Doing Great!
Well, Will had his surgery on Monday, and he did very well. He tolerated the anesthesia wonderfully and only had one seizure that night. He still has some pain when I change his diaper and wipe him, but otherwise, you'd never even know he had anything done.
My parents were here this week for spring break. We had a wonderful week with them. We went to the zoo and the aquarium. We also did some shopping, ate out, and all the other fun stuff you do when you're on "vacation." Will and Cate always have a good time with Gran and Poppy (or whatever the will eventually be called).
The kids are doing well in their respective therapies too. At Cate's speech therapy appointment the therapist told us that she was doing well and that she was sure that one day things would click and she'd just start talking all the time. She also said Cate was doing some things, like color matching, that are advanced for her age. Will's occupational therapist said she's noticing a better attention span and improvement with his fine motor skills. Praise the Lord for their advancements.
I start back to work tomorrow. This is my last week on the developmental rotation and then it's back to the grind at Saint Francis. Those days are long and tiring and don't leave much time to do anything else. I'm at the hospital for April and May, so say a little prayer for me and my family who will be doing without me more then they have this month. I'll do my best to post one more time before the madness of the hospital starts, and after that, no promises!
My parents were here this week for spring break. We had a wonderful week with them. We went to the zoo and the aquarium. We also did some shopping, ate out, and all the other fun stuff you do when you're on "vacation." Will and Cate always have a good time with Gran and Poppy (or whatever the will eventually be called).
The kids are doing well in their respective therapies too. At Cate's speech therapy appointment the therapist told us that she was doing well and that she was sure that one day things would click and she'd just start talking all the time. She also said Cate was doing some things, like color matching, that are advanced for her age. Will's occupational therapist said she's noticing a better attention span and improvement with his fine motor skills. Praise the Lord for their advancements.
I start back to work tomorrow. This is my last week on the developmental rotation and then it's back to the grind at Saint Francis. Those days are long and tiring and don't leave much time to do anything else. I'm at the hospital for April and May, so say a little prayer for me and my family who will be doing without me more then they have this month. I'll do my best to post one more time before the madness of the hospital starts, and after that, no promises!
Please Pray
I have 2 things I'd like you all to pray about.
1. Cate was sick today. She was weak and very mopey. She vomited several times, and her breath has had an acetone smell to it. It is probably nothing, but the doctor in me worries about diabetes. My reasoning behind this is that most kids are initially diagnosed with diabetes after a period of vomiting and a fruity/acetone smell to their breath. Like I said, I'm probably worrying about nothing, and I know too much for my own good. Nevertheless, we do have a family history of diabetes, so please pray that Cate only had a stomach bug and that she'll be fine.
2. Will is having another surgery on Monday. This surgery is to bring his undescended testicle down. (Sorry if that is too descriptive for you!) Hopefully this will be his last surgery...at least for a while. It sill be surgery #4, and he's done really well with the others. Pray that he tolerates the anesthesia and that it doesn't cause any seizures.
Thanks for your interest in our lives and all of the support you give my family through your prayers. I'll update next week.
1. Cate was sick today. She was weak and very mopey. She vomited several times, and her breath has had an acetone smell to it. It is probably nothing, but the doctor in me worries about diabetes. My reasoning behind this is that most kids are initially diagnosed with diabetes after a period of vomiting and a fruity/acetone smell to their breath. Like I said, I'm probably worrying about nothing, and I know too much for my own good. Nevertheless, we do have a family history of diabetes, so please pray that Cate only had a stomach bug and that she'll be fine.
2. Will is having another surgery on Monday. This surgery is to bring his undescended testicle down. (Sorry if that is too descriptive for you!) Hopefully this will be his last surgery...at least for a while. It sill be surgery #4, and he's done really well with the others. Pray that he tolerates the anesthesia and that it doesn't cause any seizures.
Thanks for your interest in our lives and all of the support you give my family through your prayers. I'll update next week.
Our Medical Issues Never End
Will can't seem to be well, and it's totally frustrating. He had an ear infection, then got a yeast diaper rash from the antibiotics. It took cream and oral medicine, then another ointment to get rid of it. Now he has strep throat and is on another antibiotic. I'm praying he doesn't get another diaper rash because he's supposed to have surgery on his "boy parts" in 2 weeks. So far so good on that. Also, he's never had eczema, but suddenly he has a terrible outbreak on his face, arms, hands and legs. I swear, he can't catch a break.
Cate's speech is really coming along. She now know 8 of her body parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, hands, feet, and belly). She is also saying more words almost every day. I think speech therapy and preschool are really helping her. (They better because they aren't cheap!) She's even starting to put 2 word sentences together like "I go" and "want bow."
Both kids are really starting to learn to use their fork. This is especially a big deal for Will because we've been working on it for over 2 years. I've attached a video of the kids eating dinner tonight - with their forks!
Cate's speech is really coming along. She now know 8 of her body parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, hands, feet, and belly). She is also saying more words almost every day. I think speech therapy and preschool are really helping her. (They better because they aren't cheap!) She's even starting to put 2 word sentences together like "I go" and "want bow."
Both kids are really starting to learn to use their fork. This is especially a big deal for Will because we've been working on it for over 2 years. I've attached a video of the kids eating dinner tonight - with their forks!
Uugghhh!
Today has been one of those days. You know, where nothing can go right and you just keep getting bad news? Well, this morning when we dropped Will off at school, his teacher told me that he had to go to the principal's office yesterday and that his hitting is really getting out of hand. This makes me so sad, because I don't know that Will understands that hitting is bad. I also don't think he understands that the kids he's hitting can't fight back. Then, we go to get our taxes done, and they tell us we have to have our social security cards. We've been looking for them for several days and can't find them. We called , and they place that does our taxes said if we came to the same location we used last year, we wouldn't need our cards. We got there, and they said we had to have them. So then we go to the social security office and wait an hour and a half to apply for new cards and get receipts that we can use at the tax place. Once we finally got to go up to the window, they told us the shot records we brought for the kids' ID's (this is what they told us to bring), weren't the right kind of shot records and that we would have to come back once we had the right kind of shot records. They wouldn't accept the official birth certificates I had with me. I was so mad. I just don't understand why people have to be that way. Anyway, I just really needed to vent. Please pray that things get better in my life because right now I'm stressed to the max. Hopefully my next note will be more uplifting and light hearted.
New Van
I'm sure I've posted about our wreck that happened at the end of December. Well, Jeremiah has been driving a 1996 Crown Victoria that belongs to our Sunday school teachers for a month now. Today, we got a new van! It's awesome! It is a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. The only thing it doesn't have that we really wanted is a DVD player, but we're going to get one when we get our tax refund. Jeremiah and I are both really excited about it. It's pretty and big and will be great for driving around with the kids. Anyway, that's all for now. I start night shift Monday, so I'm not sure how much I'll post over the next few weeks.
Little Rock Rocked!
Well, today is my last day on my developmental pediatrics rotation in Little Rock, and I have had an awesome time! Everyone has been really great and encouraging about me coming here for my fellowship. One of the psychologists asked me this morning if they had promised me the position yet, and when I told her no, she said, "Well, I'll start talking to Jill (the program director) about that them." Things look very encouraging. I had dinner with the program director and the two fellows and had a really good time. Everyone here is really nice and seemed very excited that I wanted to do the fellowship.
There is also a lot of stuff in Little Rock for Will. They have every type of pediatric subspecialist there is and also have places for outpatient therapies. There is a special needs private school that goes kindergarten through 12th grade, but I don't know how much it cost yet. Anyway, if we came here, I think Will would have all of his needs met. I also have a friend who lives here. She is the person I've been living with for the past 2 weeks. We went to medical school together, and the is at UAMS in Little Rock doing her residency in anasthesia. She will be completing her 4th and final year of residency my first year of fellowship, so we'd be in town together for at least one year. It will be nice to have someone to help us get to know Little Rock. The church she goes to even has a program just for special needs kids! How cool is that?
Cate had her speech evaluation yesterday, and she tested to be delayed in her speech. I kind of suspected it, but she had been saying new words over the last month or two, so i was hopiung I was wrong. She'll start speech therapy soon and probably go at least once at week. It stinks because she doesn't have medicaid like Will does, so we'll have to pay out-of-pocket for some of the costs. It's okay though because we want what's best for her. I'll update more after her first session. Hope all is well with all of you. More to come...
