Thankful Thursday

 1. Paul took Oliver to a free maple sugaring educational program at Montour Preserve on February 22. We had taken the kids there in the past, but it had been quite a few years. Oliver has been studying botany this semester in science, and he was too young when we went in the past to remember the program. It's an outstanding program which is free and at a location about 20 minutes from our home.

2. One of the families in our small co-op came over for dinner on March 1, and another co-op family came over on March 9. We enjoyed eating and playing games together with both of these families.

3. Our Montage ski trip was postponed by one week, but I was able to take my three kids plus Nathaniel skiing on March 4. They had a great time and want to go back there again next year!

4. Paul took Ian down to see the ENT for a follow-up appointment. Thankfully they didn't charge us anything for the appointment, and she said the surgery was a success! One nostril is now wide open. The other side has a narrow opening, but air can flow through both nostrils. Hopefully this will alleviate his sleep apnea. 

5. Although it made it hard to get up for church on Sunday morning in light of staying up past midnight on the night we lost an hour due to DST, the kids had a great time with the youth group at Winter Jam. Some of their favorite artists performed that night (Anne Wilson, Colton Dixon, Skillet, etc.), and they had fun with friends.

6. In the middle of February, I paid for one month of access to Angel. We saw several excellent movies including Faith of Angels, Brave the Dark, Lost on a Mountain in Maine, and Between Borders. 

7. We recently discovered that one of Oliver's friends from church lives very close to our home! Oliver has ridden his bike over to James' house a few times so far. Due to his autism, his mom doesn't trust him to ride his bike to our home, but I'm hoping I can provide transportation so that James can play over here from time to time with Oliver.

8. It feels like SPRING this week!!! I am not a fan of cold weather, so I am very, very, very grateful when it starts warming up outside. 

9. Cooper was at our house from the morning of February 21 to the evening of March 9, and he was healthy. Given his age and the fact that he had a stroke 13 months ago, it was an answer to prayer! Milo was looking all over for Cooper in the morning on March 10. He misses having Cooper here.

10. Nadia took the SAT on March 8. I decided to do some grocery shopping and get a haircut in Lewisburg while she took the test as then I took her directly for the last hour of a three-hour Wizard of Oz rehearsal. We will find out on March 21 how she did. I hadn't gotten a haircut in 7 months. I made the mistake of getting a shampoo while I was there. It had been years since I got a shampoo at a hair salon. It added a lot to the cost, so I definitely paid more than usual for this haircut, but I like the way she cut my hair. 

11. Next week I'm going to be taking five girls plus two moms to Cinderella's Closet at the YWCA to shop for prom dresses. The dresses there only cost around $20 each. Hopefully the girls will find dresses they love! The price is definitely right. 

12. Nadia finished her worldview course on March 7, and she earned another A. She's still in the middle of a New Testament course, and she'll begin an American Government class on Monday. 

13. A couple whom I have been friends with for 29 years sold their home that they had lived in for 57 years and moved to Indiana several months ago. They are in their late 80's. I enjoyed chatting on the phone with Kay this week, and we made plans to visit them in June as they live less than an hour from where the kids' Bible quizzing nationals will be held. 

14. After a two-week break, our small (15 kid) co-op resumed at our home on Tuesday. Our kids love spending time with their friends. 

15. I'm thankful for *some* of things Trump has done so far. I do not agree with a lot of his foreign policy (ex. referring to Canada as a 51st state, making Ukraine out to be the villain and Putin the victim, the way he talks about Greenland, talking about taking over the Gaza strip, etc.) or making a priority out of renaming things like the Gulf of Mexico/ Denali, but I am grateful he's trying to reduce the debt and size of the government, pardon some people who were in my opinion treated unjustly (ex. in jail for praying near an abortion clinic), releasing classified documents (and in general increasing transparency), trying to level the playing field when it comes to tariffs, and protecting women's sports. One positive thing as far as his foreign policy is that he's definitely not a "war hawk," which is a good thing. I think in general most Presidents have gone WAY too far with executive orders, so I'm hoping that the Congress will be more involved in many of these changes if for example the Post Office and/or Amtrak become privatized, or the Department of Education is eliminated. I actually debated with my roommate back in 1994 in favor of privatizing the Post Office. We shall see if that ever actually happens. My hope isn't in a President or anyone else in government. My hope is in the Lord! 

Thankful Tuesday

I can't believe it will be February 1 in just 4 days. It would have been Maurice's 41st birthday. It's been very cold, so I don't mind if winter flies by as I prefer the warmer weather. Here are some things I am thankful for today.

1. The kids were able to participate in a Bible quizzing competition at our church on January 10-11. I served as a scorekeeper on the 11th. Ian and Nadia have recently stepped up the amount of time they've been studying the book of Luke so we shall see how they do at the next competition.

2. The eldest member of the Bible quizzing team (Isaiah) recently turned eighteen. All three kids were invited to his birthday party.

3. Isaiah and three of his siblings are joining our co-op starting next week. We will have 8 boys and 7 girls, and if you go by grade level, we'll have three 6th graders, one 7th grader, one 8th grader, five 9th graders, two 10th graders, two 11th graders, and one 12th grader in our co-op this spring. 

4. Ian's surgery went well on January 15. The first few days were rough partially because there was a mix-up over his pain medication. He slept in my lazy boy recliner the first eight nights, and it took longer than that for him to be able to resume wearing his eyeglasses, but life is back to normal at this point. The surgeon removed the splints and some of the stitches last Tuesday. She wasn't able to tell yet if the surgery was a success or not because there is still too much blood in there. He can't breathe through his nose yet, but hopefully that day is just around the corner. Paul will be taking him back for the next follow-up appointment in early March. I'm also thankful the surgery only cost $2,948. We should be reimbursed for all of that eventually through the medical sharing program, but even if we weren't that's so much better than the $20K I was charged for the ankle surgery in 2021. 

5. Nadia didn't work much at all for four weeks, but thankfully that changed starting on January 17. We're also thankful for the flexibility of her boss. Nadia missed a Wizard of Oz rehearsal on January 18, but her boss didn't schedule her for any Saturdays in February due to the musical. 

6. Since the stock market was closed on January 20, Paul took the opportunity to go spend the day with a friend in Carlisle.

7. Oliver and I saw the eye doctor on January 21. Oliver hadn't been wearing his glasses that he got a little over two years ago. The doctor changed the guidance from wearing them only when he is reading to wearing them all the time. This did NOT go over well with Oliver, but thankfully over the past week he's adjusted to wearing his glasses. We had to reschedule Ian's appointment as it would have been too painful for him to have an eye appointment last week due to his nose. 

8. Paul got the flu shot and pneumonia vaccine on January 22. They didn't tell him until after they stabbed him that the vaccine costs almost $300. The last time he got a flu shot he was really sick afterwards. He didn't feel well the first couple of days after the shot this time around, but his side effects weren't as severe, thankfully. 

9. I took my friend out for dinner to celebrate her 68th birthday. 

10. We enjoyed watching the movie White Bird as a family last weekend. I had checked it out of the library.  Paul and I enjoyed watching the 5th season of All Creatures Great and Small on the PBS app.

11. I used to shop at CVS 1-2 times a month until the CVS in our town closed. I have hardly shopped at a CVS since then, but I've recently been resuming that habit due to the fact that they haven't had much of a cereal selection at Surplus Outlet. A few weeks ago, I paid less than $1 per box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes at CVS! I do love finding a good bargain. 

12. Ian is finally caught up. We switched back to Teaching Textbooks for geometry, and he got everything turned in by the end of the second marking period for all the other subjects. I hope he never gets that far behind again. 

13. Ian finally picked his song for the piano recital (February 2) on January 20. I told his piano teacher let's pick his song MUCH earlier next time around. She agrees. Thankfully he is managing to pull it off despite choosing much later than normal. The piece was too long (12 minutes), but she picked out parts for him to play as she likes the pieces not to be longer than 4-5 minutes so that the recital isn't too lengthy. 

14. One of the books I recently listened to was Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Quereshi. It was outstanding! I highly recommend it! Some books we've enjoyed together as a family recently would include: Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai, Wink by Rob Harrell, The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman, The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez, and The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. 

15. My parents each grew up with one sister, and so I only had two uncles. My dad also has a half-sister, but she never married. Uncle Bill passed away in 1992 at the age of 49. Uncle Dick passed away last week at the age of 83. Wendy lives the closest to Indiana, so she is attending the burial today as the representative of our family. I'm thankful Wendy can attend on our behalf. 

16. I go in spurts when it comes to working on planning future vacations. Recently I used Turo gift cards I got through credit card points to almost completely pay for renting a minivan on Oahu for four days and on Maui for 2.5 days. I still need to rent one on the Big Island for a week. 

Septoplasty

Today Ian went under general anesthesia for the fifth time in his life. The first four times took place within less than two years, so it had been almost 12.5 years since the last time. We were told to arrive by 11:15. For his sake, it would have been nice if it was a little earlier since he wasn't allowed to eat after midnight. He always has breakfast, and most days we eat lunch around 11:00. The surgery center is about 90 minutes from our home. There are other hospitals closer to our home, but this pediatric ENT has above average ratings, and this surgery center is far more affordable than the closer hospitals. We've already paid the fee to the surgeon and the surgery center, and the grand total so far is $2,248. The only bill we haven't paid yet is for the anesthesiologist. In contrast, we were billed over $20K for my ankle surgery despite the fact that Ian's surgery took more than twice as long as my ankle surgery did. The pulmonologist told us that he had turbinate hypertrophy, but the ENT today said that was not the case. However, he had a very deviated septum; she said it was the worst case she had ever seen. The surgery lasted about 100 minutes. The surgeon didn't think he'd be able to breathe air through his nose until next week, but on the drive home he said he could already feel air coming through his nose for the first time! His follow-up post op appointment is next Tuesday in Hershey. The splints will come out then. She said it would take a few months for the stitches to dissolve. He struggled coming out of the anesthesia and with the pain. I offered to buy him a treat around 4:30 pm. I gave him a few choices. He picked a PB cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I figured it would help ease some of the discomfort in his throat, give him something pleasurable while he was in pain, and also give him some calories as he had skipped breakfast and lunch. It definitely perked him up. He's coughing a bit as a result of the anesthesia, and his nose hasn't stopped bleeding yet, but he's been watching a movie with Paul while sitting in my recliner. The recliner will be his bed for the next couple of nights as he's supposed to keep his head elevated. We left a little after 9:30 this morning and got back home a little after 5:00 this evening. I'm thankful it's over. It's hard to watch your child when they're suffering. Due to surgical complications I've experienced in the past (ex. lung collapsed due to aspirating), I have to work not to let myself be overtaken by anxiety. 

I'm thankful for everyone who prayed for Ian's surgery! His piano teacher prayed over him at his lesson on Monday, our senior pastor prayed over the phone with him yesterday, another pastor from our church prayed over the phone for him this evening, and my dad and a mom from our co-op texted me to say they were praying this morning. My dad called me as we were driving down and prayed for Ian's surgery, and he called me again after Ian's surgery to see how he was doing. We appreciate all the prayers! 

All three kids were able to sleep in this morning. I asked Nadia and Ian to make sugar cookies this morning because we hadn't had those for probably more than a year. Paul dropped them off at church at 1:15 for art, chorus, Bible quizzing, and youth group. He picked them up at 8:00. Tomorrow, we plan to have a regular day of school although Ian will not be going to art or chorus. He also won't be attending the Wizard of Oz rehearsal tomorrow night. The first time Ian *might* leave the house again will be Saturday morning if he's feeling up to a musical rehearsal at that time. Time will tell. Nadia is scheduled to work Friday morning. I got the movie The Wild Robot on DVD from the library on Monday, and we plan to watch that together either Friday or Saturday. Friday is the last day of the first semester for this school year. It will be our 89th day of school - 9 co-op days, 69 "regular" school days, and 11 field trip days. 

Surgery #3

Ian has been under anesthesia four times so far - two urological surgeries and two endoscopies. Since an endoscopy is technically a nonsurgical procedure, his next surgery (septoplasty) will technically be his third. Since those surgeries and endoscopies took place in 2010 and 2011, Ian has no memory of them. As he'll be fifteen years old when he undergoes the septoplasty, he will remember this one. Not counting the surgeries that I had which were related to pregnancy, my last surgery was a septoplasty. Dr. Wilson said the procedure hasn't changed over the past 30 years (mine was in 1994). Ian's sleep study showed he has mild sleep apnea. We had been told he had hypertrophy turbinate as well as a deviated septum and that the septum could only be repaired after he was eighteen. We were trying to decide whether he should have one or two surgeries, but this pediatric ENT said that she can do both procedures at one time on a fifteen-year-old. Ian didn't want to wait three years to be able to breathe through his nose when he's awake, and hopefully this will also lead to an improved quality of sleep for him. We could have scheduled the surgery to take place as soon as January 15, but we're waiting to get a price estimate from the second surgical center before we choose between the two locations where Dr. Wilson performs surgeries. The two locations are the same distance from our home (85 minutes away one way). I paid $250 yesterday for Ian to see her in Hershey, which was closer to 100 minutes away one way. Considering it took eleven months for him to have his sleep study, I'm grateful the wait for the nose surgery won't be as lengthy and that we don't have to make any more trips down there prior to the day of his surgery.

Here's a few highlights of what we've been up to since I wrote last:

1. Another mom and I took 13 kids to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at AMC. On another day my dad and Cheri joined us at AMC to See Bonhoeffer. They were both good movies! Ian has decided to do his report this year for the history fair on Bonhoeffer. Oliver is doing Abraham Lincoln, and Nadia is doing Jane Goodall. 

2. Ian played the piano with the youth praise team for the second time ever and performed a duet (see video above) at a recital. Pop Pop joined us. Nadia wasn't able to attend as she was at work. 

3. Cooper was at our house for 8 days while his family was on vacation.

4. We helped pack over 300 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child at our church.

5. Oliver, Cheri, and I attended a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and had dinner at Olive Garden.

6. Nadia has been working more hours recently. She worked about five hours on November 30, four hours on December 2, two hours on December 3, and she's scheduled to work about four hours on December 6. She loves having a job that involves working with cats and dogs! 

7. My dad spent 6 days with us, and during that time Yvonne's family (11 people) also spent about 39 hours at our house. 

8. I've been making progress with vacation plans. I booked our rental vehicle for our trip in May (the cost was painful). On the other hand, I paid a tiny amount to book an Airbnb for four nights in Honolulu and two nights on Maui because I used $1,250 worth of gift cards to Airbnb that I got through credit card points. I've booked 11 out of our 13 nights in Hawaii so far for a grand total of $219. I'm hoping to use credit card points to get Turo gift cards to pay for the rental cars on Oahu and Maui. We'll have to pay for the rental vehicle on the Big Island because we plan to pick it up at Hilo and return it at Kona, which means we can't use Turo. I'm really looking forward to visiting Hawaii for the first time! 

Giving Thanks

1. Paul was supposed to have jury duty in August. They postponed it to November because of our trip to Alaska. He had to check on Friday night four weeks in a row to see if he needed to report the following Monday or not. Thankfully, all four weeks he received the message that he didn't need to report for duty! We both are happy to perform this civic duty at some point, but we'd prefer to do so either in the summer or at least 7 years from now when we're empty nesters. Although I do most of the homeschooling, Paul does chemistry experiments on Tuesdays at co-op, and he helps Nadia and Ian with chemistry and math when they ask for help. 

2. The kids enjoyed a retreat at Camp Susque with their youth group the weekend of November 8-10.

3. Cheri and I attended a women's ministry dinner at my church on November 8.

4. I struggled to come up with something special to do on Tuesday since it's our final day of co-op for the fall session. Thankfully, I finally had the idea to take the kids to see the movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Their parents will pick them up later than usual from our house on Tuesday. I've never taken eleven kids to the movies before, ha ha! Thankfully, Ben has his driver's license so between his vehicle and our van everyone will have a ride. 

5. Nadia was given a small speaking part in the Wizard of Oz! She will be the barrister of Munchkinland.

6. Two nights ago, Cheri and I attended a Philips, Craig, and Dean concert. It was amazing. It was definitely my favorite concert from 2024. I love how the three men harmonize together. I first started listening to them in the early 90s. I'm not sure if I had ever been to one of their concerts before. 

7. I purchased a new game recently - Telestrations, and we enjoyed playing it for a family fun night once and also the kids at co-op played it last Tuesday. We certainly don't have a family fun night every week, but we try to have one once a week as often as possible, and we certainly have plenty of time together as a family almost every week since we homeschool, and Paul works from home! 

8. Nadia earned an A in Evangelism and an A- in Old Testament Survey this semester. Her art history class doesn't wrap up until December 13. As of this moment, she's earned 24 college credits so far. As of December 13, that will increase to 27 credits. She could technically receive a HS diploma from the state of Pennsylvania in the spring as they will issue one once you've earned 30 college credits, but we're going to wait until the spring of 2026 because the tuition at Liberty is much cheaper if you're in high school. Also, I want her to at least take Physics and Literature when she's in twelfth grade. When I went to register her for her spring classes, I found out that they have additional prerequisites for some classes if you are enrolled as a high schooler. This means she can't take three of the classes I thought she could take through dual enrollment. Thankfully, I found three other classes that I believe she can take instead (astronomy, earth science, and developmental psychology).  

9. Paul and I have talked about going to Hawaii for over 20 years. Lord willing, it looks like we'll be going there next August. I purchased the airfare today because the price had dropped, and I had codes to get two of the tickets for $99 each. The plan is that we'll fly from the DC area to Honolulu and then fly back from Maui to the DC area. At a later time, I'll need to book flights in between the islands. Rachel might be joining us for the trip, or her family might overlap with us for part of our trip. We plan to spend 4 nights on Oahu, 7 nights on the Big Island, and 2 nights on Maui. I know some people visit Hawaii regularly (like my Aunt Janet), but Paul and I view this as a once in a lifetime trip. I'm planning to use credit card points to pay for most of our lodging and rental car expenses. If all goes as planned, we'll be on Oahu on Oliver's 13th birthday and on Big Island on our 24th anniversary. So far, I paid about $1800 for round trip tickets for the five of us and paid a whopping $36 for a five-night reservation on the Big Island. We're excited about seeing more of God's beautiful creation! 

10. This weekend Paul installed the sink faucet I recently got for the kids' bathroom. Our house is 25 years old. We haven't done any big projects on the house this year, but we've done some very small things like replacing two faucets. I'm not handy *at all* so I'm very grateful for Paul's help!

11. A couple from our Sunday School class took our family out to lunch today because they wanted to hear more about our trip to Alaska as they are planning to go there next year. We had an enjoyable time!

12. The Newsboys are one of Ian's top two favorite bands. They performed at a venue less than 30 minutes from our house last night. Cheri joined the five of us. The concert Friday night was definitely more up my alley, but I was thankful we could make a memory together! 

13. Paul had a cough for two months. He finally went to the doctor on Monday. Thankfully the antibiotic plus steroid seems to be working as he's much better now than he was a week ago. 

14. They had said it would take 3-4 weeks to get the results of Ian's sleep study. Thankfully it actually only took a couple of days. He has mild sleep apnea. The pulmonologist recommended he see another ENT to have surgery on his nose. He has an appointment with an ENT on December 3. Ian said he doesn't want to wait until he's 18 to be able to breathe through his nose. We shall see if the ENT agrees. They won't fix a deviated septum on a minor, but they can address the hypertrophy turbinates. Ian had four surgeries before he turned three years old, but he hasn't had one since then. 

Medical Appointments

Thankfully, the five of us are generally very healthy. Aside from my broken ankle in 2021, we haven't had any surgeries, hospitalizations, or doctor appointments aside from physicals for several years. Despite being healthy, we still see a doctor at least once a year for a physical, see the dentist at least twice a year, and the boys typically see the orthodontist once a month. This year I've made more appointments than usual. Paul has only seen the dentist. I had a pap smear and a mammogram plus an extra trip to the dentist for a small filling. Nadia has only seen the dentist plus had a physical.

Oliver had his twelve-year-old physical yesterday. He grew three inches in the past year and is now 5 foot two inches tall, which puts him in the 87th percentile, and he's still on track to reach his projected height of 6 feet tall. He gained ten pounds over the last year, which means his BMI is still at the 5th percentile. I was happy to see that he weighed 82 pounds because the goal had been for him to weight at least 80 pounds for our zip lining adventure in Alaska next week. He was happy to be told he wasn't getting any shots at his physical, but then when we were at the orthodontist yesterday afternoon, he found out that he needs to have two teeth pulled next month, and he dislikes those shots more than immunizations, and I have to agree with him on that assessment. 

At Ian's physical in January, we mentioned we thought he might have sleep apnea. This led to a referral to the pulmonologist at Geisinger. They had scheduled his sleep study for next week, but we cancelled once we received the estimated charge. He met with a pulmonologist in Hershey where they charge far less for a sleep study. That doctor said he needed to see a cardiologist and an ENT. The cardiologist appointment was a waste of time and almost $400 because he said Ian doesn't have a heart murmur. The ENT appointment last month was a waste of time (not sure yet if it was a waste of money as we haven't received a bill) because they told us they don't do nose surgeries on those under the age of 18, and they knew when I scheduled the appointment that it was for a 14-year-old who has hypertrophy turbinate. She suggested we take him to an ENT at Geisinger, Camp Hill (to see Dr. Wilson), or Hershey. On July 24 I called the office in Camp Hill and left a message. On July 25 I asked the ENT we saw to send a referral there. Having heard nothing in the meantime, I called and left another message at the ENT in Camp Hill on August 12. This morning, they told me that they had received the referral but hadn't contacted us because they don't work with our insurance. I said that we don't have any insurance. They for some reason thought we had UPMC insurance, which we've never had. So later they called back and scheduled an appointment with Ian for December 3 in Hershey. Because they won't repair a deviated septum prior to the age of 18, we are not sure if we should wait so that Ian wouldn't have two nose surgeries. It seems wise to find out the results of the sleep study first. If he doesn't have severe sleep apnea, we might wait until he's 18 to fix his nose and just let him continue to be a mouth breather. I called the pulmonologist in Hershey on August 5 to request that the follow-up appointment after the sleep study be done by phone or video instead of in person given the length of our drive to and from Hershey. I never heard if the doctor approved that or not, so I called yesterday to follow-up as I had said on August 5 we would need to reschedule if it had to be in person. We have to drive down there to get the results because the doctor wants to do another exam. I'm not too thrilled with his examination skills since he thought Ian has a heart murmur, and the cardiologist said he doesn't. But I rescheduled his follow-up appointment by one week so that it won't interfere with our homeschool co-op. Either Paul or I will be taking Ian to Hershey for three doctor appointments from October 29 - December 3. At the orthodontist yesterday, I asked when he would begin working on Ian's lower jaw because he's been in phase two for six months. He said he'll start next month so Ian will have two orthodontist appointments next month, and he's also going to get another x-ray (per the request of the orthodontist) when Oliver is having two teeth extracted. 

We do have dental insurance, and it is definitely worth the monthly premium we pay. We don't have vision insurance. Last week I called and scheduled appointments four of us to see the eye doctor in December/January because the last time we saw the eye doctor was December 2022. We don't have medical insurance, but we've been members of a Christian medical sharing program for almost two years. So far, we've only had one medical bill reimbursed (dermatologist for Paul), but I anticipate receiving reimbursement after Ian's sleep study. I am going to research the cost of health insurance again this fall to make sure we are still making the correct choice by going with Samaritan instead of insurance. The ENT office I spoke with today said the first appointment will cost $250. Since we received $18K back from the insurance this year, the line item on our budget for medical expenses currently shows a negative number despite these extra bills. 

Doctors galore

For years we have suspected that Ian might have sleep apnea. When I asked his pediatrician about this years ago, I was told that we should just wait and see if he would naturally outgrow it. When I mentioned it at his physical in January, we were given a referral for a pulmonologist at Geisinger. Ian had a video appointment on April 3, which resulted in a sleep study being scheduled for August 19. Because we don't have insurance, they sent us an estimate of the cost. With a "cash" discount, the price was still $6K. I called Healthcare Bluebook, and they told me that Ian could have a sleep study at Hershey Medical for $1,500, and because it was the "fair price," we wouldn't have to pay the usual $400 co-pay. We saw the pulmonologist at Hershey Medical on April 30. It was worth driving 3 hours round trip to save our family $400 plus save the Samaritan system $4,500. An in-person visit was much better than a video appointment. He was able to see that one side of Ian's nose is completely blocked. Ian has said for years that he hasn't been able to breathe out of his right nostril. He's been a mouth breather since he was a toddler. The doctor said that he's too young to fix the deviated septum, but that the turbinate hypertrophy can be addressed. He submitted two prescriptions to address that issue and said Ian also needs to see an ENT in light of the size of his tonsils plus the blockage in his nose. Unfortunately, he sent them to a Walmart in Lewistown rather than Lewisburg, so I wasn't able to pick them up on Tuesday. I'm planning to pick them up tomorrow. I called Healthcare Bluebook to find out which ENT within a couple of hours radius of our home would do a tonsillectomy and/or open up his nasal passageway at a fair price. They are working on that. The good news is that if we go with one of their recommendations, we won't have to pay for the surgery, and our $400 co-pay will be waived. Normally you pay a bill, and then submit it for reimbursement if it exceeds $400. That will still be the case for pre-op testing and consultations, but not for the surgery itself which is nice as that can easily be $5,000 or more. We've been with Samaritan for 2.5 years and only submitted one bill for reimbursement so far. 

We are planning to stick with Hershey Medical for the pulmonology, but we're hoping to see a local pediatric cardiologist, and we have no idea yet where we'll go for the ENT. Ian saw MANY doctors during the first three years of his life due to his urological condition and eosinophilic esophagitis (GI, allergist, psychologist, urologist, ENT, and cardiologist). However, for the last almost 11.5 years, he's pretty much only gone to the doctor once a year for a physical. I feel badly that I never mentioned his frequent nosebleeds or his complaint about not being able to breathe through his one nostril the last several years, but I'm also wondering if I need to find a different PCP for him if he has had a heart murmur and they never detected it, and they also must never have looked into his nose because the doctor said it's 100% blocked. My sister, Yvonne, has an innocent heart murmur. Hoping if Ian has a heart murmur, his is also innocent, and I'm praying that the ENT will give us wise counsel as far as whether or not surgery is needed so that he can breathe better. I used to drive him to Philadelphia, Hershey, etc. for appointments in the first three years of his life. It seems like that will be the case again now for at least the next seven months as we already have two appointments scheduled in Hershey in October and November with the pulmonologist. Ian doesn't remember any of his urological surgeries or endoscopies. If he has another surgery this year, obviously he'll remember this one. 

At the doctor's office on Tuesday, they measured his height as a little over 5 foot 4 inches. He grew two inches since January! He's a tiny fraction of an inch shorter than Nadia. Her days of being taller than him are definitely numbered. Unfortunately, with his clothes and shoes on he only weighed 90 pounds, which puts him at the 2nd percentile for BMI. He lost weight over the last few months. I've asked him to try to gain at least five pounds. Oliver has been gaining weight like a champ the last couple of months as I told him he needed to weigh at least 80 pounds when we go ziplining in Alaska in August. I think it's going to be harder for Ian to gain five pounds, but hopefully he can get his BMI to at least 5%. As one who is often wanting to lose a few pounds, I can't relate to having a problem gaining weight. 

On March 22 the health insurance company told the investigator that they would reimburse us. We haven't received anything yet. Hopefully they haven't changed their minds. I found a cheaper place for a mammogram in Bloomsburg. I haven't had one in 17 months. They only reimburse the cost of a mammogram if a problem is detected, so I'm hoping never to be reimbursed for a mammogram. Oliver had quite a few doctor appointments and hospitalizations for the first six years of his life, but for the last almost six years, he's also mostly only gone for his annual physical. Nadia has been very healthy for almost sixteen years. Hopefully after we address the sleep apnea and other issues recently uncovered with Ian, we can again have a stretch without many doctor appointments.