Beau Jackson

Merry Christmas everyone!

It was a white Christmas for us here in Southwestern Missouri, but coooooold!  Brrrrrrr!  It was about 15 degrees today, and the wind was howling.  Needless to say we did not go outside to play in the snow.

It was also kind of a humble Christmas for us.  We did things a little differently this year.  We didn’t put up our Christmas tree until the 24th.  Heck, we didn’t even do any Christmas shopping until the 22nd.  We opened the vast majority of presents on Christmas eve – St. Nicholas only brought candy and one toy – a “Little People” nativity scene for the two youngest kids (although the older girls still play with it too).  Our Christmas day dinner is just a roasted chicken, with mashed potatoes, green beans, and some cranberry sauce.  We didn’t have lots of family over, or go to their house either.

We tried very much to keep Christmas (the day of Christ’s birth) separate from all the other things that we tend to get caught up with in the holidays.  Sadly, we weren’t able to go to Mass today – the roads were not in good shape, and Elizabeth was running a fever of 102, so we wouldn’t have gone regardless.

In any event, I thought it was a nice day…we’ll probably do it again this way next year too.

Once again, Merry Christmas to everyone!

I’ve had this cold lately – head congestion, sore throat and the like. A few days ago it started moving into my chest, so yesterday Allena made me go see a doctor out of concern over the flu and secondary infections (hey, I’m pretty hard headed when it comes to making doctor’s appointments for myself, ok?)

So let me tell you…if you’ve never had a “swab” done for the flu…it SUCKS. The swab is a quick test to determine if you have “type A” or “type B” flu, with the current swine flu being the “type A” variety. Basically, they stick a Q-tip about six inches up your nose and scratch the back side of your eyeball with it. Maybe that’s a *slight* exaggeration, but I assure you it’s only slight. It’s not really painful, but it is intensely uncomfortable.

The good news is I don’t have the flu at all, just a cold that’s moved into my chest, so with a round of antibiotics in hand, hopefully I’ll be done with this cold in a few days.

So I have a diagnosis, or perhaps I should stay I still have a diagnosis.  And that diagnosis is still epilepsy.  And it still leaves me with that vague, unsatisfied feeling, because I still don’t understand what the basis of this diagnosis is (e.g. why is this epilepsy and not Tourette syndrome).

The neurologist will be presenting my case to all the other doctors in his practice (there’s 8 or 9 of them), and they’ll be discussing my case together for treatment and further diagnosis, so that’s something.  Kind of like getting a bunch of opinions all at once.  I won’t know the results of that discussion until the week of Christmas though.

Meanwhile he put me on a new drug called Keppra, along with the Depakote I’ve been on.  I’m not crazy about that since some of the more common side effects are things like drowsiness and irritability.  Since I’ve been drowsy due to apnea and irritable due to that and general depression as well, the thought of being drowsier and irritable is making me…well, irritable.  Maybe I need a nap? :)

I’m trying to stay positive though.  I had a couple of hours of “poor me” yesterday afternoon after I got the diagnosis, but I think by the time Allena and I started cooking dinner I was over it.