Wednesday, May 7, 2008

RELAY FOR LIFE UPDATE...29 LUMINARIAS!!!!

Can you BELIEVE it? Wow, thank you so much to everyone who has ordered a luminaria. Our total number has almost TRIPLED since yesterday. As I was putting Hannah to bed tonight she said to me "we have to get to work on those bags mom!" Well that's for sure. We plan to start this weekend. I'm sure the girls will love it, since they love any kind of crafting.

The other thing Hannah called me into her room for tonight was school. In particular crying in school. She said that she cries in school every day and she just can't help it. She said she tries not to, but it just starts and then she cries. She said it's embarrassing, especially when it's in front of the whole class. They are only brief crying spells (I was there one day when it happened) because she gets frustrated over something, usually math. Even if she knows something, she doesn't have the confidence in herself to believe she knows it. I told her that we could talk about some strategies tomorrow to help her not to cry in class (like taking a deep breath, or maybe thinking of Tod.) This week was actually a good week for Hannah, she had NO crying on Monday and Tuesday. Today she was upset though, especially when she fell down on the rug in the classroom. Natalie her aide, said she thought Hannah tripped due to her foot. Her foot was hurting a lot today, and she had a significant limp. We go to physical therapy tomorrow again, so we'll have it checked out.

I believe this emotional thing is still from the posterior fossa syndrome that Hannah had following surgery. Not a lot is known about it, but it can cause mutism, big emotional mood swings, and quite a few other things. It has gotten much much better though. After surgery, and during radiation and chemo also, Hannah was extremely emotional and would cry many times a day. I remember talking to Colby about this a few times, trying to explain to her that her sister was emotional at times, even if it wasn't rational. It was difficult to understand why Hannah would be fine one minute, but crying or screaming the next. It is so much better now, although still there.

Colby had her school band and chorus concert tonight, and they were incredible! A big improvement from their fall concert, they all sounded great. I thought Colby was going to be the kid that passed out during the concert tonight (something like that happens every concert). She was very hot and flushed at the beginning of the chorus section, and looked like she was going to faint. She made it though, and all was good.

Signing off for tonight, thanks again for all of your love and support.

xoxo Kim