I have been trying to get back into the habit of walking.  It has NOT been easy & I am still struggling to get that habit relearned.  I know walking helps me feel better, but this week I saw this...

Not sure who the "we" are.  Not even sure if this theory is true...

BUT

ECS is on Golden Week Break right now so we don't have our regular classes this week (Jerry still has university classes & I had my "volunteer" play with English preschool class).  On Wednesday, I had about 15 minutes before I needed to pick Jerry up, so I stopped at the park for a quick walk.  It was W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L - the waterfall was running (man made waterfall).  It was so soothing!

Another day recently,  I dropped Jerry off at his school and took the car to the shop to have the breaks checked.  By the time the  car was done, I had enough time to drive home & sit for maybe 10 minutes before going to pick Jerry up OR I could go to the park near his school.  It was raining, but I opted to go to the park for a walk anyway.

Last Friday, I opted to walk to work rather than bike or drive.  I choose the river route.

I do believe there is some truth in the above statement!!

This morning we are leaving for 6 days in Karuizawa.  I am hoping to test the nature sound theory some more

I saw the above image on facebook this past week and it gave me pause to ponder...

According to Dictionary.com

ac·cept·ance   [ak-sep-tuhns]  Show IPA

Seems like only yesterday...

BUT it was actually 11-12 years ago!!

In real time yesterday, Susannah Kei turned 14!

Where have the years gone?

Kei wanted KFC for lunch and a "Cars" cake, so that's what we did.    She may be getting older, but she is still a kid at heart <3

Happy Birthday Kei-Kei!!

I am STILL trying to wrap my mind around the fact that today is EASTER.   I am thankful we have several Easter things on hand, because, in all honesty, the outreach event would have been a flop otherwise.  I simply did not have the forethought to get things ordered.   As is, I was still trying to figure out a snack menu & shop for egg fillers the day before   Where as the planning was a flop, the cloudy sky & sprinkles clanged into picture perfect Easter party weather!

Saturday April 19th, 14 children & 7 adults came to our house for some fun and, LORD willing, left with more than candy treats - a little more knowledge of what Easter is all about...

We colored eggs...

Read the Easter Story...

Make sun catchers...

Had an egg hunt at the park... Even Joshy was able to join this part of the party

Came back to the house for snacks: cookies, Bunnie Bate, pretzels, & carrot cake...

 A perfectly wonderful day!

Joshy's potassium levels dropped a little closer to normal.  He has been his happy, active self the last couple of days.  IV & monitors were disconnected yesterday.  All this added together... we got to come home after lunch today

P-L-U-S

The weather has been lovely, but rain is in the forecast.  The cherry blossoms are at full bloom.  The park is still having light up.  My classes end early on Tuesday night.

E-Q-U-A-L-S

A trip to the park after dinner

AND

We made it back to the car before the rain started

I was afraid we would miss the light up this year.  I am hoping that we can go again later in the week with Jerry.  But, I am so thankful the kids & I could go tonight.

Muted, misty, orb

Slowly sinking out of view

Glorious spring sky

Joshy's counts are stabilizing.  He had a chest CT & an abdominal echo today.  More labs tomorrow morning.  BUT, if things are still stable then we will be heading home.    Praying this club med stay is slipping below the horizon!

Club Med Vacation

Tests, pokes, wires, a bed.

Nurses, Doctors, Monitors.

Tethered to a pole.

Seems poems are the current fad so I decided to throw a haiku into the mix.  I am rusty, or brain dead from lack of sleep.  May have to try again later... this was fun!

I did manage to get a short walk in this afternoon.  The Cherry blossoms are not at their peak yet, but they are still lovely!

One of the best viewing points is within site of the hospital, as well as, with in walking distance from our house.  Today I walked down from the hospital.

One of the Grand-Daddy trees.

During the evening they will have "light up".  I hope Joshy is home so that we can get there to enjoy the blossoms at night.

It was a lovely day and many people were out enjoying the spring air.  If the weather continues to be nice the blossoms will soon be at peak which will being out more people.

Simply lovely!

These beauties were abundant and maybe feeling a little left out with everyone look up, so here is a picture of them as well!

Isn't God's creation amazing!!!

We came home from Niigata Cancer Center on Wednesday.  Thursday morning, Josh was playful.  Thursday afternoon his playfulness went downhill.  He had lab work drawn before therapy.  During therapy he wilted.  At the post therapy checkup, I ask the doctor if the potassium counts were back.  We wouldn't officially be getting the lab results until Monday's regular checkup, but with how Joshy was acting I was wondering if there was a problem.  It took some coaxing, but the nurses pestered the lab enough to get the results to the doctor.  The doctor doing the post therapy check, then consulted with Joshy's regular doctor, who then consulted with me and then made arrangements for a bed on the 4th floor.  Joshy's potassium was back up and heading toward the severe point.

One week, 2 hospitalizations in 2 different hospitals, 1 sick little boy!

B-U-T

There is much to be thankful for.  One of those things is: April is change over month and our local hospital gained not 1 but 2 pediatric renal specialists  Much consulting has been going on between Joshy's regular doctor, a neurologist, and the other staff doctors.  Yesterday, Joshy's doctor told me he is very happy to have the new doctor to consult with.  So far tests are showing that it is a kidney filtering problem we are dealing with.  The verdict is still out on what is causing the problem, but knowing what the problem is, is helpful.

Right now we are still doing testing and trying different drug combination to get Joshy's potassium levels stabilized.  He is hooked up to a heart monitor, something the cancer center did not do :/ to monitor how his potassium level changes are effecting his heart.  (Heart problems is the major complication when dealing with potassium imbalance.)  He also has an IV pushing fluids, along with diuretics trying to push those fluids through his system, to flush out the extra potassium.

Thankfully, today Joshy seems to be doing much better

Praying we will get the problem solved and levels settled soon.  I am pretty sure this will not be a short stay because not only do we need to get the levels stable, but we need to make sure he is stable without an IV.

In the mean time, I am trying to enjoy spring from the window...

or the parking lot...

I might even head to the park later on before I change places with Jerry, who is hanging out with Joshy while I get some errands run & have some down time.  (one H-U-G-E advantage of being in the local hospital - it is close to home and we can switch places easily!)

Building ones vocabulary is a life long learning process.  My new word for the week is:

HYPERKALEMIA / 高カリウム血（こう カリウムけつ）

hyper- high; kalium, potassium; -emia, "in the blood") refers to the condition in which the concentration of the electrolyte potassium (K⁺) in the blood is elevated.*

Potassium is critical for normal function of muscles, heart, & nerves.

3.5~5.0 is normal

5.1~6.0 is mild

6.1~7.0 is moderate

7.0~ is severe**

Extreme hyperkalemia is a medical emergency due to the risk of potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia) which can lead to death.*

Symptoms include: nausea, fatigue, muscle weakness, irregular heart beat.**

Causes include:  kidney dysfunction, diseases of the adrenal gland, potassium sifting out of cells into the blood circulation, and medications. **

I would like to thank Joshua Hiroaki Mort for this weeks vocabulary lesson :/

He has not been feeling well since Friday.  Ended up taking him to the ER Sunday, where he was given meds for tummy issues.  He was not showing any improvement and being he had a check up at the cancer center on Tuesday morning, I decided to call there Monday morning to give them the heads up and to see if: a) they didn't want to see him at all because of the risk of bringing germs in.  b) they wanted us to keep the scheduled appointment.  c) they wanted to see him ASAP.   Option c was chosen and we threw thing into the car and headed out.  Routine labs showed that his counts were down a little, BUT his potassium was higher than usual (it has been running mildly high recently).  It was high enough (7.1) that the doctor started an IV immediately and made arrangements for accommodations on the 7th floor.

In the throwing things together, I threw day pack things in NOT extended "club med vacation" things.  I put a plea out on facebook and thankfully a friend was coming to Niigata and was able to stop at the house, pick up things we needed, & bring them to the hospital.  +Memo to self, make sure the family has a an idea of appropriate hospital attire for mom.  The assortment of clothing they selt was...ummm...interesting. BUT - MUCH better than nothing!!

SO... the last couple of days have been filled with twice daily labs to monitor levels, fast drip IV fluids on top of regular fluids, etc...  Monday afternoon showed a nice decrease (6.3), however, Tuesday morning levels were up.  A new med was started and this morning levels were down to 5.8.  This was low enough to grant us a get out of jail card.   We will be monitoring the situation at the local hospital.

Likely culprits in Joshua's case:  1) High CO2 causing his body to not get rid of the potassium.  (Why his CO2 is high is still a mystery).  2) Kidney issues  (We are waiting to get his blood counts high enough so that we can attempt to sort these out.)  3) Drugs - cyclosporin, which he is on for his Aplastic Anemia, is a likely culprit, but most epilepsy meds could also cause trouble.

Learning vocabulary IS important, but for my next vocabulary word can we please have something pleasant that does not involve a hospital stay?

*Wikipedia   **MedicineNet.com