Christmas is without a doubt my favorite time of year. I have always loved it. As a child it was great fun to get together with family, to exchange gifts, to celebrate with Aunt Ronnie and Sr. Jan on Christmas morning. I have nothing but good memories about Christmas; even the year Paul threw up on Christmas Eve after opening the Mickey Mouse bank. That was a good Christmas too.
As an adult my love of Christmas has really turned in to a love of Advent. The magic of Santa and exchanging gifts wears off, but there is a renewed sense of hope in preparing for the birth of Jesus and the coming of the New Year. I always find it ironic that Christmas is such a joyous time, but the readings at mass really tend to be more cautionary and not always the "feel good" sections of the new testament. Whereas the celebration of Easter conjures these hope filled and joyful readings, but we're met with the resurrection. It isn't that I don't get what is going on. It is just dichotomy of what is transpiring that I find so interesting. So it seems that the last two years have found us preparing for Christmas during Advent, but also preparing ourselves for what lies ahead with Alli.
Last year at this time we were adjusting to life at home, post op with Alli, learning how to give medication, and trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. All the while rejoicing that she appeared to be seizure free. The preparation for Christmas was somewhat filled with anxiety given our new circumstances. Alli wasn't feeding well. It was difficult to administer multiple medications by mouth. But, there was great joy in beginning this new phase of her life, post cardiac repair. She had a new rosy hue, a repaired heart, and we would meet the other challenges as they came.
This year we find ourselves at LeBonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis. We are here to meet with Dr. Wheless and have him evaluate Alli's neurological status. Beginning today she will undergo an MRI, Video EEG Monitoring, Neuropsychology testing, and regular consultations with the doctor. They have told us to plan to be here for at least a week. So, here we are. We stayed last night at the Fedex Family House across the street from the hospital. Beautiful accommodations. We checked in around 6:00 pm CST. There were volunteers serving dinner. So, after we unpacked, I ventured down with Alli to have a bite to eat. I think there was almost a brawl between the ladies about who could hold Alli while I ate. Then we returned to our room and snuggled in for the night.
We had an early start this morning. Up at 4:30 to be at registration by 5:30 am. Most of you know I am not a morning person, so that was a stretch. But, all went smoothly. We met several other families in the waiting room. All here to see Dr. Wheless.
We are currently waiting for a cardiology consult before Alli has her MRI. The anesthesiologists want to be sure they understand her cardiac status before administering anesthesia. Once she has her MRI she will be hooked up for video EEG monitoring and we expect to meet with Dr. Wheless this afternoon.
I will keep everyone posted as events occur, results come in, treatment is discussed, etc. At this point, I am actually most interested in the neuropsychology testing. They will evaluate her to determine what her developmental age is.
Samantha started in the primary classroom this morning. Aside from me sending Jason to the wrong car pool line (oops!) it was smooth sailing for her. I can't wait to hear from her about it later!
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