Military Ball

On May 12, as part of Armed Forces week celebrations, there was a Military Ball. This event can be attended by members of all branches of the armed forces who are in western New York. In past years, Duane has helped with parking cars and other duties, as part of the New York Guard. This year, however, we attended, because Duane was being awarded the "Soldier of the Year" for the New York Guard in western New York. This was a huge honor! We were so excited about it. Because we have not allowed our children to attend school dances and the proms, we told Jeremiah he could invite a date to the Ball. He chose to invite a good family friend who is in Civil Air Patrol with him. It was a first date for both of them, even though they aren't "dating" and are just friends. We found out that Erika would be home for it just in time to get her a ticket, but regrettably, didn't know that Alesha would be home.

We decided it would be a lot of fun for all the girls to get ready together, so we all headed over to our friend's house on Saturday morning. Alesha was our personal cosmetician and did everyone's makeup and helped the girls do their nails. Arlene did the hair for Laura Beth and myself.

Alesha kept us well entertained during the process with her imitations, accents, and antics.

The dresses were hung by the chimney with care...well, actually they were hung from the roof in Bethie's room so they wouldn't wrinkle.

We all keep our fingernails cut short, so we indulged in long fake fingernails. Erika's had to come off the next day for work at Burger King, and I kept mine for a couple of days. I couldn't type very well with them, though, so they had to go.

We were getting ready with one eye on the clock...we had just finished dressing when the men arrived, looking splendid and handsome in their uniforms. They had wrist corsages for each of us to match our dresses.

Well, to bed I must go...the saga will be continued.

Out of Hibernation

Well, probably the first thing I should do is an update on Erika, since the last blog was about her. I believe I mentioned she had an MRI done of her brain. Well, they found one. Ha, ha. There were no problems there. The first EEG showed some abnormal activity, so they ordered a 24-hour EEG. As a result they decided she had a "seizure disorder", otherwise known as epilepsy, although they like to avoid using that term. At any rate, the neurologist started her on anti-seizure medication immediately in his office before any of the test results were in, just based on what she/we told him. Two days later she was sleeping through the night without any seizures and daytime seizures were reduced in number. Based on this, the neurologist cleared her to return to college, which she wanted to do, even though we weren't sure it was wise. At any rate, she continued to have seizures and in late January the neurologist added a second medication. This resulted in some improvement, but she still wasn't seizure free and was experiencing some pretty bothersome side effects. During this time, we discussed with her regular doctor the possibility of her weaning off some medication she'd been on for a couple of years. As she began to reduce that medication, the side effects lessened and the seizures lessened. Apparently the meds didn't get along too well. So, finally, by March 1 she was seizure-free and has remained seizure free since! Praise God! She also isn't too bothered by side effects now. If she goes a few hours past time for her meds, however, she notices some slight trembling of her arm, which is the sign of a seizure beginning. So, she has to be careful to space her meds 12 hours apart. So, that updates everyone on Erika's battle with epilepsy. By the way, my nephew (my sister's son) also has epilepsy that was teenage onset. He had grand mal seizures, though. As a result of her seizures, she was not allowed to continue in the nursing program, so she will have to make some decisions about a new major. Right now she is undeclared.