Doman update!

I can't believe it's almost 2 months since my last post!  Either I'm slacking, or I just don't have too much say, or maybe a little of both.  This will be a catch up post, I really don't have too many updates.  But, to start with, here's some humor.  We've been looking at some old pictures and slides and movies at my parent's house, and we came across a few old family favorites.

I had to wear this on my head after my mom put my pink, foam curlers in my hair.

Pretty cute, I know. 

I love my brother's leather vests.  We always joke that they were made out of old couches.

I don't know what my mom was thinking.  Nice Polygamous dresses on me and Meri, and my brother's collars are so stylish.

 And now for the more current news.........

Britt-I don't have any pics of Britt, and not a whole lot of new stuff to talk about either.  Nursing school applications start after this trimester.  We're hoping and praying that she's accepted to Dixie State's nursing school.  She's done everything that she can, so it should happen.  Lots of school and night shifts as a CNA is what Britt is up to.

Brock-Football, football, and more football.  The Thunder has lost their last 2 games, but will rebound this week against Snow Canyon on Wednesday.  Brock has been playing really well and gets emails, texts, facebook messages, and postcards for schools all around the US.  But, we'll see what scholarship offers he gets after the season ends.  I can't believe it will all be over in about one month.  They only have 2 more regular season games, and then it's playoff time.

We did have a big scare last month with Brock at the West High game.  A player on West did a total cheap shot at Brock's leg during a play at the end of the game.  Brock heard a loud popping noise and couldn't walk on his leg at all.  He was carried off the field.  When I saw that happening, I knew it was serious, Brock has never been hurt so much that he missed any playing time.  After being checked out on the sidelines, we thought Brock had torn his ACL and would be missing the rest of the season.  He was devastated.  I was so impressed with the outpouring of love and support that we got, not only from the players on the team but the parents and our friends as well.  I think that everyone was thinking, "are you kidding me?  this cannot happen to the Doman's, they've had their share!"  The boys on team were especially amazing.  I could truly see the love they had for Brock, not only as a player, but as a brother.  They were all crying right along with Brock, some of them even more than Brock was!    No matter what happens the rest of this season, I know in my heart who the greatest team in Utah is.  We went straight to the ER in Salt Lake and thankfully, my cousin was the doctor working that night.  It was good to have him be there, he was in on the blessing that Brock was given along with some coaches and my dad too.   The xray showed that nothing was broken, so that was good.  We spent the rest of the weekend waiting for an MRI and believing that Brock's season was over, not only his season, but potentially his college scholarship as well.  I know that I was in a very dark place.  It kind of scared me that I was that close to being in a place I never want to be in again.  I think I had given up on my life being easy and trouble free and I wasn't willing to try to climb out of that hole again, I've had to too many times this past 2 years.  Finally, on Sunday afternoon, and thanks to some serious help from a friend, Brock had his MRI.  It came back showing no tears in either his ACL or his MCL.  What a relief!!!  After visiting with his doctor the next day, we found out that he tore his gastrocnemius muscle.  We were also told that it's a good thing that Brock is as strong as he is, or his knee would have been blown out for sure.  The hit was cheap, very cheap.  Brock missed about 3 weeks of football and is now feeling good again.  The biggest problem with this injury is that that muscle has a tendency to tear again after it's been torn once, so I now sit on the sidelines just praying that it doesn't happen again or his season will be over.  But, it's not going to hold him back from winning the state championship this year.  I think it will be as sad for me as it is for Brock when it ends, I love watching him play football!

Abby-Abby has been doing pretty good since we made a few changes in her schedule.  For the first month and a half of school Abby got sick.......a lot.  Nothing major, just stomach bugs, then sore throats, then coughs, etc.  etc.  She finally came to me one day and told me that she was sick of feeling crappy and being sick too tired to do anything fun after school and that she wanted to try online school.  At first, I was completely against it, school and friends is where the fun is!  But, after lots of conversations (and arguments) we decided to compromise and it's been perfect.  Abby does her core classes online, and her electives at the school.  She only has to go to school every other day for just the afternoon.  Abby has loved it!  She is very self-motivated, so the online courses work well for her, and she still gets to have the social with her friends at school.  Abby said that she has learned more this past month then she learned the past couple of years because she's had to miss so much school.  For this year, we're sticking with it and then we'll re-evealuate again next year.  This is Abby after her choir concert last week.  It's always awesome to see Abby do anything.

We haven't gone to clinic since August 19th and aren't scheduled to go until November 6th.  I can't believe we're going to make it almost 3 months.  In fact, I've only missed 1 day of school all year!  We're both nervous about making it through October because the past 2 years Abby has been in rejection in October both years.  We're hoping it's not a curse and that we miss it this year!  Abby does feel pretty good most of the time.  She's been having some stomach issues lately, but after chatting with other transplant parent's tonight, it seems like the majority of these kids are having issues with one of the anti-rejection med levels being too high for some reason.  I might request a blood draw just to make sure that all of her levels are where they're supposed to be.  We don't need any shockers at clinic in November.

Me-I've been good.  The hardest thing I'm dealing with is trying to stay on top of medical bills, they're never ending.  My insurance deductibles just started over in August too, so I'm right back where I started plus what I didn't pay off last year.  I sometimes feel like I will always be in medical debt, in fact, I know I will be.  I just got Brock's new MRI bill today and I still haven't paid off his surgery and MRI's from last year!  ughhhhh, it's never ending, but I can deal with it.  I'm going to be selling my book at the Dicken's Festival down here in St. George in November and hopefully that will help.  OTher than that, things are good.  School is hard, but fun.  I love teaching, it's just what I do.  It's been nice to be able just focus on the regular for a while.

I saw this on Facebook today and I like it.  If you ever start thinking that I'm crazy or find yourself asking, "What is wrong with Michelle???" just remember this saying.  And someday you might find me acting like this again, it's not that far off, some of you have seen it already (I'm the one on the bed in the glasses and bandana, singing Guns and Roses, Sweet Child O' Mine......I remember it so well!)