Trading Memphis Blues For Georgia Peaches

For the first time in nearly 16 years we are making a non-TV news move! We went from Texas to Minnesota, Minnesota to Omaha and Omaha to Memphis... all chasing the next TV market as a reporter/anchor/producer and TD/director.

This time, after ten years in Memphis spent at two different TV stations, we are packing up and moving to Atlanta, Georgia. 

My company, KQ Communications, is expanding and I have been chosen as the director of the new office. I am beyond humbled that my employers feel I’m prepared to accept this incredible challenge. But I am confident that this is the perfect next step for Team Rosenberg. While we have discovered that Atlanta offers KQ the perfect soil for growth, it is also fertile ground for Joel to seek his next steps … it is a deeper and more creatively charged pool. The fact that this city is filled with Trader Joe’s, Publix and a ginormous IKEA is an extra added bonus.

I have been traveling to Atlanta every month since September so I’ve learned a good bit about the city and have been very impressed with it. But I really hadn’t had a chance to really explore yet. So we took our Spring break to get acquainted with the city and surrounding areas that will soon become our home. We touristed it up!!! 

The Rosenboyz at CNN. 

The Georgia Aquarium. Incredible place!!

Our twin tornadoes with twin Pandas.

The Georgia Aquarium, The World of Coca-Cola, The Atlanta Zoo … and even a trip to CNN. And we managed to make it out of there without a police escort after a profanity laced PTSD rant out of Joel J  (The TV wounds are still fresh – post-TV folks can understand.) 

The World of Coca-Cola. What a cool place!
The tasting room was our favorite.

We also did a lot of driving to seek out areas we might like to put down new roots and loved discovering that this place is absolutely beautiful! Clean, hilly, full of trees and overtly nice people! It was the perfect introduction of the city for Joel and the boys.

We happened upon the neatest
mini-golf course/locally-owned movie theater.
Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

The tough part is that for the next three months, I will be here and the boys will be back in Memphis … finishing out school and getting the house ready to sell. I will travel home as much as I can but spend the rest of the time with current clients, building up our base and prepping for the summer when the rest of the clan can make their move.

My new temporary abode complete with inflatable bed and 'couch'.

And a great new office space provided by IKEA and the able hands of Max and Joel.

I have gotten set up in a cute little apartment which my Rosencrew helped me outfit with inflatable mattresses (Big thanks to Tran Bui for lending us one!!), an IKEA office chair and desk and super fancy purple Solo cups for drinking juice (possibly dark red grape juice from Trader Joe’s). And before heading back to Memphis, they left me strategically placed notes reminding me I’m not really alone here. We are Team Rosenberg … we’ve built or bought three houses, sold two of them, lived in two separate places three different times … we can do this. 

My handsome trio leaving me for Memphis :-(

That boy I married will be Mr. Mom for the next three months and I cannot thank him enough for accepting this new move with open arms along with all the stress this transition will bring. Now … to purge 16 years of stuff to make for a simplified move. That being said… anyone want a lovely 4 bed 2 ½ bath with a big backyard and lots of charm? Bonus: BEST neighbors EVER!

Going Home...

As much as I always get excited to visit my home state, I can't say as I'm looking forward to our trip tomorrow. The boys and I will be making the trek to Marshfield, Wisconsin where we will spend some quality time with my daddy. My goal is to make him smile and take his mind off of the fact that he has been given news so grave that I can barely bring myself to type it. This man, made of incredible positivity and crude, wild humor, has been told to prepare for only a few months left on this earth. 

Terminal. Malignant. Inoperable. Words that I can not quite bare to utter. 

These words have been used to describe what is happening inside his frail body. I've never thought of dad as frail. He isn't a big man, but was always larger than life in my eyes. But his liver has finally checked out after many, many years of living a bit too wild. He cleaned up his act, just a little too late. 

Tomorrow, we will set out on a 12 hour drive and I will be forced to make the kind of decisions that I was sure I had years to prepare myself for. But we can do this, because that's how we're built. Daddy always taught me to 'maintain', only fret about the things you can control, and more than anything, make the most of today. We will do that. In the meantime, prayers for his comfort and my strength would be greatly appreciated. 

Back to School Fun and the Botox Blues

Warm muffins are resting on the counter.
Backpacks are ready to go.
Uniforms are ironed.
Two not so little boys are having a hard time sleeping tonight. They are beyond excited about embarking on this new middle school journey bright and early ... and I do mean early ... in the morning.
I am still baffled at where the time went and how these young men grew so quickly but I am so very proud of them.
Max is stoked about Creative Dramatics, which is a film/video class, totally appropriate.
Porter is thrilled to meet new CLUE kids (talented and gifted class) AND he is in orchestra with his favorite strings teacher!
Aside from the fact that I am nervous and emotionally drained, I LOVE the first day of school. Just the thought of it brings to my senses, the smell of new pencils, the feel of new clothes and that unmistakable feeling of fear mixed with excitement. A fresh new start ... I LOVE it!
For these boys, I really believe it is going to be a great year.

Now, onto the big boy.
The last Botox injection (to treat his Palatal Myoclonus) lasted a blissful 6 weeks, not the anticipated 3 months.
We got great news that we could stay closer to home as there is actually a doc that does these palate injections in Memphis!!
We wait the month and a half for the appointment only to find not only that the doc isn't in our plan, the precertification never happened.
Lots of phone calls to doctors offices and insurance reps, another 6 weeks and finally ... Joel got the injections on Monday. Woo hoo!!!
The relief wasn't as immediate as the last time around, but the popping seemed to taper off to a comfortable level within a few days. And we thought he was really on the way to feeling great.
And then... he started noticing difficulty drinking ... liquids tend to go 'up' before going down ... drinks coming out of his nose is a cool party trick but not desirable :-/  And then he started to notice a bit of a speech impediment. The more he talks, the worse it gets and it frustrates him to NO end.

These are all side effects we knew we could face, we even saw videos of people with the 'dysphasia' and knew that this could be part of the future but I guess because the first one was met with zero downside with the exception of the short lived-ness ... we expected smooth sailing.

The upside - it's not a forever thing. This should only last a week or so. Fingers crossed.

It's just a bump. We are so blessed that we have healthy kiddos and while this is a miserable disorder, it could be SO much worse. But at the moment it is crazy frustrating and not great for that boy's mood ... or patience.

So... for those of you who speak to him daily, No, he hasn't been drinking ... the slurred speech just means that the Botox is doing it's thing. And if you have a moment, send him a word of encouragement or two ... he could use them :-)

Standby for first day pics!!

I won't cry... I won't cry...

Surrounded by piles of laundry in need of folding, a kitchen counter littered with leftovers in need of putting away and a cozy bed calling my name, I can do nothing but think about yesterday and tomorrow.

Many yesterdays ago ... 11 years of them ... my belly was giantly huge and tiny hand and foot prints were visible as busy twins pressed against their cramped quarters while hatching their early escape plan. I was so excited to meet them! And I experience that moment all over with just a simple thought. Max came first.

"He's perfect," was all I could say. It took an entire 30 minutes before Porter decided he was ready to make his presence known. (He still is hard to get out of bed in the morning.) But when he did, I marvelled at his precious face with sweet features that at the time seemed to mirror his twin.

My love for them grew with every breath and I'd drink in their sweet baby scent and let it fuel me through sleepless nights.

We were parents! And I fell in love with Joel more and more as I watched him grow as a father.

They grew at lightning speed. They became tiny people who may have shared a womb but were clearly so different from one another with strong personalities.

They matched our wits and taught us more about ourselves than we had ever expected.

We grew into parenthood and watched as they grew past toddlerhood and into that pre-tween stage. 

Where did the time go? 

We have packed up Thomas the Tank Engine and all of his 'very useful' friends.
We have set aside the baby books and the Matchbox cars.
We've made room for desks to accomodate computers and study space and traded in Power Ranger walkie talkies for cell phones.

In less than two weeks, they turn 11.
Tomorrow, I will send them off for thier last day of elementary school and try hard not to cry. It won't work, but I'll try. I am just in awe. As my mom would say, my cup runneth over.  I would be lying if I said I weren't a bit scared of middle school. My memories of 6th grade are clouded by being a new kid in a very new place, having just left all I knew in rural Wisconsin for a bustling Houston suburb.  They will only be moving down the street a bit along with many of their friends. They are excited for this adventure and I love their gusto!

So here goes, world ... Max and Porter are middle schoolers. I am the mom of 6th graders. (That hurt, just a little.)

Blown Away... Joel's Weird Diagnosis Update

So that boy I married isn't much for believing in prayer. But as for me, I am pretty sure that God payed attention to all of your prayers, well wishes and good thoughts. No... the popping hasn't gone away ... but we may be a lot closer to treatment!

We visited this great place called Memphis Chiropractic Neurology  and Dr. Bibb had already begun researching Palatal Myoclonus. While amazing us with a few really interesting tests that showed obvious neurologic deficits (no jokes about how he's wired wrong :-) and exercises that seem to reroute the signals, making stuff work right (yup, technical terminology) ... he also let us know that he has a colleague HERE IN MEMPHIS who studied under the ONLY person in the country it seems with an answer to this uber rare disorder, Dr. John Lieurance - who has developed a method called functional cranial release. Joel's family was ready to take him to Florida for this when we heard this news. In fact I'd already scheduled a tentative set of 4 treatments. The very next morning, I called and left a message for doctor #3 in this crazy trifecta of medical assistance, Dr. Goode. In no time at all I got a call back from the doc himself who tells me that not only has he been in contact with both doctors, they will all work together to treat Joel! I nearly fell to pieces in the breakroom at work.

Every now and then humanity surprises me. Three doctors, three separate practices but they will come together to take on this monster that has stolen Joel's sanity.

Ready to find his smile again!

It's not a final solution and we don't know if it will work but it feels like the only thing that makes sense and has a chance of making the hideous popping stop. We start this tomorrow night ... the treatment will include endo-nasal ballons and various other methods used to open up neural pathways and oxygenate the brain. All in an effort to STOP THE POP! Let's do this people!!

Palatal Myo-what??

Have you ever been on an airplane when you had an earache or a sinus infection? You know how it takes that weird pressure in your ears to a whole 'nother level? When you get to a certain altitude, the pressure builds, you can't hear for a brief moment and then your ears pop. Relief, right?

Now, imagine that entire occurance happening every few seconds ... every minute ... every hour ... every day.  For months.

That is the rare siezure-like disorder called Palatal Myoclonus. And that is what that boy I married is dealing with right now. Wanna see something weird? Check out this video ... This is what it looks like.

Joel started out feeling this annoying popping in his ears. We thought it was sinuses, the ENT said it was more likely to be TMJ. A dentist and an oral surgeon ruled out that option. Enter Dr. Emmett at the Shea Ear Clinic ... a brief exam revealed this crazy diagnosis. While it was great to finally have a name for this issue, it only proved to be the beginning of a nightmarish journey with very few treatment options available.

The first go at treating the maddening popping included a nearly immobilizing tranqualizer which proved to be ineffective and stole an entire week of his life. So with meds off the table the only other options are
a.) one ... ONE ... chiropractor in the country located in Florida who specializes in treating the few thousand people diagnosed with PM each year.
b.) Botox injections to the soft palate that no one in Memphis actually performs. Joel's doctor is currently 'learning how' and we're not sure with the crazy list of possible side effects that we are willing to try this one out.

This may not seem like a terrible issue ... some popping in your ears ... big deal, right? That's unfortunately the reaction he's gotten from some people, friends even. But it is in a word maddening. This disorder can ultimately be very painful and has driven sufferers to thoughts of self harm and actual cases of suicide!!!!! As for Joel ... it has completely altered his being. Mind you, Joel is my opposite, he leans toward dark and surly, sarcastic and sharp. But he has always generally been a fun, laid back dude. Consider that guy gone. He has difficulty focusing on anything, is easily frustrated and just ... well ... miserable.

So what do we do??? Well, we are starting by trying a neurologic chiropractor. I figure if this guy in Florida has such great success, then craniofacial chiropractic has a chance at at least bringing about some relief.  We've also discovered the whole ordeal MAY have been caused by a combination of two medications he's been taking so of course we are changing those.

So here's where I ask for your help. Pray, pray for his strength, patience and healing. Send positive thoughts or send a message with encouraging words. Whatever you can do to encourage good mojo, it is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, I am on a quest to make our family live more naturally and find ways to kick all of the meds each of us requires. We have to make a change because this is no way to live.

I want him to find his smile again...

Hey 2013 ... Is that you? Already??

So here it is, ready or not... another year!

Not sure where the last one went but I am ready (err... sort of...) to meet this one head on and make it fantastic! As I greet 2013 I realize I have been a mom for nine years. A wife for 13!

And we have been in Memphis now for 7 years!!! That's the longest we've been anywhere! Joel has now been a student for a full year and has just one more year to go. And in this year, he made a move over to another TV station with his good old bud Nick.