My life was going pretty good....I received news that my children and I were approved for a new house from Habitat For Humanity!!! I was so excited. Everything with school was going good. I was finally getting a new routine down so that I can juggle classes, work and home responsibilities. Then on Friday, September 19, 2008, my kids and I had just gotten home from work/school. I was in the processes of cleaning up the mess the kids made of their dinners when I looked out of the front door and saw my dad's truck sitting out in the driveway. My kids were excited to see him. I opened the front door as he was getting out of his truck and let Kylia greet him on the sidewalk. He picked her up and brought her in the house. That's when Calen came running to him with his arms up and a big grin. My dad went to sit on the couch and my kids just climbed all over him. They are crazy about Big Daddy. I could tell something wasn't right. He didn't talk much except to the kids. I was telling him about things that had been going on lately, and he didn't seem to really pay attention or be excited. I just figured that maybe he and his girlfriend were having a problem. I didn't want to be nosey so I didn't ask what was wrong. Then he said, "Kisha I've got something I need to tell you".
My first thought was it was going to be news about my Big Mama. She's been sick lately. But it wasn't her. The news was about himself. He leaned back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. Then he looked over at me. His eyes were red. He told me that he is going to have to go to Birmingham and have one of his kidneys removed. I asked why? I thought it was due to his diabetes. He said it's cancer. A mass was found on his kidney and they want to remove the entire organ.
The devil is working so hard to knock me down and he has pushed a button. My dad and I are very close. Everything I know and all that I am is because of him. God blessed me with an awesome dad, and I can't picture life without him. I feel like a little kid. My heart is broken, but at the same time, something tells me that my dad will be just fine.
On a great note, on the same date mentioned above, my baby sis had her baby that night. My
dad, bro-in-law, baby sis and I all made a bet what we thought the sex of the baby was. My dad got it right...I'm the proud aunt of a new baby niece named Avery Grace Jones. 7lbs 7oz. She had to be sent to Huntsville Hospital due to breathing abnormalities, but nothing to be alarmed about. My baby sis doesn't know about my dad yet. We're waiting on Grace to come home and for Meka to get better before we tell her.
After my dad told me the news, he got ready to leave. The moment was awkward. I stayed strong for him. I didn't cry. I talked to him and assured him that he will be taken care of and I will be right there. As he walked down the sidewalk to his truck I just stood in the doorway with the kids and we watched him. I started imagining life without him. Then all of a sudden a flood of childhood memories came rushing back of moments with my dad. They were all moments that he taught me something. It took 34 years for me to realize that the superman in my life is simply human. He walked down the sidewalk with a little bit of a limp and he was leaning just a little. I could tell he was in pain. Then I thought of taking the easy road and letting myself be mad at God for letting this befall such a wonderful man. But I didn't do that. I continue with praise. I watched him get in his truck and drive away with my daughter in my arms. She was waving at him. He waved back and disappeared past the building next door. Then I broke down...
I still give God all the praise and thanks. He has brought me through many things and He will bless my dad and my entire family with the strength we need to make it through to the other side of this storm.
I love my daddy. He's my best friend.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Good News
On Saturday, September 13, 2008 my son screamed "MAMA"........when he did I answered "What!?". I could have fallen over.....he didn't answer. He was just yelling it.
The trip to Birmingham was pretty good. The doc said for me to get down to his level. Get on the floor and play with him letting him lead in the activities. Copy things that he does. Whatever he plays with, I play with it too. What ever faces and sounds he makes, I make them too. That lets him know that it's more fun to interact than to play alone. I can tell a huge difference in doing the therapy. He is so much more sociable at home and school. Kylia and I would sit at the foot of the bed and watch TV together at bedtime. We sang songs and she would ask me "What's that?" about 1,000 times. I would try to get Calen to join us but he never would. Then after my first day of doing the play therapy with him (all day) he actually crawled down to the foot of the bed and joined us!!! I cried...
Along with this play therapy, I have increased his oral B-12 from one drop to 0.25mL (I think it says mL) since reading that B-12 doesn't have a toxicity level. I also got Dr. Huffman-Parker to write out a prescription for occupational therapy which he now receives through the school system. With all these changes came some new changes in Calen...
His eye contact has increased tremendously. He turns to face me when his name is called. He sometimes follows my finger when I point at something. He picks up on songs very quickly. His teacher and I figured out that he learns through song. She sang a color song to him that she made up. She sings about different colors. She said that when she asked him to point at the red bear, he pointed at the correct color about 40% of the time.....the whole time they were singing and humming. He hums everything. I was blown away. His social interaction has greatly increased. I've taught him how to hug...now I get some of the sweetest little hugs from my baby....I can't type anymore...tears are streaming
PRAISE GOD..........PRAISE GOD
The trip to Birmingham was pretty good. The doc said for me to get down to his level. Get on the floor and play with him letting him lead in the activities. Copy things that he does. Whatever he plays with, I play with it too. What ever faces and sounds he makes, I make them too. That lets him know that it's more fun to interact than to play alone. I can tell a huge difference in doing the therapy. He is so much more sociable at home and school. Kylia and I would sit at the foot of the bed and watch TV together at bedtime. We sang songs and she would ask me "What's that?" about 1,000 times. I would try to get Calen to join us but he never would. Then after my first day of doing the play therapy with him (all day) he actually crawled down to the foot of the bed and joined us!!! I cried...
Along with this play therapy, I have increased his oral B-12 from one drop to 0.25mL (I think it says mL) since reading that B-12 doesn't have a toxicity level. I also got Dr. Huffman-Parker to write out a prescription for occupational therapy which he now receives through the school system. With all these changes came some new changes in Calen...
His eye contact has increased tremendously. He turns to face me when his name is called. He sometimes follows my finger when I point at something. He picks up on songs very quickly. His teacher and I figured out that he learns through song. She sang a color song to him that she made up. She sings about different colors. She said that when she asked him to point at the red bear, he pointed at the correct color about 40% of the time.....the whole time they were singing and humming. He hums everything. I was blown away. His social interaction has greatly increased. I've taught him how to hug...now I get some of the sweetest little hugs from my baby....I can't type anymore...tears are streaming
PRAISE GOD..........PRAISE GOD
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Updates
I haven't been able to write in a long time. I've been very busy with work, school, kids...you name it.
Calen's doing good in school. I'm not feeling satisfied right now for some reason. I don't know what my problem is. I'm still pushing for ABA therapy. Lisa Highfield will be out of her office for the next few weeks due to surgery. Her replacement called this morning and I spoke with her about the ABA therapy. I wanted to know if Mrs. Highfield spoke with Brandy from Behavioral Intervention Services in Huntsville and if so, what was said. If she decided not to get someone in for this, then I want her to tell me why. My next step is finding an advocate and approaching the school board. After that (as long as this doesn't take too long) I will try to get him into Handy Headstart in Florence until I can have an IEP meeting with one of the schools in Huntsville or Madison and get my child to the ABA center through the system there.
Calen made 2 attempts to talk. He tried to say "mama" by saying "mmmmaaaaa" and when I gave him his shoes to put on, he said "shhhh". He was trying to say shoe. He picks up on the songs quickly at school. He hums them all the time. The teacher said she was working with him on colors. She said he would pick the correct color about 40% of the time when asked. I was blown away!!!!! The funny thing is that he was picking up on it while she was SINGING IT TO HIM!!!! She's going to work with me on her teaching techniques so I can work with him at home. I've also got Dr. Huffman-Parker to write a prescription for Occupational therapy so he can receive it through the school. It was faxed this morning.
He started the nystatin a couple of weeks ago. He just finished going through the "die-off" process. It was hell on him. He had diarrhea from Thursday to Sunday. He vomited twice, and refused to eat. I came close to taking him to the hospital when he vomited in the middle of the night, but he went right back to sleep. I decided to wait for morning and if he didn't improve, I was calling Dr. Kalb and taking him to the hospital. He was a little better the next morning. I made him some gf/cf banana bread muffins. After he ate a couple of those, he perked up and began to play. After that, he slowly regained his appetite and his poop was better. He was having very watery bowel movements every 15 minutes! Thank God, he is all better. I would not let up off the medicine though. We just kept going. Praise God.
Kylia will be 2 years old next Monday (Sept. 8). I can't believe my baby is going to be 2! It seems like yesterday I was getting ready to have her. Her birth was a scheduled C-section. I remember I came to ECM and waited in the Radiology waiting area. I was reading the Times Daily about a body being found in a corn field when they called me back for my amniocentesis. I was looking at some videos I took of the kids a year ago. Time flies!!! With tears streaming I watched those videos and was amazed at how much they have grown and changed. Now, she is mommy's helper. She brings me diapers when she wants to be changed. She's always saying "cookie?" and asking "What's that?". Every 2 minutes, I'm hearing "MOMMY!!". I sometimes feel like I'm going to go crazy, but I can't help but love it. That is such a sweet sound hearing my child call me mommy. One day, Calen passed gas. It was pretty loud. Kylia looked at me with a look of disgust and yelled "EWWWWW.....it stinks!" I thought I would die laughing!! LOL Anyway, I ordered Kylia's birthday cake mix from allergyfoods.com so that Calen can eat, too. It's a chocolate cake. I don't know what I'm going to do about frosting just yet. I know some can be made from powdered sugar. I will find out something. Her party will be small. I have so much on me that any little extra thing is pretty much a hassle. I'm thinking chips and apple juice and chocolate cake for the menu. I can't invite too many since I can't afford much. It will be nice to have family over though. I don't have enough chairs for people to sit. I don't really have anywhere for the kids to sit either.
As for the lining up of the remotes I mentioned earlier, I haven't seen him do that anymore. I informed his teacher, as well as Dr. Griffith. Our appointment with Dr. Griffith is this Friday. I will try to blog more often, if I can.
School for me is going great. I'm so excited! I've had a few stumbling blocks. For example, my English book is out of stock, so I'm missing deadlines left and right for my class. I informed my teacher so she knows what's going on. My math class has tests that must be proctored, so I will contact Mr. Thompson from NWSCC and see if he can help me out.
Calen's doing good in school. I'm not feeling satisfied right now for some reason. I don't know what my problem is. I'm still pushing for ABA therapy. Lisa Highfield will be out of her office for the next few weeks due to surgery. Her replacement called this morning and I spoke with her about the ABA therapy. I wanted to know if Mrs. Highfield spoke with Brandy from Behavioral Intervention Services in Huntsville and if so, what was said. If she decided not to get someone in for this, then I want her to tell me why. My next step is finding an advocate and approaching the school board. After that (as long as this doesn't take too long) I will try to get him into Handy Headstart in Florence until I can have an IEP meeting with one of the schools in Huntsville or Madison and get my child to the ABA center through the system there.
Calen made 2 attempts to talk. He tried to say "mama" by saying "mmmmaaaaa" and when I gave him his shoes to put on, he said "shhhh". He was trying to say shoe. He picks up on the songs quickly at school. He hums them all the time. The teacher said she was working with him on colors. She said he would pick the correct color about 40% of the time when asked. I was blown away!!!!! The funny thing is that he was picking up on it while she was SINGING IT TO HIM!!!! She's going to work with me on her teaching techniques so I can work with him at home. I've also got Dr. Huffman-Parker to write a prescription for Occupational therapy so he can receive it through the school. It was faxed this morning.
He started the nystatin a couple of weeks ago. He just finished going through the "die-off" process. It was hell on him. He had diarrhea from Thursday to Sunday. He vomited twice, and refused to eat. I came close to taking him to the hospital when he vomited in the middle of the night, but he went right back to sleep. I decided to wait for morning and if he didn't improve, I was calling Dr. Kalb and taking him to the hospital. He was a little better the next morning. I made him some gf/cf banana bread muffins. After he ate a couple of those, he perked up and began to play. After that, he slowly regained his appetite and his poop was better. He was having very watery bowel movements every 15 minutes! Thank God, he is all better. I would not let up off the medicine though. We just kept going. Praise God.
Kylia will be 2 years old next Monday (Sept. 8). I can't believe my baby is going to be 2! It seems like yesterday I was getting ready to have her. Her birth was a scheduled C-section. I remember I came to ECM and waited in the Radiology waiting area. I was reading the Times Daily about a body being found in a corn field when they called me back for my amniocentesis. I was looking at some videos I took of the kids a year ago. Time flies!!! With tears streaming I watched those videos and was amazed at how much they have grown and changed. Now, she is mommy's helper. She brings me diapers when she wants to be changed. She's always saying "cookie?" and asking "What's that?". Every 2 minutes, I'm hearing "MOMMY!!". I sometimes feel like I'm going to go crazy, but I can't help but love it. That is such a sweet sound hearing my child call me mommy. One day, Calen passed gas. It was pretty loud. Kylia looked at me with a look of disgust and yelled "EWWWWW.....it stinks!" I thought I would die laughing!! LOL Anyway, I ordered Kylia's birthday cake mix from allergyfoods.com so that Calen can eat, too. It's a chocolate cake. I don't know what I'm going to do about frosting just yet. I know some can be made from powdered sugar. I will find out something. Her party will be small. I have so much on me that any little extra thing is pretty much a hassle. I'm thinking chips and apple juice and chocolate cake for the menu. I can't invite too many since I can't afford much. It will be nice to have family over though. I don't have enough chairs for people to sit. I don't really have anywhere for the kids to sit either.
As for the lining up of the remotes I mentioned earlier, I haven't seen him do that anymore. I informed his teacher, as well as Dr. Griffith. Our appointment with Dr. Griffith is this Friday. I will try to blog more often, if I can.
School for me is going great. I'm so excited! I've had a few stumbling blocks. For example, my English book is out of stock, so I'm missing deadlines left and right for my class. I informed my teacher so she knows what's going on. My math class has tests that must be proctored, so I will contact Mr. Thompson from NWSCC and see if he can help me out.
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