Finally got a chance to update my blog. It's been a looooooooooooooong time, huh !
A great summer we're enjoying here in Canada ! I love the warmth and heat that we got so far this summer : they remind me of wonderful summers that I had when I was growing up. There was a heat wave for about a week but I revelled in it ... summer is about having hot weather for me. But keep in mind that we have air conditioned at home and in our car. I wouldn't rave as much about the heat if we didn't enjoy those commodities ! ;)
This past July, my family and I have spent quite a bit of time organizing our home - we hadn't had the time to do much in that department since our move back in last November. Specifically, we organized our two entry closets (one in the main entrance and the other one a much smaller one leading to the side of our home). It was SO great to finally get rid of our IKEA metal shelves unit that was in our main entrance since moving. Argh ! It was driving me nuts to see the packsacks, shoes, etc on those shelves all the time. Now everything has been stored in bins in the closets which now have an extra shelf each to accomodate everything. DH and DS did the painting and hammering of the new shelves while I figured out how and where to store everything that we decided to keep after doing a pile for donations. We still have more organizing to do this weekend. My aim is to have everything related to organizing and fixing stuff that are not working well, completed by the end of August.
But July is not all about work ! ;) My family and my nephew made a 3-day trip to Montréal which was quite enjoyable. We went to a beautiful nature site where we did some canoeing and I was so happy to be able to photograph at my leisure, for close to 45 minutes, a blue heron that was in the middle of the lake. WOW ! It was an awesome experience ! It was the highlight of our trip for me ! I could see its feathers and the articulations of his body really well ! I got some great shots which delighted me as I haven't had the time to do photography for the past year. We also spent half a day at Amazoo Water Park located in Granby's Zoo. It was a good hot day but not too hot, perfect for spending it in water ! :) I also went to a couple of scrapbook stores to purchase some Spellbinders' Nestabilities and a few sheets of PPs. It has been more than a year since I actually purchased some new PPs and scrap stuff for myself. The nestabilities dies are great in making cards - which is the only thing creative and artistic that I've been doing since January. I haven't scrapped - gasp - in about 2 years - life was too busy elsewhere, mainly my son's health.
DS's health, which was worrying me so much for the past 3 years, has improved considerably since last March. WHOO HOO ! :) Last January, we were told by DS' neuro-psychologist that his epilepsy meds were much too strong for him and that in her opinion, they were making him lethargic, drowsy. Her professionnal opinion connected right away with what I'd been telling DS' neurologist for the past 3 years : that DS was more and more sleepy because of the epilepsy meds, that everytime he was upping his meds, the drowsing was getting worse, he was taking naps several times a day, at home and at school - and his neurologist was answering me that it was impossible ! We immediately asked for a new neurologist. The new neurologist immediately weaned him from the med that was making him drowsy, and in about 3 weeks, he was looking more and more like the boy we had 3 years ago, very talkative, alert, interested, vibrant, ALIVE ! I call him the Sleeping Beauty who woke up after 3 years of sleeping. Now, he is being weaned from the 2nd med that his first neurologist had prescribed for him this past January, on top of the drowsiness-inducing med - this 2nd med was having DS stuttering and having difficulty putting words together to talk, and he was also separating words in syllabes - it was painful to hear him try to talk. And it was very scary as parents to witness further deterioration in our son. The power of meds ! :( Specially wrong meds !
But now, that is a thing of the past. Thank you God and thank you to DS' wonderful new neurologist and her wonderful nurse that are keeping regular contact with us as he is being weaned from this awful 2nd med. The weaning will be finished around mid-August and then it'll take about a month for his sytem to be totally rid of this med. DS will be having another EEG then. He's had 5 EEGs so far (plus an MRI) since January, the latest one was this past Wednesday - this time it was a 2.5 hours EEG with filming of him while he was sleeping. All EEGs were sleep-deprived - man, those are harder on the parents that on the kid ! LOL I'm still reeling from sleeping only 3 hours on Tuesday-Wednesday night !
The big lesson I learned in all of that epilepsy story was to trust even more my heart, my intuition and my intelligence in my life - looking back I should have asked, like I had though of, to consult a second neurologist 3 years ago when I was noting that DS was getting drowsy after 6 months on the first med (tegretol) and when seeing that his neurologist was disregarding my observations. I trusted the neurologist because he was a specialist but truthfully, we know our bodies and our kids much better than specialists ! Lesson painfullypainfully learned ! Now, I ask for second opinions right away when I'm not satisfied in any parts of my life !
DS has made amazing progress in his swimming lessons, especially since being weaned from the 1st med. He is taking private lessons so that his teacher takes the time that it takes to teach him different swimming techniques - DS's motor dyspraxia often requires for him to have the steps of physical activities split into more details in order for his brain and body to be able to do them and then he's a pro ! His swimming teacher also told us a couple of weeks ago that DS has perfected by himself over the years a professional way of swimming into place - I can't recall just now what the technique is called - but that technique takes a long time to master for professionals ! Go figure ! LOL Indeed, DH and I are so very proud of our son and his accomplishments, his efforts, his perseverance. It definitely hasn't been an easy road for him. I sometimes wonder how it was for him during the past 3 years to try to learn new academic-and other stuff through a thick cloud of drowsiness and then on top of that, with the med that was acting as a window against learning (the 2nd med he is now being weaned of). I am happy beyond words to see our boy from 3 years ago emerging, his true personality shining again ! Everyone has challenges in life and he has certainly has had his share - and I know that he will have more like everyone else, but for now, we're revelling in these positive changes in his life !
This is getting to be a long email - oops ! - and house chores are awaiting me so I'll leave you with my wish for you to have a great day filled with laughter and fun summer activities ! I'm planning on adding photos to this post later on today or tomorrow ! In the meantime, if you have great Spellbinders' Nestabilities blogs to share with me, ones that show what other artists are creating with nestabilies, or blogs of cardmakers, I would love it ! Cards are my creative thing right now ! Thank you ! Ciao !
