No Magic Bullet

Helen went back to the doctor yesterday to follow up on her allergy testing. The doctor confirmed that it looked like she was somewhat allergic to a lot of things. He didn't think there was any magic bullet but that Helen would probably benefit from allergy shots, although it would take 6 months or a year before they would have any effect. She started crying and asked if he was telling her that she would have to wait that long before she felt any relief. To which he replied rather flippantly, "I didn't make the rules." Based on her MRI he didn't think that she should be having such bad headaches and recommended that she see a neurologist. She was stunned and asked if that was really necessary. He was a little agitated and felt she was questioning his medical advice and asked "who's the doctor here." Needless to say, Helen was not happy. However, after the doctor left the room the physician's assistant took the time to explain things and answer all Helen's questions - in a much more comforting manner.

Helen's appointment was near my office so she met me and we went to lunch. We had to sit in the parking lot and let the tears flow for a while before we could go. We went to the California Pizza Kitchen and had the Barbecue and Thai chicken pizzas. She felt better afterwards.

A guy at my office suggested some alternative therapies. He has bad allergies and other sinus issues and has had relief by following the watercure therapy. He also recommended another alternative medicine site: http://www.newstarget.com. We're a little skeptical, but Helen's willing to try almost anything. She drank a full 64 oz of water yesterday (it was hard) and said that she could actually blow her nose this morning and get some relief. The doctor also prescribed Allegra and Astelin nose spray. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Adam's daycare closed early when a water pipe broke during some construction next door to the daycare. The boys got a kick out of all the commotion and Adam liked being picked up early.

Adam seems to be having some allergies and has been a little "needy" recently. The other day on the say home from school he wanted to see Helen's charm bracelet. He was going through each charm and asking about it. He was upset that the ski boot that Helen got for last year's ski trip didn't look like his actual ski boot - it looked more like Daddy's. Then he lost it when he came across the moose that Helen got when we went to Alaska with Derek before Adam was born. Adam started crying that he had never seen a moose.

Recognizing that Adam was not feeling his best, Helen asked Adam if he wanted to cuddle and read some stories. So they went to Adam's room and cuddled in the rocking chair and read Courdoroy and Go, Dog, Go. Derek came upstairs and wanted to see what was going on. He brought his own book and wanted to get in on the Mommy time. Adam didn't appreciate the interruption and told Derek that "Harry Potter wasn't going to make him feel any better."

Derek had piano practice and then a basketball game. Adam brought his bag of toys and bounced the basketball on the court during time outs. Adam gets the most intense look on his face as he bends over with his tongue out and tries his hardest to keep the ball going. Derek's team played really well, but lost the game in overtime. Derek didn't score, but had some good defensive plays and hustled.

Adam got a splinter in his hand at school, but wouldn't let Helen mess with it. I got it out after bath time, but not without some tears. Derek was very comforting and got Adam a band-aid and read stories to him. They've been into the Adam Scarry "Busy Town" book that Aunt Katie got for Derek years ago. They love to look at all the intricate things going on in his illustrations.

Weekend Update

We had a very spring like weekend and it was very much appreciated. We spent a lot of time outside. We're outside quite a bit even in the winter time, but there's no doubt that nice weather brings more people out of their houses. When Helen asks how I can go on a run in the cold or rain I always say that weather's just a state of mind. It's unbelievable to me that there are people in our neighborhood that we have never seen or very rarely seen in the 13+ years that we've lived here! How can you not get out of your house and go on a walk?

On Friday, Derek woke up and came downstairs in his pajamas to watch tv. He thought it was Saturday. I had to break it to him that it was Friday and that he needed to get dressed for school. I let him sit there a minute and gather himself. Don't you hate it when that happens? On the other hand there's nothing better than when you wake up and think it's a weekday and it's really the weekend. Adam always looks forward to Friday because it's show and tell day. He enjoys the process of selecting just the right toy.

Helen took Derek to scouts after school and then everybody played outside. We went out for Mexican when I got home. Derek only mildly complained. It seems our little Mexican restaurant has gotten very popular so we had to wait a little while for a table. It was fine. Everyone was in a good mood and it gave us time to catch up.

We put the boys to bed and watched "V for Vendetta" with Natalie Portman. Yummy. I mean...what a talented actress. We thought it was pretty good. Helen was skeptical beforehand, but ended up enjoying it.

Derek had a basketball game on Saturday morning. The other team made a late comeback. Derek's team was up by 1 with time about to expire when Derek fouled their player. The player hit 1 of the 2 free throws, however Derek's team won in overtime. It was my first time being the scorekeeper. I think Helen was supposed to run the clock, but got out of it. We played on the playground afterwards and then went to Krystal for lunch. Derek inhaled 5 krystals and wanted more. Adam was very concerned that we not eat any more so he could have as many as Derek. He ended up eating 1 and 1/2 before he declared that he wasn't hungry anymore. He takes forever to eat and he always has to go to the bathroom wherever we go - usually number 2 which also takes forever.

We worked out in the lawn while the boys played. Adam loves riding his bike. Derek worked on getting his Air Hog airplane to carry some hot wheels cars, but they were too heavy.

After we came inside, Derek practiced piano. It's especially painful when Derek "learns" a song wrong. If we don't catch it early in the week he will play the song wrong all week and then when we catch it on the weekend and make him play it the right way - he has a fit. We hate it when that happens because we want him to enjoy playing, but it just doesn't seem ok to let him play it any way he wants. We tell him that he can feel free to improvise - after he learns to play it the way it's written.

I had a nice long conversation with my sister, Katie, who lives in Baton Rouge. She's staying busy with her dogs and all the Mardi Gras festivities. I always pictured Baton Rouge as being a lot like Athens in that the university is the town, but Katie says that Baton Rouge is bigger than Athens and that LSU is fairly close but is really it's own town, whereas UGA is, for the most part, Athens.

I stayed up and watched "Saw II". Helen watched the first one with me a few weeks ago, but couldn't sleep afterwards so she refused to watch the second one. Of course, she wanted to know what happened, without any scary parts, in the morning.

It rained into Sunday morning, which made it a great morning to sleep in. The boys got up and watched cartoons. The rain cleared and I went on a long run and Helen made chocolate pancakes. When I came back from my run everyone was at the table eating. Helen was a little on edge and talking to Derek. It seems that Derek pitched a fit about practicing piano. He started saying that there was nothing fun in his life and everything was boring. Helen spent the next half hour making sure that Derek regained his perspective.

Helen and the boys went on an excursion to the school track nearby. The boys rode their bikes while Helen ran.

I stayed home and cleaned and then my sister, Kelley, who lives in Anchorage called. She said it has been really cold and that it was -1 while we were talking. Ok...so maybe -1 is more than a state of mind. Kelley's boyfriend, Paul, works for a locksmith. I asked Kelley to see if he would make me a bump key.

It's Kelley's 40th birthday today! Happy Birthday Sis! Having passed that milestone myself, we discussed how we didn't think that we would be affected by turning 40, but that we were. I think the biggest thing is that your mortality demands to be dealt with. You always knew you were going to die someday, but that someday seems a lot closer at 40! You look back and say wow, I've come a long way...and it happened so quickly. I'm not sure how much farther I have, but I better, fairly quickly, see about getting my life ordered the way I want it and do all the things that I want to do before I run out of time.

I told Helen that she better get all her physical ailments fixed by next year when she turns 40 because I'm sure she's going to have some mental ailments coming to terms with her 40th and the fact that Derek will be 9!

This weekend my Aunt Laverne, Aunt Joan, and Uncle Ray hosted a party for my Aunt Betty and Uncle Roland's 50th wedding anniversary in Clinton, AR. We were sorry that we couldn't make it. It would have been nice to see everyone. Tonight, I called my Uncle Roland and jerked his chain a little. I told him that my invitation must have been printed wrong because I spent the weekend at the Holiday Inn in Conway waiting on the party, but nobody showed up.

Allergy Testing

Helen's eagerly anticipated allergy testing finally happened today and....she's a little allergic to cat hair, tobacco, pigweed, and bahia grass, but there was no big aha! We'll see what the allergist has to say at her followup appointment next week. She was really hoping to identify the culprit of all her sinus problems.

It was a beautiful day and there was another impromptu block party after school. Adam started riding his bike without training wheels over the holidays out of necessity after one of his training wheels blew out. Today he started riding the bigger bike that was a hand me down from one of the neighbors and he seemed to like it better than his little bike. The picture above is from New Year's Day when Adam just learned to ride his little bike.

Helen made blueberry pancakes, eggs, and grits for dinner. The boys wouldn't stop eating. We finally had to cut them off. Helen gave the boys benadryl before bed because she thought they looked like they had some allergies.

I went to tennis practice and Helen tried to catch up on the mountain of papers to grade.

More Playmates

Helen woke up in the middle of the night with terrible sinus pain. She got an appointment in the afternoon with the ENT. They said that she didn't have an infection so she could do the allergy testing tomorrow. They also gave her a super duper numbing spray treatment. After that, she was good to go. Her face felt numb, but being without pain made a big difference. She said she might even be talked into permanent numbness if it meant she wouldn't have any more sinus pain.

It was a great morning for ducks. The rain was coming down sideways. Even with umbrellas we got wet going to the bus stop and Helen got soaked walking from the parking lot to the school.

The rain cleared in the afternoon and it looks like some beautiful weather for the next week. Helen felt so good after the numbing and the weather was so nice that she headed outside for a walk with the boys. The nice weather brought everyone out and it turned into a block party with the Levy's, O'Callahan's, and Morgan's. It's always nice to see the neighbors, but it gets us off our normal schedule. By April, when the days are much longer and the weather so nice, we'll really be struggling to get everyone in bed at a decent time. We found out that the O'Callahan's, next door, are expecting their 3rd child, so they'll be even more kids to play with on the culdesac.

Helen went on a run when I got home and then called another neighbor, Sandra, to wish her a happy "Becca" birthday. Becca is Sandra's daughter and it's her birthday today. She and Derek are the same age and have been close since they were babies. Helen and Sandra talked about how they can't believe that the kids are turning 8! Derek's birthday is March 30th.

We finished reading "The Magician's Nephew", which is the first book in the Narnia series, with Derek. Adam picked Dr Seuss's "Oh, The Places You'll Go". We love that book.

Blog On

My sister, Katie, called to say that she was looking into starting her own blog - Louisiana style. Hey that could be a good blog name. We're glad that so many people seem to enjoy keeping up with us through the blog.

Sunday morning the boys helped me get started on the stoop jacking project while Helen went grocery shopping. They were so excited. They got their work gloves on and their flashlights.

Why is it that nothing ever works out as easy as you think it will? The void that I thought I remember being over 2 feet deep ended up being quite a bit less. The cramped quarters made it difficult to work. The hydraulic bottle jacks didn't work right of the box. I had to bleed the air out of them. That took some time to figure out. I was just making progress when I had to stop and go to my tennis match. I hate to stop when I'm in the middle of something - and especially for mixed tennis.

It was the last match of the mixed season. I don't know why I signed up to play mixed tennis again - I originally agreed to fill in last season and Helen says I didn't like it then. But, for some reason, I didn't remember it being as painful as it is and let them sign me up again.

Helen and the boys played basketball and soccer while I was at tennis. When I got home from tennis I was anxious to finish up the stoop jacking project. In the end the stoop looks good from the outside. I'm sure that the job wouldn't pass code inspection, but we'll deal with that when\if we ever sell the house.

The boys were excited that Helen rented "Barnyard" for us to watch Sunday night since there was no school Monday for President's Day. It was pretty good. We cuddled and ate popcorn and sour patch kids.

On Monday we went to the lawyer in the morning and then Helen and the boys ran some errands before meeting Nanna and Poppy at ChikFilA for lunch. We're so thankful that the boys get to see Helen's parents so often. We think they're creating memories that they'll treasure the rest of their lives.

This morning Derek woke up early and was ready when I went upstairs. Adam thought he was late and cried because he didn't think that he had time to eat before going to the bus stop. I reassured him that Derek was just early and that he had plenty of time.

Derek had piano practice and then a basketball game. Adam played with his pirates this time. Helen's sinus infection seems to be back. She's miserable. She's supposed to do her first round of allergy testing on Thursday. The doctor thinks that if she solves her allergy problem then she can break the sinus infection cycle. She almost had a breakdown when she called the doctor today and they said that she can't do allergy testing if she has an infection. To which she replied that she had to quit taking all her various allergy\sinus medicines in order to do the allergy testing and that's why the infection has come back. They said that if she came in and had an infection then they would give her another round of antibiotics (her 4th) and if she didn't have an infection then she could do the testing. Poor Helen (poor me). When I said in sickness and in health I didn't think they meant this much sickness.

Closure After 2+ Years!

It's President Day so Helen and the boys are out of school. We originally planned on signing the settlement agreement regarding Helen's car accident later in the week, but pushed it up to this morning when we remembered that Helen didn't have school today.

Helen was rear ended by a teenage girl during the final week of school before Christmas of 2004. That Christmas was not fun for any of us. Helen's upper back and neck were injured and she underwent months of treatment. In the Summer of 2005 she had injections into the facet joints of her upper back that finally gave her some relief. She continued to have periodic flare ups, but they gradually grew farther and farther apart. The at fault party's insurer would not cover any of the medical costs until we agreed that Helen was "all better".

It turns out that there's a grey area where many medical providers will not take health care insurance for auto accidents because the health care insurers often deny the claims because they think that the auto insurer should pay. The medical providers don't want to get caught in the middle so they refuse to make claims against health insurance for auto accidents. That meant that we covered the cost of Helen's medical treatment out of pocket for almost a year.

I couldn't believe that we were the only ones in this insurance Catch-22. I contacted newspapers, consumer advocates, and anyone that I thought that might help us. Finally, my state senator got involved and got me in touch with someone with the State Health Benefit Plan, Helen's health insurer.

Around Christmas of 2005 we contacted the at fault party's insurer and said that we were fairly certain that Helen was as good as she was going to get and that we were ready to settle. They dragged their feet and finally offered an amount that was less than our out of pocket medical expenses. Since we weren't sure if Helen's health insurer would ever reimburse us, we declined the offer.

We had been keeping good records and we had been educating ourselves on dealing with insurance companies for auto accidents. I put together a document that detailed the entire claim history and our settlement expectations. After a few months of negotiation it was evident that they were not going to come anywhere near our number, so we began the process of finding an attorney to represent us.

The good thing about the drawn out process was that Helen continued to improve or at least had not had any bad flareups. We were hesitant to declare her "all better" after hearing from numerous friends and acquaintances who had chronic trouble from an auto accident or thought they were better only to have complications later in life. So the longer Helen went without flareups the better we felt.

Eventually, we found a lawyer that we liked and began putting together a case. In the mean time, Helen's health insurer finally agreed to reimburse us for the majority of the medical expenses. Once we were reimbursed, Helen's zeal to fight waned, but I was determined and looked at the whole thing as a learning experience.

The lawyers spent most of 2006 going back and forth. There were depositions and other fun things. Fast forward to Christmas of 2006 when the court sent us to an arbitration prior to going to trial. After some back and forth we got the settlement up to an acceptable range. We finally agreed on a number a few weeks later and signed the papers today! So brings to an end the 2+ year saga. We're happy to put it all behind us and hopefully Helen won't have any future complications.

Jacking the Stoop

We did our normal Friday night routine, which is that Helen says she's tired and wants to go to bed, but I talk her into cuddling on the sofa and watching 20/20. She likes to cuddle, but she always falls asleep and feels "out of it" when she has to get up and go to bed. Once again she fell asleep on the sofa and then had "bad" sleep when she went to bed.

The boys came in and cuddled in our bed in the morning before heading downstairs to watch cartoons. Helen slept in a little, I went on a run, Derek practiced piano, and Adam played with his castle and knights. When I got back from my run, Derek showed off a pulley system he made using the wheels on two of his remote control cars. Helen went on a walk\run and then we all went to Derek's basketball game.

Derek is only 7 in an under 11 league, so he's not having much of an impact. But, he's learning and giving a good effort. Adam always packs a bag of toys to play with during the game. Usually he plays the whole time, but today he sat on my lap for quite a while and watched the game. He would jump up after every score to look at the score on the score board. Adam likes that he always gets one of the team snacks after the game. Helen was tired and chilled and running a low grade fever again. She's very frustrated that she can't seem to kick this sinus infection.

After the game we went to Northern Tool to see about getting some jacks to shore up the settling of the front stoop of our house. Terminix insisted on venting the front stoop from the crawl space and when they did they removed some dirt that seemed to be supporting the front stoop. The concrete on the stoop should have been reinforced with re-bar or something when it was built, but it doesn't appear that it was. So when the dirt was removed there's nothing supporting the concrete stoop and it's starting to sag. What Helen thought was going to be a quick stop turned into a long stop. Then we had to go to Home Depot for some concrete footing for the jacks and some other things.

When we got home, Helen headed straight upstairs for a nap. I replaced the weather stripping on the front door and replaced the toilet seat in the downstairs bathroom. Derek practiced piano and Adam played on the computer.

Helen made spaghetti for dinner. She was going to make quesedillas but didn't feel up to it. We watched a prerecorded episode of Sunday Morning on our Media Center PC while we ate. It's probably the show that we watch the most. We rarely watch "live tv", especially during the school year. We really love our Media Center PC and love having it at the desk in the kitchen where all the action is. It's the nerve center of our house. A lot of times we watch our "family videos" that we've transferred from our camcorder. And we're always doing email or looking up something on the internet. The boys love playing games and we all love watching the screen saver with all our photos. We highly recommend setting up a computer in the kitchen since that's where all the action is and setting up a screen saver with all the family photos. It really helps us all, especially the kids, keep all the things we've done and all the people in our lives fresh in our mind.

Today is my brother Jason's 39th birthday. How did you get to be 39? It doesn't seem that long ago that we were playing "short yardage football" on Mom and Dad's bed. Happy Birthday brother.