Take a Breath

This is my first post in a very long time. I feel like I haven't had time to breathe let alone post anything. We spent the summer working with a child study team for Dare Devil to see if he qualified for a special needs preschool. At first glance they recommended a regular preschool, he seems smart, he can walk, talk, see, and hear (we think) on his own unlike some other kids in the program. But they said that if he were to get "kicked out" of the regular preschool then they would of course accept him no questions asked. They agreed to continue with the evaluations also. We met with a psychologist, case worker, teachers, speech therapist and by the end of the summer they all agreed that he qualified for the special needs preschool without question. His ADHD is severe enough and his behavioural issues are also enough of an issue even though they all pointed out that he's a very sweet loving little kid. He enrolled in a class of eight kids with one teacher and two aides. This was a big weight off our shoulders. Then we had to take him for an EEG to check for seizures. They basically put him in a straight jacket for an hour while they did the test. I had to keep him up until midnight the night before and get him up at four in the morning that morning so he would be sleep deprived. He was a real trooper though! And thankfully, they didn't find any seizures.

Over the summer my dermatologist continued doing biopsies on me and found some more pre-melanoma areas. Some were more severe than others and I had another surgery done last month. When I went back to get those stitches removed a few weeks ago they did four more biopsies, I am still waiting on those results.

We took Dare Devil and The Princess for ultrasounds of their kidneys to keep an eye on them. I also had to make a trip back to the hospital with The Princess for another VCUG (she was NOT a happy camper) to recheck her reflux. At the checkup with the urologist he said that we're going to hold off on redoing DD's VCUG until late Spring because we're potty training and that experience could hinder the process but that his kidneys looked good in the ultrasound. With the Princess, her reflux miraculously came down a little but not significantly enough that she'd be ok if she were to get another infection. It was decision time. We had to decide if it was best to wait it out and see if the reflux continued to downgrade or to go ahead with the surgery we had to wait all this time to perform. If we wait and she gets another infection, she could die. Or if she doesn't die, because she already has kidney damage she could wind up on dialysis if her kidneys get further damaged. There is a 90% success rate with this surgery. So we're going for it. I had to wait for a phone call letting me know when the surgery would happen because the doctor's schedule was booked solid until December. I got that call Wednesday outside of the kids' school letting me know it will be this upcoming Wednesday. I had to take her for blood work yesterday and Monday she sees the urologist for an overall health check to make sure she's ok to go in for this. She should be in the hospital for about three days if everything goes smoothly. Of course there are risks galore and I'm scared out of my mind right now but I've been scared every day since we almost lost her (which will be almost a year to the day of her surgery). I want this fixed.

We had to see the cardiologist for DD yesterday to check on a murmur that he was born with and evidently never went away. They did an EKG and ultrasound. The murmur is fine but they found a jet shooting blood in his pulmonary artery. Just another thing to keep an eye on.

My husband finally got a job, it's not glamorous but hopefully it will help pay the bills. He started last month. He works close to twelve hours a day so the kids go everywhere with me, doctors appointments, food shopping, Big Brother's football practices (oh yeah, he's playing again) and games, everywhere.

My head is spinning..........