I got home from Jessica's on August 24 to a packed calendar like I mentioned in the prior post.
First thing was a court appearance for us to officially get legal guardianship of Jena. It is a weird thing that parents have to go through this legal process and pay a significant amount of money to be able to continue to be "parents" to their child with a disability. However that is the law. You are suppose to do it when your child turns 18, but I had some "attitude" about the process and since Jena is healthy and doesn't make crazy financial messes, there was no pressure to do it. (The problem can occur when your child will not be given medical care because a doctor does not deem them "competent" to agree to it and there is no legal person to sign in their behalf. Our doctors have felt comfortable with the minor things she has needed to work with her and with us.) However, once we decided to serve a mission, we put it on the list of "to-do" and were happy to have it done on August 24.
One good thing about my dragging my feet is that Jena did not have to go to court and hear people say she needed a guardian because she was not competent. Because of Covid, we did it in our attorney's office over Zoom for about 2 minutes and then the phone. The judge was thoughtful and very kind and careful. As nothing will really change for Jena, I think it was the best possible way to have it happen. Another thing to cross off our list.
Then I was off to another appointment with Ben. His liver function has continued to decline so more tests have been ordered for his liver (an ultrasound which we did last week), some more blood tests and a UA to check the health of his kidneys, and a echo on his heart (which will be done in a couple of weeks.) The doctor wanted him off his current anti-psychotic which is causing the damage, but was very concerned about what that will do to him overall. As we all are! His psychiatrist had already indicated that she felt she needed to change his medication so that actually started a few days later after another appointment with his psychiatrist. Now it is a waiting game to see if Ben can remain stable on this new medication. (Actually it is a medication that he has used in the past, but it has been a very long time.)
After that appointment, I dropped Ben off to spend the evening with Jena. (They made mac and cheese and blueberry muffins together.) Gary and I headed to Midvale for a long overdue Game Night with my dad and a couple of his friends. We played "Teraform Mars." The You-tube video of the game was 30 minutes long to review the details and rules of the game. (It wasn't your typical Uno or Risk type of game.) The game including the instructions took us about 4 hours.
Let's just say that Gary and I didn't win. I am not even sure I got all of the rules right by the end of the game. However, I loved it, all four hours of it, even with losing. One: I loved being with my dad doing something that he loves. Since I was 12 or so, I spent several/many late nights playing war strategies games with my dad. I heard my mom say once that I didn't realize that other people didn't do that with their dads or that I could have said, "No." I actually loved it. I learned both strategy and history while we played "Midway" or the "Battle of the Budge" and those things helped me in my life. Game playing is a good skill in many different ways. Second: I loved the way that learning and playing a new challenging game stimulated my mind. It made me think in different ways and to try to use strategy as I played. It has been a while since I was in that situation, but I loved making my mind work in a new way even if it was just for four hours. I am a geek, I guess, and I loved that feeling of thinking in a different way.
We didn't get home until around 11:30 that night so you can imagine--I slept very well that night! Good thing because Tuesday was another big day!
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