It's traditional to think about thankfullness in November. It's not that we shouldn't be thankful all the year 'round, of course, but I think there is a great wisdom in picking the waning days for this purpose.
It's easier for me to settle into gratitude when the days are lengthening. It's easier to stay grateful when the days are warm and the gardens are blooming. But on a day like today, when the skies are grey and the air is cooling and I can feel in my left ankle just exactly WHAT is coming, well, I need to think about it more.
So lets update the medical, because there is much to be grateful for there.
Babygirl is 18 now. When I announced her birthday in church a couple of months ago there was a collective gasp that startled the visiting pastor: Everybody loves her, and everybody remembers her from her toddler days to her holy-cow-don't-set-the-altar-on-fire accolyte days, to now. That congregation has prayed us through incredibly hard times, and thrown money at us when we'd have gone under if they hadn't, but I think they never imagined her as a 'grown up,' It was an entertaining moment.
We saw her doctors last week. She is now 5 1/2 years post transplant. The kidney is doing astonishingly well in terms of function, still a bit acidy, and her body is putting forth some hormones that indicate that something is a bit wonky somewhere, but overall, an excellent report. Usually at this age they'd transfer her to adult doctors, but because her health has put her 2 years (!) behind in school, she qualifies to continue there until she finishes high school, so we are good to continue with the pediatric specialists in Philadelphia for a couple of years.
The headaches remain a different issue. She is off all the preventive medications, which is likely why the kidney is happier. She is getting Botox injections every 12 weeks, and they work pretty well for the first 8 or so, and then wear off. Still, this is a VAST improvement over what life was like for the previous 4 years, so we'll take it. As with the Philalelphia doctors, the doctor in Wilmington (Delaware - yes, we are now seeing pediatric specialists in TWO different states, neither of them the one we live in) will continue to care for her as long as she is in high school.
I get a lot of questions about Botox. No, it isn't just for movie star wrinkles. It is an FDA approved therapy for chronic refractory migraines. It involves something just under 40 separate injections in Babygirls forehead, scalp, neck, and trapezius muscles (the upper border of the shoulder). One time this paralyzed one eyebrow for a week so she had a bit of a Spock look going, but otherwise she hasn't had any side effects. No, they won't give me the leftovers.
So my November 1 AND 2 Thank You are for ongoing health of Jorge's kidney, and fewer headaches.
DeeDee
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