Hello!
Here
we are halfway through March already. How time flies.
The
earth is coming alive as spring arrives here in the Tennessee Mountains. The
crocus, mini iris, and daffodils are blooming brightening up my plot of ground
with a range of colors while the row of forsythia bushes are slowing opening
their yellow buds. Some of my cherry
blooms froze in the last cold spell, but thankfully all weren't open so
hopefully I'll still get some cherries. Last year they all froze out.
This
time the big news is that Dwight moved back home. When Dana turned 62 this year
in November the "powers that be" decided that not only was Dwight
eligible for SSI (state insurance) that he has been on all his life, but also
Medicare (federal) since he was born disabled, although they insist that it is
impossible to have duel insurance. Instead of having better insurance coverage
suddenly Dwight was knocked off the insurance he had been on having to scramble
around to get his clotting factor paid for as some of the other insurance
wouldn't insure it or said he'd have to go to the dr's office for every shot,
which was impossible as Dwight gets internal bleeds at night or on weekends-
you can't time them. And of course it all was supposed to get worked out before
the first of the year. Despite being on the phone constantly in all kinds of
conference calls, Dwight ended up having to get some emergency factor to tide
him over. Then his monthly check was split in two and we hoped that by getting
two checks he might get a bit of an increase. Lo and behold didn't they end up
giving Dwight $120 less! Only the government can do such crazy stuff. So Dwight
suddenly wasn't able to even afford his apartment that was pro-rated. The month
of Feb was a rush of cleaning Dwight's room from top to bottom and moving most
of Dwight's things back home before
Dawn
and her kids came the last weekend to finish moving all his furniture. What a
job. On the bright side having Dwight here at home really helps me out. Dwight’s back is still not back to normal so
he can’t do much, but here he can walk outside on slower days instead of being
confined to a small apartment or putter around in one of the workshops. And as
you know there is always something happening here on the Walker farm, which can
help keep Dwight’s mind off of what he can’t do as it’s difficult being so
young and having a body where you can’t do stuff like normal. And when I have
to run into town, Dwight will be here with Dana.
On
Dawn’s side they finally got a big break through with Annette. It was very
frustrating for Dawn knowing something was wrong and yet not being able to
figure out why Annette kept getting so sick after eating. Ever since Annette
was little she was a picky eater and often would get sick. First Dawn had to
convince the doctor that Annette wasn’t depressed and didn’t need counseling,
then they had her tested for all kinds of allergies, and nothing showed up out
of range. The next step was Annette having all kinds of tests done where they
discovered her esophagus was badly scarred- quite unusual for someone only 16
yrs old- and quite inflamed as well has her gallbladder. So last year Annette
had gallbladder surgery. After recovering from that, she still got sick so Dawn
tried eliminating different foods and spices, but no pattern showed up. When
Dawn took Annette back to the surgeon and explained that Annette was still
getting sick he told her that they couldn’t keep taking Annette’s organs out.
Can you imagine? Dawn said she didn’t want Annette to keep having surgery she
only wanted to find out the root of the problem. Frustrated Dawn took Annette
back to the allergist specialist to try and get some answers. The crazy guy
said (instead of him trying to figure out what was going on) that he’d run
whatever tests Dawn wanted. So with all her research and testing of foods etc,
Dawn made up a list of a bunch of things to test for. Lo and behold whey showed
up. And when Dawn started looking at ingredients in stuff it all made sense.
Did you know that cake mixes, gravy mixes, and a host of other things you
wouldn’t think of have whey in it beside the obvious milk products and cheeses?
Dawn was getting quite desperate and I was concerned as Annette’ skin had a
white unhealthy pallor and sometimes she would binge eat as no matter what she
ate, she’d get sick and often throw up- even Annette’s tongue would swell, yet
she was always hungry. Even eating a small amount at a time didn’t help. It
became normal for Annette to always leave the table after eating while the rest
of us sat around talking. In one month’s time after making sure there was no
whey in what Annette ate, there is color in Annette’s cheeks, and she is so
happy she can eat and not get sick. It’s horrible it took so long to find out
what was wrong, but thankfully Dawn wouldn’t give up. Finally Annette can start
living a normal life and not have to worry about getting sick whenever she
eats. Isn’t it amazing how intricate and finely tuned our bodies are?
Well
I do need to hush up as I’m about to run out of space.
Sending
lots of spring hugs your way~
Dorcas
