Life...

Sometimes you can just be going along, living your life, doing the things you always do, and life sends you a curve ball telling you to slow down! Lately, we have had so much going on and have been trying to do so much, that we really haven't been taking the time to be taking care of ourselves. Well, yesterday it all caught up with Eli.

Eli was diagnosed with diabetes about six months ago. At the time the doctor told him he wouldn't need insulin, but would need to take medicine, watch his diet, and get lots of exercise. He was doing really well too and was beginning to lose weight and feel healthy...that is until we got off track during Christmas break.

Our poor boys hate when there is a break in school, because it usually means time to start a new project at the house to Eli & I. We like to take advantage of having the extra hands for a full days work...we do try to find time for fun too, but it's usually the hard work that is the lasting memory.

When we first bought "this old house" the floor plan was just wacky! When you came in the front door you were standing in my kitchen & the refrigerator was behind the open door. There were lots of things we wanted to change. But knowing it was all going to take time, I had Eli build a wall about three or four feet in front of the door to create a small entry.

After we moved the kitchen, we turned the old kitchen into an office area. We were also still looking at how we could open up that area to make the living room bigger, so our furniture didn't seem so crowded. Having the baby grand piano, it gets pretty tight, especially when we add a Christmas tree to the mix! Eli was looking at how much space would be added if we opened the entryway into the office area from the living room when I suggested we just take out the wall we had built. So that was the planned project for Christmas break...No big deal!?

What was so easily said, was not easily done. Back when we laid our hardwood floor I'd had this great idea that we should have the planks in the entryway going the opposite direction of the living room. Plus, the floor was put in after the wall had been built! This meant we needed to pull up and relay part of the floor, so it would match the rest of the room...thank Heaven's we still have lots of flooring.

Our days during the remodel were kept pretty busy. We had to knock down the old walls, rewire electric connections that had been in the now gone walls, pull up and relay portions of the flooring, add a support beam to the ceiling, put sheet-rock over the cinder-block wall that was in the old office area & other areas that had been exposed by taking out walls & rewiring, mud & tape, paint, and add molding. Simple, right?! We had figured out a schedule that would have it all completed a couple of days before the break was over, so that we could also do something fun as a family...yeah right!

Anyone that has ever started a home remodel project knows that there are always little things that turn into big things adding time to the project timeline. As the break was coming to an end we could see that we were not going to finish as scheduled. Since we wanted the boys to be able to celebrate New Year's and not spend their entire break working, we decided not to press it because we could finish up over the next few weekends.

Shortly after New Year's Eve Eli started feeling sick. It started out like a cold, but then seemed to turn to the flu. His whole body ached and he was just tired all the time. He spent a few days in bed and was taking some over-the-counter medicines...which is very rare for Eli. He never really started feeling better, but was just pushing himself to get up and finish the project. I would tell him he needed to go see his doctor and he kept telling me he had an appointment scheduled for later in the month.

We were getting SO close to being done, that Eli just kept pushing himself. Monday was Martin Luther King Day & the boys had school off, so the plan was to try and take advantage of the long weekend and finish the project. Friday evening Eli ran out of steam pretty quickly, so mostly he just told the boys how to do stuff. On Saturday, he was able to come down to the couch, but just didn't have any energy and by Sunday he could barely make it down the stairs from our bedroom. He had stayed home from church, but tried to come down for something to eat when the boys I got home. He was so weak that it seemed like he could barely hold his head up, and he was very unsteady on his feet. I tried several times to get him to go to the ER with me, but he kept refusing because he already had a doctors appointment coming soon.

Monday morning I told Eli that I wasn't going to wait for this "doctor's appointment" to come any longer and called his doctor's office. Turns out his doctor was on maternity leave and his appointment was scheduled in three more weeks when she returned! I asked the girl on the phone if there was another doctor or Physician's Assistant that he could see today and we made an appointment for an hour later.

When it was Eli's turn, the nurse brought him back and proceeded to take his vitals. After trying to get his blood pressure and pulse a few times without any luck she asked if she could try the other arm, when that didn't work she went and got the PA. He came in and tried the first arm a few times with no luck and switched arms just like the nurse had done...still no luck. He then sent the nurse to get the EKG machine. When they hooked Eli up they found that his resting heart rate was 156! The PA said he could give Eli medicine to bring the heart rate down and send him home, but because they hadn't been able to find a pulse either he was sending him to the ER (which was across the parking lot) instead. He gave us a printout from the EKG and sent us on our way. When we got to the ER and showed them the test results they hurried us back to a bed and started taking blood and running more tests. While sitting there waiting for the next set of test results, Eli turned to me and said, "Good call."

A short time late, the test results came in and we realized how it was actually a "close call." Eli's blood sugar was off the charts! 1387! That is about 10 times above the normal level! They don't know if the high blood pressure aggravated the sugar or the other way around, but explained that when his heart was beating so fast his blood couldn't circulate like it should so his sugar kicked in to compensate. Then the elevated sugar made the heart rate increase, which then made the sugar increase...and on and on. I really think that if I hadn't made him go to the doctor's he would be in a diabetic coma today.

They have moved him to the Intensive Care Unit and have hooked him up to all kinds of IV's. Until they get his blood sugar down they want to control everything that goes into his body. Hopefully they will be able to get it into control in the next few days and he will be released.

Counting Our Blessings...

As I sit here at 2 o'clock in the morning contemplating the fact that another year has gone by, I realize that 2010 was a very good year for the Escamilla family!

Last year at tithing settlement our Bishop challenged us to read the Book of Mormon before the April General Conference, and promised us that if we did we would have miracles happen in our family. This year when we met with him again he asked if we had taken his challenge. Eli confessed that while we did begin to read the Book of Mormon as a family, we did not finish it prior to the goal of General Conference. He was then happy to report that although we were not able to complete the challenge, we did have miracles happen in our family.

In April of 2009 we moved dad up to Utah to live at Courtyard at Jamestown, an assisted living facility with an "enhanced care" unit that catered to people with memory loss. The move and transition to Jamestown went really well and dad thrived while he was living there. They had daily activities and went on weekly field-trips, plus the staff there really loved dad! It was the perfect place, except that dad was always lonely...When I would go pick him up in the evenings he would tell me how lonely it is to live alone. I would remind him of all the people he had around him and all the activities he was participating in, but at the end of the day when he would go to his room he would forget all about anything but the fact that there was no one there with him at the end of the day.

In February as we were finishing remodeling what would have been our master bedroom, we realized that it would be a good bedroom for dad. It had it's own bathroom, a walk-in closet, and a TV hook up and room for his recliner. It would be the perfect "guest" room. So, at the end of March, dad moved in with us.

Eli quit teaching at Provo Canyon School, which is a private school for troubled teens with three campuses in Utah County, in order to stay home with dad. This was the perfect plan. I would continue working, since I had better benefits at UVU and Eli would be the one to stay home with dad. This would also give Eli more time to finish up the projects we had around the house. That was the plan...

Plans change though. Tanner was a freshman at Provo High and was having some problems with bullying. Eli had gone to talk to the principal several times, but the issue was never really resolved. It's been so sad to see Tanner loose all interest in going to school and his grades began falling...even in the classes he used to love. We toughed it out with hopes that Tanner would be picked in the lottery at UCAS and would not need to go back to Provo High for 10th grade. But darn it! He wasn't picked until #89 on the waiting list. We really didn't want to send Tanner back to Provo High, so we started looking at other options.

When Tanner didn't get in to UCAS Eli went to meet with the Academic Adviser, that would have been over him, to find out what Tanner needed to be doing in school this year in order to be ready to enter UCAS as a Junior. Although they have a high rate of interest, after the first year at UCAS there are usually several students that opt to return to their neighborhood high school, so if Tanner is ready he may be able to attend UCAS next year. This was good news, but it didn't really help us with what to do for 10th grade.

To start getting up to the level he needed to be at in math, Tanner took an Algebra class at UVU during the summer and did very well...he aced the class! It was good to see him enjoying school again! He was going into the Math Lab at UVU and studying with other students and was able to build some healthy relationships with some of them. It was refreshing to have him in a learning environment where everyone was just there to learn and no one needed to feed their ego by picking on the "little guy." This too was a good opportunity, but it still didn't help with what to do for 10th grade.

During our quest to find the right place for Tanner, Eli remembered a program called eSchool that was used at one of the high schools where he had subbed. It was the high school that is connected to the youth detention center here in Provo, and when Eli checked into it he found out that it is usually used as an option for kids that have been expelled from several traditional high schools. We also found out that in order to participate you have to be referred by your regular high school.

Our plan changed and we decided to transfer Tanner to Independence High, where he would be enrolled in some on campus classes and some eSchool classes, but have him continue with math at UVU through concurrent enrollment. Independence High School is Provo School District’s alternative school for secondary students. Students who attend Independence do so by referral from either middle school or their regular high school, usually because of behavior, attendance or credit issues. Even though most people think the students at Independence are typically the "bad kids" we felt good about sending Tanner there, because the class size is purposely kept low in order to keep up the standard of educational services for struggling students. They also assured us that students that are deemed "unsafe" at their regular high school would also be deemed unsafe at Independence, and bullying was never tolerated. When we discussed this option with Tanner and he was okay with it. At first he really wanted to be able to continue with his Jr ROTC that he was taking at Provo High, but he also liked the idea of taking more classes at UVU.

When Eli went to meet with the principal at Provo High to get the referral, of course he was surprised and wanted to know what they could do chance our minds and keep Tanner there...I'm sure he was truly concerned for Tanner and not considering the tax money he would be losing. Eli reminded him that he had been in to visit with him several times during the year with concerns about Tanner being bullied, so they already knew what could be done. It was just that they hadn't done anything! The principal even invited Tanner's counselor into the meeting, and when Eli mentioned that we also wanted Tanner to take his math classes at UVU she said that Tanner's math score did not support a recommendation for that. It was so nice for Eli to be able to tell her that actually Tanner had already completed an Algebra class there and earned an A!...it is amazing how well a student can do when the teacher they have teaching math actually loves the subject. The principal asked us to give him a week in order to meet with "his team" and come up with a plan.

The plan "the team" came up with was keeping Tanner at Provo High for three electives and Seminary, having him take three eSchool classes, and continuing his math through UVU. Tanner really liked this option, because now he would be able to continue with his Jr ROTC class, so we decide to go with this plan.

It has worked out well, for the most part. Tanner is enjoying Jr ROTC, and was made Flight Commander of his flight. Jr ROTC has been good for him too, he is learning discipline and the added leadership role has helped him learn to deal with other students that may not want to be doing what is on the agenda for the day. The administration at the school are also now very aware of who Tanner is and are regularly checking in with him to make sure he fells safe and is not being bullied.

eSchool however, has not turned out quite like we expected. During the summer they switched the program they use, so this class gets to be the guinea pigs and work out all the kinks. The lessons are very broad-based and poorly written, making it hard to tell what it is they are trying to get across. The tests and quizzes are also poorly written. They also seem designed to "trick" the student. After reading the question instead of giving several good options for answers, they have answers that are almost verbatim from the text, but with one small word change that might go unnoticed. Due to how bad eSchool is put together, Eli has been going through and reading the lessons, then taking the quizzes (and not always getting above a 70, because the questions are SO bad!), and then teaching the lessons to Tanner once he has figured out what the concept is they are trying to teach and figures out the logic of the questions. Then Tanner takes the tests. It's been way more time-consuming then we had anticipated. Needless to say, we probably won't do eSchool again; but through it all, Tanner has been getting much better grades, learning some good study habits, and regaining his self-esteem.

It's funny how now looking back at some of the trials and hardships we have gone through in the past few years, I can see how the things we were going through brought us to this point to be able to help our son. If dad hadn't been so lonely at Jametown and moved in with us, Eli would not have been home during the day and taking classes through eSchool and UVU would not have been viable options. And looking back at the financial struggles we went through when Eli decided to go back to school to become a teacher, I see that in the grander scheme of things those struggles were SO worth it so that Eli had the skills to be able to help Tanner.

So yes, we have had miracles in our life this year!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

2010 has been a very good year at the Escamilla house. We have been truly blessed. It's amazing how you can be going through a trial...or what you think is a trial...only to look back at the end and see all the blessings you have been accumulating!

In March we finished remodeling our master bedroom. We added a bathroom and walk-in closet. Just as we were about done we realized that we could make the room dad's bedroom, so he moved in with us at the end of March. Having him with us has definitely been a change, but it's been a good move for all of us.

Eli resigned from his job teaching to stay home with dad. He is still very busy though...probably busier then when he was working. He is also home-schooling Tanner in three of his classes and of course is always in the middle of "the next phase" of remodeling our house.

Michelle is still working at UVU and loving it. Her job has changed a little and she has been working more with the Dean's office as an assistant to the Associate Dean. She also gets the chance to do a bit of traveling in her position with the Legal Studies Department for training and was just in Indianapolis in October and is now planning a trip to Denver in March.

Connor is continuing to take classes at UVU. He is hoping to be close to finishing his Bachelor's degree before his mission. He will turn 18 in March and the way time has been flying by will be filling out his mission papers before we know it!

Tanner has been very busy with school! He is definitely not your average student. He is taking three classes at Provo High, one of which is Jr. ROTC where is the Flight Commander of his group and loving it. He also has three online classes that Eli is home-schooling him on and is taking an Algebra class at UVU.

As this year comes to an end and we look back at all we have experienced and accomplished we realize how truly blessed we are.

Our wish at this time is that you may be enjoying the spirit of this season and find yourself surrounded by the love of family and friends.

Love,

Eli, Michelle, Connor, Tanner & Scotty

I'm not a pepper any more...

Anyone that knows me well knows that I love my Dr Pepper. I started drinking Dr. Pepper way back in 1979, before it was even popular.

I was working at the distribution center of Marci's, a clothing store for women, in El Cajon, CA. Stopping at 7/11 or Maverick for a fountain drink on the way to work wasn't an option, because they didn't have them. There was an old pop bottle machine that only had three choices, Fresca, Dr Pepper or Coke.


At first I chose not to get drinks at work because I didn't like Fresca, and since I didn't drink caffeinated drinks the other two were not options for me. I'm not exactly sure why, but one day at work I needed a drink. I had tasted Coke before and didn't like it, and I knew I didn't like Fresca...so my only option was Dr Pepper.

I remember that first bottle to this day...believe it or not, I didn't like it. Dr Pepper definitely is an aquired taste. A few days later I wanted a drink again, so I got another Dr Pepper. Soon I was getting one every day. There have even been times in my life where I was waking up in the middle of the night to get a sip of Dr Pepper from a bottle in the fridge...Sad, I know!

Over the years I have tried to quit several times. Twice I even quit for six or seven months. Both times after quitting, I ended up somewhere...a restaurant or hotel...where the only drink I liked on their list of choices was Dr Pepper. Each time I "just had one" then another one a few weeks later, which lead to my daily Dr Pepper.

One of the times I quit was just over a year ago. I had had surgery for a prolapsed bladder and the urologist suggested I quit drinking caffeinated drinks. Now I kick myself for starting up again, because it was very easy to quit that time. No cravings or headaches!

Now that I am almost 50 one of my doctors told me I should have a bone density scan to start monitoring any bone loss. The scan showed that I have Osteopenia. Osteopenia refers to bone mineral density (BMD) that is lower than normal peak BMD but not low enough to be classified as Osteoporosis. My doctor informed me that it is reversible with vitamin D therapy. He also asked if I drank any caffeinated beverages. Then he explained that coffee could help to improve it, but caffeinated sodas would make it worse because of the carbonation, and suggested I quit all carbonated beverages.

So...it's been three days since I've had a Dr Pepper. Keep your fingers crossed that this time it's for good!

I've Got a New Hat

I am a woman of many hats... nurse, taxi driver, head chef, housekeeper, gardener, teacher, confidant, personal shopper, finance manager...the list goes on. I now have another hat to wear...that of student. I have gone back to college to finish my degree. I was SO close when Eli & I got married, that I kick myself for not finishing then.

Dad's One-liners...

Eli took Dad & Tanner to see Avatar at the dollar movies Saturday, but arrived a bit late so the only seats left were in the front row.

After sitting down, Dad turned to Eli & announced, " I wanted to watch the movie, not be in it!"

Don't Forget to Pray...

One of the memories I have from my teens is waking up early to get ready for Seminary and school. In California there is no "release time" to attend Seminary during the school day as an elective...we attended Early Morning Seminary! Depending on the time of year that meant getting up before the sun (and sometime wearing pj's under my coat because it was just too cold to get undressed that early in the morning!)

I can very vividly recall coming out of my bedroom to go to bathroom to shower and primp for the day and being able to hear dad's voice coming from the living room in low whisper. Then tip-toeing quietly to the end of the hall to get a peek at who dad was talking with at that early hour. There was no one else in the room...Dad was on his knees, with his scriptures open on the table in front of him, praying. This was a daily occurrence...unless I was late getting up. In that case he was in his chair already reading his scriptures.

Dad was always a great example at remembering to pray...before every meal, at the end of the day or at the beginning of any trip a family prayer was always said. Now as Dad's memories are fading and he sometimes forgets that we are living in my house and not at a hotel or that Connor is only 17 and not on a mission...he continues to remember to pray. At the dinner table it is not uncommon for him to forget that we just blessed the food and he will pause to say an individual blessing, and in the evening as he is in his room getting ready for bed I can hear him in his room praying before he reads his scriptures.

What a comfort it is as I watch my father's memory deteriorate to know that even though he sometimes forgets that I am his daughter, he is still a great example to me and prayer continues to be important to him.