Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Pulled out the microscopes we were given...

Ok so I LOVE science and have helped my kids to love science too. These microscopes used to belong to Frank's aunt a genetic scientist with UC Davis. I am SO excited to have these as part of my science collection now and can't wait till we have a chance to actually use them.







Playing with my new camera

Here are some cute pictures taken while Frank and I were playing with the new camera



Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Choir and band concerts

So far the younger kids have had their choir and band concerts. The first one was with the elementary school. Corbyn was the only one performing this time. He participated in the choir and seemed to have a lot of fun doing so. The kids did a great job singing. The 4th graders for band and orchestra were definitely beginners but moving along. The 5th graders had moved on to some challenging music for them.



The following week we attended the band concerts with the middle school where Jade participates and plays the flute. She is progressing nicely and getting more confident with her flute playing. In the 6th grade band there were 75 students, in the concert band (7th and 8th graders) they had 110 students playing. The middle school really pushes and challenges the kids with the music they are learning to play.




Our next concert coming up will be Celidah’s orchestra concert. We are looking forward to seeing the differences between the elementary, middle, and high schools music programs here.

In our house music practice gets quite interesting at times with all the kids learning to play something. Zach and Ellie are working on the piano until they get a bit bigger and Ellie is also working with the xylophone. Jairon will  start with the clarinet as soon as we get a pad for the one missing pad, until then he is working with the piano for now. Corbyn has been learning to play his dad’s bassoon. Then we have Jade with the flute, and Celidah’s main focus this year is her violin.

However, our newest instrument collection piece is the cello we now have. Frank has been practicing on his bassoon as well as learning to play the cello and Jade is so excited we have a cello in the house. This has been her favorite instrument since she was in the 2nd grade. Well she is working on teaching herself how to play the cello using YouTube videos. This child really wants to learn the cello as well.

The kids are getting better with focusing on their instrument sound when all kids are working on something. However, with each child at a different level we get some rather interesting sounds right now in the house. Yet, this is fun to watch the kids learning to play and so excited about progressing.

My follow GI apt..

Well today I saw the GI for my issues and the dr had several concerns. The biggest ones are the continued abdominal pain I am having, the nausea issues even with the 8mgs of Zofran, low food intake tolerance, and the unexplained weight loss. While in some ways I am so glad to be losing weight, this really is not the best way to go about.

The biggest concern though was the severity of the ketosis acidosis and the fact that the cause was never determined. Apparently my ketosis issues were more severe than I was originally led to believe. Yes, I knew when I was placed in the hospital in AZ in Oct it was bad and I was not doing well. However, what I did not know is just how close I really was to complete organ failure. According to the dr today had I not been admitted when I was I would have gone into organ failure for sure…

In order to help figure out what is going on I have an abdominal and pelvic ct-scan on Thursday. Then early in Jan I will be having both the endoscopy and colonoscopy redone. When they were done in AZ there were no biopsies done, just a look. I am also being tested for Celiac disease and other things. I forget the whole list. Once these tests are done if the dr is not liking the results or answers then I will have to have motility testing done. (Oh joy…) She also listed off anther list of tests that can be done to help discover the cause of my issues.

However, ultimately the main thing that may have to be done is I may have to go back on gluten for at least a month to help determine what exactly is going on. This is what I am most dreading at this point as gluten puts me in so much pain. Honestly eating solids period are not something I look forward to.
For now though I am to limit the solid food intake and focus mostly on clear liquids. However due to the ketosis issue I am to keep drinking protein shakes at least once a day, (prefer at least 16 ounces) to make sure my body is getting sufficient protein to try and prevent this from happening again. I am also to stop taking the naproxen for now and limit other pain meds. This is going to be frustrating for me as I take the naproxen to reduce joint inflammation.

Thursday I see the endocrine specialist and hopefully will have a better idea of what blood sugar levels are the “safest” for me.  Hopefully this dr too will give me ideas on how to prevent a future ketosis attack. This is essential as due to the severity of my attack in Oct, I have been told the next time will not be a nice short week stay in the hospital, but will come with major complications and consequences.