Zadie's Crazy Adventure

First, thanks to everyone for thoughts and prayers these last few days. It was not the weekend we were planning on having nor do we wish to have again. Thanks too for everyone helping to cover my shifts. I know we were already short and you all had to help cover for me. I thought I would give you a little (or long) update on Zadie and what has been going on.

Zadie has been having some double vision and unsteadiness lately. We thought it was just due to a pretty big sinus infection she had. She was nauseous and had some headaches but they seemed to be getting better. Except the vision. We had her to the optometrist on Saturday who did a great workup and calmly told us that we need to get in the car and go to Primary's. He had seen some swelling of the optic nerve. We went to the ER and we eventually got around to a CT. It was numbing to be in the room with Zadie and see the radiologists faces go from jovial to very serious and then give us a quick glance to see if we were looking! The ER doc told us there was some excess fluid built up and they had called the neurosurgeons. They ordered an MRI and found that a cyst or tumor or something was blocking the canal where the CSF normally drained. Zadies MRI was one large image of a ventricle full of fluid. It was huge! I think at that point I completely lost it. We later learned from the neurosurgeon that this has probably been going on for years and is just now manifesting with symptoms. There was so much ventricle in there we could barely see anything else. They were surprised she hadn't had any seizures or gone into a coma. As bad as it looked we considered ourselves fortunate. It could have been so much worse. We still don't know what the cyst or tumor is and probably never will. Because of the location they can't biopsy or remove it. We will just watch it and have to have an MRI every year to make sure it isn't growing. If it grows we will have more bridges to cross but at this time it is a watch and see plan.

The anticipation of surgery is enough to send anyone over the edge. Seeing your daughter get wheeled away was life changing. The plan was to go in and do an endoscopic third ventriculostomy. Basically they take a scope and go through the skull and find their way to the bottom of the 3rd ventricle in the brain where they then make a hole in the bottom of it and allow for a different path for the CSF to drain out of the brain. If this didn't work they would be forced to put a shunt in her brain with a drain that would be routed down and drain in her abdomen. In surgery today they made that hole and right now we are in a watch and see state to see what happens. Zadie has a ventriculostomy drain in her head right now and as long as that hole keeps draining then the ventriculostomy should be able to come out in a day or two. If it doesn't they are going to go back in and place the shunt. We are all praying for the drain to stay open.

Zadie has been a trooper unlike her parents who are emotional wrecks! I am grateful for Facebook and texting because I've had a hard time speaking without breaking into a running river of choked up emotions. I've been very grateful for the staff and expertise of the people at Primary Children's. I don't like being on this side of healthcare but it has given me a new appreciation for when I go back to helping people in the ICU where I work to be more caring and compassionate towards them. I've kept the nurses and staff fully stocked with goodies and snacks and have just been amazed at the caring and compassion we have received from them. Amazing!

So....we have joined the online support groups for hydrocephalus (or as Kendra keeps calling it "hydrosyphillus"!!) and are ready to support Zadie in this new adventure. We will do our best to keep you all up to date and really have appreciated all the texts and Facebook comments and support we have received. Our journey certainly isn't over yet but friends and family such as yourselves have made it much easier to handle. Please know how grateful Kendra and I are for all your kindness and support.

Rick

The Pumpkin House that Rick built!

I had some troubles last year with the weather and my pumpkin so the solution was to enclose the garden and have more control over the elements. A hoop house was my solution. In October last year I built a "pumpkin house". Here are some pictures that show you what it looks like. With my new sprinkler timer and some new sprinkler lines I should be able to have more control over what happens to my pumpkins this year!

The New Industrial Sized Pumpkin Sprinkler Timer - The Halinator!

Introducing the new I-Core 600 PL sprinkler timer from Hunter! It boasts 4 fully independent programs for customizable irrigation scheduling, a diagnostic dashboard that monitors the system operations, real-time flow monitoring, remote control ready with factory installed SmartPort, seasonal adjustment program, a water window mangement, modular design for up to 30 different watering stations, a weather sensor, a solar sync and the clincher that made the sale....a cycle and soak function that will allow me to water or mist my pumpkins for 1 minute on, 10 minutes off, 1 minute on, 10 minutes off etc....all day long! If Tim the Toolman Taylor had a sprinkling system I'm absolutely certain this would be the device you would find hanging in his garage! I call it the Halinator because last year I went on vacation and asked my neighbor "Hal" to water my pumpkins. A day after I left another neighbor called me to ask me if I forogt to shut off my water because his backyard was flooding with water from my backyard. I called Hal to ask him if he forgot to shut off the water. All I heard was *^#@^ and he hung up. Presumable to go shut my water off. I dealt with a lot of fungus last year and not sure if I ever did dry out. I thought the playset was going to sink. The Halinator eliminates the need for Hal to water my pumpkins! After digging a trench and burying 100 feet of sprinkler wire from my garage to the garden, the Halintor is now ready for watering action. Incidently - my wife now thinks I'm a geek!

The Old Sprinkler Timer

It was time to upgrade the sprinkler timer. I really wanted to add automatic sprinklers to my garden this year to eliminate having to have other people water my pumpkins while I was gone to work or on vacation. The problem was the sprinkler timer was only big enough for 8 sprinkler stations and those were all being used to water the lawn. Sprinklerworld to the rescue! I explained to the guy at Sprinklerworld what I wanted to do and what did he recommend. After he quit laughing at me he gave me some options. The regular ole sprinkler timers weren't going to cut it. We had to go industrial!

Cruise to Mexico

Kendra in her hot dinner dress. Doesn't she look goooood!

Kendra and I went on a cruise January 9th - 16th. We went to the Mexican Riviera. We sailed with Princess Cruise Lines. At the last minute for some reason they upgraded our room to a balcony room. It was awesome. Never to cruise again without a balcony room. We just enjoyed the warm weather, the great beaches and all the bikini's!!! We want our next cruise to be through the Panama Canal. Anyone want to come?

St. George 1/2 Marathon

On January 23, 2010, Kendra and I ran the St. George 1/2 Marathon. We weren't the fastest in the group but we certainly weren't the slowest. Kendra could have done better had she not stopped to wait for me at about mile marker 8. At mile marker 12 I was wondering why we were running. We were very sore the next few days. Now that we are all healed up we think we can do it again and we now have a time that we can beat.

Our next race is the sprint triathlon at the Kearns Olympic Oval on April 24, 2010. Then on June 11th and 12th there are four of us racing in the Rockwell Relay from Moab to St. George. It is sure to be a good time.

Zadie's Lazy Eye

So apparently Zadie's left eye hasn't been doing its chores. It has become a little lazy. We had to go to the optometrist to get her vision checked out. The right eye was perfect but the left eye didn't see so well. It was somewhat of a traumatic experience for her (and Dad!). She had to have eye drops put in to dilate her eyes and then the doctor checked them out. She did not want to have glasses at all. We got back today from a second appointment and were told that she really didn't need glasses but would have to patch her right eye for two months. Two days on and one day off. We worked it out so she wouldn't have to have the patch on during her birthday party. Today is an on day. She is taking it pretty good. Better than Dad is! Lazy eye is called amblyopia. For more information about amblyopia you can click here.