A month full of photos

 Ideally, I should be writing a post every few days to update the blog and let everyone know what is going on with us.  Truthfully, that is hard. I have a lot of ideas on what I should write about and we are taking our camera to more and more places.  But the truth is, it is hard to get me to sit down and actually type.  I find myself on the computer all day. When I get home, I don't even want to turn on the tv.   I don't know, maybe I am getting old, or more mature, or even senile.  I don't know to solve this problem.  Until I get better at this, I will just dump a lot of pictures and stories and hope things make sense along the way.

 These pictures are from opening day at T-ball. Henry played a game and we headed to the high school to watch them play. It was a nice day, but the problem was the concessions only took cash and we are a modern family with only credit cards.  What was a family to do? Leave!

 Henry says "We went home and got money and came back"  (we actually didn't and I don't know he thinks this).

 About a week after that we had a mini Solyntjes reunion. My uncle Jim lives in Pennsylvania and has lived their for a long time. He rarely comes and visits. In fact, Aaron has never even met him.  He was passing through because his father in law died so the whole family got to meet him.

 It seems like a typical Solyntjes gathering. We had our special crackers and dip, talked about the Twins, golf and business stuff.  I feel like since my grandparents died 10 years ago, it just takes a huge effort go get everyone together. It is not intention, for I feel everyone likes each other, just logistics.

 When I look at these pictures of Mark and Jim, and even my dad, I start to see my grandparents, particularly my Grandma Frances.  I like the reminders

 This is Jim admiring my father's hole in one.

 When I took this picture, I had no idea which one or two fingers he was giving me. I am happy to report it was the nice fingers.

 That afternoon Henry had a T-ball game.  I really like this part of parenting where I can sit back and enjoy watching my son have fun.

 A lot of times he tries to tell us he does not have any fun, but then you catch him dancing in the field.

 Every kid has their own baseball gloves, helmet and bat.  I'm not even sure I had a batting glove in high school.  Really though, I am quite happy with the way this league is run. It is very professional. The coaches are awesome and are out on the field talking to the kids and helping them learn all aspects of the game. It is always a very positive experience.

I was listening to NPR or something a bit back and they talked about the parental role in cheering for sports. The person on was a former MLB player who has looked into what parents should do and say during the game. He seemed to come up with the conclusion that we should say and do nothing. If the child hears us cheering, he might start feeling extra pressure and feel like he needs to do more than he is able to and then start not having fun.  Then he will quit and just sit on the couch all day and be a slug.

It seems extreme, but then I think that if Henry hears my voice, maybe it will pull him away from reality a little bit.  So for now, I am clapping, and afterwards I might cheer him along a little. It probably doesn't matter much, but just in case.

I also heard that there are three things to say to kids before games: 1. Try your best  2. Have fun 3.  I love you.  

That's it.  Seems pretty simple and too the point. I like that. 

Man, I am a sucker for pictures of Ruby!   I don't know how man  I should include.  I usually get to see her at least once a week. Franny and Ruby are pals.

Since my somnolence syndrome, I am starting to get my life back on its track.  I told someone it was a hiccup and Franny looked at me and said "I didn't know you had the hic-cups." For the first few weeks, my drive was really diminished, now I am starting to get it back. I am thinking of what is my priorities, and what I can let go right now.  I think it general, I am a pretty easy going person, and now I have to give into myself a little.  It needs to be okay that I am not where I want to be, or doing what I want.

But still, I have a plan.  I told myself I would do three things today. The first thing is this blog.  The second things is walk on the treadmill. The third is to clean the kitchen.  All of these things are feasible and if I finish it, I shall feel accomplished.   I haven't done any exercising for 2 weeks and my body is tired. I just need baby steps.

Before this whole brain tumor thing, I was planning on a half marathon. Maybe in a year I can do that, but I need to start now.

Henry and Franny having a little dance party.  They love this song Gummy Bears and bust a move with it! I love seeing them acting so free.

I wouldn't have guessed it, but Henry has the moves! 

And then the dance party is over!

Omaha

 This last weekend was memorial day, and I actually had a day off. We haven't really had a family vacation in a while, so we thought this would be a good time as any. When we lived in Kansas City, I always thought we would take a small trip to Omaha and visit their world renowned zoo and revile in what ever Omaha has too offer. Well, that never happened, but after 10 years or so, we finally made it here.

 With my somnolence syndrome, I was looking for a rest, but I was a little nervous about all the energy to would entail.  I definitely was not feeling normal, but I seemed to manage, and well the kids had a blast.

 We ended up meeting John and Sarah and the kids there. We went to the Omaha Storm Chasers minor league game on Saturday night. As soon as we got there, it started to rain and it was wet and cold.  This was not my idea of fun, but I kept positive, and the kids seems to actually enjoy it. We got some hot chocolate, some popcorn and eventually the rain stopped.  All the kids didn't seem to mind at all, which was good.  I kept thinking Henry was going to crack and have a miserable time, but he didn't.

 The kids seemed to just pick off from where they left each other about 6 months ago.  I think the Apperson's have no shy bones in their bodies, so I guess that helps bring my kiddos a little more forward.  I wonder how it is to raise extroverted children....I'll never know.

 In the outfield they had a little play area with a play ground, air slides and a carousel. We rode those until they shut them down.  I am happy to say the merry go round didn't make me sick at all!

 Franny running back and forth, back and forth. 

 We stayed out good and late that night and the kids slept well.  When they got up, it was time for a little hotel TV and wait for daddy to wake up.  I swear, this was one of the highlights. If you get Franny going, she will just start shouting "Hotel, Hotel."

 In the morning we headed to the Omaha zoo. Because of what I heard to the zoo, I had pretty high expectations. Overall it is a good zoo with a lot of places we never even had time to visit (we were there for about 7 hours). Being around the Minnesota and Kansas City zoo, I am not sure if it is in a class of its own. I would say they are all similar. The Omaha zoo does have interesting enclosures like the dessert dome and the aquarium, so that is going for it. It was worth the visit, just not astounding.  I really need to lower my expectations, maybe in life in general. That way I will never be disappointed!

 We are in the dessert dome exhibit here. The design is pretty great and it really meanders a lot. You can get up close to a lot of the animals.

Franny says "Our friends are going to come later"

 This is a little blurry picture, but it is hard to find the right setting when taking a picture like this. Look at how happy these guys are. I guess Sarah is becoming and real nature expert thanks to her inquisitive kiddos.

 This is the only time she actually wore a hat and we are indoors!

 This is the time we were waiting to go on a ski lift ride. Henry was real nervous about it. I again, didn't want to ruin his mood and force him to do something he clearly was scared about.  In compromise, Henry and I went to the gift shop while everyone else rode the ski lift. Success!

 This was likely the highlight of Henry, Luke and Cole. This is a place where they got to touch the stingrays, and they did, over and over again.

 Franny was more content to just contemplate life.

Joy!

Franny says "I don't want to fight with you any more"

After the zoo, the Apperson's left and our family hung out in the old Omaha district. Sometime when I was in college, I had a band tour here. I can't remember if it was regular band or jazz band. All I know is that I walked on the cobble streets and saw horse drawn carriages (didn't know KC did that either). It was funny walking down those streets again, but this time with a husband and kids.  The street is exactly the same.  We ate that night at a southwestern restaurant and I had the best nachos of my life, no kidding.  They were called Aztec nachos and besides the normal Mexican flavorings, they had curry.  Mmmmm  I need to go back to Omaha.

This trip makes me realize how great travelers are kids are, and makes me want to keep doing it. We have a Minnesota History membership, and maybe it is time to explore this state a little more.

Somnolence Syndrome

I need to write something and this is the first time I actually have energy to do it, so here goes.

Last week I was feeling pretty good. I felt I was getting close to my baseline. Sure, I couldn't run more than two miles without a headache, but I was managing. I was going to a high intensity weight lifting class, I was going to golf lessons with my mom and more. This last Friday, I biked to work and back (6 miles one way). I did that last week and it seemed fine. When I got done with biking on Friday, I was TOTALLY spent. I sat in a chair and just couldn't get up. Luckily Aaron ordered a pizza, but I didn't even want to eat that because my stomach was a little weird.  I took a couple bites and that was it.  I think I even went to bed early.

Throughout the weekend, things got worse. I was doing enough to get by, but just barely.  I knew I needed to seed the garden. I took me a half hour sitting on the cough to just motivate me to start it.  I did, but that was the only major accomplishment that day.  Every day seemed a little worse. I became a little more nauseated and didn't feel like eating much at all (so not me!).  I was getting a little headache off/on, but my head just felt weird, like something different was happening.

On Monday I went to work and after work took a nap so I could make it to my golf instruction. Tuesday was hard.  It was my long day and I had to will myself to continue and went straight to bed afterwards.  On Wednesday I went to my doctor.  After 2 1/2 hours in her clinic, she wanted to hospitalize me for observation overnight.  I went to the ED where they did a bunch of testing (all normal), gave me a liter of fluid and sent me home that night.  They didn't feel there was need for hospitalization.

About this time and the next day, I just felt miserable. Yes my stomach hurt and I was nauseated, but that wasn't the worst part.  It was the apathy.  I have never felt this before and never so strong.  It was as if I didn't have the energy to do anything AND I didn't care about it. During my surgery and radiation, I always had the drive to improve and get better.  With this, I didn't.  I just wanted to sleep on the couch and call it good.  Going to the doctors, getting checked it and waiting was so taxing on my body. I couldn't even think about the next step of anything.  My normal doctor and her partner were afraid of a pituitary problem because the radiation did go through the pituitary.  They had to do more tests, but I couldn't do them until the next morning so on Thursday I was sent home to just rest and get worse. It was frustrating and heartbreaking. At this point I just wanted to go in the hospital and stay until they fixed me.

Yesterday afternoon I finally got ahold of my radiation oncologist. I tried to call her the last few days, but she wasn't getting the messages and she had a day off and just bad luck.  When she called me, she told me I had Somnolence Syndrome. This is something that happens to about 1% of adults with brain radiation. It starts at 4 weeks to 2 months and the main symptoms are sleepiness and apathy.  The good news is that it is temporary and it can be helped with steroids.

I have had one dose last night and one dose this morning and I feel, well more myself.  I don't have all my energy back, but I am not apathetic and do not want to sleep all the time. I am going in the right direction. 

It's weird to have something I have never even heard off, but I am glad there is treatment and glad it will be short lived.