Unlocking Benjamin
Our family's journey through unexpected circumstances

Nate's basketball and birthday

Thursday, 28 February 2008 07:57 by admin
ok, bad pic, but it's hard when they're all moving! Nate is the one standing with his hands up waiting for the pass. Nate loved his Wii cake, and now he owns the DS, happy, happy boy.

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Megan in cheerleader mode

Thursday, 28 February 2008 07:54 by admin
She did so great at her debut-she was the only one able to keep pace with her coach. She has another recital tonight!

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Ben in his more Natural state

Thursday, 28 February 2008 07:52 by admin
This one is prior to all the chaos

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All's Quiet on the Welch Front

Tuesday, 26 February 2008 16:44 by admin

ah, peace, quiet, even some calm.  Ben is doing much better, the headaches and tummy aches seem to be gone. He's more emotional than we are used to, and after this ordeal, he requires some retraining, as do all kids after a long illness. Gotta test those boundaries!  We are just happy to see his beautiful smile again, and we are enjoying some peace and relief from worry at the moment.  He is such an amazing kid-In many ways his uniqueness is  a gift.  It's hard to see him struggle in his different-ness, and he will most likely always be different now. But he is brilliant, too, and funny, and so happy, despite it all!  Watching him teaches me a great deal about contentedness, no matter what your circumstances..like being really, really sick your whole life.  May we all take a page from Ben's book and rejoice in the day the Lord has made!

in other news-We found out today that a least part of the cost of his compounded prescriptions will be paid for_YAAAY!  We also found out that not only did the pharmacy mess up his last scrip, but they charged us incorrectly  for it too. Something went terribly wrong there, now I'm just curious.

Abby didn't make it again today-she and I miscommunicated (ie I forgot to call her and tell her Ben was well enough, she went ahead and scheduled another client.)  oh well, won't she be amazed when she sees him again!

We still have a few meals before I have to start cooking again (Huzzah!)  slowly slowly the regualr rhythm of our life is returning.  David went to the office two days already this week, and the kids finally finished their history book. now I have to sign them up for testing.....

Teena

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A good day

Tuesday, 26 February 2008 07:43 by admin

This one has to be short, but yesterday was a really good day for Ben. It had some rough spots, but overall he was calmer and more cooperative. We're seeing less and less of the agressive behavior, and more and more of our own Ben.  Thursday we remove more Ativan-Dave and I are pretty nervous about being off the Ativan, because that is what kicked off the last cluster of seizures.  Here's to hoping the medication is actaully working!

Thank you Lord for a good, peaceful day!

Teena

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trying to feel normal

Sunday, 24 February 2008 20:30 by admin

We didn't make it to church today, Nate was running a fever last night.  We did family church again. Then we took the bull by the horns and went to Costco. This was a horrible and stressful experience, Ben hates any kind of confinement right now, so riding in the cart was torture.  Eventually we got through and went to the park because Ben needed to run! Ben was very busy, and Dave and I survived 45 minutes or so. All in all, Ben was more cheerful today, we are slowly seeing the bad stuff fade. If the pattern holds, tomorrow will be very rough-so here's to breaking the pattern!

Teena

We love you Baby Faith! Go with Jesus Baby! October 2005-February 2008

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Day 3

Saturday, 23 February 2008 19:08 by dariwe

The confusion continues as to what might be going on in Ben. With as difficult and aggressive as Ben was yesterday, we expected more of the same today, but it turned out to be completely the opposite. He was loving and affectionate, and in Ben fashion was busy off the charts. But, it was such a relief to not see him in the agony he was in yesterday. There was very minimal hitting, pinching, head bonking today and they were replaced by hugs and kisses and a desire to spend time with people. One of my favore moments was this morning when he woke up at o dark early and we were sitting down and reading more Arthur and I got up to get something and he said, "Wait, come back here." Nothing makes my heart glow like hearing him make normal expressive conversation. So, I went back :) We were a lot of places today (more on that later) and he said "hi" to just about everyone he saw. We went to the park this evening and he walked up to some unsuspecting lady and said "hi" and rubbed her stomach. Her comment was, "Is he always this friendly?" Wow. our son thought of as being friendly. There was a time when we never thought we'd hear that. Now it's somewhat common. Praise God for all the progress he's made. At the moment, Nate's sitting on the couch reading and Ben grabbed his own book and is sitting on the couch reading with him. It's really cute.

On to the rest of the day. It's been a big day for Nate and Megan.

My parents made their way over this morning and an enthralling game of LIFE ensued. The competition was fierce, but in the end, Megan was victorious.

Teena's parents came and we were off to the kids' events

Megan had her first cheerleading experience at a basketball game this afternoon and she did great. They went to Kamikain Junior High and performed in between some Kirkland Parks and Recs games. There were three girls there in her age group and about half a dozen in the younger age group who all performed together for part and then Megan's group got to perform by themselves. Their practice really paid off and they were in synch and loud and really did a good job and had a lot of fun. I was so impressed by her ability to get out in front of a group of people and be so comfortable. She gets to perform at the Saint Patrick's Day in Seattle in a few weeks.

Nate had his last basketball game today and they got to finish out the season on a winning note, vanquishing their foe by a score of 21-20. He played well again this week and particularly shutting down this one kid who was was very active offensively. He didn't get a chance to score, but played very strong defense. Then, he and Teena made their way to Azteca to the end of year party where he picked up his trophy and pictures and ate way too many chips. :) Then he and a handful of other kids got to play some basketball at the park for about an hour and half. It was fun to get to see how much he improved in his first year of playing basketball and how he just jumped in to a new group of kids doing something completely new and showed so much confidence.

At the end of the day, we all just crashed, grateful to God that Ben was so good and that everything went off as planned.

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