Valentine's Day News....not so lovely turns into blessings

So, its Valentine's day.  The new office is open and everything is looking like it will be nice.  The weather is good and I'm "working" with my hubby.  All is going well until I get a frantic message from my realtor to call her right away on my house for sale.  I'm excited thinking "yay finally maybe we sold it!".  So, I called the realtor and she says "your house is flooded, I'm going there now, that is all I know".  Uh....what?  Yep.  Apparently, the upstairs instant hot water tank decided not to work anymore and a valve malfunctioned, causing a massive flood in the entire house.  Remember I just said UPSTAIRS tank? 

Here are some pics of what it looked like:

                                                     This was my laundry room

                                                 This was my laundry room ceiling

                                                     This is where the water collecting in the hallway ceiling

                                                            This was my hallway wall

                                                                different hall wall view

                                                               Over the bathtub it was a ceiling

                                                         different bathroom ceiling view

                                                              ceiling full of water

                                                         This is NOT texture.  IT's peeling paint.

                                                          Pretty huh?

                                                          No more wall behind the bathtub either

                                                            Only the heat air return vent lasted!

                                               Wall damage

                                                     Water heater leak. You can't even tell!

                                                Water heater hose fitting leaking.

                                                 The cold water side was fine.  The hot water broke.  Sheesh!

So, I hired a water restoration company and carpet company to clean up the house.  The carpet cleaning company was able to save the carpet but not the padding.  Apparently the water was STANDING 6 inches throughout the house.  The walls in the house sucked up the water like a "wick".  So, everything looked and sounded horrible. 

Enter the water restoration company!  OK I do not know how they do it, but they make your house look totally normal.  No mold, no messed up walls (except they remove the walls that are not saveable).  They drill holls every 5 inches or so along the bottom of the walls and then they use thermal imaging cameras, water detection equipment, dehumidifiers and fans.  They did this for about 9 days in the home. 

In the meantime, I contacted my insurance company.  This loss IS NOT COVERED.  Yep, I feel robbed but I'm still working on this, but man.  The house was vacant and I purchased vacant house insurance policy.  However, this isn't one of the perils that are covered.

I called the city utility department to see when the leak started.  They said they sent me a letter the night before because our usage seemed a little high.  They sent the letter after they sent TWO city workers to read the meter manually (which you have to go through the yard and at least drive over the soaking wet street).  So, apparently the water coming out of the house and running through the yard and down the street wasn't enough to tip them off to the problem.  This is because the work order said check the meter reading.  Not sure when it is important enough to shut off the water.  The city claims that they do not call homeowners when they suspect a leak.  However, other citizens there have told me that is not true and that the city called them after filling a pool.  The city advised only the homeowner can shut off their water. 

The realtor who was supposed to be checking on my home said she hadn't been in there in over 10 days.  The people that found it were a serious couple apparently taking a second look so that they could make an offer on the home.  That deal did not work out (obviously).

I have paid about $4,000 so far just to get it dry.  I am estimating the repairs to total about $15-20K total (including the drying). 

I am selling my new van to pay for the repairs.  :(  Very sad.

 However, I have through God's direction decided to allow a family that we have known for several years move into our home and buy it from us.  First off they have endured many trials in life.  They always lend a helping hand to people and even money.  Their own home has not survived well after several floods in their basement, a gas leak, a fire, a poor repair to the fire where the home was re-repaired, and an earthquake that has caused the home to sink in on itself.  So many problems with their home has left it in dis-repair.  They can't sleep in their bedrooms during cold nights because the living area is the only room to stay warm enough (60 degrees brrr).  Also, the home has some safety concerns and after living there and doing numerous repairs for 10 years, they just couldn't get ahead.  They have to walk away from their home and have been looking for a while for another home.  Since they are a family of 8, there are not many options for them.  They do not have good credit and could never qualify for a decent loan.  So, we are working out them moving in to our home, actually scratch that, their new home.  It is a fresh start for all of us. 

Ideally, in our heads we wanted to walk away from that area with a clean slate, however, this challenge is something hard to overcome.  This family has been to this house so many times, with our kids growing up together, that it is definitely going to be an easy transition for them.  They will have no repairs (new roof, new heat and air, new water tank, new walls, new flooring, etc.).  Literally, nothing to worry about for repairs (beyond an occasional toilet backup after kids clog it).  :)  I told my friend that I felt like she has blessed many people in her own way over the years, giving what she could, and I watch her trust God so much and sometimes, it seemed like he didn't come through for her.  Deep down, I feel like God wanted me to do this for them before now, however, I think we all had to be ready for this transition. 

So, we are working on getting our agreement in writing and making this work for our families.  God does turn evil into good.  Just wish he didn't have to use so many floods! :)

CSF Flow Study part 1

We spent President's Day getting our CSF Flow studies done at Dallas Children's Hospital.  The flow studies are actually "videos" and so I can only post pics of them.

Olivia's Brain report:

FINDINGS: (for the Brain)

The sagittal images shows the corpus callosum is normally formed.

The cerebellar tonsils extend 5 mm below the level of the foramen magnum. The CSF flow images show paucity of CSF flow along the dorsal aspect of the foramen magnum along with abnormal neural movement in 4 out of 30 phases of the cardiac cycle. The
dynamic images show downward and anterior movement of the cerebellar tonsils and brainstem. The ventral aspect of the brainstem abuts the dorsal aspect of the dens on the dynamic images.

The optic chiasm, optic tracts, and optic nerves are normal. There is a normal hyperintense neurohypophysis within the sella turcica.

Axial images show normal ventricular size and configuration. There are no pathologic extracerebral fluid collections. There is normal signal intensity in cerebrum, basal ganglia, thalamus, brain stem and cerebellum. There is no restricted diffusion.
There is age-appropriate myelination pattern. There is no cortical dysplasia.

Normal signal voids are seen within the intracranial vascular structures. The paranasal sinuses are clear. The mastoid air cells are clear. The orbital contents are normal.   

IMPRESSION:

Chiari I malformation with abnormal CSF flow dynamics.
Please refer to separate dictated report for details of the syrinx in the upper cervical spine.


Olivia's Spine Report:

FINDINGS: (spine)

Alignment: There is normal alignment of the spine. The vertebral body heights and intervertebral disc spaces are normal.

Marrow: Marrow signal is normal.

Cord: The conus terminates at L1 vertebral body level. There is normal appearance of the filum terminale. There is an expansile multiloculated syrinx within the cervicothoracic region extending from C4-C5 intervertebral disc space level inferiorly to
T2-T3 intervertebral disc space level. This measures 8mm in its maximum diameter. There is an expansile syrinx at T7 level as well as within the conus. There is also a filar cyst, just inferior to the conus.

The cerebellar tonsils are low lying. There is normal signal in the spinal cord.
Soft tissues: The prevertebral and paraspinous soft tissues are normal. The vertebral artery flow voids are patent. There is no hydronephrosis. 

IMPRESSION:
Multilevel expansile syrinx within the spinal cord. This appears stable, in comparison to outside MRI dated 9/13/2013.

So, basically, Olivia's CSF doesn't appear to being flowing right and her ondontoid is touching part of the brainstem.  A friend had me start studying "Deformative Stress".  It appears to be related to EDS somehow.  The other thing is that it appears the syrinx's in Olivia's spinal cord are "stable".  I would have preferred them to say "resolving".  Here is where I take a huge SIGH.

Here are some pics of Olivia's newest MRI.  The first picture shows how the ondontoid appears to be pushing in on the brainstem.  The second pic shows the area of concern circled in purple.

 

 

                                               This picture shows the "Filar Cyst"

                                                   This picture shows the syrinx in the thoracic area that is large (black spot in the lower part of the picture)

                                          This picture shows the other syrinxs that don't look any different. The Chiari is also very apparent. 

 

Now here is the report for Abrianna's Flow study:

 

FINDINGS:

The sagittal images shows the corpus callosum is normally formed.

The cerebellar tonsils extend 5 mm below the level of the foramen magnum. There is paucity of CSF flow along the dorsal aspect of the foramen magnum along with abnormal neural movement in 5 out of the 30 phases of the cardiac cycle. The dynamic images
show downward and anterior movement of the cerebellar tonsils along with minimal movement of the brainstem and no impingement on the subarachnoid spaces by the neural tissue is.

The optic chiasm, optic tracts, and optic nerves are normal. There is a normal hyperintense neurohypophysis within the sella turcica.

Axial images show normal ventricular size and configuration. There are no pathologic extracerebral fluid collections. There is normal signal intensity in cerebrum, basal ganglia, thalamus, brain stem and cerebellum. There is no restricted diffusion.
There is no cortical dysplasia. There is age-appropriate migration pattern.

Normal signal voids are seen within the intracranial vascular structures. The paranasal sinuses are clear. The mastoid air cells are clear. The orbital contents are normal.  

 

IMPRESSION:

Low lying cerebellar tonsils with normal CSF flow dynamics.

 

 

So, reading this report she has "abnormal" flow in at least 5 out of the 30 cycles, but they said she had normal flow.  They also diagnosed this as "low lying cerebellar tonsils" WITH "normal CSF flow dynamics."  So, I called the neurosurgeon's office and spoke with his assistant.  I advised that I do not know how you can have abnormal flow and tonsils beyond the measurement for chiari 1 and be "normal".  I sure hope she is, however, I don't know how Olivia's report gives her the same measurements, 1 less abnormal flow and gets her the Chiari diagnosis with abnormal flow.

 

I just simply feel that it is ridiculous that we pay for an MRI and can't even get a correct report.  So far with MRI's I have learned three things:

 

1.  CLEARLY understand how the anastesiologist will be knocking out your child and discuss prior successful anesthetic events.  For instance, in Oklahoma City and Dallas they use gas to start sedation so they can insert the child's IV without it being so tramatic. 

 

2.  Make sure they put your kid in STRAIGHT in the MRI so that you don't end up with a crazy rabbit trail worried that your child has scoliosis on top of your other worries.

 

3.  Ensure that you get your MRI disks IMMEDIATELY and take your laptop to ensure the images are readable right then and ask for at least 2 copies of the disks.  Also, call and get a copy of your MRI report a few days after your test.   More than likely, you will get the report LONG before your ordering doctor will realize they have one to read.

 

I'll repost a follow-up when we learn if Abri's report will be re-done.