Kimmie's Back

Kimmie's back is a difficult thing to figure out.

There is the scoliosis, the tethered spinal cord and the mass of tissue at the base of her spine where it didn't finish forming.

Did the tethered spinal cord cause the scoliosis? If the scoliosis is fixed, will too much tension be put on the spinal cord. How are the tethering and the mass related.

It has become more of a dilemma now that the spine doctor has said the scoliosis needs to be fixed. Even the pediatrician says we are between a rock and a hard place. We'll soon be having more tests and additional appointments with the neurosurgeon and spine doctor to try to figure it all out.

Right now it seems like there is no good solution. Whatever course of action we take appears to have complications.

No wonder she always wants her back rubbed.

Pray for little Kimmie, her back, and the doctors.

--Mom

The Hearing

We had the hearing to establish guardianship for Kimmie as she turns 18. The hearing was Wednesday, May 20. It was interesting. Seemed like a whole lot of trouble for something as simple as our circumstances.

Kimmie was cute, cute, in a new blue dress and little white shoes. She understood enough to know it was all about her. She was excited about getting dressed up.

The judge was very nice. She smiled at us a lot.

I think it was the attorney for the state who first referred to us as "her loving family" and that seemed to be a theme that was repeated through the proceedings.

The jury was kinda funny. Six white women who all appeared to be retired and mostly in their 60s. Very grandmotherly looking group. I didn't expect any problems from them. I figured they would look at Kimmie and want to make sure she was taken care of. I thought they looked like a Sunday School class or quilting group on a day outing. They were all dressed casually and had lunch bags or an extra bag with stuff to do while they waited.

Kimmie sat next to her court appointed attorney. Nice enough man, just a bit arrogant. Kimmie thought he looked like the Blue Genie (Aladdin's Blue Genie). She hugged him when he came to our house. She hugged him in the hallway outside the courtroom. And she hugged him in the middle of the proceeding. That was the funniest. He looked a little embarrassed and didn't know quite what to do with her. And she hugged him when it was all over. I think the judge got a kick out of it. (This sweet little girl getting the best of this big arrogant man.)

It didn't take long. Like I said at the beginning, a lot of trouble for something that was basically very simple.

And yes, Brown Bear was there, her faithful friend who goes to all the important events with her.

--Mom

The Jar

Kimmie has a new toy, a small plastic jar.

Dad washed the jar and placed it on the kitchen island. He had plans to use it for something, but Kimmie found it and claimed it instead.

She picked it up, took the lid off, examined it, put the lid back on and placed it back on the counter. But a few minutes later she went back, picked it up and carried it to the table where she sat down, took the lid off and started carefully stuffing her shoe strings into the jar. After the strings are all inside she puts the lid back on and looks at all the pretty colors inside the jar. After a while she takes the lid off and shakes out the shoe strings.

When we go out, she used to wad up all the shoe strings and carry them in her little fist. Now she carries the shoe strings in her little jar.

Sometimes she gets frustrated when the shoe strings pop out and won't stay in as she is filling it, but for the most part it is a new entertainment for her, carefully, inch by inch, pushing the shoe string in the jar.

--Mom

Pockets

Kimmie has recently discovered pockets. Once a week at school she is taken shopping at Kroger. I send money and a list of 3 or 4 items for her to buy that week. They teach the kids "next dollar" strategy where everything is rounded to the next dollar, so I send bills that she can count out when paying. She always gets change back. One week the note in her agenda said that she insisted on putting the change in her pocket. Sure enough, that's where I found it.

A couple weeks later . . . I had taken the change out of her money pouch to put in a new list and the dollar bills for her to use that week. I left the change on the kitchen counter. That evening as I was taking her to the restroom I discovered she had a whole pocket full of change. Her sister told me that Kimmie found the coins on the counter and carefully picked them up one by one and jammed them in her pocket.

While we ate supper that evening she carefully pulled the coins from her pocket and sorted them. Quarters in one pile, dimes in another, nickels and pennies. There were more nickels than the others, so she picked up the nickels and put them back in her pocket. It was a Wednesday and we went on to church after eating. At church Kimmie carefully pulled out her four nickels to show Grandpa. You could tell that she was very proud of her pocket full of nickels.

Yesterday she stuffed her four beloved shoe strings in her pocket. It was a very full pocket. It made quite a wad.

--Mom

"Radio"

A few years ago a movie came out entitled Radio. At the time I heard a brief review of it and thought I'd like to see it. After it came out on DVD, I picked up a copy for our family.

You may have seen the movie, but if not, it is about a developmentally disabled, young black man who lives in a small southern town. His nickname is "Radio" because he always carries an old radio with him as he walks around town.

The high school football coach befriends this young man. Their relationship and how it changes them is what the movie is about. The impact this friendship has on the young man's life is powerful.

The heartbreaking part is when the young man's mother dies suddenly of a heart attack. She had told him that she would always be there for him, and then she was gone. . . .

I don't know how Kimmie will ever adjust to my being gone. She's very attached and I'm afraid she might walk around signing "where's Mommy, where's Mommy, where's Mommy" while screaming and crying. How to prepare her for the day when that might happen is another mystery. It's a concept I don't think she can truely grasp.

--Mom

Where's Sister

Kimmie has this thing about wanting our family to all be together. When we go to church, she wants our family to all sit together. If her sister sits with her friends in the youth group, then Kimmie gets worked up and will fuss and sign "Where's Sister."

Kimmie has gotten used to her Dad being somewhere else during the service and her brother going to a completely different church, but she is very attached to her sister and always wants her with us.

We have the same routine every week. We go to early church, then we go to Bible Study. In early church Kimmie, her sister and I always sit together. Sometimes Dad is there and sometimes he is somewhere else in the building. After early church, Kimmie and I head upstairs to our classes while her sister goes to the youth wing for her class. Out of the blue a few weeks ago, Kimmie started getting upset because her sister left us to go to her class. Kimmie proceeded to sign "Where's sister" and fuss all the way to her class.

Kimmie has been fussing about "where's sister" ever since. Kimmie has become very attached to her sister since her sister babysits her every afternoon.

--Mom