Another Long Medical Week Followed by Some FUN!

The week started as most of our weeks do....with more Dr.'s appointments. Wednesday, AnnaGrace had an MRI, under general anesthesia, to rule out any brain lesions/tumors. This was an unexpected blip on our radar. Annie has been our healthy one all year; however, several weeks ago, following an EEG for some miscellaneous symptoms, a follow-up MRI was ordered.

Praise God AnnaGrace's MRI results were all-clear!

The bright side of the MRI...we saw the inside of yet a new hospital. (Did you catch the sarcasm there?) That's at least the fifth hospital we've been admitted to or had a procedure performed in this year.

After Wednesdays MRI, Sarah Mei had her platelets checked on Friday. We discovered that they dropped to a low of 16 (normal is 150-450). Needless to say we didn't pass go, we didn't collect $200, but we went straight to the "party room" as the hematology office so aptly dubs the treatment room, for a Rhophylac treatment. The great thing about the hematologist office is how painless they try to make everything. SarahMei had her pick of snacks, beverages, DVDS and even got her own blanket to bring home.

We will go back tomorrow to check the platelet count again to confirm the effectiveness of the treatment.

Sarah Mei in the "party room" watching a video and getting her treatment.



We also had 2 dentist appointments and Isabelle's normal weekly physical therapy appointment, but we don't even count those sorts of appointments anymore. If we only see two Dr.'s a week, I count it as a "good" week.

I must confess I'm looking forward to 2011. I'm sure it will be a less busy medical year!

After another crazy medical weekend, we had a wonderful family weekend in Aiken, SC watching Torie compete her Thoroughbred horse, Brego aka The Original Mr. Simon. Both she and Michaela compete in eventing which consists of three phases of competition.

First the horse and rider are tested in dressage which is the equivalent of the ballet of the horse world. Judges critique the horse/rider team on the precision and gracefulness of a preset series of moves performed in a 20 x 40 meter arena.

Torie and Brego - DRESSAGE PHASE



Later in the day the horse and rider are tested in the cross-country phase. This test the pairs' fearlessness, agility and speed as they gallop and jump immovable obstacles. Torie's jumps were up to 2'11" in height and as wide as 4" at the base and 3' wide at the top. On this particular course they had 20 jumps and 5 minutes 22 seconds was the optimum time to finish the course. Torie and Brego jumped the course clear (no stops, falls, etc.) and finished in 5 minutes 15 seconds.

Torie and Brego - CROSS COUNTRY PHASE



The final phase is on the 2nd day and is show jumping. Show jumping shows the horse's ability to recover from the physical demands of the 1st day of riding and jump obstacles with rails that will easily fall if rubbed by the horses' legs. Torie and Brego also went clean (no rails down and no stops at jumps) in the show jumping phase.

Torie and Brego - SHOW JUMPING PHASE



Michaela watched intently all weekend while Torie competed. She is Torie's chief right hand "man" and groom at these events. Torie will get payback soon because Michaela's Thoroughbred should be ready for shows as early as this fall.



Isabelle did't take the entire eventing thing quite so seriously....



Sarah Mei, on the other hand, appointed herself junior groom. She sponged off Brego's legs after his hard work was done for the weekend.



"Sons (Daughters) are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him"...."Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." Psalm 127:3, 4b

It was a great outing! One of the best parts of the weekend besides watching Torie compete was catching up with friends, Bill and Alison Ibsen. Phil and Alison have known each other since high school, and Phil and Bill were college room mates at the Citadel.

In addition to sharing meals and great conversation, we also discovered that Bill is a gifted photographer. All the photos on today's blog (except the one of Sarah Mei at the hematologist) are thanks to Bill! I can't wait to see all the photos he took and post more on the blog this week.