Long time no post.

We have been so super duper busy it has been crazy.

Well, the girls did see the geneticist and it was confirmed that they have a genetically inherited connective tissue disease. It affects Jessika's vascular and skeletal system, Emilee's skeletal system, and so far is minimal in Holy affecting her vision and her tissues. Nothing serious for her yet.

We recently adopted Emilee's BFF's dog Cody. He is a 10 month old white Shiba Inu and is gorgeous. We just love him and he gets along great with our 1 year old black lab Shelby who now finally has a playmate that can keep up with her.

Emilee had major back surgery on June 2 to correct her severe scoliosis. She had titanium rods and screws placed on both sides of her spine. When they did the surgery, her curve was at well over 50 degrees; she had correction done to both lumbar and thoracic. She is home now and we are still trying to get back to our normal home life routine.

Now that Emilee is recovering, we should be back on track with our adoption process. All of our homestudy paperwork has been redone and we should be getting that back to Adoption Alliance within the next few weeks. Hopefully no more drama in our household for a while and we can concentrate on our adoption.

Next Wednesday is the BIG day! I get my cast off and I cannot wait! Emilee's surgery is scheduled for March 19 but my ex, her father, decided he doesn't want any surgery done until she and Jessika have genetic testing done to prove 100% that they have Marfan Syndrome. Apparently the doctor's diagnosis isn't good enough for him. So, that's happening on February 12. Anyhow, we should be back on track with our adoption real soon; Chad went and had his fingerprints on Wednesday and next week he has his physical and then we are done with our Home Study paperwork!!! Yippee!!!

Had my ankle appt. this week. Got my original cast removed, my stitches taken out, and my new cast put on. It was painful getting the stitches pulled out, but amazingly there is no bruising whatsoever. I was really surprised. I start walking next friday with a boot and will go back to the doctor in another 3 weeks.

Emilee had her back surgeon appt. on Wednesday; her spinal curvature has gone from 39 degrees on 10/1/07 to 44 degrees on 1/9/08. She is having surgery on March 19. I am so scared and nervous, as every mom is that has a child having major surgery. Here are her 2 back xrays, one from October and one from last week. They are focusing on straightening the bottom portion of her spine since that is where the majority of her curvature is.

[October 1, 2007, 39 degrees]

[January 9, 2008, 44 degrees]

It really is incredulous to me how my child went from having a perfectly straight spine last May to being so bent in less than one year but apparently that is characteristic of Marfan's and its progression during puberty. As long as they give her lots of pain meds and I know she isn't suffering from pain, I think I will be okay. I really just want to get through this chapter in our lives. I wish I could trade places with her; I would do it in a heartbeat, no questions asked.