Hello

Kirsten was driving today when her phone started ringing in her purse. She has a smartphone of some sort so as I was fishing it out I wasn't sure how to answer this particular phone. I asked her, "How do you answer your phone?". She replied, "Hello." Helpful . . . so helpful.

Like Chicken

Caleb came home from school the other day and proudly told me he new what poultry was. So I asked, "Caleb, what is poultry?" He replied, "birds made out of chicken."

Linnea's Diagnosis

Dear family & friends,

As of Monday, July 6, Linnea has been diagnosed with infantile glaucoma or congenital glaucoma. She is scheduled for a surgical procedure called trabeculotomy this Monday, Aug. 17, with Dr. DeBry of the Wellish Vision Institute. He reported an 80% - 90% success rate with this procedure. We appreciate your prayers for her and for all of us.

Our pediatrician recently referred us to Opthalmic Associates Dr. Rovit. He tested Linnea's vision and it seemed that her right eye was seeing images at the 60 level while her left could see at the 20 level. Dr. Rovit with colleague and glaucoma specialist Dr. Miller had us bring Linnea in for a more thorough exam under general anesthesia. Linnea was such a good little patient - so sweet and pleasant. She couldn't have any food or water after 12 midnight and we woke her up at 5 a.m. to arrive at the surgery center by 6 a.m. with the exam starting at 7 a.m. She never complained about getting no food or drink. Under anesthesia she was given in iv in her hand and the exam took about 20 minutes. Normal eye pressure ranges from 10 to 21 mmHg. Linnea's left eye pressure is 25 mmHg and her right eye is at 40 mmHg. She does have some miniscule but irreversible optic nerve damage in her right eye.

Both Dr. Rovit and Dr. Miller recommended seeing Dr. DeBry because they were highly certain it would take eye surgery for Linnea's case. We saw Dr. DeBry, Tuesday, July 7, and subsequently scheduled the trabeculotomy surgery for Aug. 17. Linnea will again have to go under general anesthesia and have an iv. There are many possible side effects from this surgery. The procedure is estimated to last 45 minutes. In the mean time we are using Xalatan drops into her eyes every night to help reduce her eye pressure.

We really appreciate your prayers. We want God to heal her eyes to be to normal healthful function. We are praying that Dr. DeBry will be in optimal health that morning and easily give his best to Linnea's surgery. We are praying that, by God's grace, Linnea feels minimal pain and is not heavily traumatized by the surgery and recovery. We are praying that the surgery is 100% effective and that Linnea will need minimal follow up. Thank you for praying with us.

Stinky Like Beautiful Archived

Ah . . . my first blog post in months. RD will be so shocked and pleased. I've renamed this blog to MiKi+ as you can see. The explanation is in the blog title description block. It used to entitled Stinky Like Beautiful because in Nov '05 Caleb (age 3) smelled Kirsten's hairspray and said, "You smell stinky like beautiful." What a phrase! Now this blog will be about general Nalley Family, the Mike & Kirsten Nalley family that is, happenings, stories and photos. Hope you enjoy!