Homecoming 12-17-2010

Friday was so amazing. Seeing the kids faces when they saw not only thier dad but some very good friends of ours return home from a very long and frustrating deployment was just amazing.

We were able to hang around for a while with everyone while we waited for the rest of my husbands company to get back before they were released. And for the first time ever I got to take him home during daylight (that never happens lol).

I wish everyone could have seen Michelle. When you think Daddy's girl lets just take that and times it by about 100!!! It was so amazing to see her with him. He cannot believe the way the kids have grown and we were all shocked that Abigail knew exactly who he was.

If you look closely Michelle's hand is wrapped around his neck

Shawn and all the kids

Shawn, Sierra, Austin, James, Shawn Jr

Shawn and Michelle. She would not let go of him

Shawn and his brother D.J (also a Marine)

James upset because he got sprayed by some water spout (it was funny)

Cleaning him up. It didnt help that he was already wet because of the rain.

We were giving her tons of kisses and she was loving it!

His sister called and he got to talk to her.

Shawn and I and some very good friends of ours

This right here is a priceless picture.

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Enjoying five minutes of peace watching the helicopters bring in the other companies.

Welcome home my love

                                                                   12-17-2010

I feel like..

A complete emotional wreck.. Its been 7 months since I have seen my husband... I have either a little less or a little more then 48 hours until I see him again. It's been 7 MONTHS. 7 very LONG and eventful months.

Currently these are my thoughts

* Why can't the laundry do itself..
* What has gotten into my kids?
*How in the world am I going to pull off everything that I have to do?
* What in the world do I wear???
* What do the kids wear?
* And last but not least... Where oh where did I put my brain that normall is completely in control of everything because currently the one that I have feels and is acting like complete mush :(

I cannot wait for this week to be over but at the same time the anxiety is really starting to get to me... I just want my husband home!!!

We have been BUSY...

And thats to say the least... Busy. What in the world does that word mean within the Cope household??? It means 4 kids and a momma all on her own with some help from some wonderful friends and family... And it also means that we are getting ready for something very special...


Someone very near and dear to my heart is coming home... Can you guess who that is?!

If you guessed Shawn then you are very right!!!!!

We cannot wait and are very excited and BUSY!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!

Dear Epilepsy,

You annoy me. You annoy me so much it brings my mood down. You annoy me so much that everytime you decide to do your annoying thing it brings me very very close to tears. And feel free to dissapear at any point and time

Sincerely,
An annoyed parent.

Michelle had her Neurology appointment yesterday. That was annoying. I love her new Neurologist. Im glad we got away from the other one. He may be the director of the department but her annoys me. So much so that I have made a very good point in telling him (my mouth gets me into a lot of trouble at times).

On Sunday we were sitting quietly on the couch watching football (well Michelle was mommy was yelling at the tv hehe:) ) and Michelle started grunting and just staring at the tv. I got no response from her. Her breathing got very fast and she just sat there and grunted. When she started arching her back and the grunting got worst thats when I knew what she was doing. That was annoying.

So of course yesterday when we were at the appointment she did it.. Again. That was annoying. Of course the doctor has a few different ideas for us. Those are also annoying.

Idea #1- Wait and see.. (like I said annoying.)

Idea#2- Wait and see what she does but also run an EEG and depending on what it says start Topamax. He also went on to say that if her seizures were caused by her Hydrocephalus (10% of Hydrocephalus patients suffer from seizures when their shunts fail) that the medication would do nothing for her and we would basically be giving her a pointless medication. Again ANNOYING.

Idea # 3- Give her the medicine NOW and see if it helps her headaches and also do the other 2 ideas while were at it.

Here's my idea....

DON'T give her a medication that in the long term can leave her with some pretty nasty side effects. Not to mention that it may not even work! The last 5 medications havent worked.

Do the EEG and see if its definite seizure activity and then talk about a DIFFERENT approach to the medication stand.

Do continue with the Tylenol and Motrin for her headaches and if they DONT go away look for a different headache medication. If you can't tell im slightly against the topamax.

Michelle doesn't seem to be suffering from anything at this point. The mood swings are still there. The tiredness is still there. The im going to be a complete pain in your you know what is still there. So here I sit. More annoyed then I was Sunday.

Turning into frustration...

Thursday was a bad day for me. To find out that someone hurt my daughter, intentional or not, was and still is completely heart breaking. I made a ton of phone calls Friday morning. Including an early morning phone call to our pediatrician only to be advised to bring her in ASAP since she didn't sleep very well the night prior..

We went and saw one of the on call docs and he checked her out from head to toe. Making sure to pay extra attention to all 3 of her shunts. We were asked to hold off on the imaging seeing as how Michelle has had A LOT of x-rays in her small little life. He said lets see if her symptoms get worst and if they do head straight to the ER in San Diego and we will have a physicians referall waiting for you and you wont wait.

The doctor called in the physicians referall and talked to the attending who knows Michelle very well who actually called us Saturday morning to check on her. Which was fantastic. We didn't have to go to the ER at all. Im thinking that she was just a little sore and that it has worked itself out.

Im trying as hard as I can to keep my cool with the school and the school district. The nurse informed me that Michelle was never taken to her office and that had she been she never would have been put on the bus. They would have asked me to come up there ASAP. Which is the protocol that we set in stone from her first IEP meeting.

It's frustrating because I want to go somewhere with this situation and I feel like im still stuck on Thursday. It doesn't help matters that 3 of the kiddos have all had a stomach bug and decided to share it with me today. Yay me :(

First soccer game

So not only am I sunburnt from todays soccer games but im exhausted.

James's team did a fantastic job. Excellent sportsmanship and all. Even when they figured out that they had won the game 6-2 'Green Bombers'.

James is a natural. Im talking like his coach kicked him a ball and has managed to impress us all. He needs help in certain areas but my goodness. I absolutely loved watching him out on the field today.

Shawn's team played today too. It's cute watching a bunch of 5 year olds run around trying to play. Im sure as time goes on they will all get better. I can tell Shawn isn't as big of a soccer fanatic as James is but in time he may prove me wrong.  They dont keep score and we have no refs but it was still fun to watch.