To most people, she looks just fine...when they see her, she up and walking around, eating, drinking and talking and laughing, but they don't see what a Mom sees. They don't notice that she is lacking her normal energy, that her smile is weaker, her laugh is less often and that her eyes are not twinkling, they aren't there when the pain hits and she can't do anything but wait it out. She even talks quieter and has me asking "What?" most of the time. When people see her who know her, but don't know that she has been sick, they look at her and say, "Wow, you lost some weight, good job! What is your secret?" To most people losing weight is a good thing, but when you lose weight because you could not even hold down water for weeks and weeks and now you are eating and eating and still not gaining, that is NOT good. The last time she was home for a long visit, she was in training for a triathlon...this time, it is a feat to slowly walk to the 1/2 mile to the corner and back, which she has only managed once. It is scary to see your kid in this condition. I think we have run the course with the gastroenterologists. They have tested her for all they can think of and most of the tests have come back negative. They have sent the last biopsy results in for a third opinion. Their final suggestion was another round of penicillin or steroids. We said no way to the steroids. They keep telling her they have never seen anything like it and don't really know why she is still in so much pain. Her stomach is a mess, the worst case of gastritis they have seen and they don't know why it won't clear up. They asked if they could take her case before the board of doctors at Providence Hospital and do a case study on her. She said yes, but now, in the meantime, she decided to try a naturopathic doctor. We made our first trip in to see him on Monday and from what I saw in the first visit, I feel like he is on the right track. He really seemed to understand the symptoms and has a course of action in mind. He talked to her, had her fill out some forms and requested all of her files from the other doctors, both in the Dominican Republic and here and will meet with her again today to begin treatment. She was supposed to fly back to Ariel next week, but the new doctor said that she should NOT return until she is well and he feels like he will need a few weeks to get her that way. That was pretty rough for her to agree to another month away from him, but she knows that she has to do it or she is just not going to get well, maybe even get worse. She knows that she came here to get well and getting part way well is not enough. She knows she can not go on with middle of the night wake up calls of pain in her stomach. Pain that keeps her awake for hours until the vicodin kicks in. So final decision, made mostly by Ariel, is to stay here, keep working at getting well and go back to the Dominican Republic at the end of August. I will send her back to Ariel when she is my normal Jessi once again.

We spent the day of the 4th at Mom and Dad's pool. Emily and Joshua are such good swimmers now. It is nice to not have to keep your eyes on them every minute and they don't even need the life vests on. Jessi is feeling a bit better, she still has rough times, but more good times than bad. She will be going in for another test this Friday because the doctor feels she is not getting well as soon as expected.I took the kids to get some fireworks and everyone came back here for dinner. I made my BBQ ribs, sausage dogs, salads, corn on the cob, and a recipe I used to make called Hobo Potatoes, only now I use sweet potatoes instead of white ones. Of course we had Smores for dessert. We had a fire in the fire pit and sat around and waited for dark to light the fireworks. For cheapie little fireworks, we had some pretty good ones. My favorite are always the sparklers.

Happy 4th of July!