What's Wrong With My Baby?!!!!

This morning we started our journey all over again. Micheala, Heather and I all loaded up and went down to University Hospital in Iowa City for an EEG. Micheala didn't think this was fun at all, but she did great. Tears were expected from Micheala, but Heather and I had a hard time staying strong for Micheala. As most of you know, we went through all of this right after Micheala was born. We did numerous tests at St. Lukes, Iowa City and Mayo Clinic only to get no answers. What we thought she out grew, has now come back and it is scaring Heather and I to death. We get very little sleep at night, with Micheala's alarms going off throughout the night and just overall stress. We see this little girl so full of life throughout the day, but struggles so much at night. Heather and I are both absolutely intoxicated with the feeling of helplessness. What can we do, other than worry? I, in my heart, know that Micheala is a tough little girl and can overcome anything thrown her way, but in the same thought....I am her daddy and suppose to protect her in harm's way. We really need answers this time.
Finally after all the probes are on, Micheala is relaxed. It's quite nerve racking during these tests because as much as we want answers, we're not sure if we are prepared to hear them. Who wants to hear that their kid is sick?
The nurses gave Micheala a DVD player to watch movies, then she eventually fell asleep. The kicker of the day is that we did not get any results and are unsure of when we will hear them. Micheala has an MRI scheduled tomorrow at St. Lukes. She will be put under to help the test go smooth. It's scary knowing that Micheala stops breathing when she sleeps, yet they want to put her under for this test. I know that she will be monitored very close, but I'm still very uneasy about the test tomorrow. After the MRI tomorrow, I guess we wait. Iowa City states that they will call to set up an appointment with us if they see something in Micheala's EEG results that has them concerned, otherwise they will see us again in October. Long story short.......if Micheala's test results don't get the doctors' attention, then Heather and I don't sleep until October!
After the EEG, Heather and I had to give Micheala a special day, so we went to play at Coral Ridge Mall for a while. I think Heather and I had more fun watching her run and play, than she actually did! We will get through this, I know this for a fact. Heather and I were talking tonight, over a few adult beverages (much needed), that we really get stronger as husband and wife in these situations. It's a real wake up call for both of us of how fortunate we are to have each other. Times are stressful.....but we get up every morning.......love each other.........love our kids.......and enjoy the opportunity to tackle any obstacles that life wants to throw at us on that given day.

Just Breathe Micheala

As some of you may already know, Micheala is at it again. A week ago, Micheala was playing downstairs and stopped breathing for a brief moment. Her lips were purple and face was turning colors. Heather grabbed Micheala instantly and Micheala snapped out of it and started breathing again. So that night, Heather had Micheala sleep with her, and she stopped breathing in the middle of the night. Once again, she snapped out of it instantly. Scared and upset, Heather took Micheala to the doctor.

This is the same stuff that went on when she was little. We spent numerous hours at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and at the University of Iowa only to get no definite answers. Micheala stopped having these episodes, so we thought it was something that just "fixed itself".

Micheala now connected to a monitor everytime she sleeps to measure her heart rate and breathing. The alarm has gone off a couple times, and other nights it's been quiet. She has an MRI set up for sometime in July and the doctors are talking about removing her abnormally large tonsils and adenoids. I guess we'll see what happens.

Happy Father's Day, Dad

Sometimes the unique Father's Day gift is the best. Besides, the "unique" way just better fits my style. My Dad has been finishing off the inside of his garage in his free time (which isn't much at all). He had mentioned to me months ago that he would like to paint the inside of his garage once he had it finished and put a Harley Davidson logo somewhere inside. With me being off work, I decided that I would tackle the job for him and sort of make it a Father's Day gift. So, I bought the supplies, got an overhead projector and went to work. What a job this turned out to be. It took me 15 hours to complete the job, put I took my time to make it look as good as possible. I am very happy with the finished product and it can be seen in Dad's garage. I have downloaded some step by step photos.

Dad was unsure of where he wanted the logo to go, but I had a good idea before I started. As a matter of fact, Dad was unsure of the paint scheme he wanted in the entire garage, so he left it in my hands. The first photo is the end of day one. I started by priming the wall (2 coats) and then putting the image on the wall by using the overhead projector. I started by painting the "Harley-Davidson" in white. I then painted the orange in the logo. The paint I work with goes on thick and drys fast, plus the little bit of breeze was helping speed along the process.
Midway through Day 2 and I have started using the black. I was sure to be very careful with the black, as it is hard to hide the black painted mistakes. I had Dylanne jump into this photo to give a scale of the size of the project.

Finally after 15 hours, I was done! I was very pleased in the finished project and Dad had not yet seen it. Eventually, we will finish painting the rest of the garage, and I think Dad might have more ideas for the other walls.

A close up of the finished project. Happy Father's Day, Dad! The work was well worth it!

Out of work and bored!

My place of work, Linn County Youth Shelter, was recently flooded causing us to shut down. We are located at 10th Street NW in Cedar Rapids and were forced to evacuate last Wednesday. Our clients were shipped off to other shelters in the state and we were told to stay away. The most recent word is that our basement, which houses our classroom, is a total loss as it was flooded to the ceiling. We are unsure of when we will be up and running again.

In the meantime, I'm bored. I was called this week to work at the check points in Cedar Rapids to help the flood victims contact FEMA and other Cedar Rapids services. Because there are so many county employees out of work, the shifts are limited to a few 6 hour shifts per week. Only time will tell when we can get back into business and continue to serve the youth of Cedar Rapids.

On another note, the Relay For Life this weekend was a huge success. Heather and the girls participated at the relay while I stayed home to wait for the outcome of the flood. Our team was the top money earners in Stephenson County Illinois netting over $17,000! The "Rally For Ally" shirts sold out immediately and are currently on back order. If you click on the link "Ally" on our list of friends, you can see a few photos from the relay on Ally's caringbridge website. Also take a look at the tough little 9 year old battling cancer. Round one of Chemo done and she's smiling like it was nothing. You Go Girl!

So, out of work and bored, that gives me plenty of time to do..............well............what the hell am I going to do?

Palo

This morning I decided to get up and take the girls fishing. I knew this was a bad idea before I even left the house, but I am on a mission to turn my girls into fisherwomen. Well, we drove out to Palo and I unloaded the fishing gear and we walked to the shoreline. Dylanne then decided that she had to go to the bathroom, even after I asked her to go before we left the house. So we drop the gear and walk to the bathroom, which was about a 20 minute walk because Micheala gets distracted by everything that moves. Bathroom break over, so now on to the fishing. Now Dylanne wants her lunch. So I walked to the truck and got out the cooler so she could start eating her lunch/snack. Finally, we got bobbers in the water! 10 minutes was enough for them and it was sort of windy out, so they wanted to leave. To save the trip, I took them over to the park. We played for quite some time and they had a blast. I'm starting to accept the fact that I may have girly girls, but I will not give up hope. Dylanne may be a lost soul in the fishing world, but Micheala still has a chance. Micheala likes to touch every fish that we catch, Dylanne wants to put dresses on them and call them "Tinkerbell".

Dylanne on the slide, having a great time.

Micheala showing Dylanne the "proper" way to slide.

Enjoying some fun in the sand.

Hangin' Out.

Relay For Life

The Stephenson County Relay For Life (Illinois) will be held on June 13th. Our team, "Family Ties", will be walking in full force. As usual, I will not be at the relay because I have to work. I decided last year that I would try to contribute in a unique way. What I came up with was a little "advertising" using our driveway and some sidewalk chalk. I just finished the drawing for this year and I decided to post last year's picture as well.

The "Purple Ribbon" for 2007

The "Rally For Ally" in 2008

For those of you that participate in a Relay For Life event in your area, we appreciate your support. Hopefully the money that is being raised at these relays will eventually lead us to a cure.

What's going on with the gals

Micheala:

Micheala is really into the outdoors. Wonder where she gets that? Just the other day, after dropping Dylanne off at school, she asked me if we could go fishing. This was such a proud moment for me, unfortunately it was raining, so we couldn't go. I have been sneaking Micheala out to Palo after we drop Dylanne off at school and fishing a bit in the morning. Micheala enjoys touching the fish and wants all of them to be her pets. Micheala also loves bugs and any insects. Our neighbor bought her a butterfly house to "grow" butterflies. So we ordered the caterpillars and are now watching them grow. She is so excited. Micheala is a lot like me as far as a complexion goes. She has to be careful out in the sun, so she is constantly lubricated in sun screen, which drives her nuts. She likes to swing, swim, drive her truck and ride her bike. Micheala is getting real close to potty trained. She makes the choice to wear diapers or big girl underwear in the morning. She's done real well with the big girl underwear, but is definitely taking her time making the complete change over to big girl underwear. Heather and I chose not to pressure her, as she initiated the wearing of the big girl underwear.


This is the cup in which her caterpillars are growing. Once they get to the right stage, we can move them to the butterfly house. Dylanne's class does the same project, so Dylanne has been teaching Micheala about the different stages of caterpillars becoming butterflies.

Here is the little renegade on her bike. Although she rides pretty good, she has some wipe outs. She then thinks she needs to cover herself in band-aids.

Dylanne:

Dylanne is just about finished with pre-school. One more week and it's vacation time. Honestly, Dylanne has been a bit on the "diva" side lately. Heather and I find that she is quite defiant at times and requires intervention from us in many circumstances. Dylanne and Micheala are hit and miss with their relationship. They either play really well together or fight like crazed animals. Dylanne has recently started riding her bike without training wheels and had to get a bigger bike. She was so excited to pick out her new bike and is still a little intimidated about riding it without training wheels. However, she does a great job and only time will conquer her fears. Dylanne likes to play outside, but is not an outdoors person. She would much rather play house with the numerous babies that she mothers. Dylanne is very attached to Heather and I. She doesn't like when either of us have to leave for work and is usually within 10 feet of us at all times. Regardless of her attitude problems at times, we are very proud of her. Last night she said that she wished Grandma Brenda was still alive so that she could call and tell her she could ride her bike without training wheels. Having a psychology degree, I can't help but wonder if Brenda's death has something to do with her recent defiance.


No more training wheels! Dylanne on her new bike. She is also sporting the matching helmet, knee and arm pads.

She is so proud of herself! What a way to kick off the summer. You go girl!

Heather and I are starting to get back into the swing of life again. We have focused a lot of our free time on helping Heather's god daughter, Ally, with her recent cancer diagnosis. It has really given us a different perspective on life. Every time we think that things are tough, we think of Ally, and realize that if a 9 year old can battle cancer with the amount of courage and determination that she is, then we can get through anything that life throws our way.