Railroad Wife, Railroad Life

Why are we so offendable?  Why are we so quick to excuse our own shortcomings, but condemn the shortcomings of others?  As a rule, almost everyone has a touch of narcissism within them.  Why wouldn't we though?  We are taught to look out for number one, all others be damned.  That's what society teaches us, but what about God?  I ask these questions for myself as much as anyone else.  Like the rest of the world, I struggle the "all about me" mentality.  However, I'm starting to realize that changing my attitude and giving a little grace is worth far more than self satisfaction or having the last word. The first time I heard the phrase "What the world needs now is grace", I didn't know what that meant.  I was 18 and thought grace was just something you said before dinner.  16 years later, I've started to realize grace is a wonderful gift God gives us every day.  It's also a wonderful gift He gives us so we may pass it on to others....

Yesterday Kennedy and I were up in Cincinnati again.  We started the day off with a renal ultrasound, followed by a VCUG and Spina Bifida Clinic.  The main purpose of the VCUG was to see if Kennedy's bladder is refluxing urine into her kidney's when her bladder is full. This was our first clinic since Kennedy's cord dethering/cyst removal and shunt surgeries.  One of the highlights was getting to see our Fetal Care Center Case Worker, Erin.  She was shadowing our Social Worker for the afternoon.  This was the first time she'd seen Kennedy with her walker.  I know I've said this before, but every single person who helped us through the decision to have fetal surgery will forever have a special place in our hearts. The urodynamics test from 2 weeks ago and the VCUG showed that Kennedy is still not completely voiding her bladder on her own.  The Urologist did say that her bladder does look much better than it did during the renal ultrasound in August ...

We've been fortunate not to have to head up to Cincinnati for anything yet this year.  However, this trip yesterday was the first of 3 that will be made in the next month.  Yesterday morning Kennedy had a sedated MRI.  After the MRI she had a urodynamics test done and a follow-up with Dr. Stevenson, her Neurosurgeon. The brain scan on the MRI showed her shunt is draining too much fluid and her ventricles went from being too big to too small.  After the MRI we went up to the Neurosugery Department to have Kennedy's shunt reset(the magnets in the MRI machine automatically shut it off).  The Resident programmed the shunt to a lower setting in hopes that it would correct the issue with Kennedy's ventricle sizes. We won't get any of the results from the Urodynamics test until March 14th, when we go back to Cincinnati for Spina Bifida clinic. Dr. Stevenson was very pleased with the images of Kennedy's spine.  This was her first MRI since she had her cord de...