The Walnut Acre Daily - Michael's Geneticist Visit and Seeds for the Garden

Words to Live By

Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness. Proverbs 14:22

Preschool and Kindergarten Homeschool Fun

Because Michael had a doctor's appointment this morning the only "school" activity I did with the younger kids was storytime.

Storytime

Austin and Amanda's Homeschool Assignments

Bible - Proverbs 28; Literature - No Woman So Fair; Math - Conversions Part 1; Science - Respiratory System Questions and Answers

Out and About

Michael had his appointment with his Geneticist today. I love this doctor. She takes the time to really explain what she's thinking and the reasons behind the things she recommends. A year ago we were there and she did some testing for several different things. Most of these were completely ruled out but the Tuberous Sclerosis test basically came back inconclusive. There was an abnormality on one of the genes that is involved with Tuberous Sclerosis but at this point there is not enough scientific evidence to know if this particular abnormality can be a cause of TS. Michael does have some symptoms that could point to TS (the masses/tumors he was born with, seizures, other physical features, etc) but not enough to give a definite diagnosis since a lot of these symptoms could be a part of other things as well. So, at this point we're basically left with wait and see. Wait and see if any more symptoms develop (they often do as a child with TS gets older), wait and see if a better genetic test becomes available, wait and see if it everything just stays the same or gets better. She did schedule a renal ultrasound just to be safe since tumors on the kidney's can be a problem with TS. I was disappointed that there are still no clear answers, but at the same time I feel at peace knowing that God has brought him this far and that He loves him more than I ever could. I've said it before but it bears repeating - Michael is a miracle from God. As a baby doctors said that if he survived the severe health problems he was born with he would probably never walk, talk, see or hear. He not only walks, he runs. He talks constantly! His vision is excellent and since we had tubes put in his ears so is his hearing. I know God didn't bring him this far for nothing.

We passed the time waiting for the doctor to come in this morning by taking pictures and playing with a few toys that were in the room. He did a wonderful job being patient while we talked and cooperated wonderfully with the doctor. I was very proud of him. 

Other Notes and News

Our weekend flew by! One of my favorite parts of the weekend was buying these seeds and supplies for the garden. 

CJ and Michael caught my excitement and bought some too. CJ's are on the left and Michael's on the right. 

Doug spent a quite a bit of his weekend working on vehicles. He put brake pads on our friend's minivan and patched a tire that had a nail in it one of our vehicles. 

Reading Around the Web

5 Ways to Worry Less About Your Husband's Safety

Today's Quote

Anticipate the day as if it was your birthday and you are turning six again. ~ Mike Dolan

Daily Deals

Why I Write the Walnut Acre Daily

Linking Here
No Ordinary Blog Hop

Pediatric Genetics, Physical Therapy and Skatetown

Yesterday I was, technically, off. No daycare kids scheduled all day long. And this is how I spent my day off.

By 8:30 we (Michael, CJ, and myself) left the house to get to Charlottesville in time for a 9:30 appoitment with pediatric genetics. The result of that visit was that we decided to go ahead with three genetic tests - testing for Prader-Willi Syndrome, and Tuberous Sclerosis. We will also be getting appointments for ultrasounds of his heart and kidneys and a brain MRI. He was born with masses in his heart, behind his ear and on his kidney (two of which we know resolved themselves on their own) and it's time to have a look at these areas again.

Here Michael is, showing off his bandaids after the blood draw. He's not an easy person to draw blood from, his veins seem to play hide and seek, so it took a few tries. 

After the genetics appointment we came home, had some lunch and relaxed for a little and then turned around and went back to the same area for Michael's physical therapy. He loves this and calls the the physical therapist his play doctor.

I was a bit bored and started taking pictures.

CJ kept himself occupied at both appointments with paper and pen. He was trooper and never complained of being bored the whole time.

On the wall right across from me was this cool picture that I sit and look at every time I'm in here. I just love all the giraffes and the colorful tree trunks.



The waiting room is actually a hallway.



We left physical therapy at 5:00 and headed for the event both boys (and Austin and Amanda) had been looking forward to all day - Skatetown. Several times a year our church reserves a two hour time slot at skatetown for anyone who want to go.

The yellow blur in this picture is Amanda skating.





The arcade games seem to be as much fun as the rollerskating.

And of course the food is very important. I think CJ thought this was the best part.

Michael (in the green shirt) didn't skate but he did get on the floor and try to the Cha Cha Slide.

Needless to say, we were all very tired by the time we got home last night