There’s been a thread of happiness floating through the air around here. Despite times everyday when LuLu exhibits frustration, there are times when she’s just happier, and “brighter”. Three weeks ago we went back into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber on advice of one of her doctors to see if we could get some relief from the GI distress she has been in.

The folks at the hyperbaric center we use are angels. They were able to work us into the schedule immediately, and in such a way to minimize the number of trips (1-hour, one-way) we had to make by scheduling two... more

Video 1:Grab your tissues and check out this video. It’s a tear-jerker. I learned about Megan, a teenager with Downs Syndrome, from a speech therapist we work with, who had worked with Megan. Megan’s participation in her high school cheerleading squad is incredibly heartwarming.

Video 2:This next video is equally moving, but not in a warm way. SEAK (Seeking Appropriate Education for Kids) is a family... more

Note: Continued blogs about my memory of parenting LuLu/seeking help.

I was so excited to be at the ATTACh conference. It was like a huge “shopping mall” of people versed in attachment and trauma. While I had been reading for years, and crossed the country in search of a therapist, here was a treasure of information in one place. This was 2001, before I had connected with Nancy Spoolstra (I knew her in cyberspace, but hadn’t connected with her organization, ATN).

In each workshop I learned more and more. But two workshops were especially... more

Yesterday, I got a chance to do some pretty heady stuff! As part of my Partners in Policymaking class we have to do “projects”. My project yesterday was going to the state capitol and working with an intern advocate who lobbies for disabilities issues there. So I got a one-on-one personal lesson about how to talk directly to congressmen during legislative sessions.

He had my morning mapped out for me, and instructed me how to stand in the line of people wishing to pull representatives off the House floor and speak... more

Spurred on by our early success in getting LuLu to talk, we decided attachment was her major issue and began searching for another attachment therapist. This quest took us to a professional out of our state for an intensive. LuLu made much progress, and my hopes were high. Her hours of sleeping increased to about four hours at a time without waking, although rarely more than eight hours total in a whole day.

But I was floundering in juggling the demands of being the kind of therapeutic mom I needed to be along with working full-time. Less than a year... more

About a year ago, we acquired our dog, Mudflap. She came from some college-aged kids that Kay knows, who were moving out of their apartment and into places where dogs were not allowed. She had only lived with them a few months, actually (we didn’t know it at the time), having originally been owned by the boss of one of the kids. She was spade, house broken, two years old, and it sounded like a great deal. In reality, she was overweight (due to not having enough exercise), and I now believe was a bit traumatized.

While she was very sweet, and a pretty easy... more

It is difficult for anyone to handle Diabetes alone, especially a child. When first diagnosed it is really scary, especially if the diagnosis occurred because of a sugar crisis, hospitalization, or coma. Unfortunately, crisis is the most common way that children are diagnosed. Chances are the child’s parents are freaking out about making the life and death decisions regarding maintaining sugar levels, and the child probably is too. Whether real or imagined a child with diabetes feels different from peers. During school hours, the diabetic child needs to check sugar levels,... more

We were perplexed by what the professionals at the international adoption clinic had to say. But I had found another source of information that was giving me a different perspective. An adoptive mom who was studying to become a therapist was organizing a list serve now known as Attach-China. What she and others were reporting there sounded so much like my daughter’s issues. I was happy to find someone who was seeing similar issues with sleep, language, rages and odd behaviors.

It’s hard to remember the exact steps I took next. But the more I delved into attachment... more

LuLu’s rages continued and became more frequent. In hindsight I believe she had dissociated for the first several months home. And all at once, like switching on a light, she had come out of that and into a full blown “fight” mode. Her main weapon was to scratch everyone in sight (herself included). Drawing blood produced an odd sense of relief in her.

Words can not describe the panic we felt. We began searching for help in what we felt were usual places…her pediatrician and then a local international adoption clinic. The pediatrician was quick to realize that... more

An eye problem caused by diabetes, called diabetic retinopathy, is the number one cause of blindness in adults in the United States., If your child has diabetes then his or her blood sugar levels are too high. High blood sugar can damage nerves or blood vessels over time. Diabetic retinopathy happens when the tiny blood vessels inside the retina are damaged from high blood sugar. The damage that can occur may include blood vessels swelling and leaking fluid or new abnormal blood vessels may grow... more