December 31, 2014 - January 1, 2015

      What a year!

     Syrena turned 14 this year and thinks she is going on 18.  She is our first child to enter High School and is a Freshman.  She still hates school but loves the social scene.  She is such a joy to have around!  For those of you that have Facebook or Instagram  can see that she loves to take self portraits and is always changing her photo.   She loves to race her sister to see who can get the most likes on pictures (even if it is a picture they take of a sibling - as long as they are the one that takes and posts the picture they are the one that get's the credit).  She loves her long hair and has fun coming up with different hair do's.

      T'leese turned 12 this year but will be turning 13 in a few weeks.  She loves to hang out with her big sister and her twin sister Stormy (who was born the same day and 17 minutes before T'leese - Stormy's mom even has a photo of the two girls as babies in the hospital nursery - how cool is that). T'leese loves the outdoors and loves softball.  She played this last summer and for the most part played the position of first base.  When she got sick her first concern was - Will I still be able to play softball?  -  With working hard at her therapy and strengthening her muscles we hope she will be ready this summer for more outdoor fun.

    Tyson Jr turned 10 this year but will be 11 a few days after T'leese's birthday.  He is such a spirited little man who is so full of energy.  He too had fun on the field this past summer while playing pitching machine.  He was able to play the position of the catcher.  It was a great way to keep him focused on the game - when he was in the outfield he daydreamed and was off in his own little world but when they moved him to catcher he participated a whole lot more.  He has been enjoying the scouting program and loves doing all those fun activities.  He can't wait until he gets to do all those fun camping trips.

      Shirlynn just turned 8 a few weeks ago and was to be baptized a day after her birthday.  However, with T'leese being in the hospital Shirlynn was kind enough to postpone it to January 3, 2015.  She was such a sweet little girl to give up her special day so that she could have her whole family attend.  Now she wants some "huge" event on her baptism day.  - She loves hanging out with her two older sisters and two younger sisters but she seems to have the most fun getting into trouble with her big brother.  Her and Tyson are quite a pair!  Just the other day they were trying to start a fire in the basement. . . (Ya - they can't be left alone) or building a fun fort with blankets, pillows, and all the chairs in the house.

      T'Kierra turned 5 back in February and hated that she had to wait until September for school to begin.  She just loves kindergarten but hates to get up so early.  Half the time she eats her breakfast in the car on the way to the school.  T'Kierra looks a lot like her older sister Syrena when Syrena was her age.  We even pulled out a few pictures of Syrena and showed them to T'Kierra.  T'Kierra thought they were pictures of her.  T'Kierra loves everyone and tries her best to make everyone happy.  She loves playing with her older sisters and loves to be dressed up in make-up.  She also loves her cousins and is always asking when we can go to Granny's house to play with all her cousins.

     Shaustia turned 3 last January 31 and has such a personality.  She loves the movie Frozen, all of the Barbie movies, Dora, and the boy Dora (Diego).  She loves to use her imagination and act out all of her favorite movies.  She adores all of her older sisters and her big brother.  She loves to be the center of attention yet when everyone looks at her she acts all shy and becomes giggly (That is why we had to hide the camera on the table so she would not know she was being recorded in the video below - we thought you would enjoy a peek at her happy/bubbly personality).

      Tyson and Sabrina celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary this year and are looking forward to many more (we figured we better use a wedding anniversary instead of telling how old we are - we don't want to have to think about that).  Our children are our world, Tyson works so very hard at RS&I to provide for the family while Sabrina spends all his hard earned money :) (too bad it is spent on bills and not fun stuff). . . .  and she also takes care of the kids.  Tyson is currently the Webelos leader, so he gets to work with his son in scouts.  Sabrina use to be his partner but was released a few months back (However, the guy called to be his current partner moved away 2 weeks after being called and Sabrina has filled in).

      This past Thanksgiving we were blessed to have the Walker family (about 40ish people) come to our home to celebrate and eat turkey.  We were so happy to open our home and feel ourselves fortunate to have so many wonder family members. 

 Then Christmas we spent with the Hansen side which was equally a blessing.  

      We count ourselves fortunate to have so many family members live so close to us.  Our lives have been touched and blessed because of the willingness of everyone to work at keeping our family's together (even those that do not live so close).  There are so many families that as they grow up they grow apart. . . but with Jerry and Ranae working hard at the head of one family and Allen and Pam working hard at the head of the other family we are always given "opportunities" to share time with one another, touch one anthers hearts, and grow as a family in love and unity.

Happy New Year Everyone! 

May the next Year be just as full of fun memories and opportunities to grow as a family.  

We love you all!    

The Tyson Walker Bunch!!!!!

December 20 - 31, 2014

                 Tyson Sr has been working with T'leese to keep her working her muscles and doing therapy.  There have been a few times that she breaks down crying because it hurts and her daddy just holds her in his arms.  It is so sad yet it has to be done.  However, she was very excited when she could pull herself up off of the floor by herself.......(See video below) and she can also walk up the stairs without having to have someone behind her holding onto her or even pulling her up each step (she still has to use the railing for support but is slowly improving)..........

                   On December 22 we had another visit with Dr. Hinkley (Ear/Nose/Throat specialist).  He again examined T'leese and noticed how well she was able to climb into the chair (A few weeks ago she was so weak that we had to lift her into the chair and now she can do it herself).  He said he ran his normal tests and decided to order a CT Scan to see if there was a reason for the bad sinus infection.
December 29 we went to the hospital and had the CT Scan done which the doctor received the results the next day and called us to let us know that she has a minor deviated septum yet it is not bad enough to warrant sinus surgery and we will discuss the rest of the results next year (January 8).

December 19, 2014

      T'leese has been going stir crazy at home with Mom and Shaustia while the other kids are busy at school.  The homebound lady (Camille) came by and dropped of some of Leesy's homework on the 18th but we were not quite finished with some of the past homework so we decided we would drop it off on the 19th (last day of school before Christmas break).

      Going to the school was interesting.  Mom made T'leese sit in a wheel chair (in case anyone bumped into her - we don't want her falling).  So many kids stopped us to ask what was wrong and wondered why she was in a wheelchair.  A few of her teachers said hi to her and her music teacher (a wonderfully loving woman) got the message of T'leese's illnesses to her class and all of the students pitched in for this Christmas surprise.

This large Puppy and the homemade Card!

T'leese with her puppy and card on her Queen Size Bed!!!

      When her music teacher and a few of her classmates came out to her with this surprise, T'leese teared up and mom wished she would have got a picture of it at the school but these pictures will have to do...

December 7 - 16, 2014

    All of the family is happy to have our T'leese home from the hospital. There were a few days in there that the kids were sobbing because of how much they missed her.  When she came through the door we had to keep her siblings from knocking her to the floor with their hugs.  She is still very week and has a difficult time climbing stairs and raising her arm above her head.  She has to have help washing her hair, climbing in and out of the tub, combing her hair, getting dressed, going up and down the stairs, standing up from any sitting position.  

We were told that this is the hard part, to allow her body time to heal the nerves that were damaged.

    Day by day we can see that she is getting stronger and is beginning to move a little faster.  However, she still has a long way to go.

    Leesy now qualifies for Home-bound with the school and will be busy with making up all of the homework that she has missed.  She cannot wait until she is strong enough to go back to school because she misses all of her friends.  However, with her lack of  balance, having a bottom locker, having stairs at her school, and two classes outside it would be scary to send her back.  So, for now she has to deal with school at home (Syrena is a bit jealous because she hates school and would rather be at home and T'leese would gladly trade her places).

Going Home: December 6, 2014

    T'leese was doing well enough that the doctor pushed up her last dose of the IVIG medication.  T'leese had another iv placed in her arm (this time her right arm).  After her medication was done she was released to come home around 8pm.

    We would like to say Thanks to all of you that sent videos to her while in the hospital (Uncle Adam, Aunt Amber, Nick, Zack, Beth, Stormy, Syrena, and more).  We would like to express our thanks to those that came by the hospital to say hi (and those that would have but were under the age of 18 and were not allowed), to those that brought T'leese gifts of love, and to those that brought our family dinner.  We cannot express enough how grateful we are to have the family and friends that are so kind and loving.

IV, Spinal Tap and More December 2-5, 2014

December 2
   The check-in process was pretty easy, we just came up to the pediatric floor and the nurses put us in a room where Leesy could lay down and get her iv put in and we filled out the paperwork there.

   The nurses were all really nice but almost seemed a bit spacey.  When they put in the iv they had a hard time getting a vain.  Poor Leesy was poked twice and the second poke made it in.  The nurses thought they would be nice and pull their labs from the iv before they began the medication so T'leese would not have to be poked again.  Unfortunately, they had a hard time getting the blood to come out and when the one nurse did she got it all over the iv, the towel under Leesy's arm, and the two nurses were really giggly.  The second nurse was moving the blood from the syringe into a tube and didn't get it in quite right which made her spray the blood onto the little hospital table and on a little bit of the nurses shirt.  This is when mom had to trade dad places because she was feeling a bit light headed and could no longer stand there holding T'leese's hand.  After about 5-10 minutes they were all done but T'leese still complained about the iv hurting.


December 3
   This morning Leesy had to have a spinal tap done. The doctors let Granny go in there with her as they did it.  T'leese said the shot to numb her really hurt but she did really well.

   The results came back later in the day which confirmed the doctors diagnosis.  So she is indeed being treated for the correct illness (illnesses).

   Also, the blood tests that were taken on December 2nd revealed that she has pneumonia again and this form can only be treated by a specific medication.  So again she is being treated for pneumonia.

   With it being RSV season she has to wear a mask when doing her physical therapy so that the infants on the same floor do not catch what she has.  However, with her not coughing, sneezing, or having any other signs of pneumonia it will be much harder for her to pass it on to others.  But because the doctors do not want T'leese to get pneumonia again after her treatment they are putting the whole family on the medication so that we will not give it back to her.

   T'leese is beginning to have a loss of appetite and didn't eat much for lunch and wouldn't touch her dinner.  A bit concerned so we will address this with the doctor tomorrow.

December 4
    T'leese had a loss of appetite again and would hardly touch any of her food.  It took all we had to get her to eat a banana for breakfast, applesauce for lunch, and drink a ensure and jamba juice for dinner.  The doctors do not know why she doesn't feel like eating and claimed the medication should not make her loose her appetite.

      T'leese's iv has been hurting her a lot so the doctor pulled it from her left hand and put in a new one just below her elbow of left under arm.  Right away she claimed that this iv felt much better and didn't hurt.  The other iv hurt almost continually from the time it was put in.


December 5
   T'leese still won't hardly touch her food but we are making sure that she is consuming enough liquids to keep her from becoming dehydrated.  The doctors do not seem too concerned at this time.
   After getting her 4th dose of the IVIG medication T'leese's arm was looking a bit red below the iv site.  The nurse on duty decided to pull the iv once we were done with the medication.  T'leese loved that and rested so well.  She loved the freedom away from the iv.

November December

Poor T'leese!  She has been complaining about having leg pains and a bad cold.  We took her to the doctor.  She was diagnosed with pneumonia and her lungs were so constricted that the doctor could not hear her breathing.   He pounded on her to see if he could hear more.   Then with a worried look he decided that she needed a breathing treatment there in the office. After the treatment he listened to her lungs again.  He said it sounded pretty good on the top part of her lungs but the bottom was still tight. We had to go buy a nebulizer and pick up a new inhaler and two other medications. After 10 days she finished up the medications and 3 days later began to experience a numbness in her lips and cheek. She waited an additional 2 days to inform us of the numbness.   Yet it was a Saturday and doctors offices in are closed.  We said we would have to wait until Monday.   Sunday she again complained that her legs hurt but felt numb (we believed that the pain was related to growing 1&1/2 inches in a month or two).  Her face didn't look right.  Her left eye looked swollen and droopy.  Her whole left side of her face was numb and we could see it.  She had no facial expression on her left side but her right side appeared normal.  Monday could not come fast enough.  We went to the doctors and he was worried about all her symptoms (numb face, droopy eye, cheek pain, numb but painful lower legs, and beginning to be weak).  He ordered some blood work and sent us over to get an MRI....  Tuesday we were back in the office where we were told that the MRI revealed that she has a really bad (every sinus cavity infected) sinusitis and mastoiditis (ear infection) and bells-paulsey (don't know if the spelling is right).   We began having a shot daily of Roscefen and on Wednesday they gave her an IV to help with the dehydration.   Sunday was her 6th shot and Monday we were back in the office.  Leesy  had began to improve from her neck up but seemed to be weaker from the neck down.   Simple things like stepping onto a 6 inch step and standing up became difficult a in some cases it was impossible without help.  She even would loose her balance doing simple things and would collapse to the floor (giving the floor a hug is what she would say).  The doctor said the bells-paulsey explains the numbness of the face but not the numbness of the legs or the weakness.  He then called Dr Hinkley (ear nose and throat specialist) and got her an appointment for the same day. 
Dr Hinkley looked her over, checked the MRI, and did a few tests he decided to get her on 2 nasal sprays to help with the sinusitis but he said that he believed we needed a neurologist to better diagnose her (he did believe that she could have guillain-barre syndrome).  He then called Dr Garland and we got an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. 
Tuesday,  Dr Garland ran a bunch of nerve tests confirmed Dr Hinkley  suspicion that she did have guillain-barre syndrome.   We were sent up to the hospital where we can receive the treatment she needs.