Appointments and More Appointments

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One of the unfortunate things about cerebral palsy (CP) are the many co-occurring health issues that go along with it. Because of this, those with CP have more doctors, specialists, and other kinds of providers they see on a regular basis. While the CP itself mainly affects the muscles, other areas of the body are affected as well, which results in more medical challenges.  For instance, besides CP, some of other Faith’s health issues include: ·          Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and other digestive issues ·          Scoliosis ·          Bowel and bladder incontinence ·          General anxiety Because of these co-occurring conditions, we have more appointments than the average person. At times, it can all be a bit overwhelming. Faith enjoying a nice fall day On September 23 rd , we ended up in the E...
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Gearing up for GABR

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It's hard to believe that the Great American Bike Race (GABR) is only a month away! We have been involved in this event since 2008 when I formed a team called "Faith's Rockin' Riders" with some ladies at work.

In 2009, we sort of took a break since we were in the process of moving from our old apartment to our current, accessible one. Rob, however, still rode on MedEquip One's Team.

Last year we formed Faith's Fantastic 10 which consisted mostly of our friends. And this year we are gearing up again but with a slightly different name - Faith's Fantastic 12 since we had to expand our team to 12 riders instead of 10! So now there are 1,200 riders taking part in the event instead of just 1,000!


GABR 2008


GABR 2009

GABR 2010

We are especially excited this year because Faith, along with her friend, Tanner are GABR Stars this year! GABR stars help to promote this huge fundraising event which means their pictures are seen everywhere! Faith is pretty excited about it, especially having her photo on the cover of Medcenter's monthly publication.

On March 30 she will be interviewed on the noon show on KXMB. I am a little anxious about that as I have no idea what Faith is going to act like or what is going to come out of her mouth! She can be pretty unpredictable! She will also be seen live on the day of the race on KFYR as they present her with her own GABR jacket. KFYR does a live one-hour broadcast from noon to 1:00 on race day, which is Saturday, April 9th.

All funds raised goes towards equipment, services and making homes and vehicles accessible for these kids. We were able to get a $2,500 adaptive car seat through GABR and also Faith's iPad. If you aren't able to donate, I completely understand and would appreciate your prayers that this event goes smoothly and that there are no injuries to any of the riders (as has happened in the past.)

By the way, our thanks to my brother Todd for sponsoring our team once again which covers the cost of our personalized t-shirts, complete with our team logo designed by our friend Liza Kessel!
 



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Appointments and More Appointments

-
Image
One of the unfortunate things about cerebral palsy (CP) are the many co-occurring health issues that go along with it. Because of this, those with CP have more doctors, specialists, and other kinds of providers they see on a regular basis. While the CP itself mainly affects the muscles, other areas of the body are affected as well, which results in more medical challenges.  For instance, besides CP, some of other Faith’s health issues include: ·          Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and other digestive issues ·          Scoliosis ·          Bowel and bladder incontinence ·          General anxiety Because of these co-occurring conditions, we have more appointments than the average person. At times, it can all be a bit overwhelming. Faith enjoying a nice fall day On September 23 rd , we ended up in the E...
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My Tetanus Shot Ordeal: A Real Pain in the Arm

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Last Wednesday I had my yearly doctor exam and when she said I should get my tetanus shot updated, I didn't think twice about it. The nurse said my arm would be sore for a couple of days, gave me a handout and stuck the needle in my arm.  The next day my arm was sore and although I found it a little harder to pick up and carry Faith, I was glad the pain wasn't going to last long. Boy was I wrong! But not only was my arm sore, my whole body was. I felt achy and extremely tired. According to a medical site on the Internet, these were mild side effects of the Tetanus shot. If these were only mild side effects, I would really hate to have them at a moderate or severe level. My arm is still red and sore on day 2 after my tetanus shot. On Friday, two days after getting the shot I felt so tired that I took a four-hour nap after getting Faith off to school. Then on Saturday I took a three-hour nap up until 7 o'clock, but still felt tired and was able to go back to sleep around 10. ...
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Faith's 73-Day NICU Stay

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September is  NICU Awareness Month . For those who don't know, NICU is an acronym for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. According to  World Metrics  50,000 premature babies in the United States receive care each year in the NICU.  The average NICU stay for a preemie is 25 days. Honestly, that number surprises me, as I thought it would be much higher than that. Along with preemies, full-term babies born with certain health issues, such as respiratory distress, jaundice, and other kinds of infections receive care in the NICU.  Tiny Faith in her isolette at Mayo  But for Faith, whose untimely birth consisted of an emergency C-section 11 weeks early, it took 73 days before she was discharged. Those 73 days were a major emotional rollercoaster! And for many reasons, one of which was being nearly 600 miles from home as Faith was born at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. (You can read what led up to that on my post,  October 4, 2003: A Day I'll Ne...
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Faith's 4th

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Every year, the one thing Faith wants to do for the 4th of July is go to the parade in Mandan. It surprises me how much she loves parades, considering the noise and crowds of people. About 20,000 people attend the annual 4th of July parade, and it's filled with very loud firetrucks, big machinery, trucks, and other kinds of loud noises. This year, there was also the concern that it would be more crowded than usual. This was due to the fact that part of the normal parade route was under construction.  Besides all that, the Parade starts at 10:00, which means Faith needs to wake up pretty early so that we can arrive in time. Neither of us had slept well the night before, so I was already concerned that she didn't get enough sleep to get through the long, busy day. I let her sleep as late as possible and prayed for us both to have enough energy to make it through the day. It helped that we could do her morning feeding enroute and also during the parade. She normally doesn'...
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