Aquaponics and Influenza A

The week started normal with everyone going to their jobs. On Tuesday after school, Hurricane said he didn't feel well. I wondered if he didn't want to go to piano lessons. After taking his temperature (101.4), he went to bed.

By bedtime his temperature was 103.8, and he had no desire to move any where. He slept Wednesday. Underfoot stayed home because he didn't want to go to school and had a cough that he had been struggling to overcome.

Lance came and went to work while Hurricane and I hung out in his room "getting" better. When we gave him a bath on Thursday night, purple bruises showed up on the back of his leg.

Never having seen that before we called the best doctor we know, Uncle Shaun, and asked him if we should head to the emergency room or wait it out until morning and see the pediatrician. Uncle Shaun said he'd learn about it and get back to us. He said something about purpura. And as is due diligence we wikied the definition which is "a rash of purple spots on the skin caused by internal bleeding from small blood vessels." We decided to wait until seeing our local doctor.

Midway through the week Aunt Jill sent a package that boosted spirits. The Yoda and books were a perfect spirit lifter.

Underfoot woke up Friday with a temperature, and it was Lance's Friday off. We made a family trip of going to the doctor. She confirmed that Hurricane had Henoch-Scholein Purpura and that we would need to bring in urine samples over the next 3 weeks to check that there was no blood in his urine.

She also swabbed his nose to check for flu. The flu was confirmed as A. Underfoot was then prescribed Tamiflu, and Dr. Herron suggested Lance and I start Tamiflu as well. By the way, Tamiflu is rather expensive with insurance.

Underfoot started with his fever Friday evening and is getting better. The Tamiflu has helped a lot.

While Hurricane was sick with a high fever, he mentioned that if he had enough money he would buy his Dad a new car, his Mom a new sewing machine, and Underfoot and himself all the new Lego sets coming out for the next year.

The weekend was spent drinking water, eating blandish food, and rest. Lance was taking care of weekend jobs while I cared for children. We are all mending well.

Lance sold his aquaponics system this last weekend as well. He posted it a week ago and helped the couple load it up.

The reason is that Lance felt that it was time. He has really enjoyed the experiment and hopes to make a better system later down the road. We all had mixed feelings about the system going. We aren't sure how we will attract bees at this point for our yard.

Be well.

Superheated Underwear

It has been a long time since I've written the weekly email. Too long, perhaps. The recent weeks, Wendy and I have contemplated our life circumstances. We've had the chance to talk about the pains we've experienced along the way. We have talked about joy and sadness, about heartache and heart break.

The interesting irony of life is that you don't always know where it will lead you. I graduated from High School 20 years ago. I would have never guessed I'd be in Arizona working on missiles.

On Saturday we ran some errands in town. I happened to be driving and I was horribly lost. Wendy knew exactly where we were and chose not say anything. In the middle of this, we heard Hurricane say to Underfoot, " and he put on his super heated underwear and ... " The two were talking about there Lego figures fighting bad guys in the Arctic. For some reason, the super heated underwear comment just was so funny to us.

We wish the best for you and your family, where ever you may be.

Here are a few pictures from our week. We hope you enjoy them.

Auntie Yvette sent a picture she took of our family 

when we went hiking with her. 

She sent the picture after she got home.

 Night time ritual of reading a book with Daddy.

 Underfoot was ready for the light to be turned out so he could sleep.

This was a sunset on the way to drop something off.

The clouds had feathered beautifully.

Cobb Salad was supper one night.

 Here is a picture with the green of the salad.