August Was Moving Month

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It's been a while since I have put up a blog post. I also haven't been very active on Faith's Mom's Facebook page. That's because the month of August was dedicated to moving!  About 4 years ago, Faith and I moved from the apartment she grew up in, to a different one in northeast Bismarck. The primary reason for the move was to have underground parking so that getting her loaded into the van by myself during our cold, snowy winters would be less of a challenge. We also needed to find a place in which the elevator didn't break down on a regular basis!  One of our last sunsets at our old apartment  That place served us well, but the drive to her day program, which is located across the river in Mandan was time consuming, not to mention, expensive. I drove about 45 miles a day and used up a tank of gas a week!  Searching for a New Place  Before our lease ended, I began praying about finding somewhere else to live. A condo would have been nice, but surprisingly not a...
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Tuesday Tidbits - A New Do and Trip to the Zoo

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Finally last week, Faith got her hair cut! Her thick hair was getting too long and unmanageable, so I had Julie cut it pretty short - perfect timing for the warmer summer months. It is really cute, and she has gotten lots of compliments.


We are also finally looking at purchasing an accessible van. Our disability case manager e-mailed us some specs of a van that is here in Bismarck. On Sunday we went to look at it and we think it would work well for us. 

The van does have some door issues, but we think we'll be able to work around them. It also has an in-floor ramp that can come out and go back in either automatically or manually. We rolled Faith into the van, and she was pretty excited about it!

Yesterday Faith had her class field trip to the zoo. Even though it rained for about 20 minutes, we still had lots of fun. Thankfully, the weather was good for the most part. Since I drove Faith out there, we were able to stay a little longer while her classmates headed back to school.

I'm so glad we did because we got to see a baby moose that was only a day old. The mama moose chased the dad away when he got too close. It will be fun to see how the baby moose grows throughout the summer during our future visits.



This morning, I took Faith to school, and we met the aide who is going to be working with her during summer school. I felt bad for the aide because there is so much to learn, and it can be so overwhelming. 

I showed her how to get Faith in her stander, how to switch her seating system from her manual base to her power base, how to hook up her tray and her buttons, and how do work her feeding pump - all in the first half hour!

We kept telling her not to worry because one of Faith's other aides would be at the school in the office if she needed help and that she could always call me too! I told her she will probably just be getting it all down pat and then the six weeks will be over!

As for me, I know Faith will do just fine because there will be people around her this summer at school who know her and knows how to meet all of her needs. I feel so blessed having such reliable, loving people working with Faith when she's away from home. 

It's also an added bonus that Faith is verbal, and that she herself can tell the aide what she wants or needs, and even knows some of the instructions like how to get her feeding going.

It looks like we'll be having a great summer and hopefully my dream of becoming an accessible mini-van mama will be coming true!

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August Was Moving Month

-
Image
It's been a while since I have put up a blog post. I also haven't been very active on Faith's Mom's Facebook page. That's because the month of August was dedicated to moving!  About 4 years ago, Faith and I moved from the apartment she grew up in, to a different one in northeast Bismarck. The primary reason for the move was to have underground parking so that getting her loaded into the van by myself during our cold, snowy winters would be less of a challenge. We also needed to find a place in which the elevator didn't break down on a regular basis!  One of our last sunsets at our old apartment  That place served us well, but the drive to her day program, which is located across the river in Mandan was time consuming, not to mention, expensive. I drove about 45 miles a day and used up a tank of gas a week!  Searching for a New Place  Before our lease ended, I began praying about finding somewhere else to live. A condo would have been nice, but surprisingly not a...
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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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Cari's Cardiology Update

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Normally, Faith is the one with all of the appointments but this week it has been my turn. On Monday I had my annual echocardiogram. On Tuesday I had my pacemaker device check and appointment with the cardiologist who comes to Bismarck from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  The doctors who come are pediatric cardiologists who also specialize in adults with congenital heart defects (CHD). This saves anyone in the area who has a CHD from having to travel to Rochester each year. It is very convenient! (I do travel to Rochester to get my pacemaker changed, though!)  The Bible verse that has kept me going all these years! When I saw the doctor, we mainly discussed two things: my Fontan and my pacemaker. But first, a little background. I was born with double outlet right ventricle (DORV). Basically, this means both my aorta and pulmonary artery stem from my right ventricle. Because of this, my left ventricle does not really do anything, which is why this CHD is referred to as a sin...
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Faith's iPad

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There's a blog I read called Caleigh's Corner about a little girl with CP. Her symptoms are similar to Faith's except that Caleigh is nonverbal. One of the posts discussed Caleigh having her own iPad along with a special language app to enable her to "talk." I saw the photos of Caleigh with her iPad and thought how awesome that would be for Faith to have her own. Then, a couple of months ago, during a visit with friends, Faith discovered the Apple iPad for herself. I saw her with an app called Pocket Pond and how she could press the screen to make a splashing noise and the water ripple. She loved it!  She also checked out a piano app where there are the actual keys of the piano. After she was done looking at it, she looked at me and said in the sweetest voice, "mommy, can we please take that little screen home with us?" I discussed the prospect of Faith having her own iPad with her speech and physical therapists and they both agreed it would a gre...
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