Much Ado About Nothing

Nothing in the sense that is what they found. Nothing. There is no testicle. The good news is that they work like kidneys (and ovaries) in that if one is gone, the other does double duty (kinda like parents too!) He should have no loss of hormones or fertility. The surgery went well and Terrin is doing great!

Terrin enjoyed riding in the wagons they had at the hospital instead of wheelchairs. We arrived at 9:00 for a scheduled 11:30 surgery.

We were still in the waiting room at 11:15 when Shanon and Talon arrived, that meant that we had not even gone to pre-op yet. Terrin was not allowed to eat after midnight, but he was a real trooper. He is such a good baby!!

I think is was just after noon when we were called back to pre-op.

Everything is cute on a baby!

Terrin finally got tired of waiting!

A few post-op shots:

Did I say Much Ado about NOTHING -- that little white strip on his belly button is his incision! Have I told you that I call Terrin's belly button his second penis? Well, I do (or did). I told the surgeon that and he laughed, he said that when he was repairing his umbilical hernia, that he and the nurse talked about how much the procedure was just like the circumcision they just performed.

Terrin should have a quick recovery with no side effects. Thanks for all of the prayers. We love you all!

Surgery Schedule

Terrin's surgery is scheduled for about 11:30 on Monday. We have to be at the hospital at 9:30, and they work down the line of patients the surgeon has scheduled that day. So, the exact time is not known. I will try to post Monday afternoon when we return home. We are leaving today to spend a relaxing weekend in Birmingham -- and do some shopping we can't do in Gadsden.

Best $$ Ever Spent?

What is the best money you ever spent? Let me tell you about the swimming pool. We did not want a house with a pool. Boys are too young, too much trouble, too expensive...

Well, most of you know about our endless house search, and, we ended up with a house with an above ground pool. The boys had a blast (Shanon included) over the summer. And, what a fantastic way to burn off some energy.

Well, the hot weather ended. We were not using the pool -- my guys are all so skinny, they can't take the cold (76 degree water is cold?) Plus, our electric bill was out of this world due to running the pump all of the time. So, it was time to close it for the year. It would be at least 2 weeks before we would have a free weekend to work on it. No big deal, right? I could do it. I took my water sample to the pool place to get the water "in balance" for the winter. It took 2 days to clean, pour chemicals and prepare the pump for the winter. I felt like Super Mom. I was able to do all of this while packing everything for our camping trip last weekend. Shanon is in the middle of budgets, so he was working long hours, etc. Friday rolled around and Shanon was due home early. When he made it at 5:00, I had the car totally packed and parked facing the street. All we had to do was load the kids and go. Oh, except first we had to cover the pool. The only part of the process I couldn't do by myself.

We worked for over 2 hours. Terrin was strapped in the stroller watching and giving us encouraging yells. Talon paced around the pool and either said "When are we going camping?" or "Maybe if I get ON the cover, I could help". Later (I think it was 10:00), when we made it to our camp site, Talon told everyone that we were late because we had to argue a bunch before we could leave home. And, the pool? It remained uncovered for the weekend -- a big "no-no", but, it was that or our marriage!

On Monday I called the pool place:

Pool lady: "Didn't you have that special cable that is coated wire?"

Super Mom: "Uh, no".

Pool lady: "Didn't you have the wench to tighten the cable around the pool?"

Super Mom: "That would be a "no" also".

Pool Lady: "Couldn't you get one person on one side of the pool and one person on the other and stretch it across?" Like we hadn't TRIED THAT? This from the women that labeled all of the chemicals I needed the week before and numbered the boxes and bottles so I would "scatter" them in the right order, but, she left off #3, just skipped that number -- who needs #3 anymore, just skip it and go to #4, So, that was another phone call to the pool place. "This is Mrs. Seals again -- you know the lady who bought the Harvey's house." That is who I am in Gadsden, by the way. "The Lady who bought the Harvey's house".

Pool lady: "Okay, we are booked, but we will fit you in on Wednesday. We will have to charge you for a full shut down, $250." In other words, for the same money, they would have done the 2 days of work I did earlier in the week.

Well, $350 later, our pool is covered. The extra $100 was the tarp kit (new tarp, cording, wench). Why did we need a new tarp? THE OLD ONE HAD SHRANK -- IT WOULDN'T FIT. Also, it took them 30 minutes -- I think I am going into the pool business.

The worse part is, I lost my Super Mom title. Now I am just The Mom that Made us Late to our camping trip. I think I will stick to being JAM!

Visit with Cardiologist

I took Terrin to the cardiologist in Birmingham yesterday. And, I would like to start this post with a disclaimer. I am not a doctor. I listened as best I could with a squirmy toddler, and I will relay what I heard. If I get some terms and discriptions wrong, just ignore it like you do my spelling!

First off, Terrin in cleared for his surgery on Monday. However, he does have Atrial Septal Defect (ASD). It is a heart murmur that is not uncommon in infants. (If you want to read more, there is an article on americanheart.org) Basically, the wall that separates the left and right sides of the heard is not completely formed. So, blood leaks from one side to the other. However, with Terrin, his chamber is also larger than it should be. So, when he is 2 or 3, we will need to take him back to the cardiologist to have it checked out again. There is a possiblity that he will have to have surgery to "build" that wall. If left untreated, he would develop lung problems later in life because his heart is pumping too much blood to his lungs. If the surgery is necessary, he should live a normal life after that -- no further treatment should be necessary.

Terrin has had many small medical issues during his sort life. Nothing to be alarmed about, just that they all add up to "why"? So, the cardiologist echoed what our pediatrician in Tyler recommended and that is genetics testing. I am not really worried for two reasons: 1) I was raised by parents who always respended with "It is nothing until it is something". So, I am calm. 2) I can explain most of the "symptoms" they are concerned about. So, we will do the testing, just to make sure. The date for that has not been set. And, prayers never hurt.

Cloudland Canyon

We went camping this weekend to Cloudland Canyon. I should have some really great pictures to show you, however, my memory card malfunctioned, and I lost all of the pictures (boo hoo). So, you can't see Terrin's 1st hike in the backpack, Talon with the grandaddy long-leg spider on his face or the Roberson's under the rock (sorry Elisha!). But, we had a great time, and the memories will be with us forever. We camped with the Roberson's, the Moon's and another friend of Troy and Joe's with his wife. We had a great time, and with the division on labor on meals, not to much work.

We hiked on Saturday. What started out to be a 1 hour hike turned into more than 3 hours. We went a long way and climbed more stairs than I care to remember. All to see a trickle down the side of the mountain that should have been a waterfall. The "Married without Children" group was smart enough to go without us. We had all 5 kids ranging from 6 months to 7 (I think). Talon amazed us all when he ran back up the stairs from the waterfall. Our legs were jello before we even started down the stairs. And Gage cried loud enough for all of us, so we didn't feel the need to express our pain verbally! I am very sore today, but we had a great time! Thanks to all of our friends -- let's do it again soon!

Come out, come out, where ever you are

You know those moments with toddlers when you realize that they are quiet, and you don't know where they are? You go looking, wondering what you will find? Terrin has recently become very mobile (crawling, he doesn't walk yet). Here are a few places I have found him:


In Penny's cage. Penny is our dog.


Under Talon's laudry hamper -- yes, he did this all by himself!


In the living room with a roll of paper towels. He was having a ball tearing the sheets off. When I found him, he was looking at his toes through the cardboard roller.

Terrin's Surgery

Terrin's surgery is set for September 29th. We go to the cardiologist on the 24th. We will probably spend the night in Birmingham, since he has to be there at 5:30 a.m. So, it is okay if you pray the night before instead of getting up that early ;-) .

I have discovered that I can send 10 people e-mails from my blog each time I update it. If you want to be added to that list, let me know.

Stepping Stones

Okay, that is a crude title when we are talking about Terrin... We went to the surgeon on Friday. The first thing I found out was that he would need surgery whether we found the testicle or not. If they found it, it would need to be put back where it belonged. If they did not, he would need to remove any remnants (because we know it was there at one time). The next step was a sonogram. I have to brag on my wonderful little boy. He laid on that table and talked and played while the lady probed his privates with a wand. (I guess this is the only age that a guy can lay back and think "that feels good" without any shame). I am amazed how they can see what they see. It just looks like a snowy TV screen to me, but she pointed out the good testicle and later his kidney and bladder. She also showed me what looked like sparkly snow -- it was the milk he was drinking. But, all of this to no avail. She did not find the testicle. She did find poop (in his intestines) that it could have been hiding behind. She also said that he had some air in his tummy and the sonogram cannot see through air. So, we are waiting to see when the surgery will be scheduled. It will be a search and rescue or a search and "destroy". The surgeon should be able to tell once he gets in there if it "died off" and remove anything that needs to be removed. If it does not appear to have died off, he will look for it and put it back where it belongs. The surgeon will go in through his belly button. The "umbilical hernia" (seen in his picture on this blog as an "outtie"), will be repaired in the process. So, he will not have to go through that surgery again when he is 3 or 4. However, Terrin also has a heart murmur. It is common in babies, but, because of his size and my deformed heart valve, they want to take a look at it before putting him under. So, we are waiting for that appointment before we do this surgery. Prayers, please!

Talon's Stepping Stone... He played in his first soccer game last Saturday! And "play" is the word!! He chased bugs, hit his friends with his Gatorade bottle, played "puppets" with his fingers and kicked the ball a few times. But, he says he as fun. The uniform is ridiculously big on him. but, once we tucked in what appeared to be a dress, it looked much better. The coach told us that during the prayer after practice on Thursday, Talon prayed that God would send him more dragonflies to chase! I love kids' prayers! (Becki...if Talon can pray for God to send him dragonflies....)

For those of you who participated in Talon's survey about what he was drinking -- everyone was right. Talon would live on chocolate milk, if we let him. However, I was corrected by two very special people in Talon's life -- it is "ice cream". That is the name Talon gave chocolate milk when he was a baby because there is a picture of ice cream on the Hershey's bottle.

One note of business. Our cell phone numbers are changing today. I am not going to post them on the web. I will send and e-mail to a few of you, and I have change of address cards going out ASAP for everyone else. We love you all...let me hear from you!

Treasure Hunt

Terrin and I are going on a treasure hunt tomorrow! As most of you know, he started his life having surgery. His intestines were inside his scrotum. When the surgeon went in to repair this and another hernia, he also discovered that one of his testicles was "free floating" and had to tack it down.

Bunny Trail: During pregnancy I wondered how men could be so ignorant about what happens to a women's body each month, and during pregnancy. Didn't they pay attention during health class? Well, God has such a great way of teaching us lessons! Now I am learning things about the male anatomy and wishing I had paid more attention in health class! Who knew that a "free floating" testicle was a bad thing! It took Terrin's problems to teach (remind?) me that a scrotum and testicle were two different things.

Back to the treasure hunt: Now that testicle is missing. Evedentaly, it didn't stay "tacked down". Maybe it is full of helium. I have heard things like, "it may be up in that tube", "it could be floating in his stomach cavity" and "die off". I just keep thinking about the guy in "While you were Sleeping" that only had 1. Will that be my son? I don't want him to get married and ask me, "Mom, if you knew it was missing when I was 1, why didn't you look for it?" (Like any guy would talk to his mother about his testicles at that age!) So, here we go, to the surgeon. Best case, they find it and the pediatrician, mom and dad just didn't know where it was. Worst case, it is gone, and we will have to make him wear a cup the rest of his life to protect my grandchildren. But, most likely, it is "up there", and he will need surgery --again. We see a surgeon in Birmingham tomorrow. So, pray for our hunt!

Also, quick note, my dad works for FEMA inspecting houses after natural disasters. He has been sent today to Baton Rouge. Please keep him in your prayers. It is hard hours 7 days a week, and, very depressing work. Daddy just loves helping people!

Labor Day

Well, it is Labor Day. The Seals' are having their first "normal family weekend" in a very long time. We have cooked out, played in the pool, watched movies, gone to church, a potluck and a church social. Mom has had 3 (count them!) 3 naps!! Now Talon is recuperating in front of the TV from a walk and a time at the local playground. Terrin is napping and Shanon is mowing. We plan to each some ribs and a roast that Shanon cooked all day in his smoker (for those of you who have had Shanon's BBQ, I bet your mouths are watering. Dinner is a 6:00, if you can make it.)

Some of you have asked about Phoebe. Well, she is alive and well. She turned 15 this month. She is almost blind and almost deaf. In the bottom picture, you can see the cataracts on her eyes. With this last move she gets disoriented at times and can't find her way to where she wants to go. This is really bad when she is trying to go outside! But, Penny, our 1 1/2 year old nudges her along and helps her find her way. In the picture to the right, you can see Phoebe getting ready to snap a Penny, who just wants to play!

I hope you all are having a great day. For tomorrow, it is back to work!