Well, Irene (the Hurricane) missed us almost completely; we suffered no ills from her in our part of North Carolina but, man, so many other folks weren't so lucky. Up in Virginia, my old stomping grounds have been decimated by the earth quake but especially Irene. Some of my friends haven't had any power for days and it will be Friday before they might see any relief. My heart and prayers go out to all the people who fell in the path of such destruction.
Around here we have been having problems of a different sort. Kim saw the nephrologist again yesterday and it was confirmed that she is in stage 3 renal failure/kidney disease. Everything about the diabetes interferes with the treatment for the kidneys so nothing is being done. They will just wait until she has to be on dialysis then on the transplant list and by then she will probably be too sick to withstand and qualify for the surgery. Rock? Hard place? Oh well, at least she has been enjoying her life for the past year. She went to the Baptist University Hospital in Winston-Salem this morning to see her endocrinologist to have her insulin adjusted. She no longer qualifies for the gasteoparesis study because her gastroenterologist had her have that awful surgery last February(*See below); he didn't think about the fact that it would disqualify her in the study. The docs up there are doing their best to try and keep her supplied with insulin.
My grandson, Kim's son, has started middle school and needs our prayers for freedom from teasing and bullies. He will be 12 on October 1 but he has not grown much in 4 years; he weighs 62 pounds. He was put on ADHD meds a couple years ago and it has stunted his growth and made him anxiety ridden which causes problems for him at school.
Enough about troubles already! I wanted you to know that I finally finished my favorite kit! It has been a labor of love even though it was nerve racking too. I kept going back and changing or improving some element and it was getting to be ridiculous so I had to put my pen down and bundle and box it up for sale. I think I will probably go back and add other things to it in the future; it has so many directions it can go in! I named it 'Good Morning, Sunshine!' because I had my grandson in my mind when he was a toddler and always woke up with a huge smile and a hug for everyone. The descriptions I entered in the Southern Comfort Scrap shop give you a little more insight into me and my childhood. Anyway, I hope you will take a look and consider purchasing some or all of it and let me know what you think. I made a gift for you of 'stacked' papers from the kit; all you need to do is add a photo or two and some journaling and viola! you are done! Here are the previews of my new kit and also of the freebie; choose which site you want to download from and enjoy!
The Kit
A layout I made using some of the items from my kit. Isn't he adorable?
The preview of your gift:
Hope you all have a great week!
Hugs,
*For those who aren't familiar with the facts, Kim had major reconstructive surgery on the bottom of her stomach and the top of her intestines in February in order for her food to flow into her intestines better as her stomach no longer works and all her food must be digested only in her intestines which are over 50% necrotic. She had a feeding tube in her stomach for almost two years but it really didn't help-it made matters worse so the hole was allowed to close up last autumn.
