Meyer Family Travails

I know.
I know.
I'm sorry. I really am.

Update here.

Kenny seems to be stabilized on the medication he's on. We are STILL waiting to see a neurologist. I am very much not happy about this. There's a new neurologist in Walla Walla, but he's not approved for the medical coupon that Kenny has. Yes, the medical coupon that we never use because Kenny has insurance through my employer that's primary. And, yes, THAT one IS approved. Can they see him through that insurance? No. I should have just gone straight to Seattle. He hasn't had any further seizures since the first two.

He's getting ready for graduation. I can't believe he's graduating from high school. He's very excited. And we still have to get announcements out! You're all invited to an open house/bbq on Saturday, June 6, 2009 from noon-4 pm at our house!

Kenny ran track this spring for WaHi and for Special Olympics. He is a sprinter, running the 100, the 200, the 4x100 relay and long jump. He's had a lot of fun in school track and really likes hanging out with his friends. So far in SOWA, at regionals in Spokane, Kenny took 3 golds and 1 silver medal. He was pretty excited about that. I have to get a picture of him with his medals soon.

Kate: well, Kate managed the boys' baseball team at her school this spring, attending all practices and keeping statistics. She didn't enjoy it as much as she did last year. She did do a dance unit in PE and they had a guest instructor teach the unit. The teacher recognized that Kate was an experienced dancer and encouraged her to get back into it. So....





Wow. She's amazing. Beautiful, graceful. And just enough attitude to make it fun. We should all feel so young, beautiful and free!
Oh. And she and Sadee splatter painted her room.

Oh. And she's running for ASB President. Fly higher with Meyer. Vote for Meyer, she's on fire! Be part of something great, get out and vote for Kate. Wearing a shirt tomorrow that says on the front: Vote for Kaitlyn Meyer! On the back: She's got your back! We're having a lot of fun with the campaign.

And Zach. Well, baseball, baseball, baseball. Look:





He's had a great season. Hitting pretty well, catching GREAT! Opposing coaches are complimenting him after the game. He's been amazing to watch. Almost no balls ever get by him. He regularly throws base-stealer-attempters out at second. He's had a blast, even though the team has had a rough go this season. They did make districts, but it was tough.

It's hard for me to understand why he loves baseball so much. It's obviously trying to kill him.

Yesterday, they were doing a drill with a golf-ball-sized wiffle ball. It's heavy and dense. They stand about 6-7 feet away from someone and throw them the ball and their partner hits it. With a bat. Hard. Right back at you. Or, if your name is Zach-Catastrophe-Meyer, right back at your eye.

The ball collided with Zach's eyeball. Hard. Broke a blood vessel in his eye and the anterior chamber of his eye filled with blood and he lost all vision. There is a fancy medical term for this. I just call it very, very scary.

Took him to the eye docs. They couldn't see much inside his eye. It did appear to stop bleeding and begin to clear a little while we were there, and Zach was able to finally make out the wall where the eye chart was. Or at least the shadow of it.

Due to a risk of re-bleeding and to keep the blood pooling/clotting in the right place, he had to remain at a 45* incline all night and not move. I was awake all night. He was pretty traumatized and slept pretty well.

This morning, we went to see the eye surgeon. She said that he has 3 tears in the sphincter of his iris, which will heal, but are not reparable, so his left pupil will always be slightly enlarged, leading to light sensitivity. She could see the retina, which was still attached, but had swelling, so she couldn't rule out a tear. Re-evaluation of that will be Thursday. If it's torn, it will require surgery. Good news, Zach was seeing 20/40 this morning, so the fluid has cleared a lot. Bad news. Still a high risk of re-bleed, so he must remain in bed rest for 5 days. It will take a while for his body to re-absorb the blood, too.

So please pray. Prom is Saturday. I hope he'll be able to go. Meantime, Kailee and Maverick are taking good care of him.

And, file this next one under lessons learned from my dog. (And once again, I tell you, if you're not on Facebook, you're missing the best stuff!)

A few weeks ago, I woke up at 3:00 am to a horrific sound. Now, if you know me, you know that at 3:00 am, I hadn't been asleep very long. I couldn't figure out what the noise was. I went downstairs and the dogs were both milling around by the front door. It took me a minute to realize the sound was coming from them. Or one of them. I couldn't tell. It was a noise like nothing I'd ever heard. Well, it turns out that Duke had gotten into the garbage...a sneaky habit many chubby dogs have...and this time, he had gotten a tin can out of the garbage. A tin can with the lid still partially attached. He had stuck his tongue down inside the can and then tried to pull it back out. It was like those little finger handcuffs. You can go in, but not out. His tongue was wedged against the side of the can and he was running around with a Spaghetti-o's can on his face, making unearthly shrieking noises.

So, by this time, Kate was awake. I asked her to get Zach, thinking he was stronger and could hold Duke. Zach got up, bleary-eyed, looked in our direction and said, "Duke always gets in the garbage." And went back to bed. Okay. So much for that idea.

Kate, on the other hand. Real help there. She moved Koda away, because Koda was freaking out. Truthfully, so was I. The tongue was really stuck. I didn't know what to do. If I pushed the can lid down, it would cut off his tongue. If I pulled it up, same thing. Debating about whether you should cut your dog's tongue off with an upward or downward motion at 3 am is not my idea of a soothing, recreational activity.

So Kate brings me a butter knife. And Duke, trusting soul that he is, just lay there in the doorway and let me work on that can. Despite the fear and pain he must have been experiencing, he let me come in there with a knife. He trusted me completely. And he held still. And I bent the can lid with the blade of the knife, just enough so Duke's tongue was free.

He let me examine it. It was cut pretty badly, but he let me apply pressure with a cloth and soon it stopped bleeding and when I could really see it, it looked like it would heal okay without stitches. So we all went to bed. Whew.

The lesson I learned from my dog? Never eat garbage.

No. Not really.

It's about submission. I heard a song, that I'll try to put on here. "Why are you trying to earn grace?" "Please don't fight these hands that are holding you. My hands are holding you."

Have you ever been fishing? And tried to take the hook out of a fish's mouth in order to throw it back? And the way it writhes and flails and panics and fights with everything in its scaly little body? Even when you're trying to help it? Kind of like they say a drowning person will do?

Well, that would be me.

I have such a clear picture of God standing there, saying, "I'll help you, just let me help you. Stop fighting me. Stop. You're just making it worse. Be still for just a minute."

And I can't do it. I'm not afraid of much. But I am scared of giving up control. Even to God. I like to be in charge. Going with the flow isn't exactly my strong suit. And considering the mess I've got, I'm not sure why I'm so convinced I know better.

Sigh.

I resolve to be more like Duke. To breathe a little more slowly. To trust those who really are trying to help me. To stop fighting. To move with the current instead of swimming upstream.

Well, I didn't say all the time. But maybe I'll try it. Once.

Oh. And, in honor of Duke, I'll eat more Spaghetti-o's.

And take the lid completely off the can this time.