Happy 12th Birthday Hannah!

Last night we celebrated Hannah's 12th birthday with our grandparents and great-grandparents. After dinner the kids were playing in the backyard and Hannah managed to get herself stuck in this tree. She may be a year older but, I'm not so sure about a year wiser.

Friday the 23rd Hannah had some of her friends over to celebrate her birthday. The group met at our house and headed to the bowling alley. Most were more interested in video games than knocking down pins. Later the manager apologized for turning on the arcade. From bowling we picked up pizza from Vito's, Hannah's favorite. After dinner and opening presents we had a camp fire in the backyard. Caleb particularly enjoyed listening to the girls share scary campfire stories. The kids also stuffed themselves with S'mores. At 10 PM we came in to blowout candles and add to their sugar rushes. After agreeing on a movie, the girls all found spots in the living room to crash. Surprisingly, with all the sugar in them, none of them lasted to the end of the flick. In the morning I treated them all to chocolate chip and strawberry pancakes. After round one, they took the second batch outside to eat on the swing set. Hannah had a blast and most off the girls made it out unscathed.

Click for more birthday photos

Holy Knots!

So it was about 9:30Pm tonight, the kids were tucked in and Jamey was off picking something up from the store. Down comes Emma who, "needed help," with what I would call the monster of all knots in her hair. She had just taken a shower before bed and was combing her hair. For some reason she tried to wind her hair up with the comb. It worked!. After about 10 minutes of cutting away the exposed comb I lost my patience and thought this would be a better job for mom. Jamey, who is blessed with a boat load of patience for this type of task, was on her way home when she received my call from me for guidance. So she started shortly after 10:00PM and manage to get the comb free after an hour of "surgery". By 11:30PM she was able to get the rats out of Emma's hair and send the poor girl to bed. We are pretty sure that was the last time she tried to "wind" her hair up with a comb.

Sad News

With a saddened heart I am posting that one of Nordhaus triplets past away this morning. Jack, the oldest of three, went to meet the Lord this morning while in his parents' arms. Please continue to keep Chris, Kevin, Ava, Leah and the rest of the family in your prayers.

“For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose” - Romans 8:28

Hospitalized!

So, this has been quite a week for us!
It all started last Sunday evening when Jamey and I both thought we might be suffering from a small case of food poisoning. I was up all night due to stomach pains. I wasn't sure if it was the beans I took to dinner, with our Life Group from church, or if it was the medicine I was taking for my bulged/herniated disks. By the way, my MRI confirmed I have two bulging, and one herniated/ruptured disks. Anyway, I stayed home Monday feeling slightly better than the night before. Tuesday night was much of the same; however, I managed to get enough sleep to meet for my weekly Bible study at Bob Evens, and then headed to work for the morning. I almost made it to noon before I packed up my laptop and headed back home to sleep and groan. On Wednesday I was still complaining about my stomach, and had added a lovely fever of about 103F. Jamey called the doctor who said to go to the ER. He wanted them to find the source of the fever (infection).
By the time we made our way to the hospital, my fever broke (thanks to some Tylenol and a shower), and I was soaking wet with sweat. About 5 minutes out from the Bay Park ER I started to go into convulsion-like chills (called rigors). They grew in intensity; and, by the time I arrived, and they rushed me back into an exam room, my heart rate was over 190 and my blood pressure was almost double my normal reading (160/80 vs. about 90/60). In seconds I was surrounded by a team of medical personnel, tons of equipment - crash cart, EKG, portable X-ray, you name it! After several attempts by four different nurses, they got an IV and were pushing emergency meds. It was pretty scary for Jamey, as I am sure you can imagine! The doctors were able to get my heart rate down with the IV meds; and, after a CT Scan, 3 EKG's, blood and urine tests they diagnosed me with PSVT (tachycardia). The attending Dr said he couldn't explain why my heart was racing like that (although he asked several times if I did cocaine or what street drugs I might have done). After approx. 6 hours, we headed back home with a heart monitor and directions to see our family doctor in the morning for a follow-up. Jamey tried to remind him that we came in for fever and abdominal pain, but he was rude and dismissive - obviously uncorncerned. Jamey closely monitored my vitals, and did her best to keep my fever down all through that night.
At some point the next morning my fever spiked to over 104F. We quickly headed back to the ER to discover that I had had appendicitis, my appendix had ruptured, and a large abscess had formed in my abdomen. Eureka! It sure took a lot to get to the bottom of all this, considering we've learned that I was a "text-book" appendicitis case when we first visited the ER! My surgeons were hesitant to send me into surgery with such an infection in my abdomen. The surgery would end up being much more invasive than a typical appendectomy, have more short and long term risks, and they were sure that they would end up having to take some (if not all) of my lower intestines. It was just more risk than they wanted to take (or Jamey and I wanted to take). Instead, they decided to try and place a catheter into the abscess and attach an external drain coming from my stomach in an attempt to shrink the abscess and remove some of the infection. I instantly began to feel better after a portion of the infection was removed.
I have now spent the last 5 days on IV antibiotics and fluids in the hospital. Yesterday my condition was upgraded, and I was moved out of the ICU into a regular med-surg room. I finally made it through 24 hrs without running a fever as well! This was the 'magic' sign the docs were waiting to see before they'd even discuss discharge. I was also informed that the latest CT showed that the abscess has been reduced to half of its orginal size. So, I hope to go home tomorrow; but, will still have the drain, and be taking IV antibiotics from home. Once the infection is completely under control (they suspect about 6-8 weeks), I will be having a laparoscopic appendectomy. Wow! I can't wait for that to all be over so that I can finally proceed with the neurosurgeon about my back! When it rains it pours!
Talk about 'pouring'...God surely poured His blessings out on me and my family when he protected me from the life-threatening health complications I have dealt with in the past week! The Great Physician kept me in His perfect grace until we saw a competent Dr that was able to properly diagnose and begin treating me! He didn't stop there either... He has provided me a remarkably speedy recovery, wonderfully encouraging friends and an amazingly supportive family! Thank you everyone; but, most importantly, thank GOD!

Baby News:Triplets!

Congratulations to Jamey's cousin Chris and her husband Kevin Nordhaus on the arrival of there new babies. That's right, not one, not two but, three little ones. The babies were born prematurely on Thursday, May 1st between 8:12-8:13 AM. There original due date was August 11th so they were just coming into their 26th week of gestation. They were bless with one boy, Jack, and two girls, Ava and Leah. Jack was born first and is the largest @ 1 lb. 10 oz. and 12" long. Ava came second at 1 lb. 9 oz. and just slightly smaller than her "big" brother. Leah is 1 lb. 3 oz. and barely 9" long. All 3 are doing well at Toledo Hospital and are expected to remain there until August. Please keep the whole Nordhaus family in your prayers.

Trip to the Zoo

This past Sunday we ventured off the to the Toledo Zoo. We had a late start, as usual, and only had time to see a few of our favorite animals. We were all looking forward to seeing Grace's reaction to all the new creatures she was seeing for the first time. We started at the Arctic Encounter where we saw the seals feeding and the polar bears sunning themselves. We took a quick look at the aviary. Hannah was paranoid because on her last visit a bird dropped a "present" on her head. We then headed to the other side of the zoo in route to the primates.

Zoo Photo Slideshow

Bummer of a Week

Well this was a rough week for us. I injured my back at some point last weekend and have been suffering for it since. The doctor believes I have a inflamed disk between my L5&S1 vertebrae. The same disk Brian had surgery on last year. The swelling is pinching my sciatic nerve, causing a lot of pain in my left leg. I had to work from home Wednesday through Friday because I could only stand or lay down and was not able to drive. I finally recieved some steroids on Friday night and am beginning to feel some relief. I'm praying that the swelling will continue to go down and I will not have any long term problems. To make matters worse, Hannah injured her right elbow on her last day at camp. For some reason she thought she was a gymnast, was doing cartwheels and hyper extended her elbow. She had to go to the doctors right after she arrived at the school. She went for x-rays yesterday but, we are waiting to hear back from the doctor. Thank God for Jamey's patience this week. Without her I would have been stuck at home and still be in a lot of pain.