OK... Now the BAD news!

Everyone that knows us well enough, knows that life isn't as "simple and pretty" as just Christmas pictures :0) There always has to be some "drama" involved. Well... here it is, if you are "offended" by frank and open discussions of medical and psychiatric issues then I urge you to just stop reading now and go back to the cute Christmas pictures :0)

Drama #1 - December 22, 2009:

Tia cracked her head open on her walker, she ended up going to the ER, having a CT then 7 stitches. Of course it took twice as much medication than "normal" to sedate her enough to do the cat scan and stitches. I had some very funny video of her trying to "bounce" while completely stoned, it was quite funny, Cody had to keep catching her as she tipped over. My obnoxious camera (see previous post) deleted the video as well as all of the pictures that I have of her at the hospital. She is quite a "trooper" and has actually done well leaving them alone to heal. Drama #2 - Sunday; December 27, 2009: We received a call from Krista's weekend treatment provider (so to any of you that are still just convinced that Krista doesn't have any neurological/psychiatric disorders and that she doesn't require CONSTANT supervision, here's one for YOU). Krista had a loose tooth on the bottom, it fell out sometime during the night or early morning on Sunday. Well, try as they might, no one could find the tooth. They don't know if she swallowed it or if it was just lost in the bedroom somewhere (you know those 2 front teeth are pretty small). The other girls in the home said "Ooh, we need to find your tooth so that the tooth fairy will come". They were going to continue to look for it after nap time. When Carolyn (the treatment "mom") went to get Krista up from her nap, she and the bed were covered in blood. Krista then proudly announces that she "got" another tooth out so now the tooth fairy can come. Krista, literally, scratched, gouged, clawed and dug at her gums until she managed to pull a tooth from her mouth. The tooth was NOT loose, she dug it out of her mouth using her fingernails, her gums are completely torn up from a couple of hours of this process. When Carolyn told her that the tooth fairy does NOT come when you injure yourself Krista proceeded to fly into a huge rage/tantrum. (Krista injures/self mutilates and actually hurts other children quite frequently, I guess we are used to it. I just take a picture, write it in her behavior log and move on). The next morning at breakfast, Krista proudly announced that she "didn't take out any more teeth", like that was the most wonderful (and "normal") news and that she should be "praised" for it. Ho Hum... such is the life with a child that has psychiatric "issues". Drama #3 - Monday; December 28th 2009: Josh's "routine" surgical procedure... these pictures were taken before surgery. Joshy went into same day surgery to have a circumcision done. His birth mom is not American so I don't think that it even occurred to her to have it done at all. Well, it is a good thing that they didn't try to do it when he was a newborn... I took Joshy in to a Urologist for a consultation for the procedure a few months ago. The Dr. wanted to wait another couple of months since it had to be done under general anesthesia. By this time, Josh had started to develop some "adhesion's" on his foreskin, (I guess that happens sometimes until boys are a little older and the foreskin can be pushed back more). When the Dr started the procedure, he noticed that the adhesion's were very "dense/solid" tissue, which is not normal. After he did some "exploring" he found that underneath the skin, Josh's umm... "manhood" was turned sideways a complete 90 degrees. The Dr came out to explain this complication and to get consent to surgically correct it (which HAD to be done). In order to do this, they have to completely "de-glove" the exterior penile skin, roll it all the way down to the base, manually twist the penis into the correct position, then roll the skin back up and stitch it all the way around in order to hold things in the correct position. Owww... are you cringing yet? He is now completely stitched up and "dressed" with 3 layers of surgical dressing. Joshy, of course, woke up this morning like nothing had even happened and is his normal, happy self. We have been assured that now that this has been corrected, everything will develop and function normally (which would NOT have been the case if he had not had this done). It has been a very long week. These pictures were taken AFTER surgery... 2 "Minor Dramas #4 and 5: Josh has cut 3 molars with a 4th ready to come through any day.

Last, but not least, I went in to the dermatologist today and had 3 "growths" excised on my legs (which required 12 stitches all together). So now, there are 3 people in the house with stitches at the same time... Happy Holidays to us! :0)