After this last year, all I can say is thank the good Lord for insurance (or the job that provides the insurance anyway!)!!! We have been incredibly blessed with 7 healthy children, so please don't think that I am in ANY way complaining, but this last year has brought so much medical drama to our family, that I think I may EXPLODE if I have to drag myself to one more doctor appointment! Of course, we all know that won't actually happen and, truth be told, I will be in doctors' offices many times next week, but it's worth it all for these 7 blessings.....
Allie (our medical mystery): Allie has had extremely painful and irregular menstrual cycles for the last year, which have led to severe migraines (at least 2 per month) that can only be treated with the strongest medication available, and it comes in the form of a very painful injection. The hormone issues have also led to acne and countless dermatology visits (but I must say that her skin is looking beautiful these days!). After months of trying to resolve this debilitating condition, we have finally come to the conclusion that she may have endometriosis- not really something I wanted to hear for my daughter :-( but maybe now we can deal with it. At this point we are scheduled to see her OB/GYN next week and will go from there.
Emily: Emily was diagnosed several years ago with a condition called hammer toes. Basically, her toes are very crooked and bent to extremes. Emily can't wear most types of shoes because they rub on the tops of her raised toes. She is beginning to develop major sores on her feet, is constantly having to use little cushioned tubes to try to relieve the pressure, and just feels generally miserable when she is walking! And because of the discomfort her feet cause, she walks in a strange way that is now beginning to throw her body out of alignment. We just saw a joint specialist several days ago to try to figure out why she is having pain in her knees and hips, and his theory is that it's due to the way she walks. The consensus in the past was to wait to do anything about her feet until she reaches age 18, however, we just saw the orthopaedic specialist today for her toes, and he agreed that NOW is the time..... so Emily is scheduled for the first of two surgeries this coming Wednesday. They will start with the left foot and plan to go in and cut down the bones in her toes and then put pins in them to straighten them out- OUCH! She will be in a cast and on crutches for a month and then in a walking boot after that. Then they will do the same thing to the right foot!!!
So, that's her feet. Now we'll move onto her wrist. It was determined at the visit with her joint specialist that Emily more than likely has carpal tunnel in her right wrist. She's been having pain there for several years, but the doctors have been calling it tendinitis. When she started describing numbness and tingling, I decided that we better go get another opinion (I have carpal tunnel as well), and my fear was confirmed. She is scheduled to have the EMG (?) test that they do (some kind of electrical pulses) next Friday, but we'll have to see how she's recovering from her foot surgery first!!!
Sophie: Hhhmmm, Sophie just had a root canal yesterday! Yep, my 13-yr old needed a root canal (done by an endodontist, I might add!) due to a dead front tooth that was probably damaged when she was little. Apparently, the root was damaged, quit growing, and never fully closed which allowed bacteria to enter the canal. This caused an infection that led to an abscess and lots of pain. So, next thing we knew, she was having a root canal!
Josh: Well, Josh is healthy as well, but he has been diagnosed with ADHD, and the struggle for us has been whether to medicate or not. We've tried many different things, from therapy to stimulants to nothing, and at this point, he is not on medication. We took him off his meds. (Straterra) at the beginning of the summer, and have been pretty pleased with how he's responded, but our concern is how well he will focus in school and what will happen to his grades if he's not on medication. So, we wait and see........
Noah: If you read my blog regularly, then you probably already know that Noah has a severe speech delay. He is about to begin his fourth year of speech therapy, and we are hoping that this may be the final year for him. His biggest health issue this year came a few weeks ago when he was complaining about pain in his groin area. After a day of listening to him, I finally decided to pull down his pants and take a look myself- ugh!!! That poor baby had hugely swollen and bright red testicles! It turned out to be an infection, but we were rushed to the hospital for an emergency ultrasound to ensure that there was no strangulation of the testicles that was cutting off the blood supply- what a day THAT was!
Matthew: Aaahhh, Matthew- what can I say?! He has warts and boo-boos, and a stubborn-streak that just won't quit, but he's as healthy as a horse for sure!!! Surprisingly, we have never had any broken bones out of our 7 children, but we expect that, if it ever happens, Matthew will be THE ONE!
Jacob: A.K.A SPEECHLESS!!! At 20 months old, he has NO words. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration- he actually has about 3 words at this point- mama, please and hi! Of course, you can barely understand those words, but we know what he means ;-) Jacob has a speech therapist that comes to our house one day per week, and he is currently learning sign language until his speech kicks in?!?!
Well, that's it for The Gang. Zack and I have our own issues, but I'll leave those to your imagination! It actually doesn't seem so bad now that I have it all written out, but I sure do spend a whole lotta time in doctors' offices. In fact, I spent every day this week at one office or another, and I have visits scheduled for EVERY day next week as well- not to mention Em's surgery!
OK- on to something way more fun! I just received my second award, and it was given to me by Mama M over at My Little Life.
Isn't it CUTE?! I LOVE it, and am so proud to display it on my blog ;-) I'm also very excited to bestow the honor on some of my favorite blogs, and here they are ( in no particular order ):
Raising Olives
Breadcrumz
Moms the Word
Alabama Slacker Mama
Following Him
More than enough
Boogers, Screams, Headaches and Dreams
Grasshopper Viewpoints
Quintooples
Our Journey of Love
The idea is to pass this award on to at least ten blogs that you feel are deserving (be sure to let them know you've bestowed it upon them!!), and list them in a new post on your blog! Hope you enjoy some of my favorites!!!
© 2011
7 comments:
That is so sweet of you, thank you for thinking of me!
Wow, I guess with lots of kids you're bound to have lots of doctor visits but I would expect maybe sprains or cuts, not surgery!
I wonder if your son is shy and just lets the older kids talk for him? Probably not, but that is what my youngest did.
We kept telling our oldest to quit talking for him and let him talk.
Awwwwwe, thank you so much! You are so sweet and good to me!!!
Whew! That's a lot of doctor's appointments....but with 7 kids, I guess that can kind-of be expected. Hoping that the rest of this year is MUCH easier!
{{HUGS}}
Robin :o)
Hi, I lurve your blog it's so alive and fun and mad and just great to read. Although I'm now an ancient bod I was the eldest of five and I am aware of how chaotic a larger family can be (also how happy and noisy too). I soo enjoyed my visit and will call again - Thanks for cheering me up!
Cheers from over the pond,
Love Kate x.
Thank you!!!! How sweet! :) My FIRST award!
Side note: I have dealt with endometriosis since I was 13. I went on to have 5 children, but not without surgery....so it's not a sentance of infertility. Endo is auto-immune, and don't doubt her pain....Endo is bad. On the good side of it....it made labor seem not so bad! I had a FABULOUS doctor who took care of it without the assistance of birth control, which one doctor did do, and it just made things worse (FOR ME! the pill does not give EVERYONE bad side effects, but I can't take it). I had laprascopic surgery 4 times. I have stage 3/4 endo, and now that I have my kids I will be having a hysterectomy.
If you ever have any questions feel free to email me at jcredaj@yahoo.com I have been there done that with the endo thing.
My cousin(actually my friend's but i'm around them a lot) Claire is just a little bit older than Jacob (she just turned 2), and She only spoke one word by Easter (duck). But I just saw her the other day, and she has so many words now! Like yes, and hi! and I think you just have to be patient!
Hugs to you...sounds like you could use one. And prayers for all the upcoming surgeries and such...I pray it all goes well.
With the ADHD, have you ever tried Grape Seed Extract? My hubby has studied diet and nutrition, and he says that it is supposed to work. Caleb, our oldest, has never been diagnosed, but we've considered giving him some to help with his focus in school. Just a thought...
And -- I feel for Emily with the carpel tunnel. I'm actually beginning to wonder if I have it. I've been having numbness and tingling in my left arm for a few weeks now. I had it back when I was preggers with the baby, but it cleared up for a bit. Now it seems to have reared it's ugly head again...no fun. I wish her well.
Thanks for the award. I hope to get it up and passed along soon! :)
I just found your blog and love it.I have hammer toes caused by severe RA and cannot wear shoes for the same reasons.I however found fitflops and let me say they are awesome and no more toe pain
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