Update

What a week! On Tuesday, Nick saw a gastroenterologist that scheduled three different things that might help us understand what is going on. First, he ordered a bunch of blood tests (12 vials to be exact!) that will check for some rare disorders. Second, he set up a HIDA scan for next Tuesday to check his gall bladder for gall stones. The doctor said that this could cause some of his symptoms, but it is unusual to have it raise his liver function tests (and Nick's were 4 times the amount they should be). Lastly, they set up liver biopsy for Thursday. The procedure to stick a needle in his liver only took about 15 minutes, but he had to stay in the recovery room for at least 4 hours to make sure the liver did not bleed. Nick was able to sleep for much of that 4 hours and even though we were between a snorer and a chatterbox, I was able to read through 2 magazines! From the biopsy and some of the blood tests, the doctor is thinking that he has an "autoimmune hepatitis" which means his body is attacking his liver. We will know for sure in two weeks when the final report from his biopsy comes back, but in the meantime, the doctor started Nick on steroids that should decrease the liver inflammation and probably make him feel better. So, now we are just crossing our fingers it works!

Mixed Emotions

What an roller coaster day!

Upside: We had tickets to the LDS Draper Temple open house which I was so excited about. Emma always asks us about what we do inside the temple and when she gets to go there, so I was thrilled that we could take her inside. I remember as a teenager going through the Bountiful temple which I fell in love with. I knew right then that I wanted to get married there. The Draper temple was just as beautiful! The granite was imported from China and the wood inside was from Africa. It was interesting to see a "smaller" temple, but the spirit was so strong. They actually had us sit in one of the sealing rooms where Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone spoke about the sacred ordinances performed there! Amazing! My niece was also interviewed by Carole Mikita who was talking to people as they came out of the open house! The coolest thing about today was that Feb. 20th was the day Nick and I got engaged 9 years ago! What a great way to celebrate!

Downside: I wasn't sure if Nick was going to go with us because he was feeling very weak this morning and even his breakfast didn't stay down. I drove there and back so he could get some rest, but after walking around the temple and trudging up the two flights of stairs inside the temple he was exhausted! I felt so sad that he couldn't enjoy it more.

Upside: We had an appointment today to find out the test results to Nick's bone marrow biopsy. (We saw a hematologist/oncologist last week to determine what was making him so sick. The only way they could rule out any blood diseases was to do a bone marrow biopsy. Painful for Nick.....fascinating to me!). Luckily, all of his bone marrow looked normal which meant no cancer or other blood diseases like lymphoma and leukemia.

Downside: The hematologist had to refer us to a gastroenterologist (liver specialist) since that is where the problem seems to stem from. He will be looking at things like autoimmune diseases from what we understand. Fortunately, they could get us in on Tuesday which seems pretty quick to me. I hope whatever tests they do will also come back quickly because Nick is pretty tired of feeling crummy. (And I am tired of forcing him to eat and eating everything he isn't!)

J-E-L-L-O

My girls eat Jello occasionally (like Sunday dinner at Granma's). I never buy Jello, because it seems like a rip-off to spend a dollar on colored sugar but we sometimes splurge and make Jigglers. This week Nick bought some Jello in a cup and it is like the girls found a new food group! Emma was crying that she couldn't have it for her actual meal. Then, once she had it for a snack she only ate half of it and then gave the other half to Brielle. Hmmm...I guess she realized that Jello didn't taste any better from a cup!!

Sick Days

twirling to "How Does She Know?"

It has been a long week. It started mid-week last week with overall business. On Saturday, Nick called in sick to work because he was feeling dizzy, weak, and nauseated. He hasn't felt great since the first of the year. He has an extremely dry mouth which makes him drink a lot of fluids which makes him feel full so he doesn't eat much and since he is up several times a night to go to the bathroom he is tired all the time (a vicious cycle). He has had multiple blood tests for various things, but nothing conclusive. This weekend he seemed to get worse. I thought he was getting malnourished, so on Saturday I had to be the "food nazi" and force him to eat. He felt somewhat better Sunday, but I still had to practically force feed him. Grrr. Then, poor Emma was sniffling away on Sunday and by Monday she sounded bad, so the "sickies" stayed home. Today Emma didn't feel like going to dance (which was fine because I saw a bunch of girls at dance last week with red noses), but I think we have reached the boredom point!! Throughout the morning Brielle wouldn't share with Emma and Emma was purposely bugging Brielle. I ran to the basement for two minutes and missed a pinching fight, too. Ugh. So, in frustration, I let them watch a movie while I made lunch. They were in the mood for "Enchanted" and the next thing I knew they were getting their dress-up clothes on to dance and sing together. Sigh..... Thank goodness for princess movies.