Welcome

Last month Julie had her beach vacation. This month, I managed to sneak in my unicycling vacation. Julie and I dropped Sarah and Emily off with Grammy and Grandpa for 6 days so we could fly out to Rapid City, South Dakota and participate in the 2008 North American Unicycling Championships and Convention (NAUCC). Richard, the current Memphis Unicycle Club president, also went. We left Saturday afternoon and arrived in Rapid City Saturday evening. We all checked into our rooms and then went to get a bite to eat. Once back at the hotel, I put together our unicycles and made sure they had survived the trip. We then went to bed exhausted from the traveling and all the running around we did in preparation for the trip.

Sunday morning came and we decided that we had enough time to go visit Mt Rushmore prior to registration opening at 1:00 pm.

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since the last update. We've had our share of excitement around here lately. Let's see if I can bring you up to date on things that have happened since the last update.

Hugh's mother was in the hospital with pneumonia over Easter. She only stayed a few days and then was released. She's back to her usual routine now and doing well.

Our trip to Denmark (Hugh's business trip) was wonderful. We had a great time. I got to relax while Hugh worked. We got to take a tour of Helsinor and Hugh and I spent Saturday in Copenhagen.

We just got back from a family vacation to Orange Beach on the 14th. Everyone had a ball, and no one got seriously sunburned, only slightly toasted. Sarah got a little water in her ear, which started an infection. It drained for a couple of days and she complained of pain, so we called our doctor and he prescribed antibiotics on the Friday before we left to come home. By Monday of last week, Sarah was running a low temp and still complaining that it hurt. We went to see Dr. Paul and he prescribed ear drops. We used the ear drops as directed, but by that time her ear was so swollen that the drops were not getting to where they needed to be, and it was so painful that even the slightest touch would send her into orbit. We were giving her Motrin for the pain, but nothing we did seemed to help much. By Tuesday Sarah was miserable. Her temp was climbing, and she couldn't stand for anyone to even get near her ear. I checked her temp that afternoon just before 5 o'clock, because she was lying in her beanbag moaning and crying from the pain. I picked her up to cuddle her in my lap and offer what comfort I could give. She was burning up with fever. I checked her temp. 104! I checked again. 103. Better than 104, but still too high. I gave her more Motrin and called Dr. Paul.

He said she needed iv antibiotics since the oral one wasn't working and that we should take her to the emergency room. SO instead of our usual unicycle night, we were headed to the emergency room. We got there and after waiting for a little while, we were taken back to a room. They started an iv to get blood and to start her on fluids and pain meds. One nurse tried to distract her with a toy while another nurse and I held her still so a third nurse could put in the iv. She nearly tore apart the building with her screams when the iv went in. I was nearly beside myself listening to my baby scream in pain and unable to do anything about it. They gave her some morphine for the pain and then cleaned out the yuk from her ear and put in a wick. She screamed like a banshee even with the drugs. But they did it quickly so it was not a prolonged agony.

They decided they needed a ct scan of Sarah's head to see how far the infection had spread. By this time it became apparent that she was going to be admitted, so I took Emily home with me to get some clothes and things to take back up to the hospital while Hugh stayed with Sarah. I also got us something to eat because Emily was starving. While we were gone, they took Sarah to get the ct done and were all finished by the time we got back.

The ct scan showed fluid in the mastoid space behind her ear, and there was talk of possibly doing surgery to drain the fluid. They took us up to a room and got us settled in and Hugh and Emily went home. The next day, the ENT doctor came in and told us there wasn't enough fluid to drain and that they would treat it with medicine. Thank you, Lord for good news!

We stayed until Thursday morning and then were discharged. So everything is back to normal now. We have an appointment to see the ENT on Thursday for a follow up. Sarah also has an appointment with the opthalmologist on Thursday. Hopefully we'll be able to discontinue the patching. She's been so good about the patching and I'm so proud of her.

In other news, Hugh and I will be going to South Dakota for the annual unicycling convention on the 5th of next month.

We also have news on the house building project we are about to undertake. We met with the houseplan lady yesterday and talked to her about what we wanted to do with the plans. Hopefully by the end of this month we will have our building permit, and will break ground sometime in July or August. I'm so excited about building our new house I can't stand it. Anyway, that's the news from the Garner homefront. Sorry I'm so wordy, but there was a lot to tell. God bless- Julie

NOTE: I have uploaded a ton of pictures in the 2008, Unicycle and Miscellaneous galleries. Hugh

Hello from Denmark! Today is the last day of Hugh's meetings and he and I are spending the rest of today and tomorrow in Copenhagen. I am sitting in on the meeting today and doing my best to be quiet and unobtrusive. We've already checked out of our room and I had nowhere else to go. We went on a walking tour in Helsinor? Last night and had a ball. Some of us ladies even walked out to the beach after dinner last night and stuck our feet in the water. Walking through the sand was actually colder than the water. The weather has been quite nice here. Upper 60's during the day and upper 40's at night. Very sunny as well. I'm looking forward to spending the next two days with my husband.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all Irish folk out there! Wow! It's been awhile since the last update. Everyone is doing well here, for the most part. Sarah has a cold at the moment, but seems to be on the mend. Emily has been having some trouble with her ears lately. The girls had a hearing and speech screening at preschool in the latter part of January. Sarah passed just fine, and Emily passed the speech part, but did not pass the hearing part. They sent us a note about it and recommended that we have her re-screened at the Memphis Hearing and Speech center at the U of M. We did, and she failed again. She responded to the higher frequency sounds in her right ear, but not the lower frequency sounds. She did not respond at all in her left ear. Anyway, they told us to see the pediatrician because there might be fluid behind her eardrums causing the problem. So we made an appointment with the pediatrician. Life goes on while we wait for the day to see the Doctor(which was today). Last night, in the meantime, apparently Sarah decided that Emily was getting too much attention about her ears, and climbed up on a small shelf in their room, and then falls off, banging her private area on the shelf on her way down. She was SUPPOSED to be sleeping, since it was bedtime. NOT!! I was getting ready for bed in my room when I heard the crash and scream. I ran in, and she was in a heap on the floor amongst the toys. I picked her up and stood her on the bed to examine her for injuries, and she pulled down her pull- up. She was bleeding a little and already bruised. OUCH!!! So, in addition to Emily being seen by the doctor about her ears, Sarah now has to be seen about her private area. So, the long and the short of it is that Emily has thick, almost pus like fluid behind both eardrums. There was no infection, the eardrums were not red, just the fluid behind them. So we get a ten day course of antibiotics and some sort of antihistamine or something to clear up her eustacian tubes. We go back to see the doctor in ten days for a re check and the we'll see where we go from there. Sarah is just fine. He checked her out. No major damage done. She's just gonna be sore for a while. Anyway, so goes the life of the Garner twins. One last thing. Please pray for Hugh's mom. She's fighting a cold right now and has some chest congestion and coughing. I hope she gets over it soon. Well, that's all from the Garner household. We'll keep you posted about Emily's ears. Have a happy Easter! God Bless- Julie

Just a quick note to say Happy New Year everyone (ok, a little late, maybe, but none the less sincere) and I posted some pictures and videos in the new 2008 gallery and in the old Unicycling gallery.

Hugh