Update on Age

For anyone who has facebook, this news in not new. For those without it - or who don’t look often; take a seat.

First - Age is ok - for now.

Thursday afternoon while he was waiting for a bus to meet us at the Library, Age had a massive seizure.  He lost consciousness for about 20 mins, waking up disorientated in the ambulance near the RBH. I got a call to come immediately and that he was in emergency.. so had a pretty hellish drive into hospital, thinking all those positive thoughts along the way…( note the dripping sarcasm)

One of the worst things was the waiting and not knowing what was going on.  When I arrived and asked to see him, the emergency nurse asked for my id and then rang ahead to see if I could be admitted.  Now I REALLY had positive stuff going though my head then…

When I got to see him, he was all hooked up to machines ( that went bing) and was strapped to the bed so he couldn’t move. They suspected head injuries and spinal problems.  On his head was a lump the size of an ostrich egg.

He was still pretty dazed then.  He was wheeled off for scans and bled out for blood, and finally allowed to be unstrapped. Poor bloke was starving as he’d had nothing since lunchtime - and being gluten intolerant couldn't have the sandwiches being offered. 

I have to say I was very impressed by the emergency team.  Adrian had another seizure - not a big one - and the nurse pressed the button… and people ran from everywhere, wheeling trollies and ready to go… It was like being on the set of Grays Anatomy.  He was shot with an anti seizure drug and steroids.

Jodi - who had kindly taken the kids as I threw them out on the way past, came in with a care package of coffee and lots of chocolate, and some fresh clothes. We sat together and chatted to Age while we waited for more tests and for a doctor to come and tell us what was going on.  She got the kids sorted out to get off to school the next day too.

I was impressed too by the light atmosphere of the emergency ward - the people coming in - how polite and grateful they were to the nurses.  Nurses - by the way do not get paid enough.. Especially for working past midnight when the weridos, drunks and druggos came in, abused shouted and yelled at the staff.  We had people refusing treatment and being handcuffed to the chair.  It was pretty ordinary..

By three am, it was clear to me that we weren’t going to see a neuro and I was exhausted - so drove home.  Age tried to sleep in the bright lights of emergency, whilst being hooked up to drips.

Incredibly, the neuro did turn up - about 4 am. Age was moved to another ward and put under hourly observations and a list of more tests to do later on that day.

Later - well - Friday morning, Max and I went in to see Age in his new bed, sat around a table and chatted when Scott came to visit and were generally heartened to see Age in a positive and up beat mood and outlook.  

Age had seen another set of neuros, desperate to push their case for surgery.  He was moved up to the Neuro ward and taken off for more scans. His medication had changed and perhaps it has something to do with the thickening of his tongue or he may have bitten it the day before, but by mid afternoon, it was obvious he as having trouble forming words properly. About 5 pm he had another mild seizure - so was moved to a private room, next door to the nurses station and put onto regular observations.

Hes is a bit spacy with the drugs they have him on and noticeably forgetful, which I know will irritate him to no end. The drugs have side affects such as more seizures, enlargement of the liver and fatty liver, so alright for now - but not a long term solution.

Its our intention to gather as much info about the options available and to talk them through - without being forced into a fear based one. Two options immediately presented involve surgery - one to partially remove the tumour, the other to try and get the whole thing.  Each with risks involved. 

The scans so far have revealed that there has been growth in the tumour  - but not to a dramatic amount which would warrant this sudden change in seizures. The other is that there is calcification within the brain - esp around the tumour area.

Its been 11 years since the tumour was found. After radiation, Age had five good years with no seizures. Seizures have gradually progressed from a mild annoyance and now to potentially dangerous situations. 

So that brings us up to Friday night.  I’ve come back to Jodis house where the kids are having a wild time.  I’m numb I guess. Have cloaked myself in the masculine and coping that way; just getting through.

Again, we are taking this an hour or two at a time… and I’ll keep you up to date as I know stuff - via Facebook mostly.


I guess the best thing you can do is to just send blessings, good luck or whatever it is that you may believe.  Adrian would love to chat with you - even for five mins - so a call is always appreciated.

Review - Hanna Montana (Series 3, part 2)

A concern for many parents of growing children is the selection of appropriate television and DVDs. With increasing laxity in classification standards violence and questionable moral themes have begun to creep into the PG bands; making many parents wary of modern reality style shows depicting tweenage children and their daily lives.   With television one of the major influences for young people, its important, therefore to be careful with the selection of role models.

Unless you have been living under rock at the back of a distant cave, you will have been exposed at some point to the Empire of Hannah Montana, complete with its huge merchandising range and DVDs.  Unike some television personalities and shows which appeal to the tweenage market, the concepts and themes presented in Hannah Montana  remain clean, ethical and inspiring; despite its longevity.  August 4th marks the release of Series 3 part 2 of the DVD range and is certain not to disappoint.

For those who may have escaped her marketing and shows, Hannah Montana is a world famous pop star who hides her real identity behind Miley Stewart - a normal teenage girl.  The formula for episodes revolve around issues in the lives of Miley and her best friend Lilly; interspersed with  the girls' gawky other friend, Oliver. Mileys real life father - Billy Ray Cryrus, plays her father, lending his experience and knowledge as he advises her through her challenges in her split lifestyle.

Disney continues a popular plotline made famous with shows such as Superman or Bewitched where the main characters real identity must be kept a secret.  Girls in particular identify strongly with the clumsy goofy Miley and dream about being the confident and popular Hannah.

After three series, it's become a little hazy on who's ‘in’ on the teenager's huge, unlikely, impractical secret, but since it's basically become perfect fodder for most of the  jokes, it doesn't ultimately matter.

Every episode generally packs a life lesson where characters learn not to lie, learn about forgiveness, and humility. Overall, the series itself is about not forgetting your roots, which can be an important lesson for anyone to learn. As its often taught in a series of humorous events, viewers do not feel that they are being preached at.

Series 3 sees Miley juggle the challenges of growing-up such as getting her driver's license, sticking her foot in her mouth on a radio talk show and dealing with secret crushes.  As always, with the help of her father and timely reality checks from best friends Lilly and Oliver, Miley learns valuable lessons in trusting her instincts and ways to make decisions which are right for her.  Series 3 part 2 also resolves the cliffhanger "What Will Miley Ultimately Decide?” left from part 1.

Disney is usually reluctant to allow most of their shows continue past 50 episodes, siting that the original ingredients cannot be reproduced over a lengthy period of time, that creativity dries up and fans become more demanding and specific about what they want and need to see their icons do and say.  In the case of Hanna Montana, they have made an exception.  With over 70 episodes now made, the Hanna Montana empire appears as strong and robust as it has ever been. Whilst the script may never make the Nobel Prize, its filled with fun and delivered with a freshness which is envied throughout Hollywood.  For die hard Hannah Fans, this is a must buy and see.  For those looking for entertainment for their tweenagers which will uphold a strong social basis, you could do alot worse than investing in the entire stock of Hannah Montana DVDs.

IMAGE via Wiki

Miss Lilly fights a fence

a little blood... humm no ALOT of Blood.

Once again I earn mother of the year… or not.  *SIGH* Seem to be doing that a fair bit lately….

Thought I’d pop down what happened on Wednesday last week.. in case you missed it on Facebook.

We’ve recently changed studios with the dance classes Morgan and Lilly do. Its much further out - but Morgan was desperate to do hip hop and this studio was the only one on the southside who accommodated kids as young as he. ( he loves it by the way - so much better he says than dumb jazz ballet...he might be right)

Anyway - its so far out of town there are fields of cows beside the studio - which my two city born kids are endlessey delighted with.  After class Lilly and two little friends went up to the barbed wire fence and patted the very calm heifers.  Squeels of delight from them all and they began to puck out long grass to feed them.

I had the dog so we went for a walk around the huge paddock.  Suddenly I hear running feet and one of the girls shrieking that Lilly had blood on her head.

Mother of the Year here shrugs and thinks whatever.. but ambles over anyway.

My heart stopped as Lilly walked over the hill towards me.  She wasn’t crying - which is a bad sign.  Her face was streaming with blood. Her shirt soaked and it was dripping onto her dance shoes so bad her white socks were red.

I ripped her dance top off - which of course was made of non absorbent lycra and walked her calmly up to the studio. The blood soaked through her shirt and was gushing through my fingers. That scared me a bit. Poor little thing was fine till she looked down and saw the streaming blood and then asked me if she was going to die.

I think I said not today sweety…

The excitement was all on when I arrived. Although the girls up there were keen to get an ambo, I knew face and scalp wounds bled alot and it was probably pretty minor.  Eventhough my heart was pounding and panicing...

It took alot longer to stem the flow of blood and Lilly to her credit remained very calm and didn’t cry.  A lent jacket got soaked in blood as well. I knew she was taking cues from me - so I kept up some sort of stupid banter.

The cuts were in her hair and its matted with blood and I left it like that for a few days.  Its pretty amazing how quickly it healed.

I had two buckets of cold water which were rich and red with blood, trying to soak out all the stains for a few days.. niiiiice.

so - thats the excitement here at the moment…  hows your week been?

I recorded my reaction on Audio Boo here.