 5hrs in the waiting room I took her up to the triage desk again and really started complaining. A doc came over and immediately did labs and took her back. They gave her some anti-nausea medicine and then slowly started her on some pedialyte. She drank as much as they'd let her, so they decided to let her come home. She's sleeping now, and hopefully will be feeling better in the morning.

Full Results

My doc called yesterday and said he wanted to meet with me today to talk about the MRI results. I woke up this morning and couldn't move my fingers on my right hand. Thy were swelled so much I couldn't make a fist or move them around. Brian took the day off work and I went to the doc.
My C3 has a small bone spur and osteo-arthritis but it isn't what is causing the problem.
C4,5,6 on the left side are bulging which is pinching off the C6 nerve. This is what is causing the lesser numbing and tingling in my left arm. This doesn't explain the right arm though.
So my doc has stopped all therapy but the muscle relaxor and the anti-inflammatory. He called a neurologist and I go there on Monday morning at 8am. They are going to do nerve conduction tests and find out what is happening. Something is going horribly wrong with the nerves which is making the muscles go nuts and tense up and tie in knots which is causing inflammation and swelling which is pinching off the nerves which is making the cycle happen. if that makes sense. so i won't know anything until monday.

in other news today was my last final. YEAH! I'm so glad that this semester is over. Ben and Jace have 2 wks and 2 days left of school and Emily has 3 wks. i've never been so ready for summer break!

MRI initial results

I'm spoiled. What can I say. My doc went with me to the MRI. He stood next to me holding my hand and rubbing my leg and talking to me. Made it sooo much easier. He looked over the initial scans and said that C6 is definately not right. Bulging or something it looks like. We will get the full results tomorrow. I'm just glad it's over and hopefully knowing what it is will make it easier to fix! :)

IEP funnies!

On a Lighter Note...
IEPs According to Dr. Suess

Do you like these IEPs?

I do not like these IEPs
I do not like them, Jeeze Louise
We test, we check
we plan, we meet
but nothing ever seems complete.

Would you, could you
like the form?

I do not like the form I see.
Not page 1, not 2, not 3.
Another change,
a brand new box, I think we all
Have lost our rocks.

Could you all meet here or there?

We could not all meet here or there.
We cannot all fit anywhere.
Not in a room
Not in a hall
There seems to be no space at all.

Would you, could you meet again?

I cannot meet again next week
No lunch, no prep
Please here me speak.
No, not at dusk and not at dawn
At 4 p.m. I should be gone.

Could you hear while all speak out?
Would you write the words they spout?

I could not hear, I would not write
This does not need to be a fight.

Sign here, date there,
Mark this, check that,
Beware the student’s ad-vo-cat(e).

You do not like them
so you say
Try it again! Try it again!
and then you may.

If you let me be,
I’ll try again
and you will see.

Say!

I almost like these IEPs
I think I’ll write 6,003.
And I will practice day and night
Until they say
"You’ve got it right."

Author Unknown

Our world....delivered

I have my MRI tomorrow. My doctor is going to go with me. We shall see how it goes. I'm not looking forward to it but really hoping to find out what is going on with my shoulder.

In other news I'm working on the house. We picked out paint colors for the house and have started taking off all the wallpaper in the kitchen and dining room. We are probably about half done. I have had 2 friends helping me with it so that makes it a bit better! :)

Benjamin went to one of the school options for next year to check it out. He was there for about 1 1/2 hrs today. He was scared when we got there and cried and hid behind me. When I left he had his bottom lip stuck all the way out. His Itinerate Preschool Teacher was with him so I guess that helped a bit. She said he did okay but she had to help him transition and such. Some issues were he doesn't know how to drink from a cup so she had to help him with his drink at snack, and at circle time there were to many kids and it was to loud so Ben just started spinning in circles and tuning everything out. He ended up accidentally kicking 3 kids because of it. This is when I went ahead and packed him up and took him home. He will check out the other choice next week. The school today has the advantage of being an inclusion classroom, whereas the other school is specifically special needs and autism. The other school is a much smaller classroom. If he does go to the school today he will have an associate who will always be with him at school the entire time he's there. So that would help him but still. We aren't sure what decision to make. In good news we were able to get extended year!!!!!! YEAH!!!!! So he will get services all summer. and we even pushed for good ones! He gets 1 hr 3 times a week! YEAH!!!!! This was a HUGE victory.

Ariana is doing good. She is starting to talk more. Walking is still going nowhere. She starts back up tomorrow with her therapy. She also goes to the UofI next week to the orthopedic dept so we will know more then.

Jace is doing ok. He's back to really struggling with his tummy. He's completely off of all dairy again. Makes life pure pleasure let me tell you. He will be referred to a specialist in the next week or two.

Emily is doing good. She has 3 lose teeth right now and she can't wait for them to fall out....especially since she got $20 for the first tooth...damn tooth fairy and no change... :) Em has her piano recital this weekend and she's super excited about that.

Brian is ok. He's working and trying to get situated. He likes his job all in all. He's been a bit grouchy and distant lately but I think everyone is just exhausted and worn out and he doesn't talk about stuff. a man and an engineer. :)

my last final is friday! YEAH!!! I'm so glad to almost be done for the semester! I'm ready to be home for awhile!

Name that Picture

I thought it would be fun this morning to play a game called name that picture. this picture was taken TODAY. this is not an old picture. anyone out there know the answer? :)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

I hope that all the moms reading my blog have a wonderful day today!

Things are good here. We've had a bit slower of a weekend. I had my "massage" therapy yesterday morning and then we ran a few errands and were home by noon. We spent the rest of the day at home. We did a bit of picking up, and then just goofed off. Brian burned me a CD of some songs I've been wanting and I did some cutting for a sewing project that I'm working on with a friend. We've been buying our mama cloth and have decided that we can easily make our own for sooo much cheaper and exactly the way that we want them. So we split up all the cutting and each took half. We'll get together next week hopefully and serge them all up! :)
Late yesterday I made up a sour cream coffee cake with chocolate chips and raspberies and we made eggs this morning. So that was our super yummy breakfast with some fruit.
We are going to head into a town close to us this morning and find their grocery store. This town is where Ben will be going to school next year as well.
Anyways hope all the moms have a great time!

shoulder updates

my right shoulder is screwed. that's the short of it. apparently not a single part of my shoulder is in the right place. he said it was a mess. also there is alot of scar tissue which ultimately is going to need to be stripped. he says it's as bad as it sounds. YIKES. so they want to try and adjust my shoulder today, do the traction again, and do the STEM therapy. I'm still really hurting on my lower neck and between my shoulders and back area, and my right arm is still in alot of pain and pretty much totally useless. my left arm is still going numb but like always not near as bad as my right arm. i'm still taking 3 meds for all of this and they don't seem to be doing a darn thing. i'm spending my entire life rotating between my doc/chiro, my new chiro, and my massage therapist. lovely lovely lovely. i'm sore and i'm tired and this has got to end soon. i never imagined how much quality of life could be lost from something like this.
more updates later....

Pain

I have been in 2 car accidents in my life, both of which my right shoulder took all of the impact. I've always had a bit of trouble with my shoulder, and can only use my arm so long before it goes numb and I have to take a break and stretch it out. All in all it's been one of those things I've been able to compensate for and haven't had to much trouble. Then the move. I was sore afterwards but didn't think to much about it. Then my arm started going numb a bit quicker and I found I was taking alot more breaks. Then I couldn't sleep because my arm was hurting me so much. Then it spread to my elbow and my shoulder. By Monday I was hurting ALOT and called the doc. My doctor is a licensed MD and a DC! So he got me in yesterday. Apparently the spine in my neck is completely straight instead of curved AND my spine is slipped over to the side completely pinching off my nerves. he did an adjustment and put me on 4 meds...a pain killer, a muscle relaxor, an anti-inflammatory, and a new med on the market used to calm the nerves. (not like emotional like sensation). I took them last night and was sleepy but ok. Went to bed with no change. Woke up this morning and I could hardly get out of bed at all. I was in incredible pain. couldn't turn my head my arms were completely numb and couldn't even brush out emily's hair. i took my meds and brian drove the kids to school and me to the doc. by the time we got to the doc i was so dizzy i couldn't see straight, had trouble keeping my balance standing etc. he did an adjustment and sent me to another doc for traction. every time my head is pulled straight back away from my body the numbness in my arms go away. brian took me home and i fell asleep on the couch. doc called and i flew out the door. the whole drive there the road and everything was swimming in front of my eyes. by the time i got to the doc i couldn't even think straight. i filled out the first 4 lines of the paperwork and then couldn't even hold the pen. the nurse filled it all out. by the time i got back to the room i literally had a breakdown. my back and shoulders were throbbing i could only take fast deep breaths, i was so dizzy i thought i was going to pass out or throw up, and i couldn't use my arms. called my doc and he immediately took me off the nerve meds. i had the traction and then was sent to a massage therapist who searches out the higher temp parts of my spine and does intense pressure massage there. he didn't want to do a full massage because he didn't want to increase my circulation and pump the meds that were already affecting me horribly through my body even more.
now i'm home and feeling like crap. i'm pretty drugged up and have very limited use of my arms and neck.
doc said it will take days to weeks for the pain to go away and that it will take months to fix it. i've been put on permanent restriction from ever lifting heavy items again, and told this will be a life long thing that i will be battling from here on out. gotta love life.
so anyways typing is getting fuzzy. i'm off to the couch.

final stretch

i'm on the home stretch for this semester. this is my last week of class and then finals are next week. i have tomorrow off and i'm pretty excited about that! :)
we have gotten all of our things from our old house, and have gotten it cleaned up and all of that. we've pretty much finished unpacking here at the new house, just some odds and ends left. i'm hoping to get those things finished up tomorrow.
i haven't done a great job at keeping up with the blog lately but things have been so darned hectic. i promise to get back going next week once the semester is over.

Still alive

we are still here, all alive, all living under the same roof.
by the end of this evening all of our stuff will be out of the old house and over here. so atleast that part of the job is done. then we just need to get over there and clean it and get the keys back to our landlord.
and then the true fun begins. we have to unpack this flipping place. it's a mess and everything has been put into the garage. so now you can barely walk in the garage. and mind you our fridge is in the garage because it doesn't fit in the house. so yeah talk about pure enjoyment.
i have one week of school left and then finals week. i'm so ready for this semester to be over.
so that's about all. i don't have much to blog about, but on the other hand i have tons i could say. if that makes a darned bit of sense.

Back

i'm back online. i've been back online since tuesday night but haven't had time to blog.
i have a line from a song that pretty much sums everything up for you.
"It comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel was just a freight train coming your way."
everything with the move and pretty much my life in general has been a disaster. brian and i are fighting right now more than ever before and after last night and this morning i could really care less if he comes home tonight or if he goes and finds a hotel.

in other news the kids are all pretty good, except for jace. his stomach and bowels are really starting to act up again. we have immediately stopped all dairy and have called the doc to get him an appt with a pediatric GI. i will update more there as i know it.

blogs maybe few and far between right now until i can get all of our things over to this house, get some meals going some day, get clean clothes, unpack, and figure out how to fix my marriage.......