Monday was a usual day except after physio we went to Granny for a play. Even better was the fact that Tammy was home with headache and by the time I got there she was feeling mildly better so I got hugs a little playtime with her. Another cool thing was that my addiction for Cbeebies was filled. I haven’t revealed this but the folks decided that TV was a big no-no so they cancelled their subscription. As a result I have been on TV rations. Mom popped out to the store while Granny and I played and although she was back soon with some lunch in hand for us, we stayed quite a while to get maximum time in.

Back home it was the usual routine and Tuesday brought with it music and a bit of a disaster for Mom. While we were doing some ball work I went one way and the ball went the other and Mom was basically left holding my feet while I blocked my fall with my chin. Mom felt really bad as we do these exercises everyday and nothing like this has ever happened before. She apologized profusely for the rest of the day. I rather milked the situation getting everything my heart desired for the day.

We met Daphne and Brenda back home for tea. It was a great treat. We drank coffee, had some cake and played a lot. Brenda and I have so much in common as we are both miracle children – surviving under controversial circumstances. All too soon it was time for them to go but before they left they presented me with a whole box of toys. They were the toys I loaned to Matthew while he was visiting but I was so excited to see them it was as if I hadn’t seen anything like that before.

Wednesday was the dreaded visit to Prof Fourie. We travelled to Centurion in silence, and there was a general foreboding feeling in the car. Although we are thrilled for Prof Fourie taking a much deserved retirement, it does leave us concerned over the next steps, as he really is my lifeline.

We greeted him with hugs and he oooohed over my development and progress. After the niceties we got down to business; basically the Prof has asked that I urgently get a MRA done to determine the anatomy of the vessels in my brain. This will assist in determining the next steps.

We also discussed my stroke/TIA that occurred in May, that left all of us pretty shattered. He is of the view that my AVM may have closed, causing the sudden increase in back pressure and consequently the stroke. The fact that my screaming in the hospital that fateful day in May resulting in my miraculously recovering my speech and ability to walk also held a clue: apparently in surgery the Prof sometimes has to elevate the patient’s blood pressure to iron out a kink or spasm in a vessel. This is what possibly happened when I screamed so hard that I actually recovered. Furthermore, the Prof also thinks that since my AVM was a little as 2mm wide, from the original 10mm, it may have actually closed, causing the TIA/stroke, and then my screaming afterward resolved a blockage. We will never know for certain, but fortunately I recovered most of my faculties.

The Prof, despite going on retirement, has agreed to review my MRA and to meet again in January to, based on the scans, decide the next steps, if any.

Our meeting ended with all of us crying – it was very very emotional. Like Dad says, how do you thank the person who saved your child’s life?

We stayed at Unitas for lunch and were on our way home sooner than expected.

Dad took me too my cooking class and we had the couscous salad I made and chicken for dinner. Mom was thrilled that she only had to do some cooking.

Orango Tangos was the call of the day Thursday and Granny came to visit as well. A double whammy. I had a great time but threw my first ever temper tantrum as Mom usurped the ball from me during soccer. My shocked Mother even took a photo as evidence. She asked me if I could use my words to explain how I was feeling and once I got it off my shoulders that it was unfair to steal a ball from a three year old, I was my same happy self.

We headed to our flat in Lonehill to show it to a prospective tenant and then headed to the Fourways mall where we discovered a shop devoted entirely to Lego. I very quickly opted for this as a mode of play. They have tables filled with Lego and Lego and Lego. What a good day it was Mom.

I went to OT on Friday and on arrival I told Mom I was really excited. I like Lauren. How cute am I?

We headed off to the dentist as I broke a tooth last week but the traffic was impossible and we couldn’t make it on time so we rescheduled for the new week.

Daddy had a free day on Saturday using it to catch up on his correspondence etc. We hired movies and watched them into the evening and started Sunday with movies again. Dad went to drop them off and get us breakfast and lots of free play was involved for the day. The rest of Sunday was spent enjoying the stunning weather.

Notably I retrieved a huge amount of success with my toilet training as I lost it with the stroke and now I am staging a full on assault on the process. My folks were thrilled with me and full of compliments. They were determined not to be pressured into forcing me and due to my special circumstances wanted to only start the process when I was ready. Theoretically with my circumstances I have till 5 years old but looks like I am ahead of the curve on this one.

Today’s title relates to an interesting milestone in Earth’s history: sometime on Monday morning, the 7 billionth person was born. Because so many children are born all the time (258 per minute) it’s impossible to say which child was the actual 7 billionth, but all over the world nations celebrated the symbolic 7 billionth child.

This got me to thinking, and I started asking Dad questions about the world’s population. For instance, who may people have inhibited earth since known history – after some Googling Dad announced that the most likely amount is 82 bn. Dad also found a population clock that states I’m the 6,734,893,494th person alive on Earth and 82,761,965,815 people have been born before me. What made me very sad looking at these population clocks is that 125,720 species of the world’s 10 million species has become extinct since I was born. If you would like to see your stats, click here.

The coming week sees me going to visit my Mom’s preferred school. I will feed back next week. To my cousins: we are heading to Cape Town as our holiday is confirmed for the New Year. We are all very excited.

Incidentally, some people have asked if I’ve entered my blog into the SA Blog Awards, as I did last year at this time, where I came in the top ten in the country – unfortunately the category of ‘Personal Blog’ has been dropped, so I cannot enter.

Til next week,

Jay-Bee

Photo 1 I love my midday snoozes

Photo 2 Meeting with Prof Fourie

Photo 3 A sample of one of the many platinum coils in my brain

Photo 4 Some play after cooking at cooking school – this is NOT the real thing

Photo 5 Jay-Bee concoction

Photo 6 High speed game of soccer at OT’s

Photo 7 My first ever temper tantrum!

Photo 8 Making myself some milky tea

Photo 9 Taste test

Photo 10 Mmmmmm, good

Photo 11 Gooooooo Vikings!

 

2 Comments on Seven Billion

  1. Rob says:

    Always an inspiring read Jarrod.

  2. Lisle says:

    wow, the coils are hectic??? holy smokes

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