What is going on? (Part I)

So, if you have talked to us lately, you know that Henry and I have way more than our fair share of medical issues.

Henry has been a medical mess since Thanksgiving. Without giving out all the gory details, Henry is in the middle of being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. I don't think I have discussed, on the blog that Henry also has an autoimmune disease. Everyone knows that in August of 2009 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Well, about 6 months later, Henry (finally) followed up on some back pain and neck stiffness he was having. Well, after much testing he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. Short explanation of this is that it is a form of arthritis where his spine is trying to fuse together. So, he takes a shot once a week and this prevents the disease from progressing.

If we were smart, we would of fully researched ankylosing spondylitis. The reason I say this is because around Thanksgiving Henry started experiencing some severe pain. After a few doctor visits Crohn's Disease was mentioned and I started doing some research on the internet. I found that ankylosing spondylitis and Crohn's disease have the same "marker". Roughly 10% of people with ankylosing spondylitis will develop Crohn's. We should have known that Crohn's was a possibility.

So here is Henry, struggling with digestive issue since Thanksgiving. He has had difficulty sitting or walking. He has had 2 biopsies, one which was done under anesthesia. He takes hydrocodone's supplemented with Advil, every day. He was a mess from Thanksgiving to a few days after the new year. He could not physically get to work some days and other days he could only get though 1/2 a day of work. He would spend some days in bed, all day. He was in constant pain for over a month. Some days he would try to "fake" that he wasn't in pain. But, how can you fake it? He would snap at the kids or 1/2 way through an errand he would be in such pain that we would have to come home. Everyday was a constant struggle for him. And for me. And for the kids. Talk about spinning into a depression. It sucks to be in pain. It sucks to watch someone you love in pain. It sucks (for the kids) to see their daddy in constant pain and not really understand what is going on. You can't fake normal. Henry felt really bad about everything going on. But I told him that we are going through it together - For richer or for poorer, In sickness and in health, Til death do us part.

With that said, Christmas kind of snuck up on us. This was the first year that we decided to hold Christmas at our house. Henry was not physically able to pull the decorations down from the attic. He did help put up the Christmas tree. We had to skip putting Christmas decorations up outside. We had planned to go to the River of Lights, starting our own Christmas traditions now that we wont be traveling for Christmas. However, Henry was in such pain that we could not go. When I explained all of this to a friend at AWANA he asked if it would be okay to tell Henry "I heard your Christmas was a real pain in the butt." Pretty funny in hindsight.

Around the new year Henry started feeling better. He was healing. For 2 weeks Henry was back. You could just hear it in his voice. The past few days he has started hurting more and definitely slipping back a little bit. He has had another test, basically an ultrasound/x-ray of his digestive track. He has an appointment with a gastro-internolgist this week. He will have a colonoscopy some time in the near future. We are trying to change his diet and stay clear of all nuts and seeds (tomatoes, cucumbers, popcorn, corn, green beans, and a whole lot more). We are also trying to stay away from tomato sauces (due to the acid). I say try because it is hard to break old habits.

So what is going on? We are still trying to figure that out.

Christmas 2011

Random Pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning

Ryan Finishes Karate

Ryan took a karate class this last semester. He enjoyed it and it was really good exercise. The last class was a ceremony class where the students could show us everything they learned. Afterwards, the students received an award. Of course, I don't have to say that Ryan put on a performance for everyone.

Ryan showing a punch.

Ryan being put into a hold.

Ryan getting out of a hold.

Ryan ready to attack person who put him in hold.

Now Ryan's turn to put a peer in a hold.

When the other student got out of Ryan's hold and turned to attack him. . .

Ryan put his hands up and screamed like a girl.

And here is Ryan receiving his award.

Allys turn to sing

Ally is in an after school choir called Singing Coyotes. She has been in Singing Coyotes for 2 years now. They had their annual Christmas concert right before we went on Christmas break. I did not get to attend this one since we have AWANA on Thursdays and I had missed AWANA the previous Thursday. Henry was able to miss AWANA and attend the concert with Grandma Cookie and their auntie Cheryl.

Excited before the concert begins.

And a couple of shot during the concert from way back in the audience.

Don't you love that she is leaning against the wall as she sings?

And hanging with the girls after the concert.

Sledding 2011

Boy did it snow in Rio Rancho. School was cancelled for 3 days due to the snow. We live by a little park that has a little hill. So I bought a couple of plastic sleds and introduced my kids to sledding. You might ask "this is the first time your kids went sledding?" Go ahead, ask yourself. My reply would be "Yes. My kids do not enjoy a) the cold and b) anything that moves them fast that they feel out of control".

Both Ally and Ryan were pretty hesitant to go down the hill. I went down once to show them that they would be okay. I then stood at the bottom of the the hill and promised to "catch" them as they came down the hill.

Ally was the first one to try it out . . .

And Ryan quickly followed . . .

Once they got going a couple times they really were enjoying themselves. That is until . . . Ryan's sled broke.

Here is Ryan upset that his sled broke. I explained that it broke because a) it was cheap, only $5, b) it is made out of thin plastic, and c) I probably broke it when I went down.

I love this picture.

and this picture.

Ryan's Christmas Concerts

Ryan is in a choir, through school, called Coyote Choral. They practice every Thursday morning and it has been like pulling teeth to get him to go to practice. He will ask in the morning "is today Golden Corral (meaning Coyote Choral)?" If I say it is he starts whining that he does not want to go. Despite all of this, when he had 2 Coyote Choral concerts this past month, Ryan was in heaven. He just loved being on stage and singing.

The first concert was at Cleveland HS performing arts center. This concert consisted of the high school choir students (all in tux's and gowns), a middle school choir (also in tux's and gowns) and about 4 elementary school choirs (dressed up as well). All choirs first sang on their own and then at the end of the concert all the choirs joined together on stage and sang a closing number. Like I stated earlier, Ryan enjoyed being on stage. Maybe, a little too much. After every song that Ryan's group sang, as the audience clapped, Ryan would take numerous bows. Now I must note, no one else was bowing. Just my son :) He would even face a different direction for each bow in order to make certain that he bowed to all who were applauding. At the end of the concert when all choir's sang together, when they finished the last song and everyone was applauding, Ryan began blowing kisses to the the audience. Again, he would turn his body and continue blowing kisses making sure not to to miss anyone.

Ryan bowing for the audience. Unfortunately, I missed getting pictures of Ryan blowing kisses.

The Coyote Choral also did a concert at the elementary school. This was a much smaller venue. Also, much shorter. There was no bowing or kisses blowing. However, Ryan being Ryan added his own little touch to the concert. When I dropped him off in the choir room his white shirt was tucked in. When he took the stage, his shirt was untucked. So, when the choir would finish a song and the audience would clap, Ryan would grab the bottom of his shirt, and curtsey, with biggest smile on his face.

That's my Ryan.

Grandma and Grandpa were in town to see Ryan's concert.

Another concert? Yes, Ryan was in his elementary school "Frosty Follies" concert. All the first graders sang some Christmas songs and performed a little dance.

Ryan with his teacher. Ally has had this teacher in first grade. Click here to see that post, from two years ago.

Ryan with one of his friends from kindergarten.

Halloween 2011

So I finally downloaded the pictures in my camera and was surprised that we took Halloween pictures. We also took Thanksgiving pictures that I will post later.

For Halloween Ryan was Darth Vader (of course), Ally was a snow princess and baby Daniel was a little monster. The kids went trick or treating around the neighborhood and collected a good amount of candy (which I later took to my classroom to give out at incentives).

Don't you love Daniel's 'monster' face?