10 January 2008
09 January 2008
Utah Snow!
Just thought I would let you all see what kind of snow we are getting. I am going to try to put a couple of photos on the blog. Hope it works. The night photo was taken Tuesday night. The other was taken this morning. Wow! We do have a lot of snow! I figure right now we are snowed in. I haven't tried the road yet. Bo is still home trying to remove some of the white stuff with his snow blower. It is 10:30 a.m. I have Doug and Jodi's kids here and they are ready to go out again and attack the sleigh run. Had an encouraging conversation with Doug just a few minutes ago. I am sure he will update the blog. Now let me see if I can get these photos on. xoxo Mom
08 January 2008
Abby is OK...
Hey family,
Mom asked me to update you on some stuff we have been going through with the Ab-meister. Abs of Steel. Abba-Dabba-Do. Gail.
Last Thursday, Carolyn and I were at a home swim meet watching Abby compete. Some of you may know that she has had some health problems, including 2 serious concussions. She has struggled a bit this year, but is still in a good position to compete in two individual events at State.
Anyway, Thursday she was swimming the finals of the 200 Individual Medley Relay. This is a race where you swim 50 yards of 4 different strokes. We were really excited when, after the backstroke, she was in 2nd and pushing for 1st place.
As she made the turn into the Breast Stroke, Carolyn and I immediatly noticed something was wrong. She almost stopped in the water. She continued to hack through the race, very jerky and wild, finishing almost 20 seconds behind everyone in last place. I ran down to the deck to see what was happening.
When I got there, she had been pulled out of the water and I lifted her up. She passed out twice in my arms as I carried her out into the hallway. She came to with a really bad headache, very detached, and feeling very strange. When she had her wits about her, she told us that while she was swimming, she couldn't feel her arms and hands, nor her tounge in her mouth. When she finished, she couldn't see, except for double and triple vision.
We called a good friend here who is a pediatrician, some of you will remember-Dave Larsen from Bountiful. He spent 2 hours with us that night running a battery of tests and working with her.
Before we left he ran and EKG on her heart, and noted that there seemed to be what they refer to as a "prolonged QT". It is an electrical time measurement of the ventrical in the heart. He told her to not swim until he had a cardiologist at Primary Children's Hospital read the EKG.
We found out when we spoke to Landon and Jason Beales, both doctors, that this condition is very serious and sometimes fatal. You have heard of healthy athletes dying on the spot after physical exertion, from something they never knew they had. Jason, who is usually a comic and very light, called Carolyn to let her know the seriousness of the possibility.
So, we waited over the weekend on pins and needles and got the Cardiologists' information yesterday. Things look OK , and he cleared her to swim this weekend. They will run another one next week, as well as a bunch of additional lab work. I think they want to check her for diabetis...
We found out some other good information that we think will help her.
Her Doctor beleives she has been suffering from migrane headaches for some time, and is treating her for acid reflux which sometimes keeps her for eating at the right time for her meets...
Anyway, lots of information, but the bottom line is that we think she is OK for now. We will work on her nutrition and other things, and thank Heavenly Father she is OK. More than a little unnerving.
We will keep you updated. Carolyn and I are traveling to St. George this weekend to watch her in two meets. Region is next, then State, and she can rest.
We love you all.
Brad
Mom asked me to update you on some stuff we have been going through with the Ab-meister. Abs of Steel. Abba-Dabba-Do. Gail.
Last Thursday, Carolyn and I were at a home swim meet watching Abby compete. Some of you may know that she has had some health problems, including 2 serious concussions. She has struggled a bit this year, but is still in a good position to compete in two individual events at State.
Anyway, Thursday she was swimming the finals of the 200 Individual Medley Relay. This is a race where you swim 50 yards of 4 different strokes. We were really excited when, after the backstroke, she was in 2nd and pushing for 1st place.
As she made the turn into the Breast Stroke, Carolyn and I immediatly noticed something was wrong. She almost stopped in the water. She continued to hack through the race, very jerky and wild, finishing almost 20 seconds behind everyone in last place. I ran down to the deck to see what was happening.
When I got there, she had been pulled out of the water and I lifted her up. She passed out twice in my arms as I carried her out into the hallway. She came to with a really bad headache, very detached, and feeling very strange. When she had her wits about her, she told us that while she was swimming, she couldn't feel her arms and hands, nor her tounge in her mouth. When she finished, she couldn't see, except for double and triple vision.
We called a good friend here who is a pediatrician, some of you will remember-Dave Larsen from Bountiful. He spent 2 hours with us that night running a battery of tests and working with her.
Before we left he ran and EKG on her heart, and noted that there seemed to be what they refer to as a "prolonged QT". It is an electrical time measurement of the ventrical in the heart. He told her to not swim until he had a cardiologist at Primary Children's Hospital read the EKG.
We found out when we spoke to Landon and Jason Beales, both doctors, that this condition is very serious and sometimes fatal. You have heard of healthy athletes dying on the spot after physical exertion, from something they never knew they had. Jason, who is usually a comic and very light, called Carolyn to let her know the seriousness of the possibility.
So, we waited over the weekend on pins and needles and got the Cardiologists' information yesterday. Things look OK , and he cleared her to swim this weekend. They will run another one next week, as well as a bunch of additional lab work. I think they want to check her for diabetis...
We found out some other good information that we think will help her.
Her Doctor beleives she has been suffering from migrane headaches for some time, and is treating her for acid reflux which sometimes keeps her for eating at the right time for her meets...
Anyway, lots of information, but the bottom line is that we think she is OK for now. We will work on her nutrition and other things, and thank Heavenly Father she is OK. More than a little unnerving.
We will keep you updated. Carolyn and I are traveling to St. George this weekend to watch her in two meets. Region is next, then State, and she can rest.
We love you all.
Brad
our nativity
can't miss out on this--it was so memorable--love this time of year! Aren't these the cutest sheep, mary, one of the 3 kings of course, shepherd and of course Jake was baby Jesus! love it!
Jodi's Update-Jan. 8, 2008
Doug here again with Jodi at the hospital, and thought I would give everyone an update. Jodi and I appreciate all the thoughts and concerns from everyone, and I thought it would be easier to rely information on the family blog, other than retelling the same information over and over again. Those of you with medical background may understand more than others the information being told.
Jodi feels about the same as yesterday, and that is an improvement. her fever is staying around 101 degrees, and her skin all over is extremely sensitive. Her energy levels are up thought. They have decided to call in a hemotologist to speak with her today....quite frankly they don't know what is causing any of this. The OBGYN was in early today and told her that of the literal hundreds of women they have performed the procedure on, no one has had anything like this, so way to go Jodi, you are very unique! Somehow this compliment doesn't carry a lot of weight with her....
Her face and upper body are REALLY red...comparable to her skin cancer treatment she went through almost 2 years ago...hard to believe but she looks like she has a MASSIVE sunburn-her skin is hot to the touch so she's pretty miserable. She is pretty swollen from all the fluids and meds. They have her on the "heavy artillery" antibiotics-Vancomyosin in particular. They will have to pull her IV today, and put in a "pic line', which is a more long term IV line-she is mortally afraid of needles and breaks out in sweat at the mere mention of it.
They told us on Sunday that it take around 48 hours to get all blood cultures back about what exactly is going on....it doesn't seem that the surgery is the problem. Her CAT scan indicated that her spleen and vessels leading to the spleen are enlarged, so that has got them concerned and looking at another set of possibilities for treating the infection. All in all, we don't know what has caused it and its frustrating...the minutes are too long and Jodi doesn't sleep well...there is a crazy woman down the hall that yells all the time and that keeps her up and me mad.
Keep her in your prayers continually...she isn't out of the forest yet, and I have faith that the Lord will heal her. My only concern is her well being and that there isn't potentially something more serious that they are uncovering. I have been pretty pleased with the physicians that attend to her...pretty sharp people and are pulling a lot of resources to figure out what is going on...they expect her to be her for a while...I don't know how long.
More to come.
Doug
Jodi feels about the same as yesterday, and that is an improvement. her fever is staying around 101 degrees, and her skin all over is extremely sensitive. Her energy levels are up thought. They have decided to call in a hemotologist to speak with her today....quite frankly they don't know what is causing any of this. The OBGYN was in early today and told her that of the literal hundreds of women they have performed the procedure on, no one has had anything like this, so way to go Jodi, you are very unique! Somehow this compliment doesn't carry a lot of weight with her....
Her face and upper body are REALLY red...comparable to her skin cancer treatment she went through almost 2 years ago...hard to believe but she looks like she has a MASSIVE sunburn-her skin is hot to the touch so she's pretty miserable. She is pretty swollen from all the fluids and meds. They have her on the "heavy artillery" antibiotics-Vancomyosin in particular. They will have to pull her IV today, and put in a "pic line', which is a more long term IV line-she is mortally afraid of needles and breaks out in sweat at the mere mention of it.
They told us on Sunday that it take around 48 hours to get all blood cultures back about what exactly is going on....it doesn't seem that the surgery is the problem. Her CAT scan indicated that her spleen and vessels leading to the spleen are enlarged, so that has got them concerned and looking at another set of possibilities for treating the infection. All in all, we don't know what has caused it and its frustrating...the minutes are too long and Jodi doesn't sleep well...there is a crazy woman down the hall that yells all the time and that keeps her up and me mad.
Keep her in your prayers continually...she isn't out of the forest yet, and I have faith that the Lord will heal her. My only concern is her well being and that there isn't potentially something more serious that they are uncovering. I have been pretty pleased with the physicians that attend to her...pretty sharp people and are pulling a lot of resources to figure out what is going on...they expect her to be her for a while...I don't know how long.
More to come.
Doug
07 January 2008
Clawson Update
I think there will be a little more blog reading because of needed updates on family members, so I thought I would let everyone what was going on here. Caroline was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints yesturday! We missed you but it was wonderful. Craigs parents made the drive and were here. That was special. I made her a dress and she looked like a princess! We love Caroline.
Last Wednesday Annabelle passed out at the Shiners Hospital inTampa. Our Primary had gone over there to drop off some toys they had collected. They were taking a tour of the hospital and were at the prothsthetics (?) room. Annabelle said she was fine until they started talking about a little girl from south america with no arms or legs. It started to get to be too much info. She is sensitive to that stuff. She tried to sit down and didn't make it and smacked her head on the hard floor as she passed out. I was not there, so she woke up afraid. They took her across the street to another hospital that had an er. When she got to the er they checked her out and discovered that she had split her head. So they stapled her shut. She was quite brave. Who would want to be told they were going to have their head stapled! So I included some pics so you could really feel like you were here! Hope you enjoy them. Not for the faint of heart!
06 January 2008
Jodi's Update
I am sure that many of you have heard of Jodi's visit to the ER on Sunday, and I just wanted to give everyone an update on how she is. I thought it would be best to give Mom the information, and let her spread the word
Jodi had a pretty routine procedure done on New Years Eve, one which would make her life a lot easier-you will have to talk to her for the details, she got mad at me for telling Carolyn and Gina during the holidays-makes her embarrassed, and I am sorry I did say anything. Anyways, it seems that for the last few days, she was getting worse-she could hardly stand and walk around, let alone eat or drink. Finally on Sunday morning, when I got home from church I acted on the instinct I have had for 3 days and that was get her to the hospital. She is covered with red dots all over her body, cannot seem to get warm, and had a temp of 105. the Internist that saw her said I did good to bring her in due to how prolific the infection in her blood is. She is being cared for by able people at American Fork hospital and should be there for 3-4 days. As I told Mom earlier today, my family doesn't get sick a lot, but when we do....its' trauma, and its serious. Just look at our track record with Ethan, Scarlett, Sasha, and Teage....and now Jodi...makes me .frightened for myself, actually.
Anyway, keep my sweetheart in your prayers...she really needs it and she is one not to ask for anything, but I am asking. She is very sick and needs the Lords blessings right now. I guess my only regret is that I haven't been sensitive to what was going on...typical with me... This last week of being a single Dad has sure taught me how much I need Jodi everyday-probably more than she needs me. She alwasy does so much to make our life beautiful and happy and I just seem to screw it up all the time. Hopefully she will forgive me of my faults...again, and get healthy quick because we need her back!
My kids are doing great, and will be up at Grandma Graham's for a couple of days. I will try and keep everyone updated, but please no phone calls for Jodi-she really isn't in any condition to talk...really.
I sure love everyone and appreciate your thoughts during this time.
Doug.
Jodi had a pretty routine procedure done on New Years Eve, one which would make her life a lot easier-you will have to talk to her for the details, she got mad at me for telling Carolyn and Gina during the holidays-makes her embarrassed, and I am sorry I did say anything. Anyways, it seems that for the last few days, she was getting worse-she could hardly stand and walk around, let alone eat or drink. Finally on Sunday morning, when I got home from church I acted on the instinct I have had for 3 days and that was get her to the hospital. She is covered with red dots all over her body, cannot seem to get warm, and had a temp of 105. the Internist that saw her said I did good to bring her in due to how prolific the infection in her blood is. She is being cared for by able people at American Fork hospital and should be there for 3-4 days. As I told Mom earlier today, my family doesn't get sick a lot, but when we do....its' trauma, and its serious. Just look at our track record with Ethan, Scarlett, Sasha, and Teage....and now Jodi...makes me .frightened for myself, actually.
Anyway, keep my sweetheart in your prayers...she really needs it and she is one not to ask for anything, but I am asking. She is very sick and needs the Lords blessings right now. I guess my only regret is that I haven't been sensitive to what was going on...typical with me... This last week of being a single Dad has sure taught me how much I need Jodi everyday-probably more than she needs me. She alwasy does so much to make our life beautiful and happy and I just seem to screw it up all the time. Hopefully she will forgive me of my faults...again, and get healthy quick because we need her back!
My kids are doing great, and will be up at Grandma Graham's for a couple of days. I will try and keep everyone updated, but please no phone calls for Jodi-she really isn't in any condition to talk...really.
I sure love everyone and appreciate your thoughts during this time.
Doug.
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