family

It has been a crazy December; I hope to do a better job with my blog in the weeks to come. We made it through the holidays, although it has been quieter with such a small family here. It was just Anne, Jessica, and me to celebrate this year. As it all comes to a close, here is a link (CLICK HERE) to Jessica and I taking down the Christmas tree.

Jessica has started on a 24 month process with braces. She has endured all the spacers, molds, & photos to get to the real thing today. The orthodontist is dealing with jaw alignment issues, crossbite, and class II malocclusion. Amazing to see all the colors available for braces now. She chose blue for now, but is already planning for red & green when they are replaced before the Christmas holiday!

Notes from Jessica: Well, first I had spacers, but those are out now. In my mouth now, I have an expander and (obviously) top braces. The spacers were the little plastic bands that made space between my teeth so the expander could be seated. The expander is also called a quad-helix because it's like a spring, all wound up, to push my upper teeth apart. My upper jaw is so narrow that I can't properly eat with a spoon because a spoon will not fit. Hence, expander. The top set of braces is just normal braces, brackets cemented on with a wire that will pull teeth into the correct position. The bands are twisted differently because the teeth are twisted differently. There are only 2 bands on, out of 10, that could be put on simply. The others had to be put on all twisted around or not even fully put over the bracket to increase movement in a certain direction. I picked "mediterranean" and "light blue" bands 'cause blue felt patriotic on Election Day. I have to get new bands in December, so I'll probably go with Christmas-y colors.

It’s been many years since I’ve been seriously sick. In fact, I’ve been busy these past few months working to take better care of myself with calisthenics, walking, and eating better. I’d managed to drop over ten pounds and was feeling pretty good – until August 30.

I fly the digital audio system at church every other week. On Sunday, August 30, I jumped into the box with great anticipation; I really enjoy when my dance with the audio system results in a completely transparent experience for the attendees. All morning I felt like I was in a bit of a fog. There were no major errors (one late microphone start), but the presentation didn’t feel “right” to me. I blamed it on missing breakfast, which has become a part of my “better health” routine.

After church, Anne, Jessica, and myself visited our local Mexican restaurant for our traditional Sunday feast. It became evident that something more was wrong than just missing breakfast. Even though I consumed a reasonable meal (including a giant soda) I was continuing to crash. As the meal came to a close, I requested that we go straight home.

After relaxing on the bed for a few minutes, I decided to take a quick check with the thermometer; it showed a fever of over 102. Definitely not quite right. I was so loopy I couldn’t believe my eyes. I napped for a bit and tried again: 102.9. For the next four days I was eating extra strength Tylenol and trying to swallow any liquids I could get passed my swollen neck. The fever raged daily – at one point reaching 103.3.

Unfortunately, once the flu has taken hold, there really isn’t much that a doctor can do. They can monitor your vital signs, provide fluids, and prescribe fever reducing medications (only Tylenol for me); these were all things that Anne and I could do at home, so we did. Anne really did a fabulous job of dealing with a cranky, partially lucid patient.

Here we are, five days later, and the symptoms are easing slightly. Without medication today, the fever stayed below 101. I’m taking more Tylenol tonight so that I can get the best sleep possible.

I’m six pounds lighter, still have very swollen glands, and am very weak.

The first sidebar? Anne and Jessica have been fighting colds for weeks.

The second sidebar? Mike, the other sound guy, called in sick on Wednesday night… oh boy.
 

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then I give you 18,000 words! CLICK Here are 18 snapshots from our recent trip to the Hoh Rainforest... and I promise not to drone on for hours as we project our slide show!
 

My friend John called me today from downtown Seattle, "Hey, is it snowing over in Redmond?" I thought that he was joking, until he told me how awesome it was to watch the snow flying upward between the high-rise buildings. It seems as if Spring got lost this year. We've been hunting for it, but it's nowhere to be found.