surely you have seen the correspondence between Brent and myself. I just
tossed "a couple of (hopefully good) ideas his way. But it's nice that you
try to defend him, really!
As for Mandy...well - we tried to get her into a "normal" classroom, had it
all set up, one week before - the local school district told us "NO WAY"
(after they have given me a guided tour thru the school she was supposed to
attend and promised us "the world") the reason for their refusal - she needs
constant nursing care...they refuse to pay for this. ow we are suing them,
we're fighting. But there is still the issue of her low temps, she must sit
under heating blankets during school, needs one on one attention and help
from the teacher, she falls asleep during entire class sessions due to her
low tems and the valium she gets early in the morning, I myself have to admit
those are not the best requirements for a fruitfull school attendance.
Mandy lives in a sub-acute-care-facility. We were lucky to find on that is
"one of a kind"... the kids (only children) are loved and cared for. Mandy
gets special care all the time. The nurses simply love her...bring her gifts,
special foods she loves, pay a lot of extra attention to her. Mandy loves
this. Than she has her family, I learned all the aspects of her care, now we
bring her home every weekend, we got a big van, a lift - and Mandy goes
"crusing", wherever she wants....Mandy - who wrote the book on manipulation -
has everybody "wrapped around her little finger" -but still...I see the
longing look in her face...when she insits to be brought to a play-ground at
McDonald's, having her 9 year old sister do all the things, she herself can't
do. I still remember all the things she used to love, small things, like
"stealing some ice cream from the freezer at night" or stuffing toilet paper
into the toilet - causing a major flood, riding her Golden Retriever, driving
her little playmobile, hugging herr parents...it is so hard. True, there are
still a lot of things she can do...but there are way more - she can't do. I
always show an optimistic attitude....I will never accept what happened with
my little daughter...but I have learned to life with it.
Well, may be now you're bored stiff from my long letter, but I just tried to
relate those feelings a mother has.
I wish you all the luck in the world - and tons of happiness, you deserve
it!!
Bye for now
Andrea