Appendicitis

It has been a whirlwind of a week and I wanted to write about it before I forget all of the details.  

Last Saturday night Teagan woke up and started throwing up.  He threw up multiple times and said that his stomach hurt.  He eventually had a bath and that seemed to help and he was finally able to fall asleep.  We were planning on a BBQ with the Daniels family that day so Teagan downplayed his symptoms so that we wouldn't cancel.  

They all still came and Teagan tried to put on a happy face, he even went out and played a game of Pickleball!  After that he started feeling pretty awful though.  He had a fever and just wanted to lay down and rest.  

He threw up again Sunday night and woke up with just a little tummy ache.  I didn't think much of it, honestly.  Kids are always sick and it was 

Monday morning and the girls were done with online homeschool, but he still had a week to go, that would make anyone feel sick, right???

He came into my room and asked "where is my appendix, because it hurts right here" and he pointed to the lower right side.  I googled it and sure enough it was right where his appendix was.  

I called Julie and she said take him.  I called the nurse and she had me  tell him to hold his hands in the air and jump.  When I did, he said it really hurt that same spot.  She thought I should take him in too.  

I just doubted them all.  He wasn't crying in pain or even doubled over.  He still had plenty of energy to tease his sisters and just didn't fit the picture of what I've always heard of for appendicitis.  

Enter tender mercy #1.  I asked Zac, I saved him for last because he ALWAYS downplays any sickness.  I was looking for someone to tell me it was fine and that we should wait and see what happens.  He responded, "I like to wait most times but he was sick yesterday and still today.  I think you should take him for some reason."

If Zac thought we should for "some reason" I assumed that that was God intervening because Zac never wants me to take the kids in (and he's right 95% of the time) so I called and we were able to go in about an hour later.  

Teagan smiled through the whole appointment and joked with Dr. Edwards.  The Doctor said the physical exam "screams appendix," but was very confused because Teagan seemed like he wasn't in very much pain and all the labs came back completely normal.  I could tell that he was ready to send us home, but enter tender mercy #2, he said "I just can't send you home in good conscience, let's check with an ultrasound, just in case."

This pattern continued.  The ultrasound tech and radiologist said that his appendix looked inflamed, but when they pushed on the appendix with the ultrasound tool Teagan wasn't even flinching, apparently kids usually cry, jump, yelp, cringe and pull away.  He was literally smiling.  

They decided that we better get a CT scan just to make sure.  Nothing was definitive.  They gave us face masks and we headed to the hospital.  When we got to there we found out that only one of us could go with Teagan because of coronavirus so Zac said goodbye.

When we got to the hospital everyone was skeptical.  The new nurses and doctors and surgeons all guessed that he was constipated.  He was feeling way too good to have appendicitis.  And the bloodwork, the bloodwork was way too normal.

After the CT scan the surgeon came and we heard him tell the nurses in the hall, "It's actually his appendix, who would have thought."

He came and gave us the pre-surgery speech.  After he left I immediately texted one of my best friends, Stacey Davis who works as a surgical tech and has a million stories to tell about those surgeons.  Some are so awful!  "What is Dr Lemons like???"

Tender mercy #3 was when she responded that he was the best.  That if she had to have general surgery, he was the guy she would want doing her surgery.  I felt so much peace in that moment.   I knew that Teagan was going to be in good hands.  

I realized that we should have had Zac give a blessing but it was too late so I decided I would just say a prayer with Teagan.  The spirit was strong and we knew everything was going to be okay.   Zac called to wish Teagan good luck and I enjoyed listening to the one side of the conversation.  "Thanks Dad.  Yeah, mom said one, it was good, she even cried.  Thanks, I love you too, bye Dad."

 Looking back, I can see now that both of us were very calm the whole time.

While waiting in the pre-surgery room nerves started coming on, enter tender mercy #4.  I was scrolling facebook while Teagan played on the iPad and I came across a meme that was made for me.  It was how Anne of Green Gables characters would respond to coronavirus. I'm currently reading the series and I laughed and laughed, it just hit my funny bone, it was just what I needed.  It was something so small and insignificant, but I felt like God had put it there, just for me.   Just a little signal that we were being watched over.

They wheeled him back and I said goodbye, Teagan was super brave and tough, no tears were shed.  The anesthesiologist told me that Teagan made it all the way to 20 when he was being put out, but he did skip several numbers.  haha

My mom had gone home with Zac and the girls and they packed us an overnight bag, just in case we ended up staying over night, which we did.  Unfortunately, she got to the hospital during the surgery so I couldn't go down and meet her and she wasn't allowed to go up to our room because of restrictions with the virus.  The front doors were locked so she couldn't even hand it off to someone and I was in some random room that I couldn't leave just in case the surgery finished.

I knew that after surgery I wouldn't want to leave Teagan's side so I just had to phone a friend...or a complete stranger.  I called the pediatric floor and told them my predicament.  Our nurse went down and talked with my mom through the window and was walking around the hospital trying to find a hospital door that was open.  What a blessing to have such an amazing nurse and mom!

After the surgery I went in to be there while Teagan was waking up.  He was in a lot of pain and was very teary.  He was currently missing a soccer game and asked me who won (half asleep), when I told him his team won he burst into tears, and then promptly fell back asleep.  He kept trying to rip off his oxygen mask.

The nurses would rub his arm and talk to him and he wouldn't respond, but when I said "Teagan, it's all over," he would turn his head to me and open his eyes and then go back to sleep.  After a while he started waking up and he was in a ton of pain and just not feeling good.  The nurses were trying to give him medicine that would help, but he was struggling.

Then his machines started beeping and the nurses were making phone calls and I started trying to figure out what was going on.  His blood pressure was super high.  When we came in, originally, it was 107, but it was moving around in the 150s and 140s and wasn't going down.  I guess you can't leave that surgery room until it's within the range from before.  

As Teagan's blood pressure kept being high and he became more and more aware of how much pain he was in, I started worrying.  Was something horribly wrong?  Was his body reacting badly to the surgery?  Worst case scenarios came screaming in.

Enter tender mercy #5, I looked up and his blood pressure was 143, that has always been a special number to me.  Ever since college I seem to always see that number when Heavenly Father wants to send me a little message, it's like I know he's watching over me.  143 was code between my friends and I in high school for "I love you."

When I saw that blood pressure I smiled, and completely relaxed and knew that it was all going to be okay.   And it was.  It took a couple hours, but we finally got his pain under control and the blood pressure normalized and the crazy rash disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

After a long night we were able to go home in the morning and thanks to my mom taking the girls we were able to sleep and rest all day.  I usually would have refused and said I was fine, but she didn't give me a chance, bless her heart!  I needed that day to sleep after the long night!  

Teagan has received so many visitors and presents and special things and we just feel pretty loved right now.  I'll make a list so he can know for future times.

Haven, Savanah, Eli and Megan brought him a basket of goodies and stayed and chatted with him for a bit.

Mason brought over Oreos, slime, a cool pen and notepad.

Aunt Rachel had a friend deliver 2 cartons of his favorite ice cream.

Courtney Heath brought us dinner.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Elise brought over their Nintendo switch and a million games (I think this was his favorite one).

Ethan drove Sasha and Lily over and they had made him awesome presents.  Lily gave him a mug, peppermint tea, a little stuffed animal and money.  Sasha spent all day making him a stuffed bunny and lemon bars.  I can not believe the generosity.

Kai and Jax made him cookies and came and visited and helped him with the Nintendo switch.

Zac's aunt and uncle sent a card with a big ole $5 bill to buy a treat.

I've gotten so many calls and texts and offers of help, it's been amazing to see everyone's love for my special boy.

When we were at home and starting to think it was Teagan's appendix I thought, "hey, we were supposed to be blessed while Dad and Beth are on their mission.  We've been promised blessings while they serve."

  As I look back on the experience I think Heavenly Father has opened my eyes to see all of the ways that he has blessed us through this experience.  There were multiple times where things were going smoothly and I felt little promptings that it was okay or would soon be okay and that it we were being extra blessed because of their being on a mission.    The biggest blessing is the fact that he was in such a small amount of pain before the surgery.  Every doctor and nurse was blown away by his "high pain tolerance" and I know that he was being blessed to not have to suffer as much.

Now he is on the mend and is currently practicing piano so that he can play on the Switch, he is coming back fast.

I'm going to add this bit, 8 days after his surgery he was able to play in his soccer game and didn't have much pain.  I was blown away at how fast he was able to heal.  Kids are incredibly resilient and we have been so blessed through this entire experience, I'm glad that it is over!

Corona Homeschool Part 1

On Monday, the kids were in school and the whole country was closing around us.   Schools, restaurants, activities, concerts, EVERYTHING was getting canceled.  Even though Shelley schools weren't closed yet, we knew that it would be coming soon so we decided to go to the library and check out a bunch of books to use for homeschool.  

I got tons of books for each child at their level, plus science kits, history kits, and non-fiction project books.  About halfway through our library adventure the texts and calls came in announcing that school would be closed for three weeks.  Within 10 minutes, the phone at the library started ringing off the hook and people started flocking to the library.  We check out, realized that we had ridden bikes there and found Julie Murdoch and asked her to bring all of our things home.

I was not excited to become a full time teacher.  I had been working hard on my website and vision therapy and had lots of big projects planned for the spring that didn't include checking assignments and keeping 3 kids on task.  The kids were not excited about me being their teacher either.

The first few days were so so hard!  Trying to do everything and making a new schedule and keep Everly out of trouble amidst the world shutting down and so much fear of the unknown made it very hard.  I went through about 4 or 5 daily schedules before we found one that worked.  Now that we are 5 weeks in we are all enjoying things much more!

I actually love teaching my kids and being so involved in their education.  I am learning to roll with the punches and be patient, and the kids are realizing that my projects are pretty awesome.

Our Daily Schedule:
7-9 We all get ready, this means doing jobs, practicing piano, eating, getting dressed, cleaning rooms, family Come Follow Me etc.  Anyone who isn't done by 9, gets to do double after school.
9-10:45 The kids work on what their teachers have assigned and I supplement, usually they need more math!  Eloise hasn't been assigned any math, which I find totally appalling.

10:45-11:15 Recess - Outside play mandatory (now I get why recess is the best!)

11:15-12:15 Learning with Mom

12:15-1 Lunch and Recess

1-2 Quiet reading time

2-3 Computer work (all the computer games that the teachers assign that I think are a little pointless)

3-8 Play, help with outside work, bike rides, watch TV, eat dinner, clean up messes....


I am going to go through some of the different projects that we have done.

One of the first things we did was make a huge map of the world.  We printed out the number of Covid-19 cases in each country and then the kids colored each country according to how many cases that it had.

Eloise LOVED looking up each country and finding it's spot and coloring it in.  She wanted to work on it in her free time.  Teagan was excited at first, but I made him write in the country's names and that made it super hard for him and he ended up really hating this one but he did finish and do a good job in the end.  Addy and Everly colored their own maps, but mostly ran around and played.

We have done several painting tutorials on YouTube which has been really fun.  It is stressful for me though, especially when Everly wants to do it and our chairs have fabric bottoms.  eeeeek. I probably freak out a little too much.  Maybe painting needs to happen during nap time.

Poor Everly's whole world has been turned upside down.  She was used to having so much attention from me, playdates with friends, and watching shows during the day.  Then BAM all the kids were home, I was busy teaching them all and she was banned from the TV because all of the kids get too distracted when it's on and she can't play with Creedence anymore.  She has been throwing lots of fits, peeing her pants CONSTANLY, and getting into mischief of all kinds.  She took pruners and chopped down my raspberries, cut her hair with scissors, got into her sibling's stuff, colored on their papers, snuck food from the pantry and just cried a lot.  I am trying to give her extra love and attention and give her activities to do and attention throughout the day along with the other kids.  It is definitely helping the naughtiness and tantrums, but the accidents are still a huge problem.  I am starting to wonder if she will ever be potty trained.

One of our favorite weeks was all about Medieval Times.  We read booked and watched documentaries about castles and then we built our own out of all the different types of building toys we have.  Then the kids made an epic movie using little characters that they had made.  It was so so much fun to make.  We spent an entire day building, filming, and editing the movie.  They all love it and have watched it multiple times.

Last week we learned all about the lungs and heart and how the blood carries oxygen and other nutrients all throughout our bodies.  It was fun and we did some great hands on activities that they will hopefully remember!

Adeline is probably missing her teacher the most out of everyone.  When I showed her that there was a video of Mrs. Ottley reading a book she was thrilled!  She even teared up and said that she loved her teacher so much it made her cry.  What a darling little girl.

Everyday the kids have to do some sort of writing activity.  They have been writing tons of letters to cousins and grandparents and they have loved receiving letters back.  I think their favorite was from Grandma and Grandpa Daniels when they sent money.  It was a great lesson on division when they had to split it up.

I love seeing what the kids write and do and all their funny things!  Addy especially makes me laugh with her kindergarten ways.

She writes little books and this one was about Zac,  "I like to play tickle monster with my dad" and she is saying "stop" and Dad is saying "no."

Above, Eloise wrote about how Mick's is special because it is where grandpa Durtschi used to take us.

Below, Addy wrote "I like Pete the Cat because it teaches you if bad stuff happens you just keep walking along."  That one made me cry.

We just started into a new project, a club house for the kids.  We went and got wood from Grandpa Durtschi and then brought it home and took off the bark.  This week we learned about inches and feet, measuring, scale drawing and right angles and we are trying to get started, I'm starting to wonder if I am trying for something that is too hard.  I am feeling a little overwhelmed.  Whew.  We do hard things, right?

I am so delighted to say that teaching my kids has been an experience that I have loved.  I have learned so much about them and about myself and we have grown together as a family.  I feel so grateful for the experience!  It is so hard, don't get me wrong.  I loose my temper and get so frustrated when the kids don't listen and follow directions, but it is all worth it.  Every week gets a little better and we are all learning.

Day Trip to Bone

After so many weeks stuck at home with no social life (first world problems, I know we are pathetic) we were dying to get out so we hopped in the truck and decided to go see Grandpa Durtschi's property in Bone.   Unfortunately, there were 8 foot drifts along both sides of the road completely blocking any chance of getting to his property.  There was a little area by a creek with a bridge that we stopped an played at for a while.  Scout and Eloise both fell in the water, Everly peed in the wild for her first time, and everyone had fun shooting the guns. It was the perfect outing and we all loved it!

Zac's Hazmat Suit

All non-essential businesses are closed right now for coronavirus.  We are very blessed that home health physical therapy counts as essential so that our life and finances don't really have to be disrupted.  

Every night Zac gets to call each of his patients for the next day and ask them a series of questions:

1. Have you traveled anywhere in the last 14 days

2. Have you been in contact with anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19

3. Have you or anyone in your house been experiencing symptoms of sore throat, cough, fever or shortness of breath?

If they answer yes to any of the questions he gets to fully gear up before entering into their houses to treat them.  He has only needed to do this a few times and so far we are all still healthy.  After coming home from one of those houses he strips down right when he walks in and all the clothes go straight into the washer and he showers.

We are taking the stay home order pretty seriously, we aren't perfect. by any means, but we aren't having people in our house and we don't go to their houses.  We wear masks when we go to the grocery store and the kids haven't been playing with friends.  I keep trying to make it to May 1, but I get tempted so easily.  We'll keep trying to hold strong!  We are really trying to keep Zac and his patients from getting it because all of his patients would probably die if they got it.

Home Church

One of my favorite parts about this whole social distancing, "stay home, stay safe," and corona quarantine business is home church.  We've now been going about 5 ½ weeks since our church literally shut everything down.  We have been doing sacrament meeting and Sunday school at home each week and it has been the coolest experience!

The sacrament feels so special and sacred and really makes me think more about what I want to be watching and listening to in our home so that the spirit can be here.  We spend time Saturday night cleaning up and getting the house all ready for a special Sabbath.   Zac blesses the sacrament and then Teagan passes it.  

The kids have enjoyed taking turns doing music time, but aren't quite as excited about giving talks.  We've had some great experiences with feeling the spirit.  Fast and testimony was my favorite.  Hearing each of my kids' simple and sweet testimonies really built mine.  It was Eloise's first time fasting and she was really struggling with being hungry and thirsty.  We all tried to stay reverent when we noticed that Zac had given each person about ¼ piece of bread for their bread and a full 2 oz cup of water.  It made me tear up to see that he was trying to help her make it to the end of her fast.  

It will be hard to adjust to going back to the church building and doing a calling again.  It's been nice just completely catering to our own little family.  Some people really struggle with the social isolation, but I am honestly really enjoying some parts of it.  I feel like like is just so much more simple now and I love the extra time we get as a family to really focus on building relationships.  

Loooong Hair and Shoooort Hair

Well, Everly has been neglected long enough that she got into some serious trouble.  With me homeschooling the big kids, Everly is getting much less attention then she is used to.  She is also watching much less TV which is probably a good thing, but it has left her bored and mischievous.  She has colored on herself and the table, gotten into candy and bread countless times, taken her sibling things and broken them and peed her pants 4035821 times.

Her latest stunt was cutting her own hair.  Of course she decided to chop the very front super short so that there is no way to hide it.  And every hair salon in the world is completely shut down right now so we just get to watch the funny hair grow out in all its glory.  It reminds me of the time Adeline chopped her hair off a few years ago, right before family pictures.  I saw these pictures of her long, beautiful hair and decided it's all good, hair grows fast.  But we are going to try to keep a closer eye on this wild little woman.

Coronavirus Funnies

The madness of coronavirus started in the beginning of March and escalated very very quickly between March 1st and March 15th.  People went crazy trying to get supplies and the stores shelves became empty.  Luckily, my brother Brian was way ahead of the game.  He started talking to us about the virus back in January so I did a big stock up in February.  I went down to the storage room and just ordered 12 of everything that was running low on the Walmart app.   I went and picked it up and filled the back of my van.  It was a few weeks before everyone else was rushing the stores so I try to tell myself that I wasn't part of the problem, but maybe I was.  I only got 48 rolls of toilet paper. haha. That sounds like a lot, but with 4 girls, we go through it quick!

There were some times where I was feeling pretty panicky and scared, especially when Utah had their earthquake.  I finally decided to redo our 72 hour kits that day.  Finding funny memes and sharing them with my siblings was definitely how I found some comic relief to help me relax and have some faith in the big picture.  

It took a week or so, but I eventually came to the conclusion that the 2nd Coming is on the way and this is just part of the process.  We know that the economy will have to plummet, that nations will go against nation (I feel like there is going to be some finger pointing that could turn violent at the end of all this), and earthquakes in diverse places.  That brought peace.  This is all happening exactly according to plan.  Each day I know exactly what to do, I have an amazing brain that can handle anything.

I thought that it would be fun to see all these ridiculous memes in 20 years with this book becomes a historical center peace, or fire kindling or whatever.