Living in Munchkinland

In between hospital visits and trips to Texas, we have real life. I get up in the morning and walk Sookie through the park, I teach theatre, I drive the kids to lessons and never fail to appreciate the mountain view, the kids play D&D with the neighborhood, we see movies at Alamo Drafthouse, on Fridays we play Catan with Suzy and Jason while the kids watch a movie down stairs, on Sundays we take neighborhood kids to UU church, I occasionally sneak out to Littleton with book group. Here are a few pictures of real life.

First of all, I should tell you that we are home from the hospital. Sam is doing much better, though he is not headache free. We have a lot to sort through, but we are so happy to be home. I wanted to put up pictures of our trip to Anderson Farms we took last weekend. This was one of Sam's good days where he could run around in the sunshine and I was so happy to see him happy. We went with our friends Suzy and Jason and really enjoyed the day. We live in such a glorious place in the fall. I love to see the leaves change. October is my favorite time of year here.

We left the ER on Monday night shortly after I wrote the last post and we were so, so weary. I dropped Sam off at home and put him into soft pajamas and tucked him into his bed where he fell immediately asleep. I greeted Davis and hugged and kissed him and congratulated him on being so responsible. I thanked my neighbor. I drove to target. I picked up medications. I spoke to the pediatrician. I was very grateful we had kicked the headache again and had drugs to keep it gone while our neurologist was out of town this week. Samuel woke up with a migraine. I dosed him with the new awesome drug. I took him to school, hoping it stayed very mild. The nurse called and said it was not mild. He was curled up in pain and sobbing. I called the neurology department. I took Sam home and left him with my neighbor who was gracious enough to come stay with him. I got back in time to start my class. A few minutes after I started teaching, the neurology office called and told us we were to be admit...

We are living in a migraine world. Sam has been suffering for over a month. He's only made it to five full school days in a month. He has a headache almost every day. We've had an MRI, a neurology visit, several doctor visits, and three emergency room visits. We've totally hit our deductible. We just can't kick the migraine. It's so awful to see your child in pain. Sam has good days. Great days like this weekend when he played and ran all day in the sunshine before the migraine closed in with night. But he hasn't played tennis in a month, or been able to make any of his guitar lessons. Some days he doesn't get out of his pajamas or his dark room. The week we were in Texas he was better. He only had two migraines the whole time. That was a wonderful break. We don't know why it was better there. Our neurologist says it doesn't really matter. She feels that it is a genetic issue and that the most important thing is figuring out how to stop them. At ...

We spent the week of fall break in Texas on the ranch. We stayed with my mama. Michael was gone the whole week in California, so it was just Mom, the boys and me. It was very peaceful. The first two times I went home after Dad died and I moved were harder. The first time was really hard and the second, I was still pretty conflicted. I felt guilty and torn about leaving mom and my life and the ranch and my house. This time I found peace with my decision. I still love the ranch deeply. It is my roots and my childhood and my children's childhood. My mom is home for me and being with her is wonderful. But I am happy with where I live now. It is okay for me to have a place to live that I chose for myself. I love Colorado. So that was a major milestone for me to reach emotionally and it made the trip very enjoyable. I was able to truly appreciate the place without all that emotional baggage. The kids appreciated the pool. A lot. They swam everyday except one when a cool front came in...