"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
--Jeremiah 29:11

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Preschool and Grandpa Updates

Connie went to his first day on Monday. Parents were asked to stay the whole time, but were only in the room for the first hour. Then they had an orientation without the kids and then could stay behind the observation window the rest of the time.
Here are Greg's notes from the morning:
1st hour played with Connie with students present. Next 45 minutes orientation away from kids. Connie cried whole time. Is now engaged and playing well. There is a two way mirror for us to watch. This is going to be great for socializing Connie. I am a bit concerned as Conway seems MUCH younger than the others. I'll ask teacher what to do if he poops, and to make sure Connie won't be too much of a burden for them. Oh God, they just gave the kids glasses of water. Goldfish forthcoming. He's SO cute sitting at the table eating with the other kids. Oh no, it's not water. He's getting OJ. Drinking it fine. He loves it! I can't believe he's actually sitting calmly there in a chair eating snacks with other kids.
35 minutes left. Still eating goldfish. Another kid's having a tantrum. But not my little boy!
Connie was just taught to clean up his snack and throw away the leftovers.
He's off to play. Looking right at home.
Conway 's table is getting a puppet show.
15 minutes left, connie's crying at the door. Just got comforted and seems to have settled down.
As you can see, it was a busy morning for the both of them. When they got home, they had lunch and everyone took a two hour nap!

Greg said that it was heartbreaking watching him walk around signing for a drink and not getting one. I just about died because I had emailed the teacher with a list of his signs and what they mean. Here I am being over protective and thinking that maybe he's thirstier than most kids because of his heart or something and he should be able to have a drink whenever he wants one. Greg said it wasn't too long before they had the snack and gave the kids a drink anyway so it's not going to kill him to wait a bit. He drank out of a big boy cup with no lid and had no problems. We decided that at mealtimes at home we would get rid of the lids on his cups and let him drink like a big boy. He did great at lunch and dinner! He was so fascinated with the cup at dinner that I refilled his 1/2 glass of milk six times! He barely ate because he was so 'busy' practicing his new skill! Did you ever think you'd see the day?!

As for Grandpa, he's been moved out of ICU and is in the step-down (moderate care) unit. They did a repeat CT scan and the bleeding has stopped, but the blood is still on the brain and has not resorbed yet. There was talk about him coming home yesterday, but after the scan they decided not to. To make matters worse, they x-rayed his shoulder because he's been having so much pain since the fall (that's where he tried to catch himself) and turns out it is fractured! Late yesterday afternoon he was waiting on a consult from Dr. Koehane, an orthopedic surgeon. Please continue to pray for him. He is in good spirits and feels pretty good except the shoulder is bothering him quite a bit.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Another ER Visit

This time it was not for Connie, but rather, my dad. He's had a small hemorrhagic stroke and had a brain bleed last night. The neurosurgeon is convinced that the bleeding has stopped or else he would be dead. He told my parents that these are the kinds of strokes you die from. He is in the ICU and not allowed to sit upright at all. They gave him some blood platelets last night to help his blood to clot on it's own and the doctors said that his condition does not require surgery, not at this point anyway. Please continue to pray for him and his recovery and especially that this does not set back his recovery from the back surgery.

Yesterday he fell going up the steps and said that it felt like his leg gave out on him. He crawled up to bed and laid there about an hour and then when he tried to get up to go downstairs, he dropped the cup that he was holding and started slurring his speech badly. He could barely stand so my mom called 911 because she was afraid to try to take him herself, thinking he might fall on the way to the car. By the time he got to the hospital he was acting normal again. They did a CT scan and found the bleed and decided to admit him and treat him with platelets. They said that they will be watching him closely for at the very least a couple more days.