Ups and Downs

I always picture summer as this time of oasis for our family.  A time to get things done around the house, to get out of the endless cycle of driving the kids around, a time with little to no nagging about homework...

I don't know how I keep getting it so wrong.

Summer, though I still enjoy it more than the school year, has been no sort of oasis.  If anything, it has been even crazier than the school year (is that possible?!).

We've backed down to one football player and no cheerleaders this year, so that is something.  However, we've added on to Julia's and Bella's gym time so it might behoove us to move somewhere next door to the place with the number of times I drive back and forth each week.

My medical needs have stepped up a bit lately and I have been in the hospital twice this month for seemingly ridiculous things, but apparently when you have stage IV cancer, and especially when it is in your brain, even the most ridiculous things can be serious.  I spent one night at Cedar's in July when I vomited and got severe chills right after my Taxol treatment (Jay laughed at that one, telling anyone who would listen that I am ALWAYS cold).  This past week I spend two nights after I had a scary episode of not being able to find words or make them come out in a coherent way, coupled with an "auora"which I would have called an ocular migraine, except it did not come from my eyes.  I have a new brain tumor in my right frontal lobe which seems to be causing this trouble, so I ended my stay with a large but very targeted blast of radiation which will hopefully take the wind out of its sails.  As of now I feel completely normal after sleeping for three straight days.  I realize that I may have been taking my fairly good health for granted and need to remember that every day is a gift.

Lindsey just got her learner's permit which might scare some parents, but I am thrilled to have a fourth driver coming on board.  Believe me, we need it.

School will be starting on August 17th with three kids at Paraclete High School (Joey is a senior, Lindsey a sophomore and Sam a freshman) and four at Sacred Heart School (grades 2,3,4 and 7).  As always, we have employed a "each child each year" assessment as to where we think they will thrive.

My mom has had her share of hospital time this summer as well, scaring us all to death with a pulmonary embolism (in English, a blood clot in her lungs).  She stayed 5 days, the first few days in the ICU, but I was very happy with the ER docs at Palmdale Regional Medical Center who diagnosed and treated her correctly right away.  We could have easily lost her.  She will be on blood thinners indefinitely.

Julia had four permanent molars removed (not wisdom teeth, those go later) as one of her teeth was completely sideways in her jaw and rotated 180 degrees to boot.  After reviewing the options and how crowded her mouth is in general, we opted to take the four as opposed to taking years to try to coax that tooth down and around orthodontically.  She has healed well and was a great sport about the whole thing.

We had a visitor from Spain throughout July, a 14 year old girl named Camino (translated, her name means "the way" as in "the way of the cross").  Her sister Maria was with us last summer and we had a chance to visit her family in Valencia last fall when we went to Spain for the Beatification of Don Alvaro.  We had a great time with her and hope she enjoyed her first visit to the United States.

In other summer news, Lindsey and her friend went to VidCon in Anaheim and had the time of her life.  She is interested in pursuing a career in electronic media (i.e. YouTube) and she got to meet many of her favorite "You Tubers".  It is a whole new world out there, let me tell you.  Currently, she is interested specifically in working for BuzzFeed.  If you know what that is, you are hipper than I am, but I am learning.

Tony has set up a You Tube channel of his own, specifically dedicated to helping people with MineCraft.  Apparently there is a MineCon on the horizon and guess who wants to go?  We will have to see about that one.  

So, all is well at Casa Di Silvestri, but as usual nothing went as planned this summer.  I am already looking at school supplies and uniforms and wondering why my garage organization project is still only half done.  Maybe someday!