Having the medical support we need for Mia has been such a relief. I didn’t know just how much stress we were carrying having Mia for 1.5 years in China without medical insurance or CP support. I am trying to get all the medical appointments taken care of before school starts in September. Mia is getting new leg braces with more flexibility in the ankle. She sees an occupational therapist and a physical therapist each week. Both are lovely ladies and have given us great things to work on. Eliza comes to these appointments with me and then does those exercise and activities at home with Mia every day. Bless her!
This summer I am trying to establish all of Tessa’s new doctors. It is exhausting but necessary to tell them her back story. Every doctor has a medical resident so I feel like each appointment takes hours. They are impressed with Tessa's medical binder that I carry around and her "one pager” of previous medicines and surgeries. This summer she has seen physical and occupational therapy, Endocrinology (for growth hormone), Rheumatology (for JDM), Audiology (for her ear tubes), Cardiology (for her coarctation repair), and psychology for her IEP (individual education plan). Tessa smiles through it all!
I took James to a GI doctor for the first time in 10 years. She scolded us a little and said with Celiac he needs blood work done every year.
Every two years, living in China, we all have the TB (tuberculosis) test done. This time Eliza’s came back positive. So they sent us off to check her blood and chest X-ray. The blood work also came back positive, chest x-ray was negative. We had to make an appointment with “infectious diseases” where they said she has latent tuberculosis. It is not contagious but if her immune system weakens it could be very dangerous. She is now on an antibiotic for nine months.
At the eye doctor we found out Tessa needs glasses. Eliza and James’s prescriptions have changed. I have started seeing double during the last few months. When I had my eye exam the doctor was worried and wants me to see a specialist. I think it is from strain and dry eyes but he wants to make sure it isn’t a tumor pushing against my eye. They are booked out until November.
Dentist is next week. I know Mia has more cavities.
The other day I had a mini nervous break down — going to doctor's appointments everyday is exhausting but I know it will slow down soon.
Mia and Tessa took three weeks of swimming lessons at our local rec center. Mia also wants to go to the park everyday. This is her school playground.
For James’ birthday he asked for a week coding class at the UofM. Every evening when I picked him up he was so excited to tell me what he was learning. The end of the week families were invited to see what they had done. James is so passionate about math and science and now coding. James took a three week drivers ed class this summer. Michigan has tough driver's license laws so he will still have to drive with a parent for six more months. James applied to work at DQ, the movie theater, a senior center and a local grocery store called Busch’s (all within ten minutes of our house). He had an interview with Busch's yesterday and got the job! He starts Monday (August 21st) leveling shelves and bagging. In China when we were moving I wanted to give away our old electronics but James insisted that he bring them to America and sell them on Craigslist. He has made $210 so far and has a pile of things downstairs that he still needs to put up.
John and James went to a Tiger’s game with John’s Ford team. They enjoyed sitting in a box with all you can eat food.
Eliza left for Girl’s Camp on July 31st. She is a 4th year and they went up a day earlier to horseback ride, canoe, cook tin foil dinners and sleep under the stars. She said she didn’t get much sleep with all the bugs and raccoons. The next night everyone else joined and they slept in cabins. It was Eliza’s first camp in America. She said it was long and hard but she liked it. She got the award “sharp as an arrow.” Her leaders loved her and said she is quick witted, always on top of things and always knows what she wants. The theme of the camp was “STAR" (seek truth and righteousness).
I laughed when I got this school fundraiser envelope in the mail. No bake sales, fancy galas or selling anything to family and neighbors. I wish all schools would do this.
On August 13th John was set apart as the Young Men's President in our ward. We hosted BYD that night at our home. The bishop had a panel discussion with two newly returned missionaries. I loved their insights. James said he wished he could leave tomorrow on a mission instead of facing a new high school for his senior year. I got my dream calling that day — Relief Society teacher!
As of August 13th Emma’s mission papers are in! It has not been an easy process with a new bishop in Garden City that has never done this before. Emma's papers were all ready to go with her BYU bishop but she was two weeks too early to send them (according to her availability date) so she had to wait. It is not easy to start the interview process over with a new bishop and stake president. Her medical records got sent to the wrong bishop and when they finally got into the right hands it was missing two pages. All of this slowed down the process and her papers were turned in two months after she wanted them to be. Emma is holding her breath hoping her call comes before September 9th when she drives to Michigan with John and James.
