Billy Ray's Progress..5/25/06

It has been a while since I brought you up to date on Billy Ray. Again, he is not totally well but getting better with each day.

With Billy Ray, as with some of your children, it seems we are always starting over. My friend, Keddie, who has helped me arrange his vocational activities mentioned yesterday that everytime we have set something new up he develops medical issues. That hasn’t always been the case but certainly for the last year.

People often confuse mania in Billy Ray with being happy. I don’t always correct them because most people enjoy the sound of his laughter and even slight hyperactivity. However, I know that this is not what happiness is in Billy Ray. When he is truly feeling good and enjoying life he will smile quietly and crack jokes with amazing wit and charm. We are seeing much more of the quiet smiles and charm in the past few days.

A sign that he is getting better, is the lessening of difficult behavior and increase in constant movement. For example, he lets me know he needs to be busier when he tries to take on tasks that aren’t normally a part of his schedule or doing regular tasks multiple times. For example, he is trying to fill the dogs’ water repeatedly and is doing many little things that say “give me more to do”. It is time to take a fresh look at his schedule.

He seems to be really getting into his activities as you can see by the pictures from his Meals on Wheels route. He is becoming increasing independent . The other pictures are of going bowling with the bag, ball and shoes he recently got from his step-grandfather. Last week he bowled 3 strikes in a row. Too bad we didn’t catch the picture.

One progress that Billy Ray is thrilled with is that he can now begin incorporating a little more fat in his diet. Also his blood sugar has been so good lately that we don’t have to be as cautious as we were for a while. Thus, with permission from his doctor I could make him cookies last night that are high in fiber. They have helped with his regularity in the past when multiple laxatives didn’t work. This was a part of his routine until the diabetes and we had to decrease both sugar and fat. Billy Ray was glad to be able to have his cookies again.

We are learning a lot about that magical organ, the pancreas. I had no idea that it controlled so many functions necessary to be well. Dr. Masterangelo ordered some pancreatic enzymes, which we will start today because the pharmacy did not have it on hand yesterday. Hopefully this will make things work better for Billy Ray.

He will have surgery at the end of July to help with his Acid Reflex and severe choking problem. In the meantime things are getting better.

Until next time,
Peggy Lou Morgan
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