Schrock Summer Report

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I have updated this blog, but I have been busy trying to keep up with all of the riff raff, better known as summer. So, since it is 4:30 am and I am at work with nothing better to do, I thought that I would give a little rundown of our summer thus far.

As some of you may know, I run a Baggo league from my house called Urbana Independent Bags League. I started it last summer and it is basically a gathering of neighbors and friends on a Saturday night for a grill out and a Baggo tournament. In the spirit of competition, I keep statistics and publish them on a website www.uibl.blogspot.com for the participants to follow. I rank players throughout the summer based on a point system that I developed. The whole purpose was to have an alternative source of entertainment that doesn't involve spending loads of money, includes families and is a safe place to drink some adult beverages and not worry about driving home (or at least for some of us). It has been quite successful and word has gotten out around town about the league resulting in more interest from others.

Dylanne completed her first season of coach pitch softball. She was on a team that had some boys and some girls, but they were all kindergartners. She did very well, although her attention span was lack there of at some points. I did work with her a bit in the yard, but she is just more interested in putting on dresses and playing girly stuff right now. Because of my work schedule, I was only able to see 1 of her 5 games, which was a bit heartbreaking for me, but I know that in the future I will be able to catch more of them. She also completed kindergarten with flying colors. All reports on her final report card were excellent as she has really grown this year from an academic stand point. Speaking of growing, she has really shot up this past year. I look at a young lady now and can't believe that it seems like only yesterday she was a baby. Heather and I struggle a bit with her sometimes "diva" attitude. Her attitude is up and down depending on what seems to be the day. I am really proud of Dylanne for the way that she has handled Micheala's newly diagnosed diabetes. She makes an effort to not eat in front of Micheala when Micheala cannot eat. She also has been an excellent friend to our neighbor boy, Austin, who is getting ready to have a bone marrow transplant this month to help his leukemia. We've had long talks about what Austin is going through and she has made an excellent effort to play with Austin before he spends time in the hospital.

What can I say about Micheala? Her strength has been incredible this past month. She has completed her first year of pre-school and thinks she is going to be in kindergarten next year. I have explained to her numerous times that she has one more year of pre-school left, but she refuses to believe me. Diabetes is going really well for Micheala. Her blood sugars are running normal, she is on a good diet and eating regimen and is doing her shots and blood sugar testings without throwing a big fuss. As far as her Chiari Malformation, that is going excellent as well. She is sleeping much better at night, which results in Heather and I getting rest as well. Micheala has taken a huge interest in gardening this summer, thanks to our neighbor Erica. She has planted numerous flowers around the outside of our house and can name all of them. She is also growing some tomatoes and peppers in a mini garden. Micheala and our dog, Mika, have become quite close over the last month. I'm not sure the dog appreciates all of the affection all of the time, but at night, Mika is always looking to lay with Micheala. One thing about our neighborhood is that there just isn't very many kids for Micheala to play with and she sometimes gets pushed aside by Dylanne and her friends, so she has become best friends with Erica, our neighbor. Erica does a fantastic job of letting Micheala help with her various outdoor projects. and Heather and I appreciate the patience Erica has with her. Although Micheala can get cranky at times, she still has that happy go lucky attitude that always can make you laugh.

Heather and I are doing great. We think that we have reached a point of "living" once again. Heather is busy at work trying to budget the various youth programs in Linn County and has been under some stressful deadlines as of late. She fractured her cheek bone last weekend while horsing around at one of our Baggo tournaments. She still has a bit of a black eye and some discomfort, but she is surviving. I am proud of the research and learning that she has done in regards to Micheala's health because she really didn't know all there was to know about diabetes until Micheala's diagnosis. We haven't had to visit that "cancer" word with Heather as of late, which is refreshing. She is currently thinking of taking another shot at her Masters degree in the near future. I am still working at the Linn County Youth Shelter. As most of you know, the flood destroyed our building last year and we are currently at a temporary location at the Linn County Detention Center. We were suppose to have a new building by now, but FEMA, the board of supervisors and other parties involved have been held up, causing a delay in our future. June 28th is a big day for me, as the board of supervisors have been kicking around the "need" for the Linn County Youth Shelter, and our future will be decided on or by that date. I have all the confidence in the world that we will continue to have a program, I just have to wait and hear it officially. I spent all of last week working on our house, as we got it appraised. I painted the living room (green) and our bedroom (magenta/periwinkle), as well as doing other repairs that I could do with my little knowledge in home repair. I have painted a few garages this year and sounds as if I may have a few more to do by summer's end. I enjoy painting and use it as a stress reliever.

Our family has also enjoyed our newest member, Braylon. We are so fortunate to have Chris and Joni live so close to us and can visit them at any time. Braylon has really grown and is absolutely adorable! The girls think he is awesome and always want to hold him, but Heather and I try to hold them off, as we see how they treat their dolls.

All in all, things are going great thus far. We enjoy being outside with our neighbors and friends. We are happy that we are finally moving forward health wise and can get back to doing the things we love to do. Heather and I talk at night about how we could never handle some of the things we've gone through alone and thinks it only makes us stronger, which I sure is true for a lot of families.

Here's to a great rest of the summer for all!

Micheala Update

The past couple weeks have been pretty busy. We are doing doctor's appointments, which seems like every other day, on top of doing our "everyday" business. Right now we are trying to regulate Micheala's blood sugars. She barely takes any insulin at all, due to her being in her honeymoon period. A honeymoon period is when Micheala's body puts up the last little fight to produce insulin, causing her to have low blood sugars. The honeymoon period can last for days, weeks or months; there is no way of telling. We are fighting low blood sugars in the mornings and at night and our doctor has been adjusting the insulin accordingly. Micheala is also not a very big eater, so we have to force her to eat, which is a battle. She has become more accustom to the blood sugar checks and the injections. She says that they don't hurt, but gets herself all worked up prior with anxiety, which causes her to put up a little fight. Needless to say, Heather and I have been watching her like a hawk. Heather is starting to get the hang of things and I am learning some new things as well.

She still has her crazy attitude and personality, so the diabetes has not slowed that at all. She has taken an interest in gardening and has planted numerous plants and vegetables in our yard. She has gone back to school and things there have been good.

Never for a moment did i ever think that Micheala couldn't handle diabetes, I just never wanted the opportunity to find out that she could. She is getting a better understanding everyday of what she has and what it means. Today she saw a commercial on TV for some candy, she looks at me and says, "Dad, I can't have that, it will make me sick, it's got too much sugar". I looked at her, smiled and said, "Yeah but you know what, we can eat all the God Damn cheese that we want too". Maybe that's only funny to us diabetics.

The other day, our little neighbor boy with lukemia, Austin, told Micheala that she just needs to remember to be brave. Every once in a while, Micheala will say, Austin told me I need to be brave, and this helps her with her injections.

Dylanne is doing an excellent job of being respectful towards her sister in regards to eating. While we don't want to deny Dylanne the satisfaction of a deserved treat, we ask her to eat it away from Micheala. She does this and understands why she has to do it.

Heather and I are exhausted, both mentally and physically, but we do not let that slow us down. We are trying to maintain a normal lifestyle with family and friends, but sometimes find ourselves too tired. We've both had our share of sleepless nights and have to test Micheala's blood sugars a few times overnight.

Heather and I would like to thank all of our friends and family for supporting us the last couple weeks. Most people still see Micheala as the fun loving 4 year old and not the "diabetic girl", and that's all that we ask. We appreciate all of those who are eager to learn how to care for Micheala so they can spend time with her without Heather or myself.

Finally, St.Lukes is interested in doing a story about Micheala and some of the adversity that she has gone through. It's more of a hospital PR, but I figured, if it does happen, maybe this can be a way for Micheala to reach out to other kids her age going through adversity and let them know that things will eventually be alright.

Micheala........

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out in blog land! Today my wife and I celebrated Mother's Day in St. Lukes hospital. Let me explpain and I'll start from the beginning.

Heather and I had Micheala take part in a study down at the University of Iowa about a month ago. The study tests children of Type 1 Diabetics to see if they have the signs of becoming a diabetic in the future. If the test comes back positive, then that means that your child would have a chance to become diabetic and the University would like to study the child to see if the early signs of diabetes can be identified much earlier. Well Micheala's test came back positive, which was heart wrenching for me, but it was not a 100% sign that she would be diabetic, just that she has a chance. Over the last week, Heather and I started to notice the symptoms (extreme thirst, frequent urination and mood swings). We tested her blood sugar at home and it was high, so we headed to St. Luke's to get the official diagnosis.....Type 1 diabetes.

Micheala will be hospitalized for a bit to regulate her sugars and is already doing better. She still has lots of energy and the hospital staff complimented us on being "so alert" to the symptoms. She did not get sick or dehydrated like I did when I was diagnosed, so we have skipped some of the scary parts of diabetes, but we know we have a long road ahead of us.

On a personal note......I am crushed. I never wanted this to happen to any of my kids as I struggle to keep my diabetes in check. I guess now I will have to refocus and buckle down on my own health to encourage Micheala to do the same. I have trouble understanding why Micheala just can't seem to get a fair shake in life. I find myself very guilt stricken and wish I could undo it all. K'la and I have always had a special bond and I guess now there is one more thing that we share.

Micheala turns 4!

With all that has been going on with Micheala, we added a birthday party to the mix. On April 19th, Micheala turned 4 years old. We had her party on the 20th, with Grandparents, neighbors and aunt Joni and Uncle Chris. Micheala set the land speed record for opening her gifts, so we didn't get many pictures. It's amazing how fast she has grown. Thank you to everyone that came.

Micheala verses the MRI

Friday was the day that was weighing heavy on Heather and my hearts for quite sometime now. We had many concerns and unanswered questions regarding the health of Micheala and the results of her surgery from last August. As many of you know, Heather and I grew concerned with Micheala about 2 months ago when she was display some odd behavior. She was wetting her pants in the middle of the day, having alarms at night, staring off into space and at times was acting "out of character". So after meeting with our pediatrician and making calls into our surgeon, we had set up an EEG and an MRI to get an idea of what may be causing these symptoms.

The EEG was done at St. Luke's in Cedar Rapids> The EEG was done to rule out any concern that Micheala may be having some seizures. Thankfully her EEG was good and there were no indications of any types of seizures, so that left us with the MRI.

Friday we traveled down to Iowa City, where my cousin Lani was to perform the MRI. Initially we were told not to feed Micheala due to her having to be sedated for the MRI. Lani approached us moments before the MRI about trying it without sedation. This required Micheala to lay still in the MRI tube for 15 minutes. After some convincing, we talked Micheala into doing it. So our brave little girl, scared and unsure of what was going on, laid on the table, put on the headphones and entered the tube for her MRI. Heather and I were able to stay and comfort her by holding her hands and basically just being in plain sight. She eventually got comfortable and made it through the MRI with flying colors. I am simply amazed by the strength that Micheala has by doing something that she was scared to do and by trusting Heather and I when we said, "We'll be with you all the way and we promise it will not hurt".

Next we met with the surgeon, who reviewed the MRI results and indicated to Heather and I that Micheala is fine. He explained that the initial surgery would show us instant changes, but it is a progressive recovery. The area in which Micheala had surgery will continue to shrink, but we will still see some episodes along the way. He tells us that we should only be concerned when the area stops shrinking, which will be measured with an MRI every six months. So, long story short, she is doing well and things are going as planned.

Thank you to everyone who has though and prayed for Micheala throughout this journey of hers. I have to believe that it is all of your strength that makes her brave enough to go through all of her tests and treatments. If anyone has questions about Micheala, please feel free to call either Heather or myself.

Welcome Braylon Christopher Shaw!

Today we welcome Braylon Christopher Shaw to the family. Joni and Chris had him this morning at 4:32 am and everyone is doing well. I thought I would post a few pictures to show off this beautiful baby boy, but I'll leave the details for Joni and Chris to share.

New Look Hawkeye Garage

So I got tired of the ragged Tigerhawk that I painted on my garage 2 years ago, so I decided to fix it. Truth is that when I did the original tigerhawk, I hurried through it and settled on something I wasn't real proud of. Well, those that know me, know that this wasn't sitting well with me. I hated looking at it when I would walk into my garage. I was also quite annoyed that I have been painting other people's garages and my garage looked the worst. Thought I would share what I have done. This was also a way to help me forget about my swelling gums. I used the same template as the helmet I made for my neighbor's boy, so you will notice they are the same, with the exception of the size.

Close up of the original tigerhawk on my garage wall. Looks pretty shitty in my opinion.
Another picture of the original tigerhawk. Still looks shitty from a distance.
The "new look" garage, the hawkeye football helmet.
Another shot of the "new look" garage.