Tuesday, April 29, 2008

On violins, straight jackets, and tea parties

We had stake conference this weekend. Eve was asked to play the violin for a musical number in the Sunday morning session. She was very nervous. The chapel and gym were filled all the way to the back! She did a fantastic job, hitting all her notes and making some involuntary vibrato because of her nervousness. I accompanied her on the piano. We played this version of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." It's actually supposed to be for a solo voice but we decided to do it with the violin for several reasons: it was easy for Eve, she hasn't really practiced the violin in a while, and there are no violin teachers here in the 'Mucca so she hasn't had any lessons for almost two years. Joseph's sister bought a new for her violin off of Ebay and was kind enough to let Eve borrow it for her musical number. It is a Hopf and the tone is wonderful! I told Eve there's always a catch to playing in church. You run the risk of messing up and being embarrassed or you run the risk of doing a great job and then they ask you to do it again. :D

Yesterday I had to take Ira in for some tests at the hospital. He's had two UTI's (urinary tract infections) the past couple of months. Only 1% of boys ever get UTI's let alone more than one. The tests were not fun! He first had an ultrasound done of his kidneys which looked normal. He was very good and laid real still. It was the cystourethrogram that was terrible. The nurses had to wrap Ira's upper body in a sheet so his arms wouldn't flail about, much like a straight jacket. Then I had to hold his upper body while one nurse held his legs and two other nurses inserted the catheter. To lighten the mood so I wouldn't start crying I started to joke, "How many nurses does it take . . ." The nurses all roared with laughter. Poor little Ira cried during the whole procedure. Thanks goodness everything went well and it was over in less than 10 minutes. You can read more about the procedure here. My little guy even waved bye to the nurses and smiled at them as we left. He's such a trooper! We'll find out the results of the test in a few days. If they can't find any anatomical abnormality that is causing the UTI's then we'll have to go see a uroligist in Reno.

We've got six little chicks to add to our chicken flock. We had seven but one of our Araucana/Americana's died. It just happened to be Debbie's. Poor Deb. It seems that all of her chicks end up dying. She was very sweet. She teared up when she found out her chick died and then told us she knows all her chickens are waiting for her up in heaven. She plans on having a tea party with them when she gets there.

Last Friday we went to the Safe Haven Rescue Shelter for a field trip with the local homeschool group. The kids had a great time. I'll have them write their own reports to post later this week.

9 comments:

AllisonK said...

oh poor Ira...actually poor you. We have experienced this exact tests. They are NOT fun. I cried. I hope everything turns out well

Anne said...

poor Ira! We know all about those tests. Our Xuxu had to go through them all in August of last year. They never did find anything wrong, so they ended up just putting her on low dose antibiotics for 6 months. They warned us about a rebound infection when she ended them, but we're one week off, and she feels great! (They did tell us that infections like company....so it isn't surprising if he had one that he'd get another!)

Hope you get good news soon!

Julie Lybbert said...

Aw! Poor little guy! It's so hard to watch one of your little ones go through discomfort and pain, isn't it. I hope everything is okay with him.

And poor Deb. She was indeed very, very sweet about it.

Angela said...

Thanks for sharing this- My daughter plays harp so we thank you for sharing the link. We can never find quality music on the East coast. Sorry to here about Ira!

Craig Howes said...

It is never fun to see your child go through such test. I feel sorry for the little guy. We shall say a prayer for him.

Lei said...

Your poor little guy... and go Eve! That's awesome! You gotta post pics of those chicks!

Becky said...

Hugs for mom! That's awful. I hope Ira will be alright...praying for you!

andalucy said...

Way to go, Eve! I wish I could have heard it.

That is so sad that Ira had to go through that. Doesn't it just feel awful when our children suffer? I love it that you were able to keep yourself from crying by saying something funny. Seems very characteristic of you--something I admire.

I started tearing up when I read about Deb and her host of heavenly chickens! I bet they will have a tea party.

wild murdocks said...

You always have lots of excitement going on in your house! Hopefully Ira is doing better and you are able to find out what's causing the problem. Are all the girls playing an instrument?