Another day, another theory

Before I begin with another edition from the chronicles of Annie-land, I need to remind you that we do have a life beyond medicine, poop, and hydrocortisone. Sometimes it's not much more of a life, but I felt like I needed to put that out there, in case you have been thinking I'm too one-dimensional. Like, for instance, on the way to take Annie to school yesterday, I stopped to put gas in the van, and when I heard the clunk of the nozzle shutting off, I pulled the nozzle out of the gas tank. Unfortunately, the nozzle that I heard shut off was in the truck next to mine. Consequently, when I pulled the nozzle out of my gas tank, gasoline sprayed all over my jeans, my hands, my shoes, the concrete, pretty much everything within a 12 ft radius of the van. The guy with the truck next to me pretended not to notice. And, at that moment, I was thinking about something other than medicine, poop, and hydrocortisone. Unfortunately, I can't share with you what I was thinking, because you would be convinced that I had lost my salvation. I briefly considered going back home to change, but we were late, and summer school is only an hour and a half long, so I got back in the van and rolled down the windows. Driving up to Annie's school on the freeway, I was thinking about the probability of getting cancer from the carcinogenic fumes rising from my clothing, and what the likelihood would be of my van blowing up in the event of a collision. So I do think of other things besides medicine, poop and hydrocortisone.

Now, about my other theory: The "Test" from the last post about Annie needing more hydro is only partially correct. My latest (and last) idea is that there is a link between Addison's, brain injury, seizures, slow motility, throwing up, and needing extra hydrocortisone. It's actually a circle. On any given day, we could be camped on one of those issues. Some days, there are two things the demand our attention. Some days all of them. The common thread is that there is never a clear cause and effect, and there is never a clear solution. It is more like degrees of managing of never-ending cycle of symptoms, medicines, and side-effects. So that's it. My theory is that there is no solution--only managing.

And even as Annie struggles with these things, her cognitive abilities continue to improve. She turns the pages of the little board books I read to her, and she seems to prefer books that are a little more advanced than the "Brown Bear" story I've been reading to her for months. The fact that she's getting tired of stuff and wants something new is a great sign. Her speech teacher at school has noticed this too, so we'll be making adjustments next year to keep challenging her cognitively.

Now if we could just teach her mom how to pump gas, we'll be in business.

Jean