Perspectives from Holland: March Madness

"Welcome to Holland"

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

March Madness

It is time for March Madness, and I don't just mean basketball! Things are rarely quiet at the Godinez household, and this week has been no exception. Luke has been counting down the days until his first birthday, but in medical terms, a lot has to happen before then! Since Luke LOVES to stand up and watch the doggies play, it is time for him to get his leg braces. No, these will not be a permanent medical accessory; however, they will simply be to provide support until the muscles in his ankles can strengthen. Due to his low muscle tone, his ankles like to roll when he stands, and nothing about it looks comfortable.

Everyone knows the continuous saga of ear infections and pink eye, so there's a doc for that! We went to the ENT yesterday for our initial consult for tubes. The doctor is optimistic that we might be able to get tubes in, but Luke has some tiny little ear canals. In fact, when the doctor looked in his ear, his immediate response was, "Well, this explains why you've had so many ear infections!" While Luke is in surgery, the doctor is also going to conduct a neurological hearing test. An 11 month old can't exactly raise his right hand when he hears a beep during a hearing test, so this seemed like the best option to ensure that we won't add hearing aids to our medical accessory list.

On a more exciting note, here are some of our latest pictures of Luke enjoying the beautiful spring weather!