Preparing for Gustav

We're watching the hurricane news closely as our New Orleans family is starting to arrive. Nikki and our nephew, Brady, arrived this evening. Jason is gathering important things and the pets and will be here as soon as he can, although the traffic going north is awful.

I have mixed feelings about how this hurricane is being handled. I am relieved to see that so much action is being taken in New Orleans. Most residents are taking it more seriously. The mayor has told tourist to just go home & go home now. He's urged residents to get ready to go soon. He stated when residents need to be out. Those that have no transportation are being bused out & then will take trains out of harms way.

No one wants what happened with Hurricane Katrina to happen with Hurricane Gustav. The response from the government was so poor that many lost lives were because they were never rescued or because they had no way to get out.

However, what about the surrounding areas? Does New Orleans get all the attention because they are below sea-level and surrounded by levies? Or, do they get so much attention because they are the Crescent City, live in culture and history? As much as I love New Orleans and am for the preservation of their culture and historical areas, I'm also concerned about the surrounding areas. I'm happy that the people of New Orleans are getting out, but are the same services being offered to those in Texas and Mississippi that may suffer the same (or worse) fate?

I guess what's important is that no one is looked over. The small-town simpletons of rural town, USA, are just as important as the people of the Crescent City--the cajun, the creole, the musicians, the crazy tourists... Our government needs to learn how to provide help to all those who need it, not just to those who will in turn improve the popularity of certain governmental leaders and politicians.

The EGD

Lisa had her EGD yesterday. Although she mainly complained of hunger, she did go in a little apprehensive about the procedure and what the GI doctor might find. When her mother told her that the doctor did find something, she actually thought she was kidding. What was found was a hiatal hernia. The other was some gastritis. The doctor also took a tissue sample to check for the presence of the type of bacteria that is responsible for gastric ulcers. So, the doc found a couple of things, BUT he's not convinced that what he found is responsible for Lisa's main complaints. In a couple of weeks, he'll do another test to look at the small intestines. She's guessing it will probably be a barium enema (since a colonoscopy involves the large intestines). Lisa's at least happy that she knows why she has heartburn and stomach pain so often. The EGD was easy--she was put to sleep. She's definitely NOT looking forward to the next test!

Lisa Designs the Pack Website

Well, I think the exciting weekend made me want to do something (other than schoolwork, of course) to get my mind off the craziness at the house, so I called Preston at work on Saturday to get the information on how to log in to design the new site for our Pack. I worked on it all day Saturday (well, except when we were at the ER). I worked on it lots on Sunday. I'm now declaring it "nearly done." I have to fix some alignment issues on one page & get the scrapbook and FAQs going, but the meat of the site is done.

Check it out sometime at http://montgomerypack16.org

Fancy Dinner Isn't the Same Without Dad

This afternoon, I took the boys out to the Olive Garden for a fancy dinner to celebrate how the boys handled our emergency yesterday. They were so brave.

It's just not the same without Preston, though. His office is in the midst of moving to the newest RSA building downtown. This is the ultimate "post 9/11" building. My goodness... you have to swipe a security card to get to the bathrooms, elevator and stairs! Guests will be escorted and there are security cameras everywhere. The structure is extra strong, too. Preston and his crew have been responsible for moving equipment over--computers and such. He's been home late almost every evening for a while, but it's been well after midnight since Friday. He's still at work right now. He's been coming home to rest a bit, get some food and head back to work.

Even though we've been without Preston this weekend, I've tried to keep it as normal for the kids as possible and have tried making our alone time special. Well, it was memorable!

I had the idea of taking a picture of the boys while we were at The Olive Garden. They held up a sign we made that said, "Dad - We miss you!" Preston was so touched. He definitely misses the kids, too. It is lonely in the evenings, but thankfully, this move is almost over (hopefully). The boys can't wait to spend some quality time with Dad now. You think I could get away with some time away by myself? Shhhh... don't tell anyone!!  ;-)

"The Accident"

Well, yesterday I called 911 for the first time for one of the kids. Stephen was standing in a chair & it tipped backwards causing injury to the back of his head. We think he hit computer equipment on the way down. I wouldn't expect a cut that bad from just hitting the floor.

As soon as I saw the blood & the fact that it was coming from the back of his head, I grabbed the first thing I could find to put pressure on it, which was my pajama bottoms, oddly enough. (Who has time to go to the linen closet for a fresh towel in this case? I mean, come on!) I carried him to my bed and had the emergency operator on the phone within a minute of the fall--probably just like about 30 seconds.

Not knowing how severe the cut or damage was, I laid Stephen down and kept pressure on his head, not daring to remove the pants that were soaking in blood at this point. The paramedics arrived first, then the ambulance. It was mutually decided by all of us that Stephen needed to go to the ER, but the ambulance would be too scary. They would have to strap him down--standard procedure. I signed his care back to me and we went straight to the hospital.

If I may backtrack just a bit, I want to give a big "KUDOS" to Phillip for being so brave and helpful during this event. He was calm and went to all the doors to unlock them for the emergency crew. He then took over for me with keeping pressure on Stephen's head while I threw on some clothes to get ready to head out. When the crew arrived, he answered the door for me & showed them back to our bedroom where I had Stephen.

Once at the ER, they took Stephen back right away. I asked if Stephen was getting stitches, but the doc said, "Nope. We're gonna do staples. Two should do him up just fine. He can wash his hair tomorrow." Wow... staples? I found out that it's so much easier than stitches. They hold the cut together tighter, they can get wet, and no hair had to be cut. Actually, you cannot see them unless his hair is pulled back.

Stephen feels fine & is in no pain. Thankfully, there's not a whole lot of nerves on the head (I don't think). He had a good day with his brother, who was just happy that Stephen was not seriously injured. We are so thankful he had no concussion or any other injuries. It was a bad fall. Here's a pic of the staples on the back of Stephen's head if you can make them out...

Lisa's Sour Stomach

Well, I finally had the appointment with the GI specialist this past week. On Friday, I will have an outpatient procedure for the doctor to look in my stomach, throat, etc. I will be put to sleep so the doctor can insert a tiny camera down my throat. The procedure will take about an hour. What I've been dealing with since the beginning of June has baffled the docs I've seen so far. They've been concerned about my gall bladder (gall stones), the liver, the stomach, etc. Friday they will be looking for ulcers, bacteria, acidity, etc. The abdominal ultrasound I had done last month came back normal, so this is the next step in figuring out why my stomach has been so "angry." Hey, at least I get a day off work, right?  :-)

The Boys Return to School

The boys were so happy to return to school. Both boys have really strict teachers... probably just what they need. This is on the way to school on their first day back. Phillip took Stephen's picture and vice-versa...