Made it Back to Weekes

Well mom and Matt made it back to Weekes in good shape. They left on Nov 11th and will stay there until Nov. 20th. They can't believe how much snow there is!! It started at about Crooked River and just kept getting worse. Jonmarie is so upset because we don't have any and she got snowshoes for her birthday!. I told her the snow will come soon enough.
We are taking Jonmarie and Shaunie to Banff this weekend as a surprise for Jonmarie's birthday. She wants so bad to do something special, little does she know what is in store for her. We booked at a hotel that has a pool so that will be the big hit.
Update will come next week. Thanks for all the great comments.

More Update

Well things have been busy the last few days. Dad phoned and said he had met with the rheumatologist in Saskatoon. We had mentioned to dad about fibromyalgia and she thought it may be a possiblity. A lot of times it starts with a chronic condition such as ankylosing spondylitis (what dad has) and then exacerbates into fibromyalgia. She would really like to get dad on Remacaid, and immunosuppresant medication that works really well in certain cases of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, etc. Anything where your body is attacking itself. We have been trying to get dad on that med for years but he always didn't qualify and it is extremely expensive too (I am guessing around $1500 per month). The funny thing was the doctor did a number of xrays on dad and a few days later phoned him at home to ask when he had broken his back! Dad thought maybe she had the wrong xrays but then he remembered a time in the winter when he fell on the ice and was in so much pain. Stubborn and wouldn't go to see the physician (we were in South Africa). So that could account for some of his back pain!
Dad will continue seeing the specialist in Melfort.
Matt went to see a chiropractor today for his painful left shoulder and he admitted it was a least 50% better then it was, which is great. Just have to watch for headaches and nausea. He has another appt on Wednesday before they leave for Weekes on Thursday. Today mom and Matt came to the office for their flu shots.
Oh check out the new photos!

Mom's Appt

Yesterday we had Jonmarie's 8th birthday party at the house and ended up with 11 kids. The weather was great a John made a scavenger hunt outside. He did such a good job. The kids loved it. Jacki, Grandma and myself cut out different shaped cookies, put them on sticks and then had the kids decorate them. I had bought some rock and some buckets so they got to take home their planted "flowers". So cute. I bought Jonmarie her first big girl bible. She wants to be baptised already and was so excited about her bible. I love looking at it with her, teaching how to find books of the bible and what chapters and verses are. Jonmarie said it was the best birthday ever. Matt had stayed at the house by himself. He is becoming more independent which is great. Not so fearful to stay by himself now.
Today mom had her appt in Calgary. The doctor said the problem with the abnormal murmur or extra heart sound came from a hereditary condition with the aorta valve. Instead of having 3 leaflets or "cusps" on the valve she only has 2. It happens quite frequently and usually doesn't cause much of a problem. Mom's began to sound different because it is starting to calcify or become harder (the valve). There is nothing they can do except wait for the time she will eventually need a valve replacement. It could be anywhere from 5 years to 15 years. I believe Grandpa R had a valve replacement but I am unsure whether it was from the same hereditary problem.
Mom needs to start doing a few things to help, such as avoid any stimulants such as caffeine (that would have been it for me!), certain cough meds, pop, etc. She must also start exercising 20 mins per day. While she was doing the stress test on the treadmill, the murmur went away and the minute she stopped, the murmur came back. So great to exercise. He wants to see her every year for follow-up and she must get a chest x-ray and a 24 hour holter monitor, to see what her heart is doing in that time. The x-ray is to see if there is an obvious reason she is so short of breath when she lays down. That he was quite concerned about. He hopes by exercise and losing some of the extra weight will help that problem.
So it really is a good thing. No meds (mom is the worst person at taking meds), exercises and weight loss should help. Hopefully she will never have to have the valve replaced but if she does, she will fly through it with no problem.
So there you have it. I think she is glad it wasn't some of the other things we thought is could be, such as pulmonary hypertension or congestive heart failure.
Thanks for everyone who was praying for good results.