reflections
Medical parents will know exactly where I’m going the second I say the following, “January is coming.” January is easily the hardest month for any medically complex family. In this month it does not matter if we have employer sponsored insurance, private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid—we all are
medicaid
My 7-year-old son Colton is in hospice. Our entire family has been gathered around his bedside for weeks. His health, which had been slowly declining for over a year, rapidly deteriorated the day after Christmas. I’m grateful that he made it to Christmas, my smiling boy’s favorite time
healthcarevoter
I wish y’all could have seen my face when I was handed a megaphone, of all things. Actually, it may be better my reaction was mainly internal, because I can tell you I did not feel nearly as confident as my picture portrays. After more than a year of
siblings
Best Friend on Wheels shaped me because it taught me that it is okay to have a sister with a major disability. Before I read this book, I thought it was not okay to have a sister with a disability. Although I am ashamed to admit it now, I was
dad
This Sunday, I’ll be celebrating Father’s Day as a dad for the eighth time. My first one was pretty easy albeit uneventful, “uneventful” later becoming an eternal goal in our lives. My daughter Penny was born in the spring of 2011, and for the first three months of
spread-the-word-to-end-the-word
The first time a doctor suggested that my son was mentally retarded was a shock. Simon was five, and though he’d consistently missed milestones, his doctors and teachers said it was just “developmental delay” and recommended more therapy to help him catch up. Since he’d started life with
pro-life
I chose life. I chose life when my husband and I planned to have a baby. I chose life when we celebrated the two little lines on the pregnancy test. I chose life when I started to eat healthier, took my prenatal vitamins every day, and eagerly attended every appointment
aca
I keep thinking about anonymity. That’s what President Obama gave us. For 6 years, since my son’s birth in 2010, I was able to post pictures of my children to just my friends; to celebrate, to enjoy, and to brag about how wonderful they are, just like a