The Kids are Well, The Parents are falling apart...

Where to start?
Let’s see, Steff just turned the big 5 and she’ll be starting Kindergarten next fall. She’s gonna love school and we’re all looking forward to her having that opportunity. She had a great birthday: her gifts included a couple of swimsuits(always good, since she lives in the water during the summer), various devices and tools for creating art(again, very good…she’s a little artist), she got some clothes and money and her family sprang for a new bike and helmet…I hope no one feels left out if I forgot what they gave her…please forgive me, she does have a large family.
Kieran received his mid-term grades and for the most part, did pretty well. He pulled up most of his grades to passing or better at the last minute but it wasn’t quite enough to get him on the track team. He’s bummed but we had a pep talk about simply doing the work that is assigned each day, even without really trying-I put it much different than that-and I promised him he’d see himself pass his classes without so much stress at the end of the term and from his parents, not to mention the freedom he’d have because he wouldn’t always be stuck in the house doing his missing work. He went to school this morning with a very positive attitude.
Sadie has turned into quite the little talker. She’s really starting to talk but her enunciation needs work. She can carry on a conversation and sing songs but unless you are in the conversation and paying attention all she’s saying is lost. She is getting better by the day and trying hard. She’s not easily discouraged and she’s persistent enough to keep trying.
Ryan is nothing shy of stressed out with work this last couple of weeks. His two direct bosses are out of town and he’s been put in charge of an area that he’s not that familiar with, sheet metal. He knows that had this occurred in his last position he’d be more than up to par but he admits he just doesn’t know enough to be being the boss. He’s really stressed out and to top it off they’ve clearly stated that he’s to get things straightened out while his boss-the person who does know sheet metal-is on vacation. It wasn’t even as if they had said they had faith in him that he’d do a great job and put his best effort into it, they just told him “Get it done.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen him stressed out so much from work before…It’s just insane.
Another issue that has come to light is the results of his MRI: it’s shown that he has a cyst on his knee and hypertrophic facet disease (arthritis) in his C5 vertebrae. The MRI stops at that disc but his pain does not so we both believe the arthritis continues. He’ll be seeing our regular doctor about this on Thursday the 8th and we’ll go from there…More to come.
Things are as they always are for me…Medically nuts. It is now suspected that I may have had heart attack at some point in the paste and I may have a heart arrhythmia. I am having more excruciating back pain and thus I had my 3rd MRI this year-I’m working on an MRI wing dedicated to me at McKay Dee-I spoke to my surgeons PA Wednesday evening and he repetitively kept making the statement that I have lost a “significant amount of disc space” and we’re talking he said it so many times I was about to tell him that, “Yeah, you said that a few times now.” He must feel there is something amiss there because he scheduled the appointment for 8:15 in the morning. Ya know, the funny part is that from the previous Thursday I had been trying to tell them something wasn’t right and that I needed to be seen…I’ve had this back for a while and I’m very confident I’m in tune with when there’s a problem. We’ll see what happens. I may be going in for the fusion that I feel should have been done in February. But, I have to respect Dr. Welling’s professional opinion to not do it then, the prosthetic disc will not hold up the rest of my life and by the time it needs to be replaced I will be too old to make it through the surgery but it looks like that option may be running out. Praying for the best-as always, because that’s all I can do-the Lord holds each of my tears in his hand.