Merry Christmas From McDonald's

Since the Eidsmoe family will be in Peshtigo for a while, I'm not sure how much, if any, I will be able to blog. So having said that, here is one of my favorite Christmas commercials. Vintage 1980s.

Enjoy.



Merry Christmas from McDonald's! :)

—b

Bicuspid Aortic Disease

The day of Brevin's birth, we were told he had a heart murmur. "Most of the time it goes away as the heart develops" said our pediatrician to reassure us. Sure enough, at one of the following appointments, there was no trace of a heart murmur. But when Brevin's 3 month checkup came around, the murmur was back.

Twice a month a heart specialist visits our clinic so Erin set up an appoint for this past Monday. Upon further review and a few hours in the hospital, Brevin was diagnosed with Bicuspid Aortic Disease (BAD).

So what does that mean?

Anytime you hear "heart" and "disease" in the same sentence, you immediately put the two words "death" and "sentence" together. But hold your horses! For a quick answer to contain any panic, "two-thirds of people that have a bicuspid valve, it functions well for life."

What is a Bicuspid Aortic Valve?

According the American Heart Association:

The term bicuspid aortic valve refers to the leaflets of the aortic valve. This is the valve that leads out of the heart to the aorta, the big blood vessel that delivers oxygen-rich blood to the body. Normally, the aortic valve has three leaflets. A bicuspid valve has only two leaflets.

Because of this, patients with a bicuspid valve may develop a narrowing or leakage of the aortic valve. Narrowing or leakage of aortic valves do not necessarily develop in childhood, but may occur in adulthood. On rare occasions these problems require repair, either with a balloon (cardiac catheterization) or surgery. To determine whether narrowing or leakage is present and related to the bicuspid aortic valve, the cardiologist follows the patient with non-invasive tests that may include: electrocardiograms, echocardiograms and stress tests. If narrowing or leakage of the valve becomes severe enough to require intervention, your doctor will explain this to you in more detail. In many cases, bicuspid aortic valves do not require any intervention in childhood and children with them may not need activity restriction. A pediatric cardiologist will make specific recommendations for activity restrictions for each patient based on the severity of the valve narrowing or leakage. Restrictions may be put in place to assure that a normal amount of oxygen gets to the patient's heart muscle at all times.

So what does this mean for Brevin?

Brevin's next "heart" appointment is when he turns one. I'm assuming they will do the same thing to him they did Monday which is put those stickers on him with cords attached to monitors and then look at his heart via an ultrasound. We will have to monitor his heart, at least for now, on an annual basis.

Initially the heart specialist said we would have to monitor his "strenuous activities". ie. football, weight lifting, hockey. But that's only if his valve starts to become "insufficient". So for those of you who thought Brevin couldn't try out to be a Packer, fear not. As long as his valve is handling the blood flow normally, he could be the next Brett Favre. (Ok, so he won't achieve that status with my genes, but you get the picture.)

Other than that, Brevin should have a normal life with no restrictions.

If you'd like more info, eMedicine.com is a great website that has helped me and where I got the majority of my stats.

Bottom line is anytime you hear your child has a heart disorder, you are obviously concerned. And being that out of Erin and I, I'm the more relaxed one, Erin took the news extremely well. I was so proud of her! She didn't get worked up but just wanted all the information she could.

After we found out, Erin called both sets of parents and explained the situation to them. I'm not sure how they took it but let me just reassure them that Brevin is loved by God and when Brevin is old enough to understand, I know he will love God as well. The big picture is easy to forget, but ultimately, that's our only hope in this life.

If you think about it, would you lift up Brevin in prayer every now and then? Pray that we would keep this disease in the back of our heads and not dwell on it. Pray for healing concerning his valves and that God would open the third up. Pray that Erin and I would be wise in how we monitor this lifelong condition (that is unless God intervenes).

Thanks again everyone and Merry Christmas!

—b

Love As Jesus Loved

(Insert Vikings fans reading level joke here.)

Dagnabbit, I'm making time to write today! I don't care what is on my plate!

This is why Christmas is fun. Dad's and daughters get to dress alike and read the same books; the mom's get together in the kitchen to make holiday candy; the dad's relax in the family room while discussing open dates to travel to the boundary waters. That's what makes Christmas fun. Being together with those you love. In this case, immediate family.

For us, Christmas truly did come early this year. And the best part, we get a second Christmas in the same year! God is good.

At the same time, don't think we don't have our "tense" moments as well. Unfortunately no ones life is always a Norman Rockwell painting. We take the good with the not so good. The highlight of every holiday is spending it with family. Period. No green grinch can ever take that away. But at the same time, the lowlight of every holiday seems to happen while spending it with family. Question mark. Being born into sin sucks. I don't need to even go into specific examples of how families fight during the holidays. That seems to just as much of a tradition as the gifts.

Now please don't read anything into this post. We had a great time with no "family fights". But God has put it on my heart this morning to encourage anyone who reads this with family tension to love as Jesus loved. After all, that's the origin of this holiday anyway.

I was convicted this past weekend of not loving as Jesus loved. I ran through the motions of visiting my grandpa in the nursing home all the while looking at my slowly ticking watch. The thing is, I love my grandpa. I can make all the excuses I want for not enjoying my time there. But ultimately, I didn't love him like Jesus does. And unlike a 30 minute sitcom, this problem won't be solved after the last commercial break. But what I do know is I was thinking of myself first.

The point of this rather depressing tale is to, again, encourage you. If you have planned events with family that you aren't looking forward to. Will you please learn from my mistake and think of them before yourself? I went into that nursing home with the wrong attitude. I love my grandpa but I loved myself more.

I'll end my soapbox special with a passage from 1 Peter 4:8-11:

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Now, just so I don't leave you with a heavy heart, here is the highlight of Christmas in Moorhead 2007.

It was time to start opening gifts. My dad was under the tree and literally tossing the presents to everyone. (Yes, I am my dad's son.) As we were all sitting in a semi-circle catching the gifts, my dad tossed one to me that didn't quite make it. Instead of hitting me, it hit the lamp next to me. As the gift made contact with the lamp, my mom who is sitting on the opposite side of the room, jumps up with a full cup of coffee in hand, trying to stop the collision.

The end result was her dumping her entire cup of coffee on herself, kicking Christmas presents everywhere, and causing the rest of us to burst out laughing. We, including mom, were all laughing so hard not one of us had a dry eye. What mom thought she could do to prevent the errant gift from hitting the lamp from the other side of the room, we'll never know. What's even better was the only fatality of it all was a 50 cent lightbulb and mom's now coffee stained outfit. Thank you mom for being who you are!

Merry Christmas everyone!

—b

I'm Trying!!!

Aargh! I'm trying to make time to post, really I am!

—b :(

Baby Fish Mouth?

In honor of my freelance friend John Mayer...enjoy bud. I'm still laughing at this.



—b

A Cop-Out Post?

First off...stupid priorities!

Ok, sorry about that.

I think gravity must have been a little off that day.

I was going to try and give a recap of the past few weeks but then reality, having been jacked up on Balco products, punched me in the face. So here's hoping I can start afresh tomorrow.

At the risk of turning this thing into a Brevin-only blog, click here to see an updated photo album of Brevin and his older cousin Kayle. (Yes, people have been asking for some. And when I say people, I mean Naner.) ;)

—b