Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Answers

Good morning! First off, thanks for the email responding to Friday's neuroblastoma post on MIBG false positives. I had several people write and ask - "Well, what was found on Sydney's MIBG scan?" I probably should have reminded everyone that her positive result was for brown fat. She has an area around the nape of her neck which has always shown. It is not prominent. In fact, I would say that most would miss it, but, it is indeed there. So, to make a long story short. Sydney is fine. The finding for her is considered a false positive. I guess this is one of the reasons that I wrote about it. I knew it was an issue but was completely blown away that there was such a large percentage of children that also had this finding. Rarely am I surprised by something in neuroblastoma and the prevalence was a new one for me.

So, where are we?

Well, the Hot Harry Potter is recovering nicely. She goes back to the cosmetic surgeon today for a check up. She should get her first look at the scar this morning. If she was a good girl and followed the doctors instructions we can hope to see a healthy scar that will hopefully disappear in a few months.

My thumb? Ah, it is groovy. I will probably take the stitches out today. It isn't going to turn out nearly as pretty as Lynley's forehead but, not to worry, I am not the one that carries the burden of beauty anyway.

The kiddos? Hmph! I am in such a quandary with the kiddos. One minute they are perfectly stellar examples of human behaviour, the next, they need to be traded in on newer models. I am totally blown away by their propensity to change behavior on a dime. They are truly miniature versions of Dr. Heckyl and Ms. Behave. In this case, I would be misrepresenting Graham if I said he was truly apart of this dual personality syndrome. In this case, he is the good one. Of course, he is generally the brunt of the girl's behaviour so his split personality comes in the form of being happy one moment and crying the next because the girls have done yet another mean thing to him.

To be honest, I have had it with the abuse. Yesterday after Sydney sprayed Graham down with a hose for no good reason I told him to go throw her in the pool. I quickly realized this was not a very good idea and corrected it before he had the chance. Of course, he is too nice and probably would not have done it either way. The point is the pattern is recurring and if Sydney is not trying to make Graham cry it is Ainsley. He is grossly outnumbered and no amount of Lynley and I scolding and punishing the girls is doing the trick. He is going to have to solve this one on his own. He has got to fight back or they will never give him the respect that he deserves. Of course, he is too nice to fight back and too conscious of the rules to do anything bad to his sisters.

I want to help him but I haven't quite figured out the answer.

I need to think more about my purpose.