Movember

Since today is Halloween that means it is also the last day of October and therefore November is just around the corner.  Along with a group of men here at GSIS I am going to be participating in Movember.  The point of Movember is to raise funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.


I have known several men in my life that have battle against various forms of prostate issues so this is a cause that seemed applicable to me.  


What does Movember entail?  Me growing a wicked awesome mustache for a month.  Why?  So that when people ask "Why is that thing on your face?" I can say, "For Movember to raise awareness for prostate cancer."


If you are interested in donating to the cause you can donate to me at: http://us.movember.com/mospace/1618874/


I gave myself my last full shave for a month this morning.  I have no idea what this is going to look like.  I can only hope that I will do some of the great staches out there justice:

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from....

Changgyeong Palace

Tom blogged earlier this school year about checking out Changgyeong Palace.  Little Everett and I had never been so after church last weekend we decided to take a stroll around the palace.  It was a perfect fall day for it!  Before getting to the palace we decided to stop for a bit to eat.  We found a great Italian restaurant and despite our garlic/basil pizza being green, it was super tasty!

E took a nap during the meal.

The green pizza:

Palace Entrance:

Don't Feed the Birds!!!! (this one is for you Adam Osborne)

 Walking along the palace grounds:

 The famous green house:

 They had such interesting plants inside the green house:

 E biting on his fingers. This is his newest hobby (maybe teething???)

 (Notice the outfit change.....)

 Love this one!

 My newest favorite picture!

Happy fall everyone!

Flash Mob!

Tom and I were a part of a flash mob! In the middle of our school's pep rally "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice came on and we performed a dance for our students.  Tom and I hid in the back and giggled as we messed up most of the moves! We had a great time. Go Knights!

Math-letics

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of sponsoring 7 of our GSIS math students at a math competition at another international school in Seoul.  I was really proud of the students that went because they all worked hard throughout the competition.  The day started with each student taking an individual test (roughly 150-200 kids came) at one of three levels (all of our students were in the middle level).  

Some of the other school's students were not as committed to the competition...

After the individual test each school took part in a team test where the whole school submitted one answer sheet for a 32 question test.  This test was freaking hard.  Here are some of our kids working at it.

After that it was time for a mental break with a pizza and ice cream lunch.

The final session of the day took our top four competitors to a "school bowl" and the other three took part in a partner test (which took place outside on this beautiful fall day).

Though our group was by far the smallest contingent our students worked really hard and even won some awards.  One student placed 3rd in the intermediate level individual test. And our top four took second place in the intermediate level "school bowl."  Also I won a raffle for a 20000won ($20) Starbucks gift card and a book about code writing.  It was good day and like I said before I was really proud of their efforts.

Our Stay at the Hospital--Part 2

"We are having a hard time finding you a room," said our international clinic helper, Rose.  "You can either have an expensive, private room on the VIP floor or you can have a semi-private room in the international clinic for a much cheaper price."  I inquire a bit more about the semi-private room and Rose responds, "The other person in the room has a mental problem.  She sometimes gets very angry. I can't really talk about it because of privacy issues.  It's just a mental problem."  At this point, we were going on hour four in the ER so we just wanted a room.  We hesitated with the mental problem but thought it didn't sound contagious so we'd be alright.

We show up to our room to see Everett's name tag (notice the spelling).

 We walk into our room and see an African American women in her early 30's who seemed quite pleasant.  "How are you all doing? Oh, I'm so sorry your baby is sick. I'll pray for your baby.  Do you all want the TV off? If it's bothering you we can turn it off."  Upon first impression I thought, this won't be bad at all!

This is Tom doing a breathing treatment in our room. The roomy is behind Tom behind the curtain.

Then 30-45 minutes later we had another conversation with E's roomy that went something like this, "Oh, I'm so sorry your baby is sick. I'll pray for your baby.  Do you all want the TV off? If it's bothering you we can turn it off."  Tom and I respond kindly then turn and give each other this look of, "Didn't we just have this conversation?"  Luckily our roomy's friend was there and she mouthed to us that she has a short term memory problem.  It all began to make sense....

Other repeated phrases we heard over the next day were to Tom, "Wow! You're really tall? How tall are you?" And to her friend, "Did you eat my lunchables? Why didn't you give me a hot pocket?"  And our personal favorite that was said to all in the room, "You may not want to go in there for a while...." which she would say before and/or after leaving the bathroom.

So after having the same conversations repeatedly we found out we were being transfered to single room in the peds ward! Sweeeeet!!!!! It was great....while it lasted. We found out after a day of the private room we were being moved to another semi-private room because of our insurance (actually it was because of a miscommunication).  We were okay with the move until we walked into the germ factory that was the shared room! E's second roomy was a 4 year old boy that coughed like a seal was dying inside of him.  I instantly went to the nurses and said I wasn't comfortable sharing a room with someone else that could be contagious with something.  They said that so far the roomy tested negative for 2 of the 3 virus tests and so did Everett, so since they were in the same situation they thought it would be okay.  What?!!! That makes no sense. I protested. I told them I didn't want my child with someone that potentially has a virus while he was already sick.  But there was nothing that could be done.  They already moved us and there was no extra space.  So we pulled our curtain around E's bed and washed our hands incessantly.

Here's Everett in his second shared space. 

Aside from being a potential germ factory, this shared room was also interesting because the little boy would cry, throw tantrums, and worse of all have night terrors.  He woke up a few times throughout the night SCREAMING for his mom.  It was intense.

Fortunately after our protests from the day before they moved some folks around so E could move back to the private room.  This was such a blessing! Right after they told us about our move to a private room the doctor came to tell us that, ironically, Everett had a virus (RSV) while the 4 year old roomy did not test positive for any viruses. She told us this with a little chuckle.

Pretty much everyday we were at the hospital we were re-located, which made our stay that much more adventurous.  With each move the Korean cleaning staff would come in and hurriedly pack up all of our stuff and force us out of the room, whether we were ready or not!  My favorite moment with the cleaning staff was when one lady took our bar of soap out of the bathroom, grabbed it with her plastic glove on, and then took off the glove around the soap so the soap was contained in her glove.  I was a bit weirded out by it, but it was soap after all.

Despite our "adventures" in moving I still feel like Everett received quality care and he constantly had people checking on him to make sure he was progressing.

Next up in our series: awkward cultural exchanges

Everett is 3 months old!!!!

We love you Everett! Happy 3 months little man! 

Our Stay at the Hospital

We've been back to our normal lives for a week now.  So far, Everett has survived going back to daycare after being sick and he seems to be getting back to his normal self.

There was so much that happened while we were at the hospital and I've barely had time to reflect on it all since we jumped right back into work.  I may attempt to do a small series on different things we experienced while staying at the hospital in Korea.

I'll preface all of this by saying that in the beginning the whole thing was very scary.  When you become a mom it's like you're instantly given all these amazingly deep emotions, and it seems that E being sick gave me the opportunity to stretch out those emotions!  I can't even describe what a helpless feeling it is to see your child being sick and there is nothing you can do about it.   I don't know if I've ever prayed for anything more consistently and more passionately than for the health of our baby boy.

The journey to the hospital started with what we thought was Everett just having his first cold.  He didn't have a fever (and never got one) but he just seemed to be more tired and stuffed up than normal.  We noticed his breathing was a bit labored so on Saturday we took him to the doctor.  He was diagnosed with bronchiolitis, given an antibiotic, and told to return in 3 days.  After two days of him not improving we took him back to the local doctor and he said he thought E's lungs were sounding worse.  He prescribed a whole bunch of medications, which wouldn't happen in the States, so we took him to our school nurse to get her opinion on everything.  She took one look at Everett and said we needed to take him to the hospital and get another opinion.  This is when I really started to freak out.  Our school nurse is awesome and usually is very calm about things.  To see her worried and insistent that we leave for the hospital got me FREAKED OUT.

Here's Tom giving E a breathing treatment at the doctor's office by our apartment.

We arrived at the hospital and the international clinic at Samsung Medical Center had people waiting to help us through the process in the ER.  I'm so thankful for this because the ER was overwhelming.  (Keep in mind that Seoul is one of the top five biggest cities in the world.) There were people stuck with IV's EVERYWHERE.  I'm not kidding. It was like wall to wall people with IV's waiting to be seen.  It felt like we were in a war zone.  We went back to the pediatrics area in the ER that was basically this little hallway with a few rooms.  There was hardly any room to sit so I sat on a coffee table while I tried to nurse Everett in the midst of the madness.  The doctor we saw at the ER was quality.  She confirmed that he had bronchiolitis and they called in a pediatric lung specialist to evaluate Everett.  The doctors all agreed he needed to be admitted and started on breathing treatments.

Then we waited in that cramped ER for six hours.

SIX HOURS!

The doctor ordered x-rays, and said it would be quicker to get it done in the ER. Since we saw the doctor so quickly we thought our wait would be short, but right after we found a place to sit in the tiny hallway there was a big emergency where for at least an hour doctors were running in and out of a child's room with alarms going off, etc.  It was a scary sight to see.  After that chaos died down we continued to wait and wait and wait. Finally they told us they couldn't find a room for us and were searching for a place to put us in the hospital.  In the mean time, they hooked Everett up to an oxygen censor and then oxygen when they realized his oxygen levels were low.  They gave him a series of tests where Tom and I had to literally hold him down while they stuck him with needles and swabbed his nose.  They also gave him an IV, which took forever to get because they couldn't find a good vain to put it in.  Everett doesn't really cry but he WAILED while all this was happening.  We literally were holding him down with tears streaming down our faces.   I'll never forget the pained look on Everett's face while he was getting stuck and prodded.

This is the IV in his hand.  They put a little paddle under his hand and wrapped everything in tape to try to keep Everett from pulling the IV out.  Everett loves putting his hands on his head and in his mouth so he whacked himself in the head with his paddle hand a few times...poor guy!

 Long story short, we got to the hospital at 1:30pm and didn't get to a room until after 7pm.  It was such a long, hard day.  I feel like the medical care we got at the ER/hospital was top notch, but I've never witnessed anything like being in that ER for so long.

Next up on the blogging series: Everett's hospital roommates.  Get ready for short term memory loss and night terrors!

I'm getting a new sister!

I'm so happy to announce that my older brother, James, is engaged!!!  

Here he is with his fiance telling our Papa the big news! 

We're so excited to have Jennifer be a part of our family.  James and Jennifer are perfect for each other and we've been waiting for the day when my brother would pop the question! 

Congrats, big bro!  Marriage is such a blessing.  You'll make a great husband.

home sweet home

Everett took a nap this morning as we waited to visit with the doctors....

 We were feeling hopeful that today would be the day he would be discharged.  The doctors came and said that his overall condition was good enough to be released from the hospital! Praise the Lord!  After we got permission to leave the nurse (as seen below) came in and took Everett's oxygen sensor off, so for the first time in almost six days Everett didn't have a cord coming off of his body!!!

 Although it still may take another week or two for E's lungs to totally clear up, the doctors felt that he had made major improvements in his health while at the hospital.  We were so excited to get the car seat  out of the car and take our little man home! 

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and kind thoughts.  Everett's health really took a turn for the better once he was in the hospital and had so many people fighting for his speedy recovery.  THANKS! We're so so so thankful to the Lord for how he provided for our family this week.  There is still much to reflect on about this whole experience, but that will come in time.  For now we're just enjoying a weekend at home together as a family.

RSV

Although there have been some bumps over the past 24 hours, overall things are looking up for our little guy! Everett was able to keep his oxygen levels up so he has been able to stay off any extra oxygen.  We keep monitoring his oxygen saturation levels and they appear to be better today than they were yesterday.  The doctors continue to say that his lungs are sounding less wheezy and crackly (one of the three doctors said he thought that crackle was now gone).  He is still taking in more breathes per minute than normal and shows signs of some labored breathing, but all the doctors say he is looking much better than when we were in the ER a few days ago. 

Some of his lab results came back today and it revealed that he tested positive for RSV, which is a highly contagious virus.  There are a lot of people sick around our school and in older kids/adults RSV just appears as a common cold.  However, for young babies, like our little Everett, RSV can lead to more serious conditions like bronchiolitis which can lead to hospitalization.  This is something we now know all too well. 

I'm so thankful we came to the hospital so Everett could be monitored and treated properly.  He's been getting breathing treatments through a nebulizer every fours and has been getting IV fluids to prevent dehydration (this was especially important in the beginning when he had diarrhea).  

 Going through all this while living in Korea has had its challenges, but I feel like Everett has gotten solid care at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.   Their international clinic has bent over backwards to make sure we understand what is going on and to help us through all the processes/procedures Everett has needed.  SMC is also a teaching hospital, so we have two residents that have been working directly with Everett and then once a day "the Professor" (as they all call him) comes and checks out E and gives us his final conclusions.  I feel like they have been very attentive to his needs and quality in their care.

There have been a few bumps in the road, as I mentioned earlier....

• We got kicked out of our private room last night and moved into a room shared room with a four year old that cried way more than Everett.  
• The said four year old woke up a few times in the night with what Tom and I would predict were night terrors.  Out of no where he would start screaming, "Ohhhhhh--Maaaaaa! Ohhhhh----Ma!!!" (Oh-ma is mom in Korean).  I really mean screaming. 
• Tom had to go back to work this morning so it was just me and E all morning.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but it's hard to maneuver him with all the cords hanging from his legs. His left foot has an IV so it's strapped to a splint to keep it from coming out. The other foot has his oxygen sensor, which makes his toe glow like Rudolph all night.
• Additionally, they had to take more blood work and I had to pin him down while they stuck him.  Terrible. Terrible. Terrible feeling to go through that. 
• Mid-poopy diaper change the staff announced we were moving rooms again. It was great to move back to a private room, but there was little warning. So while I'm taking care of poopy pants this lady starts packing all my stuff up onto a cart and moving us whether I was ready or not!

Despite the bumps, all that matters is that Everett seems to be improving.  The doctor said we MAY get to go home tomorrow but then he said it may be Saturday...So, it seems like we're getting closer to E getting a clean bill of health!

E Update

Guess who got taken off of his oxygen today???!!!!

After we got moved to the pediatric ward (yeah!) and into a private room (double yeah!) they took the IV out of his hand (well...really it stopped working after we changed his clothes and moved it around too much) and they moved it to his foot.  This is great because baby boy loves chewing on his hands (evidence seen above) but it does make changing him a bit more complicated. 

We chatted with the doctors this morning.  All three that we've been working with said that he sounds better today than yesterday but his lungs still have the wheezing/crackling sound.  I think we'll be staying at the hospital until all that clears up.  

Also, for the first time since we've been here the doctor said..."Don't worry. He'll be okay."  It's taken three days of being at the hospital but finally we've been given some comfort!  The doctors said it will still be a few more days before we go home, and they're going to run more blood work and take x-rays tomorrow to see how he's progressed.  

I feel like I won't be completely at peace with all this until his lungs sound clear, but for now I'm finding comfort in the Lord and the fact that he keeps showing signs of improvement.  

Thanks again to all for your love.  Keep the prayers coming...specifically that his lungs would clear.