My thoughts on August 25th 2005

This is what I wrote in my journal on one of the hardest days of my life.

Oh my goodness where do I start its been a really long hard day a day that started out with joy turned in to a day of disbelief and heart ache.

This afternoon I went to my sonogram appointment with my friend Aneeka we were so excited to see the baby and find out the sex.

Well we know we have a boy a special little boy a beautiful little boy with a broken heart.

Yes are sweet little boys heart is broken and it looks like he will not be getting it fixed.

Not only dose he have a broken heart the Dr. think he has a Chormosone defect.

If they are right our little boy will die. 

After finding out this news I came home to find a very sick Ben I called a friend to come over and give us both blessings before I took Ben to the emergency room.

The blessing gave me comfort. I took Ben to the emergency room and found out he had phemonia.

Dale called while I was in the emergency room It was so hard to tell him the news about our sweet baby I am not sure he understands how bad it is. He called and talked to my Dr. and he explained what was wrong. The red cross is bringing him home from Iraq.

I am happy he is coming home but so sad that our baby is sick.

I pray that Heavenly father will give us the strength that we will need during this journey.

I am so sad and I just don't know what else to write so I will say good night for now with tears in my eyes.

Play date with Ben.

Mr. Ben had the day off for testing and all the other kids were in school so he asked to have a play date with his mommy.

I told him yes and we could do what ever he wanted until the kids came home.

When he asked to eat a ding dong for breakfast I said yes .

I think he was surprised.

We then watched a show together then went to McDonalds in Walmart and bought army men.

               

We then went to the park.

I also did something I had not done in years I played on the swings it was so fun I forgot how much I loved to swing.

Ben loves to swing too, he told me about a game he use to play with the girls at school on the swing  when you are swinging at the same pace that means you are married.

 

I loved my play-date with Ben today it was tons of fun.

I love this little boy and it makes me sad that he is getting so big.

I love the time we get to spend together,

Sunday walks!

We are on the go all week long and Sunday is the one day we take of from the hustle and bustle of life.

We attend church focus on Christ and his teaching and then we spend the rest of the day relaxing and spending time together.

One of our favorite Sunday activity's is to take a walk together.

We love talking to our neighbors and the fresh air.

So what do you like to do on Sundays?

loaded baked potato soup crock pot style!

I love a good baked potato soup Its been a favorite of mine for years I have tried many recipes and love things about all of them took the things I loved and came up with my own recipe that I have been using for over 20 years.

The other day I was thinking I would really love to make baked potato soup in the crock pot.

I have seen many crackpot recipes that use hash browns or frozen potatoes and caned creamed soups none of those appeal to me other than the use of a crock pot.

I decided to try it on my own with my baked potato soup recipe I have tweaked and perfected over the years.

I tried it and love it!

INGREDIENTS:

6 large baking potatoes, peeled, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 quart chicken broth
3 cloves garlic, minced (or pressed) You can also use garlic from a jar if you are in a pinch
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cream or half-and-half cream
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese ( I also like to use Colby Jack)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 cup sour cream 
8 slices bacon, fried & crumbled
cheese, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:

Combine first seven ingredients in a large crockpot; cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours (potato should be tender).

Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soupy is slightly thickened. Stir in cream, cheese and chives.

Top with sour cream,sprinkle with bacon and more cheese.

Then enjoy we sure did!

Cotton Candy Fun!!

I love this boy!!

A week of first!

On Monday I took Madeline to her school to decorate her locker and learn the combination. 

Wed met some of her friends and had a fun time.

She was nervous about having a locker but excited to be in middle school.

                                              

I took Benny on a shopping date and let him pick out his own clothes for the first time it was fun to see him pick out the things he liked.

On Wednesday Madeline started her first day of middle school.

She looked so cute in her first day of school outfit.

She is growing up into a beautiful young lady .

                                               

Wednesday was Ben's first day of school  he is a 3rd grader and he is going to a new school this year.

See the fun T shirt he picked out I guess everyone needs an orange shirt with a jump roping meatball.

Also if you look at the picture of him on the left you can see my shadow.

I like to think that I am always with my kids when they are in school maybe not in the physical scene but the lessons I have thought them.

I don't know why but I still cry every year when I send Ben off to school.

Yesterday was Garrets first day of football practice.

His coaches and peers talked him into playing this year.

Garrets friends love and admire him they cheer him on and are always excited to see him.

I love that he is a good influence and lets his light shine.

His coaches also love him, when he went to get his football gear the other day he went into the locker room and I heard hey Garrett yo Garrett I thought how sweet his friends missed him.

Then when we went to the car and Garret said did you hear all that noce in the locker room when I came in?

I said yes your friends were sure happy to see you.

He grinned and said none of my friends were there that noise was my coaches.

I love that these Men Garrett looks up to love and respect his talent and make him feel so welcomed.

Last but not least today was Mylissa, Garrett and Robbie's first day of school.

I think the only one happy about going to school today was Robbie.

Robbie loves to learn one of his favorite classes is cinematography.

Robbie really wants to be a film director and screen writer like Garage Lucas one day hence the star-wars shirt.

Mylissa looks as cute as a button and likes being social than learning.

Garrett just wants school to be over so he can go to collage and flight school.

I just want to stop time my kids are growing up so fast.

The ER loves us!!

But we don't love the ER.

Last Friday Dale ended up in the ER.

While at work Dale felt his pulse racing and pressure is his throat and chest.

We put the pulse montier on and it read 211 normal heart rate is between 60 and 100.

He has had this happen before so he was not in a panic just annoyed . 

The nurses on that he worked with told him he needed to go to the ER.

He laughed and said its nothing it will go away in 5 mins just like before.

They put him on their portable ekg and wheeled him to the ER. 

His heart rate stayed at 167 for an hour.

Dale text me to let me know he was in the ER very nonchalant.

I decided to take a shower since I was running when I got the text.

I really thought it was no big deal he has had these attacks many times and the DR. always said it was a panic attack.

When I got to the ER. 20 mins after his text I realized something serious was going on.

The Dr. explained to me that Dale had SVT.

He told me what it was and that all his attacks that were said to be panic attacks were really the SVT.

What is a supraventricular tachycardia you might ask?

Simply stated, an SVT is an arrhythmia that originates from above ("supra") the ventricle. This term encompasses a large number of arrhythmias and therefore the term "SVT" is only a general description, not a specific diagnosis. Most commonly, however, it refers to one of 3 commons types of arrhythmias,AV Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia, Atrial Tachycardia, and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Causes SVT

An "extra nerve" exists in the heart of nearly all patients with SVT, which over time becomes active and causes fast heartbeat. Most cases of SVT are genetic. In other words, patients are born with this "extra nerve" in the heart but it may remain dormant for many years, often surfacing when patients reach their 20s and 30s.  Rarely, some patients may be diagnosed for the first time in their 60s and 70s.

Importantly, one must distinguish between the cause and the trigger for SVT.  This is often a source of confusion for patients. While the "extra nerve" causes SVT, an attack of SVT may require certain triggers, which include caffeine, alcohol, some herbal medications, and some over-the-counter cold medications containing stimulants. Just because a large ice tea triggered an SVT attack, it does not mean that it caused the SVT.  For, without the ice tea, the "extra nerve" is still present, just waiting for another trigger to cause another attack later Stress is also a big factor to these attacks.

Symptoms of SVT

Palpitation, or racing heartbeat, is the predominant symptom in SVT. Occasionally, some patients have no awareness of rapid heartbeat, whose only symptoms may be fatigue and fainting. Other patients describe chest paint, shortness of breath, and a sense of fullness in the neck. Children with SVT often report to their parents that their "heart hurts" since they do not have the full vocabulary that adults do.

Consequences of SVT.

Most patients with SVTs usually have a benign clinical course.  In other words, SVTs as a rule do not usually cause fatality.  However, in some patients when heart rate reach very high level (above 250 bpm) serious consequences can occur, including fainting spells and Sudden Death. In some cases, heart failurecan result from chronic uncontrolled rapid SVT it can also  cause one to stroke out.

Treatment options.

Most SVTs can be treated with medications but medications represent a temporizing measure, not a cure for the condition.  For children or young adults, life-long therapy with medication(s) may not be reasonable.  Ablation is the only curative treatment options for SVT.  It works by selectively destroying the "extra nerve" via a minimally invasive procedure.

Now that you know every thing you ever wanted to know about SVT you might want to know what is going to happen to Dale.

Dale is now on heart meds waiting for more testing he depending on the type of SVT he has will depend on the treatment. He will probably end up having surgery to correct the issue.

We are glad to know what has been causeing these mystery attacks for the last 20 years

A tearful joyful day!

My sweet Benny boy was baptized a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Later day saints.

It was a bittersweet day for me I cried a lot.

Ben is our last child to be baptized I really did not realize how hard it would be for me.

As you can tell by his smile he was very happy.

 

Our family is so proud of our Benny boy we love him so much and are so glad that he is a part of our family

Dog days of summer!

Tonight we spent the night hanging out with our neighbors eating hot dogs and hamburgers enjoying the last weeks of summer before school starts again. 

Garrett likes to act like a goober when I try and take pictures with him despite him being a goober I like how this shot turned out.

Ben was enjoying the band while playing a little air guitar he was cracking Dale and I up he was so into it he did not even know we were watching along with everyone sitting around us.

We kept hearing look at that cute little boy playing air guitar. 

I always try and take a picture with Dale while we are out Benny evidently felt he needed to join us.

Mylissa was at the park too hanging with her friends they came and hung out with us for a few minutes then were off to do bigger and better things.

Time is slipping by so quickly I really cant believe how old she is getting.