What a weekend!

It amazes me how much can happen in such a short period of time. This past weekend, Ben took the 4 boys to Washington state to see his niece graduate from high school. Maren had a dance recital and rehearsals so I stayed home with her. Ben was to leave WA on Saturday morning, and try to make it to the recital by 7 pm. I got a phone call at about 3:00 pm from Ben saying that Erik had just had a seizure in the car. They were about a half hour outside Boise when it happened. They called an ambulance and by the time they got there, he was coherent. Vitals and blood sugars were normal, so they went on their cautious way.

When they arrived home, Ben talked to a neurologist who said he should probably have a CT scan, so I took over getting kids ready for bed and Ben went to the hospital with Erik. At about 9:30 pm Ben called asking if I could find a babysitter and come to the hospital. He said that they had found a tumor on the back of Erik's brain and were wanting to do an MRI because the CT scan was kind of shadowy. I left Maren in charge and drove to the hospital, shocked that only 5 hours earlier he was perfectly healthy, and now we were looking at a brain tumor.

When I got to the hospital we had to wait for the MRI tech to come in, since she had gone home for the evening. She let us into the control room where we saw the pictures coming up as they were taken. A bright spot on the back of the right side of his brain. The ER doctor said that it could be anything from infection to a tumor. The radiologists at the hospital had gone home, so they sent the pictures to IMC in Salt Lake City, where they said that a pediatric radiologist and neurologist should look at them. The ER doctor phoned the resident neurosurgeon at Primary Children's Hospital and asked if she could look at them. She asked us to come meet with her Sunday morning at 8 am. They released us from the hospital and gave a prescription for anti-seizure medication.

While we were waiting for the MRI, my sister had called and asked if she could go sit with my kids, so she was at my house when we got back from the hospital. Ben slept with Erik that night, scared to leave him alone in case he seized again, but all was fine. Neither of us slept very well.

In the morning, the neurosurgeon showed us the pictures and told us what each scan looked like and why, and said it most likely is a tumor. Her attending arrived a short time later and talked to us about possibilities. He said there was about 10% chance it was an infection, and most likely was a tumor, but he wanted the neuro-radiologist to look at the pictures first before making a decision. The radiologist didn't come in until this morning, though. So, it was back home for more waiting.

This morning we phoned and the surgeon said the radiologist also believes it to be a tumor, but the surgeon wants to take an MRI of his spine just to be sure it is not an infection. If a lesion showed up on his spine, it would be a stronger chance that it is an infection in his brain, in which case surgery wouldn't be necessary. So, he wanted to get this MRI done before doing anything else.

So, now we have the spinal MRI scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and the surgery scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

This type of tumor in children is very low-grade, they've said. Even if it is cancerous, they usually don't need further treatment outside of surgery. So that means most likely there will be no radiation or chemotherapy. We have no idea what caused it, or where it came from. Less than 48 hours ago we didn't even know it existed. The surgery will be about 3 hours...I told Erik to add about 30 minutes to that because he's so hard-headed the surgeon may have problems getting inside. The first night he'll be in the ICU and after that he'll spend 2 days on the medical floor before coming home.

Erik seems to be in good spirits. In fact, as I type this he is making his presence known by annoying every single one of his siblings. He's in quite the goofy mood today, as if nothing is wrong. Ben and I are starting to not be so emotional, but for a couple days we were a bit of a mess.

Today I am a little bummed out about having to miss the Ragnar race on Friday and Saturday, but I suppose I can do it another year. It's disappointing to put a years' worth of training into it and not be able to do it. I hope my team does really well, though, and I'm sorry to be able to be with them this weekend. I was really looking forward to it.

I appreciate all the prayers, thoughts, and offers for help. It is overwhelming at times to think of the amount of love and support we have from all our friends and family. We love you all so much! I'll try to update again when I can.

guitar concert

I decided to give crocheting a try over the Christmas break. I've never been very successful, apart from dish-rags. But I found this pattern on a skein of yarn I bought and it was only a difficulty level of 2, so I thought I could do it. After a lot of confusion, as well as consulting my sister (who wasn't very helpful at all) and my aunt (who has crocheted her way to the moon and back, I am sure), and still not getting the pattern right...I stumbled upon the correct method. It is so cute, so easy, and very fast to make. In fact, I've made 4 of these scarves since the 23rd of December.



Lemur kept asking for a scarf, so I found this pattern off the Bernat website. Which has lots of very cute free patterns for knitting and crocheting. The fringe for this one is woven into the crochet spaces and then tied at the ends. Very cute way of doing fringe!

Mourning...

This morning I turned the news on and was devastated to see this: Provo Tabernacle on fire. When I was very young, we used to go to Stake Conference in this historic building. I had my Seminary graduation in this building. I attended Christmas celebrations there. So very sad that it is gone.

Holiday Treats

I have always talked the kids out of using piping bags to put icing on cookies and gingerbread men because I thought "what a painful mess to clean up!" But, I discovered, a simple rubber band at the top of the piping bag does the trick. The kids LOVED piping different designs on everything. Definitely doing this again sometime. Maybe for Valentine's Day.

My sweet sisters-in-law have made these cute curtains (or valance, really) for their homes. So I borrowed the pattern and found some cute fabric that was 50% off and made some for myself. I've not had any window treatments up since we painted, so it's fun to have something cute and new. I love this pattern! Thanks girls!

St. George

Does it bother anyone else that the pictures upload in the backwards order that you select them in? I can't get used to selecting them from the bottom up and I can't be bothered dragging them around to the right order. In any event, here are some pictures (in backwards order) that we took while visiting Mom and Dad M in St. George for UEA.

St. George temple...it was a beautiful Saturday morning, lots of brides and grooms out having pictures done.

Glad they didn't paint the temple green....has anyone else heard the story of the green paint? We heard it when we visited Brigham Young's winter home.

St. George Tabernacle

Mister relaxing on a pew.

Buddy reading some passages about the windows of heaven that President Lorenzo Snow gave from this very pulpit. Every latter-day prophet has given a talk to the Saints from this pulpit, save for one.

Pipes of the organ and the beautiful chandelier.

Picture of the all-seeing eye that is painted on the wall behind the pulpit and choir seats.

5 kids who are not excited to be going on yet another tour of a Church historical site.

Outside the Tabernacle