Big News!

I have an announcement to make…

I will be an Assistant Choir Director at Jane Long Middle School in Bryan ISD starting in January.  Bryan ISD is located in Bryan/College Station, Texas…home of Texas A&M University.  Jonathan is OVER THE MOON about relocating back to his Alma Mater!

We will be moving from Conroe to Bryan before Christmas so that we can get settled in before I start my new job.  Jonathan is looking into relocating as well so that he doesn't have a really long drive to work in Houston (about 93 miles or 1.5 hour commute).

We have already found an apartment to live in, away from the student living apartments by the university.  The apartments are called Park Hudson Place.  We have secured a 3 bed/3 bath place with a good-sized kitchen.  We will use one of the bedrooms as an office/craft room.  We got lucky in that we were able to reserve a first floor apartment…NO MORE STAIRS!!  Here is what our new pad will look like:

Camry Chaos

Jonathan came home from work one day and told me that something was wrong with the Camry.  He said that the windows were covered in dew in the morning, so he rolled down all the windows on the car.  The back passenger window rolled down and then "popped"; the window was not rolling back up.  When Jonathan got to work he had one of his co-workers help try and get the window working again, but they couldn't.  He taped the window up with packing tape as a temporary fix.

I took the Camry over to Karl and Audrey's place Saturday to see if Karl could take a look at it since Dad was just coming back from Paris.  We took the door panel off to find that the scissor system that operates the window have partly broke.

This is the part that broke.  The motor worked but the bolt used as the fulcrum of the system had broke and basically corroded.  The bottom picture is the bolt that had broke. Notice that the bolt use to have teeth.  The "teeth" broke off, half still on the bolt and half on the system.  Unfortunately the 

Karl called around to O'Reilly's and Auto Zone with no luck.  We took a 30 minute drive to Deer Park to Advanced Auto Parts who had the replacement system.  Total cost for parts: $112.04.

We got back home then started to reassemble the door.  We ran into a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to put the scissor system back into the door, but Karl eventually figured it out.  I was the ignition girl....turning on the ignition and checking to see if the window motor works.

Once we got the system back in the door, it was cake from there.  We put all the screws and bolts back together....even had to go hunting for a screw that got lost in the grass!
It only took about 3-4 hours to fix, but a big THANK YOU and shout out to big bro Karly-boy!!

Death to Computer!

Just at the beginning of the school year, my laptop was not working.  I could not get the screen to turn on.  The lights on the keyboard would turn on, but the screen wouldn't come up and the hard drive would not run.  I called Lenovo because the computer was still under warranty thinking that it would be covered....not really.  They said it was a software corruption and fixing that would not be covered under warranty.  They told me that I had to factory reset my laptop; I said that I couldn't because all of my data was still on the laptop and there was no way of getting it off because I couldn't get the computer to turn on, and how am I to factory reset it when I can't even see the screen.  I was a little heated in the moment.  They basically were of no assistance, telling me that there was nothing they could do.

A couple days later, after school had already started, I took my laptop to Geek Squad at BestBuy and got my data off my hard drive.  2 days later I picked up my data and then said goodbye to PC laptops!  I am now the proud owner of a new MacBook and I love it.  I figured that since I have an iPod, iPhone, and iPad that it makes logical sense to get an iMac.  Now that all my Mac devices are synced, I get to use the cloud (...yay, cloud!) to help keep track of all my data on all my devices along with an external hard drive.

Back to School

School has started up again!

It's my last semester at SHSU....yippie!!  This year is very different because I now have added help.  There are a total of 4 grad students in my program track....3 boys and me.  They have been such a help because now i'm not stuck doing everything myself!  The first couple of weeks have been stressful, but since we got all the starter jobs done, the stress is starting to come back down.  Including passing my normal classes this semester, I will have to pass what are known as "orals".  These are an oral test of my complete knowledge of musical topics.  I will be tested over music theory, history, and choral music.  The testing will be an 1.5 hours in front of 3 professors.  I have to pass each of the 3 content areas before I can graduate.  I've built in time to my schedule to study since this test is a comprehensive knowledge of music.  I'm just looking forward to getting them over with!!

Prayers for a great school year, and a low-stress one at that!!  :-)

Jonathan Sleep Study

Jonathan's snoring is a little unbearable....sometimes I sleep on the couch if I can't get him to stop.  His allergist suggested we see an ENT for his deviated septum anyways, so why not make it a two-fer!!

We went to see Dr. Clilento in The Woodlands and he discussed all of our questions.  He did a nasal scope, which Jonathan didn't thouroughly enjoy, and found nothing wrong with his throat, but that he does have a severe deviation of his septum.  He said that he could fix that with surgery easily.  We also talked about his snoring problem and said that his deviation could have some cause to that as well.  The doctor also noticed that he has a "thick tongue base", meaning there is not enough room between his tongue and the back wall of his throat for air to get passed.  The doctor ordered a sleep study to check out his sleeping habits and to try a C-PAP machine if necessary.

Jonathan went to The Woodlands Premier Sleep Center one Saturday evening at 8:30.  They hooked up all the wires and electrodes to monitor his sleep.  Here are some of the pictures he took while he was there.

Jonathan came home around 5:30 Sunday morning, slept for a while then had to get up for church.  He told me later after church that he didn't get much sleep and got up several times during the night.  The office called him a couple days later to tell him that based on his results he needed to come back for a second night to do a "therapeutic" testing, using a CPAP machine.

I called Dr. Cilento's office to talk about the pros and cons of doing this before he got his nose fixed.  He told me that the reason they do this is to cover their bases for insurance purposes, so that when the insurance company calls and says if the surgery was necessary, they can say yes and give proof of testing.

We will be scheduling Jonathan's second night soon.  We'll keep you posted on how it goes!  :-)

Jonathan's Final Update

Jonathan had a doctor's appointment with his Primary Care doctor this past Thursday.  We met with Dr. McAden who did a full physical workup: blood tests, EKG, and regular exam.  We discussed with Dr. McAden about all of Jonathan's recent ER visits, Allergist follow-ups and findings, and what his symptoms still were.

Jonathan's doctor prescribed him some medication that will hopefully help and will be the ultimate solution to the problem.  Dr. McAden feels that the diagnosis he made and the medication he prescribed  will solve the problems that he found.

Jonathan and I sincerely thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes that you have sent our way.  We greatly appreciate the support from our family and friends!

Jackie's Journey

On Tuesday I went to see my Endocrinologist because my Primary Care doctor was concerned about my thyroid functions and my weight.  I booked an appointment at The Endocrine Center in Katy (about an hour south from Conroe) to see Dr. Daniel Tung.  In his bio from the website he specializes in hypothyroidism (which is what I have) and weight management....perfect!!

After waiting for a while, we finally got back to see the doctor.  He was very thorough with his questions asking about my major complaints, my eating habits, thyroid symptoms, and more.  He told me that he was going to increase my thyroid medicine as my labs showed that it needed to be increased, and he put me on a strict diet plan to help lose weight.

My diet is based on eating 4 major groups: meats, veggies, eggs, and nuts.  Dr. Tung said I could have any type of these categories, whether it is steak, pork, chicken, fried chicken (YES,he said i could eat fried chicken), barbeque, all types of veggies, eggs any way, and nuts of all varieties.  For beverages, I can only drink water, unsweet tea, and black coffee.  I have been enjoying drinking unsweet tea, which isn't that bad, and water with flavoring.

Everything else that is not encompassed in that list is pretty much a no-go.  I am not allowed to have pasta, rice, potatoes, cereal, milk, soda, sugary snacks, and anything that is high carb and high fat.  Jonathan and I have cleaned out the pantry and cabinets so that I am not tempted to sneak anything.  I have had a hard time finding something that is sweet to eat.  My sweet tooth is STARVING, but I usually just make some ice water with some flavoring, and it helps.

So far I have lost 4 pounds!!  I made a chart that I put in the bathroom to help keep track of my progress. Every day I weight myself and then mark it on the chart.  Dr. Tung said that he would like to see me at 170 lbs and he talked about making long term changes so that I don't relapse back.  My goal is to get to 170 lbs, but then go a little lower, maybe to 160 lbs or 150 lbs.

 

Skin Testing

Jonathan had a rough night last night.  He did not sleep at all, maybe a total of 2-3 hours.  He was really anxious and nervous about the testing today.  I was glad we made it to the testing day so we could finally get some answers, hopefully!!

We got to the appointment and talked to the nurse who took vitals and all the normal stuff.  They came in and did a control test to see if the Benadryl he took in the ER on Tuesday had worked itself out of his system.  The first picture is of his back before testing.  The second is the control test....he passed!!  We could continue with the full testing.

 

  

The nurse came in and did a total of 133 skin pricks on his back.  It breaks down to 77 food allergines and 56 environmental re-tests.  Here are some pictures of all the pricks and the slight reactions.

 

 

 Here the list of what they tested him for:

TREES:

Red Cedar   |   Virginia Oak   |   Pecan Tree   |   Arizona Ash

American Elm   |   Red Mulberry   |   Box Elder   |   American Sycamore

Alder White   |   Acacia   |   Pine Mix   |   Sweet Gum

Bayberry/Wax Myrtle   |   Queen Palm

Eastern Cottonwood ----- Reaction

GRASS:

Bahia Grass

Bermuda

Johnson Grass

Timothy ----- Reaction

WEEDS:

Marsh Elder   |   Ragweek Mix

Sheep/Red Sorrel   |   Russian Thistle

Careless Weed   |   Sagebrush

English Plaintain ----- Reaction

MOLDS:

Penicillium Mix   |   Bipolaris   |   Cladosporium   |   Aspergillus Mix

Alternaria   |   Fusarium Mix   |   Drechsiera   |   Epicoccum

Stemphylium   |   Aureobasidium   |   Trichophyton   |   Botrytis Cinerea

Paecilomyces   |   Phoma   |   Rhizopus   |   Candida

Corn Smut   |   Rhodotoruia   |   Mucor Mix   |   Trichoderma

Chaetomium

OTHERS:

Cat

Dog

Dust Mites

Cockroach

House Dust

Mouse

FOODS:

Peanut   |   Soybean   |   Whole Wheat   |   Pecan

Corn    |   Crab    |   Lobster    |   Sesame Seed 

Mustard   |   Cottonseed   |   Sunflower Seed   |   Poppy Seed

Almond   |   Cashew   |   Black Walnut   |   Hazelnut

Brazil Nut   |   Tuna   |   Salmon   |   Oyster

Scallop   |   Clam   |   Banana   |   Avocado

White Potato   |   Celery   |   White Grape   |   Rye

Oat   |   Barley   |   Rice   |   Navy Bean

Lima Bean   |   Green Pea   |   Black Pepper   |   Cinnamon

Nutmeg   |   Vanilla   |   Basil   |   Milk

Shrimp   |   Codfish   |   Egg Whites   |   Clove 

Parsley   |   Sill   |   Cumin   |   Oregano

Thyme   |   Caraway   |   Ginger   |   Garlic

Onion   |   Coffee   |   Chocolate   |   Carrot

Pear   |   Apple   |   Peach   |   Strawberry

Cherry   |   Orange   |   Tomato   |   Watermelon

Cantaloupe   |   Spinach   |   Lettuce   |   Cabbage

Cucumber   |  Pineapple   |   Coconut   |   Pork

Beef   |   Chicken   |   Baker's Yeast

Jonathan only reacted to 3 of the environmental allergines.  He reacted to none of the food allergines.  The doctor then came and talked to us instead of scheduling a follow-up.  He brought in Jonathan's allergy skin tests from last year and compared it to this year.  It was night and day difference; many of the allergines that were the highest last year were 0 today, which proves that the allergy shots are working extremely well!  He was allergic to over 40 allergines before....what an improvement!!!   :-)

Unfortunately, this doesn't really explain why Jonathan was having the reactions that put him in the ER.  He called it "Idiopathic Anaphalyxsis".  They are going to continue with the allergy shots and have given Jonathan permission to start taking his normal meds again.  They said to not take NSAIDs or Aspirin, but he is allowed to take Tylenol.  They gave him some antihistamines in the office before leaving (he said that he felt so much better 10 minutes after they gave him the antihistamine).  They also have prescribed that he take Zantac twice a day as it acts as another antihistamine and an acid controller.

Jonathan has a physical scheduled on Thursday with his Primary Care doctor for some blood work and to see if his reactions are something other than his allergies.

Jonathan Update

Yesterday was an interesting day.  Jonathan woke up fine but progressively got worse throughout the day.  He developed a migraine headache and started vomiting around lunch time and stayed with him for a couple of hours.  He then started getting the chest tightness and he described his throat as "somebody swallowing with a finger in your mouth".  He had difficulty swallowing and talking for the rest of the day.  It never got bad enough to go to the ER but he was in a substantial amount of pain for the whole day.  He eventually got rid of his headache but still had the chest/throat symptoms.

I was in contact with Jonathan's allergist all day.  They decided to take him off of all the meds that he was currently taking (Prednisone and antibiotic) just in case he is allergic to the meds.  They put him on a dose of Prevacid just in case it is acid reflux.

I had to run church choir practice yesterday night and I gave him the decision whether or not to stay at home or come with me.  He decided he wanted to come with me but just to observe.  Driving home he still didn't feel good, so I dropped him off at home to let him rest so I could run some errands that I needed to do.  When I got home, I checked his blood pressure and pulse which was considerably high on both numbers.  I gave him an Ativan to help calm him down and about 30 mins later he was relaxed and falling asleep on the couch.

 

This morning I made Jonathan breakfast in bed.  I got to use my Orgreenic pan that I got for Valentines Day this year (yes....I asked for it!)  I made omelets and cinnamon rolls.  Jonathan has felt considerably better.  He complained of a small headache but as of 1:30 this afternoon he said that it was gone.  He has had no chest or throat problems today, knock on wood, and hopefully it will stay that way.

He has his skin testing tomorrow at 9:30 AM.  We will hopefully know more tomorrow at least by his skin reactions then we will go back for a follow-up with the doctor to review the results.

More will be posted tomorrow....keep the prayers coming!!

Jonathan in the ER

Today was another day in the ER.  Jonathan was suppose to have his skin testing done today but he got sick, probably from not being on his normal antihistamines.  He might have a sinus infection.  His ears were plugged and pressurized along with swollen and puffy sinuses under his eyes.  He also had a low-grade fever and was vomiting the whole afternoon.  He was severely dizzy all day and was in lots of pain.  The allergist wanted us to reschedule his skin testing for when he was feeling better.

I gave him some Excedrin to see if he had a migraine which is common for him.  He started feeling much better after an hour or two.  After about 2 hours after taking the Excedrin he felt his chest tighten and found it was hard to swallow.  I grabbed his EpiPen from the bedroom, but by the time I got back he couldn't swallow any liquids anymore.  I looked at his tongue and it was about the size of a clementine.  I gave him his EpiPen and we sped off to the ER.

 

I don't especially like Conroe Regional Hospital so we went to Physician's ER, a free-standing ER over by our movie theater at 6 PM.  They took him right back while I filled out all the paperwork.  They gave him the allergy trifecta (steroids-pepcid-benadryl) and let him rest a little bit.  He started feeling better and his throat swelling was starting to come down.  They later gave him some Ativan because he had a high pulse and blood pressure; once they gave him that he started to fall asleep.  An hour later they discharged him with some more prescriptions.  We dropped off the scripts at Walgreens and grabbed some grub because we were both starving, and got home at 9:30 PM.

While Jonathan was talking to the doctors I called his allergist and had a very frank discussion with the head nurse on call and the allergist.  We discussed his symptoms he had today.  The nurse said that all his symptoms he had earlier are factors of having an allergic reaction, but since they are so non-specific they could be confused for an infection.  They called in an antibiotic for him to take just in case.  After that we discussed the rescheduling of his skin testing.  I was making sure to reiterate to the nurse that I did not want to have Jonathan be off his antihistamines for another 5 days and have this same thing happen all over again.  She got the doctor on the line and we discussed the possibility of doing a blood test for allergines but he does not prefer that.  We rescheduled his skin testing for this Friday at 9:30 AM.  He will have to be on Prednisone for the next couple of days, not being able to take antihistamines still.  They are going to do a control skin test first to make sure that the antihistamines the ER gave him are out of his system; once he passes that test they will either do or not do the skin testing.

This will be reaction number 3 in the past 3 weeks.  It has been completely frustrating not knowing answers or anything.  Jonathan will now have missed a week's worth of work.  He is hopefully going to be getting off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  We are still praying for answers and to not get frustrated with the puzzle solving process.  The medical bills are certainly climbing after 3 ER visits, 4 Allergist visits, 1 Ambulance, plus my medical visits this past month added in.  It will be a rough month or two for the income, and it doesn't help that since its the summer I don't receive paychecks from SHSU until school starts.  Oh brother......

We are a little overwhelmed, concerned, and will continue to pray for Jonathan's health and wellness.  I'm pretty sure that Walgreens is tired of seeing my face picking up prescriptions....they know my last name now when I walk up!

Keep your prayers coming!!

Jonathan Update Day 2

Today I called Jonathan's allergist, Dr. Quintero, right away when the office opened to see if there was an appointment available.  Luckily, there was a cancellation today so we had an appointment at 1:30 pm.  Before the appointment we ran some errands: picking up prescriptions, go to Huntsville and drop off library books, pick up my paycheck at church, and get retested to check that my infection was gone.

After running around for about 2 hours, we grabbed some quick lunch and went to his allergist.  Dr. Quintero asked a bunch of questions to really understand what happened.  He believes that Jonathan's reaction was not the fault of his allergy shot.  Jonathan got his routine allergy shot on that Wednesday morning at 8 am.  Since the reaction was over 8 hours after his shot Dr. Quintero was very sure that it was not the shot's fault (as I had predicted).  He believes that it is probably an environmental allergy.  Jonathan was tested for these allergy with skin testing a year ago.

The plan of action that Dr. Quintero put in place is to retest Jonathan for some more environmental allergies and add some more.  He is also going to include the extensive food allergy testing as well.  In total, he will be getting over 100 skin pricks in one afternoon.  We are going in for this testing on Tuesday; this means that he will have to be off of his antihistamines for 5 days (Friday-Tuesday).  He will be substituting his antihistamines for a tapered dose of Prednisone steroids.  He can't be on antihistamines because it will skew the results of the allergy testing.  He will then have a follow-up appointment the next day to review the results of the skin testing with Dr. Quintero to help find some answers.

Dr. Quintero advised us that even though we don't have answers now that we will hopefully get closer to answers after the skin testing.  He said that it's a puzzle that we are going to need a little bit of time to figure out.  I'm taking his advise and not getting frustrated or angry with the process; Jonathan and I both know that this will take some time to figure out.  We can't worry about what we don't know yet, that's our motto!

Overall today, Jonathan has felt better.  This afternoon he said he felt his heart really racing and lots of mucus going down his throat and into his lungs.  I told him it was probably because of all the antihistamines he was given in the hospital and that he took today, and the heart racing was probably related to the Prednisone steroid as it amps up the body's metabolism.  Other than that he hasn't had any breathing problems or throat issues.  He did call his boss and he is going to take off from work Friday because his body is just wiped from all the trauma and we both didn't sleep well last night.

Thank you to our families and friends that have been supporting us with love and prayers.  Prayers would still be appreciated over the next couple of days for no attacks since he will be off his normal meds for skin testing, and for patience with the process, and for our emotions....we have both had some scary moments these past two weeks which is a lot for the body to take.  But, we keep trusting in God which holds us together.

Look for another update Tuesday and Wednesday on testing and results....and hopefully ANSWERS!!

Jonathan in the Hospital....Again

I had received a phone call at 4:30 pm this afternoon from Jonathan's co-worker Simone saying that Jonathan was having another severe allergic reaction and that they were going to take him to the hospital.  They told me that he took his EpiPen and Benadryl.  I told Simone I would meet them at the hospital in The Woodlands.

I arrived at St. Luke's Hospital in The Woodlands before Jonathan did to tell the ER staff that my husband would be coming in and his symptoms.  They were the same symptoms he had on his last attack: wheezing, shortness of breath, and throat and tongue swelling.  Jonathan arrived a couple minutes after and they immediately took him back to the ER rooms.

Once they got him back it was a slew of activity.  The doctor was in, two nurses, and a registration lady.  They got him some meds: benadryl, pepcid, and steroids.  They kept him on an EKG, blood pressure, and pulse ox.  His pulse was pretty high (due to the EpiPen which is adrenaline) and his blood pressure was elevated but eventually came down a little bit.

We stayed for 4 hours where they kept him under observation.  They said that the reaction was due to getting his allergy shot that morning.  I am leery and questionable about this diagnosis.  He has never had any problems with his allergy shots.  It was not anything he ate; his lunch was the normal lunch he has packed for 2 years.  I did realized something today: on both days that he has had his allergic reactions there has been a strong wind blowing from the South....I still think it might be an air allergen.

We are going to call his allergist in the morning to set up a follow-up appointment because of his attack.  Hopefully we will be able to get in tomorrow.

Prayers would be certainly appreciated to help figure out this situation and find some answers.  Also, anybody who would like to contribute to the "Keep Jonathan out of the ER" fund or "Help pay Jonathan's medical bills" fund would be lovely!!

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend Jonathan and I had some visitors for our Memorial Day weekend.  Jonathan's parents came down to visit from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.  They got here around 3 PM, chatted for a little bit then headed to McKenzie's BBQ for an early dinner.

After dinner we headed into Houston to go to a Houston Astros game.  We got front row seats in the season ticket holder section.  The game ended in a tragic loss, but the experience was well worth it. We got back into town around 10:30 that night and headed to DQ for an ice cream fix.  After a "scooby snack" we drove home and headed to bed.

In the morning I left for church and Jonathan brought his parents a little later during my rehearsal.  I met with them just before church started to make sure they got a good seat to see Jonathan and I in the choir.  After church we headed to Chili's for some lunch then back home.  His parents hit the road a little later that afternoon.  We watched a movie later that evening, "Stand Up Guys", with Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, and Christopher Walken.

On Monday, Jonathan got the day off so we enjoyed sleeping in and resting up.  We made Monkey Bread for breakfast then played Life and Clue on the Nintendo Wii.  We were going to play Monopoly but I got a splitting headache from taking my antibiotics so I took a nap instead.  We watched some of our latest episodes on Hulu that we missed watching on TV.  After that I made dinner, which consisted of Hamburgers, Corn on the Cob, and Mac n' Cheese.

Test Results

Today Jonathan and I got our test results from our doctors, so here is the news:

Jackie:

• My triglycerides are high, so they told me to watch my diet.  My mom suggested I take some Fish Oil, so I picked some up.
• I have a urinary infection from working out.  They called in some antibiotics for me to take, then get retested after I finish the antibiotics.
• My TSH (the thyroid hormone) was high, but they did not up my meds.  Hopefully when I see the endocrinologist next month they will.

Jonathan:

•  Well, apparently he is not allergic to Walnuts or Almonds.  The blood test came back and they were negative, so we are back to square one.  For now, we got a EpiPen refill and have put one by the bed, at his work, and he is starting to carry one on him all the time.  For now, we are doing preventative maintenance so that this doesn't happen again.

Prayers for answers and good outcomes to arrive soon!!

Jackie's Doctor Check-Up

On Monday I had my yearly check up with my local physician to get prescription refills and do a yearly physical.  I had talked about how my thyroid medicine might need to be adjusted because more of my symptoms have come back like major fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, etc.

We also talked about my constant weight gain.  Since I have been diagnosed with my thyroid disease I have consistently gained weight.  I use to weight 140 in my good old days about 7 years ago.  Once I started my anxiety medication that hasn't helped either.

He referred me to see an endocrinologist since I haven't seen one in a long while.  I made an appointment in June so hopefully they can help me get my thyroid and weight regulated.

I also did some routine blood work which wasn't too much fun.  I have two bruises on each arm because the lady couldn't find the vein.  I'll know the blood results in a couple days.

Since I'm on summer break I have started exercising again as I have more free time now.  I hope this will help with my weight as well.  I hope I can count on your encouragement!!

Jonathan's Reaction Day #2

Jonathan is feeling better today.  He says that his throat is sore from being swollen yesterday and is feeling weak.  He took the day off from work today so he could recuperate and get in to see his allergist.  I woke up about 5-6 times last night just to make sure that he was still breathing.

We saw his allergist today and discussed the possible allergies that could have caused his reaction.  He told the allergist what he ate yesterday and the doctor's face lit up really quick when Jonathan told him that the sandwich he ate yesterday included walnuts and almonds.  The allergist said that walnuts are highly allergic but he was not tested when he was skin tested last year.  The doctor gave him orders to get a blood test to test for walnuts and almonds.  Also, the doctor wants him to get a more extensive food allergy skin test this summer.  When they tested him last year they only 8 most prominent food allergies like peanuts.

We will know in about a week what the blood test says and will do skin testing after our Iowa trip in June.  For right now, Jonathan is to swear off walnuts and almonds, but he has assured me that he is swearing off all nuts!  He has to carry around his EpiPen and benadryl on a constant basis.  He got another prescription of his EpiPen so he can keep one in his desk at work.

Jonathan in Hospital

I had received a call from Jonathan today around 1:15 PM saying that he was not feeling well and wanted me to pick him up.  He was attending a safety training course on the outskirts of Houston.  He said that he was feeling shortness of breath, the feeling of passing out, and really jittery. I drove down to pick him up and proceeded to drive him to his allergist where he had made an appointment for later in the afternoon just as a precaution.

As we were driving down I-45 he told me to pull over and that something was not right.  I pulled off and immediately said that his throat and tongue were swelling up, the severe sign of an allergic reaction.  Luckilly before I left the house I had grabbed his EpiPen pack just in case.  I quickly called the allergist and spoke to the Nurse On Call; she told me to administer the EpiPen in his thigh then call 911.

I told Jonathan "are you ready"....he said "yeah".....then I stabbed him with his EpiPen.

I called 911 and they sent out an ambulance to our location.  A sheriff officer pulled up behind us as he saw we were pulled off on the highway to keep traffic away from us.  The ambulance came and picked up Jonathan and took him to Northwest Houston Medical Center.  In the ambulance they gave him some benadryl and a high dose of steroids to counteract the allergic reaction.  I followed him behind in my car to the hospital.

 

They got him checked in and in a room, but he was still feeling jittery and his throat was still swollen a bit.  The doctor came in and checked him out.  They gave him some Valium to calm his jitters and to relax him.  After they gave him that he started dozing off to sleep and stopped shaking.

After the Valium had a chance to work and the steroid/benadryl had a chance to tackle the reaction, he started feeling better pretty fast.  He regained the color in his face, his blood pressure and pulse came down, he was breathing better, and his throat was beginning to stop swelling.  They discharged him after about 2 hours in the ER.  We paid our copay then drove home.

He is resting now and feeling better.  I went and filled a prescription they gave us from the ER for Predinose (steroid) and picked up some more benadryl as the doctor said to keep giving him some until his symptoms are completely gone.  I made him an appointment to see his allergist tomorrow afternoon since he has never had an allergic reaction attack at all.  They said that they might need to up his medications since he reacted to something pretty severe (which we still can't figure out!).  He is not allergic to any food, just trees, pollen, grass, mold, and everything nature wise.  I think that it was the smog/smoke or some air pollen or element that caused the reaction.  Hopefully we will know more tomorrow.

More info and updates tomorrow once we visit the allergist.  I know that God had to be at work today because He made me think to grab Jonathan's EpiPen, and just be at the right place at the right time.  Keep Jonathan in your prayers and I will let you know more tomorrow!

Click here for more info on allergic reactions - WebMD - Allergic Reactions
Click here for more info on EpiPens - Wikipedia - EpiPen

New Job!

If many of you have not heard yet, I got offered a job at the beginning of April as a church choir director at April Sound Church in Montgomery, TX.  The church is about 15-20 minutes away from the apartment and is apart of a housing division.  The location is right off of Lake Conroe, a very pretty area with lots of trees and nice houses.

The church is located inside the housing subdivision called April Sound.  The members of the community wanted a church that was included in the division, that's how the church was formed.

They had been out a choir director for about 3-6 months so they were looking for somebody to start soon.  They interviewed several candidates but I was the only one who took the initiative to audition for the pastors with their choir.

The position is part-time, so I'm still able to finish school while I'm working.  I have enjoyed working with the choir already.  It has been such a blessing to receive this job; it is what I have always wanted to do.  The pastors are really nice to work with, giving me quite a bit of leeway when it comes to music in the service.  The choir and the accompanist are very sweet.  It's a growing choir program so it will be a challenge at some times but I'm hoping that this will be a great experience nonetheless!

Hello All...

We have received a few "complaints" from family members saying that we don't update our blog, so in order to fulfill your blog-following needs here are the top 15 things that have happened since our last blog posting 7 months ago....

1) We got new a new washer and dryer to replace the ones that we rented from the apartment.
2) We celebrated our first Christmas together as a married couple
3) Celebrated our first Valentines Day as a married couple in Galveston, Tx
4) Jonathan went to Australian......twice!!
5) Jonathan's car had transmission problems, but all is well now
6) Jackie had her Master's Conducting recital, copies will be available during our roadtrip in June to Iowa
7) We became Godparents to Jenny and Dwight's new baby girl, Allie Swanson
8) The blu-ray player broke....Jonathan tore it apart....we bought a new one
9) We visited Jonathan's parents for New Years, banging pots and pans galore!!
10) We traveled to Denver to see Jonathan's grandmother and other relatives for Thanksgiving
11) We got a new piano for our apartment, now it is a full 88-key keyboard, not a half-size
12) I still rule Jonathan in thumb war!!  HAHA!!
13) My car is over 180,000 miles and running strong....knock on wood!!
14) I was costume designer for our university opera program for one of their productions
15) I became a life member of Sam Houston State University

We will try to keep our blog updated more often.  Hopefully this will keep you full until next time!!

Love to all.....The Kiefers