Things I realized

There are a few things I realized today. I realized that I am so very proud of Cody. Ok, this isn't the first time I have figured this out but he was such a trooper getting his blood taken. Brett and he arrived at the hospital and he came walking down the hall carrying his backpack. I was curious.....he felt the need to bring his turtle, turtwig, dolphin, juice cup, baggie full of gold fish and donuts - all for a few minute trip to get blood taken! How cute is that! They drew the one vial and the guy put a bugs bunny band aid on him. The guy made the comment "he probably doesn't know who that is"....you are so right. Thankfully, they did have Spongebob stickers and he got 6 of them. He was so happy as he didn't have to ask for some for his brothers.

That vial of blood is going to determine our next step. If his TSH level comes back elevated again, I will contact the pediatric endo and set up an initial visit. If the level comes back normal then I will contact Dr. Tatum and see what he suggest our next step is in following through on the adenoids.

Yesterday I realized something else. My little boys aren't so little anymore. We have moved onto different toys. I actually had to go on line last night to look up Dylan's new favorite - Tech Deck. They have a website for this and an online community. Really! In case you have wondered what you do with these little skate boards that are way to small for anybody to stand on - well......your fingers become the "person" and you can do tricks on them with your fingers! So of course I need to figure this out! This is gonna be good. Then I went onto the Bakugan website - I swear they have a website for everything. I finally figured these things out too. The little ball has a magnet in them. In order to "battle" you need to place the magnetized card on the floor and roll your ball to battle. These come with accessories too - a battle ground, shooter and carrying case. Santa, Santa, Santa.......read up!

My last realization came last night. I realized that you can get a head in this world if you know somebody. Last night I read the online newspaper from my hometown area. I came upon a story with the word "smile" in it. I was intrigued so I clicked on it. It was about a little boy that has a cleft lip and palate and how he got his surgery done through Operation Smile. What I know about this organization is that they don't offer "free" surgeries to anybody in the US. They do all of there surgeries for other countries. While I won't say anything bad about that as they do offer great work - I know to many families living and struggling with this diagnosis right here in the US. So I choose to stay home on this issue. The family got to this organization because the mom's father works for a company and the owner of that company knows the CEO/Founder of Operation Smile. That is neither here nor there. Very happy the family/little boy is getting good care and it's not costing them a penny. However, at the end of the article they give Operation Smiles website and fundraising plea. What I know is that it is so misleading. If the family - two towns over read the story - and then a week later had a baby with a cleft and they lived in the US - Operation Smile is not going to offer them free services. I once contacted them about an Amish family and I got the "thank you for thinking of us, we can't help you, maybe these people could" response back. So......I know I am getting off on a tangent here BUT I guess this article just shows you can't believe everything you read. This family got free surgeries and travel cost because somebody knew somebody. NOT because this organization does this for families in the US.

I did however, contact the editor of the paper and ask to be put in touch with the writer with hopes of coming into contact with the family. I would like them to join Lucky Smiles and become a part of our NY family. Regardless of where/how they receive care, they are walking the same road as I am and so many other families and we are here to support them.