Savanna and Cori, Zoe, Mama

Since it had been several weeks since Savanna had been to church – due to her persistent high fever – she seemed a little hesitant to go; especially to Sunday School. Remember, she is still barely able to understand Spanish, so I can imagine how she would feel a bit out of place among her Honduran peers. So, Sunday morning, Savanna asked her mommy, “Mommy, I am mommy to my dolls. Right?” Not knowing where the conversation was heading, Cori cautiously answered that she was indeed the mommy to her dolls. To which Savanna followed up, “And mommies don’t have to go to Sunday School class. Right?” It was not a good enough case to allow her to avoid going to her Sunday School class, but it was pretty clever. Especially for a three-year-old mind. Later that day Cori was quizzing Savanna about her Sunday School class, asking her what the story was about. “I don’t know,” she responded, “the teacher kept talking about somebody called Noe.” Cori smiled and explained that Noe was the Spanish pronunciation of Noah. She instantly saw that the light came on in Savanna’s eyes. “That’s why we were naming all the animals!” It’s good to hear that she is feeling better.

Cori is still dealing with swollen lymph nodes and general malaise. I spent some time last night talking to her about what she is doing to combat the symptoms and got some insights into some of the exacerbating issues. Not the least of which is hydration. That has always been a challenge for Cori – even when she had unlimited access to clean, drinkable water. She is going to start correcting that problem and we will work our way out from there. Another complication could be from some of the oils she is taking internally. On that I am not sure but suggested that she research to see if any of the ones she is using are contraindicated for the symptoms she is experiencing. One of the problems with abundant natural health supplements is that we do not take the time to understand what the herbs or supplements can do outside of the suggested benefits. How much should we take? How often should we take the supplement? How long should I continue to take the supplement? Are there any harmful effects based on my gender, my metabolism, my blood type, my diet, my age, my current medical condition, etc.? I did not advise Cori to stop taking any one thing, only that she do a lot of homework to dig out the information on each thing she is taking to understand the upside and evaluate the downside – and there often is a downside.

Brittany called yesterday to tell Mama that Zoe had taken her first steps. They were coaching her through the process, but she was able to take three steps before falling onto her bottom to begin crawling again. That is always a monumental indication of progress so those beginning steps are always exciting. However, they are a harbinger of busy, exhausting days to come. Especially since Brittany has two little ones to follow after. Typically, two little ones like that will follow each other around so when something happens they are likely to be in the same place when it does. It should be several years until they diverge into their own personal mischief. Lord willing, by that time there will have been a lot of behavioral training presented to the twins. For the moment, we will enjoy the progress and watch the girls start to get about in an upright position. Brittany and the girls will be here with us on Thursday. Mama is really looking forward to that.

We are still on the docket for Mama’s second manipulation tomorrow at 2:30 pm. She will concentrate on hydrating today. She does not want a repeat of the fiasco she had to deal with last time when the nurses were unable to start IV’s or successfully draw blood. Mama has been able to sleep longer intervals in her brace over the past several nights. It shows when she walks. However, she wears out very quickly and she is only able to stand doing dishes or laundry or cleaning for short periods of time before the pain sets in causing her to have to rest. Hopefully, this manipulation will get the bend we need, and the brace will allow Mama to keep it. The issues of energy to do things and pain in doing those things should improve drastically as we get the joint operating properly. Or so we are told.

Time will tell.