Milwaukee Tuesday?

We are so used to Milwaukee Mondays that this Milwaukee Tuesday is throwing my whole schedule out of whack! The craniofacial clinic where Brode has has all of his appointments is only open on Mondays so we always set the appointments on Monday mornings to leave room for afternoon activities. After doing it so many times I don't panic about havnig to pack stuff up, find directions, etc. Boy, you move the appointment 24hrs later and it all changes. I was afraid I'd forget to wake up and go!

This time around we had an eye doctor appointment. The annoying ones (I shouldn't say that, they are all in the best interest of Brode's care). But really, the ones where we drive down there he identifies a house, a heart, a square, and a circle a few times, they tell us the plan and send us back home within 10 minutes all because the clinic here doesn't take our insurance provider for the same doctor. ANNOYING!

I was a bit worried about this appointment being so close to snow season. We had one experience driving down in a blizzard last winter and it definetaly ranks into my top 3 most stressful days ever. Thankfully we didn't get any snow taking that out of the equation. For the first time we brought our personal DVD player so Brode watched a movie on the way down keeping questions and dropping toys all over the floor out of the equation as well. Wonderful.

As for the appointment..... we made progress! Kind of. In one way but not another. We did all the matching game eye tests with Brode and although we pushed farther than he could possibly handle it was stil determined the vision in his eyes did not BUDGE this time! When we patched for 2 months his eye went from 20/50 to 20/40 and after 3 more months it's still stuck at 20/40. So although there was no progress there, since it maintained for so long they believe this is the farthest they can push it. Many of you know I was frustrated with going down and back and hearing the same thing over and over so after we tested vision we moved on to next steps. Because the vision will not change we will go down in another 3 months (oh yay.) and meet with the doctor (we meet with his assistant for these patching appointments) and test vision, alignment, and tracking to get full test levels and determine what surgical procedures will assist in his tracking. They have waited so long because they want to be extremely positive which muscles need help and now that Brode identifies the shapes/colors/moveis/etc. with words and his own knowledge the guessing game is over and they can move forward.

There is nothing like a trip to the Children's Hospital the week of Thanksgiving. Talk about reminding us what we're thankful for. The pediatric intensive care unit changed me in the middle of the summer, you can't avoid the overwhelming feeling of sympathy and desire to help all the families there through the holidays.

Barnes and Noble is doing a donation drive right now when you make a purchase to donate a book to Children's Hospital (in our hometown/Wisconsin at least). In each waiting room of every clinic, waiting room, playroom, and treatment room is a cart of books donated by patrons of Half Price Books and Barnes and Noble Bookstores that donate for children. Each appointment children are not only welcome to enjoy the books, but they are also able to pick one out and bring them home. Picking out a book helps tears from 'owies', temper tantrums from waiting, and keeps minds off of being at the hospital. We love them, as a parent and as a child. We have a good collection going on at home of our CHW books. If you're looking to donate directly to a good cause this winter instead of a dollar here or change from your pocket there, throw in a small book with your BandN purchase for families close to home!

Sorry for all the words! Thanks for hanging in there! Check back tomorrow for a peek at Brode's Thanksgiving shirt!