Diagnosis

We just finish with ME doctor's appointment.

Although we had originally been told that the CT scan taken in Nov after her seizure was normal, apparently the radioneurologist actually found some very subtle areas of apparent decreased density in a few spots. This is suggestive of incomplete myelination (the fatty insulating material that surrounds nerves to help them propagate signals.) Some reasons for incomplete myelination would be head trauma during birth or in the first year of life or a genetic abnormality. The neuroradiologist written recommendation was for an MRI to be performed to clarify what was present in these areas.

Additionally, the EEG that was performed a couple of weeks ago showed frequent sharp slow wave discharges in two areas. One way of thinking about this is that instead of the normal chaotic electrical impulses, there is a frequent flickering burst of current. While this is apparently not usually enough to trigger a seizure, under the right conditions, it did. The clinical interpretation of this abnormal EEG is partial epilepsy with potential epileptogenicity.

One troubling aspect is that the areas of incomplete myelination do not directly correspond to the areas of flickering.

Based on these findings, it was recommended that ME be place on an anti-seizure medication, that an MRI be performed to further analyze the brain structures of affected areas, with another appointment in 3 months and another EEG in 1 or 2 years.

UNA lions

Since we spent a lot of time on the UNA campus this weekend, I thought I would share some pictures of lion art. UNA takes its mascot very seriously.

Turning Teen

JP went over the edge of childhood this week and has embarked on adolescence.

For his birthday dinner we got a babysitter for the girls and went to Carraba's. It was a nice, adult kind of dinner, complete with conversation. Is turning out to be a remarkable young man. Seems like it was not so long ago we were bringing him home from the hospital.

As usual, his birthday was accompanied by a bit a snow and cold weather.

For his party, he had a big sleepover, with Xbox, PS2, catchphrase, speed scrabble, and never trust a pirate, football, as well as a LOTR marathon thrown in over the period of many hours. I think all the boys got a couple of hours of sleep, but there was never a time when all of them were asleep at the same time.

Picture Frames

Awhile ago, I started making picture frames for our art prints.
This arose out of several needs: 1) the big wood frames cost way too much money in the store, 2) these frames of preset size often do not fit the print size, and 3) they are usually only available in one or two colors.

So I started making them my own, inspired by an old friend of ours who was an artist and made frames for his canvases all the time.

I have experimented with several different strategies for joining the pieces and my latest version seems the simplest.

Materials:
Buy several 1"x2"x 8 feet wood strips from your local hardware store. Cost is usually around $1.50 per strip. (Note: this means that the board is actually 0.75"x1.5"x ~8 feet long).
3/8" dole pole for around $0.70. Should last at least 3-4 frames.
Buy a box of wood screws. Cost is around $5 and will last you for many frames.
Buy some craft paint in appropriate colors. Cost is around $2 and will last many frames.

So total cost per frame is probably around $3.

Method:
Cut the wood strips to the appropriate size. Want the strip to cover about 0.75 inch of the print usually, as the white border tends to be from 1-2 inches.

















Lightly sand cut edges so flush.












Using a 3/8" drill bit, drill holes for the screws to connect the length-wise ends to the height- wise ends by marking in 0.75 inches from the ends of the length wise sides. Only drill about half way thru the board.
Using a square to assure right angles, drill pilot holes for the screws from this point all the way thru to the other board.
Then insert screw and tightened well. (I found that a power drill was useful to do the main work, but needed to hand-tighten to get totally tight without cracking frame.)



Then place a little bit of wood glue in each hole and insert dole. Cut dole off flush with board using a hand saw.
Sand the entire product smooth and paint with three to four coats of appropriate color.












Then staple the print directly to the frame using a staple gun.
Add a hanger and the framed print is ready to go.











Here are some finished products:

Pancake Breakfast

Saturday morning is traditionally our big breakfast day.
This week, ME wanted in on the action.

MidState Honor Band

Here's a few pictures from before the performance. We don't have any coverage of the actual performance, because to our surprise, they made an announcement that any video and audio recording of the performance was strictly prohibited. A CD of the performance will be shipped to us later.

But they sounded really good.

Bicycle Training

ME trying out her birthday present.

Note that there is no snow. We are back in the 70s.