Doing Much Better

Hello to all. Thanks to everyone for prayers and thoughts. I seem to have made a large step forward today with this Bell's Palsy stuff. I have had very little if any pain in my ear or face and have regained some movement in my eyelids, eyebrows and face. So, hopefully the worst is behind us. All information I read stated that it got worse before it got better. This weekend had to be the worst part. I couldn't have made it without my wonderful wife. Thank you so much sweetie.

It's not funny anymore

David's partial face paralysis was pretty amusing at first. He took it in stride, and we laughed about it and continued on with our lives. However, everything took a huge turn for the worse on Friday, when he started having horrible pain in his ear. He didn't get any sleep on Friday night because of the pain, so Saturday morning he went in to our doctor's office to try to get some relief. The doctor on call told him he had a pinched nerve and prescribed Valium - which, as we now know for certain, is a muscle relaxer, and not a pain reliever. But, he went along with it (you know, doctor knows best), took the Valium, and tried going to bed early on Saturday. I stayed up late writing reports for work, and when I went to bed, I found David in absolute misery. The pain had gotten much, much worse. He said it felt like an icepick was being stuck through his ear. So, we got up and headed to the emergency room. Fortunately, Elizabeth is now sleeping through the night, so we were able to leave Jonathan home with her, equipped with his cell phone to call us if there were any problems.

After 4-1/2 hours in the emergency room, David emerged with a really good shot of pain killers, a prescription for 4 more medicines, including more good pain-relieving drugs, and a diagnosis of probable Ramsay Hunt Syndrome - which is basically the equivalent of shingles in your ear and can occur as a result of Bell's Palsy. Yes, the family doctor completely dropped the ball on this one. Fortunately, the pain is now under control and we're hopeful that he will finally start to improve. Unfortunately, Elizabeth woke up at her normal time this morning, which means I'm operating on less than 3 hours of sleep. Thank goodness for Gran, who is watching her so I can do some of my end-of-the-month stuff for work. I am so ready for October to be over!!!!

On a side note, make sure to ask me to impersonate David, who was in a whole lot of pain but mellowed out on Valium, threatening the drunk, obnoxious college student in the waiting room of the ER when he made fun of our last name....

Family resemblance

I think we've finally figured out who Elizabeth looks like....Jonathan! At least with their current hairstyles, that's for sure. We made a deal last year with Jonathan that he could grow his hair longer (although it's not allowed to completely cover his eyes) if he kept his grades up. He just brought a report card home with all A's and one B, so he's definitely keeping up his end of the bargain! Here's a picture of his latest 'do from the side. This is actually shorter than he wants it, but we do make him get it cut every once in a while.



And, here's Elizabeth from the side. I'm trying to grow her hair out, including her bangs, but it's at the really scraggly stage now. It's really cute when she lets us put barrettes or pigtails in, but most of the time she pulls those right out, so it's a never-ending battle to try to put her hair up.



I also think Elizabeth's ready for winter...she insisted on wearing her snowboots with her pajamas this morning.



She hasn't taken a single step by herself since her first one a week and a half ago - although she walks all over the place when she has someone else's hand to hold onto. David and I are to the point where we're willing to let her wear any shoes she wants to, as long as she'll walk alone in them. We're hoping she'll try that soon!

Variations in the English language

Apparently, when your doctor's office calls to tell you, "We've scheduled your biopsy for 10am on October 26," they actually mean, "We've scheduled you for another doctor's appointment in which they will examine you, look at your x-rays and records, then schedule you for a biopsy." So, my biopsy is now scheduled for November 1. That is, unless we managed to misunderstand the language again.

The surgeon seemed very nice and his fingers were warm - I guess that's all you can ask for in this situation. He was not able to say one way or another if he thought the calcifications were indicative of cancer - I think he really didn't have a clue, that he thought it could go either way. He told us it would be reasonable to biopsy or to wait 6 months, and left the decision up to us. We decided to go ahead with the biopsy - the waiting is already killing me. The good news is that he will be doing a stereotactic biopsy, and he seemed to feel confident that they would know exactly where to test and get valid results. He also said I would have the results within 24 hours, so it does seem that we will know one way or another within a week.

David and I did sneak a peek at the x-rays while we were in the waiting room. Probably shouldn't have done that. I made the mistake of looking at a bunch of example mammograms, with both benign and malignant results, on the internet this week, so now I know just enough to be dangerous (or scared, in this case). I could see 4 very small calcifications, clustered very closely together, 2 of which seemed non-uniform. I feel less confident after seeing that, because the close grouping and irregular shapes usually don't mean good news. Oh well, time to try to put it out of our minds until we get the definite results. Thanks for all the prayers - we'll keep you posted!

Fall getaway

David and I snuck away to our favorite cabin by Lake Cumberland for 2 nights at the end of last week. Jonathan was at his mom's for Fall Break and Aunt Amy was kind enough to fly in for a few days to watch Elizabeth. She had lots of fun getting hugs and kisses and playing with baby dolls, Brooke, and Elizabeth!

The fall foliage was at its peak, and it was beautiful. We took a train ride from Stearns, KY to an old mining camp, and just enjoyed some quality R&R. The weather was pretty cold, but we bundled up and enjoyed some chili and hot chocolate along the way. Then, we finished out the day with a trip by Cumberland Falls.

Here are some pics. (Please read the previous post if you're wondering why David's face looks funny - he calls his new "sneer" his Cary Grant impression.)

When it rains, it pours

I went for a routine mammogram last Tuesday, which turned into a double breast ultrasound (which, by the way, is not nearly as exciting as the "big ultrasound" for a baby). Finally, the radiologist personally came in to talk to me to tell me I have microcalcifications in my left breast that are "probably benign," and that I should come back in 6 months to get them checked again to see if they've changed.

After a lot of prayer, plus researching it a lot on the internet, and talking to David and family, I decided to call my doctor and ask for a biopsy. Breast cancer is well documented in our family, including my great-grandmother, grandmother and aunt, so we don't want to take any chances. Plus, I don't think there's anyway that I can live with the uncertainty for another 6 months.

I met with my doctor on Thursday morning, and he provided me with the complete results from the mammogram and ultrasounds. They found 5-8 small clustered calcifications in my left breast that were "indistinguishable" - meaning they were very small and they couldn't tell the shape. They weren't seen on either of my previous mammograms, but the previous mammograms were analog, and this one was digital, and it's possible they didn't see them before because the technology has improved. However, the grouping and size of the calcifications may mean there is a small amount of cancerous tissue in the area. Even if it is there, they would have caught it extremely early, and the odds are very good that it's all benign - with only a 2% chance of it being malignant for an "average" person. Of course, with our family history, those odds are increased, therefore my doctor told me that a biopsy was "cautious, but warranted." So, we've scheduled the biopsy for Thursday morning, October 26. It will have to be a needle biopsy, which means the surgeon will have to review the film and decide the appropriate place to test and try to guide the needle to that location, so he told me there's always a chance that they won't test the exact spot. So, even if the results come back as benign, he still wants me to go back for another mammogram in 6 months to check the area for changes.

Here's the next kink in our story: On Thursday morning, the left side of David's face suddenly became paralyzed. It was diagnosed as Bell's Palsy, the result of inflammation around a cranial nerve due to a viral infection. Upon further research, we think it's probably related to the Epstein Barr virus, resulting from his horrible case of mono a few years ago. He had been to the doctor earlier in the week for a very bad sore throat. Stress is also supposed to be a trigger factor, so given everything we've been through this week, it's not hard to figure out why it happened when it did. The doctor told him it will probably take several weeks to return to normal, and there's a 10% chance it will remain paralyzed permanently. Fortunately, he's handling it very well - and has actually kept us all laughing about it with his jokes and mannerisms. I've had to thank him for that, because if I wasn't laughing at the moment, I'd definitely be crying.

Our sermon in church this morning was regarding "Survival Tactics" when bad things happen. Definitely appropriate for us this week! I've decided to hold tight to Joshua 1:5:

"No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."

I'm remaining optimistic that both of these conditions will rectify themselves quickly (mine through a good biopsy, his by disappearing). If not, I know we will deal with things as they come. Please keep us in your prayers, and we'll keep you all updated!

Annual trip to the pumpkin farm

This afternoon, we took the girls to the local pumpkin farm. We decided to forgo the outlandish entry prices to the petting zoo, playground, and corn maze. The girls didn't seem to notice. They had a great time being pulled in the wagon, playing with the pumpkins and running through the corn tunnel. And, everyone enjoyed the yummy apple dumplings!









Elizabeth seemed to get a lot more out of it than last year's trip:



What a difference a year makes!

Two days after she got her tubes....

...and Elizabeth took her first step today! Woo hoo! And, she did it while both Mommy and Daddy were watching.

She's also starting to walk a lot steadier on our fingers. In fact, Aunt Erin told me today that I was Elizabeth's "Dumbo feather". We think she can walk on her own - she's just too chicken to try!

Here's a video of the infamous first step. We're sure there are many more to follow!

It's definitely a girl thing

Cousin Brooke is here, and she like babies and kisses just as much as Elizabeth does! These two girls are absolutely adorable together. It's hard to get a picture of both of them together, but here's an action shot when they were playing this evening.



Whenever they were apart, Elizabeth kept asking for "Bwwww" (Brooke) and Brooke kept asking for "Baby" (Elizabeth). So cute!

Brooke is also absolutely in love with Lyra. She squeals in delight everytime she sees her. Somebody needs to get this girl a dog! :)



Erin and Brad left to go to Erin's 10th high school reunion, so David and I got to play with both girls. They must have worn each other out, because they both went right to sleep and all is quiet now.

Elizabeth's ear tube experience went fairly well. She was really, really grumpy when she first came out of the surgery. That lasted for about an hour, and after that she seemed fine, except for a few grumpy spells. Today, she was completely back to normal. She absolutely hates the eardrops we have to give her for the next week, but other than that everything seems to be going well. The doctor told us her ears were still infected when she went in for the surgery, and he thought the tubes were the only things that were going to clear them up, so we're really glad we decided to go ahead with it.

Before Brooke got here today, Elizabeth was playing with her dolls (LouLou and DeeDee). Here's an adorable picture or her reading a book to them:



And a picture of her putting her shoes on LouLou:

Old man winter's coming

Winter is rapidly approaching in the Bluegrass. We've had our first few frosts, and it's gotten downright nippy a couple of times. We're now enjoying what very well may be our last pretty fall weekend. But, there is one benefit to cold weather - Elizabeth got to wear her Peruvian hat from Aunt Amy! She seemed to like it!

Hugs, kisses and babies

Elizabeth is the sweetest little girl. She wants to hug and kiss everything. Mommy, daddy, her baby dolls, the picture of a baby in her book, the sticker on her hand, the babies in the mall, the cat, her empty dinner plate, Jonathan, oh, and did I mention babies?

She is absolutely in love with any kind of baby. She loves to rock, hug, and kiss her baby dolls. We bought her a book full of pictures of babies, and I actually had to send it over to Gran's house for a while so I could get a break from reading it. Of course, I felt guilty afterward and retrieved it for her. She now even associates church with babies, because she gets to "play" with the babies in the church nursery. It's very cute, and has definitely reinforced David's belief that certain "girl" traits, like loving babies, are automatically built in.

We've noticed that we can get *lots* of hugs and kisses when she wants something. Apparently, the manipulation trait is inbred also!

Here's a picture of her hanging out with me on our deck:



And then giving Mommy kisses:



And, here's her hugging Daddy during playtime before bed:



And giving Daddy kisses:



Notice she was trying to steal his hat at the same time, as that picture was taken right in the middle of a rousing game of "Steal Daddy's Hat". Here's a video of a small portion of the game. Isn't that giggle contagious?



By the way, anyone know of a better free video hosting site? That one always makes our video quality really bad.

She goes in for her ear tubes in the morning. We have to be at the hospital at 6:45am. Wish us luck!

Mission aborted

At 2am this morning, David and I officially decided to abort the Big Girl Bed mission. That decision was reinforced at 4am and 6am. By 8:30am, the Big Girl Bed was banished to the attic, never to be seen again - at least until her 2nd birthday -and the crib was happily back in place.

I still don't think it was a hopeless cause. I have several friends on my May Mommies board who have already switched their kids over, and are reportedly enjoying happy nights with no ill effect. However, our problem was that, while we thought Elizabeth was sleeping peacefully from 8:30pm-7:30am every night, she was apparently waking up every 2 hours, evaluating her situation and deciding there was nothing better to do and no way to get to mommy or daddy, so she rolled over and went back to sleep. When she moved to the big girl bed, she instantly discovered there was something much better to do when she woke up - crawl as fast as she could to the door and scream bloody murder until mommy or daddy appeared. Don't get me wrong, we were not rushing in to her immediately. But, this child has inherited the stubborn gene from not one, but both of her parents. She doesn't give up easily. My dream of her waking up and finding a book to read or a toy to play with quietly did not materialize. My secondary dream of her falling asleep in exhaustion beside the bedroom door also did not materialize.

So, the Big Girl Bed mission has been scrapped until she can either 1) be bribed with stickers or other form of reward for sleeping quietly in her bed, and/or 2) be intimidated by David enough to stay in the bed. We figure that will take at least a year - or more. No rush to start the experiment again, that's for sure!

Oh, and in case you're apt to comment on the emotional scarring our child has just been through, be assured I've added $100 to her Future Therapy fund, which has been started to make up for my parenting goofs. All contributions are welcome - I think she's going to need them!