A FEW GOOD THINGS--REALLY GOOD THINGS!

This is Henry, our great-grandson! He will be 6 -months-old on the 4th of October, and he is as "cute as a bug", as we Southerners say. ( I guess we think bugs are cute? I don't!!)

We don't get to see him very much because of the distance, but we love him as much as---well, I can't even think of anything to compare him to! My grandson, R. married S. June 1rst, 2017, and Henry was born April 4th of this year! What a sweet, plump, huggable, yummy, (I could go on!), baby, and his laugh is precious and infectious.

Henry is our late daughter's grandson, and she would be totally in love with him, as we all are! She passed away when she was 31, from an undetected heart problem. R. --our only grandson then--was only 7. She was born on10/01/66 -- so, on 10/01/18, she would have been 52 years old. We still, and always will miss her and love her very much.

Now, R. has a 5-year-old little boy, J., (S. was married before), and Henry--his (almost 6 months old) son. He looks very much like R. did when he was a baby. What a blessing he is to everyone, and his half-brother, J., loves him so much too. Below is R., holding both J. and Henry. After all R. has been through since he was 7-years-old, he is so very deserving of a happy life and a lovely family of his own. He turned out so well and I am so proud of him!! Beneath, is a picture of him with his two boys!!!

   AND,  I want to tell those of you who kindly read here: our grandson, David,  who has Crohn's, is in clinical remission!

We just found this out in the last two weeks. This is the first time the doctors have declared he is in a real remission. We are beyond happy, and I can see a difference in the way he acts, that he feels better, both physically and emotionally.  They came to visit us both Friday night and last night after David and his dad had gone hunting. You know that his mom and dad and sister, and my husband and I are filled with joy about this news.

 Although we are cramped for space--we all just enjoy being together.  Thank heavens, they like to come to see us. We love to go there, too, but it's not as easy for me to get around as it once was. I so wish it were.

Y'all have a good week!! I know I don't post very much, but I just wanted you, who have been praying and keeping up here, to know about David's joyful news. Thank you for your prayers--for both David and Kat.



                                                                               the wanderer       

Just To Update...

I wanted to tell you who have been praying for my grandkids, that although the Remicade isn't quite lasting long enough to keep David from running out of energy ---it has helped with the painful and bloody stools he was having. He is also on Methotrexate, which is a cancer drug. Poor thing, it's supposed to make him healthier, but while it does promote making some cells healthier--it does kill off some healthy cells, too. He stays so exhausted!! I just pray that his doctors really know what he needs and will continue to do so. Thanks so much to those of you who are praying for him and Kat.

He will turn 14 on August 5th, not very far away! Now that he is older, I don't get as many calls for Facetiming for hours as I did in the years prior! :(

 I knew it would happen as he got older, but I still miss listening to him talk about fishing or whatever. Sometimes, he would put the phone in his pocket as he fished,  and I would just see the gray of the pocket lining, but we could still talk. When he had a light shirt with a pocket, I could see the pond and when he caught a fish. I loved all those calls, whether it was 3 in the afternoon, or 3 a.m. when he couldn't sleep. I didn't mind it at all. I just feel so fortunate that we had all those times. Having said that, I know he's growing out of calls  like that to grandma and granddaddy,  and we miss it. Maybe one day, it will come back in fashion to him!

Kat is not a phone person at all. She got an iPhone for her birthday in May, but I don't even know what the number is yet. I have told her I'd love to get calls from her, but I know she's not one to have long conversations on the phone. When we can see each other and talk face to face, it's different. (I'm not really so much a phone person either,  so I get it.)

She is doing quite well now. She only had to be on a low dosage of anti-anxiety meds for a couple of months, and she seems to be doing fine now. I don't know if she was really "hearing voices" or not, but I always thought that whatever it was, it had a lot to do with David's illness. He gets so much attention--and I know it is needed because of Crohn's. She's never been one who would push to get her "share of attention", and we had to almost fight to give it to her. She was always a quiet child and still is; she is a child who likes being alone, reading and playing her games on her iPod.

She has a new hobby that she thoroughly enjoys, and that is baking! She loves making bread and cakes! I'm so glad because it brings her down out of her room, and it gives her something new and fun to do. I can't tell you how very pleased I am about that. That, her reading and her artwork do keep her pretty involved.

She has not said any more about voices that would be harmful to herself or anyone else. It's hard to get into anyone's mind, but I think the stress of moving away from the only home she'd ever known, changing schools where she knew no one, and the diagnosis of David's battle with Crohn's was a whole lot for her. She handled it the best she could. Her whole world turned upside down, as did David's. No church family there anymore, either---and they spent so much time at their former church. Now they haven't found one that they really feel very welcome at, and the kids are getting to the age that the lapse is going to make a big difference. Her school is huge, so much bigger than her former one. The entire life they had before has just changed so much.

I don't like to say her problems were just "a cry for more attention", but I do believe it 's the case--whether it was a conscious thing or not.  I think she was hurting and missing so much from her former life, that it had to come out in some way. I  also do believe it was a cry for someone to reassure her that she is just as valuable as her brother. I don't want you to think her parents (and all of us,) don't treat her as if she is not as totally special and loved as David, because we do. It's more because her brother has so many doctors and appointments, infusions, pills, general poor health, etc., that naturally a lot of attention must be paid to that. I know he would give anything to be well and have more "normal" young teen issues,  and I long to see a cure for Crohn's in the near future.

I have been having some back problems which have kept me pretty limited, but I think they're getting a bit better. Honestly, the thing that is keeping me down the most, is just that. I am feeling down. I just have this from time to time, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Anyway, I wanted to let youall know how things are, and to thank you again for your thoughts and prayers! Hope you are having a good summer, and it's not so very hot where you are!!

the wanderer

JUST LIFE

     

Hey friends...

   I got on here and could not remember where to put the title post! Not kidding.

   David, my grandson, is doing okay on the new med--which is Remicade. He lost so much schooling last fall on the Humira and steroids, he's having an awful time catching up and I have to say, his parents are helping him "a lot "on his homework. I'd say "too much". 

   I know he stays tired and doesn't get to sleep until late at night, and then sleeps til three or four in the afternoon---but I know he could be gotten on a better schedule. He doesn't even go out to the pond and fish anymore--which was his greatest hobby. 

This isn't going to help him next year when I suppose he will go back to school.  Or he will have to be homeschooled, which perhaps, should have been done this year. 

   This year, he's just sending in his homework, and getting work from school ---and I won't say any more about how it gets done. He always made straight A's or better, and when he started getting B's and C's,  it literally made him sick, and stressed him out terribly. Not because of his parents, but he was not understanding why he couldn't "get it". anymore.  His brain was on hold--I guess from the medications, puberty and the new place to live, no church, no friends, no kids in the neighborhood to get to know, the illness and so many things.

   It made him think about suicide and told his parents he just didn't feel like living anymore.

   We took that very seriously, because how do you not? When a boy of 11 has been having bloody diarrhea for several years, and doctors say, "It's not serious!" and then later hears he has something that will never go away. 

   He'll always have to take medicines for it, it's incurable, it may stunt his growth, shorten his life and  I  know he wonders what's left!. The medicines for it may easily cause cancer. it has made all of the family, including us, wonder, worry, and pray!

  He has a sister who just turned 11. She's been having to see a therapist since David started because she says she "hears voices" that tell her to do violent things, and that she's bad--a bad person. The "voice" is something we don't know is "real" because she's just 11. We don't know if she can really describe it. Does she "think" it? Does she really "HEAR it"?  Is it a thought? Does she "see it in her mind"? Does it come from the scary movies she's been allowed to watch and the books she's been allowed to read?

  Does she think that so much attention has been on her brother that she needs to know they care about her too? What is this thing?

   She hasn't said she will hurt herself or really thinks about doing it, but whatever she calls "the voice" tells her to hurt her family. (As in killing them.) She was taken to a psychiatrist and given two meds, which are Prozac and something given to patients for auditory hallucinations. It may be manic-depression--they're just guessing and trying to medicate her without a true DX, I believe. I don't like it when doctors may be giving anyone medication when there isn't a sure diagnosis. I do believe she may need to stay in a hospital for juveniles who have these thoughts and then given therapy and meds if they deem it necessary. But, what I think doesn't matter, because it's second-guessing my son and his wife, and I can't do that. They have enough on them. They're not stupid.

   Friends, I don't know how to help, but to visit and talk to them. And pray,  and pray some more about my two grandchildren who have always behaved, gotten marvelous grades, and had more friends than they could count. 

   My son told me, "Mama, I never, ever thought we'd have these kinds of problems with the kids. I thought maybe when they got older, they'd sneak out, drink beer, drive without a license, run away! Now I only wish we'd have 'simple problems' like that!"

   Yeah, me, too!

                                                                 

                                                                                          the wanderer