The school year is coming to an end for 2010. Darein will be graduating 8th grade on Monday and Damein will be entering next year as a Senior. It is amazing how quickly time goes by. I remember when my children were small and how much we talked about what they were going to do when they grew up and working toward their goals all these years and always anxiously awaiting for this time to come. Now, that the time is here I find it very sobering and sad for me as a mom and yet so excited for my children to start the next step in their lives. It seems as though I have been preparing Damein for college as long as I possibly can imagine. We have always talked about what he wanted to do and focused on the steps that he needs to take to make that happen. Now, that it is here though it is very surreal and bottom line is that he still isn't positive what he wants to do. He is a very focused person however, and has a great head on his shoulders so I feel very comfortable with the fact that he is very prepared for the college part of his life. He makes excellent decisions and is just a model child. Darein on the other hand has a heck of a lot going on as well. Yes, she will be entering next year as a freshman but it is also time now for her to start the process of getting braces which is pretty typical for lots of kids. However, she will have to have jaw surgery in about a year and a half also. She will have anything from something as minor (which isn't very minor) as her jaw reset and that is it to something as major as Le Forte III Osteotomy which is a major facial reconstruction. This would involve bringing her mid-face forward, rhinoplasty as well as resetting her jaw all at once. We will have to meet with the surgeons and figure out which way we are going to go. Darein wants to have a rhinoplasty eventually but for insurance purposes it could be hard to get this paid for. We will just have to figure out after visiting with the surgeon, visiting with Darein and me and Shane talking and try to figure out what we all feel is in Darein's best interest. One surgeon suggested the major surgery but then when we had to switch, the other surgeon suggested the minor surgery and now we are considering a surgeon that is closer to home and so we will have to see what his opinions are. These are major decisions and a lot of planning and consideration will have to be taken into account. Darein is very excited about the end results but more than a little nervous about the surgeries themselves which is exactly how me and Shane feel about it as well. We are fortunate that she does not have to wear a back brace for her scoliosis at this time as this improved when she stood up the way she was supposed to.
I have to say that I am very thankful now that I am able to take this summer trip with her as the next few summers could be very limiting for her. This will be something very special for her prior to the many changes she must face over the next 2 or 3 years.
We will meet with her endocrinologist on Friday and will probably get some labs rechecked and talk about her adolescent development some more. She will also get the last of her vaccinations on this day as well and then the following Monday we will go back to the orthodontist and get the budget and plan for her braces and probably be set up to meet the oral surgeon here in Springfield so that we can decide for sure if we will use him for her surgery or not and see what his recommendations are. Hopefully, the bulk of her appointments will end by the end of May and we would like to hold off on her braces until after she gets back from vacation. I want her to be able to eat whatever she wants with no worries plus the inconvenience of keeping up with the cleaning and slight pain while traveling.
I am trying to take things one day at a time so as not to get overwhelmed. Darein does well talking about what is going to happen at the appointments on the day of the appointments, a little before and after. Other than that, she doesn't like to think about it either and we both seem to deal with things a little better this way though as a mom I find myself thinking about it a little more than is probably healthy. Always, preparing for the worst, thinking of all the different scenarios and possibilities and different plans. Have to remember to breathe sometimes :)
As any major changes occur I will keep you posted, otherwise look for my blog postings daily as I will try to blog everyday while on vacation about all the exciting things that Darein is experiencing.
I also forgot to mention how well Damein is doing in baseball! I am so proud of him and had no idea that he could pitch as well as he has been at this level. Still looking forward to his baseball tryout on June 7th as it will be here very soon. He also will be playing legion baseball this summer for the whole month of June and part of July. I am glad that I get to be here for the bulk of his games in June but will be disappointed to miss the districts and All-star games in July! He is definitely playing better than we have ever seen him play. Everything just seems to come together this year between his hitting, pitching and fielding. In the past usually one area has suffered as he has moved to the next level but this year, everything is flowing great and going very smoothly for him.
I'm gonna wrap this up today by just saying that I am a very proud momma!!! :)
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Getting Ready For The Next Steps
I wasn't sure what to call this post. A lot has happened with Darein in recent weeks and we are trying to get things figured out. As you all know from my last post Darein has been diagnosed with scoliosis. The doctor wanted to see her back in a week and we have had quite a time trying to get that scheduled. Evidently the doctor is in only 1 day a week and of course he is normally in on Tuesdays but was not going to be able to see her until this Friday. Unfortunately, Darein is schedule to show her bench at State in Lake of the Ozarks at Lodge of the Four Seasons this Friday. Therefore, I had to reschedule her appointment to next Friday as her doctor will be out next Tuesday as well. We will get a repeat xray on the 14th and the orthopedic doctor will then tell me if she needs a brace or not at that time. I then proceeded to find out if she is ready for braces on her teeth or not as she was scheduled to have a follow up appointment with her orthodontist sometime in June. I called to check on this appointment and evidently they were not able to get a hold of Dr. Marsh in St. Louis. After speaking with the nurse at the orthodontist office it became unclear how Dr. Marsh, the plastic surgeon fit into everything. I then called to speak with his office some more in regards to how he fits in to Darein's major reconstructive facial surgery. I was told that it was our choice and that it was all considered jaw surgery. Darein's orthodontist's office works very closely with an oral surgeons office her in Springfield and states that they are very good. Therefore, Darein will go Monday for impressions and xrays to see how long she needs to wear braces prior to any reconstructive surgery on her face. They will then work with the local oral surgeon's office to set up appropriate timing of her surgery as well as braces in accordance with surgery. I think we will be able to get rid of Dr. Marsh in St. Louis and have everything done here locally but we will confirm all of this on Monday.
We are a little concerned about Darein possibly having to have braces on her teeth as well as a back brace all Summer during her vacation. We will just wait and see what her doctor's decide this week and go from there. That is all we can do at that time. Otherwise, I get a little frantic and tend to freak out as a mom :)
She is doing well and is not looking forward to the following braces but has accepted these as a possible reality and knows that we will work to do whatever is necessary. She is really a trooper and I am so proud that she has such a wonderful outlook on things. She doesn't get upset by all of this and understands the importance of doing whatever is necessary. I will have more information on her progress by the end of next week and will try to write again then.
Damein is also excelling at his baseball and we couldn't be prouder of him. We went to look at MU as a possible college choice and he actually seems like he is leaning towardds Drury. He does however have baseball tryouts at Rolla S&T June 7th so we won't know for sure which college has moved to the top of his list until he sees how that tryout goes. He is excelling so well at baseball this year that we are hoping that he gets rewarded with a few titles but we will see.
Darein goes to State tomorrow to see how well she does with her bench that she made in Shop during the 1st semester. We are wishing her well.
Take care and I wish you all well and will write again next week when I have more details on the upcoming appointments of next week!
We are a little concerned about Darein possibly having to have braces on her teeth as well as a back brace all Summer during her vacation. We will just wait and see what her doctor's decide this week and go from there. That is all we can do at that time. Otherwise, I get a little frantic and tend to freak out as a mom :)
She is doing well and is not looking forward to the following braces but has accepted these as a possible reality and knows that we will work to do whatever is necessary. She is really a trooper and I am so proud that she has such a wonderful outlook on things. She doesn't get upset by all of this and understands the importance of doing whatever is necessary. I will have more information on her progress by the end of next week and will try to write again then.
Damein is also excelling at his baseball and we couldn't be prouder of him. We went to look at MU as a possible college choice and he actually seems like he is leaning towardds Drury. He does however have baseball tryouts at Rolla S&T June 7th so we won't know for sure which college has moved to the top of his list until he sees how that tryout goes. He is excelling so well at baseball this year that we are hoping that he gets rewarded with a few titles but we will see.
Darein goes to State tomorrow to see how well she does with her bench that she made in Shop during the 1st semester. We are wishing her well.
Take care and I wish you all well and will write again next week when I have more details on the upcoming appointments of next week!
Friday, April 23, 2010
A Hectic Week
It has been quite a week this week. Damein started his Strafford Wood Bat Tournament which has taken up most of the week. He has had a baseball game almost every night this week. He has done well and they are undefeated as of tonight. They get to play for the championship Monday in Conway! I am so very proud of how well he has done throughout the week. He has pitched great and his on base percentage has got to be incredibly high as he is on base the majority of the time either via walks, hit by pitches or hits. He has also been hit more this season than any other kid on his team. He is getting a little tired of that :) One of the dad's took a few pictures of Damein and they turned out great! The Buffalo Reflex has had something to say about him every week now for about the last 3 weeks. I have been cutting the articles out and saving everything for his scrapbook!
Darein has had a week full of ups and downs. She started the week off by finding out that she has scoliosis. Her doctor's office from Kansas City called and said that when her xray of her abdomen was done the radiologist noted that she had scoliosis to the left. They suggested that we contact her pediatrician for further recommendation. They then proceeded to let us know that we need to get more strict with her Miralax and Benefiber regime so that she is regulated better and we will call back in 3 months and let them know how this is progressing. We will continue to wait to do anything about her left kidney reflux until we have her regulated better and then will proceed from there. She is scheduled to see an orthopedic doctor on Tuesday so that we can find out the severity of her scoliosis and if we will follow up with observation, bracing or surgery. Me and Darein are a little worried that she might have to have a brace which neither if us want for her. She had curvuture of the spine when she was a toddler and they chose to just watch it at the time. Unfortunately, with all of her other medical issues we didn't feel as though this was a pressing issue to continue care with and soon forgot all about it. Therefore, our concern is that it has possibly gotten worse. Darein is and has been having some back pain and with her recent diagnosis of chronic regional pain syndrome it is difficult to decipher whether her pain is from that disease or from the scoliosis and if it is severe enough that they will try to treat or not. At this point, we will wait to see what the specialist says on Tuesday.
On the positive part of life this week, my son tells me that he is dating the preacher's daughter which is good. She is very sweet. Damein however is not going to Prom this Saturday and I have to say I am a little disappointed. I was hoping to see him all dressed up in a tux, he is so cute! However, he has chosen not to go for whatever reasons and is choosing instead to have a date night with his girlfriend which is good too :)
Darein was asked several times on Wednesday by her Shop teacher to please enter the Industrial Technology Competition at MSU as she made a bench with a horse on it. She agreed to do this and brought home the permission slip. She ended up going today and qualified to take her bench to State Competition! 9 kids from her school made it and she is super thrilled about it. She even got a medal and a ribbon for it. Me and her dad are so proud of her. She doesn't get many opportunities like this so when she does and she does so great it's a really big deal!!!
I also forgot to mention that Damein took a test, I am assuming in Finance class and ended up scoring in the top 20% of the nation! It was a Financial Capability Challenge and he is being recognized by the U.S. Department of Treasury. I called the phone # on the consent form and it went straight to the U.S. Department of Treasury in Washington D.C. I was told that his ranking, name and school would be placed on the website for recognition and they would also send out something to the local media if they chose to spotlight those students and their schools. So it's kind of a big deal and we are very proud of him. 76,000 students participated so Damein doesn't think it's that big of a deal and says him and about 16,000 other students received this reward. I tried to explain to him that it was still a big deal because it was nationwide but he is staying humble on this one. I kept the top portion of the consent form though so that he has it for his college applications.
Anyways, it was kind of a big week so thought I would go ahead and write. Will probably write again next week once we know how things turn out at Darein's orthopedic appointment.
Take care and I wish everyone well :)
Darein has had a week full of ups and downs. She started the week off by finding out that she has scoliosis. Her doctor's office from Kansas City called and said that when her xray of her abdomen was done the radiologist noted that she had scoliosis to the left. They suggested that we contact her pediatrician for further recommendation. They then proceeded to let us know that we need to get more strict with her Miralax and Benefiber regime so that she is regulated better and we will call back in 3 months and let them know how this is progressing. We will continue to wait to do anything about her left kidney reflux until we have her regulated better and then will proceed from there. She is scheduled to see an orthopedic doctor on Tuesday so that we can find out the severity of her scoliosis and if we will follow up with observation, bracing or surgery. Me and Darein are a little worried that she might have to have a brace which neither if us want for her. She had curvuture of the spine when she was a toddler and they chose to just watch it at the time. Unfortunately, with all of her other medical issues we didn't feel as though this was a pressing issue to continue care with and soon forgot all about it. Therefore, our concern is that it has possibly gotten worse. Darein is and has been having some back pain and with her recent diagnosis of chronic regional pain syndrome it is difficult to decipher whether her pain is from that disease or from the scoliosis and if it is severe enough that they will try to treat or not. At this point, we will wait to see what the specialist says on Tuesday.
On the positive part of life this week, my son tells me that he is dating the preacher's daughter which is good. She is very sweet. Damein however is not going to Prom this Saturday and I have to say I am a little disappointed. I was hoping to see him all dressed up in a tux, he is so cute! However, he has chosen not to go for whatever reasons and is choosing instead to have a date night with his girlfriend which is good too :)
Darein was asked several times on Wednesday by her Shop teacher to please enter the Industrial Technology Competition at MSU as she made a bench with a horse on it. She agreed to do this and brought home the permission slip. She ended up going today and qualified to take her bench to State Competition! 9 kids from her school made it and she is super thrilled about it. She even got a medal and a ribbon for it. Me and her dad are so proud of her. She doesn't get many opportunities like this so when she does and she does so great it's a really big deal!!!
I also forgot to mention that Damein took a test, I am assuming in Finance class and ended up scoring in the top 20% of the nation! It was a Financial Capability Challenge and he is being recognized by the U.S. Department of Treasury. I called the phone # on the consent form and it went straight to the U.S. Department of Treasury in Washington D.C. I was told that his ranking, name and school would be placed on the website for recognition and they would also send out something to the local media if they chose to spotlight those students and their schools. So it's kind of a big deal and we are very proud of him. 76,000 students participated so Damein doesn't think it's that big of a deal and says him and about 16,000 other students received this reward. I tried to explain to him that it was still a big deal because it was nationwide but he is staying humble on this one. I kept the top portion of the consent form though so that he has it for his college applications.
Anyways, it was kind of a big week so thought I would go ahead and write. Will probably write again next week once we know how things turn out at Darein's orthopedic appointment.
Take care and I wish everyone well :)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Baseball Season Has Begun
Well, it is official! Baseball season has begun and it truly is my favorite time of year :) There is just something wonderful about sitting out in the sun at the ballfield, especially when your kid is playing.
Damein had such a rough time last year after he came down with Steven Johnson Syndrome right before baseball season. He managed to lose most of his coordination for the first of the season, the coach was hard on him and he was feeling pretty hard on himself about his ability. He chose not to play Legion baseball after he got demoted from Varsity to Junior Varsity during the school year. He took some time off after the school year and then decided to pick it back up this past Fall just for fun. He played well in the Fall and we were hoping it would carry over this following school year and it definitely has. He has one of the highest batting averages on the team, though I couldn't tell you what it is just that he is doing very well. He hit a homerun this year, which is the first in a really long time. He is playing left field, shortstop and pitcher this year and is playing each position above average. He has had 2 errors the whole season so far and pitched an entire 7 inning game by himself and got the win. He came in this evening to pitch the 6th inning. We were winning 5-2 and he got all 3 batters out. We then went back out to hit at the bottom of the 6th inning and ended up scoring enough for them to call the game. Game ended with a score of 12-2. He is looking forward to playing Legion baseball this year and to his tryout on June 7th at MU S&T Rolla. He is having fun and looks very comfortable and confident out there. Very refreshing :)
We sent Darein's xray results to Kansas City but have not heard anything back yet. I did talk to her pediatrician and evidently she had lots of stool that showed up so I had to call her urology doctor's office in Kansas City and explain to them that I had had surgery, then got the flu and she had the flu as well so for the past month we had not had Darein on a regular basis of Benefiber and Miralax every single day. I assured them that I would go ahead and get her started back on this right away and understood if we needed to repeat the test in another 3 months. They stated that they would pass this information on to the doctor so that he could make that decision.
Unfortunately, the medicine regimen that Darein has to go through on a regular basis can be a bit much for the both of us. Darein takes her medicines in the morning but of course she can't do it on an empty stomach. So she eats breakfast but we seem to have a hard time trying to fit her Benefiber in in the morning. Her doctor wants us to put it in her food as he feels this is the most effective method for her. Unfortunately, it is a powder that you mix up in her food. This is a little difficult if she has cereal as she has to make sure to drink all of the milk to make sure that she gets all of the Benefiber. If she has eggs or pancakes, then these things are impossible to mix with Benefiber. So we usually forget about it in the morning. I would try her Miralax in the morning which is also a powder but this goes in her drink except for the fact she states if she takes this in the morning she ends up with diarrhea. It is too harsh on her stomach for her to take both in the evening but that seems to be what ends up happening most of the time. She ends up taking her Benefiber mixed in her mashed potatoes at dinner and then when she takes her nighttime medicine, before bed we give her the Miralax. We just have to remember to start her medicine regimen 30 minutes to an hour prior to bedtime so that she has plenty of time to drink her drink.
Anyways, hoping we can come up with something that works better for the both of us and still meets her doctor's requirements.
I am healing well since my gallbladder surgery and am finally doing quite well. My scars are healing nicely and I have now managed to lose 26 lbs. over the past year and a half since I have quit my job!!!! I still have a long ways to go but I am well on my way and quite excited about my progress in this area.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Spring!!!! Take care and God Bless :)
Damein had such a rough time last year after he came down with Steven Johnson Syndrome right before baseball season. He managed to lose most of his coordination for the first of the season, the coach was hard on him and he was feeling pretty hard on himself about his ability. He chose not to play Legion baseball after he got demoted from Varsity to Junior Varsity during the school year. He took some time off after the school year and then decided to pick it back up this past Fall just for fun. He played well in the Fall and we were hoping it would carry over this following school year and it definitely has. He has one of the highest batting averages on the team, though I couldn't tell you what it is just that he is doing very well. He hit a homerun this year, which is the first in a really long time. He is playing left field, shortstop and pitcher this year and is playing each position above average. He has had 2 errors the whole season so far and pitched an entire 7 inning game by himself and got the win. He came in this evening to pitch the 6th inning. We were winning 5-2 and he got all 3 batters out. We then went back out to hit at the bottom of the 6th inning and ended up scoring enough for them to call the game. Game ended with a score of 12-2. He is looking forward to playing Legion baseball this year and to his tryout on June 7th at MU S&T Rolla. He is having fun and looks very comfortable and confident out there. Very refreshing :)
We sent Darein's xray results to Kansas City but have not heard anything back yet. I did talk to her pediatrician and evidently she had lots of stool that showed up so I had to call her urology doctor's office in Kansas City and explain to them that I had had surgery, then got the flu and she had the flu as well so for the past month we had not had Darein on a regular basis of Benefiber and Miralax every single day. I assured them that I would go ahead and get her started back on this right away and understood if we needed to repeat the test in another 3 months. They stated that they would pass this information on to the doctor so that he could make that decision.
Unfortunately, the medicine regimen that Darein has to go through on a regular basis can be a bit much for the both of us. Darein takes her medicines in the morning but of course she can't do it on an empty stomach. So she eats breakfast but we seem to have a hard time trying to fit her Benefiber in in the morning. Her doctor wants us to put it in her food as he feels this is the most effective method for her. Unfortunately, it is a powder that you mix up in her food. This is a little difficult if she has cereal as she has to make sure to drink all of the milk to make sure that she gets all of the Benefiber. If she has eggs or pancakes, then these things are impossible to mix with Benefiber. So we usually forget about it in the morning. I would try her Miralax in the morning which is also a powder but this goes in her drink except for the fact she states if she takes this in the morning she ends up with diarrhea. It is too harsh on her stomach for her to take both in the evening but that seems to be what ends up happening most of the time. She ends up taking her Benefiber mixed in her mashed potatoes at dinner and then when she takes her nighttime medicine, before bed we give her the Miralax. We just have to remember to start her medicine regimen 30 minutes to an hour prior to bedtime so that she has plenty of time to drink her drink.
Anyways, hoping we can come up with something that works better for the both of us and still meets her doctor's requirements.
I am healing well since my gallbladder surgery and am finally doing quite well. My scars are healing nicely and I have now managed to lose 26 lbs. over the past year and a half since I have quit my job!!!! I still have a long ways to go but I am well on my way and quite excited about my progress in this area.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Spring!!!! Take care and God Bless :)
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-Eliminates system crashes, freezes and slowdowns
-Automatically identifies and repairs common Windows problems
-Fixing registry errors will speed up your computer
-Eliminates BSOD (Blue Screen of Death)
-Cleans the registry to fix Windows errors and crashes
-Speeds up boot up time
-Reduces the size of the Windows registry
-The automatic backup creation of the repaired registry entries
-Improves your Windows PC's overall performance and stability
-Reduces the amount of time it takes your system to boot
-A simple, user-friendly interface with which you can safely compact the registry
-Prevents registry corruption by building a fresh copy of the registry
-Identifies over 50 different types of junk files
-Speeds up hard drive searching performance
-Frees up valuable space on your hard drive
-Boosts speed of Windows
-Runs much more quickly than others in its class
-Regains plenty of disk space
-Finds and deletes duplicate files - music, video, documents, application
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Spring is Here
Darein has been doing very well since the last time that I wrote. She is still enjoying her Science class very much and actually was one of the few students to actually handle a pig and cow heart. Most of the other kids just poked at it she said but her teacher cut them in half so they could see the inside of each of the hearts and Darein was one of the first students to pick it up, handle it and then showed the different parts of it to the janitor lady who came in to the class to have a look. Darein didn't think it was gross at all and said the grossest part was the liquid that came out of it but said that was just the liquid that it had been stored in and she wasn't grossed out by this at all. She got an A on her test over this and doing really well in school overall. She is currently working on a science fair project where me, Shane and Damein have to take a bite out of an onion and then a bite out of an apple with our eyes closed and see if we can tell the difference. Her presentation is coming along very nice. She goes to get her xray on her kidney on Monday and then we will have to wait to hear from her doctor as to how things have changed or not and what our next step will be or if we will just continue to keep her on her kidney medication at this time. She has no upcoming appointments for April which will be a nice break for her.
I set up an appointment for Damein to visit MU on April 30th. I had also sent an e-mail to the MU S&T Rolla baseball coach asking what we needed to do to get him to take a look at Damein and he sent me an e-mail back inviting him to attend tryouts this year which will be June 7th. We are very excited about this opportunity for him. I did unfortunately goof up and did not get his ACT registration for April sent in so he will not be able to take that test again until June. He signed up for all of his classes for his senior year earlier this month and is going to only have to take 6 classes. He will take 3 dual credit college classes to give him a head start for college. Baseball season has started for him and me and Shane are so proud of him. He is doing an outstanding job this year, considering how rough of a time he had last year. He had just got over his Steven Johnson's syndrome last year when baseball started and unfortunately the coach didn't cut him any slack and some of the parents were quite rough on him. He got his position on Varsity taken away and was dropped down to JV and got yelled at the entire year. He kind of lost his desire to play and chose not to play Legion ball last year. We were afraid he wouldn't play again and he is so talented and just a natural at this sport it seemed like a waste of talent to us. Fortunately, he joined a team in the Fall and did quite well. We were hoping that it would carry over to his high school year this Spring and it has. It is his coach's last year of coaching as he will retire at the end of this year. He is a nice person but does not seem to care so much about the team anymore as his star player was hurt in football this year and is sitting this season of baseball out for his senior year so that he can play college ball. Damein is playing left field for some reason this year which he doesn't mind. He is a better shortstop than the one that we have this year but he is fine with playing left field and it will help build his arm strength as well so we are not complaining. He also is getting to play shortstop when the starting shortstop pitches and Damein is getting to pitch quite a bit too. He is a great closer and has been one of our better pitchers this year. He is back on Varsity and has his confidence back so even though we will probably lose most or all of our games due to poor coaching, Damein is doing well and so we are staying upbeat and enjoying watching him play as always. He is going to play Legion baseball this Summer too and then we will see if he wants to play Fall baseball again.
I have had my gallbladder taken out this month as well as a lipoma removed from my right side. The surgery went well but as most of you know, I came down with a really bad stomach bug that put my recovery behind a little and made me miserable. I am excited however, as I have lost a ton of weight due to the surgery. I needed to lose quite a bit anyways and being sick with my gallbladder and then going through the surgery on top of that I have managed to lose a total of about 24 lbs. from my heaviest weight last year. I still have a ways to go but am eating and drinking healthier now and as soon as I am stronger I am looking forward to getting back into an exercise regimen.
Shane has been working really hard as always for us. He went to get his DOT physical though and they could not get his blood pressure low enough to pass for a 2 year physical so unfortunately, he has to go back in 3 months and have it rechecked. We are a little nervous because if he doesn't pass this time then he will be disqualified and he's not sure what that entails but it will most likely cost him his job. I scheduled an appointment for him to go see his doctor on Friday so that he can get on some blood pressure medication. He has diabetes and high blood pressure but has not been taking any medications for these things as he doesn't like how they make him feel. I have talked with him though and explained that they can change the medications so that he feels like he is supposed to but he has to tell his doctor otherwise they don't know that something needs changed. I have him eating and drinking better now and he has accepted the fact that he needs to see his doctor regularly for his conditions. His blood pressure has actually been fine, though a little on the high side just genetically. However, when he went for his physical he was sick and he gets nervous every time he has to have one of those physicals anyways so that didn't help with his blood pressure. We are confident that he will get this controlled and we both are working together along with Darein to have a healthier lifestyle and after only a few short weeks we are already feeling much better and Darein has lost quite a bit of weight as well and is looking great!
I found out this month that me and Darein are going to get to go on a month long vacation with my parents to California. We are so excited. I asked Damein if he wanted to go but he has opted to stay and play Legion baseball and take part in some church mission trips and activities that they do in the Summer. Shane unfortunately, will be at home working to help pay for our trip. Both boys are just as excited about mine and Darein's vacation as we are since they will have the house to themselves for a month. We are driving and are going to get to see some beautiful places. I won't go into too much details about the trip right now as I am sure I will be blogging and facebooking each day as I am taking the laptop with me on our trip.
All in all, we have had a good month though we have had a lot of sickness. We have spent the month working on a healthier lifestyle and taking care of health problems that needed resolved. Since Darein has no appointments in April, I will probably most blog about Damein's baseball for the next month. We have got Silver Dollar City passes and White Water passes so we have already been to SDC once on opening day and look forward to spending a lot of time there as weather permits. It is good exercise walking up and down those hills and a good time is had by all :)
I set up an appointment for Damein to visit MU on April 30th. I had also sent an e-mail to the MU S&T Rolla baseball coach asking what we needed to do to get him to take a look at Damein and he sent me an e-mail back inviting him to attend tryouts this year which will be June 7th. We are very excited about this opportunity for him. I did unfortunately goof up and did not get his ACT registration for April sent in so he will not be able to take that test again until June. He signed up for all of his classes for his senior year earlier this month and is going to only have to take 6 classes. He will take 3 dual credit college classes to give him a head start for college. Baseball season has started for him and me and Shane are so proud of him. He is doing an outstanding job this year, considering how rough of a time he had last year. He had just got over his Steven Johnson's syndrome last year when baseball started and unfortunately the coach didn't cut him any slack and some of the parents were quite rough on him. He got his position on Varsity taken away and was dropped down to JV and got yelled at the entire year. He kind of lost his desire to play and chose not to play Legion ball last year. We were afraid he wouldn't play again and he is so talented and just a natural at this sport it seemed like a waste of talent to us. Fortunately, he joined a team in the Fall and did quite well. We were hoping that it would carry over to his high school year this Spring and it has. It is his coach's last year of coaching as he will retire at the end of this year. He is a nice person but does not seem to care so much about the team anymore as his star player was hurt in football this year and is sitting this season of baseball out for his senior year so that he can play college ball. Damein is playing left field for some reason this year which he doesn't mind. He is a better shortstop than the one that we have this year but he is fine with playing left field and it will help build his arm strength as well so we are not complaining. He also is getting to play shortstop when the starting shortstop pitches and Damein is getting to pitch quite a bit too. He is a great closer and has been one of our better pitchers this year. He is back on Varsity and has his confidence back so even though we will probably lose most or all of our games due to poor coaching, Damein is doing well and so we are staying upbeat and enjoying watching him play as always. He is going to play Legion baseball this Summer too and then we will see if he wants to play Fall baseball again.
I have had my gallbladder taken out this month as well as a lipoma removed from my right side. The surgery went well but as most of you know, I came down with a really bad stomach bug that put my recovery behind a little and made me miserable. I am excited however, as I have lost a ton of weight due to the surgery. I needed to lose quite a bit anyways and being sick with my gallbladder and then going through the surgery on top of that I have managed to lose a total of about 24 lbs. from my heaviest weight last year. I still have a ways to go but am eating and drinking healthier now and as soon as I am stronger I am looking forward to getting back into an exercise regimen.
Shane has been working really hard as always for us. He went to get his DOT physical though and they could not get his blood pressure low enough to pass for a 2 year physical so unfortunately, he has to go back in 3 months and have it rechecked. We are a little nervous because if he doesn't pass this time then he will be disqualified and he's not sure what that entails but it will most likely cost him his job. I scheduled an appointment for him to go see his doctor on Friday so that he can get on some blood pressure medication. He has diabetes and high blood pressure but has not been taking any medications for these things as he doesn't like how they make him feel. I have talked with him though and explained that they can change the medications so that he feels like he is supposed to but he has to tell his doctor otherwise they don't know that something needs changed. I have him eating and drinking better now and he has accepted the fact that he needs to see his doctor regularly for his conditions. His blood pressure has actually been fine, though a little on the high side just genetically. However, when he went for his physical he was sick and he gets nervous every time he has to have one of those physicals anyways so that didn't help with his blood pressure. We are confident that he will get this controlled and we both are working together along with Darein to have a healthier lifestyle and after only a few short weeks we are already feeling much better and Darein has lost quite a bit of weight as well and is looking great!
I found out this month that me and Darein are going to get to go on a month long vacation with my parents to California. We are so excited. I asked Damein if he wanted to go but he has opted to stay and play Legion baseball and take part in some church mission trips and activities that they do in the Summer. Shane unfortunately, will be at home working to help pay for our trip. Both boys are just as excited about mine and Darein's vacation as we are since they will have the house to themselves for a month. We are driving and are going to get to see some beautiful places. I won't go into too much details about the trip right now as I am sure I will be blogging and facebooking each day as I am taking the laptop with me on our trip.
All in all, we have had a good month though we have had a lot of sickness. We have spent the month working on a healthier lifestyle and taking care of health problems that needed resolved. Since Darein has no appointments in April, I will probably most blog about Damein's baseball for the next month. We have got Silver Dollar City passes and White Water passes so we have already been to SDC once on opening day and look forward to spending a lot of time there as weather permits. It is good exercise walking up and down those hills and a good time is had by all :)
Monday, March 1, 2010
February
Well, it has been quite awhile since I last wrote so I thought I would write about a few things that went on in February. February was an exciting month as Damein went to visit MU Rolla S&T campus. His campus visit went better than I had hoped it would. We arrived on Friday February 5th and things started out a little slow as I had tried to set up a meeting for him to speak with the baseball coach there. I am hoping that Damein chooses Rolla but unfortunately the boy/girl ratio is a little lopsided and none of his friends are going there so I have had a little bit of troubles convincing him that this is the best school for him. I felt like if I could get him into the baseball program then he would be more likely to choose this school versus MU. It isn't that MU is a bad school, I just think that it is a little too big of a university for him and with his interest being in engineering I think that he would have more opportunities available to him if he chose Rolla instead. However, the baseball coach was in Arkansas for the weekend and was not able to meet with us. We went in and listened to the presentation which was good. It was then time for us to have lunch in the cafeteria. This is when things got a little more interesting. All of the colleges encourage you to speak with other students and ask lots of questions about the university. Damein however is not very outgoing in that respect and me and Shane were not quite sure exactly what questions to ask. So, we sat down for lunch and as we were finishing a couple of girls came over and sat down and started talking to us. Come to find out they were on the student panel and would be speaking next in the auditorium. They just started telling us about their experiences at Rolla and how they came to choose Rolla versus UCLA and Purdue, etc. They were quite interesting and Shane asked several questions based on information they were giving us. Then one of the guys from the student panel came over to our table and said that he figured Damein would appreciate a guy's perspective so he spoke about the college as well. All three kids were very interesting and entertaining and we got more information from them than anything else while we were there. I think they really helped Damein to loosen up. Damein wanted to get a shirt in the gift shop and was also given a free one at the end of the day for turning in his evaluation. The rest of the day went well but Damein learned that he is going to have to really study if he chooses to go there. It is an extremely academically challenging school but offers a lot. This past week I decided to e-mail the baseball coach and let him know how long Damein has been playing baseball, what positions, his extra lessons that he takes from a college umpire and that he had not had any exposure and asking what we needed to do to give the coach a chance to look at him. I received an e-mail back the following day stating that Damein could attend the open tryout on June 7th and to let him know if he planned on attending. After speaking with Damein I e-mailed the coach back and let him know that we would be there. Rolla is a Division II school and this would be an excellent opportunity for Damein to get to play that high of a division school baseball and he has a better chance of playing there than just about anywhere else. He has been wearing his shirts often and knows that we are in hopes of him choosing this college. He still wants me to set up a visit at MU which I will do and I asked him to make his decision this summer so that we could get started on filling out the application and starting the application process so that he would have a good opportunity of acquiring the scholarships and housing that he wants at his chosen college.
We have worked with Darein this month on going to the bathroom every two hours, taking Benefiber and Miralax every day. These things have proven to be quite a challenge. She does great at school because she knows to go after every other class period but then it is difficult to remember to tell her every two hours as we get busy and forget though she does fairly well with this since he bladder appears to trigger automatically every two hours or at least close. A month later we are still working on getting the Benefiber and Miralax adjusted. The Benefiber goes in her food and helps things to solidify a little better. However, it is a pill and therefore goes best in mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese type things so it is easier to give this to her in the evening. This leaves us trying to figure out when to give her the Miralax. This is trickier than you might think as I want to give it to her in a drink in the morning. This would work great if she wasn't so slow getting ready. However, some mornings she is worried about getting diarrhea so she doesn't want to take it prior to school and other mornings she just doesn't want to take it in the mornings or she doesn't allow herself enough time before leaving for school. It doesn't work for her to have it at dinner with her Benefiber as it is too close together and causes too many issues. I could give it to her before bedtime except that we eat rather late as a rule since Shane usually barbecues and really eat late in the summer so I am just going to have to continue to work with getting her to take it in the mornings. There really are no other options for this. She has been doing considerably well this month and has had very few tummy aches and missed very few days this month. She brought home her mid-quarter grades and now has all A's and B's except for 1 F in Word Processing. I asked her what was wrong in that class and evidently she needs to make some work up. I called and spoke with her Study Skills teacher about this and asked for suggestions and was told to write her word processing teacher a note and find out when Darein could make this up. I did that and received a phone call back stating that she had talked to her study skills teacher and Darein was making the necessary homework up in that class plus they had adjusted her IEP accordingly and she felt confident that Darein's grade would improve based on the following adjustments. The school has really stepped up and made school life very bearable for Darein. She is successful now and doing well and enjoying all of her classes. She in fact received a 138/136 on her human body bones test in her Science class which was the highest in her class. She seems to love science and feels like she is really good at it. She will get to dissect a frog sometime this quarter and is looking forward to that. Since she hopes to work with animals someday it will help for her to be good at science so I am quite pleased to see her actually interested and good in a subject other than Art or one of her other many electives.
All in all life has been fairly boring at the Blanton household this past month which is a good thing I guess :) Damein will be starting baseball this next month and we will continue to work with Darein on her kidney issues so that she will be ready for her xray in April. I will write again sooner, hopefully than later as I would like to start writing on a weekly basis if possible.
We have worked with Darein this month on going to the bathroom every two hours, taking Benefiber and Miralax every day. These things have proven to be quite a challenge. She does great at school because she knows to go after every other class period but then it is difficult to remember to tell her every two hours as we get busy and forget though she does fairly well with this since he bladder appears to trigger automatically every two hours or at least close. A month later we are still working on getting the Benefiber and Miralax adjusted. The Benefiber goes in her food and helps things to solidify a little better. However, it is a pill and therefore goes best in mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese type things so it is easier to give this to her in the evening. This leaves us trying to figure out when to give her the Miralax. This is trickier than you might think as I want to give it to her in a drink in the morning. This would work great if she wasn't so slow getting ready. However, some mornings she is worried about getting diarrhea so she doesn't want to take it prior to school and other mornings she just doesn't want to take it in the mornings or she doesn't allow herself enough time before leaving for school. It doesn't work for her to have it at dinner with her Benefiber as it is too close together and causes too many issues. I could give it to her before bedtime except that we eat rather late as a rule since Shane usually barbecues and really eat late in the summer so I am just going to have to continue to work with getting her to take it in the mornings. There really are no other options for this. She has been doing considerably well this month and has had very few tummy aches and missed very few days this month. She brought home her mid-quarter grades and now has all A's and B's except for 1 F in Word Processing. I asked her what was wrong in that class and evidently she needs to make some work up. I called and spoke with her Study Skills teacher about this and asked for suggestions and was told to write her word processing teacher a note and find out when Darein could make this up. I did that and received a phone call back stating that she had talked to her study skills teacher and Darein was making the necessary homework up in that class plus they had adjusted her IEP accordingly and she felt confident that Darein's grade would improve based on the following adjustments. The school has really stepped up and made school life very bearable for Darein. She is successful now and doing well and enjoying all of her classes. She in fact received a 138/136 on her human body bones test in her Science class which was the highest in her class. She seems to love science and feels like she is really good at it. She will get to dissect a frog sometime this quarter and is looking forward to that. Since she hopes to work with animals someday it will help for her to be good at science so I am quite pleased to see her actually interested and good in a subject other than Art or one of her other many electives.
All in all life has been fairly boring at the Blanton household this past month which is a good thing I guess :) Damein will be starting baseball this next month and we will continue to work with Darein on her kidney issues so that she will be ready for her xray in April. I will write again sooner, hopefully than later as I would like to start writing on a weekly basis if possible.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
A Trip To Kansas City
Darein was scheduled this past Friday to go to Kansas City and meet with her urology surgeon in regards to her left kidney reflux and the possibility of surgery. Shane had accumulated enough points through his employer that we were able to get a free room at the Drury Inn and Suites. This was great as the weather was scheduled to be snowy and Darein's appointment was at 8:30am Friday morning. Of course, Shane woke up on Thursday morning feeling worse than he had the previous day or two and decided to head to the doctor before heading to Kansas City. Once his appointment was made I decided to make one as well as we didn't want to head to the children's hospital if we were extremely sick with pneumonia or something. Shane ended up having the flu but they couldn't give him anything for it and told him that he just needed to get plenty of rest and gave him some time off of work. I just had a viral infection and nothing was given to me either and I was told pretty much the same as Shane, plenty of rest. We had been waiting for 2 or 3 months for this appointment and I didn't want to cancel it and therefore, we went ahead and ran our errands for the day, got packed and picked Darein up from school so that we could go ahead and leave as it was already starting to snow. We got checked into the hotel, got something to eat and enjoyed a little bit of time in the hot tub. It was an early night and we all rested well.
Friday morning Darein woke up with the same crud that me and Shane had. We were in hopes that the appointment would go fast in order to get in and out and on our way home before Darein got any worse. All went well. We were checked in very quickly and was happy to meet the surgeon. He was very friendly and had another physician come in to see us prior to him seeing Darein. The two physicians explained to us that a kidney reflux in and of itself does not cause infections and asked a few questions about the problems that Darein was experiencing. He then did a physical exam and they came to the conclusion that she has a spastic bladder which is causing her not to empty it well and in turn causing her to have several uti's which is causing some of her stomach problems. They gave us homework and Darein has to try to go to the restroom every 2 hours. She also needs to be having a bowel movement every day and therefore they asked us to increase her Miralax from 1 capful a day to 1 1/2 capfuls a day, splitting it up and also adding Benefiber to her food as well to help it solidify. They explained that the intestines sit on top of your bladder and if she isn't emptying it well then it is adding to the bladder spasms. They want us to work on this for the next two months and then get an xray of her bladder and see if it has calmed down any. If it hasn't then they will talk to us again and there are medications that they said they can place her on to help calm it down. They are hoping that surgery will not be something that we have to pursue. I was very happy to know that just because they were surgeons, that wasn't their first option. This is one of the reasons that I love children's hospitals and research hospitals so much. They are always thinking of all of the options and try to explain to you why they are choosing the option they are. Of course, all physicians have different reasons behind their choices even in these hospitals but you can usually find a physician who has the common sense behind his theories and that is always refreshing. Darein has had 8 surgeries up to this point and is going to have to have a mandibular resection in the near future. Therefore, the more surgeries that we can eliminate or delay the better. Darein was very pleased that she only has to have an xray in 2 months opposed to the cystourethrogram she had a few months prior diagnosing her left kidney reflux. This procedure is quite painful and needless to say, it makes her a little more than anxious to think about having to have that again.
We immediately left after the appointment and made it home before Damein got home from school that day.
This past Monday I also was scheduled to go and have a procedure to remove my mosaic warts from the heel of my foot by my podiatrist. I went in prepared and was a little nervous but determined that I would make it through the numbing shot that he had to give me prior to removing the warts. I went back to the room, got comfortable and he came in and warned me once again that the shot would hurt. I told him I understood and that I was okay with this. He then placed the needle deep in my heel and I unexpectedly came unglued. I screamed like a baby into the pillow behind my head and moved my foot. He took the needle out and proceeded to tell me that he didn't think that any of the numbing medication was injected and that it was ok for me to change my mind. He then said that he would give me a minute to regain my composure. I could hardly breathe and was petrified to think of him sticking that needle back in. He on his own opted to just do treatments every two weeks for 4 or 5 times. I regretfully agreed and he proceeded. He simply scrapes some of the dead skin off with a scalpel and then sprays this really cold spray on the bottom of my foot and bandages it up. It isn't too bad really. The spray burns a little but evidently this spray allows the skin to dry and slough off so that he can debride the warts a little more every time I go back. As much as I hate paying the co-pay every time and having to go through a lengthy and ongoing process of having this done I have decided it is a good alternative to getting that needle stuck in my foot. You would think that after childbirth nothing could phase you. After all, I have had an amniocentesis, natural and c-section childbirths, bellybutton piercing, and a tattoo. I would have never thought that I couldn't endure this. Who knows, maybe I'm just getting sensitive in my old age :)
Anyways, all in all the week was productive and we got a lot of things accomplished and are able to move on with our lives for another few months which will be nice. We take Damein this Friday to Rolla so that he can visit Rolla S&T and see if this is a college that he might be interested in. Me and my husband are really hoping that he likes this school as we feel that he is smart enough to get in here and just needs to pull his ACT scores up a little more. He is working very hard in school and as much as he is on his computer I really think that this could be up his alley but we will see. He isn't quite as thrilled about it as we are but we are hoping that the fact that they have football and baseball there will help to encourage him to attend.
I will try to write again this weekend after our visit and not wait so long this time :)
Friday morning Darein woke up with the same crud that me and Shane had. We were in hopes that the appointment would go fast in order to get in and out and on our way home before Darein got any worse. All went well. We were checked in very quickly and was happy to meet the surgeon. He was very friendly and had another physician come in to see us prior to him seeing Darein. The two physicians explained to us that a kidney reflux in and of itself does not cause infections and asked a few questions about the problems that Darein was experiencing. He then did a physical exam and they came to the conclusion that she has a spastic bladder which is causing her not to empty it well and in turn causing her to have several uti's which is causing some of her stomach problems. They gave us homework and Darein has to try to go to the restroom every 2 hours. She also needs to be having a bowel movement every day and therefore they asked us to increase her Miralax from 1 capful a day to 1 1/2 capfuls a day, splitting it up and also adding Benefiber to her food as well to help it solidify. They explained that the intestines sit on top of your bladder and if she isn't emptying it well then it is adding to the bladder spasms. They want us to work on this for the next two months and then get an xray of her bladder and see if it has calmed down any. If it hasn't then they will talk to us again and there are medications that they said they can place her on to help calm it down. They are hoping that surgery will not be something that we have to pursue. I was very happy to know that just because they were surgeons, that wasn't their first option. This is one of the reasons that I love children's hospitals and research hospitals so much. They are always thinking of all of the options and try to explain to you why they are choosing the option they are. Of course, all physicians have different reasons behind their choices even in these hospitals but you can usually find a physician who has the common sense behind his theories and that is always refreshing. Darein has had 8 surgeries up to this point and is going to have to have a mandibular resection in the near future. Therefore, the more surgeries that we can eliminate or delay the better. Darein was very pleased that she only has to have an xray in 2 months opposed to the cystourethrogram she had a few months prior diagnosing her left kidney reflux. This procedure is quite painful and needless to say, it makes her a little more than anxious to think about having to have that again.
We immediately left after the appointment and made it home before Damein got home from school that day.
This past Monday I also was scheduled to go and have a procedure to remove my mosaic warts from the heel of my foot by my podiatrist. I went in prepared and was a little nervous but determined that I would make it through the numbing shot that he had to give me prior to removing the warts. I went back to the room, got comfortable and he came in and warned me once again that the shot would hurt. I told him I understood and that I was okay with this. He then placed the needle deep in my heel and I unexpectedly came unglued. I screamed like a baby into the pillow behind my head and moved my foot. He took the needle out and proceeded to tell me that he didn't think that any of the numbing medication was injected and that it was ok for me to change my mind. He then said that he would give me a minute to regain my composure. I could hardly breathe and was petrified to think of him sticking that needle back in. He on his own opted to just do treatments every two weeks for 4 or 5 times. I regretfully agreed and he proceeded. He simply scrapes some of the dead skin off with a scalpel and then sprays this really cold spray on the bottom of my foot and bandages it up. It isn't too bad really. The spray burns a little but evidently this spray allows the skin to dry and slough off so that he can debride the warts a little more every time I go back. As much as I hate paying the co-pay every time and having to go through a lengthy and ongoing process of having this done I have decided it is a good alternative to getting that needle stuck in my foot. You would think that after childbirth nothing could phase you. After all, I have had an amniocentesis, natural and c-section childbirths, bellybutton piercing, and a tattoo. I would have never thought that I couldn't endure this. Who knows, maybe I'm just getting sensitive in my old age :)
Anyways, all in all the week was productive and we got a lot of things accomplished and are able to move on with our lives for another few months which will be nice. We take Damein this Friday to Rolla so that he can visit Rolla S&T and see if this is a college that he might be interested in. Me and my husband are really hoping that he likes this school as we feel that he is smart enough to get in here and just needs to pull his ACT scores up a little more. He is working very hard in school and as much as he is on his computer I really think that this could be up his alley but we will see. He isn't quite as thrilled about it as we are but we are hoping that the fact that they have football and baseball there will help to encourage him to attend.
I will try to write again this weekend after our visit and not wait so long this time :)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A Few Days at the Doctor for Mom
Well, I finally went to the doctor yesterday to have my foot checked out as I thought that I had something in the bottom of my heel as well as the hives that I have seemed to break out in since almost passing out when my daughter got her blood drawn on the 21st.
My doctor looked at my foot and says that it is too deep so she is going to have to send me to see a podiatrist. She looks at my hives and thinks that it might be an allergic reaction though I don't think that is quite possible as I haven't changed my detergent or anything else that I can think of but she tells me to take Claritin twice a day and I should be better in a few days. I go to set up my appointment with the podiatrist and am lucky enough to get in today. So I went home, took my Claritin that evening and smothered my legs in Cortisone cream to help with the itching as well.
Went to see my doctor today and he is quite funny. We talk a little, he looks at my foot and then tells me that I have what they call a "mosaic wart". It is 5 warts that come together in the center as a cluster. Nice. He puts some medicine on it, covers it and tells me to keep it dry for the next 72 hours. He says that they can do surgery on it to remove them either tomorrow or Thursday. I told them that I had to take my daughter to Kansas City on Friday and would need to be able to walk around so he says I need to wait until Monday to have it done. So, guess I will be going in on Monday at 2pm to get it taken care of. Evidently, I will have a big hole in the bottom of my heel when all is said and done.
As you can imagine, I am thrilled. I take Darein to Kansas City on Friday to schedule her kidney surgery, get my foot surgery done on Monday, walk all over the Missouri S&T Rolla campus on Friday to look it over with Shane and Damein to see if Damein might be interested in attending college there. I'm sure I will have to schedule a pre-op appointment for Darein somewhere between the consultation date and the surgery date which means another Kansas City trip and then when she is all taken care of I still get to have my gallbladder surgery and lipoma removed on my right side. Guess, I might as well sit back and relax and hope for the best. A little bit of coordination as far as scheduling and a whole lot of patience will do me well over the next few months. :)
I hope my family and friends are doing well and I will write again on Friday or Saturday when we get back from Kansas City to let you know what we found out as far as exactly what type of surgery Darein will be having for her kidney reflux, etc. Her immune system does not appear to be very strong right now as so far she has managed to get all of the stomach viruses that are going around. She stayed home again today with diarrhea but seems to be feeling a little better this afternoon. Hopefully, she will stay strong and well enough to undergo surgery so that we don't have to postpone anything :)
My doctor looked at my foot and says that it is too deep so she is going to have to send me to see a podiatrist. She looks at my hives and thinks that it might be an allergic reaction though I don't think that is quite possible as I haven't changed my detergent or anything else that I can think of but she tells me to take Claritin twice a day and I should be better in a few days. I go to set up my appointment with the podiatrist and am lucky enough to get in today. So I went home, took my Claritin that evening and smothered my legs in Cortisone cream to help with the itching as well.
Went to see my doctor today and he is quite funny. We talk a little, he looks at my foot and then tells me that I have what they call a "mosaic wart". It is 5 warts that come together in the center as a cluster. Nice. He puts some medicine on it, covers it and tells me to keep it dry for the next 72 hours. He says that they can do surgery on it to remove them either tomorrow or Thursday. I told them that I had to take my daughter to Kansas City on Friday and would need to be able to walk around so he says I need to wait until Monday to have it done. So, guess I will be going in on Monday at 2pm to get it taken care of. Evidently, I will have a big hole in the bottom of my heel when all is said and done.
As you can imagine, I am thrilled. I take Darein to Kansas City on Friday to schedule her kidney surgery, get my foot surgery done on Monday, walk all over the Missouri S&T Rolla campus on Friday to look it over with Shane and Damein to see if Damein might be interested in attending college there. I'm sure I will have to schedule a pre-op appointment for Darein somewhere between the consultation date and the surgery date which means another Kansas City trip and then when she is all taken care of I still get to have my gallbladder surgery and lipoma removed on my right side. Guess, I might as well sit back and relax and hope for the best. A little bit of coordination as far as scheduling and a whole lot of patience will do me well over the next few months. :)
I hope my family and friends are doing well and I will write again on Friday or Saturday when we get back from Kansas City to let you know what we found out as far as exactly what type of surgery Darein will be having for her kidney reflux, etc. Her immune system does not appear to be very strong right now as so far she has managed to get all of the stomach viruses that are going around. She stayed home again today with diarrhea but seems to be feeling a little better this afternoon. Hopefully, she will stay strong and well enough to undergo surgery so that we don't have to postpone anything :)
Monday, January 25, 2010
Lab Day
I hate lab days! We went to take Darein last Thursday afternoon to repeat one of her labs for her congenital adrenal hyperplasia as well as to repeat a couple of other hormone levels. This was supposed to just be a routine arterial stick and be done, no problems. As we were driving there Darein wanted to make sure that she was going to get her blood drawn through her artery instead of a regular vein since they would give her some numbing medicine while they drew the blood. I told her that I was sure they would but thought maybe she should try a regular blood draw instead. She agreed though she wasn't very happy with it. When we arrived at the hospital the nurse, Tina asked how Darein wanted to have her blood drawn. I told her that she wanted it done arterially but wasn't sure if this was a good idea. Tina thought it was an excellent idea since she had been stuck so many times before. She ordered the labs and we were thankful that only 3 ml's were needed. While we were waiting on the respiratory therapist to get there to do the stick I asked Tina if they had lots of kids that they saw that were tough sticks. She said yes and that most of them came from Darein's endocrinologist in Columbia but stated that even as tough as many of the kids are, Darein is one of the toughest. The therapist finally came up to draw Darein's blood and gave her a shot of the numbing medicine in her artery. She did great. However, when he went to stick her for the blood he had quite a bit of difficulty. He moved the needle around all over in her arm. Darein couldn't feel a thing but my stomach kept getting more and more nauseous from watching. He finally got the blood but the artery quit giving after 1 ml. He finally took it out and I had to turn to Shane at that time who was sitting in the chair beside Darein's bed and ask him to take over. I left the room and headed down the hall to the restroom. I had managed to break out in a sweat, felt nauseous and thought I was going to pass out. This is the first time in 14 years I have ever come close to passing out. I was so mad at the therapist for digging in her arm so much even though she was in no pain from it at all. I have seen so many phlebotomists dig around in her arm and we only let them do it so much before we tell them to stop as it causes her so much pain. After using the restroom and getting a drink of water I finally calmed down enough to enter the room again. When I got back to the room, they were done. Shane said that when the therapist went back into her artery he dug a little more but then finally got the artery and it gave a little extra blood. The therapist said to make sure that next time she has to have blood drawn that I tell the therapist that it is very deep in Darein's arm.
I worry about the fact that she is only 14 years old and still has many more surgeries and blood draws to endure and the fact that her veins and now possibly her arteries are starting to close up and be harder and harder to get any blood from. She is scheduled on Friday February 5th to see her kidney surgeon and she will have to have pre-op labs drawn I am sure prior to surgery and then an IV placed during surgery. I talked to my sister-in-law who is a respiratory therapist and she told me not to worry that they will be able to get blood from her if they need to. She has offered to do Darein's labs if we would like her to as she is pretty good at it. It is reassuring to know that we have someone in the family to talk to about this and that can help us through these questions.
Darein's arm was not bruised the next day and she laughed at me for almost passing out saying, "mom, if anyone should have been upset it should have been me and I wasn't so you shouldn't". I love this kid :) LOL
I worry about the fact that she is only 14 years old and still has many more surgeries and blood draws to endure and the fact that her veins and now possibly her arteries are starting to close up and be harder and harder to get any blood from. She is scheduled on Friday February 5th to see her kidney surgeon and she will have to have pre-op labs drawn I am sure prior to surgery and then an IV placed during surgery. I talked to my sister-in-law who is a respiratory therapist and she told me not to worry that they will be able to get blood from her if they need to. She has offered to do Darein's labs if we would like her to as she is pretty good at it. It is reassuring to know that we have someone in the family to talk to about this and that can help us through these questions.
Darein's arm was not bruised the next day and she laughed at me for almost passing out saying, "mom, if anyone should have been upset it should have been me and I wasn't so you shouldn't". I love this kid :) LOL
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Endocrinology Update
I spoke with Darein's endocrinologist today and most of her labs came back normal. Her congenital adrenal hyperplasia is stable and no need to increase her cortisol at this time. However, a progesterone was done instead of a progesterone-17. We need to repeat this next week. I am not sure exactly what this lab shows but I know that it is a routine lab in regards to her adrenal hyperplasia. Her physician also wants a couple of other labs repeated as well and I was not told what these were but nothing of concern. Her bone age was 12 which tells us that she still has a little bit of growth going on which means her puberty issues are of no concern. She is 14 so her bones still have a couple of years of growth. Girls usually stop growing around the age of 14 or 15 so when her bone age reaches 14 or 15 then that will tell us that she is as tall as she will get. This will also be helpful when they are trying to determine when to perform her jaw surgery as timing of the bones is very important. If you perform surgery too soon then there is a chance of having to redo the surgery. We did find that she is Vitamin D deficient again so she will get a power dose of Vitamin D which includes about 3 capsules and then will reduce to 2 then to 1 a week for 6 weeks. I was hoping since she was doing so well we would not encounter this situation this winter especially since her chronic regional pain syndrome is in remission and she is back at school. This however does not appear to be the case. She will get her replacement of Vitamin D over the next several weeks and then hopefully with spring coming up she will get enough sunshine to help. She is currently on a multivitamin once a day but evidently this is not enough to help with this situation. She is having a few headaches recently but nothing too bad so hopefully the Vitamin D will help keep them from getting worse. We also have to discontinue her Senokot which is a laxative to keep her regular as her GI physician wants her to maintain a daily dose of Miralax now. This could take some adjustment before we get it right but hopefully she will have no problems as we work on keeping her maintained regularly. She did receive her 2nd Gardasil vaccination today and did well with.
Overall, I am very happy with her progress right now as she is losing weight and she states that she is having more energy. She is getting regular PE as well as adaptive PE at school. She states that she is running every day in PE which we are absolutely thrilled that she has been able to maintain that this past week. Her ankle started hurting yesterday and she was limping this morning but she said by 2nd hour she no longer hurt and was able to walk with no problems and then was able to run in PE during 4th hour.
She is such a different person than she was a year ago. We are so very pleased with her progress. Her depression is gone, she is loving school and misses it when she is not there and is making more friends than ever. She is learning to push through things in order to keep up with the other kids and I can not say enough how proud we are of her.
Overall, I am very happy with her progress right now as she is losing weight and she states that she is having more energy. She is getting regular PE as well as adaptive PE at school. She states that she is running every day in PE which we are absolutely thrilled that she has been able to maintain that this past week. Her ankle started hurting yesterday and she was limping this morning but she said by 2nd hour she no longer hurt and was able to walk with no problems and then was able to run in PE during 4th hour.
She is such a different person than she was a year ago. We are so very pleased with her progress. Her depression is gone, she is loving school and misses it when she is not there and is making more friends than ever. She is learning to push through things in order to keep up with the other kids and I can not say enough how proud we are of her.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Off To A Good Start In 2010
Well, so far we are off to a good start this year. The kids have finally went back to school today after being out for about 3 weeks. They were ready as much as mom was ready. I went to see my general surgeon last week and found out that my gallbladder is only working 2.5%. The only problems that I am having at this time however are that I can't eat bacon and eggs as that seems to be the only foods bothering me right now. Since I am not having more problems right now the doctor tells me that I can wait until things get worse before having surgery. Since we are getting Darein ready to have her kidney surgery I have opted to go ahead and wait until this spring or summer when life isn't so busy.
Darein went to see her gastroenterologist last week and I am happy to say that her cleansing this weekend went without a hitch. She is not backed up and all looks well from that perspective. I on the other hand had some issues but am feeling much better today :)
My kids have gone through some major personality changes over the holidays, for the better. Damein actually started playing games with me and Darein and hanging out with the family a little bit. It has been really nice having him back, I feel like I have a whole new child! He has lost his attitude and started enjoying his family again. I'm not sure how long this will last seeing as he is a teenager and all but am enjoying it for now. Darein actually came in yesterday and told me that her bathroom was a mess and then proceeded to clean it without being told. In fact, I even told her that I would get to it today but she just went ahead and got it cleaned. I was so proud of her. She is growing up :)
Shane has only been working about 4 days a week as he has had a few Mondays off due to the holidays and has called in a couple of Mondays so that me and Darein could go to our appointments. He doesn't like me driving in the snow and since we got a total of about 5 inches or so, he figured he would rather take us than have to worry about it. It has been nice but now he is back to the grind as well this week. He is expecting to get busy for the next couple of weeks and planning on taking full advantage of it since things will slow down until he starts his new bid in March. He also has his physical in March that he will need to pass and so he is starting to work on his health a little and trying to take a little better care of himself. He has diabetes and he chooses not to take medication for this so he has to keep his blood sugars under control and his blood pressure under control in order to pass his yearly physical so that he can keep driving his truck for AG. He actually does remarkably well with this and I am hoping that he will start working out with me soon as well.
We only have 2 more weeks of January left and time is flying by. I love the holidays but I love my routine too and am anxious to return to the grind as well. Last week was my first full week of working out and I managed to lose 6 lbs. already. I am very excited that I had such a great first week. I am ahead of schedule and watching my calories like crazy. It is turning out to be a little easier than I expected. I just have to really work at the workout part, that is where I really struggle.
Well, this is a pretty boring blog today as I don't really have much to say but thought I would add a little update. I hope everyone else's new year is off to a great start as well!
Darein went to see her gastroenterologist last week and I am happy to say that her cleansing this weekend went without a hitch. She is not backed up and all looks well from that perspective. I on the other hand had some issues but am feeling much better today :)
My kids have gone through some major personality changes over the holidays, for the better. Damein actually started playing games with me and Darein and hanging out with the family a little bit. It has been really nice having him back, I feel like I have a whole new child! He has lost his attitude and started enjoying his family again. I'm not sure how long this will last seeing as he is a teenager and all but am enjoying it for now. Darein actually came in yesterday and told me that her bathroom was a mess and then proceeded to clean it without being told. In fact, I even told her that I would get to it today but she just went ahead and got it cleaned. I was so proud of her. She is growing up :)
Shane has only been working about 4 days a week as he has had a few Mondays off due to the holidays and has called in a couple of Mondays so that me and Darein could go to our appointments. He doesn't like me driving in the snow and since we got a total of about 5 inches or so, he figured he would rather take us than have to worry about it. It has been nice but now he is back to the grind as well this week. He is expecting to get busy for the next couple of weeks and planning on taking full advantage of it since things will slow down until he starts his new bid in March. He also has his physical in March that he will need to pass and so he is starting to work on his health a little and trying to take a little better care of himself. He has diabetes and he chooses not to take medication for this so he has to keep his blood sugars under control and his blood pressure under control in order to pass his yearly physical so that he can keep driving his truck for AG. He actually does remarkably well with this and I am hoping that he will start working out with me soon as well.
We only have 2 more weeks of January left and time is flying by. I love the holidays but I love my routine too and am anxious to return to the grind as well. Last week was my first full week of working out and I managed to lose 6 lbs. already. I am very excited that I had such a great first week. I am ahead of schedule and watching my calories like crazy. It is turning out to be a little easier than I expected. I just have to really work at the workout part, that is where I really struggle.
Well, this is a pretty boring blog today as I don't really have much to say but thought I would add a little update. I hope everyone else's new year is off to a great start as well!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
A Brand New Year
Well, it is a brand new year and already it has been full of adventures and trials. My family ended 2009 with a bang! Shane got a stomach bug about a week before the new year. It only lasted about 24 hours. About the time he was getting better me and Darein both came down with it at the same time. We were a little more sick than Shane but he was great at taking care of us. He got us Sprite and chicken noodle soup and came to check on us constantly. Damein stayed in his room from the time Shane got sick up until the last day when me and Darein were finally starting to recover in hopes that he wouldn't get it. Unfortunately, he came down with it the night that we had recovered. As you can imagine this put a damper in everyone's New Year's Eve plans. The kids had an annual event scheduled at their youth leader's house that they were unable to attend and me and Shane usually hang out with another couple on New Year's Eve and we had to cancel those plans as well. We made the most of it and only the kids though ended up staying up until midnight.
Because I got sick I had to cancel my appointment with my surgeon for my gallbladder which has postponed everything. They were unable to get me in until January 7th. However, thankfully I have not had any attacks and have been watching what I eat to help keep things that way. My appointment is tomorrow so hopefully they will be able to get surgery scheduled fairly quickly. We did go to meet Darein's new GI doctor earlier this week and we absolutely love him. I forgot to take Darein's new patient paperwork but thankfully we arrived for the appointment early and I thought enough to ask the receptionist for the paperwork so that I could get this filled out while waiting. I was able to get all of this completed. Darein has not been having any stomach problems since about 3 weeks before Christmas break and I couldn't figure out what had changed so drastically to cause her no more problems. However, when I was filling out the paperwork they asked about pets and allergies, etc and I got to thinking that we got rid of Trixie about 2 weeks before Christmas. Makes me wonder if since she is allergic to cats and dogs if it was affecting her stomach by breathing in the dander from the animals. So now I felt like a real idiot for keeping this GI appointment since she was having no problems. We went back and the nurse asked her questions and then the doctor came in. He asked why we were there to see him and I explained what kind of problems she had had and that these seemed to have resolved now but that I was wondering if it might have something to do with her allergies from the dogs. He didn't address the issue but continued to look over the information that I filled out and asked a few questions. There were some concerns that she might be leaking a little bit with her bowels and he wanted to make sure that that valve was working properly. If it isn't, it isn't a huge deal and is fixable but definitely something we need to check out and address if necessary. I explained to him that she was scheduled to see a urology surgeon in Kansas City, where he is from on February 5th and he assured us that we would like that physician very much. He instructed us to clean her system out with Miralax over the weekend when she has nowhere to go. She will get 10 capfuls of Miralax over the course of the weekend. If there is excessive bowels then we know that there might be a problem. If it is a normal amount then she is cleaned out and no problems. He assured us that this is totally safe and is similar to what they have patients do prior to a colonoscopy. Since I have been working out and watching what I eat as part of my New Year's resolution I am going to go through this with Darein so that I know what to expect and so that she doesn't have to do this by herself. She isn't concerned about it but I think it is good to be able to empathize with what your children are going through anytime that you can to help give yourself some perspective on what your child is going through. He also is going to talk to her urology surgeon and see if he can schedule to do a scope to look at her stomach at the same time as her kidney surgery. He says that this will allow him to tell if she has gastritis, gastric ulcers or other complications from her gastroesophageal reflux disease. I have to call and let him know how the weekend went and the results of Darein's cleansing and then call him back again after we meet with Darein's surgeon and then we will proceed accordingly. It was very nice to not feel like a total idiot when I walked in and said that she was no longer having any stomach problems. He really seems like he wants to get to the bottom of what is going on with her stomach even though it isn't a constant in her life. Since so little is known about her Antley-Bixler syndrome and all of the complications that it can cause and what if anything it is causing for her it is important to me that we have physician's that are in tune with making absolutely sure that her anatomy is the way that it should be and is functioning the way that is should be. If everything checks out well with all of the above then he will at least help us with her gastroesophageal reflux disease and help us answer questions in regards to making sure that we know what to look for if she starts having problems with her esophagus or the lining of her stomach from this problem.
As the kids were scheduled to go back to school this past Tuesday we received about 4 inches of snow which prevented them from starting back. Me and Shane dug Darein's 4-wheeler out and got it started and played in the snow with her on Tuesday. Darein wimped out on us early and said the bottom part of her face was cold. I offered to get her a scarf to wrap up in but she refused so me and Shane finished riding. Unfortunately, just as we were getting ready to put it up the chain broke. Shane finally found someone to work on it that is reasonable and honest and will be taking it over there today. The hope was to get it fixed before the next snow fall today and tomorrow so that we could purchase a sled and pull behind it and have all kinds of fun as we are supposed to get another 2-4 inches of snow. However, even though it may be fixed and even though we may purchase a sled it looks like it is going to be way too cold to actually play out in it. They are calling for windchills of 10-20 below zero tomorrow so I think we will stay in and drink hot cocoa instead. The kids have been out of school an extra week now and they are growing bored and mom is ready for them to head back to school now so that I can get into some sort of a routine.
All in all the new year has started off well and expectations are high for this year. Shane has his 20 year class reunion in June and I have a new year's resolution as most to lose weight. I have downloaded a calorie counting app on my Iphone and am watching what I eat and have purchased the Wii Fit Plus and Jillian Michael's Wii workout game as well. I purchased some 3 lb. dumbbells and a thick yoga mat so I think that I have all of the supplies I need and Shane is being supportive so I have a good support system at home as well. My goal is to lose 53 lbs. in 6 months. This is a very realistic goal and I am confident I will make sure that it happens. When I was working I kind of let myself go and didn't have a lot of time to focus on me. I was busy working for our family and taking care of my kid's needs in my spare time and somewhere along the way I lost me. I have learned since I have been home this past year that I have to take care of myself in order to take the best care of my children. I have managed to make all of my routine doctor visits last year, am continuing to keep those appointments this next year, am working on my weight and will even take some time to do a little tanning. I am starting to adjust to being home and had forgotten how much easier it is to manage my family, home and myself when that is all I have to worry about. Taking 8 hours or more out of your day to work really causes a person to have to limit what they can and cannot do for themselves and their family. It is kind of nice to have Shane work and provide for us while I am able to take care of everything and everyone else. He is still great to cook and grocery shop as he is very good at both of these things and I hate both of these things. I do grocery shop with him now but he is much more thrifty and gets more for his money. I have taken back over the household chores and even taken over the bills. It has been a little rough getting everything together and getting in the flow of things but things are starting to take shape and I am able to sit back and enjoy life a little more. I am still having those occasions where I ask Shane if I need to try to go back to work but he is doing well financially at work and we are able to maintain our lifestyle so he continues to tell me to sit back and enjoy it and he will let me know if our situation changes and I have to find a job. So in the meantime, I am doing just that and taking advantage of whatever time I have to be off of work to get my house in order, take care of my daughter, get my son ready for college and take care of myself. I feel so very blessed to have the support from my husband that I do as it just makes it so easy to concentrate on what is important. I still think often of what I want to do once my daughter is 18 as she only has 4 more years before she reaches that age. It is very scary to think about as I have no degree, no idea of what I would want to study if I did decide to go back to school, no idea of what I would want to do as far as a career or anything else. I guess, I will just continue to think about it, continue to throw ideas around in my head, maybe even try a few things here and there as the opportunity presents itself. I don't know what the future holds, Darein could still be living at home after the age of 18 and/or still need quite a bit of constant care and my life's work from now on may be to devote to caring for her and that is something that I am able to accept I think, even now. We decided when we had to face the decision of whether to abort her or not that she would be our lifelong commitment no matter what and that it was okay if we had to care for her for the rest of OUR lives and that decision is unwaived. We love her and all that she is and all that she hopes to be and will do everything we can to help her have the best life she can have and help her accomplish all of her dreams at all costs. As far as me and Shane are concerned that is just part of being a parent.
Well, I haven't written in awhile and sorry that this blog today is a little sappy but thought it was important to write about my short and long term goals as it is the start of the New Year and felt that this was an important part of maintaining some sort of commitment to my goals as they say it is important to write your goals down so that you can look back on them. I also figured it would help me put things in perspective and gives me a good overall bigger picture of my life and where my dedications lie. If you haven't already done this, I would highly suggest it. They teach us to do this in school but I think as we get busy with our lives sometimes we forget how important it can be to take some time out to list our short term and long term goals. After all, without goals what are we here for? I know I don't want to look back and say that all my life consisted of was getting up and going to work and doing a few fun things here and there. Life is short and should be fun but there should be some sort of purpose in everyone's life and in short, my purpose is raising my children to have the best lives they can hope for. :)
Because I got sick I had to cancel my appointment with my surgeon for my gallbladder which has postponed everything. They were unable to get me in until January 7th. However, thankfully I have not had any attacks and have been watching what I eat to help keep things that way. My appointment is tomorrow so hopefully they will be able to get surgery scheduled fairly quickly. We did go to meet Darein's new GI doctor earlier this week and we absolutely love him. I forgot to take Darein's new patient paperwork but thankfully we arrived for the appointment early and I thought enough to ask the receptionist for the paperwork so that I could get this filled out while waiting. I was able to get all of this completed. Darein has not been having any stomach problems since about 3 weeks before Christmas break and I couldn't figure out what had changed so drastically to cause her no more problems. However, when I was filling out the paperwork they asked about pets and allergies, etc and I got to thinking that we got rid of Trixie about 2 weeks before Christmas. Makes me wonder if since she is allergic to cats and dogs if it was affecting her stomach by breathing in the dander from the animals. So now I felt like a real idiot for keeping this GI appointment since she was having no problems. We went back and the nurse asked her questions and then the doctor came in. He asked why we were there to see him and I explained what kind of problems she had had and that these seemed to have resolved now but that I was wondering if it might have something to do with her allergies from the dogs. He didn't address the issue but continued to look over the information that I filled out and asked a few questions. There were some concerns that she might be leaking a little bit with her bowels and he wanted to make sure that that valve was working properly. If it isn't, it isn't a huge deal and is fixable but definitely something we need to check out and address if necessary. I explained to him that she was scheduled to see a urology surgeon in Kansas City, where he is from on February 5th and he assured us that we would like that physician very much. He instructed us to clean her system out with Miralax over the weekend when she has nowhere to go. She will get 10 capfuls of Miralax over the course of the weekend. If there is excessive bowels then we know that there might be a problem. If it is a normal amount then she is cleaned out and no problems. He assured us that this is totally safe and is similar to what they have patients do prior to a colonoscopy. Since I have been working out and watching what I eat as part of my New Year's resolution I am going to go through this with Darein so that I know what to expect and so that she doesn't have to do this by herself. She isn't concerned about it but I think it is good to be able to empathize with what your children are going through anytime that you can to help give yourself some perspective on what your child is going through. He also is going to talk to her urology surgeon and see if he can schedule to do a scope to look at her stomach at the same time as her kidney surgery. He says that this will allow him to tell if she has gastritis, gastric ulcers or other complications from her gastroesophageal reflux disease. I have to call and let him know how the weekend went and the results of Darein's cleansing and then call him back again after we meet with Darein's surgeon and then we will proceed accordingly. It was very nice to not feel like a total idiot when I walked in and said that she was no longer having any stomach problems. He really seems like he wants to get to the bottom of what is going on with her stomach even though it isn't a constant in her life. Since so little is known about her Antley-Bixler syndrome and all of the complications that it can cause and what if anything it is causing for her it is important to me that we have physician's that are in tune with making absolutely sure that her anatomy is the way that it should be and is functioning the way that is should be. If everything checks out well with all of the above then he will at least help us with her gastroesophageal reflux disease and help us answer questions in regards to making sure that we know what to look for if she starts having problems with her esophagus or the lining of her stomach from this problem.
As the kids were scheduled to go back to school this past Tuesday we received about 4 inches of snow which prevented them from starting back. Me and Shane dug Darein's 4-wheeler out and got it started and played in the snow with her on Tuesday. Darein wimped out on us early and said the bottom part of her face was cold. I offered to get her a scarf to wrap up in but she refused so me and Shane finished riding. Unfortunately, just as we were getting ready to put it up the chain broke. Shane finally found someone to work on it that is reasonable and honest and will be taking it over there today. The hope was to get it fixed before the next snow fall today and tomorrow so that we could purchase a sled and pull behind it and have all kinds of fun as we are supposed to get another 2-4 inches of snow. However, even though it may be fixed and even though we may purchase a sled it looks like it is going to be way too cold to actually play out in it. They are calling for windchills of 10-20 below zero tomorrow so I think we will stay in and drink hot cocoa instead. The kids have been out of school an extra week now and they are growing bored and mom is ready for them to head back to school now so that I can get into some sort of a routine.
All in all the new year has started off well and expectations are high for this year. Shane has his 20 year class reunion in June and I have a new year's resolution as most to lose weight. I have downloaded a calorie counting app on my Iphone and am watching what I eat and have purchased the Wii Fit Plus and Jillian Michael's Wii workout game as well. I purchased some 3 lb. dumbbells and a thick yoga mat so I think that I have all of the supplies I need and Shane is being supportive so I have a good support system at home as well. My goal is to lose 53 lbs. in 6 months. This is a very realistic goal and I am confident I will make sure that it happens. When I was working I kind of let myself go and didn't have a lot of time to focus on me. I was busy working for our family and taking care of my kid's needs in my spare time and somewhere along the way I lost me. I have learned since I have been home this past year that I have to take care of myself in order to take the best care of my children. I have managed to make all of my routine doctor visits last year, am continuing to keep those appointments this next year, am working on my weight and will even take some time to do a little tanning. I am starting to adjust to being home and had forgotten how much easier it is to manage my family, home and myself when that is all I have to worry about. Taking 8 hours or more out of your day to work really causes a person to have to limit what they can and cannot do for themselves and their family. It is kind of nice to have Shane work and provide for us while I am able to take care of everything and everyone else. He is still great to cook and grocery shop as he is very good at both of these things and I hate both of these things. I do grocery shop with him now but he is much more thrifty and gets more for his money. I have taken back over the household chores and even taken over the bills. It has been a little rough getting everything together and getting in the flow of things but things are starting to take shape and I am able to sit back and enjoy life a little more. I am still having those occasions where I ask Shane if I need to try to go back to work but he is doing well financially at work and we are able to maintain our lifestyle so he continues to tell me to sit back and enjoy it and he will let me know if our situation changes and I have to find a job. So in the meantime, I am doing just that and taking advantage of whatever time I have to be off of work to get my house in order, take care of my daughter, get my son ready for college and take care of myself. I feel so very blessed to have the support from my husband that I do as it just makes it so easy to concentrate on what is important. I still think often of what I want to do once my daughter is 18 as she only has 4 more years before she reaches that age. It is very scary to think about as I have no degree, no idea of what I would want to study if I did decide to go back to school, no idea of what I would want to do as far as a career or anything else. I guess, I will just continue to think about it, continue to throw ideas around in my head, maybe even try a few things here and there as the opportunity presents itself. I don't know what the future holds, Darein could still be living at home after the age of 18 and/or still need quite a bit of constant care and my life's work from now on may be to devote to caring for her and that is something that I am able to accept I think, even now. We decided when we had to face the decision of whether to abort her or not that she would be our lifelong commitment no matter what and that it was okay if we had to care for her for the rest of OUR lives and that decision is unwaived. We love her and all that she is and all that she hopes to be and will do everything we can to help her have the best life she can have and help her accomplish all of her dreams at all costs. As far as me and Shane are concerned that is just part of being a parent.
Well, I haven't written in awhile and sorry that this blog today is a little sappy but thought it was important to write about my short and long term goals as it is the start of the New Year and felt that this was an important part of maintaining some sort of commitment to my goals as they say it is important to write your goals down so that you can look back on them. I also figured it would help me put things in perspective and gives me a good overall bigger picture of my life and where my dedications lie. If you haven't already done this, I would highly suggest it. They teach us to do this in school but I think as we get busy with our lives sometimes we forget how important it can be to take some time out to list our short term and long term goals. After all, without goals what are we here for? I know I don't want to look back and say that all my life consisted of was getting up and going to work and doing a few fun things here and there. Life is short and should be fun but there should be some sort of purpose in everyone's life and in short, my purpose is raising my children to have the best lives they can hope for. :)
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