Surviving

We are holding ground here at the Thul house. I was on my own with childcare and homemaking for the first time since my surgery on the 18th of November. It was a challenging day, but the house is roughly as clean as it started, the children are bathed, fed and happy, and we actually finished one Christmas craft, so I feel as though we held our own throughout the day. I continue to struggle with pain and trying to determine what medications to use to increase my ability to care for my children without suffering side effects. I continue to do pretty well on high dose ibuprofen, with an occasional dose of a fairly mild narcotic that decreases my pain by about 50% when I choose to take it. I will need to go for another ultrasound later this week if my pain doesn't decrease by then. I am hoping and praying I will not require surgery, as I can hardly imagine piggy-backing surgery onto my radioactive iodine dose, which leaves me weak, tired, and generally sick (nauseous, along with other unpleasant side effects like mouth sores, and bleeding from other mucosa throughout my body).

I spent some time in bed this afternoon, cuddling a hot pack. The girls were happily watching cartoons, but Caleb wasn't so easily entertained. He kept fussing in the bedroom with me, so I told him to go get a toy. He returned...with six pop beads! I didn't think that would entertain him for long, but we had so much fun with them, I had to go get a video camera! He was working so hard at getting the beads apart, I was cracking up. Enjoy the video!



Amelia returns to the U of M for more diagnostic blood tests to explore her immune deficiency tomorrow. She will also see her neurologist, who will help us determine when to start trying to wean the steroids again. She is suffering almost no side effects from the steroids, although she is a bit more impulsive than usual and has a great appetite! She had a rough weekend, with quite a few symptoms of the brain injury, so I am unsure about when the steroid wean will begin. Please keep her doctors in your prayers.