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Tomorrow (Fri) morning, we will be going to the hospital for more testing on his kidney. He will be sedated. (He is very nervous about this and I made the mistake of mentioning this early in the week!) I'm not sure how long the testing will take.
He won't be able to eat or drink before the test and I'm unsure how this will affect his blood glucose numbers. (Just hoping he isn't low!)
I'm not thinking we are getting any results tomorrow either. We have an appointment with his nephrologist next Thur (she only does clinic appts on this day). I would love to hear tomorrow that all is fine, but I'm not expecting to hear anything at all.
They are looking to see if there is an abnormality that will need to be surgically corrected. We would obviously love to skip that.
Next Monday, Joshua has another appt with a different specialist. We have been told to expect this to end in needing surgical correction. Then the Thur appt to find out more about the testing being done tomorrow (Fri).
I'd love prayers for all to go smoothly. For good results. For his slightly congested nose not to be a problem with the sedation. For peaceful hearts.
I'm thankful that we have access to wonderful medical care in our backyard. I'm thankful that Joshua is going in healthy and not as an emergency. I'm thankful that even if there is a problem, that it is something that can be fixed. I'm thankful that God is with us. I'm thankful for friends and family who are praying for us.
with love,
Leslie
I can't believe you are 8 already! Where is my chubby, wide-eyed baby? It's so true what they say that the days can be long, but the years go so quickly. I'm so very thankful for you Isaiah!
I am thankful for your sweet and generous heart. Just today you received a gift from Rebecca of chocolate. It was wrapped so that it looked like it was a $100 bill. You opened the candy bar and then began to break it into pieces making sure that everyone was given a piece. Given our family size, that really didn't leave much for Isaiah. I declined my piece saying that he could have it. He was fine though with sharing his gift.
I love your energy and enthusiasm. I love your dramatic nature and your ability to act in a variety of circumstances. I love your zest for things in which you are really interested. Right now, it's the game "Civilization", playmobil, pirates, legos and a variety of time periods past (I think some of this is from the Civilizations game). I remember the Christmas that Eliana was born. I was struggling and you declared it the best Christmas ever! You then wanted everyone to gather around to hear what you had to say. I wish I had thought to record it, though I didn't know what was coming. You dramatically told the Christmas story. It touched my heart so very much.
I love that you are smart, curious and interesting. I love that you are affectionate and considerate. I love that you are matter-of-fact and straight to the point - I never have to wonder what you are thinking. I'm so very thankful that you are a part of our family Isaiah! I love you!!!
We had a fun day celebrating today. Roger took the day off from work as is the custom for birthdays. This was nice since he has had a lot of time off already this month. Isaiah requested waffles, bacon and Captain Crunch cereal and Orange Julius for breakfast. I'm not even sure how he knows about that cereal as I haven't ever bought it!
He opened presents. Here is one of them.
We had pizza for lunch (his choice). Afterwards, it was out to the store to buy a new game of Civilization. Since the closest store carrying it was in Raleigh, a detour to another store was made too.
What a fun place to play. I'm sure we'll go back. I was home with Eliana who was napping and not feeling great with a bit of a stuffy nose. I'm hoping it passes quickly!
While they were out, the van broke down. It was not able to be jumped and so Triple A came to help. Thankfully, they were able to get it going enough to get to the store and buy a new battery for it. I'm glad it was an easy fix!
Home to play the new game and then have dinner. Isaiah had asked yesterday about the Colonial meal to go with our last FIAR book. I told him what it was and he decided it would make a good birthday meal. We had roast beef, yorkshire pudding and creamed potatoes and peas. It was all really yummy.
For dessert we had an angel food cake. Isaiah wanted the same cake Joshua had for his birthday which is really nice because it is one that Joshua can easily have as it doesn't have too many carbs in it.
We watched a movie and then had another dessert. Hey, you only do birthdays once a year. This time it was ice cream.
It was a fun and relatively low-key day. Not our typical for celebrating birthdays. It was nice though. Isaiah, I love you so very much and am so thankful to be able to celebrate your birthday with you!
Tomorrow we have a field trip and I'll post about it as soon as I'm able.
Blessings
Leslie
Still playing catch-up with emails, comments and everything else. I'm making progress though. Still need to download new pictures. I'm going to continue doing some posts from activities from last month until I get a bit caught up.
We started this unit in June - the day Joshua was diagnosed with Diabetes. We spent most of that week in the hospital and the next 3 weeks dealing with a nasty virus, so this unit got put on hold. Reading my friend Dawn's blog inspired me to pick it up again.
Here are some of the boxes I packed the first day. We also read some books and watched Veggie Tales movie Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
This was a cute little chapter book. There is at least one more in the series.
Some dot paints just for fun.
I thought we'd also study some of the ocean since we'd just been there and obviously it is where many pirate adventures take place. I included some shells, magnifying glass and identification book in one of the boxes.
They picked some of their favorite shells to draw in their nature journals.
Some drawings of two shells we find frequently when we are at the beach.
We have a lot of fun and interesting books on pirates that have been collected over the years. I've had a couple of boys interested in pirates, plus it has been a popular item for several years it seems.
This was the start to a pirate treasure hunt. I hid clues/rhymes around the house. With each clue, they found a piece of the puzzle. They solved the riddles and ran around the house looking for the next clue.
They picked up pirate hats with one set of clues.
I love seeing the boys laughing, working together and having fun!
The treasure at the end was candy and a new game.
Rebecca also made up a treasure hunt for the boys on a different day. She put so much work into it! I love seeing her creativity and energy put forth in such a thoughtful way. She came up with the idea on her own and asked if she could do it. It is a sweet joy to see her bless her brothers by doing this for them!
This picture I just thought was fun!
In this hunt, they had a piece of the map with footsteps and directions marked out. The trick was that they had to be footsteps using Daddy's shoes. This was harder for the boys than it looked.
They gathered more of the map as they went around the yard.
When they had found all the pieces of the map, it was time to find the treasure. This time the treasure was money (quarters) which they loved.
Eliana found the "X" that marked the spot. LOL It didn't mess up the hunt though as this wasn't the X that was finally used.
All in all, we had a fun time learning a little more about pirates, but mostly just having some fun together.
Blessings
Leslie
Our family has been out of town for a week - which is why my blog has been soooo quiet. I had written some posts that I had hoped to post while we were gone, but instead, I stayed off the computer. It was a nice break - though I'm trying to play catch up now. I'll share more about our vacation soon - after I upload the hundreds and hundreds of pictures that we took. ;-)
We have been in school for 6 weeks now. I like to start in the summer as it gives us time to take off in the fall when the weather is nicer - and we have several birthdays in the fall.
One of our family traditions is getting new school supplies and books as a "surprise". I piled up each child's things in chairs and on the sofa in our family room and then they all came in to see what surprises were there.
Christopher has a lot of reading to do this year. He enjoys reading so this shouldn't be a huge burden to him. Some of his coursework (11th grade) includes:
Advanced Biology (Apologia)
American History (Notgrass) - includes Bible, History and English units
Algebra II (MathUSee)
Movies as Literature
Rebecca and Christopher are both doing US Geography. They are learning a lot about the states through the various projects. One of the projects is to cook a meal from that state. I am loving seeing them work together in the kitchen - and loving having them cook! They have made 1 to 2 meals per week and they have been very good!
Re
Rebecca loves to cook and was excited about this new part of the curriculum.
Rebecca (8th grade) will be doing unit studies (Hitty from FIAR is the current one and then we'll move to Presidents), Algebra 1, Rainbow Science, logic, Write Shop and more.
Joshua will be doing Volume 4 of FIAR this year. He is also working on Epsilon level in MathUSee, writing in a journal, logic and more.
Isaiah will be doing Volume 4 of FIAR too. He will continue in math and handwriting. What I am working to add more of to his day is science. He loves science experiments. He has been very excited to do them and I love seeing his enthusiasm!
Isaiah is excited about pirates - and we did more study on pirates to take advantage of this interest. More on this in another post.
I bought Funtastic Frogs - mostly for Daniel, but thought that Isaiah might enjoy them too. We are just getting started, so I'll have to post later as to how that goes. A number of the books are geared for K-2 though so it seemed a good thing for both boys.
Daniel will be doing Five in a Row, math, handwriting - mostly hands-on things. The ABC wikki stix were to help with learning the alphabet as well as helping with his sensory needs. He enjoys hands-on projects and has very good fine motor skills.
The surprise Daniel liked best was this treat he first had as part of his therapy - when he did not like pizza! Thankfully he loves it now!
Eliana had a small stash of things that she was happy to play with. I've already gotten most of her "school things" in boxes and she is already working on learning a variety of skills from puzzles to lacing and more. I'll post (hopefully) at a later date more about what I'm doing specifically with her.
This little sweetheart is just so easy to please.
There was also a pile that was for everyone. The large bin contains science experiments in a bag. I hosted a swap locally and we had a full group! We have a lot of fun experiments to look forward too. My younger boys have loved doing these! There are a few more scienc books and some CDs/DVDs to enjoy.
We also eat breakfast out. This year we went to IHOP and had a yummy meal together. Its a fun way to start the year.
I have written out goals for each of the children for the upcoming year which are shared with them too. I'm excited about the year and feel better prepared than I have in a few years. Praying that this year would be one in which we would learn - not just academics, but more about God, that we would grow spiritually, emotionally and intellectually and that we would be a blessing to those around us as we live our lives.
I'm thankful for the privilege of being able to homeschool and don't take the responsibility lightly. It is a blessing.
With love
Leslie
Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragment. I'm sorry it's taken me awhile to get back. My day was non-stop and I also just needed some time to think things through.
We have some diagnoses.
*AD/HD - Hyperactivity/Impulsive
*Learning disability in reading
*Learning disability in writing (this was a very weak area)
*Significant weakness in working memory
*Processing speed is lower
Here are some of the recommendations.
*medication for the ADHD. 
That's really not a first route I want to try. We'd need to meet with a pediatric pyschiatrist for this.
*OT eval and therapy to assess his fine motor and writing abilities
*a LOT of ways to present information for reading, writing, math, etc. I will need to make some changes in how he is taught or presented information. Will probably try to meet with a specialist to help me with this.
*Evaluating his hearing to determine if there may be auditory processing
*possible therapy
The bright spot was hearing that cognitively he is very smart. Also, his executive functioning appears to be intact. His strengths are in visual processing and verbal processing.
From here, I'll be looking to set up more appointments for him to see what our options are for helping him. Hearing that he is in a "window of opportunity" is good as it means this is a critical time to help him. It is also a little scary as I don't want to mess him up. Based on the recommendations (learning around as few students as possible, quiet setting, allowed to move/stand when working, lots of physical activity), I'm so thankful that we are homeschooling him. It would be very hard for him to be in a traditionaly classroom.
None of this was a huge surprise - though I would have loved hearing less. One of the things we had to do (parents) was to fill out some questionnaires about Isaiah. Mine pretty much highlighted his areas of struggle. The tester told me that I was correct in my suspicions. It is a nice thing to know your child well, though this is one of those times I wouldn't have minded being wrong (meaning there was no problem at all).
More to learn. More to research. More. More. More. I know God is carrying me because the load is just too much some days. I've cried several times - not just because of the diagnosis, but also the bigger picture.
I would love continued prayers and encouragment. I know that I need to depend on God to give me the support I need, but sometimes it just is nice to hear that I'm doing a good job. That I can do this task I've been called to. That I am capable.
Having so many issues - and all so different - can feel very daunting. Sometimes I feel so inadequate. He is strong though. My plate seemed quite full awhile back and yet there is still more room. Some days I feel so burdened and yet I also feel blessed beyond measure. Through all of it, He is there. He is good. He loves me. I know this to be true. I'm blessed and I'm thankful!
Thank you for praying for us. My next round of requests will be in another week when we have a series of medical appointments and procedures. We'll be awaiting more news and hoping not to be facing surgeries. I'll be sure to let you know.
I'm very thankful for the many friends and family that have helped to carry the load for me so very many times over the last 2-3 years. It's been a path with turns and twists I never expected. It would have been much harder without your prayers and words of encouragment.
Love,
Leslie
Just a short update on our clinic visit yesterday. It was a good visit. The staff there are very nice.
I was eager to see his A1C number. This number measures his blood sugar levels over the last 3 months. For a non-diabetic person, normal is below 6. When Joshua was admitted to the hospital at diagnosis, his level was 15.6. That is so high it isn't on most of the charts. At our first Diabetes clinic visit, it had dropped to 12. Yesterday it was a 9! Yippee!!! They were pleased with this number and so am I. Our goal now is to get below an 8.
There was concern that he is still seeing some 300s for his blood sugars. We may be changing some of his med dosages if this continues. I don't want to see those either - but prefer that to the lows! The dr did say that they didn't want to see lows either because going too low can cause "brain damage". I really wish she hadn't said that in front of Joshua. :-( Hoping it went over his head - but not much does to be honest.
We received information on getting a pump. We need to attend a carb counting class and a workshop on the various pumps. Both classes on only once per month and on the night of Joshua's football, so I'm not sure when we'll be going. Not this month for sure given the dates. I don't think he wants to get the pump until after football anyway. We'll see.
One other piece of information was a surprise for me. The dr mentioned the celiac screen. He had that done at the hospital and it came back negative. I was very thankful for this! What I didn't know is that this can change and isn't a permanent thing. Bummer! Apparently there are several autoimmune things that Joshua will continue to be checked for including celiac and thyroid. (Diabetes is also autoimmune.) I hate that there are so many other things that can be attached to diabetes. I'm thankful that we aren't dealing with them now. I'm thankful that we follow and serve a God who will carry us through whatever we will face.
So, all in all, a good visit. The dr gave me her email and phone so we could keep in contact about his numbers and changing his doses if needed. I'm thankful that there is such a great team of drs that we see! We won't be back until December. Hopefully we'll see really good numbers then too!
I'll be doing some retroposting for some of the next posts - our start to school and some of what we've been up to. Lots of pictures. :-)
Thank you for your prayers for our family.
Blessings
Leslie
Sorry I've been quiet - we have spent the last week at the beach. I thought we'd have better access, but it was spotty and a little slow, so I wasn't able to post here. That's alright too though as we just had a fun time hanging out. Our friends from VA were there too, just down the beach a bit and it was great to hang out with them during the week too. I'll try to post pictures later this week.
We have a busy week ahead. Tomorrow, Joshua will be going to the Diabetes clinic. I'm looking forward to seeing how he is doing (A1C numbers) and hope that his numbers have improved. We'll also be talking about getting him on the pump. He won't get it tomorrow as we'll have to go through some classes first.
His numbers at the beach were pretty good - though he began to have a lot of lows. I think it was from all the time running around on the beach playing. I adjusted with his snacks and that helped a lot. The last day we saw highs - really unexplained. Things seem to have evened back out today, but I'm not sure what was going on with those. This disease can be so unpredictable!
Also this week we have our usual round of therapies - 2 speech, 2 OT, 1 PT, and 1 music. It will be nice to have those after having a week off. We are blessed to have a great team of therapists too.
We have a field trip coming up and I'm praying all of my children stay well!!!
I'm working on making Colonial costumes for my children to wear when we visit Williamsburg. I'll also be making 2 lunch and 2 dinner meals for the gals (and family) who run a local consignment sale. I have done some shopping there and got some great things for our kids. (Especially Eliana - it is sooo much fun to shop for a little girl!)
I got to sleep early last night - before 11pm! It was nice, so nice, to get more sleep. I was able to wake up at 2am. This has been my fear that I wouldn't wake up for Joshua's check which is why I usually stay up until then. I'm hoping I can do better about going to sleep earlier and just waking to the alarm.
Will try to load pictures soon. This isn't a real exciting post - sorry! Just trying to catch up again. :0)
Love
Leslie
Thank you for your prayers. Today has been a much lighter day.
Everyone is feeling well! Praise God. I'm so thankful for good health!
Joshua's numbers have been much better today. I changed the dosage and he had no lows! It's such a juggling game. I know we will have highs and lows. So many different things affect numbers, and we will learn more about this as we go. We'll never be perfect - though will surely try our best!
Today was a very full day. We started the day with speech therapy. Then we drove to a nearby town for a couple of hours of testing. Everything went well and we should have some answers in two weeks when we meet again. I'm anxious to know - and yet wonder if I already do. I've done research and one of the issues I've wondered about for some time. Hopefully, knowing will be the start to learning more about how to best help him be successful.
Then home for some cleaning and science lab for the older kids. Then more cleaning as we prepared for friends to arrive for the week-end.
I've many things to be thankful for - so many. Thank you for the prayers, the notes, and the encouragment!!! God used each of you to minister to my heart and I am grateful. I was also blessed by several friends coming to do things for me - pick up food for dinner and running errands. This was a sweet act of servanthood and a very nice way to lift the load. Thank you!
I'm thankful for good health. I'm thankful for wonderful family and friends. I'm thankful that God loves me, carries me and is always there for me. I'm thankful that people are so willing to share their hearts, encourage and pray! What a blessing to be a part of the body of believers.
It's late as I've just done Joshua's blood check (good) and need to head to bed as morning always comes sooner than I'd like.
With love
Leslie
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