Well, another busy week has passed. Angelica is all better but she has always been string and healthy. I cannot believe it is almost October! What craziness. How the times fly.



I did call my local congressman but you apparently have to be a big donor to actually reach anyone and now that our country's financial core seems to be on shaky ground, I feel as though it is a lost cause. But not to me. I will keep trying and persevering.



Well, back to where I left off.



Many changes happened over the years. We ended up moving, twice. I had two more children, which brought us up to ten. Angelica went through some very rough patches. She continuously remained sick and I pushed for a swallow study to see if she was eating well. Up until this point she did eat by mouth, mostly liquid or pureed foods but she ate.



They conducted the swallow study and immediately they put a stop to it. She was silently aspirating. The liquids were going straight into her lungs and she didn't cough, spit up, nothing, gave no sign that it wasn't going the right direction. The decision was made to insert a feeding tube into her stomach so she could maintain and gain weight.

That was one of the hardest things for me to come to grips with. Up until that point, I knew she had disabilities and would never be the same as the others but it didn't seem real somehow but when she had to have a tube placed to have her food go directly into her sstomach, I lost it. It hit me full force just how many constant struggles my little girl may encounter.

So after it was in, she did start gaining weight again and eventually we began feeding her by mouth. Food but no liquid. The food seemed to go the right way just not the liquid.



So, she had her tube put in and actually grew through three clothing sizes in about 3 months. It was crazy! All of a sudden nothing fit her! I was so happy! She was attempting to use a walker, with assistance but I didn't mind holding her up. She was trying to use her legs to walk.



Then we found out that her hip was dislocated. It wasn't causing her any pain but would eventually need to be corrected if we did not want to chance it being painful in the future.



Around this same time, we found some strange symptoms in one of our older children, Elizabeth. She had what I thought was a bruise on her foot, like her brother may have stepped on it or she had dropped something on it. Then it went to the other foot. It slowly, over the next few months, began to creep up her calves. The docs said to keep an eye on it. I was fine with that until she complained that her foot was numb, the same one that the rash started on. By the time we went back to see the ped about it, she was numb in both feet and part of her leg.



After several trips to specialists and a biopsy, they ofund that it was cutaneous vasculitis. I will not bore you with the tedious details but they still don't know (to this day) what is really going on with her or how it will eventually evolve.



Well, I am going to break off here. I have to get back to my school work which is not a walk in the park. It is hard!

I am so glad to have this as an outlet. I have had all of this just crammed in my head and it is nice to get it out.