Neonatal Nursing Class

I went to another class this week on Neonatal Nursing. It was really good. I loved the instructor, Margaret Crockett. She had a great way of explaining things. Learned about Hyperbilirubinemia in newborns and how/why it happens. Critical levels can cause life long severe brain damage but can be totally prevented. Also learned about sepsis in newborns and how to calculate the ANC and I/T ratio in a newborn CBC. This basically teaches us when to call the Doc and ask for blood cultures and antibiotics on a septic baby. Also learned about RH incompatibility and ABO incompatibility. It was a super awesome class. I stayed awake and was eager to soak in all this new knowledge. The smaller hospital that I work at requires some baby knowledge in addition to Labor & Delivery. I really enjoyed this class.

I'll be flying to Dallas in the morning to see my Dad. So far the Chemo is working. He is much more sick with the #4 dose that he had a few weeks ago. He has dose #5 scheduled for Monday. Dad says that he has missed several days of work and has really slowed down over the last few weeks. But his repeat PET scanned showed all tumors were shrinking. (There was one tumor in his abdomen that was the same size or slightly larger, but all others were looking good).

Ben's been interviewing for jobs and keeping up the girls' busy schedule.

Update on Dad and Ben & Girls Ditch School

Dad is doing well. He has had 3 doses of Chemo so far and 3 more to go, they are given every 3 weeks. Today he will be going in for a PET scan. This will tell him if the tumors are shrinking. He will get the results back in about a week. Eventhough dad gets tired easily, he is still going to work at EDS and does what he can around the house. While I was visiting, he cleaned the pool and worked in the yard. We also went grocery shopping, I had to help him pick out a new freezer for the garage since the old one in the garage died. I enjoyed my visit with my whole family. We played our favorite game, Monopoly. (I won!)

I also got to visit with my good friend, Ms. Erica. We had fun reminiscing old times at the Abbey waiting tables. Alas, the Abbey has since closed and we had to settle for Cheesecake Factory. It was very good. Church was good too. I enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up. Great talks too.

While I was in Texas, Ben took the girls out of school this past Friday to go snow skiing. He informed Natalie that it is only OK to ditch school if it is for something important (like skiing). He took some great video clips of the girls skiing. I am always amazed at how well Ben skis, he is a born natural! The girls take after Ben when it comes to skiing. They are improving tremendously every time they go up. Last season they used a devise called an "edgy-wedgie" which hooks to the tips of each ski and connected them with a rubber band. This prevents the skis from getting a mind of there own and going in different directions. Halfway through the day Natalie wanted to try to ski without the edgy-wedgie. After only a half of a run and about 3 crashes Natalie begged Ben to reattach the edgy-wedgie. Julia, being the independent girl she is, instantly decided that she wanted to try skiing without her edgy-wedgie. Julia skied perfectly. Ben congratulated her and informed her that skiing without the edgy-wedgie was equal to riding a bike and getting rid of the training wheels. Upon hearing this and not ready to be one upped by her younger sister, Natalie instantly needed the edgy-wedgie removed also. She some times needs to be one upped by her younger sister. This keeps her out of her comfort zone. Ben decided to leave the ski resort a little early do to the fact Julia woke up that morning with a small case of pink eye. Ben said that Julia insisted that she didn't want to miss skiing in order to go and sit in a stinky stale doctors office just to be told she something she already knows. That she has pink eye. She said she would much rather be up skiing in fresh powder on a bright blue 50 degree day breathing high altitude fresh Sierra air. So on the way down the mountain, Ben called in to the Pediatrician Julia's symptoms and they called in a prescription.

Quote of the Day: Upon leaving the resort Natalie told Ben,"dad I love ditching school!" Like father like daughter....

Update on Dad

My dad is doing well. He has his 2nd of 6 doses of Chemo on MLK day. I was able to visit this past weekend and had a good time with dad celebrating his 60th birthday. His Bone Marrow Biopsy came back clean and so his NHL (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) is a stage 3. The PET scan results came back with no involvement on the brain, heart, or liver which is good news also. He does have lymph node involvement on nodes near his trachea, chest, abdomen, and groin. Hopefully the Chemo will shrink these tumors. For dad's birthday, we went to the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. It was really interesting and exciting to see all these beautiful pieces that are 3000+ years old. Rachel & Michael practically ran through the maze of artifacts and were eating lunch when an hour later, mom, dad, and I finally caught up with them. We of course had to look at every single item and read every single caption about each piece. Mom pushed dad in a wheelchair throughout the exhibit so he wouldn't get too tired. Only it was a tiny wheelchair made for a kid I think. :) Poor dad had to squeeze into it. Mom also pushed people out of the way and squeezed her way up front of every piece so dad could see everything. I am sure some toes were run over. :) We were all exhausted after the day's trip walking all over the exhibit, but dad said he felt great riding in the wheelchair all day, not tired at all. Mom made Sweet n Sour pork chops over rice for dinner. Then we had cake with 60 candles on it!

Dad's Coming to AZ

Here is Mom & Dad with Natalie & Julia @ Yellowstone in 2006.

My mom and dad, Charlene & Tom are coming to AZ to visit for New Year's. I think they will be leaving from Dallas on or about 12/30. I know they will be in Tucson visiting with Sonja and my dad's stepmom, Ruth. Dad starts Chemo today. I talked to him this morning. He has a friend in his ward, brother Prince, who brought over a juicer. Prince used to be on a health kick and just had it lying around but thought my dad might like it right now. My dad really teared up when he was telling me about how Brother Prince is loading a bunch of my dad's fav songs on an i-Pod so he can listen to them while he's getting his treatments. My dad LOVES music, especially the Beatles and various other 60's bands, so I know he'll really appreciate that. We hopefully will know the results of the PET scan later today. The PET was done last week, but b/c of the holidays we are still waiting for results. I can't believe dad's going to have Chemo today and then fly to AZ on the 30th but his Doc said that would be totally fine for him to travel. On Friday 12/26, dad had his Bone Marrow Biopsy and his Port a Cath placement. Those procedures both went well. Dad said he was sore after the Biopsy. They went in through his hip and he said his leg felt numb for a few hours, but all is well now. Thanks again for all your love and prayers! We love you dad! - Carolyn