Posted by Mark on Aug 17, 2008 at 09:54PM
I took this picture this morning. She's only going to get bigger!
Baby Video - 25 weeks
Posted by Mark on Aug 06, 2008 at 07:06AM
With this new baby video, I'd like to let everyone know his name. It will be Kai Robert Duncan. Kai (rhymes with "eye") can be both Japanese and Greek and the name is rising in popularity in the States so it's not too exotic. In Japanese it means "sea". From thinkbabynames.com:
"It is of Welsh, Scandinavian and Greek origin, and its meaning is "keeper of the keys; earth". Variant of Kay. Also possibly (South African) "beautiful". Kai is also a Hawaiian name meaning "the sea"."
Well, as you can see in the video, he's getting pretty big. He has his arms up in front his face, but the doctor tried hard to get a good view of his face. You can catch a few good glimpses here and there throughout the video.
We're still on schedule for a November 11 birth, but Yukari is at a slightly high risk of a premature birth so she has to take it easy now. She's going to keep working, but her schedule has been changed to a lighter one and she won't be expected to do too much now. She's had the last week and a half off work and she's feeling pretty good now.
We'll lots of baby videos from here on out since she's got to go back to the doctor every two weeks now. Check back here about every other weekend for the latest video. The next doctor visit should be around August 16.
permalinkChatan Festival
Posted by Mark on Jul 29, 2008 at 08:37PM
Me and Yukari went to the festival in Chatan Sunday afternoon. They had all kinds of events set up and staff cooking all sorts of good food. Before sunset, they has some Eisa dancers and to finish the night off, they ended with a very good fireworks show. I've uploaded some pictures to my Picasa album in a private here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/EatTheApple/ChatanFestival2008?authkey=Vf5kB6LEZNw
Those pictures haven't been retouched yet and I have several more pictures too. Once I'm happy with all the pictures and have them uploaded, I'll make the album public and it will show up here on the website (the photo album here only shows my public albums from Picasa).
permalinkTongue update
Posted by Mark on Jul 28, 2008 at 07:43PM
I went to the doctor on Saturday and had the MRI done. That was an interesting experience. Did you know those machines are extremely loud? I had to wear earplugs while inside the machine. Did you also know that it takes 30-45 minutes for the machine to finish everything? Yep, it does, and you can't move at all the whole time. This sucked because since they were trying to image my tongue, I couldn't swallow or anything for 40 minutes. It was not very enjoyable.
The lump in my tongue did show up in the MRI. It's 1cm by 1cm. They still don't know for sure what it is, but the doctor I'm seeing (who has been studying English since I became his patient) has done alot of research on it. He came in with a pamphlet that had his notes scribbled all over it and pointed out to me what it probably is. He is pretty confident it is lymphangioma although it is impossible to be 100% sure until they remove it and can examine it. From what I've read on the internet, it seems like lymphangioma is a disease and the lumps it creates are called lymphangiomas. There are two types of lymphangiomas and the one I have is called a cavernous lymphangioma. It's basically a type of tumor and after removal, there is a small chance it can reoccur.
My doctor said it does not have to be removed since it is not life threatening or anything, but it will continue to grow so he suggested having it removed. I agreed since it is rather uncomfortable. He's going to meet with the head doctor and decide on whether they'll put me to sleep for the operation or just numb my tongue real good before slicing it open. To keep me from having to take time off work and having to pay for another doctor visit, he's going to call this week and we'll decide on a date for the operation over the phone.
That's all I got for now. Next week, me and Yukari are going back to the doctor to get another look at the baby. I'll post the video up as soon as I can (hopefully I won't be a week late on the next one). They've updated the expected birth date to be November 11. It's just around the corner!
permalinkI'll be having tongue surgery
Posted by Mark on Jul 20, 2008 at 10:09AM
Last week, I developed a hard lump inside my tongue. I went to the dentist and he said he thought it was a blocked saliva duct, but that it's not where saliva ducts are (it should be more to the left). He wrote me a letter of referral and told me to go to the hospital when I got a chance. I went to the hospital this past Friday and the doctor there also agreed that it might be a blocked saliva duct...until they gave me an ultrasound on my tongue (which was weird...it was the exact same machine they use on Yukari to look at the baby).
The ultrasound pictures showed my saliva ducts are perfectly fine, but that there is indeed something strange inside there. I tried to tell Yukari I was pregnant, but she didn't buy that. Anyway, the doctor studied the pictures for a while and decided that it's probably a tumor. Oh joy... They said there's a chance it could also be a cyst, but I should be in more pain if it is (this lump actually doesn't hurt that much).
They prescribed me some pain killers and antibiotics to keep it from getting infect before next Saturday. On Saturday, I have to go back for an MRI so they can find out what it's made out of. After that, they'll either take it out immediately or I'll make an appointment for the surgery (it depends on the severity of it if they take it out the same day). The doctor said that no matter what it is, it's not normal and needs to come out so I'm pretty much guaranteed to have my tongue dissected.
I'll let everyone know how the surgery went and I'll try to get some juicy pictures suitable for a dinner time TLC show (they always like to play disgusting stuff during dinner for some reason).
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