The McDonald's come to town

Andrew does most of the talking here, but we did visit last weekend and took some photos, so I thought I would share them.

-- Christian

Olivia updates and the CDLS Picnic in Round Top

I know it has been a LONG while since I wrote anything for everyone to read about Olivia. We have had a busy 6 months since our last update. Olivia has not changed a whole lot at first glance, but just spending some time with her will tell a different story. She is still on continuous feeds. Well, sort of. We are doing a 30 minute feed with a 30 min break all day and night. The pump is supposed to have a setting to be able to start and stop in intervals (actually called “Interval” on the setting), but it doesn’t seem to recognize when the bag is empty in this mode. More experimentation is needed in the waking hours to verify any problem with us or with the equipment.

As of the last 6 months, we have been going through our routine mostly unchanged. We have had our last year of the Cinagis (sp?) shots and that was a battle with the insurance to get them this year even though our doctor insisted on them. They are a monthly RSV preventative vaccines. She is still fragile in that sense. After surviving a collapsed lung in Dec/Jan of ‘04/’05 and having the heart issues, she has bounced back tremendously well. But, we still don’t frequent the mall or take her out often. We did have a nice Thanksgiving here in Houston, and Olivia had her first REAL Christmas at home with all of us. We just had to hold Andy back from opening all his presents until we had Olivia ready for the day.

She has really become a mover of sorts. She scoots along and uses a lot of upper body motion to get her little butt across the room. She likes the magnet letters on her fridge. (Yes she has her own fridge and tv in her room; she could be a college student!) And she likes the pop-up toys and anything that uses her hand-eye skills. From the therapy center, she has a “Stander” which is a strange little contraption that looks like something Hannibal Lecter would be strapped into, but with pre-school patterns on it. The goal is to help straighten her legs, which have not had much weight on them at all yet. We have to get some braces for her lower legs first, and she is a tough case with that since she is so very small. We had some, but they were too big, even in infant size; then we have to put on her shoes, which she also loves (yeah, right) and then it takes two of us to hold her up and strap her in. She is still a bit too small for this device, but we will try to get her comfortable with it.

Other than that, she will have therapy at home twice a week and once a week at the therapy center. Our insurance only pays for 60 visits a fiscal year, so we are also supplementing that with ECI (Early Childhood Intervention), which is a therapy through the state (Texas FYI) which she will be eligible to receive until she is 3. We will still need much therapy after that, but we will take this for now and see what we can do down the road. She gets a speech therapy to help manipulate her facial muscles and maybe get her to talk someday. She also gets PT and OT to work on everything else.

Her reflux is still a big issue with us as well as the copious quantities of mucous that she generates and has trouble dealing with…we get to vent that stuff out as needed. She is pretty easy to read when that is bothering her. We do get around more than we used to that is for sure. She likes to be outside, as long as it is not too hot or if she is not in the direct sunlight for too long. We play with legos (big ones only, don’t worry) and other bins of toys that she can reach into and check out before tossing aside. Just like any other kid, she makes a big mess of her toys and expects us to clean them up! She does not care for plushy animals or dolls. She likes things that she can chew on and make some noise with.

She does have three teeth now. Two on the bottom and one up top, with more bound to come in soon. She is constantly chewing and drooling the “teething drool.” She is a very happy little girl most of the time as long as she is not kept in her chair for too long a period of time. She even went to Papadeaux’s with us to celebrate my bonus check! That went over really well actually. She was not fussy and we were able to make it through the entire meal (Cajun/seafood place) I even got the other two kids to try fried alligator!



Our big event was on March 11 at the beginning of spring break. We co-hosted an family picnic up in Round Top, Texas at Henkel Square. My company (Fairfield Industries Inc.) and Amegy Bank ( employer of our co-host family the Andersons) both donated $1000 each to CdLS Foundation to help pay for this event, and we asked the families to donate a small amount too to help cover the costs. This was for CdLS families in Texas, of which there are about 70. About 14 families made the journey for an afternoon of music, bbq and fellowship. We had a long tiring day of it all, but everything went wonderfully. The town of Round Top was a gracious host and the the historic society who run Henkel Square rented it to us at a generous discount. The historic houses that line the square were opened up for viewing all day, and a few local ladies were dressed in period costumes and gave tours as well. They even sprang for two port-a-johns with wheelchair access and a hand washing station too! They were wonderful to us. The food was great as we knew it would be, brought to us by Steed Johnson and his cowyboy catering. They made almost all the food on site and we were treated to the wonderful smells of BBQ cooking all morning. They topped it off with a peach cobbler and Blue Bell ice cream! We had his friend Ken singing traditional songs and also a bit of yodeling too to keep us entertained for part of the day. We were able to meet some really great people and made some friends and contacts for future gatherings and discussions about our ongoing health issues that we share. A few of the families live in the Houston area, but there were families from as far away as Harlingen and Wichita Falls!! All for an afternoon of food and strangers! We met kids close to Olivia’s age and a few who were 5 to 6 years old and then a 13 year old a 19 year old (boys) and one 29 year old girl. This was the first gathering for her parents in all the 29 years that they have been struggling with CdLS!! We were very pleased to have reached out to them.

We were completely exhausted by the end of the day, but it was worth it. I am sending a few pictures and I can send more to any of you if you want to see more. We look forward to knowing that everyone is making progress in the world of CdLS and in our own families. We are always impressed with Elfrieda and Marge and their strength. We await word on Roger’s coming home and hope that it happens soon!


Here is the note I sent to our company intranet site (only seen by Fairfield Industries Inc. employees)

CdLS Family Picnic

A generous donation of $1000 from Fairfield Industries helped employee Andrew Schultz's family host a gathering for families in Texas who have children with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) in Round Top, Texas. Families from across Texas were invited to join together for a day of music, BBQ and fellowship. About a dozen families were able to attend our gathering for the day in Henkel Square. There were some toys and games for all the kids with prizes as well, and plenty of sunshine to bask in. All the historic houses that make up the square were open, along with some local ladies in period costume who gave tours of the houses. The families represented a cross section of CdLS and Texas, with some traveling from as far away as Wichita Falls and Harlingen, as well as, CdLS “kids” aged from 18 months to 29 years, all for a single afternoon. Knowing that reaching out on a personal level is one of the main ways that families understand and cope with the unique health issues which arise with CdLS is why some would travel such a long way to be with total strangers for a few hours. All the families were excited to meet other families and kids and share their stories of heartache and hope. They were all extremely appreciative of the event and everyone made at least a few friends and some contacts for future support as theses kids grow and their needs change. For more information on CdLS please visit www.cdlsusa.org. If you want to see more pictures, please feel free to contact Andrew.

-- Andrew Schultz

Very belated gallery

Here is a very belated gallery of Schultz family photos. Andy sent these to me on Jan. 4, but I'm just now getting to posting them.

Made it through the storm

This is Christian ... just talked to Andy and they are all fine. He's heading back to his home from Adrienne's mom's house. They had lost power there for about four hours this morning. Andy said he had called a neighbor and they never lost power at his house. He says traffic is heavy but moving on the beltway.

New photos

Andy sends along these photos from Sept. 5th, 2005, the day Olivia was baptized ...

A birthday!

Hello all... It has actually been a whole year since Olivia came into this world, and (to quote Jerry Garcia) "what a long strange trip its been" I some times feel like it has been several years and other times like it was just the other day...I don't miss the hospital, but I miss the encouragement of many of the doctors and the nurses. Olivia has come such a LONG way in a year, that it really nothing short of a miracle. If she had been born 30 years ago, I am not sure if she would have survived. She barely survived the first 4 months. I am not sure if I ever wrote about how scary things got last December, but she was revived with chest compressions (CPR, basically) a few times, and that her lungs were so bad then that the doctors could barely bring themselves to show us the X-ray. They did reluctantly about a month later, when Olivia was breathing on her own. I must say that we could not have done it without our huge extended cast of characters (and oh, what characters they are!!). We have Susan and Kyle; Dave and Barbara; Tim and Sharon; Susie, Ingird and the whole 4th grade Sunday School team at CUMC; ALL the other Schultz's (Steven, who created a link for us to Richard Barrette, who has had incredibly valuable advice and uplifting messages) especially my brother (Chas) and sister (Sarah, aka Sally) who both called many times over to see how things were going. My inner circle of coworkers (those who actually ask how Olivia is doing on a regular basis) I am eternally grateful to my best friend on this Earth (after Adrienne) Crit, who has allowed me to use up his bandwidth for and indefinite amount of time so that you all could read my ramblings. Everybody wanted to help somehow-someway-anyway-anyhow... and with all the help coming usually just in the nick of time, we have made this far, only the rest of our lives to go!

So, we celebrate a year of LIFE for Olivia. She is a fighter indeed. She could have given up at any time, but she is tenacious and has always made sure that we know it. She has adapted us to her needs, that much is certain. We have struggled in many ways, we doubted the intentions of those around us, only to have the fears quashed and our faith reconfirmed. The world has gone through some very tumultuous times in the past year. Death and destruction are running rampant in all 4 corners of the globe, and yet we continue on. The world has shown its true colors in much the same way that those involved with our new world of Olivia and CdLS have shown their true colors. Those who are truly good people stepped up and helped out. We have fought doctors (not a great deal, but there has been some head-butting) my insurance company (if you have ever seen the movie The Incredibles, Bob Parr works for an insurance company whose major objective is to deny all claims and make the shareholders happy; that is what it feels like for many families I am sure) and each other. Luckily, we are able to overcome our internal squabbles and move forward.

Sara and Andy have been unbelievably resilient and patient, even if I have not always been patient with them. It is strange to think that healthy typical children would know about feeding tubes and genetic anomalies and all the issues in between. Andy is always one to ask if other babies that he sees might have a feeding tube or need oxygen or spend their 1st 4 months of life mostly in the hospital. I have to have faith that their ability to cope and absorb the situation that we did not expect and did not know anything about comes from being surrounded by "steadfast love" that knows no bounds of time or space....

Okay, now that I have given my acceptance speech, I will give you a current update of sorts...( I want to thank my agent, Bernie, for believing in this project, and my acting coach who taught me how to use my instrument, and all the people at the studio, I couldn't have done it without you!! you know who you are) ahhh, yeah...okay for real now...

School has started and another season of soccer for Sara (I am coaching her team of 17 girls, don't ask me why) and Andy is still in preschool for this year (late Sept Birthday, he missed the cutoff for Kindergarten) and Olivia has been going to some Physical Therapy (PT) and has just started some Occupational Therapy (OT) too. Her PT is for muscle strengthening. We have learned the various exercises and positions to do with her to make her use her arms more and to build upper body strength and over all balance. She can pretty much sit up on her own for a minute or two. We keep her from just tipping over more due to the Mic-Key button and her severe reflux than from worry about her getting hurt falling over. If she leans on the Mic-Key button sight (where her G-tube connects for feeding) too much, it gets irritated and the skin breaks down around it. If she is shaken up too much (tipping over and sloshing around from being picked up and carried and moved around) she will have a bout of reflux and it is hard on her. I am sure it is painful and rips up her esophagus, along with the way in which she tightens up and is stiff. She appears to hold her breath and try to not spit up, which causes some junk to come out her nose, and then is also painful.

Her OT will be exercises around her mouth and facial muscles to improve her ability to use her tongue and eventually drink fluids and eat actual food. She has come a long way with regards to being orally defensive though. She likes to put some chew rings/toys in her mouth even is they do make her gag and maybe spit up. That is a good sign if she will continue to do things like that and not shut down orally.

Olivia loves to laugh and be tickled too. Her laugh is a rather hoarse grunting sound, but is obviously laughter when she combines it with her Betty Boop eyes. When she is really laughing a lot, her little "hoo" sounds and grunting are like a kid playing machine gun, little sharp bursts of the sounds. I can tickle her with my face (like blowing raspberries on her chin) and with my fingers if she is in a real receptive mood. Andy will play peek-a-boo with her and get her laughing louder than anyone else can. She does hear much better than she used to, and she likes TV a lot too. (I think she has a thing for college football, especially if LSU or Michigan is playing; smart girl).

She does have her moments of behavior that is unique to the syndrome I suppose. We have some nights where she just isn't tired and won't go to sleep. Unlike typical children and babies, we can't just leave her alone with the knowledge that she will just fall asleep while crying. When she gets on a crying binge, she generates more mucous and more gas (the mucous is hard to digest and the gas can cause her to spit up). In general, it is a long slow process to draw the mucous out of her stomach via the feeding the tube, and get her calm enough to relax and sleep. Even if she doesn't get all worked up crying, sometimes she just won't go to sleep easily. If left alone, she would get herself turned around and put too much strain on the Mic-Key button, causing to bleed and become more irritated, or it will disconnect from the feeding tube and formula from the pump and from her stomach will leak all over (yeah, that is a real fun one to clean up in the middle of the night).

So, she keeps us on our toes and makes sure we don't ignore her signs of distress that might be the beginnings of a reflux episode. We will keep at it, and make sure she is safe and dry (thank goodness that we do have a clean and dry place for her) and we will shower her with love and affection and we will surely make it through another day and another week and on to the next holiday and into the upcoming years. Thanks for all your support for this past year, and you know we will be counting on your continued support into the future. Be sure to keep Roger and Sally in your thoughts and prayers (and send him a card for his B-day on Sep 19th), and know that their own ordeal is unique and universal like ours. There are many others suffering too, but when you are in the thick of it in the wee hours of the night, you are fully alone and scared. Daylight does break as always, and the sun washes some of the despair away, but it lingers on...so, call e-mail, write and just say hello. We won't bite (and if we do, we usually don't draw blood), we are just tired and a bit dazed, and we welcome and need the contact.

be seeing you, Andrew

The summer routine

I think the last update was over 2 months ago. Since then, we gradually became familiar with our summer plan. Our summer plan consisted of sleeping a little bit more and generally not having to get the kids up early (with a few exceptions). Even Olivia settled into a pattern of sleeping until almost 9 am or at least until 8:30 typically. She saw both her cardiologist and her pulmonary doctor. As far as her heart is concerned, her VSD is getting smaller and the PFO is pretty much a non issue right now. But she has a pulmonary valve stenosis. Right now, it is a good thing because it has been helping keep too much blood from going to her lungs. So, in tandem with the VSD this heart issue is okay with us for now. She has also been taken off all other meds for heart and lung issues. Olivia's lungs are much better and are not real worrisome to anyone at this time. She won't have to see our cardiologist for another year and the Pulmonologist in October sometime.

These two visits back in early July or late June brought us this welcome news along with the customary pat on the back for Adrienne for doing so well with Olivia. It is nice to get encouraging words from the medical community, especially since they can't really help out in any other ways besides signing documents that we can pester the insurance company with.

Sara and I survived the swim team experience this summer (it ended right around her birthday). Andy hung out with us at the home meets for a couple of hours, before getting too hot and having mom come get him. I pretty much had never really gotten fully immersed in the process until this summer. It is WAY easier than the Softball All-Star seasons of the past. Yeah, it is hot and kind of boring, but not nearly as grueling. Sara also played with some girls on an indoor soccer team, which Adrienne and I took turns going to see (Andy also took turns going to games).

Olivia, in the meantime had several doctor visits. She has seen an ENT a few times. The last time, it was determined that she had quite a bit of fluid build up in her ears and also they would get partially clogged with wax. This was a determining factor in whether or not she can actually hear. She then had an ABR test which determined, roughly, since they did not do the full test, which requires sedating her, that her hearing is poor due to the minute structure of her inner ear bones along with the fluid and wax. It is NOT neurological at all. That is a very good thing, because she will be able to hear just fine as she gets older. We still were pondering some sort of hearing aids for her. They are two things: not cheap and not covered by insurance. This means we did not run out and have her fitted.

She also began going to some PT (physical therapy) every other week at a PTC (pediatric therapy center) a few miles north of us on US 59. That is also not cheap and this particular place is also not covered by our insurance. They will cover some place in Pearland. It looks close enough on a map to someone who has never tried to drive across the Houston-Metro area with a baby on a feeding tube with reflux. For that person (Adrienne) it is VERY far away. Especially by herself. So, we are petitioning the insurance company to cover the closer place. Then, she could also get OT (occupational therapy) and eventually Speech Therapy, which could start sooner than we originally thought.

We have learned some good stuff from PT and so has Olivia. She has begun to roll over a little bit and even a modified crawl (with mom holding quite a bit of her weight) We have just mostly to get her out of her chair, which she gets really bored of now very easily and she likes to be held and to sit with someone on the floor playing (she doesn't really sit up unassisted, but she does love to be held and have her tummy time). She is very ticklish and loves to have raspberries blown on her legs and neck. She will do her version of laughing with a sort of hoarse "hoo" sound. She will imitate me if I "hoo" back to her and tickle her.

She has grown a bit since the last 2 months. She weighed 12 lbs a couple of weeks ago. She also has much more hair on her head. So, the CdLS life for us and for her is pretty much just keeping up with feedings and doing plenty of venting and mixing it up with some tummy time and some other holds to help her gain more back strength and upper body strength.

Here is a typical day with our atypical Olivia. (this will change a bit when school starts for Sara and preschool starts for Andy) I am up around 7am to let the dog out for a bit and then take a shower. When I am ready to leave for work around 7:30 I wake Adrienne up, if she is not already awake. She can do her morning routine for herself (dressing, putting contacts in etc) before waking the kids and before Olivia wakes up. She wakes up sometime around 8:30 or so, and will need a diaper change and some cleaning of the Mic-key button (where the feeding tube connects) sight. It is not fully leakproof and gets kind of yucky over time. She will also probably need to be vented to release the gas pressure in her tummy. She also produces copious quantities of mucous which is an ongoing battle when it comes to doing anything with her; gas and mucous, we could hold a clinic on how to remove it and how to recognize the symptoms of it in her behavior. Mom can usually get the other kids breakfast by 9:30 or so, and also clean up the kitchen and make the beds and deal with the other issues that come up with 2 kids in the house who don't always agree on everything. (nice positive spin on fighting) Olivia doesn't usually take any real naps ALL DAY LONG. So, when she crashes for any amount of time, it is a race to do some laundry or some other chore. (Adrienne does this fantastically, by the way) Somehow, the kids get lunch too. Sometime between 11:30 am and 1 pm the kids get lunch. sometimes at lunch, I came home to take them to the library. not very often though. sometimes Grandmamma would come and take them out for a bit too. Usually they would get settled into some TV for the afternoon...Andy gets bored with TV easily (that is a good thing) And then, I would arrive home around 5:00 to 5:30 and great everybody and we have been swimming for about an hour each day before I come inside to make dinner. I try to do this quickly and let mom come down to eat and clean by 7:00 pm or so. Then I get Olivia time. Sometimes she is crashed out, but more frequently, I hang out with her down stairs and check the email (yes, I read all the email, I just don't respond regularly) She will probably need to be vented sometime during this period. Sometimes she has tons of mucous and it is a long and drawn out procedure. This summer we would let the nights get late before bedtime, and I would bath Olivia and mom would bath Andy (Sara of course, takes care of herself) then from sometime between 9:00 and 10:00 it would be bedtime. Olivia typically gets tired and will go to sleep by 10:00 too. Then Adrienne gets to take a shower and we have a chance to talk or watch something on TV.... Adrienne still has to deal with adding formula to the bag 2 times and night and also give her meds at midnight and at 3:00 am. (she has meds at other times throughout the day too) well, that is our day to day schedule...with a few wrinkles here and there of course due to varying attitudes and latitudes... hope all is well out there ... Happy B-day to Elfrieda Schultz (103!!!) and to Dorothy too. Roger, you are in our thoughts daily and I look forward to reading your blog quite often. ... take care, be seeing you, Andrew and family

Yes, a real nap

EDITOR'S NOTE: I was supposed to post this a couple of weeks ago but I got sidetracked, then it got way down on my e-mail list, then ... well, you know. - Christian


Well, it has been 2 months since I have written an update. We have been busy keeping up with our lives so much, that I have been too tired at night to write anything. So, I am going to try writing this at work during lunch. Olivia has been home this whole time, so that is a good thing. She slowly got over most of the horrid congestion that really messed her up back in February and March. We have not used the suction machine in quite a while. I can't remember when the last time was! I don't really know how much she weighs now, but back in April sometime she was at 11 pounds. I think she must be closer to 13 by now, but I really don't know. She definitely has grown a bit in the past two months. We have held steady on the 3 meds for quite a while now. HCT, Zantac and Bethanocal are the only meds she is on currently. Some day she will get off the HCT for sure.

Olivia has decided to try and do things now that she is no longer sick from the crud or anything else. She still produces an enormous amount of mucous, which will usually find a way out of her via vomiting if we don't vent her G-tube and dispose of it ourselves. That is probably the most tiring and time consuming part of our day with Olivia. She is still on continuous feeds at the same rate as before as well. We have tried a few times to increase the rate or the dose, but it does not agree with her at all. This is one of the dilemmas with a CdLS child. They just don't grow very fast, and therefore don't increase their food intake very rapidly.

So, for the past two months we have established a routine around Olivia. I get up around 6:30 am and get Sara up too (on school days) and then I can let mom get to the bathroom before I leave and take Sara to school too. I am able to let the dog out for a bit too and boil water and bring down the nights' supply of bottles to be cleaned along with the med syringes (no needles, they just pop onto a port on the tube out of the G-tube). Adrienne is in full steam ahead mode from when I leave around 7:30 am until I get back. She has been able to get Andy to his preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Olivia in tow. And on Mon, Wed, and Fri she has Andy all day too and then picks Sara up from school. Other than that, and doctor visits, Adrienne is at home with Olivia. When I come home from work, I pay a little visit to Adrienne and Olivia and give mom a break if she needs it, otherwise I start making dinner. We try to eat by 6:30 if possible and then I am on Olivia duty and Adrienne comes downstairs to eat and clean the kitchen and squeeze in any other chores (of which there are always plenty) before it gets too late. She usually puts Andy to bed and tries to spend some time with Sara too, while I give Olivia her bath (which she doesn't really like very much) and get her put to bed. Then, Adrienne can do some more chores as needed and take a shower and then maybe we get to talk and spend some time together. By this time it is probably 11:00 pm or later and we are both tired.

So, our routine being mostly stable, we have tweaked it to fit in soccer for Sara and now swimming too. No softball this summer!! After 2 summers of All-Star games being played every weekend of June, we are definitely having too much Olivia to do much else. Olivia has now started showing her unique personality and has been struggling to break out of the fog of CdLS. She will do her little laugh more often and is very ticklish too. She has a couple of soft stuffed animals that make her smile too. She will try to "launch" herself forward or to one side if she is sitting up enough. She also displayed the kicking and thrashing motions of a baby who wants to roll over when she is on her back. It is hard to let her do too much though, because it usually triggers her to spit-up. Her G-tube also can get irritated easily if she puts too much pressure on it, so we tend to put her on her right side if she is to lay down on one side. We still keep her pretty well elevated at an angle with her head higher to reduce the vomiting. She sleeps this way too. She has shown a desire to not be sitting in her chair all day too. She has been thriving on being held and gnawing on mom's arm. This is a positive step for sure. She doesn't eat or drink anything herself yet, but she will bring teething toys to her mouth and try them out for a bit. She will do a transfer from one hand to another with a toy (usually a small plastic ring) and the other week she found her toes with her hands. She can spend quite a bit of time grabbing at her toes and pulling on them.

I would have to say that she has developed quite a lot for her. With these changes, she will now take some real naps during the day. Having to sit in a chair all day and not being able to be held very often made her more fussy and fidgety. So, now that she gets out and gets "handled" and is allowed to move herself as much as her ability allows her too, she is more content and properly tired. Her voice is still a hoarse raspy grunt, but she can make a real "coo" occasionally too. She just doesn't babble that much, and saves her most vocal times for when she is mad. She has a mad face that would be hard pressed to find a match among any child!!! She can stick out that bottom lip and really pout when she is unhappy. Although she is usually only unhappy when she is in pain or discomfort from gas or diaper rash. Those are the two big things that seem to be difficult to control and keep from bothering her. She had some real bad skin breakdowns back in April and early May, which we had to treat with prescription ointment. Her fundoplication (which we thought must have failed completely at one time) is probably restricting her ability to burp out gas on her own. We think it has caused the bad reflux due to its being herniated. There is not much we can do about that at this time. So, she gets some meds and we "vent" her quite often to relieve the pressure in her stomach.

The only other big change is the Oxygen. We had been turning down the amount she gets (it is done on a ml/l, ie, milliliter per liter basis) to almost nothing, and the other day, Adrienne took the nasal cannula off Olivia (it has to be taped to her face) and left the oxygen machine running just in case. She hooked her up to the Pulsox machine (which just has a little band that wraps around her foot and gives a reading of her blood/oxygen saturation and her heart rate. She has been able to keep herself at and around the recommended level of 95% most of the time. When she sleeps it will make it up to 98% or higher easily. Only when she moves around a bunch does it not give a good reading. The machine is just too sensitive to pick up a clean signal when she is kicking. Well, that has been most of our past 2 months. I will try and get some new pictures of her now that we are off the oxygen and she doesn't have anything taped to her face. Drop us a line if you have the time and if you have any questions or anything to say at all. We also are keeping Roger Bombardier in our thoughts as he is in training to go off to Iraq with his National Guard unit from Vermont, as well as, Elfrieda Schultz, who keeps the doctors baffled every time she recovers from an illness. I suppose her work here is just not done yet, and at 102 years of age too!!

be seeing you, Andrew