I can't believe it's been a year since Michael and I started discussing the possibility of Gemma needing further surgery. It's been just over 8 months since her surgery and life is still going very well for her and for our family.
Gemma's sugars are still much better, with a controlled diet. There was a period where she spiked a fever for a few days and her sugars rocketed to between 14 and 16 after meals, but coming down again a few hours later. This pattern lasted for about a week, but after a few days of worrying, and thinking we'd need to take a trip to Johburg to see her endocrinologist, with the possibility of having to use insulin, her sugars started settling again. A few days ago, she wanted a Fanta Orange, and thinking that she'd only have a few sips as she'd usually had in the past, she drank a whole bottle in the back of the car. On testing her 2 hours later her sugars had sky rocketed to 24. This was the largest amount of fizzy drink she'd ever had, and a very big lesson for us to have learnt. As soon as our journey ended, we encouraged her to run and play as much as possible and gave her plenty of water to drink. Her sugars dropped slowly, and within a few hours they were down to a normal range. We are still learning through trial and error, with regards to her diet, but we know now for sure that fizzy drinks are a no-go. Luckily, in general, she really does prefer to drink water, and she now knows that Soda drinks are not good for her. We met a little boy today, named Ayden Potgieter. He is a 6 year old boy who has a twin brother Kyle. Both boys were born prematurely, and Ayden has suffered developmentally since then. He is still tube -fed. His mom, Marquerite, is trying to raise funds for him to go to Austria to help him learn to eat. No school will accept him in Bloemfontein, until he is able to eat for himself. He is the sweetest little boy with the sweetest smile. Please read his website https://sites.google.com/site/snsbfn/ for more information. Throughout our journey with Gemma, we have met and are still meeting wonderful people. By seeing what other parents have gone through, or still going through, we have learnt to appreciate every blessing we have received. These children truly are Angels sent to us, to teach us a lesson or two. The homeschooling is still going very well. The other day, Matthew, their 10 year old cousin was complaining that he was bored. I told him to look through Gemma and Bryce's homeschooling books and he could read something there. He was shocked that I could even suggest that he, a 10 year old, could learn something from a 5 and 4 year old. That evening at dinner, we were discussing what all the children had learnt at school. Matthew said he learnt about the two dots on the e, that change the pronunciation of an Afrikaans word. Katie, his sister, said she'd learnt a new word to spell. When it was Gemma and Bryce's turn, they started talking how the Indians used to follow the buffalo herds in order to hunt them for meat and skin. Matthew's eyes grew larger and larger, and he eventually said "I learnt something today, to literally never judge a book by it's cover." If a 10 year old was impressed with what they're learning, then it must be good. We coincidentally met up with a homeschooling mom, while we were in Clarens for a break. We were invited to join on a picnic where the children participated in many fun activities, egg and spoon races, 3 legged raced etc. Bryce hasn't quite learnt what it means to be competitive, and he took his time in each race. He completed each race, and that was the most important thing. Bryce continues to do be a happy little boy. He had a run in with a trampoline the other day, and has a big graze on the side of his eye, but besides that he is very well. Until next time - make everyday count!!!!
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