Saturday, March 31, 2007

March 30




Monday's coming. Go find a teacher and say "THANKS." Even better, take them a present. I'm serious. After 8 years in the public schools and 5 at the community college, I fully understand how difficult it can be to go day after day wondering if those little lives in front of you (or in my case, big ole boys) are hearing anything you are saying, or if you are making a difference at all.

It doesn't have to be much, just a small token that says,"I see the work you do, and I appreciate it."

March 28 and 29

So, when I ask my kids to "SMILE!" what do they do?

And ya'll just thought Kristi was all cute and innocent. . . .


From the Shuford House

Bernard saw Dr. Vickery (general practitioner) this week as a follow up for his initial visit three weeks ago (has it only been three weeks????). The good news is that all of his blood work is completely normal, and they tested, I think for every disease known to man, and some they just suspected of being diseases. Seriously, all of his counts were normal so that ruled out the pesky (and really scary) stuff like leukemia, cancer, etc. etc. There is still some question about what is causing the funky vision issues and the tingling hands, etc., so Dr. Vickery has ordered an MRI for Monday (4/1) to rule out MS. :/ Of course, since Bernard has been working in and around metal since he was a teenager, he could not guarantee that there was no metal in his eyes, so he has to have x-rays first. The good thing is that Jenny (my brother's wife) will be one of the techs doing the MRI.

Today, Friday 3/30, Bernard went to the hospital for his TEE. They put him to sleep (gotta chase a rabbit here -- as he was waking up, the dr. was in talking to me. Bernard starts asking logical questions about what is next, etc. We also made a couple of jokes between the three of us, etc. On the way home, Bernard looks at me as serious as a [dare I say] heart attack and says, "So, what exactly did the dr. say? He didn't remember any of it!).

Results -- The hole in his heart is BIG. It is like 37-38 mm up and down and 30-33 mm across. Conversions --- 3.7/3.8 cm or 3.0/3.3 cm OR about and inch and a half and a inch and quarter. You could run a standard garden hose through this puppy. Dr. Trichon (who looked like he might be all of 17) said that he has never seen a defect that big in someone that showed symptoms as late as Bernard did. He said that usually by the late teens/early twenties, the patient would be showing them. He was amazed at how long Bernard had been going, and how much he works and that the symptoms weren't any worse than they were. (He thought that Bernard being able to work 50+ hours a week was beyond understanding). However, it is serious. It simply can't go uncorrected any longer without some serious, non-fun, irrepairable consequences.

Soooooooooo, Bernard is still scheduled to have a heart cath on April 10th. We will meet with the surgeons some time next week, but Dr. Trichon felt they would go ahead and admit him on the tenth and do surgery on the 11th. The hole is simply too large to even consider correcting with a cath, so it looks like it will be some form of heart surgery. We will know if it is the full, cut ya open, separate the sternum job or a "portal" (small incision) surgery after we talk to them. The Dr. also said that Bernard would immediately feel a lot better, and that he will probably be surprised at how fatigued and nasty he has felt (kinda one of those things where you feel bad for so long it starts to feel normal). That makes sense to me. That hole is letting a lot of blood go to the wrong places!

Bernard is very calm about all of this and seems relieved, even, to know that something can be done about it and we are on our way to doing that. None of this is surprising God, or even inconveniencing Him, so we are trusting Him to take us through this. God is good -- all the time!

Thank you all for taking the time to remember us and praying for us. If God can be glorified in this AT ALL, so be it. It is His plan, we just got chosen to be the players, this time.

In Him,
Karma

Friday, March 30, 2007

March 30

Well, I'm almost caught up. march has been an interesting month, to say the least. What began as a physical for my husband the first week of March has turned into 3 cardiologist visits, 2 opthamologists visits, another general practitioner visit, at least one more cardiology visit is scheduled, an MRI is scheduled, and an opthamology/neurology exam is scheduled. The cardiology stuff isn't a huge surprise, but it is tiring, and a bit scary. God is good, all the time, though, and we are trusting in Him to lead us and direct us in what we should do. None of this surprises God, so I am resting in the fact that He knows what He is doing.

However, all this driving to appointments (many of them, Bernard isn't able to drive afterwards, or isn't supposed to, or flat out shouldn't) takes up time. Right now, I am posting on my laptop because the hospital where the test du jour is taking place has free wireless. Yea Memorial Mission/St. Joseph.

So, I'm still shooting, just not uploading with any regularity. Keep checking back (if anyone actually reads this thing) and I'll have some new shots to show. :)

March 26 - 27


march 21 - 25





March 16 - 20





March 11 - 15





March 6 - 10





March 1- 5





Wednesday, March 28, 2007

update

It has been a long, long month at the Shuford house. More later.

I have the pictures and hopefully will get them uploaded, with details in the next day or so.