A Big Day

Not a lot has really happened lately...until today. Joshua had his 2-year well check-up with Dr. Rodgers. He looks great and has made great strides despite his difficult start early in life. Dr. Rodgers was really pleased with how he is doing in all areas. His stats are as follows: height - 35 1/2 inches (80th percentile); weight - 28 lbs. (60th percentile); head - 50 cm. Dr. Rodgers predicts that based on my husband's and my heights along with Joshua's present height he will be about 5' 10" as an adult. He also got a finger prick, and he didn't even flinch! In fact, he laughed while the tech drew his blood! I teased and commented that Joshua needs to be the one having babies one day since he tolerates pain so well. His levels were great. (I had forgotten what they were testing.) No shots today, and no more until next year.

After we left the doctor's office we headed over to Chick-fil-A for lunch. I had told Rebekah that they could play after they ate as well. During our meal Rebekah kept wanting to stand up on the bench seat or just be fidgety. I think she was just eager to play. I had told her to sit down, but instead of just sitting she turned to the side facing out from the table. She lost her balance and went forward over the side of the seat, head first to the floor! My first thought was about her scar from the stitches she had previously. I ran over and couldn't find exactly where she was hurt. All she did was scream and flail from the pain. I finally saw a place on her forehead directly across from her scar and just stared to see if it was raised or dented. An elderly woman who saw the event came over to see as well. I couldn't see a raised spot, but it didn't look dented either, so I proceeded to carry Rebekah to the counter to get some ice.

By the time we returned to our table I saw that Rebekah had a scraped place which was what I found initially after the fall, but she also had a light bruise above it. I held ice over the wound, and she just screamed at the chill. The manager came over to assess the situation and to see how he could help. He asked me if the Chick-fil-A cow might help, and I told him it might. I thought he was going to have someone dressed as the cow come visit us, and Rebekah cried that she did NOT want to see the cow. The manager returned with a stuffed toy cow, and Rebekah immediately calmed down. Joshua got one, too. We also got a bag of ice to replace the individual pieces I was holding on her head, and that seemed to be much better as well. After we got our table cleaned up and trash thrown away we headed home. No playing today! Rebekah acted fine the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully, she was okay, but I was afraid we were going to have an additional, and unexpected, visit to see Dr. Rodgers today. Now she has a matching red spot on the opposite side from her scar to balance her forehead. It doesn't look like professional pictures will be made in the near future.

On a completely different note, my Grandma is going downhill very quickly. Nearly a year ago we discovered that she had some form of Parkinson's disease. The doctors are not exactly sure what it is she has, but it is a combination of Parkinson's (Parkinsonism) and Lewy Body dimentia. The last visit we made to see Grandma and Grandpa was in January. It was a blessing to see Grandma respond, and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to reintroduce her to her great-grandchildren before she progressed any worse.

As of now, Grandma is receiving hospice in her home, and she is rapidly declining. She is not eating nor drinking (and is not on life support), and she is on morphine which I would presume is why she is sleeping so much.

At the same time we have plans to visit Darrin's family for the weekend. His sister and her family are visiting Darrin's mom from Virginia, and it has been 1 1/2 years since we have seen them, so we are very much looking forward to our visit with them.

I feel very torn about what to do. On one hand, I feel like I should go visit my grandmother one last time. On the other, I want to respect Darrin and his family and devote as much time with them as I can. If we were to go visit Grandma we would make a detour to Huntsville then drive up to Columbia later tomorrow. One concern I have is how Rebekah would handle seeing Grandma in the state that she is. I just don't know, and I'm not sure what she would think. I have talked to Rebekah about Grandma's condition, but you never know how a child may process all of this.

Please pray for us as we make this decision. My dad's family (brother and sister) as well as my parents are all going to visit my grandparents tomorrow. It might also be too much for us to go as well. I surely don't want to be a burden. Whatever we do I am so thankful that I took the kids in January to visit their great-Grandma. They won't remember much about her, but every good little moment matters.

Now I will leave you with a picture of Grandma and Rebekah from last June.