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[17 Jul 2009|12:13pm] |
I hope I typed all the right stuff in the fields labelled with Finnish text. I seem to be posting an entry. Hold thumbs!
We are packing the cars for the trip to the event now. We're leaving some of our stuff hre, like most of the adults' mundane clothes. Hopefully we won't regret that. A is napping, having fallen asleep during a long talk about travel times by bus and train in the Helsinki region. Yesterday P managed to bore her to sleep with talk of raps. We're having trouble getting that little monster to go to sleep, so a collection of boring conversation topics is good to have at hand.
The pavilion we'll be staying in and stonkloads of stuff to go in it are arriving at the site later today. Hopefully there'll be time to get it all set up, but we have been promised indoor crash space if things donät get set up in time. We have instructions on how to put it all up and they sound quite detailed and straightforward, so ... we'll see.
K has scored a necklace from Baroness Katheryn OP, to add to her collection consisting of a green bead one from the honourable Lady Katherine GA and Countess Honor OP. So far A has no jewellery, not even from anyone without titles. We'll have to do something about that.
It is so beautiful here. I was sitting outside just now, swinging on the swing seat, the wind picking up, the woods swaying all around and clouds streaming overhead. So beautiful. We've just polished off the latest strawberry harvest and K is helping water the vegetable patch before we set off.
I'm feeling quite anxious about this event, I've never been to anything like it. Some 120 to 150 people, most camping, for a week. Many classes, lots of combat. About a million children, I understand.
I had better go and see if I can be helpful. I'm guessing no news is good news with reference to the cats. Thanks for the note about the cats the other day, first_fallen. From now until next week Sunday evening we'll be in radio blackout.
As it were...
Ack! Week long camping event! Ack!
Chat in a week.
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[16 Jul 2009|01:24pm] |
Geez. Livejournal has suddenly decided I'm in Finland for some reason and has all its usual text in Finnish. I had to guess how to get to this posting screen.
We are now at GrimR and Katheryn's place in the country. Absolutely beautiful. K and I took a walk earlier and snacked on wild strawberries growing at the roadside. This afternoon we're have a braai. Currently P and GrimR are off walking the dog (5 month old basset) while the girls eat some fruit. This lot of fruit is probably shop bought, but tonight we'll have today's harvest of the strawberry patch, having finished off yesterday's harvest with some bubbly after supper. I might not want to come home. A is taking some serious strain. She seems fine, but is fragile and the smallest thing breaks her. Her determination to not sleep at all is not helping anyone at all. Tomorrow we'll pack for the event in the monring, then do a spot of shopping, then head off to the event! The site opens in the evening. Okay the girls are causing trouble now so I have to go.
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| The wolverine has landed! |
[14 Jul 2009|05:20pm] |
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 perky, but sore feet |
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children playing in Finnish and occasionally Swedish |
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We're safely in Finland. The trip was mildly horrible. W's Nintendo DS, or whatever it's called, was wonderful and occupied K nicely for several hours. The aeroplane had the temperature stuck on about 26 or 27 degrees C the whole flight, which put paid to A sleeping very much, although K managed to deal with it a bit better. We first went to Jo'burg, waited a bit there and then left there at about 19h30. The meal was only served after 22h00 and they only put the lights out at about midnight. They left the TVs showing our route up all night, though, so the one directly over our row shone bright shifting light onto the children the whole time, another factor in A not sleeping. A had a pretty rough time. K has been very tough and I am proud of her. Then there was the 4 hour layover in Istanbul, followed by the 4 hour flight to Helsinki, which was much more pleasant than the long one (a better temperature setting, for one thing).
We were fetched at the airport by Baroness Katheryn who took us to Sir Siegfried and Lady Villin who are our hosts for 2 nights and 3 days. Thereafter we shall stay with Sir GrimR and Katheryn until Friday, whereupon we shall head off into the countryside for 9 days of medieval camping. I am possibly quite mad.
Yesterday we just rested, while it rained. It was still fairly warm, though, although poor little A couldn't decide whether she was hot or cold and was often both in different bits of her. Today was 26C, so Finland isn't always cold. Just most of the time. We took the train intrepidly to Helsinki (we're in Vantaa) and met GrimR who showed us around. We took a ferry out to an island castle (fortress?) called "Finnish castle" in Finnish and "Swedish castle" in Swedish. Then we went to a craft market sort of place, then to a bottle store to get some Finnish licquers, then home to Vantaa. It was a long tiring day, with lots of walking. I am the only one awake right now, the other three have crashed. This evening there is a combat practice. Tomorrow we shall probably take the morning easy, then we are seeing Mistress Jaelle in the afternoon. She is the one pretty much making this trip possible, or at least, helping make it comfortable. She cannot make it to the event, so is lending us her pavilion, her bed to go in it, a couple of inflatable mattresses, bedding, chairs, a freezer box, toys and books for the children, feast gear, etc etc. Then, in the evening, we'll be whisked off to our second home, out in the countryside somewhere. "Green?" says GrimR in amazement, as we admire the verdant Finnish scenery. "This isn't green, wait till you see My Place!" I expect to be blinded with the green of frantically growing vegetation soon.
Right! Downstairs to do some leisurely cross stitch before supper, which appears to be a huge fillet. It's a hard life.
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[11 Jul 2009|10:11pm] |
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The bags are packed (we think), the hand luggage is ready (mostly), the girls are sleeping (fitfully) and I am blogging (sleepily). The scroll still needs to be put between cardboard and slipped in, the toiletries and medicines have to wait till tomorrow morning. What else? We must not forget to take K's sunglasses, bright lights tend to trigger her headaches and Finland in summer, well, let's just say it's not dark. Our ipods are primed, the house keys have been handed off to friends. W's Nintendo thingummy is charging. We have a book of Finnish facts which we have not read and know no vocabulary at all. We're ready! Yes?
To infinity,
and beyond!
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[08 Jul 2009|09:56am] |
So, we fly on Sunday. K has chosen this week to come down with a chest cold and an ear infection. Both girls got a bit snuffly over the weekend. In K's case it went straight to her chest and her ears. Sigh. So I rushed her off to the doctor and she's on antibiotics and steroids again. I was glad I did take her to the doctor as I'd have been annoyed with myself otherwise come last night. She had a bad night. Coughing and choking and waking up crying. She spent the night in bed with us eventually. When I say "in" bed I really mean "on" bed as duvets and other bedclothes are of the devil and must be eschewed. "Avaunt!" she cries "Get thee beneath me, ye devil duvet!" This means that, despite my spanky new fuzzy pajamas, I was pretty cold all night and "woke" feeling pretty grotty.
"Welcome to a lifetime of thankless commitment" as they say.
Yes! I have new pajamas! This is very exciting. Seeing as my old, paper thin ones tore the other day, the old ones from P are okay, but the waist is too big so I need to keep hoiking them up and the stupid Woolies ones are stupid and thin and hipsters and stupid, I really needed some new ones to take into Other People's Homes. The purchase was really just a serendipitous add on to a pajama purchase for A, though. She has been sleeping in babygrows lo these many moons and it was time she moved into Big Girl Pajamas. I was planning to leave them for Finland, so they'd be nice and clean in the aforementioned Other People's Homes, but after being dressed in her pink and fleecy babygrow last night, she went and dipped her foot in the cats' water bowl. Sigh. Since her only other set was in the laundry, on went the new jimjams. Legs folded up three inches, sleeves one and she's the cutest thing alive (still). She also has a Tigger dressing gown (with ears on the hood) and bright red slippers. All set for wowing the crowds in forn parts.
The catsitting calendar is slowly filling up, but there are gaps. There is still time for you to nip in there! Spend quality time with Phi, an old man now and probably not too long for this cruel world. Spend time with Megaera, now with middle age spread. Watch lots of CSI. Read lots of books. Sorry, the really highbrow stuff is on campus where I can impress my colleagues, but there's still good stuff at home. Do not trust the order of the bottom two or three shelves, A has a penchant for, er, rearranging.
I am totally whiling away the day on the internet until my laptop arrives, at which point I shall hie myself home to continue sewing my habit. While watching LotR special features :D.
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[06 Jul 2009|10:40am] |
It is 10h40 and I have done no work today. Partly this is because I stumbled across a lecture by Stephen Fry and he sucked me in, as he usually does, even when all he's doing is going into paroxysms of joy over Apple trinkets.
So, I shall post here what I am about to do, as that always makes me go and do it. There are witnesses now! I have a choice between revamping my thrice-bedamned Piaget paper or returning to that data analysis I did last week. Hmmm. Data analysis, I think. So! Today's schedule is talk to colleague about the syllabus of a new course we're designing, do some data analysis, meet my mum for lunch, go home and sew a habit.
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[06 Jul 2009|09:41am] |
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Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces |
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In less than a week we leave for Finland. K is extremely excited. Having first been assured that there are toys in Finland, the fact that we shall be attending an SCA event for a week and shall be living in a tent has her head exploding. The class and combat schedules have gone up on the website, which has suddenly made everything a lot more real, along with our now frequent communications with our hosts and various generous people. To start with we'll be staying with Sir Siegfried and his family, including two children K and A's ages and then with Sir GrimR and partner and a puppy! We have a box full of presents, to which we might still add a bit. Most garb is completed, many thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) first_fallen, although my new habit is still needing a lot of work. We've started doing things like nappy calculations, and listing all paediatric medications for all possible maladies.
I previously blogged about needing people to pop round and feed the cats while we're away, but I am far too idle to go and look up that post, so I wonder whether I might repeat the request here and now? I'm thinking, say, 4(or5)-evening blocks where you pop in, feed the cats, stay to chat to them for a bit, maybe watch some TV, raid our bookshelves (leaving a note!) and wander off again. We do not have DSTV. Anyone? Anyone?
On a completely different note, there's something I've been meaning to blog about for ages and keep forgetting. There's a group of three vet shops, the one in Rondebosch, the one in Constantia and the one in Long Beach, that are doing this rather unusual fundraising thing. They are collecting those little pastic tags used to close the bags of loaves of bread and, apparently, one million of those buys a wheelchair for a disabled person. I asked how this particular economy works and it's something like this: the pastic gets melted down into blocks, which are then used by someone who makes plastic lawn furniture. Either the actual money comes from the sale of the furniture, or from the sale of the blocks to the furniture maker, but somehwere along there's actual money which goes into a wheelchair savings fund. They're on their way to the third or fourth wheelchair, I forget which. Anyway, perhaps collect those plastic tags (if you don't already recycle them) and hand them over for this good cause?
On Wednesday I get a new laptop! So exciting!
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| one could whistle and one could sing and one could play on the violin |
[29 Jun 2009|11:07am] |
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Our department's main office has two small offices opening off the common room. One is the secretary's office and the other is mine. The other people in the department have offices down the passge off which the main office opens. The secretary is away on a course today and tomorrow. Also, it is the student vacation so there will be no student queries. This means one thing and one thing only: I can play my opera as loudly as I wish and even sing along!
It's great!
Tosca gets more beautiful every time I listen to it!
La Boheme almost makes me cry with its opening notes.
I do not have any recordings of Madame Butterfly and I think this is a great gaping void which needs to be filled really soon!
Of course, an omnipresent possibility when listening to either Puccini or Verdi is to make me think of my dad and cry, but that's not a bad thing, altogether.
That's all. Just wanted to share the Joy of Opera with you. You can go now.
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[24 Jun 2009|08:34am] |
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Tosca! |
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First! A new funny website, courtesy of scroobious: Let's Panic About Babies. I have had to stop reading as I was laughing and crying far too much for an engineering department to handle. I shall resist going back till lunchtime, really I will. I haven't read anything as funny since Baby's Named a Bad Bad Thing, a website I highly recommend for when you have a few hours free to do nothing but weep in front of a computer.
Next! The headaches may be gone. Certainly I think I can report with confidence that K had no headaches or stomach aches all weekend. The stomach aches are back, but the headaches might still be gone. It's hard to tell as she has started lying about having headaches to draw attention from her sister. If any reports have been true, then they have been minor headaches, quickly forgotten. So! Looking good.
Next! K is totally my daughter. We were doing a jigsaw puzzle and she had divided the pieces into edge pieces and centre pieces. I was given the task of putting in the edge pieces and the centre pieces were for her. So, pieces divided, I start putting mine together.
K: Can I help you?
Me: Sure, please do. May I help you with yours?
K: I know where my pieces go, thank you very much, I don't need any help!
I laughed so hard I'd have fallen down if I wasn't already sitting.
Next! A is teething, poor wee thing. Her eye teeth are all coming through. Lots of pain and misery. I cuddled her for ages last night while watching LotR special features. She wasn't impressed by the special features, but liked the lullabies I sang. I hope Howard Shore wouldn't mind - the harmonies were not so great.
Next! The girls' visas for Finland are ready, I need to go and fetch them. Now we're all sorted to go to Finland! Except for, like, the heap of gifts we need to take, and lots of garb, and knowing who's going to fetch us at the airport, and forex, and that Finnish phrase book I want to get. I'm sure CT bookshops are bursting at the seams with Finnish phrase books...
Last! I went to gym twice last week! And have been once this week already. I had planned to go today as well, but the day filled up with meetings, so I need to spend the rest of the time on actual Being an Academic, rather than going to gym. What a shame. Yesterday I finished commenting on a chapter of my student's thesis, which was quite demanding. It felt so lovely to finish this big task and know I'd done it well. I thought "This great feeling is probably what people talk about when they've done a bunch of gym stuff. Huh." I still don't get the "feeling good after exercise" thing. It just doesn't happen. I come away from gym tired, perhaps a bit achey, and that's it. A lot of the time I come away angry or at least irritated, because it's taken 2 hours out of my life (0.5 getting there and dressed, 1 doing the Stuff, 0.5 getting showered and leaving) and it's been an unpleasant 2 hours. This Monday I at least didn't come away angry, which P is seeing as an improvement. I'll come away cheerful when I can look down at myself and not see a 5 month pregnant stomach. I'm not holding my breath. Wish I could burn fat by thinking. I'd think really hard!
Current task: prepare for meeting at 09h30, discussing how grottily our students are doing. Then, prepare for meeting at 13h00 discussing how to spend faculty funds on books. Not such a bad way to spend the day. Then, hmmm, give that thrice-damned Piaget paper another go? Yes, I shall be strong!
P.S. When typing Tosca in the music field, I recalled yesterday. I listen to Fine Music Radio a lot (classical mostly, also jazz) in the car and K enjoys it. She calls it "the pretty music" [Aside of an aside of an aside: A dances to everything, including Dowland and Nickleback]. Yesterday they played an aria from Tosca and I was thinking how sublime it was, how it was lifting some part of my soul up into the clouds [aren't you gald I don't try to make a living from poetry?] and K piped up "I don't like this music. This is yukky music." Sigh. She really likes Vivaldi! Also Tchaikovsky! We'll work up to Puccini. Right! Onward to marks analysis and Tosca.
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[19 Jun 2009|11:00am] |
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Il Trovatore highlights |
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Well, the headaches have returned. K has had a miserable few days. So much for the medication. Hopefully the diamox is working and we'll see a gradual fade of the headaches over time. I saw the paediatrician on Wednesday and she is placing little hope in the sinusitis angle. She says the antibiotics K was tortured with in hospital would have zorched anything there to zorch. Our hopes return to the diamox, which treats the IIH more directly.
The sore tummy is also back, that one day was a statistical fluke. I'm not sure we'll make it to the end of June with this stupid diet, it's just too horrible to have a daughter in pain all the time. We'll see if we can tough it out, though, as it's Not Science to give up too soon. Thereafter we'll move to antacids. The paed says that, if that works, she'd like to scope K. Gah. P still has nightmares about the two scopes he's had, although K would be sedated for hers. Barium meal too, d_hofryn.
When I said I wanted my children to take after P, I meant his sense, his thrift, his calm, his pragmatism. I did not mean his nose and his stomach! In K I have a daughter with his stomach, his nose, my temper, my inappropriate emotional fragility and my inability to chill. So far the signs are better with A. She can lie in her cot and daydream herself to sleep, not like K, who, at this age, would cry until she threw up because of the torture of being tucked into her warm and safe cot when she was exhausted. Jeez, I must have been a pain to my parents. I still am, actually, come to think of it.
I have done the marks analysis, have done at least some of the emailing I was planning to do and am about half way through the office tidying. I shall dedicate the rest of the day to tidying and start Being An Academic on Monday in a shiny clean office!
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[17 Jun 2009|08:55am] |
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Il Trovatore highlights |
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Feeling a slight easing of the tension of the past million months. On Thursday I finished my marking, on Sunday I finished the two scrolls for An Tir, on Monday I gave the scrolls to zoezebra and also finished that "real engineering" paper which was somewhat overdue. This meant that on yesterday's public holiday I did not mark, do SCA stuff or do academic work. Instead I did nothing, nothing! Wow. If you subtract out the whining, yesterday was a pretty good day. (That's quite a lot of whining. K is a champion whiner nowadays.)
We got up late (after 7! Possibly almost 8! (that's not a factorial - it always bothers me putting an exclamation mark next to a number)), had some breakfast while watching Charlie and Lola (which rocks!), then went off to Boulders to see some penguins. A waved at the penguins a lot, saying "hullo, hullo". Then back home to arb about, play some games, do some crafts, watch Winnie the Pooh. The children were packed off to bed nice and early, after which I played with podcasts and feedreaders, had a leisurely bath with luxury bath products and went to bed. Oh! Also managed some Season 8 CSI special features on there somewhere. What a day. Oh, I did fold some laundry, but that was the sum of my housework for the day. I must admit to a nagging guilt, though. I was put on this earth to labour by the sweat of my brow! Or, at least, that's how it feels 99% of the time. That occasional 1% is blissful.
Today: tidy my office (my goodness, you should see it. I've resisted tidying it for weeks as tidying is too easy to use as a wabbing excuse), do some marks analysis for my course and one associated other, and catch up on emails I've been totally ignoring. Also! I shall go to gym. I honestly cannot remember when last I went. I promised my therapist I'd go to gym and she promised she'd use her exercise bike for something other than hanging laundry on.
On the medical side: K is still having headaches, but they seem to be decreasing in magnitude and frequency. We've stopped asking, as there has been some indication of pretence (this despite my protestations in a previous blog post on K's honesty!) The funniest was the other afternoon when A was miserable with teething. We gave her some panado syrup and K said "I want some too!" "Why, what's wrong with you?" "I have a headache" "Really? I think you're pretending" "I do. Ow! See?". Anyway, either the headaches are damping down by themselves, OR the diamox is decreasing them by treating the IHH OR the sinusitis is going away and taking the headaches with them. Yesterday K had no tummy ache! Either this is random OR it is because of her new diet (no cheese, no wheat, no nuts; what a pain!) OR because the sinusitis is being treated OR some other reason. Gotta love complex systems! Actually, in mathematics and related disciplines, a "complex system" means something very specific and I think I am misusing the term. Do I care? Well, yes, a bit.
Am I tidying, emailing or doing marks analysis? No. I am blogging. Bye.
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[12 Jun 2009|11:00am] |
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Arvo Pärt |
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Right! Next development in the Fix K's Headaches Plan is that the neurologist showed the MR images to a colleague who is an expert in sinuses, as there was some build up there and she didn't know whether it was enough to be an issue. Colleague returned with a report that K has "significant sinusitis", it has probably been building for a while resulting in spreading infection of the surrounding mucosa. In fact, the sinusitis could even have resulted in (self explanatory) "neighbourhood syndrome" affecting the autonomic system of the brain, which is what governs balances and checks. The increased fluid is a result of an out-of-whack autonomic response, just Why is the question. Perhaps sinusitis is the answer?
So, treatment is antibiotics for 10 days and steroids for 5 days. This on top of the continuing diamox. I had better buy LOTS of jelly babies. Can sinusitis give you tummy aches? Perhaps, if there is infected post nasal drip or something? Who knows. We'll see what happens.
I have already procured the medicine, so we'll start on that tonight. I have also procured a Woolworth's bacon and chicken pasta salad and a lemon swirl cheesecake for pudd. I'll start on that at lunchtime.
In other news, have finished marking and am neck deep in finishing a paper. This afternoon I shall go home early and fling myself into some illumination.
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[11 Jun 2009|11:34am] |
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extrmeely calming Corinne Bailey Rae |
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We saw the paediatric neurologist this morning. She did a lot of testing with K, the fun kind. Clapping, standing on one leg, walk like a crab, etc. Poked, prodded, tapped, peered into eyes for a long time. Spoke a lot. Agrees with everything already said viz. pressure in cerebrospinal fluid high but not terribly high. Eyes normal (this is the sensitive bit that they need to look for very carefully), reactions normal, demeanour normal. Everything normalnormalnormal except that she gets headaches and stomach aches daily. So! We're to continue with the diamox for a week, then start decreasing the dosage and monitoring like hawks for any increasing in the headaches. Always present is the danger that a child might say she has headache even if she doesn't because it seems to be the desired answer. I'm not very worried about that with K, though. She seems to answer honestly, equal numbers of yesses and noes. Also, she'll sometimes clarify, like "My head is fine now, but it was sore before naptime at Educare". If the headaches get worse then the diamox is having an effect, but not sufficient. In this case, another lumbar punch will be indicated, to release the pressure the mechanical way.
There is some sign of fluid in the sinuses in the MR images, so they (the images, not the sinuses) will be passed along to a sinus expert to ask if this is a problem in children. We might be passed along to yet another ophthalmologist, one who's excellent with children. They can't take a chance on the eyes, you see, and it's hard to get a small child to sit still and focus like is really necessary. Nothing has been seen so far, though.
The neeurologist politely hid her amusement at the thought of a nephrologist by pointing out blood test results that deny anyting wrong with the kidneys and then dodging the issue.
So. We (1) decrease the diamox dosage and continue to treat our daughter as a science experiment (what happens if we add uranium! paracetemol! another banana!) and (2) accept that K has headaches, they affect her life minimally (other than when they're making her vomit and lie weakly crying with pain), certainly when bouncing up and down in a doctor's office, and simply get on with life.
I have a totally splitting headache myself. Have had my (belated) frosties and coffee and am now marking tests with blurred vision. Perhaps the wrong answers will blur temporarily into right ones and I might have some students passing? That would be nice. For them. Not for us who'll have to drive over the bridges they build.
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[09 Jun 2009|08:19pm] |
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just recently: Angelit |
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This time I was hoping I could blog a stomachache-free day, but it struck this evening. The headache struck in the car on the way to Educare this morning and it was a bad one, leaving her crying. This is the 11th day on the medication. The paediatrician says it takes "a long time", I said "I'm expecting about 2 weeks" and she wouldn't be drawn, "a long time" she repeated. We see the paediatric neurologist (one of two in Cape Town) on Thursday morning.
In the meantime, my mother is concerned at the diagnosis, not quite believing it. She is suggesting a second opinion. Well, to be fair, she's been suggesting a second opinion for ages. The way I see it, with 3 paediatricians in the practice and the neurologist who has been consulted telephonically, we already have 4 opinions. So ... we look for a fifth apparently.
My mum contacted an old colleague of my dad's, a doctor and once professor of microbiology, to ask his advice. He called around and got back to her recommending a paediatric nephrologist (I'll look that up shortly) who was willing to make a gap in his schedule for K, through his old friend the doktor professor. I'll mention the whole bruhaha to the neurologist on Thursday and also somehow convey this all to K's paediatrician, and see what they say.
One thing that really bugs my mum is that K's paed is my age. My mum likes doctors to have a lot of experience and she cannot see that someone my age can have done so. Now, I am not aged, but nor am I entirely young anymore. Also, not everyone waits till they're creaky like me before getting their advanced degrees. This dr has been practising for some time and has gleaned a lot of respect from the medical community in Cape Town. I know doctors who have chosen her as their children's paediatrician. She must have something going for her...
... looking up nephrology ...
Ah, study of the kidneys. Yes, my mum did say something about kidneys when speaking to P earlier about this. She called P rather than me because she is scared of me. She is also quite scared of P and his long silences, so this shows how worried she was at my possible reaction.
I want the best for K. Obviously. But at some point you need to stop and say Enough. Enough needles, enough blood drawn, enough poking, enough sedation, enough large scary machines, enough hospitals, enough new doctors and nurses. Enough. 3 paediatricians and one paediatric neurologist agree on this diagnosis. Enough. The medication needs time to work. Of course, perhaps on Thursday, the neurologist will take one look at her and say "Aha! It is the kidneys! It is as plain as the stethoscope around my neck!" Perhaps K will take the medication for months and nothing will happen. Perhaps the stomach aches are a sign that this a total misdiagnosis and I should have sought an umpteenth opinion 2 weeks ago. [ETA: Googling around, I see the words nephrology and hypertension (and, indeed paediatric) live very happily together. I have a headache now.]
There is a right thing to do here and I don't know what it is. Is it to hoik* her off to a new doctor, freshly to be poked and examined, or is to say Enough. Next step along the path: see the neurologist and see what she says about the path ahead.
Thank you to the latest present sender :D. We received the book and CDs today. If presents cured headaches, K would be cured.
*reminds me of yoik, a term I learned today, in connection with Sami music of Northern Finland. I have been downloading stonkloads of YouTube Finnish music videos recommended by Sir GrimR. Folk, Sami, medieval, pop, metal, punk. Quite an education.
In other news, I am marking tests. Fear, fear, FEAR the engineers of the future. They don't know their arses from their elbows. Certainly their yoiks from their hoiks.
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[06 Jun 2009|08:42pm] |
This afternoon I was fantasising about posting to this blog that K had had her first headache-free day in weeks! (Possibly months) But it was not to be. While eating supper she gave a pained cry and clutched her forehead. However, by bedtime the headache had gone, so perhaps there is an end in sight? Or perhaps it was just coincidence?
Anyway, meds are now being taken very bravely and adding to the star chart is causing much happiness. She has scored her first star chart present (a ball) and the next (another ball, to be followed by starfish, apparently) is due very soon. Note to self: when this chart is full and another is designed, make longer stretches between presents.
When these headaches are finally gone the dr's office gets one of Juliet's chocolate cakes. (I've already told them about it, so hopefully this is incentive to cure her.)
Mm, cointreau
[ETA: Spoke too soon. An hour after this post, at 21h30, K woke up crying with the pain. Juliet need not buy the ingredients just yet.]
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[03 Jun 2009|09:05am] |
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I am in a better space today than I was yesterday. Yesterday started with force feeding a child with a medication-laced spoonful of honey. Then she cried with her headache on the way to educare. Then she hurt her sister till she cried as well. Gah. Also, it was my first day really back at work in 2 weeks, I needed a brain reboot and there was so much internet to read.
Last night's pill adventure (I know you're interested) was a medication-laced honey sandwich. It probably took about an hour for her to eat it, with me sitting next to her being Dread Impacable Mother. P played Good Parent.
This morning we tried a few mils of chocolate milkshake and that worked! Of course, Dread Implacable Mother was standing over her intoning "It's this or the syringe!" "No! Not the syringe!!" and the medicine was gone. Gulp! One star on the star chart. After 4, she gets a present of her choice. She has asked for a new ball. This morning she grew expansive on the topic: the ball must have dots and the letter K. We compromised on a spotted ball onto which we would koki the letter K.
Whew. She has agreed to try the chocolate milkshake method again tonight. Her headaches are still making her cry so this cursed drug had better kick in soon. So far it is having its wee-more diuretic effect as well as making her sleep more and longer, but the headaches are unbudged. Huh.
So, let's talk about A for a bit. She is delightful. Her vocab is increasing. Recent addition are (approximations of) balloon, sit, look, there, sock, stop it! and probably some more I'm not remembering. She is finding that it is SO MUCH FUN to irritate K. She can sit on the book K has in front of her, she can pull things out of her hands, she can whip K's doll out of her resting place just as K has got her baby to go to sleep. That makes K incandescent with rage, while A chortles happily. We are used to K being the one being evil to her sister, but it is changing. K is often in the right nowadays. Last night both girls had fish fingers and chips for supper. A decided she wanted some of K's (even though hers was identical and not yet finished). K objected. A had a total tantrum, red and screaming and stamping her feet. Anyeone coming in on that would have thought K had done something mean to A, but no. The worm has turned. (She is still the cutest thing in this world, though.)
Okay! Today:
1) write out test solutions for my colleague who is going to help me mark,
2) read my real engineering paper and get really stuck into making it better,
3) try and contact that fellow we've invited to speak at a conference who does not seem to have received the previous email.
Frosties and coffee consumed.
Off I go!
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[01 Jun 2009|06:51pm] |
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Less angry parent reading Rupert stories |
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So, small child + bitter pill (literally) = lousy combination.
Friday evening: foxed K into taking ground up pill in spoonful of yoghurt. Much distress. Won't work a second time.
Saturday morning: offer of ground up pill in spoonful of peanut butter, refused. Bribery and reasoning and cajolery didn't work. Force feeding attempted, much spitting out. Eventually spread on bread and eaten. Victory?
Saturday evening, Sunday morning, Sunday evening: peanut butter and (secretely) pill sandwiches. Nasty aftertaste reported. Parents act surprised and proffer juice and jelly babies.
Monday morning: spiked peanut butter sandwich refused. Jelly tots offered as highly desired bribe, but make little impact. Eventually I sat with her at Educare, refusing to let her move from her spot until sandwich consumed. Clearly another plan required.
Monday evening: pudding of layered caramel, cream, peppermint crisp, biscuit, sprinkles (and stealth crushed pill). K claims she does not like peppermint (despite having consumed litres of peppermint panado in her short lifetime, with every evidence of enjoyment). K eats sprinkles sparingly off top (nowhere near ground pill), will only eat further if fed by parent, but demands "green bits" be picked off. Even with some attempt to pick green bits off, still refuses mouthfuls upon claims of green bits still present/cream is yukky/caramel leaves funny taste. Most pudding remains uneaten. If any pill consumed, it was miniscule amount.
Tuesday morning? Who knows.
Also, K is being a behavioural nightmare. Every word out of her mouth is a moan or a whine or a demand. If I wanted gratitude, I should have got a dog.
Anybody want a small child? Free to moderately good home. Comes with lots of toys and clothes.
People offering aid: tell me how to get this pill into her. I've prowled the internet for ideas and have found a few, but most pill advice assumes a willingness to take the medicine, just difficulty in handling pills. How to handle a screaming child with both hands held over her mouth is left unaddressed.
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[29 May 2009|03:20pm] |
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We're home.
K went in with a bad headache and came out with a bad headache, sore hands, cabin fever, and probably a fair bit of PTSD. A week of IV antibiotics, blood tests, 2 lumbar punches and associated analyses of spinal fluid, a CT scan and an MRI scan have revealed a bunch of negative things and one positive thing. Negative: not meningitis, not a tumour or other mass, not an intracranial bleed, not some other bacterium, not a virus, not reactive to any painkillers used. Positive: raised pressure in spinal fluid.
Diagnosis: idiopathic intracranial hypertension, caused by either too much production of cerebrospinal fluid or too little reabsorption of same, but basically too much. There is a drug that can be used to decrease the fluid and hence the pressure, a prescription for which P is filling right now.
Today we headed to Panarama MC for the MRI, where I had to hold a screaming daughter as she fought off the anaesthetist. That was fun. Almost as much fun as the ditto for the drip a couple of days ago. The medical aid approved the MRI about an hour before she had it, which was also fun. My mum kept us company, which was good. I was stressed enough with company, alone I might have exploded. Or K might have. Or we both might have, at one another.
On the drive home she started crying with pain. First her tummy (always the blasted tummy! What's the business with the tummy?! Will this drug sort that out? Or is it her self-imposed perpetual starvation? God!) then the head. Also the knees. This is the third time in a week that she's mentioned sore knees. ??. Also her face went very red, really worryingly red. We got in the front door and she promptly broke down at the smell of the varnish on some half done SCA shields in the passage. She's never liked the smell, but today it broke her brain. So she's sleeping off the shock of the varnish/aneasthetic/headache/the week/hospitals in general/mothers, in our room, with incense burning. Also, dressed as Snow White, because when you're in pain, nothing is more comforting than confirmation of your princess status.
Phi has pulled the heap of jackets off the armchair where I put them and is happily washing himself on them. I need to put a large wash in the laundry. Do we have the makings of G&T? Hope so.
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[27 May 2009|10:01pm] |
Wednesday night. Glimmer at the end of the tunnel? K has had minimal headache pain all day. Unfortunately her tummy has been sore today. Sigh. Two steps forward, one step back... There was drama with the drip today. She is getting IV antibiotic, once a day. The drip stays in her hand, only attaching to the tubey thing when needed. It hurts. When the antibiotic is flowing it hurts hugely more. She cries. A lot. Yesterday her hand puffed up like a balloon, so they removed the drip. This morning it was reinserted into the other hand, while she clung to me and screamed, as I held her tightly so the doctor could, quite frankly, hurt her. Hurt was kept to a minimum by a local anisthetic cream (the one you mentioned, schedule5), but it was a pretty shattering experience for all concerned. My mum took over and I went to my car and cried. Then did calculus all day.
I asked her this morning "You've been given quite a few presents. What is your favourite type of present? Books, stickers, puzzles, games?" "No!" she said, looking at me as if I was very dim indeed. "The balloon!"
Duh!
first_fallen gave K, among other things, a helium-filled balloon. (Her uncle explained to her later what helium is. I'm not sure she cared.) The balloon has been carried around the ward and shown to anyone who might potentially be interested. So, if my little girl wants balloons, balloons she shall get. I went and got her a Barbie Princess helium balloon today. Sigh. How the mighty have fallen. They didn't have any calculus balloons, okay?
Tomorrow my students write, then I return to hospital duty. On Friday is the last antibiotic dose, followed by a trip to Panarama Hospital for an MRI and a second lumbar punch. She should be discharged from there.
A is better. Her teacher says she was subdued today and fell asleep at the table during snack time, but didn't have a temperature and played happily enough.
K saw an ophthalmologist today at the hospital. (A 5 min visit which will probably cost us/medical aid $$$). He was looking for oedema in/behind the eye at the request of a paediatric neurologist consulted on this case. My mother was not imprressed with his thoroughness, but he says he saw nothing. If the MRI shows nothing (expected) then this will be diagnosed as benign intracranial pressure, for which there is a drug which decreases pressure. For this we would be referred to the neurologist. Geez.
SCA stuff: I don't know whether I'll be at the event this weekend. It will depend entirely on K. My persona at the moment is K's mum, all else is immaterial. I imagine we'll be there, though, she likes events. This will be the first time ever, I think, that I am not entering anything into the A&S competition. I feel bad about that (but not bad enough).
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[25 May 2009|10:09pm] |
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Monday evening update: K continues as before: sore head. Her tummy is better though. This could be coincidence, because of the antibiotic or because of the going on 5 days of painkillers. Who knows? Her head is slightly better, but there seems to be a base level beyond which the headache does not recede. The doctors remain convinced it is migraine (a "diagnosis of exclusion" one called it) which can only be treated with analgesics for children under 12. So, K is on myprodol until she's 12? I don't think so.
A had a terrible afternoon, temperature of 38.8C, red hot (literally), screaming and crying. By the time she got to the doctor's, the panado had taken hold and she was the life and soul of the party. Sigh. Still with a temp of 38.3, though. Her throat was a bit red and that was all the dr could find. She's being treated with antibiotics too. first_fallen came and played with her while I did a pharmacy run. Slowly I move through the list of those offering help :). Watch out, you might be next!
Thank you to those of you who have visited K. One visit today coincided with the antibiotic drip, which hurts like hell (what she'd say if she knew the expression), so the visitor was not greeted as rapturously as I'd expected. I was informed of the gift later, though, in tones of delight, so, Visitor, K was actually quite thrilled, the emotion was just delayed until after the excruciating pain bit was over.
I have an evening at home tonight, while P does the hospital stint. I was supposedly working, but actually I was watching Survivor China with first_fallen while heckling madly, watching Las Vegas while pretending to read email and now blogging while pretending to do some marks processing. Perhaps tomorrow morning I shall wake bright and early, full of energy to work before A wakes up. Who knows? Perhaps pigs might fly and K's headache might go away?
P.S. Thank you to those who have commented and sent emails.
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