Many of you know that I would like to take Sam for a stem cell treatment in China for a month.  Of course, Tim and Ben would go along, like always, and since Tim lived in Hong Kong before and wants to go back, his arm is not hard to twist. 

 

Our wonderful friend Tami has taken her daughter Jillian to China, and her husband and the rest of the family had to stay back in the states in China.  Imagine the STRENGTH it takes for Tami to do this for Jillie - to give her a chance at something more - while maneuvering a foreign country and a whole pack of doctors at the same time. 

 

Things have not been smooth, although they've been good.  Please check in on Jillie's blog and send your prayers for her and Tami.  Tami would also appreciate a message - she's on the other side of the world, and support and prayers matter so much. 

 

Here's her blog:

 

 

 

 

So what else has happened? One very significant thing is that I FINALLY took Sam to the dentist.  I "should" have done it at least a year ago; kids really shouldn't wait until they're 4 to see a dentist.  But 15 months ago, Sam didn't have any teeth at all - they kept coming in, and then going back into his gums again and disappearing.  So my boy got to keep cutting the same teeth over and over!  The only option we had heard for that was to cut his gums open and YANK his teeth down.  Seriously.  Does anybody anywhere think that would be a decent thing to do for a child who isn't eating by mouth anyway?  Or any child, for that matter?

 

When we started seeing Dr Towle, he realized quickly that Sam's teeth weren't strong/hard enough to come through and stay, so he told us about a homeopathic remedy (alternate calc phos and calc fluor) and that weekend, Sam's teeth came in - 6 at a time.  Made for misery for the two of us - his teeth hurt like crazy, and my thumb hurt from his gnawing on it - but it was progress, and since then, he's gotten a mouthful of teeth that stay put.

 

I don't know if you can imagine the sinking my heart felt when discussing Sam's visit to the dentist.  His mouth hardly opens - it hangs open, and his jaw is retracting, but his mouth doesn't move freely.  He can't respond to the commands to move his jaw, open his mouth, spit, swallow, bite down on this, or any of the other delightful things we do at the dentist.  We took him to our family dentist - they already knew his story and I wouldn't have to tell it again, which was a HUGE plus.  (I couldn't hate that story more.)  I took both boys together, for moral support for each other, and it was a first visit for both, since Ben had been to a "Kid Dentist" (that we didn't much care for) in the past.  (He has terrible teeth.)

 

Well, can I say my boys are FABULOUS?  Ben did great, and the hygienist was impressed, but I wasn't all that surprised.   He's a good kid and listens well.  And Sam - well, I was stunned.  I acted as the assistant to the hygienist, using the suction, positioning Sam's head, blah blah blah, but he was bright-eyed, responsive, and let it all happen.  He made a couple of comments, but they weren't bad - he just had something to say.  Many of his teeth had come in yellow; we always assumed it was from antibiotics, but it was apparently tartar and she was able to get it all off - now he has pearly whites. 

 

I couldn't believe it - he was so good, and bright, and "there".  Usually, when he meets a new doctor or is getting something unpleasant done, he checks out - you can see it in his eyes.  But he didn't this time.  It was nice.  I needed a boost.

I know I'm lousy at keeping this updated, but with it being down for almost two months, I'm struggling to remember everything. 

 

Well, we had Sam's birthday party, and it went well.  I think.  I tend to block things out when I'm stressed.  But, a wonderful thing happened, and our friends at church took over for us as far as the celebrating goes.  Sheri and Michelle asked if they could have Sam's birthday party on his actual birthday, on the night they usually have a children's youth group activity.  Normally, about 8-10 kids show up, but about 20 showed for Sam!  So that was nice.  Sam wanted a spaceman party, so Tim and I got a bunch of stuff ahead of time, and on the actual night, we didn't have to do too much.  I wasn't in good shape - his birthday party was actually right at the time he was born, so I was just trying to stay vertical. 

 

A beautiful idea that Sheri and Michelle had was to have Sam come later than the rest of the kids, so the kids could decorate.  I thought that was wonderful - since Sam isn't able to really interact a whole lot with them, this helped them connect with him better.  I had asked that they be told not to shriek and scream when he got there, because that would scare him, and they just generally yelled "happy birthday Sam" and he was good with that. 

 

We had a few acres of black fabric left over from Ben's disco party last year, so I got some neon fabric paints and the kids made HUGE "outer space" banners for Sam.  Very cool - he can see the contrast, and they did a great job.  They played with the parachute (Sam was not a fan), hunted for moon rocks (we wrapped a bunch of crap from Oriental Trading in aluminum foil and hid it in the playground) and decorated sugar cookies to look like aliens. 

 

Then the best idea of all.  I usually make a fairly elaborate cake for Ben, and I just didn't have the heart to do it for Sam, knowing he wasn't going to eat it.  So our friend Laura suggested "moon pies" - and we stuck candles in them, and the kids all made a wish for Sam.  Couldn't have been better. 

 

I'll post some pictures right now.