October 2022: The Second Two Weeks

Posts copied from Facebook . . . 

On Sunday night, Chris and I went out to a delicious dinner with another couple, and it was quite refreshing to talk to other adults about happenings in the world, and to hear zero kid fighting for two whole hours. After dinner, Chris and I stopped by a store to buy new readers to round out our date. It's the little things in life . . . .

Food Is Apparently a Topic

On Monday, I tried a new recipe for (semi) Keto Blueberry Biscuits (recipe here). Half the kids did not care for them because they don't like blueberries or lemon, and that's fine, but a bunch of us quite enjoyed them. They have only a slightly sweet taste, but it tastes quite nice when a person has already cut a lot of conventional sugar from the diet. Since Thomas can tolerate more now, I made the recipe with half almond flour and half all-purpose flour (instead of all almond), and I used half sugar substitute (allulose was my choice) and half conventional sugar (instead of all sugar substitute).

So tickled to have purchased more of this cashew butter "frosting" that Thomas's digestive system can actually tolerate! I last purchased this six months ago, but then the company ran out entirely. I even wrote them an inquiry email! When I received an email ad yesterday that the frosting would "drop" tonight at 8:00, I actually set my phone alarm and then I bought it within five minutes of availability. On a day (week) that I worked unceasingly and feel like I accomplished nothing, at least I accomplished this wee task.

On Sunday October 23, a bunch of families gathered for an old-fashioned fall picnic and a pie contest. It was heartwarming to see youth of ages from toddlers through high-schoolers playing in the creek, jumping on the trampoline, playing games like kickball and Spud. The table strained with hot entrees brought for the potluck. The pie judging was very serious, with two judges brought in just for the purpose: they used double-sided, very detailed judging forms and assigned scores to the pies, which were submitted anonymously. Our little family swept the awards! Mary and I tied for second place while John took first, and we even received prizes. It was so fun!

Celebrating Chris's Birthday

Happy birthday to Chris! Amidst our extremely busy schedule, we carved out time for a birthday breakfast before Chris leaves town to go slay dragons yet again (go on a business trip to support his family).

Music Happenings

Congrats to our Mary on moving up quite a few seats in youth orchestra at seating auditions! Can't wait to see her perform in November!

On Saturday October 22, Mary performed in her first piano recital since the fateful date of March 7, 2020: days before America locked down. Teachers wouldn’t teach us, nor were performances allowed, without masks so our children’s musical education came to a screeching halt for two years--years they will never get back. It was very meaningful for our little family to have one of ours back on stage again!

Mira Via annual banquet 2022

Fraternus Father-Son Camping Trip

Chris and John had a really good time going camping with their Fraternus chapter in mid-October.

Found the lost cell phone with minutes to spare before packing up to leave

All Hallow's Eve, All Saints Day, All Souls Day 2022

If you are like me and now have such an insanely busy schedule now that you scoured all of October for JUST TWO MEASLEY HOURS to take your kids on the annual trip to a pumpkin patch, but could not find that time, and you get over your tears that this Homeschooling Rat Race is just not what you envisioned 15 years ago, but you still have to buy pumpkins because at this point Halloween is in five days, going to Trader Joe's was an excellent suggestion of my husband's. These pumpkins cost 40% what I pay at the roadside stand (which is itself cheaper than actual pumpkin farms). TJs charges $4.50 flat price for the larger pumpkins and 79 cents for the cute decorative mini pumpkins.

Thomas Updates

Thomas recently learned the word and concept of disability and he asked me if he could learn about saints who were disabled. I found this wonderful book, .”Special Saints for Special People,” written by Megan Gannon who has cerebral palsey. This slim volume is proving absolutely wonderful and inspiring. It is written for adults but accessible to my seven-year-old (who does read very well!). Thomas is reading his way through it and asking questions, which leads to fruitful conversations about disability, holiness, and the whole purpose of life—which is not to be the most able person around! (Book link in comments)

N.B. Thomas is nearly perfectly better now. 🙂

You might be reading articles popping up online lately warning that pediatric hospitals are full to bursting right now, and I can vouch in my tiny way for our beloved local children's hospital. I believe, as do many experts and laypeople alike, that this is in large part due to the lack of immune system stimulation over the prior 2+ years, and now all those regular viruses that continually swim in the air around us are making happy homes in children with their unpracticed immune systems. 

A simple respiratory bug that went through almost all the members of our house (we know which one and it isn't one of the big, scary ones) gave Thomas a more difficult time since he is immunocompromised and asplenic, so one night this week, after I stayed up virtually all night with him, Chris and I decided I would drive him to the ER at 5:00 a.m. (Around midnight, I had logged in online to reserve a spot at an Urgent Care just in case, and they didn't have a single slot for the next 18 hours. Also, an Urgent Care is kind of pointless for Thomas because of the stat labs and imaging the doctors always do, and that they run prophylactic IV antibiotics for him.)

We've been in the ER more often than the average bear over the last year and a half but I had never seen it like this. Even at an hour when it would usually be empty, all the seats were full. One could not choose to have distance from the many sick children. These were not traumas, but were all communicable illnesses. We were told that there were "no rooms" in the ER available and that it would be a long wait. 

As Thomas and I passed the time, I saw a nurse start working the ER waiting room to double-check with any patients who perhaps did not require ER-level care and could just choose to go home. That the staff was that desperate was shocking to me. Thomas got called back hours later and we felt very fortunate to spend our time there in an actual room. The staff were having to line up patients on gurneys in the hallway! One patient was vomiting violently the whole time into a trash can . . . out in public in the hallway. Another little child was so feverish and sick, she frankly looked near death was her depth of sleep there in the ER hallway. There was simply nowhere to put them. We were told that the hospital beds upstairs were full, too.

When there were four medical staff in our little room working with Thomas, we all got to chatting about how the pediatric hospitals have been full for about a month now. Every one of them voiced openly, "I think this is from the kids having weak immune systems due to the lockdowns." "Oh yeah, definitely." Nods all around.

Before Thomas's cancer, we rarely used medical care, we had almost never taken a child to the ER. Now this kind of nationwide situation feels very precarious to me. In our first nine weeks of school, our family has experienced something like four or five distinct respiratory illnesses sweeping through . . . because we are back into a homeschool co-op and all the activities again. Mostly I embrace the illnesses as good for our immune systems to strengthen again. There is no way out of this worldwide problem but through it.

However, it sure is a vulnerable feeling to be watching this pediatric vulnerability and overwhelmed hospital situation with an immunocompromised child in our very own home. Today at a follow-up appointment with Thomas's primary care, we were discussing a particular medication that, were Thomas to receive it, really should mean he stays inpatient for five days to watch him carefully . . . "But there are no hospital beds," said the doctor.

All I can suggest to strengthen your immune system with vitamins, exercise, and sleep as best you can . . . wash your hands compulsively . . . keep your babies home and do not let others kiss/touch them . . . and if you're communicably sick, for the love of neighbor, please stay home. But lockdowns and isolation again? This little layperson on her soapbox says no way!

Also, if you head to the ER for any reason, bring more than one good book. You're going to be sitting there for awhile.

Thomas was sick and in the Emergency Room on the morning of the parish All Saints Party. He was a real trooper while we are the ER, knowing he was missing the party, but his grief hit him when we got home and his brothers were bubbling with post-party excitement. Ultimately, Thomas rallied and made his own All Saints Party on our driveway and invited only me, since I missed the party, too. We played ladder ball, hockey-into-a-box, ring toss, and Find the Birds.