medical update...

I know. How dull. You all want pictures! Unfortunately, our internet is being buggy on the big computer, so pictures will have to wait until Mike has a look. I'm using his laptop right now, which has no pictures on it. I'm married to a Telus tech, but have the worst TV quality, and a buggy internet connection. Go figure.

Anyway, there's a bit of medical news thought you might want to keep up on. Joan had her hearing test this week. They put her and i and an audiologist in a soundproof booth, then another audiologist went to another booth, to make various noises at her. The audiologist with me played with her to keep her distracted in one direction, while noises were piped from the other, to see if she'd look in the direction of the noise. She had me a little nervous - she didn't look at all for a lot of te high pitched and quiet noises. But they said all is well - at thhis age, sometimes the toys are more interesting than the noises, so they tested the "problem" tones several times, and she looked enough for them to say she can hear them. They tested her ear drums and inner ears too - all is well. So they said her hearing is perfect, to near-perfect - defintely not the cause of her delayed speech. So what else could be causing it? Well, it could just be that the area of the brain responsible for speech is a big black hole. But that's just my amateur opinion. It's nice that they're taking precautions, though, to rule out everything else.

She's getting her leg brace made next week. They start with a cast, then they build the brace from a plaster mould of her leg that's made from the cast. Each one will last a few months, at a cost of roughly $1600 a pop. But most of the cost is covered by the government - the most we'll pay is $500 each year, which is really nice. It's actually a more generous funding program than Ontario. Joan's OT is also from Ontario, and she told me Alberta is the best place to be with a sick kid - despite the look-after-yourself mentality that exists out here, there's certain things the government takes very seriously, and funds up the wazoo, and sick or disabled kids is one of them. You just have to see this hospital to see that! It's quite a place. If you want to see what it actually is she's getting, it's called an AFO. If you do a google search, you'll see pictures. Hers will come right up to her knee.

She's been trying to walk by herself since getting back from holiday. She's becomming very, very good at standing unassisted, and can even manage to get into standing in the mifddle of the floor - with nothing to hang onto! It's quite a sight! She practices for hours during the day, sometimes. But like everything else, she practices in soft places - like the bed. But she's gotten up enough confidence to stand by herself right on the floor, if I'm close enough for grabbing, if she feels herself fall. Yesterday, she took it to the next level, and tried to take a step! She fell, of course, but it was in a fit of giggles, and she got up to try it again. John started walking the same way - sort of a step-leap kind of action. It might take her a long time to walk yet, though. She leads with her right, because most of her weight is still on her left, so it may take her a while to be able to bear enough weight on her right to take a step. The brace should help. Even when she's standing, if she has no clothes on you can see clearly from how her hips and back are cocked, that she's got most of her weight on the left.

In other medical news, I'm getting another ultrasound, for several reasons. I'm having some strange pains that I don't remember with the other two. Searing, cramping pains along the top - lots of pressure and sharp pains along the bottom. As well, I'm measuring 4 weeks ahead of schedule. It could be a big baby. It could just be because the baby has become dislodged, and is currently free-floating, just like Joan was. It could be too much fluid, like Joan had. (Though with her, it was undiagnosed until they broke my water, resulting in two very wet doctors.) It could just be because this is my third, and things are a little lax. Anyway, the ultrasound will show the cause - the OB says she isn't worried, and I shouldn't be, either. This is just a precaution. She says the pressure i feel isn't early labour, becasue if it was, the baby's head would be lodged in my pelvis, and right now, it's not, even though it was with the last visit.

Anyway, I'd better go. John is up, and Joan is stirring, too. Mike has a rare day off, so I think we're going back to the beach. He's only scheduled for three days off in all of August, so we're trying to make the most of our few summer days as a family.

Oh, by the way, we have no-one living in our basement, after all of that! Jer found a place with a friend from Dryden, thinking that we'd have a co-worker of Mike's in our spare room. But when we went on vacation, the co-worker couldn't reach Mike, and got nervous, so he went ahead and found another place to live. So we get to stay a nuclear family! Yay!

we're back

Just a quick note to let you know, we're finally back in Calgary, after a three week tour of Dryden and Geraldton. Phew! No time to download the camera yet, or share the many, many funny moments. Those will come. I have just three days to turn around and be off for a cabin in BC. It's not much time, considering I had a bachelor living here alone for three weeks. It could be worse. But not by much.

The trip home was rough. John was sad the whole time. After the two hours or so of him droning "noooo...nooooo....nooooo" from the back seat, on our way to the airport, we discovered the photo album Mike's parents had assembled. At first it made him laugh. Then, it made him cry. I've never seen him so genuinely sad before. It was heartbreaking. Then Joan got carsick. That was really fun.

Physically getting on the plane was relatively easy. But then, the moping started. John moped, and Joan squirmed. John perked up a little when he struck up a conversation with the guy behind us. The guy gave him a loonie when he got off in Regina (a 30-min stopover). But when John tried to show it to the girl behind him for the Regina to Calgary leg, he dropped it, never to be seen again, which just amplified the moping. Oh, and then there was the poo incident. I have no idea when it happened. Hopefully very close to the end. John pooped on the plane without telling me. And of course, I have no sense of smell, so I had no idea. But I'm sure everyone else on the plane could tell. So Joan reeked of vomit, and John had poopy pants. I'm sure our neighbours just looooved us! He finally told me just as we were about to leave the plane. He asked if there was a bathroom in the airport, because he'd poped his pants. ANd sure enough, he was doing the poopy walk down the isle. Lovely. So I got him cleaned up, though he had to lose his underwear in the process. As I was cleaning him in the bacthroom, he said "I made the airplane stink. That was really funny!" Delightful child. We made our way down to baggage, where Mike was nowhere to be found. So I got on a payphone to find him. While I was talking, John said he pooped again. So I checked him, but couldn't find anything. But when we got home, we found a giant streak of poop all down his leg and his socks. Don't forget, he had no underwear on at this point. So there just may be a John poop sitting in the Calgary airport, which slipped down the legs of his pants, and onto the floor.

Anyway, it was an adventure. Joan was out before we even got home. John was out, but woke up when we tried to slip him into bed, so we gave him a bath and he crawled in with us. He's still out. Joan woke up just a while ago, and has been shovelling in the Cheerios. (We hadn't fed her too much yesterday, hoping it would keep her from getting sick again.) She needs a bath, badly, but generally seems happy to be home. John, I'm not so sure. He wimpered a lot in the car ride from the airport to home, but seemed happy when he was in bed with us. Hopefully, he'll be OK. We'll have to get him back to Dryden again soon. That was definitely my last flight alone with the kids. I'm not doing that with three! Besides, we're probably blacklisted in WestJet's computer now, for emitting too many unpleasant odours. But we'll find a way. Mike's thinking next time, he'll drive us home, fly back, leaving me the car, and then fly back and drive us home a few weeks later. But we'll see.

Better go! Pictures will be downloaded soon, but I have a lot of work to do first! Mike's hoping to show his friend from work who needs a place to stay the basement room today or tomorrow, and of course we're turning right around and leaving town again, so I need the place tidied up again for the real estate agent anyway. Ugh. Right back to the drudgery of life. But everything else is fine. The baby's still alive - lots of strange contraction type sensations on the trip to Winnipeg, which had me a bit nervous. But I think it was just the sensation of it flipping around. I swear I feel a little head on the side now, and it's kicking to the opposite side, instead of up, so I may be right. But no labour yet, and it still appears to be alive, which is all that really matters at this point. As long as it holds off until August, when we're back in the city and settled in, that's all I care about!