Sophie's World

2/5/2010

2010-02-05T23:09:13Z

5:00PM CST: Randall is on his second of three trips out of town, and we're surviving, but we sure do miss him! Everyone is doing well, in spite of the recent snow storms. We haven't lost power, thank goodness, and the kids only had to miss a little school.

Lizzy got 4th place in the mid-high spelling bee yesterday, which included 6th-8th grade. She lasted the lost longest among the 6th graders, but she doesn't get to go on to the next level (only the top 3 do). I was really proud of her though! Her losing word: luxury. Maybe it's a good thing that she's not familiar enough with that concept to know how to spell it!

02/09/2010

2010-02-10T03:39:47Z

9:40 CST: Randall is now on his third of three trips, and this one has been a bear. His flight to Dallas was delayed, and then he found out in Dallas that hsi flight to Little Rock was cancelled. He got rerouted to a different airport, which meant that his pre-paid rental car at the original airport did him no good (and he lost that money). No rental cars available at the new airport, so he took a shuttle. There is still no sign of his luggage, so after wearing yesterday's clothes all day today, he is headed to Walmart to buy necessities (and a new suitcase).

Meanwhile, I've come down with bronchitis and am really having trouble with my lungs. I have asthma, so i can usually take an inhaler, but I'm also having some issues with tachycardia (looking into that with a cardiologist, and we think it's getting under control), so the albuterol isn't really a good option right now. After two shots in a place I won't mention, and several prescriptions, I'm hoping I'm going to be feeling better soon.

The girls are well. As reported on facebook, yesterday I dealt with one child who lied about being sick so she could come home from school early (Lizzy, who didn't feel well, but she wasn't that bad), and another child who apparently has a boyfriend (Sophie, who came home yesterday and drew a picture of a boy named Trace).

Until next time,
Susan

03/02/2010

2010-03-02T22:58:56Z

5:00 PM CST: It's been quite an exciting time here lately! Sophie had her 3-month oncology checkup yesterday and all was well.

In addition to my recent illnesses I described in my last update, I've been having some issues with my heart as well. Unexpected rapid heart rate (over 200 BPM), usually in the morning while already standing up. I went to a cardiologist, who diagnosed me with supraventricular tachycardia and put me on a blood pressure medication (Cardizem) that regulates the heart rate) after some testing. My issues continued, but the cardiologist said I need to give the medicine some time to get in my system. On a Friday two and half weeks ago, I had an episode that wouldn't stop, and I ended up going to the ER, where they were able to get it under control. The cardiologist suggested doubling the medication dose and wanted me to come back that week. When I went on Thursday, he said he wanted to do an angiogram first (to rule out blockage) and then an ablation (to destroy the nerve that creates an extra electrical pathway, causing the heart to beat too fast). The angiogram (Friday a week and a half ago) went well, and the doctor said I have Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, which the ablation should definitely fix. I went in on Friday for the ablation, which is normally an outpatient procedure, but they wanted me to stay overnight because of the distance between hospital and home. Due to some complications (unexpected bleeding and low blood pressure), I ended up staying two nights. I wasn't happy about that, but I definitely needed the extra day. I've been resting at home and am getting back on the computer today (tried to work, but it was a bit too much).

The girls both got their report cards on Friday and did well, and they both seem healthy and happy (though a bit worried about me). Randall is also doing well.

We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers.

Is anyone still reading this, or have you given up on us??

Love,
Susan

5/25/10

2010-05-25T13:01:09Z

8:00 Eastern time: Susan here.... I'm on a trip for work in D.C., checking e-mail (and deleting spam comments from this blog) and thought perhaps I should do a quick update. I have recovered completely from my heart procedure (an ablation to correct an extra electrical pathway that was causing sudden rapid heart rate). Randall and the girls are both doing well.

Our big news is that we are moving to Las Cruces, New Mexico at the end of June. Although neither we nor the church requested this move, the Conference decided it was the right place for us to be, and it seemed like a good fit for us for a number of reasons. We have visited twice, seen the parsonage we'll be living in, and are getting to know several people. We've packed just a little bit but really need to get cracking!

Sophie has her oncology checkup in early June, so we look forward to hearing what the doctor suggests for her continued care down there. We may need to drive to Albuquerque (about 4 hours from Las Cruces) for checkups once we move.

Sorry for the delay between updates!! Thanks for keeping up with us.

6/10/10

2010-06-10T19:15:18Z

1:15 PM Central time:

Three years post-treatment, and Sophie is.... CURED! Randall took her to the oncologist in Lubbock this week, and all is well. They talked about our moving plans, and it looks like we're going to get set up to do future check-ups in Albuquerque (every six months this year). The doctor talked about some long-term side-effects to keep an eye out for, but this is a big relief for our family! Now, if the stress of moving doesn't kill us.....

7/5/2010

2010-07-05T20:59:04Z

3:00 Mountain time: Well we're mostly settled in Las Cruces, NM. I can't believe it's all real. We've got a lot unpacked, and we've had our first Sunday at our new church. They combined the two services for our welcome, and the sanctuary was full. In addition to meeting tons of new people, we were very pleasantly surprised to see our old friends Dion and Beth from our church in Albuquerque. His parents live in Las Cruces and saw that our first Sunday was being celebrated. Since Dion and Beth were visiting this weekend, his mom suggested they come surprise us. It was like bookends having friends from the church we were in when Randall decided to go to seminary there. Randall is getting his office all set up and getting to know the staff and church members. His first sermon was a good one (of course, I don't think he's capable of preaching a bad one).

The girls seem to be enjoying themselves. Their bedrooms are painted, they have new bedding, and they are getting things arranged however they like (even if it's not how we would like!). Not sharing a bedroom is going to be good for them. Elisabeth is enjoying it more than Sophie, I think. They can ride bikes and scooters, and we have a nice back yard.

The animals (one dog, two cats) are adjusting well. The dig wants to be inside with us at all times!

My office isn't unpacked yet. I ordered a new desk that hasn't arrived yet, and we don't get internet until tomorrow. Right now, I'm in a really cute and interesting coffee shop that also sells jewelry and gifts. In a few minutes, I'm going to be checking my work e-mail for the first time in over a week. Yikes! Given the time-consuming chore facing me, I'd better go ahead and post this and get to it!

--Susan

7/14/10

2010-07-15T04:21:50Z

11:20 PM Eastern time: So I'm on eastern time because I'm with my mom, who is having some health issues. It started over the weekend with severe knee pain. She went to the ER and was admitted very late Friday with an infection of the left knee joint. That was determined to be Group G strep. She also has a skin infection in both legs that they thought was the same bacteria but now think is Group A strep. She in on penicillin for the original infection and clindamycin for the other infection. She's uncomfortable, confused, and uncertain. She'll be on IV antibiotics for 4 to 6 weeks. Once she is stabilized with the infections and able to bear weight on her legs, she will be transferred to a rehab facility (I visited the three approved by her insurance today). And we'll just see from there. Please keep Mary in your thoughts and prayers.

8/4/10

2010-08-05T03:43:41Z

8:45 PM Mountain time: We just got back home from a short trip to Ute Lake with several other clergy families. It was good to get away, but it felt too short, given that two of the three days were spent driving to get there and back. We're all doing fine, and we're definitely getting settled.

I got to catch up with Mom on the way home. We didn't have cell phone service while we were at the lake, and it was the first time I hadn't talked to her every day. She sounded very positive and upbeat. Today she was able to transfer herself from the wheelchair to lean against the bed without assistance, but she did need help getting her legs up on the bed. She was very proud of herself. She's also doing well with occupational therapy and is impressed with all the muscle names she is learning. She visited the infectious disease doctor today, who said she is healing well but he would like her to take the IV antibiotics for another two weeks. She hopes he will tell her at that appointment that she can go home.

Please let me know if you would like to have her address at the rehabilitation facility. She enjoys cards!

10/11/10

2010-10-12T05:05:33Z

10:05 pm Mountain time: Well, it's been way too long since I have posted on here. We are all doing fine health-wise and are settling into Las Cruces. A few weeks ago, someone kicked in our front door in the middle of the day (while I was out at lunch) and stole my work laptop and much of my jewelry (including our original platinum wedding bands and my engagement ring). We now have a brand-new security door, and the police called a few days ago to say that they have caught the culprits, they have computer, and we can come down later this week to claim what's left of the jewelry (they didn't find anything valuable). It was traumatic, but we have mostly moved beyond it, and having the burglars in jail makes us all feel a little more secure.

In past updates, I have reported on Mom, who is recovering slowly but surely. She came home from the rehab facility last week (after being gone since mid-July) and is enjoying her kitty immensely. I will be flying out on 10/18 to help her pack up the house. After a few work meetings on 10/25 and 10/26, she and the cat will sly back with me to come live with us. When she is at the point of being able to live comfortably on her own, we will work on getting her a house or apartment, but until then, we are looking forward to spending lots of time together!

--Susan

11/14/2010

2010-11-15T03:47:15Z

8:45 PM Mountain time: It's been a long time since I've done an update, so I thought I'd write a little bit to get rid of that big blank page that happens when we wait too long.

Last month, I (Susan) traveled to Virginia to visit mom, get her packed up, and move her out here to New Mexico to live with us. I was coming out to North Carolina for a work trip, so I took advantage of the plane ticket to get everything arranged. It was whirlwind trip, and we had TONS of help from good friends. We got suitcases packed to bring with us (and got a fancy new carrying case for her cat), packed six boxes to mail, and packed countless other boxes to put in one room of her house to eventually have shipped out here. Everything else will go to a company that handles estates and will make a bid on all the contents. We'll sell the house (something I am finding hard to do, emotionally), and then the transition will be complete.

Mom is doing well out here. She seems to be happy being part of our household, and she is making progress with walking (she can take some steps without the walker but always has it with her). I found a good doctor's office, and we are getting lined up for tests, specialists, and regular checkups. She continues to lose weight, and she is eating just to right to manage her diabetes. Randall and I are loving being able to just go out to eat on our own without lining up a sitter, and we are all learning how to give each other space.

Things are going well with getting adjusted here in Las Cruces. We are very busy, especially with this time of year, but we are together, and we are managing just fine. Thanks for checking in on us!

12/21/2010

2010-12-21T15:00:02Z

It's been a busy time (a busy year!) for the Brumbaugh/Partin family. With Randall being a pastor and all the special events this time of year in the church, we felt pretty good about getting the tree up and decorations out early enough this year to actually enjoy them. The Christmas cards haven't happened yet. No gifts wrapped to put under the tree. More shopping still to do. Sigh.

But having mom living with us has been really wonderful. She is such a pleasant person to be around, and she helps out in whatever ways she can.The girls love having her here, and I think it's great that they get to spend so much time with her. One of my grandmothers lived with us sx months out of the year, and I liked having one grandma to live with and another to visit.

Mom stayed by herself for a few days while the rest of us traveled to Tennessee to visit with Randall's family and also to see Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God at the the Ryman Auditorium. It was our second time seeing the show (Elisabeth's first, and Sophie stayed home with Oma), and we really enjoyed it. Mom did fine our own, which is good, because the Monday after Christmas, we head to Disney World for over a week. But I know church members will check on her, and we will make sure she has plenty of Diet Dr. Pepper!

Sophie is doing well in school and seems happy. She was due to go to the oncologist this month for her checkup (now every six months), but the clinic in Albuquerque requires a referral from a local pediatrician, and that process has taken longer than we thought.

Elisabeth is doing really well and has had a string of good things happen. She was tested for the gifted program and got in (she was identified as gifted in North Carolina, but the standards are different here). She also tried ut of All-City Band and got in. (We're not sure what kind of commitment that entails, so we don't know whether to truly be excited about that one or not.) And while we were in Tennessee, we found out that she won a new bicycle in her school's bike rally. (We were initially annoyed that she decided to buy 30 tickets, but I guess that was a pretty good return on a $10 investment.)

Things are going well with the new church (University UMC in Las Cruces, NM). Worship attendance has been up (not that that's the end-all be-all, but it does feel good). Everyone is preparing for Christmas Eve services. This church has three services at 3:00, 6:00, and 8:00, with a cookie reception between the last two services. They expect about 600 people to attend. Happy Birthday, Randall!

If anyone is still reading this blog, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and an amazing 2011!

--Susan

1/5/2011

2011-01-05T15:13:32Z

8:15 Mountain time: I'm having to delete a lot of spam comments on my last post, so it must be time to write another one! We just got home from a week-long trip to Disney World, where we had a wonderful time. We are still able to use our badge from Sophie's original Make-a-Wish trip to get a card that allows us to use the FastPass line at Disney and the Express line at Universal. We stayed at the Hilton near Downtown Disney, which isn't a Disney resort but does have shuttles to Disney and allows us to use the extra magic hours available to resort guests. Most nights we went back to the hotel after dinner so we could get a good night's sleep. We were all physically exhausted just a few days into the trip, and my hip/leg was in pain a lot, but we managed to get around okay. Randall posted lots of pictures to Facebook, so if you have an account, be sure to check his Mobile Uploads album.

Mom stayed at our house while we were gone, and we made sure to have plenty of Diet Dr. Pepper on hand for her (oh, and food, too). It sounds like she had a nice time in the quiet house, but she had some significant pain in her arm that we will ask her doctor about on Friday. The church had a frozen pipe that caused some water damage in the Youth room, but it sounds like they got it under control already.

Well, I have quite a few e-mail messages to catch up on at work, but I wanted to share a quick up date and thank you for continuing to keep up with us! Happy New Year!

Update on 1/11: I am going to turn off comments for this post because I am getting multiple SPAM comments submitted every day. If you need to contact us, please e-mail, and I'll leave comments open on the next posting a little while before closing.

8/10/11

2011-08-11T03:47:56Z

August 10, 2011: It's been forever since I posted an update. Things are going well, but we did get some news today that I wanted to share. Back in June, Randall and I took Sophie to the UNM Hospital in Albuquerque for several tests, including an EKG, echocardiogram, and a bone density scan (all to check for long-term side-effects from the chemo). The heart tests were fine, but the bone density scan results were on the low end of normal, so they want us to start giving her calcium and vitamin D supplements every day. Granted, this may have far more to do with her diet than with side-effects, but we definitely want to get on top of it.

The girls both start school on Monday. Elisabeth will be in the 8th grade, and Sophie in 4th. They're both excited and are looking forward to it. I'm not looking forward to getting up earlier to get them going, but we'll get used to the routine soon enough.

Mom continues to have health problems, but we're seeing lots of doctors to try to get on top of everything. Randall and I are doing fine, and all the animals are healthy.

Thanks for checking in on us! I'll keep comments open on this post until the spammers discover it!

--Susan

p.s., Got my first spam comment today (8/19/11), so I'm closing comments. Thanks!

11/27/11

2011-11-28T03:38:32Z

11/27/2011: Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, it's been a while since we've posted, but we're all doing well. I was just looking back at some random entries in this blog, and it was really fun to remember those details (most of them!). I'm glad we have shared funny stories about the girls. I'm thinking they'll both enjoy reading this some day. Thanks, as always, for your continued prayers and support!

12/17/2011

2011-12-17T18:56:43Z

12/17/2011, 12:00 Mountain time: It's Christmas-time, and things are hectic in our household, as usual. The girls had their last day of school for a couple of weeks on Friday, and they are looking forward to the break. I'm not sure we're looking forward to having them here 24/7, but we'll see how it goes. At least we don't have to get up so early to get a walk in before getting them off to school.

Elisabeth is dancing in the Nutcracker, and she is one of the Big Mice. She's also an understudy for the party scene children, and we got a call late yesterday afternoon that one of the girls was sick and Elisabeth would be taking her place. (I think they knew earlier in the day but no one remembered to call us until it was time for Elisabeth to be there and they saw she wasn't there.) She was in the shower at the time, so that her hair would be wet for french braiding. But with the party scene, that meant I had to blow-dry her hair as quickly as possible so they could curl it when she got there. The best part is that our whole family had tickets to the show last night (there are four shows total), so we got to see her, and she did so well! Her "family" was the "naughty" one, so she and her "brother" bickered and fought much of the time (she certainly has experience to draw on with her little sister), and she did great with that. She couldn't have been more excited. Now it's going to be hard for her to go back to being just a mouse. After complaining about all of the rehearsals the last few months, now she definitely wants to do Nutcracker again next year.

In addition to the Nutcracker, this weekend our church has what we call "Advent Journey", which involves a visit through various scenes, leading to the nativity, where Randall gives a speech as Joseph. Sophie is one of the water maids (and Elisabeth will also be one tomorrow night after her matinee Nutcracker). I will be on the last stop, thanking people for coming, giving them information about the church and ushering them out. Next weekend, we'll have three services on Christmas Eve (Happy birthday to Randall!) and two services on Christmas Day.

Randall's mom will be arriving on Thursday, so we'll have both moms with us this year. Luckily, we all get along well, so I'm really looking forward to it. Now, here's hoping I can find the motivation to put ornaments on the tree and decide how much Christmas decorating I feel like doing!

Merry Christmas, and thank you for keeping up with our family!