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