Summer is Definitely Here...June

June turned out to be an incredibly busy month full of blessings...my cup truly runs over!!! Darein started the month with her feet on the run right off the bat. She was able to participate in a Cope Leadership Course with her Venture Crew from the Dickerson Park Zoo for a day where she participated in many things such as a tight rope course and all kinds of other activities. She then got to go to the National Tiger Sanctuary in Saddlebrooke, MO where she was able to view tigers that had been rescued and were there to live out the rest of their lives. We then went to St. Louis to see her orthopedic surgeon and see what the verdict was as far as her back brace and scoliosis went. We were told that she could have the back brace off for the next four months as she had had it on for about a year and it appears as though she is done growing. There was no change in the past 4 months as far as the curvature of her spine. She is still only about 3 degrees away from needing to consider having back surgery but at this point the back brace was not making a difference. She was told that she would come back in October for a check up and at that time we would either consider surgery, possibly go back into the brace for a period of time or continue with periodic check ups and no brace depending on how she progressed. With it being so hot over the summer, she is thrilled to get at least a break from this brace. We were then told as my husband went to see a new physician that there was a possibility that he had Crohn's disease. We were told that his red blood cells were dying off too soon and not enough were replacing them so they wanted to do more testing. We spent the month getting labs done to try to find out if he had this terrible disease. Darein then participated in Vacation Bible School at her church for a week and enjoyed working in Arts and Crafts with kids of all ages. She was told at the end of May that she would be ready for jaw surgery next summer. So the week of Vacation Bible School she went to see her orthodontist and get his opinion about whether or not we should have the top jaw only done or the top and bottom. He suggested that we go ahead and do both and explained that the risks were minimal. He told us at that time that her palate expander was done and so we no longer needed to turn it and it would just stay in her mouth for a couple of months until the bones had healed around it and her palate was stable. Once it is stable then she will have it removed and only have the braces on! He then set her up an appointment with an oral surgeon here in Springfield to see about getting her wisdom teeth pulled. Darein went to that appointment and we were told that the roots of her wisdom teeth were not long enough yet and would make it very difficult to remove these teeth at this time. We explained that it was suggested to us that it be done 6 months prior to jaw surgery and that we were able to wait until Christmas time to have the surgery done. The surgeon said that this would be much better as the roots would have time to grow some and it would make removing the teeth easier as they would be still and not rolling around. We are to call when it gets closer to time and schedule. Because she will need her steroids via IV at a stress dose level she will have to have the surgery done in a surgery center where there is an anesthesiologist on staff to monitor her more closely. She will need to be on these steroids orally a few days prior to surgery and a several days following surgery and there is the possibility that the surgery will be a little more difficult on her than on most other people having their wisdom teeth pulled. It was during this month that I was introduced to GenesisPure by my sister. I have decided to become a consultant for this company after seeing the benefits of it for myself and my husband. As we were awaiting results to find out if my husband had Crohn's disease this product came into my life. I have working on getting healthier but wanted something that was safe for my entire family including Darein as well as something that wasn't a huge diet change right off the bat. I couldn't make that many changes in things all at once and expect my family to follow suit. After a week or two of taking this product, my husband passed his DOT physical with flying colors, started feeling better and I started feeling better as well as started losing weight. We love the product and I love being a part of this company and look forward to getting some long term results from this. That same week, Darein went to a mission trip in Joplin where she was able to help people that were not involved in the tornado destruction. She had a wonderful time painting and doing some yard work as well as helping a lady grocery shop. The news teams did a big story on the World Changers as a whole being there and the fact that people were so appreciative of all the work they did as no one had come in to help people that needed help but were not a part of the tornado destruction. There was a lady in Darein's group from Arkansas that took to Darein and helped to look after her. She also told the youth leader that she really felt that God brought her and Darein together as she was not supposed to originally be on that trip. Darein touched that lady's life in a way we may never know and God gave Darein an angel that week to look over her :) On that Thursday we picked Darein up at the church they were staying at and took her to Kansas City for an appointment with her urologist to check on her left kidney reflux. He told us on Friday that since she has had no recent infections and seems to be doing well we could take her off of her antibiotic and would only need to see him if she started having troubles again!! We finished the month off by finding out that my husband does not have Crohn's disease and instead it is a congenital or inherited blood disorder but nothing serious. He is being referred to a hematologist to get a definitive diagnosis so we know if there are any medicines he should avoid, etc. We are incredibly thankful he does not have Crohn's disease, cancer or any other serious health issue. Darein also had a week off to enjoy as she chose before starting this week to get ready for church camp at Baptist Hill for 4 days. She is looking forward to this! Hard to believe summer is already almost over! Been enjoying having Damein home for the summer and he has been doing his own thing but I've got to see him quite a bit while he has been home. I'm looking forward to a quieter month next month and some quiet time somewhat. I hope you all are enjoying your summer and will write again next month!!