Family Update – 19 Nov 06

Yesterday morning we took Ben to the hospital as he was complaining of shortness of breath and pain and discomfort in his chest around his lungs.  He had also lost his appetite and had heardly eaten anything since having the virus earlier in the week.  I was afraid he may have bronchitis or pneumonia.  At the hospital they took a chest xray and it seemed to look okay.  They kept him for awhile since his heart rate was racing when we arrived….close to 160 beats per minute.  If it remained high, they were going to run an electro-cardiogram.  After he calmed down (he hates going to the doctor), his heart rate dropped back down to about 118, so no cardiogram.  Since his symptoms followed the stomach virus that we all had earlier in the week, the doctor decided that the most likely diagnosis was a pleuritic reaction to the virus.  This is an inflammation of the pleura, which is the lining of the chest around the lungs.  When it gets inflamed, it can result in chest pain and shortness of breath.  Apparently it is a common reaction to a viral event in children.  Ben calmed down quite a bit after the diagnosis…..but was complaining of discomfort again this afternoon and evening .  We have been providing him with liquid motrin for the pain.  We will watch it closely over the next few days to make sure it goes away…if not, we will need to return to the hospital. 

After returning from the hospital yesterday, Karen’s sister and family (4 of their 7 kids) dropped in for an overnight visit.  They have been in PA for the last week with her husband Andy who has been visiting there on business.  They traveled about 160 miles to spend some time with us and then left this morning to visit Andy’s brother in Sterling, VA (near Dulles).  We had a good visit with them and the kids enjoyed playing with Abigail, Noah, Eliana and Nathan.  After dinner, Andy used Skype to place a video call back to their other 3 kids who are staying with their Grandparents in Vermont.  Technology is an amazing thing!  We stayed up a bit late and watched “Over the Hedge” on DVD….a great movie! 

After Laura and company left this morning, we went to the Texas Roadhouse in Chantilly for lunch and then went and saw the new animated feature “Happy Feet”.  The movie was free as we used free tickets that were provided by the theater after the last movie we saw there (“The Santa Clause 3″) nearly froze us to death (HVAC was not working).  Happy Feet was an interesting, if not slightly bizarre, movie.  It was “March of the Penguins” meets Broadway.  It was essentially an animated musical about a Penguin who was born with a slight defect…..he was unable to sing his “heart song” like every other Penguin, and instead had a knack for tap dancing…something that was not welcomed within the Penguin clan.  His clan threw him out since they believed his tap dancing was to blame for the lack of fish to eat.  The movie follows his adventures of being cast out of the clan and his ensuing search for love and the true reason behind the disappearance of the fish.  The graphics were stunning and the music was great….but the whole movie was just a bit weird.  It was worth seeing, but I am still not quite sure what I think of it! 

Tonight we were feeling festive and decided to set up the Christmas tree.  This is the earliest we have ever put it up!  I don’t think we have ever done so before Thanksgiving.  It looks really good!  Since I couldn’t find the box with the tree topper in it, I zipped over to WalMart to buy a new one.  I picked up an angel with fiber-optic lighting.  I was kind of hoping the angel would be a vision in white lighting……but as luck would have it, the fiber-optics continuously change color like something straight out of a Mexican Bazaar (red, green blue, orange, white).  I guess I should have known this given where I bought it and the local culture.  All in all, it isn’t that bad…..but I can’t help but feel that Christmas will have a slightly Latino feel to it this year.    

On the hockey front, the Penguins beat the New York Rangers last night 3-1.  Veteran Mark Recchi had two goals and Sidney Crosby picked up 2 assists while Rookie Evgeni Malkin got one, continuing his impressive play.  Rookie Jordan Stall picked up the other goal.  On a bit of a sad note, veteran John LeClair was a healthy scratch and didn’t play.  I can’t recall the last time (if ever) that John LeClair was a healthy scratch in the NHL (at least since his Flyer days began in the mid-90′s).  Hopefully this was a one time roster move, and not a sign of things to come.  While he has not been scoring goals, he has picked up several assists of late and has been playing very strong (albeit on the third line).  The next game is against the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night. 

My parents arrive from Vermont on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Thankfully, I will be off Wednesday afternoon through the weekend to spend some time with them.  We are looking forward to their visit and are thankful that they can make the trip down.  Back to work in the morning….err, make that in about 7 hours!  I had better get to bed!