Finally... a Mercy Update

We finally got the results of the MRI, and a plan settled for this next stage of Mercy's treatments. First - the good news! The anomalies within her brain (some vascular issues, and the hemangioma) have not changed at all in the last six months. This is GOOD!

However, the outside hemangiomas have grown again. Dr. Adams has reconsidered the situation and decided that she wants to do the propanalol instead of chemotherapy. This is for several reasons... most to do with the risk of infection in a central line. Mercy has been on prednisone for two years now, and therefore has a suppressed immune system. With all the children in the family, Dr. Adams was concerned with the extra illnesses which might be brought into the family. She is also concerned with the amount of time it would take us to get to a larger hospital (2 hours or more) if she starts to run a fever.

So with looking at those things, she feels it is better to do the propanalol. She has developed a protocol to use in a study of this, and even though Mercy will be in before the study starts, she wants to use it with her. So we will be entering the hospital on Feb. 23 for three days. They will start with another echocardiogram to be sure that her heart is still fine for this. Then they will start her on the propanalol, increasing it 1 mg/ kg a day for three days... monitoring and watching her all the time. This will make sure that her heart continues to do well. There is also a risk of asymptomatic blood sugar problems, resulting in comas, so we are going to be tracking the blood sugar too as we are increasing the dosage. If all goes well we will be home on the 25th, and using the propanalol.

The photos I see of babies using propanalol for hemangiomas are incredible. The hemangioma reduces in size immediately! It is unknown if it will continue to stay small after we wean off the propanalol, or if it will grow back again, but it is worth a try.

So that is where we stand... sorry for making everyone wait to get the results. I wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing before posting it.

Have a happy day and a great weekend!

A Place for Everyone....

[Carri's note: I have fixed the link now... sorry for the confusion!]

"I have never been able to handle the noise very well. (Ironic that God gave me nine children and sensitive ears, isn’t it?!) They also stay up later, so I have people around me from the minute I wake up in the morning until the minute I go to sleep at night. We were needing some serious re-visiting of where everyone is in the house when we homeschool. For the sake of my sanity, you know. Those in-patient treatment facilities are way out of the budget..."

Head over to Happy to Be at Home to see this week's installment on large family living!

The Going's On Around Here...

This week Eric did a project for me... he made growing shelves so I can start my plants inside. We put two shelves above my washer and dryer. We are hanging fluorescent lights from the bottom of the top shelf (for the bottom row of plants), and from the ceiling for the top row. I'd show a photo except my batteries are charging. I am sure you'll be hearing a lot about it in future posts.

The weather has been nice, so the boys have been working on filling my new garden boxes (we are putting three boxes next to the house) with hay / manure / compost. The boxes are 4 feet wide by 32 feet long. I plan on using the square foot methods in them.

We have lots of hay which the horses spread on the ground and don't eat. Once a week (or more) we put this hay into the hen's yard. The hens peck through it and eat out the seeds so we are not planting weeds into the garden. They also add manure into it! ;) Then we take it over to the garden. I am unsure how this will work this year (it probably will not have time to fully decompose), but I KNOW by next year it will be wonderful soil. We will still have our large garden near the field if these don't work this year.

So that's what we did this week. I am ready for warm weather to come so we can all be out and planting things again!

Mercy's Feb. Update

Just wanted to post that we are still waiting to hear from the doctor's office about the results of the MRI, and the actions we are going to take next to try to stop the hemangioma's growth... I'll def. write when we know this. I just didn't want to keep those of you who are waiting to hear about her appointments today.

Frugal Dishsoap

With my children doing the dishes, there is the potential to use a TON of dishsoap. I have found a solution! I bought a foaming soap dispenser. When it was time for a refill, I put in about 1/4 regular soap, then filled the rest up with water. Rotate it around to mix up the soap, and there you have it! Dishsoap at a fraction of the cost!

It works for hand soap too! Check out the other frugal ideas at Biblical Womanhood!

January Highlights

Matt had a Birthday:


We got snow:





Mercy went Texas:


Who is that Masked Man?


This is NOT a photo of Mercy outside in her jammies, while it was freezing cold. Nope.

Matt and Beth are buddies:


Merchant Mercy:


Sara and Beth:


And Look who's getting so big? She's eating baby food and everything already!

Saving Money at the Dentist

We have all our dental appointments tomorrow. This is not a day I really look forward to twice a year, due to traumatic dental experiences as a child. So I try to NOT pass on this fear to my little ones.

How do I do that? By offering a reward.

See, it takes so long to get all of us through the dentist that we usually drive through McDonald's for a treat after, and get everyone something from the Dollar Menu to hold them over until we are home. A couple years ago I got to thinking - our co-pay for cavities is $40. So I tell the kids that anyone who has teeth CLEANER than mine can get themselves and ENTIRE meal. It still costs less than a co-pay for one cavity, but gives the kids an incentive to keep their teeth clean all through the year, since they never get an entire meal at a fast food restaurant.

It Works for Me (we haven't had a cavity yet!), it might Work for You too!