Holding Pattern

Rusty had his first appointment with the neuroligist yesterday and we left without a clear answer as to what is going on. The doctor has scheduled Rusty for several more tests. He had to give eleven vials of blood and will go in for an angio CT scan on Tuesday and a spinal MRI on Wednesday. She may also do a spinal tap to try and confirm the occurance of demyelination which is caused by MS.

She did tell us that the symptoms Rusty has experienced are not MS related and are more consistant of blood clots getting through to his brain, which is why he is having a CT scan. The lesions are also not typical in the sense that they are only on one side of his brain but he does have one in the white brain matter that is typical of MS. We basically are still in the "it could be MS or it might not be" stage. Even though they do tests to try to rule out or confirm MS they are not 100% and if the spinal tap comes back normal there is still a 5% chance that he has MS.

Dr. Taylor encouraged us that if Rusty does have MS he can still have a very normal life and going to Liberia is not out of the question. She said that she would put him on a medication that has very little side affect and could keep MS symptoms away or minimal for several years.

I am more optimistic after this appointment then before. God is good and will take care of Rusty no matter the prognosis. I have realized something about myself through this, it would be easier for me if it was my health in question. There is just so much out of my control and knowledge. I am finding it much harder to deal with the emotions that come from watching my husband go through this then if I had to have the tests myself.

Sweet

So I try not to be one to jump onto conspiracy bandwagons. I try to always vet out the conspiracy emails on snopes and wiki (the sources of all internet knowledge) before forwarding them on to everyone in my address book. That's why when people mentioned aspartame as the source of all illness I usually put them in in the same category as the people who forward Microsoft giveaway emails.

Aspartame is the artificial sweetener used in thousands of different foods and drinks. It is marketed under the brand names NutraSweet, Equal and Canderel. It was discovered in the 1960's by G.D. Searle & Company and has a taste that is approximately 180 times sweeter than sugar and consists of two amino acids.

As I mentioned, I've had a number of people over the years chastise me for the amount of Diet Coke, and ergo aspartame, I consume. Since the discovery of the brain lesion mentioned in Jamie's previous post I've had many more people mention the pitfalls of aspartame. While I've looked into the claims briefly in the past, I've decided to dig a little deeper...and this is what I've found:

• As I already mentioned aspartame was discovered in the 1960's by G.D. Searle & Company.
• Searle sought approval from the FDA in the 1970's but were rejected and their studies on aspartame and other drugs were criticized as "poorly conceived, carelessly executed, or inaccurately analyzed or reported."
• The data was so suspect that the FDA's lead counsel recommended Searle be investigated by a grand jury for "concealing material facts and making false statements in reports of animal studies conducted to establish the safety of the drug Aldactone and the food additive aspartame."
• The charges were never brought against Searle. The United States attorney (Samuel Skinner) who was given the information by the FDA recused himself from the case...because he was hired by Sidley & Austin...who happened to be counsel for Searle. Oh, and Skinner's deputy later left his job to also work for Sidley & Austin.
• The head of the FDA refused to approve aspartame after a three member public board of inquiry concluded that Searle's own tests showed evidence of aspartame causing brain tumors in rats.
• Shortly after Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 he appointed Arthur Hull Hayes as the new head of the FDA. Searle (and their COO/CEO Donald Rumsfeld...yes that Donald Rumsfeld) applied again to the FDA and Hayes approved aspartame largely based on data from a new study done in Japan.
• Arthur Hull Hayes left the F.D.A. a little more than a year after approving aspartame and took a job as a consultant to Burson-Marsteller, which at the time was Searle's public relations agency.
• In 1996 Dr. Ralph G. Walton, a professor of psychiatry at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine did a study of the 166 aspartame studies conducted between 1980 and 1985. His research found that 74 of the studies were funded by the industry...and all 74 concluded that aspartame was safe. The other 92 studies were independently funded...and 84 of those concluded that aspartame had adverse health effects.
• The Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences concluded a study in 2006 that showed a 16% increase in the incidence of lymphoma and leukemia in their study of lab rats.
• Most of my data comes from wiki and This article from the New York Times.

An internet search for aspartame will reveal all kinds of reported health links (Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain). While I don't think it is the root of all evil, I do think I'll back off on my diet coke consumption. Don't take my word for it though; read the articles, do your own research, make up your own mind. Just thought I'd share what I found.

Setbacks and Confusion

The last few days have been an emotional rollercoaster for me. I am in a state of confusion. We have been so excited to be close to leaving for Liberia. Things seemed to really be falling into place with a home being avaliable for us over there and sending the car.

However, Wednesday night on the way to church we got the results from an MRI Rusty's doctor had done. He told Rusty that they found one abnormality but didn't know what it was. So yesterday, through a series of events, we were told that it is a lesion on his brain. It could be a one time occurance or something more serious, possibly Multiple Sclerosis. From what Rusty has been experiencing over the last year it seems consistant with MS, but there are many forms it can take. We have been blessed to have God watching over us and Rusty is going to be able to see a specialist next Friday. It should have taken 3 or 4 weeks to get into see her. Thank you to everyone who were instrumental in making that happen.

We have put our travel plans on hold for now. This doesn't mean we wont be going, just that we don't know when. It's hard for me to know what to do next and how to plan for tomorrow. I know that we are not suppose to worry about what will happen tomorrow. I don't understand what God is doing but I know he is in control and that this will all work for his good purpose. I am just trying to cope with all the emotions swirling around and stay focused on living my life for the one that sacrificed his life for me.

Please keep us in your prayers.
Jamie

Road Trip!!

So, I am rather slow in posting about my road trip to Murfreesboro, TN. Better late then never though right? After leaving my house around 4 a.m. Wednesday Nov. 5th, I drove about a mile away and picked up my sister Jen. As we set out we decided to take pics of all the state signs as we entered them. We had some success to start and got Idaho.

However after that we were so busy talking we missed entering Montana and the great divide sign. We felt we made up for the loss by getting the exit sign though.

Here are some cool rock formations in Montana.

This first day of driving was going quite well. The sun was shining and the traffic was cooprative. We were actually well ahead of schedule and then we entered Wyoming.

It was very dark, as in black ink dark. We stopped for gas and dinner in the town of Sheridan. There were some interesting people there. We started with gas and as I pulled in I decided that the only other car there was not the most friendly looking so I chose the pump closest to the store. As we filled up the women in the car decided to pull out and right through the middle of the gas pumps without taking the nozzel out of her tank. We decided to quickly tell them of the situation and leave! We got a pretty good laugh out of that one. Then we went to the subway across town, which allowed us to see the origanal downtown area. It looked like a great place to shop but sadly most everything was closed and we really didn't have time. We then stopped for dinner at subway and while the staff was very nice, there were some interesting young people. We decided to hurry on our way. We got back on the road and headed for what we hoped would be our final destination for the night, Rapid City, South Dakota. We started climbing and the wind really picked up, then the snow started. We were doing ok but had to slow way down. As we started our desent into Gillette, Wy there was an overturned semi in the median. This prompted us to stop and get a room for the night in hopes that the next day would bring better driving conditions. While getting us checked in I asked the man at the desk about the weather, he informed me that a blizzard was blowing through. GREAT! We got a good night sleep and in the morning decided to got to Wal-Mart and get a prepaid phone. Sprint/Nextel does not have service from Montana to Missouri and with the weather we thought it best to be able to call for help if we needed. While that was a hassle I am glad we got it. We headed east only to discover...
Yep, I-90 east closed. I was able to call Rusty with our new phone and he let us know that SD was in bad shape. So, we turned around and headed back west. After a 5 hr. delay we got back on track and had we continued that extra couple hours the night before would have been stuck in SD for a couple days!

Instead we got to see Wyoming in the daylight and...

Colorado.
While we did indeed go across the entire state of Kansas we did not really "see" it. I can tell you that it is very flat and I-70 is fairly straight. Here we really lost it with the state signs. Too much talking and not enough sleep. Totally missed Kansas and Missouri. We decided to try and drive as long and far we could make it. That was into Missouri .


After about 20 hrs. of driving we decided we needed a bit of sleep at 5 am. We stopped and got about 3hrs. and here I am making sure we know where to go next.

Yes, a bit goofy I know! What do you expect? About 37 hrs. of driving and 10 sleeping! Anyway, we were slightly refreshed and back on the road. Jen was able to get a nice shot of the arch in St. Louis.

On into Illinois...


We got the Kentucky one!


I think the most beautiful state was Kentucky. Each state had it's own uniqueness but Kentucky was just as I had imagined. I wish we had had the time to stop and take better pictures. Driving across the country and seeing Gods awesome creation and the creativity of the creator was a wonderful experience. If you have the time (take much more time then Jen and I did) and money I recommend it. I hope someday Rusty and I will be able to show our children this beautiful place we get to live in!

We did our best witht the TN sign but it really is hard to get good pics when driving 75mph down the interstate.


It was such a relief to finally get to TN! After all that driving we only made one wrong turn and it was just a few exits from where we were suppose to get off. It wasn't a big deal, we were able to get off and turn back to the correct freeway. We found the Homedepot, where we met Chuck from STS, pickup up a few things for our future neighbors/fellow missionaries in Liberia and headed to Chucks shop. Chuck took us to dinner and our hotel where we proceeded to get some real sleep.

Saturday we hit downtown Nashville. It really was much smaller then I had anticipated. Jen and I looked in a couple tourist shops and then decided to take in a couple museums. We first went to the TN state museum. After some good bbq for lunch we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Really you can't go to Nashville and not see it.

We had wanted to go to a show at the Grand Ole Opry but there was standing room only and we were still so tired we didn't think we could do that for two hours. We got some dinner and listened to a couple of live bands then grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. I have to say there are people of all kinds out there. While Jen got the taxi I was approached by a man who asked me for money because he was hungry. I really am quite cynical about these things and rarely give money to street people, but all I could think of was when Jesus said what good is it to pray for someone but not feed or clothe them. I knew I had a couple of ones but all I could seem to find in my pocket was a ten. I can only pray he used it to eat that night.

Sunday we took a bus tour to the Hermitage. Here is a picture of Andrew Jackson's historic home. I am so glad we did this. There was so much history at this place.

Our other stop on the tour was the Belle Mead. It is famous for it's race horse. They breed the first american horse to win the British derby. They had several famous horses, but I don't remember any of the names. The Hermitage was fascinating for it's historical value, the Belle Mead was much more grand. The mansion was absolutely stunning. The property is much smaller then it use to be but beautiful just the same.


Here's Jen on an old stone bench in the yard.

Sunday evening Chuck and his wife Melissa took us to dinner again and indulged us by driving us out to see the Opryland hotel. Let me just say it was GIGANTIC! Melissa was nice enough to take a picture of Jen and I on the origanl entry steps.

Here I am with Chuck and Melissa checking out the Grand Ole Opry house. They were so generous and hospitable. It really was a pleasure to meet and spend time with them. I really can't thank them enough.

Last but not least the impressive life size nativity on the front lawn of the Opryland Hotel.


Our first flight out of TN was early! We made sure to get there in plenty of time and almost asked if we could just get on the flight right before ours. We didn't but should have. Our flight was delayed in leaving Nashville and so we quickly asked the man at the gate in Atlanta how to get to our connecting flight, which he assured us if we hurried he would make. We got to the gate to find it totally emtpy. The man at the counter across the way told us it had departed even though we could see it still sitting at the gate out the window. After a very nice customer service women helped us for a LONG time, we were given seats on the next direct flight to Seattle and new seats on a much later connection to Bellingham. It was FOUR hours later. We had lunch, I read, Jen had a little nap. We got on and had to sit in the middle seat in different rows. We got to Bellingham without further complications around 8pm instead of 2pm. For the amount of driving and lack of sleep, we really had a great time with very little trouble. Thanks for keeping me company Jen.

Nooksack vs. Montesano

A few pictures from the State Playoff game 11-22-2008

Road Trip Update

Jamie and Jennifer made it safely to Nashville last night. The lost about 5 hours backtracking to avoid the huge blizzard in South Dakota. if they would have pushed on and drove a couple more hours Wednesday night they might still be in South Dakota. Hopefully we'll have pictures in a couple days of the 3000 mile journey.

Road Trip

Well it has been awhile since I've posted, but we've been busy. We are getting closer to our anticipated departure in January. We decided last month that we really do need a vehicle when we get to Liberia. Used vehicles are very expensive in Liberia, so we were advised to purchase a vehicle in the states and have it shipped. This also provides a place to pack all of your "stuff" when the vehicle is shipped.

So we purchased a 1994 Toyota Landcruiser a couple weeks ago. The past two weeks we've been shopping and packing everything from food to linens in the car. The original plan was for Jamie and Jennifer to drive the Landcruiser to Tennessee starting Thursday (tomorrow) around noon. They'd arrive in Murfreesboro on Sunday, give the vehicle to the shipping company, and fly back Monday morning. We received an email from the shipping company (STS) that they had just received a large load of goods for Liberia, and as soon as the vehicle was there they'd be ready to ship the container. In fact they had a second container half full. Jamie and Jennifer decided they'd leave Wednesday morning instead, so they'd have the Landcruiser delivered Friday and STS could finish packing the container over the weekend.

Everything seemed on target, until I received an email from STS last Saturday telling us we MUST have the vehicle title with the vehicle. Like I already said, we just purchased the vehicle two weeks ago, and somebody procrastinated transferring the title until last Thursday. So now we were a bit panicked. I happened to run into the vehicle licensing lady in Fred Meyers on Sunday and asked her when we could expect the title. She said about 6 weeks...and unfortunately there wasn't anything we could do to speed that up.

So Monday morning I was on the phone trying to get ahold of someone in Olympia to see if there was anything we could do. Jamie was supposed to leave in 2 days, and our vehicle was supposed to ship in about a week. A 6 week delay in the title would not only make us miss this container, but the next was over half full so we'd likely be waiting until the spring of next year before it would ship.

Luckily our local GOP party headquarters is upstairs from my office. I walked up and one of our local state reps. was there visiting (the day before the election). I explained my predicament and he called his assistant to have her contact the vehicle title people. At the same time another representative from the peninsula was efforting thanks to a local connection. Within an hour I was able to talk to a supervisor in Olympia who said they would get the title out as soon as possible...but it would still be about 2 weeks. They hadn't yet received the copy from Whatcom Cty, then it had to be imaged, then processed, then sent to Utah to be printed (seriously, Utah prints our vehicle titles).

So I contacted STS and told him our new timeline. He said to go ahead and get the vehicle there, they'd finish packing it and just wouldn't be able to ship the container until the title arrived. We were happy they'd hold the container for us, but a little disappointed we were holding everyone else up for two weeks.

So then the phone rings the next morning (yesterday). It is the supervisor in Olympia saying she's rec'd the title, imaged it, and has a title printed and will mail it out the same day. Wow, we went from 6 weeks to 2 weeks to 1 day.

So Jamie and Jennifer were off at about 4AM this morning. They should be into Montana by now. I wanted to get a pre-journey picture of them in the car, but didn't feel like following Jamie over to Jennifer's house, so I just have Jamie in the car.

There's the vehicle loaded to the gills. When we packed it we made sure the passenger seat would lay back enough for them to sleep...then I put the seat upright and forgot about it and packed the back full. Jamie and Jen had to spend 15 minutes re-packing to get the seat back down.

Wide awake and excited for the 38 hour drive! Please remember Jamie and Jennifer in your prayers the next couple days.

From Jamie

Today after church, before our potluck, our youth group had a car wash to raise money for www.kidslake.org . They were able to raise $190 that will go toward helping an HIV positive child's adoption through fromhivtohome.org/!

Here's Mariah making a face for the camera.
Megan's pose while rinsing a car.
Megan and Christopher making sure the car is good and dry. Don't want any spots!
Carli wondering what to do next?Thank you to everyone who donated and received a somewhat clean car:).

More Football

Another collection of pictures from a weekend of football.

We didn't get the facemask call on this one. Jamie thought I should have shown the ref the picture on the camera screen.

Lynden's team had a...big kid. Someone said he was 6-2 255. Pretty big for an 11 year old. He was bigger than all the refs.

Here Kobe is going up against the big kid. His hands are almost bigger than Kobe.


And onto Colton's game.