I never actually sent out this update so it appears for the first time here on the website…
Julie had actually fed herself spoonsful of pudding back in January. Her progress halted after back-to-back illnesses.
Julie celebrated her 3rd birthday in several ways. First, she lost her early childhood intervention (ECI) therapists. In Texas, they can only work with disabled children under age three. So, Julie had her last session a couple days before her birthday. This session concluded with a complete evaluation from different therapists. Julie responded well in most areas (physical, mental, and social) – sometimes slightly ahead of her age group and sometimes a little behind. Of course, she had made almost no progress in feeding except that she could drink through a straw or a small syringe.
Her GI doctor still worries that she hasn’t gained any weight for several months. He wants to keep her hungry as encouragement for her to eat orally. So, we continue to walk a narrow path to avoid malnutrition on the one hand and discouraging oral feeding on the other hand.
Julie’s GI doctor has waved his fee since he learned that I lost my job. He doesn’t accept Medicaid patients, but wants to keep us. I understand his reluctance to get hooked into the federal government system and appreciate his generosity. I only hope to repay him someday. The kids’ pediatrician gives us a discounted rate. Both doctors have worked with us to modify prescriptions (and especially Julie’s feeding supplies) to fit within the Medicaid and deal with our suppliers.
The kids got a new dentist who does accept Medicaid. We had our first appointment and what a dentist! The kids got prizes, balloons and games. He had us come into a waiting room long enough for Julie (Adam is too young to notice) to see happy children leaving the office with their treasures. Once she wanted to go in, the staff escorted her to the examination area.
Unfortunately, Julie needs some extra work that can’t be done in the office. So, we will hear from the dentist about an outpatient hospital procedure sometime next month. The doctor noticed that Julie cracked a tooth when she fell about a year ago. He also guessed her as a preemie from her x-rays. He warned us that she might have problems with her teeth in future years but he assured us that he can fix everything.
Adam began crawling and sitting up in March. He enjoys people and smiles whenever someone matches eyes with him. He has passed all doctors’ (and dentist) visits with flying colors. He endured vaccinations shots at a local drugstore which honors Medicaid patients as best he could. He enjoyed his first visit to the park better than Julie did her first visit (of course, by this time, Julie is a pro).
After reporting about getting sick in the last update, we all caught a 48-hour stomach flu (around the end of January and beginning of February). Adam got it first and had the least symptoms. Two days later, Sarah got it and Julie got it 12 hours later. Sarah called me at school to ask that I come home ASAP. By the time I arrived, she had gotten sick. I struck Julie at about midnight. Both had dizziness, weakness and multiple violent vomiting attacks for about 12 hours, followed by 24 quiet and one final episode.
Two days later as Sarah and Julie recovered from the last effects, it hit me. I felt a little queasy driving to class early Thursday morning. I skipped my second class and quickly drove home holding it together by force of will. After dropping my bag off in my office, I ran to the bathroom to hang my head over the toilet. Like them, I threw up every time I sat up for about 12 hours. I lost count of the number of episodes. Recognizing the pattern of symptoms, I fasted for two days until after the final bout surprised me exactly 24 hours later.
We all stayed home that Sunday to prevent the bug from spreading beyond our family. At some point in the week, we asked the Poulains to care for Adam so I could care for Sarah and Julie. Later Sarah covered for me while I tried to lay still until the disease burned itself out. Other church friends brought food for the next few days leaving dishes on the door step so we didn’t infect them.
We stayed home on another Sunday when the weather shutdown most of the city. Sarah didn’t want me driving that day. Normally, I just ignore these kind of overcautious warnings, but this time I felt I really needed to stay home. So, we queued up the online video streaming from the church and watched/listened to the service from home.
After the stomach flu, we kept getting sick about once a month. That limited our social activities so we opted for a small, family birthday party for Julie. This fit our budget too.
At the end of the year, I reapplied for benefits and declared my unemployment income. That small stipend reduced our food stamps by two thirds and kicked Sarah and I off Medicaid. So, we rationed the balance of our food stamps from the end of 2013 over the first four months of 2014. We still ate well, but not as well as November and December 2013.
We began receiving gifts from friends, family and anonymous sources. Several families gave us clothes for the kids. Our life group at church took up several offerings for us. One day as we neared deadlines for bills we found several hundred dollars in an envelope mailed anonymously to us.
I continued applying for work throughout the period – at least five applications per week in order to qualify for unemployment. However, I didn’t receive any response from any of there applications. Not knowing in advance whether any application would produce an offer, I constantly worried how I would finish my semester at school should one of these jobs come through and how we would survive until the end of the semester when our lease renewal came due.
We lived on unemployment payments, food stamps, gifts from friends & family, my 401k from Texas Instruments, income tax refund (which was a lot smaller than I had hoped), and the balance on our credit card. My plan to survive until June or July evaporated as we spent additional money on utilities (from the severe cold that winter), medical supplies (because Medicaid didn’t cover prescriptions and feeding supplies), and food (because unemployment reduced our food stamps benefits). I constantly worried about our future as I counted down the days until we ran out of money.
In 2007, I knew exactly when we would run out of money. Our expenditures were easier to control in those days, so I knew for six months on which day we would be unable to pay our bills. At just the right time, I got a phone call about a job I didn’t know existed. I started work a week later and got my first paycheck on the same day I had calculated we would run out of money. God came to our rescue at exactly the right time.
Over the years, He always gave us the resources to meet all our bills even when we had huge expenses. In one instance, we had all our bills paid, but didn’t have enough money to pay our rent at the first of the month. One by one unexpected checks came in until we only lacked about $50 on the 3rd of the month (the last day to pay without being late). So, I checked our wallets and came up with $40 cash. God reminded me to look in the cars which had $12 in change. I deposited the cash and change in the bank before dropping off the rent check in full with just over $2 left in the bank account and all the credit cards maxed out.
Now, we face uncertainty as new bills sprang from nowhere. I held out hope that my mother would support us as a last resort. Sarah and I could only trust God on the day that my mother called to say that she would no longer help us (seven years to the day after first helping us after we moved to Texas without a job). We fully expected God to perform a great, miraculous act before we lost our townhome at the end of May.
After all, He had saved Julie from death many times over. He had provided resource that got us from the middle of September 2013 to the end of March 2014 (over six months). He had helped me several times before in my life while unemployed. I knew He would help us again. In November 2013, I felt confident enough to trade in all our computers for a brand new laptop and two tablets. These investments made the semester at DTS workable and gave both Sarah and I great pleasure. We just had to wait and hope. I hate waiting…