Catching Up and Diving Back In

[estherchaya]

I haven't posted to Live Journal since June of 2011 - when we lost Julian all together and it looked like we would never see him again.  I'd like to get back to posting, and I've tried several times, but after such a long lapse it always feels like there's too much to catch up on.  So I'm just going to dive right back in with some salient points.

Comments

[childlight]

Wow I can not believe how much the kids have grown. I am glad you updated.

[estherchaya]

I know - they're little people now!

[magid]

Of course Tobie's a 4.5-year-old: she's got the polka-dotted dress to prove it :-).

I'm glad everyone else's health is good, and hope that some doctor out there will figure out how to help you back to a more normal life. (You can live without a stomach?! I never knew that.)

And I hope that Seth finds permanent work near home soon after his CA stint ends.

[estherchaya]

Good point on the polka dotted dress. The best part is, in two years, she'll have two more polka dotted dresses! :)

Yep, you can live without a stomach. Admittedly, you have to make severe dietary changes if you have a total gastrectomy. Nearly everyone who has a gastrectomy becomes totally lactose intolerant. And they can frequently get what's called "dumping syndrome" (rapid heart rate, nausea, abdominal pain, dizziness, shaking, low blood sugar, etc. after eating because food moves too rapidly into the small intestine). Also, you typically can't process sugar the same way anymore, and highly fibrous foods become no-no's. But since I'm currently restricted to pretty much no food at all right now, that would all still be a big improvement over nothing. It's still a commitment I'm not willing to make until I've exhausted all other options.

[cahwyguy]

Sounds very similar to what one deals with after a gastric bypass (the good ones, the Roux types). My wife had one about a year and a half ago.

[estherchaya]

Yes, very similar, but more extreme in the case of a total gastrectomy, because in that case there's NO portion of the stomach left. I didn't realize your wife had gastric bypass. How's it working out for her?

[mortuus]

Welcome back to LJ! I absolutely adore that photo. So much personality!

[estherchaya]

I love it, too. It was taken in a parking garage, of all place, because it was raining that day, so our plans to go to the park did not work out! But I LOVED the industrial look of the parking garage in the finished photos! :)

[indigodove]

Beautiful photo!

I'm glad to hear the kids are doing well, continue to be praying for all of you about the bad stuff. I hope these 6 weeks fly by.

*hugs*

[estherchaya]

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. We hope the six weeks fly by too! It's not THAT long in the grand scheme of things, but I know that the kids are going to be asking a LOT about when Seth is coming home!

[arosoff]

I saw that photo on FB. I refuse to believe the triplets are that old. REFUSE. Much less Tobie being 2.

Facebook is great, but I also love reading longer updates.

[arosoff]

(of course, I love the photo, that sounds unintentionally snotty, like "I saw THAT before." whoops)

[estherchaya]

I didn't take that as snotty in the least bit. I promise!

[estherchaya]

I can't believe we've made it through 4 1/2 years of triplet parenthood! The thing about FB is that I can't go back and read about my life "back then"... it doesn't archive my life the same way. So I prefer LJ in this respect. It's just been a matter of time and energy.