Hi everyone,
It will be impossible for me to get the blog caught up in time for surgery, so I'm going to pick up with today and add other entries in later and pre-date them. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, November 10, 2010 at 7:30 am. Our hospital check-in time is 5:30 am.
______________________________________________________________
Today is the eighth day of our trip. In some ways it feels it like it has been much longer. Perhaps that is because when you go on a vacation you're having so much fun that you are constantly counting how many days you have left. That certainly isn't the case here. In fact, our hospital days have been so long and our nights so short that it all sort of runs together. This isn't to say that we haven't had any fun, because we have. We've also met a lot of nice people. And we've learned a lot! Not just in terms of moyamoya, but about California too.
We got up early this morning, got ready for the day, and went downstairs to breakfast for our usual oatmeal. It's not the instant kind, it's the plain kind that they have to cook up and you ladle into your bowl. They have these tiny little brown sugar packets and boxes of raisins to decorate it with. Mom and I bought some dried cherries and cranberries to add in as well. If I were to say something that we've found comfort in it might be the oatmeal. Sure, they have other stuff, but we always get the oatmeal. It's the only thing that stays the same from day-to-day. Well that and our awesome team. Sandy the research coordinator has been a huge blessing and I love cutting up with Bob, the program director,
After a quick trip back to the room to brush teeth, we left for our 8:30 am appointment in the neurodiagnostic area of the hospital. A psychologist came and got mom and dad for a brief interview after which dad had about four hours of cognitive testing. He says it wasn't too bad, lots of questions and brain teasers. They want to get an idea of whether or not the reduction in blood flow to the left side of his brain has disrupted his thinking. It's interesting because weeks ago they called and he had to tell them about his highest level of education, etc. I guess this was so they could cater the testing to what his mental abilities should be. After surgery and at followup appointments we'll do this again to measure any changes. They also want to know if it has caused any personality changes and mom has had to fill out lots of paperwork about this.
Anyways, mom and I sat in the cafeteria on the first floor while dad was busy. I worked on the blog and she worked on stuff for school. On our way down we stopped by neurology to say hi. They have a TV that continuously plays a DVD lecture by our surgeon about the moyamoya surgery. I'm trying to get a copy or some video to share with you. In the meantime Bob gave me a really nice book that has all of the information. We grabbed a quick lunch here when dad was done and now the two of them have gone down the hall to the lab so that dad can do an extra blood draw for research purposes. That was nice of him. Last week alone he had three IVs and another blood draw. That's a lot of (big) needles.
When they come back we're going to pack up and probably drive to Muir Woods again. Dad really wants mom to see it and he wants to see it with her. He says it is almost a spiritual experience. I have to agree. There is a trail you can hike that leads to Muir beach - it's about three miles. I think we might do that as he wants to get some exercise in before tomorrow. We might try to eat dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. I guess it will depend on the time and stuff.
As surgery time gets closer it's definitely a mix of thoughts and emotions. On one hand our doctor here does surgery a couple of times a week. This is his everyday. On the other hand, when he's doing the surgery on someone you love it is different. I think we're all trying to be upbeat and avoid that frantic feeling. I know dad is nervous. He was telling mom after the testing this morning that the psychologist offered to prescribe something to help him sleep tonight and also said that if he needed to talk he could call her. He was trying not to cry. I could tell.
I'll add more to this and edit later.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Dad's diagnosis
Hi everyone,
Sorry I continue to be slow with updating the blog. As many of you know dad and I have been in California since Tuesday and are in the pre-op testing phase of his treatment. Mom will be flying out to join us tomorrow and surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday. Unfortunately we've been meeting ourselves coming and going since we got here and so my time and computer access is very limited and I can't post from my phone. I promise I only have a few more back entries and we will be caught up. Until then I have real time updates on Facebook
I know a lot of people wonder what exactly happened to have an otherwise healthy man flying across the country for brain surgery.
It was about 10 p.m. on the night of Monday, August the 23rd and I was sitting in my room desperately trying to figure out how to start my sweater for the recent Spud & Chloe knitalong. I was already frustrated and mom started yelling, "Sarah!" I rolled my eyes and was about to answer when she started again, "Sarah!" Now I was just annoyed because that's something grandma does...calling someone's name repeatedly without letting them answer. "SARAH! There's something wrong with your dad!"
So I go running out from my room and dad is stretched out on the floor of the upstairs hallway. He's trying to talk but it's coming out as gibberish. His right arm isn't working. Pretty much all of the classic stroke symptoms. It took a minute for my supposed pre-med brain to kick into gear and by then mom had already given him four baby aspirin. We should have called 911 and if you are ever in this situation you should call 911. So we called our family doctor instead, only he doesn't answer pages after 10 p.m. So I called his cell phone which he once called me from and so I saved the number. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I was desperate. So if you're following the blog Dr. Showers, erm, sorry about that. Dad was acting funny. And by funny, I really mean funny. Engineers aren't exactly stand up comedians, but he was cracking jokes like Chevy Chase in the Christmas Vacation movie. He was laughing and had both of us laughing. When I couldn't reach the doctor I called Brian and got some advice via Facebook from a friend who is a nurse. While the E.R. would have been the best option, we all agreed that he would make it 'till morning.
Mom had dad at Dr. Showers' office as soon as she got off work Tuesday afternoon.
He thought it sounded like a TIA, or transient ischemic attack, commonly called a "mini-stroke." Unlike major strokes, the symptoms resolve very quickly. After that things happened pretty quickly. We found out that with his insurance there is 3 day waiting period for the MRA and MRI he needed - unless the patient is in the E.R. Fail. So Dr. Showers made some calls and pulled some strings and got him in that afternoon. And then we waited. The tests showed some problems so they ordered a CT scan for Wednesday. We were supposed to get the results the same day or Thursday, even though our doctor doesn't work on Thursdays. Of course, nobody called. So we called and called and called and couldn't get any straight answers. I don't care if you have no new, bad news, good news, whatever. If you say you're going to call, if you are supposed to call, then CALL! Eventually the nurse of a different doctor in the practice called us and said that there weren't any problems in any of the scans and not to worry about it. My mom was like, "Um, no," and explained the situation. The nurse said she had been told to say that and apologized. Everyone has good intentions, but medicine is far from perfect.
Friday came around and we did finally get to talk to somebody from our doctor's staff. I told mom she should have yelled at them, or something. That was the second time in six months that we have been in this situation. I tore a muscle in my leg last May and ended up with cellulitis and they were worried I had a blood clot too and sent me for an ultrasound. I was supposed to hear the same day, also a Wednesday, and ended up not hearing until Friday that I was going to be okay. If you've never sat still for two days wondering if you were about to have a pulmonary embolism, well, it's not fun. The tests showed that dad had approximately a 70% narrowing, or stenosis, of the left middle cerebral artery in his brain. The initial report assumed that this was due to atherosclerotic buildup (plaque in the arteries usually caused by high cholesterol). He has taken a daily baby aspirin as well as medicine for mild hypertension for years. Immediately the baby aspirin was upped to an adult aspirin, he was put on a statin for his borderline high LDL "bad" cholesterol, and Plavix to thin his blood to prevent another stroke. Dad was scheduled for an cerebral angiogram/arteriogram (they're the same thing) the next week.
Mom can't get off of work, so I went with dad for his arteriogram. He was scared of course, but Uncle Pat said it wasn't too bad. I was there before the procedure and that's when we met our diagnostic radiologist, Dr. Dana Tomalty. He explained that in the procedure they essentially puncture the femoral artery in the groin and run a catheter which emits contrast dye for imaging up through the trunk of the body, through the vasculature of the heart, and into the brain. During this time the patient is awake and must be able to follow commands such as "breathe" or "don't breathe" and many pictures are taken. Once the procedure is completed steps must be taken to keep the femoral artery from bleeding out. Huntsville Hospital uses a gun and titanium clip to seal the hole. After that the patient must be prostrate for several hours before he can go home. Dad did well with the procedure, although he felt that they had played down the amount of pain he would feel. While he rested Dr. Tomalty stopped by and said that dad has great arteries with only maybe a tiny bit of atherosclerotic build up in one place. However, the stenosis was as severe as expected. Based on his experiences he believed that dad had moyamoya disease which was causing his artery to grow closed. When somebody has atherosclerosis a stint can be placed in the artery to hold it open. This doesn't work in moyamoya patients because the artery will still continue to grow closed. The only real option is a bypass of sorts. Dad rested some more as I rapidly Googled things on my phone. We were allowed to leave the hospital by lunch time and we went to Little Tony's for pizza and then Books-a-Million. After that he was feeling pretty bad and we went home.
For the rest of the week we spent a lot of time online reading about moyamoya disease. Having the ability to research medical conditions yourself is both a blessing and a curse. We've all seen those mystery diagnosis shows where the frustrated parent solves her child's misdiagnosed case herself through persistence and the Internet. Similarly I can also tell you from my own shadowing experiences that anybody can put anything on the Internet and somebody somewhere will believe it. So just be careful and try to stick with reputable resources, such as medical school websites or articles you can pull up through Google Scholar.
The next Tuesday afternoon mom, dad, and I went to Dr. Tomalty's office downtown to look at images from the procedure. It was so cool. He had four giant monitors in his office and could pull up identical pictures from both sides of the brain and compare them. It was also a little humbling, because we could all see the problem in exquisite detail. The one artery was almost closed and dad's collateral blood vessels were growing to try to make up for the loss of blood flow. Once an artery completely closes and the collateral vessels take over, the patient is no longer a candidate for surgery to repair the problem. Also, they might have major strokes and could die. Dr. Tomalty said that there were a few places in the country where he could possibly be treated, such as Virginia and California. Through our own research we had already learned that Stanford had the largest moyamoya program in the country, maybe in the world. Dr. Tomalty had connections there so he offered to contact the Dr. Steinburg, the head of the program, and also to send all of dad's reports and scans.
Next we had to see a local neurologist. So that Thursday mom, dad, and I went and met with Dr. Amit Arora. Honestly, we weren't impressed. He didn't seem prepared for the appointment at all and said he would have to review the scans and get back with us. He also realized something I realized, the potential to study dad and Uncle Pat since the condition is presumed to be genetic and they are identical twins and thus have the same DNA. He should have studied the scans beforehand. It's not like its a couple of x-rays. There were hundreds of images. He said he would contact lots of people he knew to get information and opinions and would get back with us, but he never really did - although he did agree that it was likely moyamoya. Mom was glad because she didn't want dad to be shipped here and there for research purposes when what he needed was to get better. We decided to pursue Stanford on our own.
A week or two went by and we heard from Dr. Steinburg in California. He reviewed everything Dr. Tomalty had sent and also agreed that it was moyamoya, said that he would be happy to have dad as a patient, and even suggested a specific surgery to correct the problem. He also said that he saw some stenosis in the right cerebral artery, but not enough to treat right now. Some people have two surgeries a week apart if both sides are affected.
It was a lot of information to take in in a very short time! And as you can imagine it was only the beginning...
Love,
Rocketgirl
Sorry I continue to be slow with updating the blog. As many of you know dad and I have been in California since Tuesday and are in the pre-op testing phase of his treatment. Mom will be flying out to join us tomorrow and surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday. Unfortunately we've been meeting ourselves coming and going since we got here and so my time and computer access is very limited and I can't post from my phone. I promise I only have a few more back entries and we will be caught up. Until then I have real time updates on Facebook
I know a lot of people wonder what exactly happened to have an otherwise healthy man flying across the country for brain surgery.
It was about 10 p.m. on the night of Monday, August the 23rd and I was sitting in my room desperately trying to figure out how to start my sweater for the recent Spud & Chloe knitalong. I was already frustrated and mom started yelling, "Sarah!" I rolled my eyes and was about to answer when she started again, "Sarah!" Now I was just annoyed because that's something grandma does...calling someone's name repeatedly without letting them answer. "SARAH! There's something wrong with your dad!"
So I go running out from my room and dad is stretched out on the floor of the upstairs hallway. He's trying to talk but it's coming out as gibberish. His right arm isn't working. Pretty much all of the classic stroke symptoms. It took a minute for my supposed pre-med brain to kick into gear and by then mom had already given him four baby aspirin. We should have called 911 and if you are ever in this situation you should call 911. So we called our family doctor instead, only he doesn't answer pages after 10 p.m. So I called his cell phone which he once called me from and so I saved the number. I probably shouldn't have done that, but I was desperate. So if you're following the blog Dr. Showers, erm, sorry about that. Dad was acting funny. And by funny, I really mean funny. Engineers aren't exactly stand up comedians, but he was cracking jokes like Chevy Chase in the Christmas Vacation movie. He was laughing and had both of us laughing. When I couldn't reach the doctor I called Brian and got some advice via Facebook from a friend who is a nurse. While the E.R. would have been the best option, we all agreed that he would make it 'till morning.
Mom had dad at Dr. Showers' office as soon as she got off work Tuesday afternoon.
He thought it sounded like a TIA, or transient ischemic attack, commonly called a "mini-stroke." Unlike major strokes, the symptoms resolve very quickly. After that things happened pretty quickly. We found out that with his insurance there is 3 day waiting period for the MRA and MRI he needed - unless the patient is in the E.R. Fail. So Dr. Showers made some calls and pulled some strings and got him in that afternoon. And then we waited. The tests showed some problems so they ordered a CT scan for Wednesday. We were supposed to get the results the same day or Thursday, even though our doctor doesn't work on Thursdays. Of course, nobody called. So we called and called and called and couldn't get any straight answers. I don't care if you have no new, bad news, good news, whatever. If you say you're going to call, if you are supposed to call, then CALL! Eventually the nurse of a different doctor in the practice called us and said that there weren't any problems in any of the scans and not to worry about it. My mom was like, "Um, no," and explained the situation. The nurse said she had been told to say that and apologized. Everyone has good intentions, but medicine is far from perfect.
Friday came around and we did finally get to talk to somebody from our doctor's staff. I told mom she should have yelled at them, or something. That was the second time in six months that we have been in this situation. I tore a muscle in my leg last May and ended up with cellulitis and they were worried I had a blood clot too and sent me for an ultrasound. I was supposed to hear the same day, also a Wednesday, and ended up not hearing until Friday that I was going to be okay. If you've never sat still for two days wondering if you were about to have a pulmonary embolism, well, it's not fun. The tests showed that dad had approximately a 70% narrowing, or stenosis, of the left middle cerebral artery in his brain. The initial report assumed that this was due to atherosclerotic buildup (plaque in the arteries usually caused by high cholesterol). He has taken a daily baby aspirin as well as medicine for mild hypertension for years. Immediately the baby aspirin was upped to an adult aspirin, he was put on a statin for his borderline high LDL "bad" cholesterol, and Plavix to thin his blood to prevent another stroke. Dad was scheduled for an cerebral angiogram/arteriogram (they're the same thing) the next week.
Mom can't get off of work, so I went with dad for his arteriogram. He was scared of course, but Uncle Pat said it wasn't too bad. I was there before the procedure and that's when we met our diagnostic radiologist, Dr. Dana Tomalty. He explained that in the procedure they essentially puncture the femoral artery in the groin and run a catheter which emits contrast dye for imaging up through the trunk of the body, through the vasculature of the heart, and into the brain. During this time the patient is awake and must be able to follow commands such as "breathe" or "don't breathe" and many pictures are taken. Once the procedure is completed steps must be taken to keep the femoral artery from bleeding out. Huntsville Hospital uses a gun and titanium clip to seal the hole. After that the patient must be prostrate for several hours before he can go home. Dad did well with the procedure, although he felt that they had played down the amount of pain he would feel. While he rested Dr. Tomalty stopped by and said that dad has great arteries with only maybe a tiny bit of atherosclerotic build up in one place. However, the stenosis was as severe as expected. Based on his experiences he believed that dad had moyamoya disease which was causing his artery to grow closed. When somebody has atherosclerosis a stint can be placed in the artery to hold it open. This doesn't work in moyamoya patients because the artery will still continue to grow closed. The only real option is a bypass of sorts. Dad rested some more as I rapidly Googled things on my phone. We were allowed to leave the hospital by lunch time and we went to Little Tony's for pizza and then Books-a-Million. After that he was feeling pretty bad and we went home.
For the rest of the week we spent a lot of time online reading about moyamoya disease. Having the ability to research medical conditions yourself is both a blessing and a curse. We've all seen those mystery diagnosis shows where the frustrated parent solves her child's misdiagnosed case herself through persistence and the Internet. Similarly I can also tell you from my own shadowing experiences that anybody can put anything on the Internet and somebody somewhere will believe it. So just be careful and try to stick with reputable resources, such as medical school websites or articles you can pull up through Google Scholar.
The next Tuesday afternoon mom, dad, and I went to Dr. Tomalty's office downtown to look at images from the procedure. It was so cool. He had four giant monitors in his office and could pull up identical pictures from both sides of the brain and compare them. It was also a little humbling, because we could all see the problem in exquisite detail. The one artery was almost closed and dad's collateral blood vessels were growing to try to make up for the loss of blood flow. Once an artery completely closes and the collateral vessels take over, the patient is no longer a candidate for surgery to repair the problem. Also, they might have major strokes and could die. Dr. Tomalty said that there were a few places in the country where he could possibly be treated, such as Virginia and California. Through our own research we had already learned that Stanford had the largest moyamoya program in the country, maybe in the world. Dr. Tomalty had connections there so he offered to contact the Dr. Steinburg, the head of the program, and also to send all of dad's reports and scans.
Next we had to see a local neurologist. So that Thursday mom, dad, and I went and met with Dr. Amit Arora. Honestly, we weren't impressed. He didn't seem prepared for the appointment at all and said he would have to review the scans and get back with us. He also realized something I realized, the potential to study dad and Uncle Pat since the condition is presumed to be genetic and they are identical twins and thus have the same DNA. He should have studied the scans beforehand. It's not like its a couple of x-rays. There were hundreds of images. He said he would contact lots of people he knew to get information and opinions and would get back with us, but he never really did - although he did agree that it was likely moyamoya. Mom was glad because she didn't want dad to be shipped here and there for research purposes when what he needed was to get better. We decided to pursue Stanford on our own.
A week or two went by and we heard from Dr. Steinburg in California. He reviewed everything Dr. Tomalty had sent and also agreed that it was moyamoya, said that he would be happy to have dad as a patient, and even suggested a specific surgery to correct the problem. He also said that he saw some stenosis in the right cerebral artery, but not enough to treat right now. Some people have two surgeries a week apart if both sides are affected.
It was a lot of information to take in in a very short time! And as you can imagine it was only the beginning...
Love,
Rocketgirl
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Meet our family
Hi everyone,
Before I get too involved with writing about dad's treatment, I thought it might be helpful to give a little background information. I know that we have lots of people checking the blog, but not everyone is familiar with our whole family.
So, I present to you our cast of characters.
Dad - The star of the blog. He is an identical twin who grew up in Florida and went to West Point (Beat Navy!) where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering. After I was born he left the army for the reserves and pursued a career in aerospace engineering. He also earned a masters degree in engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, another masters from the Army War College, and is pursuing a third masters in space science with the University of North Dakota. After retiring from the reserves as a Colonel, he opened his own business - Rocketman Home Inspections. Dad like outdoors DIY stuff, bicycle riding, baseball, barbecue, and those sorts of things. He has a great tenor voice, but I haven't been able to convince him to take up theatre (yet). Dad says that after he "gets his head fixed" he wants to do something bold like start a company.
You can visit dad's business website at Rocketman Home Inspections.
Mom - Her real name is Diana. Mom also grew up in Florida and went to Florida State University where she earned a degree in English and German. She was a stay-at-home mom for most of my childhood and in recent years has taught ESL (English as a second language) at a local high school. She lost her position in this year's job cuts because otherwise she would have become tenured. She was hired back through a contract company and now does runs the credit recovery computer lab at the same school. I wish she didn't have to work, but somehow we manage. I'm mom's best friend and we can finish each other's sentences. We like to go to Bandito Burrito and on wild adventures I think up for us, like grape stomps. Mom is an excellent toilet unclogger and saves all the pictures we draw for her on the paper tablecloths at Macaroni Grill.
Sarah - Hey! That's me! I'm the eldest of the four kids and the only girl. I lamented that for a long time until my brothers started dating. I graduated from UAH in 2009 with a degree in French and minors in business and chemistry. I've applied for medical school twice, but so far it just hasn't worked out. Or maybe it did work out, because if I had been accepted either time I wouldn't be able to accompany dad to California. Anyways, I am still trying to decide for sure what I want to be when I "grow up." I have an interesting assortment of hobbies and interests. Like my dad I tend to start more projects than I finish and think that it's not a real peanut butter sandwich unless it has enough peanut butter on it to taste.
Brian - Oh, Beardly. Well, technically he shaved off his beard last week so that nickname doesn't really work anymore. I haven't decided if I want to call him Unbeardly now or just Brian. I'm sure he would prefer the latter. Brian is the second child and for awhile it was just the two of us and we would pretend to be twins. Brian went to Birmingham Southern College to study classical guitar. He's an excellent musician but eventually decided to go into medicine instead and changed his major to biochemistry. He is a second year student at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. Brian is very compassionate, gives great advice, and is a very good secret keeper. He will be an excellent doctor and I'm excited to see which field he will choose.
David - David is a senior at UAH who will be graduating this summer. He's following in dad's footsteps and studying mechanical and aerospace engineering. I think he is also considering a career in the ministry. He is the third child and nowadays many people think that he and Brian are twins. David has a heart of gold and will always go out of his way to help you. He enjoys reading the kind of books they assign in literature classes, watching Friends on DVD, and theatre. He has a four foot tall stuffed giraffe in his room named Nectar. He likes to place it outside closed doors to scare people when they open them, which I find to be especially funny. David is engaged to Nicole and they will be married on 9/10/11 at 12 p.m. No seriously, that's really when their wedding is.
Benjamin - Ben will probably be annoyed that I wrote Benjamin. He's the fourth and youngest child and to his dismay I still like to call him Benjie or Ben-jammin. What can I say? That's what big sisters do. I can't believe that he will be 20 this year. Ben, like his brothers, is as smart as a whip. He's a sophomore at BSC and also wants to go into medicine. Right now he's suffering through the first organic chemistry course. He likes working out, washing his fancy car, playing video games, and watching Top Gear on Netflix. He's really strong and gives great hugs. And underneath that muscly exterior Ben has a really tender heart. Ben is dating Sydney, a girl he met on the tennis team in high school.
Grandma - Grandma Doris moved in with us ten years ago after Papa died. She has a lot of health problems and most things are difficult for her to do. Sometimes it is really hard to have her live with us, but in the end it all works out. I try to be patient, but I don't always do a good job. Grandma has lot of interesting stories to tell. She grew up in Germany during World War II.
Nicole - Nicole is David's fiance. She's from Miami and is studying physics at UAH. Nicole spent last summer studying abroad and doing research in Panama. She graduates this December and I'm pretty sure that if you met her on the street she could tell you how many more days, hours, and even minutes are left until she gets her diploma. She is a cheerleader and also rows for the crew team. Nicole likes giraffes and names all of her possessions, for example Ivan her iPod. Her favorite kind of cake is Funfetti and she is a self-proclaimed checkers champion.
Hedwig - Hedwig or "Wiggy" is Ben's grey kitty. She's ten years old. She's a little skittish because once when she was little she was sleeping a pile of backpacks and Brian lept over it and yelled "Cowabunga!" She was so startled that she took off running through the foyer, hit the French doors to the dining room, and knocked herself out. Even so her favorite place to be is still perched on top of a backpack or on top of the dryer. If you accidentally lock her in your room she will poop on your bed. We've spent many an hour at the laundromat.
Oscar - Oscar is David's kitty. He's nine years old. Nicole likes to call him OscarPod. At 18 pounds he is a big boy that outweighs all of our other pets, even the dog! Oscar is very devoted to David and waits for him outside of his bedroom every morning and will follow him around the house. Oscar also likes water and sleeping in unoccupied bathtubs. He will frequently lead us to his dish so that we can pet him while he eats. If you ignore him he will bite your leg.
Winnie - Winnie is my dog but everyone dotes on her. I got her as a puppy five years ago from a local no-kill shelter I was volunteering at. She was the runt of her litter, but I thought she was the most beautiful one. Her mom is half poodle and half Pomeranian. We don't know what the dad was, but half of the puppies looked like miniature Shelties and the other half looked like Ewoks. She looks like a Sheltie. Winnie and Oscar have nearly identical markings so sometimes we joke that we bought them as a matching pair from one of those ridiculous Christmas catalogs. Winnie plays like a cat and thinks that Oscar is her mom. She follows me everywhere and is patient when I dress her up and take pictures.
Arthur - Arthur is Ben's orange kitty. My dad had said no more cats, but somehow Ben still got Arthur for Christmas three years ago. He's bright orange and full of mischief. He spends his days tormenting the other cats, but adores Winnie. She's his surrogate mom and the only one he will share the fireplace with in the winter. Sometimes they get wound up and chase each other around the house. If Winnie plays like a cat, Arthur acts like a dog. It's not uncommon to see him chewing one of her rawhides. Whenever she goes out to potty he tries to go with her. Arthur can sense the weak link and has adopted my dad as his favorite person. He demands snuggle time every morning. If he is being stubborn and you need to catch him, the secret is to go stand under the ceiling fan in family room and call him. I guarantee you that within in a minute or two he will be stroking around your legs and you can pick him up and cuddle him. We haven't figured this one out yet...
Fishies - I hope somebody remembers to feed them while dad and I are away.
Uncle Pat - Dad's twin. He started having mini strokes and full strokes long before my dad but was never diagnosed as having moyamoya. The doctors at Stanford are going to study his medical history and will hopefully learn from his case. Uncle Pat is married and has two kids.
Aunt Janene - Dad's older sister. We think she had a TIA (mini stroke) last year and she is in the process of being worked up where she lives in Florida. Aunt Janene is married and has four kids and four grandkids.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Rocketgirl
Before I get too involved with writing about dad's treatment, I thought it might be helpful to give a little background information. I know that we have lots of people checking the blog, but not everyone is familiar with our whole family.
So, I present to you our cast of characters.
Dad - The star of the blog. He is an identical twin who grew up in Florida and went to West Point (Beat Navy!) where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering. After I was born he left the army for the reserves and pursued a career in aerospace engineering. He also earned a masters degree in engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, another masters from the Army War College, and is pursuing a third masters in space science with the University of North Dakota. After retiring from the reserves as a Colonel, he opened his own business - Rocketman Home Inspections. Dad like outdoors DIY stuff, bicycle riding, baseball, barbecue, and those sorts of things. He has a great tenor voice, but I haven't been able to convince him to take up theatre (yet). Dad says that after he "gets his head fixed" he wants to do something bold like start a company.
You can visit dad's business website at Rocketman Home Inspections.
Mom - Her real name is Diana. Mom also grew up in Florida and went to Florida State University where she earned a degree in English and German. She was a stay-at-home mom for most of my childhood and in recent years has taught ESL (English as a second language) at a local high school. She lost her position in this year's job cuts because otherwise she would have become tenured. She was hired back through a contract company and now does runs the credit recovery computer lab at the same school. I wish she didn't have to work, but somehow we manage. I'm mom's best friend and we can finish each other's sentences. We like to go to Bandito Burrito and on wild adventures I think up for us, like grape stomps. Mom is an excellent toilet unclogger and saves all the pictures we draw for her on the paper tablecloths at Macaroni Grill.
Sarah - Hey! That's me! I'm the eldest of the four kids and the only girl. I lamented that for a long time until my brothers started dating. I graduated from UAH in 2009 with a degree in French and minors in business and chemistry. I've applied for medical school twice, but so far it just hasn't worked out. Or maybe it did work out, because if I had been accepted either time I wouldn't be able to accompany dad to California. Anyways, I am still trying to decide for sure what I want to be when I "grow up." I have an interesting assortment of hobbies and interests. Like my dad I tend to start more projects than I finish and think that it's not a real peanut butter sandwich unless it has enough peanut butter on it to taste.
Brian - Oh, Beardly. Well, technically he shaved off his beard last week so that nickname doesn't really work anymore. I haven't decided if I want to call him Unbeardly now or just Brian. I'm sure he would prefer the latter. Brian is the second child and for awhile it was just the two of us and we would pretend to be twins. Brian went to Birmingham Southern College to study classical guitar. He's an excellent musician but eventually decided to go into medicine instead and changed his major to biochemistry. He is a second year student at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. Brian is very compassionate, gives great advice, and is a very good secret keeper. He will be an excellent doctor and I'm excited to see which field he will choose.
David - David is a senior at UAH who will be graduating this summer. He's following in dad's footsteps and studying mechanical and aerospace engineering. I think he is also considering a career in the ministry. He is the third child and nowadays many people think that he and Brian are twins. David has a heart of gold and will always go out of his way to help you. He enjoys reading the kind of books they assign in literature classes, watching Friends on DVD, and theatre. He has a four foot tall stuffed giraffe in his room named Nectar. He likes to place it outside closed doors to scare people when they open them, which I find to be especially funny. David is engaged to Nicole and they will be married on 9/10/11 at 12 p.m. No seriously, that's really when their wedding is.
Benjamin - Ben will probably be annoyed that I wrote Benjamin. He's the fourth and youngest child and to his dismay I still like to call him Benjie or Ben-jammin. What can I say? That's what big sisters do. I can't believe that he will be 20 this year. Ben, like his brothers, is as smart as a whip. He's a sophomore at BSC and also wants to go into medicine. Right now he's suffering through the first organic chemistry course. He likes working out, washing his fancy car, playing video games, and watching Top Gear on Netflix. He's really strong and gives great hugs. And underneath that muscly exterior Ben has a really tender heart. Ben is dating Sydney, a girl he met on the tennis team in high school.
Grandma - Grandma Doris moved in with us ten years ago after Papa died. She has a lot of health problems and most things are difficult for her to do. Sometimes it is really hard to have her live with us, but in the end it all works out. I try to be patient, but I don't always do a good job. Grandma has lot of interesting stories to tell. She grew up in Germany during World War II.
Nicole - Nicole is David's fiance. She's from Miami and is studying physics at UAH. Nicole spent last summer studying abroad and doing research in Panama. She graduates this December and I'm pretty sure that if you met her on the street she could tell you how many more days, hours, and even minutes are left until she gets her diploma. She is a cheerleader and also rows for the crew team. Nicole likes giraffes and names all of her possessions, for example Ivan her iPod. Her favorite kind of cake is Funfetti and she is a self-proclaimed checkers champion.
Hedwig - Hedwig or "Wiggy" is Ben's grey kitty. She's ten years old. She's a little skittish because once when she was little she was sleeping a pile of backpacks and Brian lept over it and yelled "Cowabunga!" She was so startled that she took off running through the foyer, hit the French doors to the dining room, and knocked herself out. Even so her favorite place to be is still perched on top of a backpack or on top of the dryer. If you accidentally lock her in your room she will poop on your bed. We've spent many an hour at the laundromat.
Oscar - Oscar is David's kitty. He's nine years old. Nicole likes to call him OscarPod. At 18 pounds he is a big boy that outweighs all of our other pets, even the dog! Oscar is very devoted to David and waits for him outside of his bedroom every morning and will follow him around the house. Oscar also likes water and sleeping in unoccupied bathtubs. He will frequently lead us to his dish so that we can pet him while he eats. If you ignore him he will bite your leg.
Winnie - Winnie is my dog but everyone dotes on her. I got her as a puppy five years ago from a local no-kill shelter I was volunteering at. She was the runt of her litter, but I thought she was the most beautiful one. Her mom is half poodle and half Pomeranian. We don't know what the dad was, but half of the puppies looked like miniature Shelties and the other half looked like Ewoks. She looks like a Sheltie. Winnie and Oscar have nearly identical markings so sometimes we joke that we bought them as a matching pair from one of those ridiculous Christmas catalogs. Winnie plays like a cat and thinks that Oscar is her mom. She follows me everywhere and is patient when I dress her up and take pictures.
Arthur - Arthur is Ben's orange kitty. My dad had said no more cats, but somehow Ben still got Arthur for Christmas three years ago. He's bright orange and full of mischief. He spends his days tormenting the other cats, but adores Winnie. She's his surrogate mom and the only one he will share the fireplace with in the winter. Sometimes they get wound up and chase each other around the house. If Winnie plays like a cat, Arthur acts like a dog. It's not uncommon to see him chewing one of her rawhides. Whenever she goes out to potty he tries to go with her. Arthur can sense the weak link and has adopted my dad as his favorite person. He demands snuggle time every morning. If he is being stubborn and you need to catch him, the secret is to go stand under the ceiling fan in family room and call him. I guarantee you that within in a minute or two he will be stroking around your legs and you can pick him up and cuddle him. We haven't figured this one out yet...
Fishies - I hope somebody remembers to feed them while dad and I are away.
Uncle Pat - Dad's twin. He started having mini strokes and full strokes long before my dad but was never diagnosed as having moyamoya. The doctors at Stanford are going to study his medical history and will hopefully learn from his case. Uncle Pat is married and has two kids.
Aunt Janene - Dad's older sister. We think she had a TIA (mini stroke) last year and she is in the process of being worked up where she lives in Florida. Aunt Janene is married and has four kids and four grandkids.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Rocketgirl
Monday, November 1, 2010
Welcome family and friends!
Dear family and friends,
Thank you for visiting our blog! Here you will find up-to-date information about dad as we embark on the journey from Alabama to California for brain surgery to repair the damage caused by moyamoya disease.
I would have liked to start this blog earlier, but as you can imagine things have been very hectic here! Over the next day or so I will stop by and add background information whenever possible.
I've also enabled multiple authors on this blog so you might occasionally see updates from my mom, dad, or brothers. This has, and will continue to be, a family affair.
Love,
Rocketgirl
Thank you for visiting our blog! Here you will find up-to-date information about dad as we embark on the journey from Alabama to California for brain surgery to repair the damage caused by moyamoya disease.
I would have liked to start this blog earlier, but as you can imagine things have been very hectic here! Over the next day or so I will stop by and add background information whenever possible.
I've also enabled multiple authors on this blog so you might occasionally see updates from my mom, dad, or brothers. This has, and will continue to be, a family affair.
Love,
Rocketgirl
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