Trip to Pennsylvania - I'll Hug You Forever!

 Hey everyone,

I'm going through the pictures on my phone to see what to write about when I realized I never shared our trip to Pennsylvania last month! Then by the time I uploaded the photos to the laptop, it was time for me and Beth to head to the movies. (Our local theater [built in the 1920s] was showing Polar Express for free.) By the time we got home I couldn't keep my eyes open. Fell asleep in my recliner at 8:00, went to bed at 10 and slept until 9am! I have been so tired lately.

Got up this morning and our power went out. Chuck, Beth and I played Mexican Train and I put together some gifts for the custodians. Now the power is back on and I'm able to finish where I left off yesterday. 😊 

November 12, Chuck, Beth and I took a red-eye to Pennsylvania and spent about four days with Diana and Peter. I spent most of that time on my hands and knees, doing everything Adelaide did, going everywhere she went... we had so much fun!

Chuck and Beth not long after we got to their house

One day Diana took us to a cute shopping area. It was like a little Christmas village, but they were still putting up decorations. We watched the fish in the pond, played in the gazebo, then we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We don't have them around here so we try to go whenever we can. Have you ever eaten at Cracker Barrel? 

More pictures of me and Adelaide playing around the house -

 Now these - I was actually able to get INTO this house - those are my knees in the second picture!

I'm glad we got those few days together. Oh, and it was nice to see Diana and Peter too. 😁

This was at Peter's parent's house.

Even got Poppy in the picture!

Our last day there we went out for lunch, then had to say our goodbyes.

We're out on the sidewalk when I gave Diana a hug. Then I hugged Adelaide. Then I said, "Group hug!" and hugged them both. Adelaide started laughing, held up her little pointer finger and said, "One more time." She laughed as we hugged again. "One more time!" And again. And again.

I'll hug you forever Adelaide!

Scan Results

We got the results and we're thankful there's no tumor or mass of any kind. But they still don't know why her stomach is so hard.

We need to go in for another blood draw because the doctor wants to test her thyroid again.

The scan did show Beth has Steatotic liver disease meaning she has excess fat in her liver. The doctor checked her enzymes and so far her liver looks fine. She recommended Beth continue to eat a healthy diet and exercise when possible.

Chuck takes a gummy vitamin supplement and we started giving some to Beth. He gets three bottles at a time with 90 in  each and noticed they were going through them awfully fast. So last week he hid them. While we were both gone one day Beth went on the hunt and found them and took a bunch downstairs. She went through an entire bottle in a week! We think she's eating them like candy.  

Chuck and I buy small cheese snacks  - little rectangles of cheese to take in our lunches. Beth stopped buying cheese for herself because she's not supposed to eat it anymore but when I was in her room recently I saw 6 cheese wrappers on her floor. She takes our cheese and eats it anyway and just takes lactaid every time. Now I wonder how much the lactaid is affecting her.

So I've decided Beth won't be going to the grocery store anymore. I will do her shopping for her. When I asked her for her list last week she texted me:

'Oreo Double Stuf Gluten free'

'Fruit Snacks 22' (Meaning a box of 22 packages)

'Ice Cream / Cake'

'Lemonda Drink' (Lemonade)

She sent this to me on Friday night. I was still recovering from our Thanksgiving outreach and was spending the day in my recliner. She had come upstairs and went down the hallway. I could hear her mumbling, then she deliberately stomped past me and went back downstairs. Then she sent me this:

'i did sent my shopping list ready why you are not going to the store to get it' 'ice cream and fruit snack of gummy bears and lemonade and sausage too'

So I went down and talked with her. That's when I told her she won't be grocery shopping anymore. The list I had made of all the food she CAN eat was on the floor so I put it back on her bulletin board. I hope we can get this figured out so she CAN go grocery shopping again some day!

Doctors now realize that many people with Ds don't have the leptin hormone that tells them when they're full. And there's now a medication they can take that helps with that. I plan to talk to her doctor about that when we see her later this month.