Christmas in Suwanee

Greetings from Suwanee and best wishes for a Merry Christmas from the Whettens.

Here are a few family photos with links to more details if you're interested.

Matt's preparing for a pipe and drum corp presentation.

He shows no enthusiasm for being photographed.

Darcy is in South Korea

(see link on the right, to http://darcystravels.blogspot.com//).

Clarissa and her husband Joshua Haycock

(see link on the right: http://jchaycock.blogspot.com//)

Indigo Blue

Driving to work a couple of weeks ago, I passed these glories in the morning.  I pulled over, parked the car and walked back to capture these images.  The contrast between the white and the dark is so intense, in the image above, that the lack of detail leaves us with the impression that the center is a void or a light source.  The image below shows what me miss in the image above.

Go ahead and click on this image to see it full screen.

She made it!

Darcy wrote from Korea: 
"I made it...all is well. The school is really great. The girl that picked me up last night took me to a grocery store for some milk, cereal and juice. My apartment is really cute, I love it! They got me dishes and bedding and even soap/shampoo so I was very comfortable. I have only minor shopping to do. The school, the apartment, and a little grocery store are all on the same street within 5 minutes of each other. I'll write later about the town. Needless to say, I feel very welcome and comfortable here. Will send pictures soon. Also, they gave me a really cool cell phone last night, all set up and ready to go."

I'm certainly relieved, Michelle is too, and Clarissa too.  As for Matt?  He probably is too, but he's cool enough that the rest of us will never know.  (Renae, does it come with the name or did your Matt come with more than 2 emotions: happy and angry.)

Darcy's gone...

...we last saw her through the crowd going through security at the airport. We stretched on our toes to see one last bob of the blond head as she wrestled a bassoon case and over-loaded backpack away from the scanners and towards the escalators that lead down to the trains. There was one last wave and then she was gone.
Where to? We don't know. Well, not for sure for sure. But we think she'll end up in South Korea. At least that's what her airplane ticket said. We have not heard from her yet, and she was supposed to arrive about six hours ago. In a way, this is like sending a missionary off. No, this is worse than sending a missionary off. We don't have any idea about the people she will be working with - she's the only one who has communicated with them. Missionaries have a tremendous support system: companions, district leaders, zone leaders, assistants to the President, Mission Mother and Mission President, Doctors, etc.
What I'm missing most at the moment is that email from the mission office saying "your son/daughter has arrived safely".
Darcy, are you there.... ?

Blue Mountain Adventure

If you open up Google Earth, and look up Helen, GA, and then follow 75 north to Unicoi Gap, you'll see where the AT crosses 75. Darcy and I parked the car there Friday evening and hiked south on the AT to the ridge top where we spent the night. (See post dated Feb. 20th) The next day we went the other direction to this spot, the summit of Blue Mountain.

There are a few more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/cwhetten5/BlueMountainHike##

On a Sunday afternoon walk

We came across a tree with blossoms we had not noticed before. Any ideas as to what it is?

You can check out the exact location using Google Earth. In the upper left corner of Google Earth, select SEARCH, and in the FLY TO field paste these coordinates:
34.017569N 84.019227W

Vinca - Blue Periwinkle

Vinca, native to Spain and southern France, grows in Suwanee on a small section of hill that our house sits on. It holds down the red Georgia clay and delights us with gems like this one.

Darcy accepted position in S. Korea

On April 26th Darcy sent out the following message:
Dear Family and Friends,

I am thrilled to announce that I have accepted a job teaching English in Korea! I've been planning to do this for a long time and I've finally received and accepted what I think is a good offer. My airfare and housing and 50% health insurance is covered by the school, in addition to a decent salary. My contract lasts 1 year and hopefully I'll pick up some Korean before then. I will begin at the end of June.

I appreciate the support I've received from you all in making this decision. I've always wanted to travel and use my talents and serve others and I feel really good about moving to Korea. This will be an important step in my personal growth as well as my career development.

I will be living in city near Seoul, called Pangyo; all of my friends who lived in Seoul ensure me it's a very nice area. I will be about 75 minutes via subway from the English branch, and about 90 minutes from the temple and there's a Korean branch in my city as well, not to mention the military branch nearby. I've already made contacts with the young single adults in Seoul and I have 5 Korean friends from my graduate program all moving back to Seoul this summer so I've been richly blessed.

I'm currently taking bets on whether I will marry a wonderful Korean guy or meet a gorgeous man in the military branch.

Darcy

Update from Darcy

Darcy is interviewing for the opportunity to teach English in Korea. I'm taking the liberty to share her most recent email:

"Second interview was pretty good. The soothing Australian voice of my interviewer helped a lot. And his chuckle was adorable. I'm so ready for international English.

No offer was extended formally but I think I will hear from my recruiter first. I did get word back from my friend in Korea. She said the location may not be ideal because it's about 1.5 hours from church, LDS single adult socializing etc. The subway system is excellent, but still. She recommended some job search sites and said she'd put word out for me. So, we'll just see what happens. (I'll still do more searching.)

Just thought I'd let you know.

Thanks for your support.

Dw

Blue Mountain

Today I hiked to the top of Blue Mountain on the Appalachian Trail (AT). I started at Unicoi Gap and hiked west, toward the southern terminus of the trail. It was muddy at the start, but as the trail wrapped around to the north side of the mountain, the mud turned to slush. Then, with elevation, it turned to compacted snow. I have not been in this much snow in a long time. It was beautiful - and a fun hike too. At the top of the ridge, I came across an old road bed that I had not noticed the previous two times I've hiked this trail. It's interesting how different things look in the snow. I followed it for about 1/2 a mile until it curved away from the ridge line. I'll have to go back and explore it later in the spring.

As evidence that I was really on the AT, I submit the photo below with Michelles hiking stick leaning against a tree with the AT blaze on. This white blaze marks the trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia all the way to Maine.

About Michelle's hiking stick... it was a gift from David Brown, in Alabama (not the relative). I've used it on just about every serious hike I've taken.

From near the top of Blue Mountain you can see the highet point in Georgia to the north, the Brass Town Bald. Getting to the top of Brass Town Bald is somewhat easier than Blue Mountain: it's accesible by wheel chair.

Snow in Suwanee

It snowed this afternoon. This is the most snow we've had in the 10 years we've lived here. Here is the front view of the house, followed by the back view. Inside the house you'll find Michelle keeping warm by the fire.

3 1/2 " is all were going to get.

Do you sometimes feel totally barren...

I do. Like, tonight I do. It's been gray, cold and rainy the past couple of days. Tomorrow the sun should shine - they say.

One bright spot happened today. Michelle's friend, Pui, came to visit her. She brought her some treats, including cherry ice cream - which Michelle is not a big fan of, but I AM. But, since I'm fasting, that's not the bright spot I'm writing about. Pui is a graphic designer. So when she explained how much she liked the plant shelf I made for Michelle's birthday, well... it just really made me feel good. I feel motivated to make another one now and put it up for sale at a consignment shop I pass everyday on the way to work. I dropped in there today and spoke with Pat, the owner, about the idea and she liked it. Maybe I'll see if I can move some of the flower pictures through there too. Thanks Pui!

Chapter 3 of the Vertigo Story

We walked out of the ENT Doctor's office saying to each other "Well that was discouraging." He did not have any good news. (At least there was no BAD news.) The diagnosis was that a virus damaged the inner ear. Her hearing has not been affected, only her sense of balance. That was good to know. (Michelle wanted to ask for a note to show Matt that she can hear just fine.) The doctor prescribed a patch to be placed behind the ear to help with the nausea. But he did not have any idea of how long this would last.

The patch worked fine... for a day or so. It numbed one side of her face. Then she had an allergic reaction to it. Her throat was swollen. Between the swelling and the numbness she could not swallow correctly. So, off came the patch and the vomiting started back again. So she went back to the drugs prescribed at the emergency room. Antivert helps with the vertigo and another two help her sleep. After a few days, the affect of the patch wore off and she was able to swallow. Little by little the nausea and vertigo have gone down. But I must confess: she is getting desperate for this misreable malaise to be overwith, and she's turning to homeopathic treatments that I'm very skeptical about. I've seen some home treatments give good results, but, for me, the border between alternative medecine and the placebo effect is rather nebulous.

Today she was able to walk around - going from one stable object to another. Her eyes aren't working right. They jerk around a lot unless she really concentrates on focusing. She inadvertently keeps her left eye partly closed. The good news is that she has not had to vomit since January 31'st. I think that, at the pace she is improving now, she'll be back to nearly normal in a week and a half.

Chapter 2 of the Vertigo story

If you've just joined... read the previous post first.

Michelle was able to get right into triage at the hospital with the only delay being paperwork. (You know how you have to sign so many places, and then sign again stating that you really signed.) The nurse who took her initial vital signs and blood work was very competent, and empathetic. That was comforting to begin with. Then the emergency doctor was the opposite of the family-practice doctor she saw Friday. He asked the right questions and took the time, without any prompting, to explain what's going on. I can't remember all the techincal words, but essentially the sinus chamber deep in the head (not near the forehead or nostrils) is the problem. The drainage outlet is tiny, like the point of a pen. So when it gets inflammed, it shuts off the drainage and the build up in pressure brings about nausea and vertigo. He took time and explained about the decongestants not affecting that chamber - which was perfectly in line with what Michelle has experienced. In fact he made several points that were right on the money without Michelle having to tell him about it. So with much relief we came to the conclusion that we had finally found someone who could help.

Then he said: "There's nothing I can do." He went on to explain that the emergency room is not equipped with the things an Ear-Nose-Throat doctor uses to resolve these problems.

(Side note: the branch president of the Santander branch where I began my mission was an ENT. It's fun to say in Spanish: Otolaringologo. I appreciated his work as Branch President. He and his wife were very good to the missionaries. His Basque name is fun to say too: Baldomero Garaycochea).

Back to the emergency room. The doctor was sure there was no tumor, but he would need to prove it by taking a CT Scan. The problem is you have to lay flat on your back. Michelle hasn't been flat on her back for 4 days now. She would be retching the whole time. Fortunately the good doctor had something that resolved that little problem. He said "we don't know exactly how this works. We just now it does." Whether it prevented the vertigo or just made her feel so good, she didn't care - Michelle doesn't know. It worked and she got through the scan with no problem (i.e. no urge to vomit). She fell asleep waiting for the results from the scan. When they came, it was as the Dr. said, there is no tumor, just inflammed sinuses.

While all this was going on, the IV was dripping fluid into her - helping her feel better. She spent the night at the hospital. This morning I brought her home with more prescriptions for the three drugs that had the most affect on the nausea and vertigo. There's nothing to take for the sinus problem. We are tasked to visit a specific ENT tomorrow - or as soon as we can get it.

Now, here at home the drugs have been doing their job. She's been able to shower and wash her hair. (I'm not sure what the big deal is with that. When we're hiking the Appalachian Trail we go all week without washing our hair.) She has even been able to keep down half a mug of clear chicken broth. She received the Relief Society President for 10-15 min. She sat through scripture study with Matt and I (Nephi, the last one, is passing on some pretty serious threats from the Almighty, and few there are that believe him). Michelle has now gone to bed. So that's the end of the story... unless the visit to the ENT turns out to be more eventful than we anticipate.

Vertigo - here we go

I begin with gratitude: It is wonderful to have friends who have friends in the right places. I'm grateful for such friends. Our neighbor (salt-of-the-earth type) is a nurse. She has a friend who works in the Emergency Ward of the local hospital. When we made the decision to take Michelle into the emergency room, our neighbor called her friend - who was asleep after working the night shift, to ask her if it made since to take someone who was dehydrated from constant vomiting to wait in the emergency room. Her friend called another friend at the hospital and found out that it was not a busy day and they would be able to take her right in. THANK YOU, Lisa!

Now back to the beginning. Michelle has had nausea since the week before Christmas. The source of the problem was a head cold - congestion that put pressure on the mechanisms that help you keep your balance. Michelle leans towards homeopathic solutions before taking drugs. So, she put up with it through the Christmas Holidays without taking any medicine. The first thing we did was to get a humidifier going in our room, and a pot of steaming water on the stove during the day. That was a minor help. Then, based on Kathy S.'s (yes I know how to spell it -but I'm respecting her privacy)... based on her recommendation and several collaberating testimonials from friends on Facebook, she tried the Netty Pot. She got over the psychological issue with running water up one nostril and down the other... but it didn't resolve the problem with nausea. Then she tried the steam tent (draping a towel over head, and leaning over a hot pot of water on the table. This helped her more than the Netty Pot... but still did not resolve the problem with the nausea. She broke down and went to a doctor who had cured a friend with similar symptoms. He prescribed a decongestant and a steroid. The side affects made her miserable, but to her credit, she stuck with it and endured through the whole treatment - but it did not resolve the problem. Finally, she found something that helped: She had a good long cry. After that she felt better for a time, but then the nausea came back.

During these weeks, the weather has gone from extreme cold (relative to Atlanta) of around 20 deg. F. to nice weather in the 60's, and then back into the 30's. That's one of the nice things about living in Atlanta. Winters are not freezing cold for weeks and weeks on end. The MLK holiday was sunny and not too cold. Michelle was able to get up and out of the house. We went shopping, she came to the parade and supported our Cub Scouts, she filled her assignment at the Family History Center; so things were looking up. Then last Thursday she came home from taking Matt to school and crashed in bed. She started throwing up, and even though there was nothing to throw, her stomach kept convulsing. It was not a pretty site. She had to lie perfectly still, propped up by pillows, with her eyes closed to keep from retching.

On Friday we went to another Doctor - this time with a firm resolution to ask lots of questions to find out what's going on instead of just taking drugs with no explanation. While this new Dr. was professional and kind, he was not the type to take the time and explain what Michelle needed to know. We had to pressure him for an explanation of what he planned to do. He took blood tests, prescribed a shot of Phenegran (sp?) and a regimen of Meclizine to fight the nausea. The shot was good for her. It stopped the violent retching long enough for her to swallow and keep down the first dose of Meclizine. When it came time for the second dose, the Phenegran had practically worn off - but she still kept from throwing up for about an hour. After that the retching resumed. It never got to be as violent as Friday morning, but she could not keep any thing down.

That brings us to Saturday around noon when I called our neighbor over to get her thoughts on dehydration. Since Thursday, she had thrown up more than she had taken in. (I kept a log of what she drank and how often she vomited). The Dr. who had prescribed the Meclizine had said to take her into the emergency room if she could not keep the medecine down and got dehydrated. But Michelle did not want to go sit in a wheelchair and throwup, waiting in the emergency room. Thats when our neighbor made her calls and found out we could walk right in. So... we did.

More about the MLK parade

Sis. Howerton, who put a lot of work into the organization of the parade shared this photo. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of participating in this parade. It's a simple way of showing respect and appreciation for the tremendous change brought about by Martin Luther King Jr.
I once commented to a man from India about how much I respected Ghandi for the peaceful change he was able to bring about in India. The man said "Oh, no. I still think the other way would have been better." He had his reasons for believing an armed conflict would have been better. He could justify it in his own mind. So I can believe there are people out there who believe a violent uprising would have been a better way to gain civil rights. There are also people who believe man never made it to the moon. Our society has progressed in so many ways, but coming to an understanding of the truth is not one of them. We are just as easy to be fooled as ever before - probably more so than ever before as morality declines and the source of truth is kept away by the stench of our immorality.
Dr. King, I salute you for believing in the Lord and being a peace maker. Thank you.

Marching in the Martin Luther King Parade

Cub Scout Pack 521 marched in the Martin Luther King parade in Lawrenceville. This was the first time I've marched in the parade. It was great fun!