February 4: Birthday Celebrations Galore

Sarah has a life-changing new skill: swallowing pills! For the past many years, twice a day, she has opened six capsules of an anti-seizure medication to sprinkle on a small serving of yogurt. When we travel this means I always need to obtain yogurt or a similar vehicle for the tiny balls Topiramate. One evening this week as Sarah was about to do her capsules, I saw an image of her swallowing them instead. I casually suggested the possibility, and she did it! There was no learning process. She just knew how to do it and did it. No more yogurt as a vehicle. No more tiny balls of medication pinging over the table as they miss the yogurt dish. This shaves minutes off of Sarah’s breakfast-eating time, which really helps on school mornings.

Sarah’s week was filled with more birthday celebrations. On Wednesday night we had pizza and cake with our local family members, and then last night we went to Max’s Allegheny Tavern for a dance party and German food with friends and family. Many of Sarah’s school friends were able to attend and my heart was full. There have been so many times in my life when I feel like a puzzle piece clicks into place. The first time was when I met my own best friends when I was 4 and thought, “Finally, here are the friends I have been looking for.” Another time was in my college dorm hallway talking to Carl before we were officially a couple. Witnessing the kindness and sweetness of Sarah’s classmates, I feel that same clicking feeling of, “Sarah is really at the right place” for school and with a peer group. 

For Sarah’s cakes and cupcakes I made fondant and decorated it using food coloring and edible markers. She loves tunnels, windshield wipers, red Xes, green arrows, and yellow Xes, so that was the theme for her cakes. She loved them and could have happily looked at them and pointed to her favorite things for many minutes before we served slices. If anyone ever needs a recipe for a delicious vegan, gluten-free cake, I recommend Chocolate Covered Katie’s recipe, but don’t follow the suggestion to add xanthum gum if using gluten-free flour. That makes the batter and result weird. Speaking of windshield wipers though, Carl was able to procure a t-shirt with windshield wipers pictured on the front and that has been one of Sarah's favorite presents. She wants the words “windshield wipers” to be on it too so today she and I will buy some iron-on letters and add them to her shirt.

If you want a great venue for a private party, I highly recommend Max’s tavern. If you want a good time on a Monday, I do not recommend getting a thyroid biopsy. That was my Monday. For a couple of months I have felt like something wasn’t quite right with my thyroid, as if I could feel it physically. After seeing my doctor, I was scheduled for an ultrasound this past Monday morning. They found two nodules and wanted to biopsy one of them right then and there. Of course there was the wait to contact my doctor and get the prescription because we live in a ridiculous society of insurance red tape. Also, who wouldn’t want to wait for an unspecified amount of time for an unpleasant procedure? When it was finally time I was numbed and sampled. I was so tense, filled with fear and adrenaline and holding myself completely still, that after it was done I was a crying, shaking mess. Luckily the next thing on my schedule was exchanging massages with a friend. Instead of an exchange, my friend just worked on me and I can’t imagine a more healing recourse after the trauma of the biopsy. The good news is the biopsy didn’t show anything. The bad news is they didn’t feel that they got quite enough of a sample, so I have to go back in two months for a repeat experience. Except this time I will take something to help me relax and Carl will come with me. 

For the rest of Monday I felt rather beat-up and delicate. I needed many good cries. For one of them Sarah came into my room and noticed that I was sad. She immediately came over to rub my shoulders, touch my head, gather my used tissues, and call “Aunt Jaguar” to come help. I have no idea who Aunt Jaguar is, but since Carl was working from home, Sarah returned with Carl Aunt Jaguar, who also listened to my tears. By Tuesday I felt much better.