A Week of Rest in Pictoral Review

A few pictures of our week of rest in Edisto...so beautiful...so cold...so good.

(This is my first attempt at uploading pictures on here...not sure what I am doing. Just know that they are not in the order I wanted them and I don't know how to do captions under them...any advice on how to do this easily??)

May just do one picture per post from now on...that seems about my speed. :)

Anyway...enjoy.

REST...

We are loading up the family and heading to South Carolina for a few days!!! WOOHOO!!!

We have some dear friends (you know who you are) who love to bless our socks off and they are at it again by letting us stay at their beach house in South Carolina!! I am feeling more relaxed just thinking about it and I have yet to load the van...

My hopes are that by Kevin being away from home and work he will be able to truly REST and recover. This road is MUCH longer than expected and he is desperate for it.

Thank you, Kellers for the house. Thank you Jenny-Jenny for taking care of Sammy The Dog. Thank you to everyone that is covering for him at church with worship. Thank you, Jesus for providing a way when there seems no way.

BEACH...HERE WE COME!!! (cold as you may be...)

A Name Might Help...

I thought some of you might be looking for an update...oh, how I wish I could tell you we have made progress...

BUT...this week, Kevin's symptoms have seemed to take it up a notch. His headache (which has lasted...ummm...43 days...straight.) has intensified. His dizziness comes and goes more frequently (the coming is more frequent) Cognitive functions...not improving.
Overall...he just feels lousy.

We do have a flicker of light in this seemingly-unending-tunnel...Kevin was doing some online research and happened upon a possible name for his "condition."

Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD)

It has something to do with what happens to a patient's brain when they are under anesthesia...and how the body recovers from that or something. Honestly, as I tried to read some of the articles I got lost in the medical lingo...but the symptoms match Kevin's...and most of the research (not much) is from heart patients.

Now we are not getting too carried away with our Google version of self-diagnosis...no Doctor has given us this label...but somehow...just being able to call it something (other than mysterious) makes it a little easier to deal with. A few hurdles to jump over is that POCD usually occurs in elderly patients. And that there is no treatment. And that it can last up to 6 months or longer. And...well we will stop there...no need to get all negative about our possible name...

So there you go. A name might help.

Once Again, "Normal."

So, we got the results back for Kevin's MRI...normal. It is interesting, no explanations for his symptoms, but the two biggest or most obvious culprits have been eliminated. How can that seem like a bittersweet thing? Soooo glad that he has a healthy heart and that his brain shows no signs of complications...those are two VERY GOOD things...but we feel discouraged that we still don't have answers.

The Doctor will be talking with a Neurologist friend about Kevin's symptoms. Hoping to get an appointment with him soon. They want to look at his inner-ear which is connected to his nervous system...could be the cause...COULD be the cause. Kevin is beginning to be skeptical that we could continue to run test after test and never get answers.

Please continue to pray for strength, patience and hope.

We feel like we could end up being an episode on one of those Mystery Illness shows or House....Lord, please don't let us end up on House...he is a grump and that hardly ever ends well...no, let's just be HEALED!!

Kids Stuff

I originally said I wanted to start blogging so that I could record life with the little ones...so that I can remember...well...here's to laughing about today... at some point...

Chloe, sweet Chloe, is going through a new phase. This phase is one where she is attempting to redefine her boundaries. The boundaries of 'who is in charge around here?' While the answer is usually an easy one for most of us to answer (on our best days) the answer seems to really frustrate our Chlo-bug.

Some things she has said to me today:

"I WILL NOT wear that outfit today!"
(fyi: not an issue until SHE makes it an issue with sassy talk like that)

After a looonnng ordeal about the outfit, she comes downstairs (finally) wearing the 'not pink and pretty' outfit with obvious disgust on her face and says,

"I am wearing this because you are making me! But I DO NOT LIKE IT!"
(in my defense...the outfit DID have pink...and it was SUPER cute...just sayin)

"You need to let me do whatever I want!"

"How come I don't get to make all the decisions?!?!?"
(To which I replied, "Because that would be too much responsibility for a four year old."

Now before you get the wrong idea...while days like today are exhausting...I know where this girl is coming from. I do this...close to daily...with the Lord. Forgive me. Thank you for Your patience. Help me put childish things behind me...and Chloe.

On to Eli...well it must be in the air...because today...he started growling...precious Eli...GROWLING! Not just when we read Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear...no, he started growling when he was frustrated. Hmmm...

He also says some pretty cute things:
Pass = Pacie
Wadder = Water
PeeduBuddu = Peanut butter (said very quickly tongue coming out on the 'd's)
Mulk = Milk and any other drink (with sign language for effect)
Noodows = Noodles
Bye Bye = I want to leave now...I want to go with that person that is leaving now...if you are putting your shoes on, SO AM I!!
Pish = Fish (cutest thing is when he says, 'helloooo pish...wadder, wadder" which means "Hello, fish. You are in the water"
Bat = Bath
Bush = Brush (hair or toothbrush...loves to walk around the house with his electric Spiderman bush.)

Loving both our kids today...even if we all are a bit cranky...we will just cut eachother a little slack...it has been quite a month after all.