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James still has a migraine headache. It’s been over 14 months now without any relief. A couple weeks ago we took him to an ear, nose, and throat specialist and he had James take a sleep test where he wore an instrument on his finger as he slept one night. The test results showed that he wasn’t getting enough oxygen while he sleeps so the EN&T doctor referred us to a sleep specialist.

Last week we met with the sleep doctor and he said that the sleep test didn’t show enough to think James has Sleep Apnea but after hearing James’ story and asking dozens of questions he revealed to us that his son has the very same symptoms. The doctors son had the migraine for three or four years and had to eventually drop out of high school. Finally his son was diagnosed with Narcolepsy. He said that most people associate Narcolepsy with the guy that falls asleep in his soup bowl but there are many facets of the disease.

James is going in for an overnite sleep study next week to make sure he is not suffering from Sleep Apnea and then will begin treatment for Narcolepsy. We are optimistically hopeful but have been down this “possible diagnosis” road many times in the past year and a half.

I’m not sure James can handle another let down so we hope and pray that his pain and suffering will soon be over.

This entry is my 500th posting to my weblog. I started this blog back in June of 2003 to write about my trip to Nauvoo to promote the Best New LDS Musicians CD with Rich Bischoff and Stephanie Smith. I never intended to pursue it beyond the trip to Nauvoo but I enjoyed it so much I decided to continue. So, 500 entries later I’m still here writing mostly about inconsequential stuff.

Here’s an update since I haven’t written much this past week.

My second oldest son who is attending Weber State University called last week from work and said that he was having severe chest pains with pain shooting down his arm. He suffers from Tachycardia which causes his heart to beat at an accelerated speed and can give symptoms of a heart attack, but Josh has never had the pain down his arm which scared us. We told him to get to the emergency room ASAP so he did. He did not have a heart attack but was told he needs to get in to see a cardiologist as soon as he can. We felt so helpless being 400 miles away and not being able to be there with him.

Our youngest son James who has had the migraine headache for almost a year now went in for several new tests last week and finally his doctor found something. His hormones are out of whack and the neurologist thinks that is the cause of the headache. We have an appointment with an endocrinologist on October 1st. So we might actually be seeing some light for the poor kid. We’re hoping it’s not anything serious that just requires some hormonal therapy.

We went to Cedar City on Thursday for James’ football game. In the third quarter James’ best friend was hit hard and he began having a seizure. We were sitting next to the boys parents and I was watching through my binoculars describing what was happening not knowing which boy it was on the ground. I knew it wasn’t James. Once I saw it was the boy of the parents we were sitting next to I encouraged them to get over to their son as it looked pretty serious. At first word back from the parents it looked like the boy may have broken his neck. It took the ambulance about 20 minutes to get to the field and during the wait I saw one of the most remarkable things. I saw 60 Dixie High football players gather together in a big huddle, kneeling with one boy in the center as voice, and they prayed together for their teammate. I knew right then that the injured player was going to be fine.

Shelly went with the parents to the hospital and I stayed behind to finish out the game. James was just pacing up and down the sidelines and many of the players were coming up to him to console him, it was very touching to see how these players lift each other up. After the disappointing loss to the Cedar Redmen I met James and his other best friend and I could see that they were both teary eyed but I knew in my heart that their best friend was going to be fine. There was no way Heavenly Father was going to let the faith of 60 football players go in vain.

I know a person who trys to explain away miracles and I don’t think he believes that God works daily in our lives even though this person is an active member of the church. I have a very simple knowledge of the gospel. In fact my motto is found in Alma 37:6, “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.” I see the hand of God in all things.

We hustled over to the emergency room and learned that the boy was finishing up some x-rays and that he was responsive and able to move his limbs. After about an hour the boys mom came to the waiting room with a great big smile and thumbs up. The injured player was fine. He was hit in the head so hard that it caused a mild seizure but he was fine. Thirty minutes later the boy was released and tears of joy filled his best friends eyes. Later as we all sat around a table at Denny’s laughing and enjoying each other I couldn’t get the picture of those 60 football players huddled together in prayer out of my mind. Was the miracle the recovery of the injured player or that 60 teenage boys would have the faith to come together and pray for their fellow teammate?

We will be leaving first thing in the morning for Ogden, Utah to take my son Josh to Weber State University. This is pretty close to being the hardest thing I have ever done. Second to watching my daughter Misty drive away to live in Washington state.

I know Josh will be fine and he will have a great experience but boy am I going to miss him. It’s going to take all I have to drive away from the campus on Monday without him. He’s going to live on campus, he has his own car, he has a really good job, and he’s a mature level headed kid so there really is nothing to be worried about.

But I’m going to miss him terribly.

I won’t be back until Monday evening so let’s hope everything goes well with KZION. I’ll talk to you when I get back.

After four doses of the Migranal Nasal Spray last weekend, there was no affect on James’ headache whatsoever. So we’re back to the neurologist next week and it’s quite possible that we will admit him to the hospital and put him out for a few days and see if that will break the pain cycle.

While we were up to Primary Children’s Hospital we got a copy of an article that a pediatric neurologist wrote about daily chronic migraines that never go away. The article was so refreshing to read as it was exactly what James was experiencing. According to the article we are trying all the right things. But nothing is working.

So anyway, James has his first football game tonight. I have been attending his practices and I don’t know how he plays so hard with his migraine. I’m so proud of him for continuing with his life in spite of his trials. James practices harder than any of his teammates because he said that he needs to prove to his coaches that he can play even with his headache. He was asked by the varsity coach to suit up for the varsity game last week but he had his appointment at Primary Children’s. He never misses school, he never complains, and he never misses practice. The only way we can find out how he is doing is by asking him. Sometimes I wish he was a punter or field goal kicker or even a defensive back instead of a running back. We’ll be on pins and needles the whole game.

We just got home from a trip up to Primary Children’s Hospital. We left at 4:00 AM this morning and arrived at the hospital about 9:15 AM. They got us in right away. James first got an EKG and then some other tests and we wrapped up the visit around noon. The cardiologist said that James has a healthy heart (The kid has a 58 pulse, he’s in great shape) and he does not see anything from a cardiologists point of view that would be causing the headaches. He gave us the Ok to try the Migranol Nasal Spray medication.

We then went up to Ogden to Weber State University so my other son could buy his books. Then to the pharmacy to pick up the Migranol medication and then back home. It’s so nice having kids that drive. I only had to drive for a few hours on the way up. The rest of the time Shelly and I kicked back and watched DVD’s while Josh and James took turns driving.

On the way home we gave James the first of 4 doses of the medication. As of right now, the medication has had no affect. We’ll see what happens over the next few days.

In the meantime I’ve got to get to bed.

The large B&W photo on the front page of this webpage is my granddaughter, Aliya.

The cardiologist’s office called this afternoon. “Hello?, Hi this is Dr. office and we have moved your appointment for Friday from 1:00 PM to 10:00 AM. Uhm, Ok. But do you realize we’re coming from St. George and it’s a 5 hour drive to the hospital and that’s the reason we made the appointment for 1 PM in the first place? Yes, I realize that but there is nothing we can do about it.”

Gee thanks.

We received a call from the cardiologist and they got James in for next Friday. Looks like we’ll be taking a day trip up north. Of course that will have to include lunch at The Olive Garden.

This is a catch up post as I have not kept up on a few things.

James is still suffering from a severe migraine headache. He has had this headache since late last year after getting Sinusitis and Bronchitis. The doctors have concluded that he has a “runaway migraine” headache and they need to find a medicine that will shut down this pain loop he seems to be in.

We took him into a chiropractor a few weeks ago as many different people have written me and suggested it. James did need some work done and we did find that some muscles were all bunched up in his neck. We were hopeful that the physical therapy would ease his headache as his muscles were loosened up, but that wasn’t the case. James has a nice straight spine, his head is now on straight and his neck is loosened up but the headache is still present.

We took him in to see the neurologist again this week and she wants to try a Migranal Nasal Spray but James has to first be cleared by a cardiologist. St. George does not have a pediatric cardiologist so either we have to wait until one comes down from Salt Lake on September 20th or take James up north to Primary Children’s Hospital. I tried calling the hospital and they couldn’t schedule him in until the 22nd of September. So I called back to the neurologist and asked her to call the hospital and see if she could get him seen ASAP. One of the cardiologists from Primary Children’s Hospital called today and said he would try to get something scheduled soon and would call us back. So, we are waiting to see if we will be making a trip up north soon.

Meanwhile, James continues to practice with his football team. If you remember he still ran track in the spring and is still planning on playing football this year. We have left the decision up to him if he wants to play or not. The doctors have not advised against it but he will have to endure more pain then I care to think about. I don’t know how he does it.

Back in mid July I mentioned that I had an infection in my mouth after having a severe upper respiratory infection. Shelly seemed to think it was my wisdom teeth. Yes, I still have my wisdom teeth, tonsils, and appendix. Since we didn’t have insurance at the time I decided to try a natural remedy and began taking Echinacea. A natural stimulant to the immune system. I’m happy to report that the infection is completely gone. I stopped taking the Echinacea part way through the treatments and the infection began to come back, so I believe that it was at least in part, responsible for ridding my infection.

Disclaimer: I do not recommend using any supplement without prior doctors approval. This treatment worked for me but may not work for you.

Shelly’s (my wife) grandma passed away about 10 days ago. We had a memorial service here in St. George and she was buried in Eugene, OR. She had been in a nursing home for several years and barely recognized anyone that would come to visit her.

Ebay has been extremely slow the past few months which has been nice since it gave me extra time to work on KZION but it has been really hard on the pocketbook. I am actively looking for a regular job here in St. George or programming and web design work. If you got leads…let me know.

Ok, you are caught up with the major news of the Hesch family.

Today I feel much better. I still have a cough and feel a little run down but I’m getting much of my strength back. I still have an infection in my gum on the left side of my face. Before I spend a few hundred dollars at the dentist I’m going to try Echinacea. I began taking it yesterday and already today the swelling has gone down a little. We’ll see what happens. I have never been much of a naturalist when it comes to medicines and medical treatments. I’d much rather pop some Penicillin and be done with it but since I’ve been self-employed I’ve been without health insurance and so I’m more willing to try other methods.

I’ll either end up with a healed mouth or a badly infected mouth needing several root canals and extractions costing a few thousand dollars.

I’m feeling better today. I worked on the KZION redesign a little and got some needed rest. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back to my daily routine.

The title of this entry brings alarm into the thoughts of anyone who has lost data on their computer and I’ll get to that in a minute.

I have been sick for the past four days with some kind of flu/cold crud and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. That’s why entries have been sparse the past few days.

One of the advantages of living in Utah is that if the 4th of July falls on a Sunday, the celebration takes place on Saturday including fireworks Saturday night. Must seem strange for non-members in the state and I wonder how many more years it will continue to be this way? I stayed in bed, but the rest of my family went to my daughters home for a barbecue, games and fireworks. My daughter Amy lives directly across the street from where the city puts on the fireworks display, so her front lawn is the best seat in the house.

Now about the title of this entry.Yesterday I worked on the new Songinfo page for the KZION redesign and it took me six hours to complete the code, design, CSS, and structure of the page. I uploaded the page to the server and started work on the Songlist page. I wanted to test out a few things from the Songlist page and uploaded it to the server but with the name Songinfo. I wrote over the Songinfo page that I had just spent six hours on and I cannot find a back-up or another copy!!

Yeah, never try to write code and design a web page with a fever because it takes six hours to do what normally would take three hours and you make stupid mistakes.

My daughter Misty mentioned to me the other day that she would like her own weblog. Tonight I surprised her with her own weblog on her own domain. Misty is my second oldest daughter who lives with her husband Ty in Washington state which is way too far away, but we live with it. Good luck Misty with your new blog and I look forward to reading lots of fun stuff.

I had a terrific Father’s Day. I got two pairs of pants along with a threat to never wear them while working in the yard from my wife. Apparently, it has something to do with the red dirt found here in Southern Utah and staining clothes. I also got a couple of shirts, the complete first season of Alias on DVD, and an iTunes gift card.

The best present of all was the card I received from my daughter in Washington who wrote, “I love you more than you know and you are the smartest man I know.”

Happy Father’s Day!

In this life, it will never be proved beyond a doubt to all people that the church is true. However, in the sanctuary of the home, spiritual experiences bear testimony to the humble follower the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A major fiber optic line was cut yesterday, up near Richfield, Utah causing all of southern and central Utah to lose Internet, cell phone and some land line connections. KZION was down for about 10 hours during the outage. All local television stations were out too.

A disruption in the main fiber-optic line near Monroe caused a massive outage of long-distance telephone, Internet and cell-phone services Thursday across Southern Utah. The disruption also knocked out the cable signal from most Salt Lake City television stations.

Actually my daughter from Washington state is in town for my son’s graduation which is tonight. It was funny because she was talking about how often her Internet goes down at home. She is a medical coder and works from home on the Internet. I was telling her that I could’nt remember the last time my Internet went down, especially since I went from Charter cable to Qwest DSL. Not 3 hours later the fiber optic line was cut and we didn’t have Internet for 10 hours.

Tonight my second son graduates from high school. Last Tuesday he had his seminary graduation which was really great to see. It’s been quite a stressful week for him. Monday he got a speeding ticket and yesterday he had a really bad sore throat and had to go to the doctor. Then of course he has the graduation tonight. My wife and I sure are proud of him. He will graduate from high school with honors and then he moves on to Weber State in the fall.

Today was the first time we actually swam in the new pool. I went to the pool store on Thursday and had my eyes opened at what it takes to keep the water in the pool swimmable. I learned the pool care basics of Circulation, Filtration, Cleaning, and Testing. My heck, I walked away with $50 worth of chemicals and 3 or 4 booklets on maintaining pool water. Anyway, I shocked the pool on Friday, that’s pool talk in case you’re not familiar . I then tested the water this morning and the PH, chlorine and other stuff looked good so we spent the afternoon in the pool with the grandkids.

We had a blast!

Here are some pictures before the backyard makeover. Unfortunately I didn’t get any before I actually started the work.

And here are a few after much of the work has been done. There are still a lot of little projects to complete but it’s getting there.

For the past four weeks I have been working on my backyard. So far I have removed about a dozen large bushes, peeled over 3,000 square feet of lawn, hauled 3,000 square feet of lawn to the dump, laid 1,500 square feet of sod, put down one rock walkway, and a hundred other miscellaneous upgrades. My body has taken a beating and I’ve been more sore than I can ever remember. It has been such a huge project but it’s finally starting to come together.

I have never really enjoyed working in the yard but its become an addiction and I look forward to getting outdoors and working. Unfortunately we have already begun seeing the 90’s and before long it will be difficult to get much yard work accomplished except very early in the morning.

We did get a pool from Costco and got it filled. It should be a lot of fun for the grandkids. I still have about 2-3 weeks of work left before summer sets in so hopefully mother nature will be kind.