Show Your Hope!

Well, it is upon us….Cold and Flu Season is unfortunately here.

This is the time of year that most families that battle Primary Immunodeficiency Disease (PIDD) or other serious health conditions dread.

Why?

Because people sometimes don’t think.

People sometimes forget that their choices and decisions have a larger reach than they think they do…

People don’t realize how one simple thing for them can create a devastating domino effect in the lives of others.

And sadly…there are even some people who are just plain selfish and don’t care about the consequences of their actions.

So, for the sake of just putting it all our there…..I’m taking the time to try to explain to friends (and yes, even some of our extended family still don’t grasp this yet) about why it is SO important to keep your germs to yourself!

Will and Sasha have Primary Immunodeficiency Disease (PI)

Individuals with Primary Immunodeficiency Disease have immune systems that do not function properly.

What does that truly mean though?

For Will and Sasha, they lack a few things that are critical for proper immune function:

1. IgG – This part of the immune system is supposed to react in response to invasions by bacteria, fungi, and viruses.  When there aren’t enough IgG, the system cannot react properly…and sometimes, it doesn’t react at all.
(Click HERE for more information)

2.  IgA – IgA is a major antibody in the saliva and in the mucous membranes of the intestines and the bronchi. It protects against bacterial and viral infections.  It is the first line of defense against infection.  If there aren’t enough IgA antibodies, the individual isn’t protected against infection.

3.  Poor Vaccine Response:  This means that, even if they are vaccinated against something, the body has no memory – or doesn’t remember it well enough to fight it off if exposed to it…thus defeating the purpose of vaccinations.

For example, Will was vaccinated against Pertussis and ended up extremely ill and hospitalized from it while we were on vacation in Myrtle Beach.  While this vaccine isn’t 100%, most people vaccinated against pertussis are protected from it…Will was not.

Because both Will & Sasha have ‘broken’ immune systems, they receive weekly infusions of Gammaglobulin (blood product derived from thousands of plasma donors) to help replace the things that are missing in their bodies.

Being on the infusions helps protect them as it gives them the missing antibodies weekly thus taking over for the fact that their own immune system cannot do this naturally.

The other thing that needs to be considered is that, because their incidence of bacterial illnesses are more frequent AND the fact that they need to be on a daily low dose antibiotic (and, for Will – the fact that he is allergic to several classes of antibiotics) – we try to avoid any illness because it could lead to the need for full dose strength and/or other heavy duty antibiotics.

The children are very young still – and, if we continue on this pace – by the time they are teens or in their 20’s, their antibiotic options may be extremely slim (or almost none in Will’s case as we are already running out of options) – or they may end up becoming resistant to them.  We could find ourselves in some seriously treacherous waters with the kids.

It also means that illnesses that they have gotten before, they can get again with the same level of intensity because the body does not remember the past exposure like a normal person’s body would.  For example, when exposed to something as simple as the common cold, the system does not recognize it (you can build antibodies to certain viruses and bacterial infections and actually fight it off if you are exposed to that same strain of bacteria or virus a second time OR you can get a much lesser version of it if exposed to it again).

It means that vaccinations they get are often ineffective (we still get our flu shot even though there’s a good chance it won’t work…it’s worth a shot – no pun intended – to hope that it will).   Individuals with PI should NOT be getting live vaccinations (like the MMR and Chicken Pox vaccine) because the person with the PI cannot fight off virus/bacteria even in small doses – and it causes actual sickness within the individual (this happened to Will with the MMR shot, he got very seriously ill from it – we didn’t know at the time about not getting live vaccinations because he was just newly diagnosed and we were still in the process of learning about the disease and the initial doctor we had was a joke).  If others living in the same household receive live vaccinations, they actually are not supposed to come into close contact with those with PI until the risk of exposure to the individual with the PI is gone (with each live vaccine, that time frame varies – with the chicken pox, it’s a LONG time!).

When it comes to viral illnesses, we need to be careful….not because we worry about the cold, but because ‘just a cold’ to our children becomes a sinus infection, or bronchitis, or pneumonia.

Here are 2 perfect examples of why we worry – the first occurred several years ago – it was Thanksgiving. One family brought their kids along and they were sick with ‘just a cold’ – I was upset about it, but I did nothing about it because I figured it was a moot point since we had been around them for a few hours before it was clear they were sick AND both of our kids were on low dose daily antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections.  Several days later, Sasha and Will both became ill with the cold.  Almost week into it, Sasha was diagnosed with a sinus infection (despite being on preventative antibiotics) and placed on a high dose 21 day course of Augmentin.  She continued to cough and be unwell, and…a week before Christmas, Sasha was so very sick that we had to rush her to the ER – turns out she had bilateral bacterial pneumonia (despite being on the Augmentin for 18 days at that point).  It was very scary for us and we ended up missing all the ‘Christmas’ activities because Sasha was sick.  Meanwhile, the child (the one with ‘just a cold’) who brought the illness to us was completely fine within a week of our initial exposure over Thanksgiving.

The second example that highlights this occurred just before Halloween 2 years ago.  At another holiday gathering, a family brought their child who they felt was sick with ‘just a cold’ to join the festivities.  Despite knowing our situation and that our children (who were not sick at the time) would be there – they went anyway.   Their child had had a little fever (low grade) and some congestion, so they gave her antihistamines and Tylenol prior to arrival.  Several hours later, the medicine wore off and it was clear she was not well.  When I approached the parent about the clearly unwell child, I was told it was,  ‘just a cold.’
To say we were upset was an understatement.

Sure enough, a few days later, both kids weren’t just a little sick…they were VERY sick.  Turns out that the child had the the start of the flu and the parents didn’t realize it was the flu at the time. What these parents felt was just the start of something harmless turned out to be something very serious.

Will and Sasha had to be quarantined (Swine Flu) and it was a total nightmare.  They had to be started on Tamiflu and also placed on more antibiotics and missed quite a bit of school.  It was a long haul and they were STILL sick at Christmas from secondary infections.  It was a really rough ending to the year for them that year.

On top of that, Will, in particular – has low neutrophils and is considered ‘chronically neutropenic’ and his level of deficit is moderate.
So, what does that mean?

It means that his primary defense against bacterial infections are low.  Sasha is also ‘chronically neutropenic’ but her deficit is considered mild – her numbers are only marginally better than his and have been on the decline – so that ‘mild’ might become categorized as ‘moderate’ in December when we see the immunologist.
Sometimes, the reality is that their little bodies just aren’t strong enough….

What does it mean in a nutshell?

If their defenses are low enough, they can get pretty sick from bacteria that other people carry and aren’t even sick from.  The most common type of infections seen in neutropenic patients are caused by bacteria normally found on the skin (such as Staphylococcus aureus) or from the gastrointestinal and urinary tract. Fungal infections are also more frequent in patients with neutropenia. The infections may be limited to certain areas of the body (commonly the oral cavity, genital area, and skin) or may spread via the bloodstream to the lungs and other organs in severe, prolonged neutropenia.  Funny enough, Sasha has WAY more issues with Staph infections, in particular, than Will does – and his numbers are lower.

SO…99% of the time, we are extremely careful about ANY illness exposure.

I will admit though, that there have been times that we should have been more cautious and were not – some of it was sheer irresponsibility on our part and some of it was hoping that we could have a little normalcy and just enjoy life without the worry.  Most of the times we have played our cards this way, it has come back to bite us.

So, we’ve learned some hard lessons because of just wanting to have some ‘normalcy.’

Even at times, because we were selfish for wanting that normalcy –

they’ve paid the price…definitely unfair of us to do to them.

And, at this point – we have found what works to keep our kids as healthy as possible and have learned our lesson from taking chances.

Here are the general guidelines that we use:

1.    If you are sick or anyone in your house is sick – we should not be in contact with each other.  Often times, if it is not bacterial, we give it a few days even AFTER all are well because you could still be shedding the virus even though you feel okay.   That’s why it’s good to know what we’re up against because we then are able to research it online and see if we’ve been exposed and also how long that particular virus is shed for to avoid exposure.  For example,  even different types of stomach flu have different incubation periods and different lengths of viral shedding (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stomach-flu/AN01758).

2.    We are super crazy about anyone entering our home being vaccinated with the flu shot.  The flu shot (not to be confused with the flu-mist) is a killed virus and poses no risk to you or to us.  (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm).  All too often I hear conversations about people not getting the flu shot because they think it contains mercury – so I’ll also include some info on how this assumption can be wrong as well HERE.

3.    The cold virus and the flu virus are 2 VERY different beasts.   They are 2 separate viruses.  I know that some are under the misconception that they are the same, but they are absolutely not.  We take the flu VERY seriously, especially after our run in with it a few years ago.  (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cold-flu-difference)

4.    We are SUPER vigilant during cold and flu season – for reasons listed above in #3 and also the example we gave with our encounter with the flu.  We stress A LOT of hand washing and avoid crowded areas usually beginning at the end of October (or whenever we see the Flu cases in our state start to rise) through April (or later if the state health department indicates on their website that cases are still occurring in significant enough numbers) in particular.  We follow that on the state website here: http://publichealth.blog.state.ma.us/h1n1-swine-flu/ (it gives you links to graphs and also gets in great detail as the season progresses), and also the CDC site here: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ (yes, these are the things we do that often don’t get spoken of – but are happening for the well-being of the kids).

5.    While school and going to the doctors’ offices and such are calculated and necessary risks, avoiding ANY known illness (no matter how seemingly harmless) or possible illness is critical for us.  We do not take any chances and the physicians have also instructed us not to, which is why – when the H1N1 first came out (and almost 6 months before they actually contracted it from someone at a holiday gathering), Will and Sasha were pulled from school at the direction of our immunologist and they were tutored from home for the last few months of school.

6.    To complicate matters more, because several people in our home have been diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease, we have to also be extra cautious of how this complicates that picture for them.  The greatest risk to anyone with Mitochondrial Disease is the period during the illness and 2 weeks after the illness because the mitochondria are stressed and unable to keep up with the demands of the vital organs.  This excerpt is taken directly from the UMDF’s website:  “The child or adult is at highest risk for neurological and organ damage during and for the two weeks following an illness.  Therefore even a simple flu or cold virus can have devastating effects on the patient, even death.  Any illness must be treated immediately with medical interventions, like IV fluids and IV antibiotics.”  Click HERE for the entire excerpt.

So, as you can see, we have SO many factors and reasons that we have to consider on a daily basis, and – right now, especially given that we had stressed both kids physically by traveling (which took a toll on Sasha towards the end of the trip), we really need to be extra cautious.  Going further on this point, while *I* do not have the same immune deficiency as them and do not require infusions (though it has been discussed), my body is so compromised and weakened from the mitochondrial disease that *I* do not handle anything respiratory or GI well at all.  For example, 2 years ago I was in the hospital for an entire week JUST because I had a GI bug that only caused me to throw up ONE time.

One of the most dangerous things to do is to assume it’s ‘just a cold’ or it’s ‘just allergies’ – if you don’t feel right – let us know and let us decide whether it’s better to be safe than sorry as it is our family that will have to deal with the fallout if it is in fact an illness.

I hope that this helps to clear things up for some of you – and I apologize to you all for not doing this sooner….

I realize that this is a lot of information to take in and digest – we can appreciate this.  I just wanted to give you all the pieces to our puzzle so you can realize how complicated this is for us and why we have to be so strict about things.

The same consideration should be given to ANYONE you come in contact with as you just NEVER know what battles they (or someone they live with or care for) are facing and how far the ripples from your actions will reach.

Here are some things you can do for the benefit of ALL:

1. Wash your hands! This is the most effective way to stop the spread of many illnesses!

2. Get plenty of rest – rest allows your body to heal and rejuvenate itself.  If you don’t get enough rest, you are susceptible to illness.

3. When you’re sick, visit your doctor!  One of the worst things you can do when you’ve been sick for several days, or – if your sickness is more severe or different than the ‘usual‘ sicknesses you’ve had is WAIT….that allows for possible secondary infections to brew and then spread to others.

4. Eat healthy and don’t skip meals! Your body needs healthy sources of energy to function properly and be able to defend itself from illness and disease.

5.  If you’re sick, STAY HOME! Despite the old saying, “Misery Loves Company,” I can guarantee you that no one wants to join you in your sneezing, coughing, body aches, boogers, vomiting, and other unpleasant bodily nuisances that might occur.  There are SOME things you MUST do (like go to the drug store or food store to pick up necessities) when you are not well, but other things (like going to the movies, running errands,  and even going to work) should wait.  That being said, I understand that some people don’t have the luxury of ‘staying home‘ – but, in an ideal world, it is what we ALL should do when we are sick.

6. If your child is sick – DO NOT send them to school where he/she can infect the rest of his/her classroom.  Again – remember, to your child, illness may be no big deal – but what if another classmate is immune compromised or has a parent or grandparent who is fighting cancer or is just too weak to fight off infections?  Think beyond yourself for a moment an imagine if YOU were the parent of that immune compromised child…or you yourself were the one who wasn’t able to fight off illness and had to then care for your child (who got sick from another kid at school).

7. Cover your cough/sneeze.  When you are sick, sometimes you can spread your illness within the tiny droplets that are emitted during coughing and sneezing.  It’s pretty simple folks – click HERE for a visual if you need it….

8. Don’t forget to exercise!  Research shows that engaging in moderate physical activity can help protect your immune system.

If you just follow the simple helpful tips above, you could make a HUGE difference not only in your own life, but in the lives of those around you! 

For some….

In the end, there really are NO EXCUSES to not think about how your actions impact those around you…loved ones and strangers.

Please do forgive us if we get upset or worked up about even the little illnesses (especially during cold and flu season) as it can be hard for us to relax about things that are seemingly ‘non issues’ for the typical healthy person.

I do ask for you to please understand that we are not trying to be difficult with you or be jerks about anything – we just are trying to keep our family as healthy and illness free as possible.

Will and Sasha are blessings in our lives and we will do anything and everything in our power to keep them happy, healthy, safe and as illness free as possible.  I hope you’ll join us in our mission not only to help keep Sasha and Will happy, healthy, and safe – but all those around us as well….because THIS….

and this….

Is NO way to live…..

THIS….

is LIVING!

And isn’t that what life is all about????

Love and Light,

Stefani

Wow, so it’s been a while!

So what’s happened since I last posted?  A LOT!

First of all…my blog hit 20,000 views and the beginning of September marked a full year (and 50 posts) of blogging!

I apologize in advance for the length, but I have a lot to get through…and at least 3 more blog posts to write over the next 2 weeks…so this one is going to be jam packed with what’s happened since the end of August. Hard to believe it’s been 2 months since I’ve posted!  MOST of it is really good!

I ended up back in the hospital on August 25th due to having 3-5 second pauses between heart beats. It was pretty scary.  I was transferred to MGH and admitted for several days, discharged and then readmitted…and redischarged. Ultimately, it corrected itself and I was able to go home.  They aren’t sure why it happened or if it will happen again, so we’re keeping a close eye on it.  I was so incredibly frustrated as this incident made it 5 hospitalizations in 4 months.  I REALLY was not digging having to spend so much time at MGH over the summer – which is usually my best time of year.  The worst part about the most recent incident was that it happened just 2 hours before Sasha’s 7th birthday party (which was also was the same day as one of our blood drives).  It was definitely NOT fun having the medics take me away from our house and everyone is crying and completely freaked out.  Like I said, it was pretty scary.  The party was canceled (despite my adamant insistence that it go on without me).  It’s a pretty crummy feeling knowing you are the reason your daughter is disappointed and the rest of your family is terrified.

One week later, we were finally able to celebrate Sasha’s birthday.  We were so blessed to have so many of our close friends and family celebrating her birthday with us!

After Sasha’s party, there was no time to waste – I was busy getting ready for Team Hope’s 5th Annual Beer Tasting event for the Immune Deficiency Foundation that was at the end of September.  I can’t even believe I was stressing out about things going well as, when the day of the event finally came, we had more than $8,000 of  items donated for the auction and our turnout was amazing!  I think we had more people this year show up than any other year. I was pleasantly surprised that the photographs I had donated towards the auction were hot ticket items! I was humbled, touched, and blessed by the outpouring of support from our community.  Thanks again everyone!

Click HERE to see the rest of the pictures from the event.

I also was so happy to be celebrating this milestone with my partner in crime on Team Hope – Michelle.  We’ve been in this together from the start and she is one of the most amazing women I know!

In the end, we raised near $14,000 for the Immune Deficiency Foundation!

The next day was my 35th birthday and I was delighted to spend the morning with my family, my Mito sis – Liz, and my dear friend Maggie and her husband before heading out to the Garrison House for a nice day out with the kids.

We had Sasha’s IEP meeting at the school and we have been working hard together as a team to best support her in school.  She has a 1:1 aide for most of the day and the meeting was to extend the amount of time.  We still have yet to fully agree on total time – but so far, she gets 4 hours a day – we were going for 5 so that ALL academic times are fully supported during the day – but the school thinks 4 will be okay.  Still haven’t decided if we’re going to go with that or push for the 5, but we have to decide by Monday.  Honestly, I really do just LOVE the staff at the school, they are SO good to both our kids.  I have to say, I LOVE the metabolic specialist that sees the kids also because he called into the meeting and was able to explain what was going on with Sasha (and Will) in a better way than I ever could and I think that it was extremely beneficial to have his help.  Truly, we are blessed with such a great medical and academic team.  I am not excited that Sasha is having SO much trouble medically/academically, but I am SO grateful that she has people who are so intent on providing the support she needs so she can feel good about herself and successful at the things she tries to do.

Will had developmental testing done in September and the developmental specialist recommended that he be moved from a 504 to an IEP, so we are now just beginning the process for that.  Hopefully this will be an easy process.

We also got some ‘fun’ time in apple picking with Ralph, the kids, my niece Brittany, my friend’s Amy, Todd, their son Jack – and my Mito Sis Linda and her husband Rob – it was a really nice time!

The fallout that ensued due to being so busy preparing for the Beer Tasting knocked me out of commission for half of the first week of October, and I really took it as easy as I could as there was another BIG event that our entire family was going to be a part of at the end of the week!

If you have been following this blog for some time, you might remember that we had asked both kids back in February what their ‘one wish’ would be (if you missed it, click HERE to read that blog post).  Will’s ‘wish’ came true in May when we surprised him with a 2 week trip to Myrtle Beach with my parents and my niece Brittany.

On October 6th, we piled the kids in the car with us and told them we’re going on an ‘adventure.’  We arrived at the airport in Manchester – the kids were SO excited….but the excitement grew when they realized that my parents and aunt were standing outside the car behind us and were also going with us!

After a fairly uneventful flight (I hate flying – and it didn’t help that we ended up descending through a storm), we landed in Orlando, Florida.

The kids STILL didn’t know where we were going, but they were even MORE surprised when they say my niece Brittany sitting in baggage claim waiting for us (she took an earlier flight).  They were thrilled that all 8 of us would be taking our ‘adventure’ together!

Of course, no vacation would be complete without a little drama, and OF COURSE, in true fashion with our luck – it started right away!  First the airline lost our luggage, then the 2 vans we had rented weren’t available (Dollar Rental had a HUGE screw up and there were more than a dozen angry folks in the same position we were – without a vehicle), but – by far, the worse was yet to come.  My mom had gone to get a drink from Starbucks, and I thought she had gone down to be with my dad and Ralph trying to figure out the van rentals – but it turned out that she never made it there (we discovered this an hour after I last saw her up in baggage claim). We had her paged twice over the airport intercom, but she didn’t return.  The airport security advised us to call the police. They showed up and decided to start with a small scale search of the airport for her.  Our concern was that her blood sugar drops dangerously low (she can drop down to the 20’s without warning, which is very dangerous) and that she could be in trouble somewhere and not be able to ask for it OR, worse yet – something awful could have happened to her.  After the small scale search turned up nothing, the police then went to a full out search of the airport.  It was the worst 2 hours of my life worrying and fearing that something had happened to my mom.  Thankfully, they were able to locate her, and sure enough – her sugar was low and she was having issues cognitively (she was sitting in the Jet Blue terminal – um, we flew Southwest).  We were so grateful that she was safe and sound…and we dubbed her with the ‘cone of shame’ and told her that she wasn’t able to go anywhere without a buddy from now on!

We FINALLY arrived at the beautiful house we rented and the kids STILL didn’t know what we were doing in Florida!  We got them settled in and asleep around 1 a.m. and Ralph and I headed out to WalMart to pick up food and odds and ends.  We got home and got to bed around 2 a.m. – we were SO exhausted!

The next day, the kids found out that they were going to Disney…

and, even BETTER – my cousin, her husband and her son Ryan were there also!  We got to spend that afternoon/evening together and the kids were just SUPER excited!

We got to keep ONE secret – that we were actually granting Sasha’s actual wish (to see Disney at Halloween – the actual Halloween Party) all the way up until the day of the Halloween Party which was at the very end of the trip.  The kids never knew the length of stay, so they woke up every morning surprised that we were staying yet another day – it was a lot of fun doing it that way!!!  Our total stay was 2 weeks, and we jammed it full of fun.   We switched houses 3/4 of the way into our stay – and that place was awesome too!  The houses were owned by the same person and we loved them both so he said we could stay at them both!

And then, the second house – just as beautiful, but not my favorite…..a bit smaller and goes right up to the edge of a conservation area:

I have to say, I was SO grateful we rented scooters because I didn’t want to bring my power chair and I didn’t want to have to make Ralph push me all over creation in my manual chair.   We decided to leave Beast at home (we put him in a boarding facility that I think he had A LOT of fun at) because I didn’t think it was fair to drag him all over creation in the heat and chaos of Disney and I am SO GLAD we did – he would have been miserable, and the reality was that I had 5 other adults with me at all times, so I had people around me that could help if I needed it.

We ended up going to Disney’s Magic Kingdom…several times…

Hollywood Studios…

Epcot…

Animal Kingdom (twice)…

SeaWorld (twice) – where Sasha got to be a part of one of the animal shows…

Universal Studios….

And we also got some other ‘special moments’ in too!

We finally got to meet our wonderful friends Brant, Theo, Emily, and Brady (that’s a separate post coming within the week).

And FINALLY I got to meet my dear friend from the UK, Sarah – her son Jaime was here on his Make A Wish Trip at the same time were we were at Disney.  After being good friends online for 6 or so years, it was SO nice to see her in person!  Jaime has Diamond Blackfan Anemia and is one of the sweetest, bravest, and strongest boys I know!

I also got to meet my friend Kelli and her fantastic family (it was oh so hot this day!)  We’ve known each other for 10 years online – I was pregnant with Will and she was pregnant with Sydney and we met on an “Expecting Club” message board on iVillage!

AND…last but not least, I got to see my sweet friend Julie (and family) again – we’ve now seen each other in 4 states!  She and I also met on this message board but we have had several opportunities to hang out – she’s the best!  Our kids call each other ‘cousins’   🙂

By Wednesday early evening, Sasha started crashing….

When the day of the Halloween Party finally came (Thursday), Miss Sasha was not doing well – she insisted on going to Animal Kingdom (for our second trip there) so off we went….this was pretty much how she was the entire morning…

We let her have her say….but she was just doing so poorly (a lot of myoclonic seizures, absence seizures, and falling asleep without warning) that, after only going to the Safari and Rafiki’s Affection Section (which, she had a great time in both places), I told her we had to go home.  She wasn’t happy about it, but I needed to put her health first.  Frankly, I should have kept her at the house the entire day.

All in all, she had slept from about 8 p.m. the night before until 8 a.m., was up for 30 minutes to get showered and eat, and then fell back asleep and then proceeded to sleep for all but 4 or so hours up until 7 p.m. Thursday night. Thankfully, she was starting to perk up and we were able to finally make her wish come true – she was able to not only SEE Disney at Halloween, but she was able to MEET some of her FAVORITE Disney Characters (and yes, they aren’t all the good guys!)

After 2 weeks of non-stop fun, it was finally time to go home and it was a good thing – I think we were all hitting our ‘wall’ and were ready…though I was sad to leave the warm weather!

Sasha and I LOVED the hot weather (which was PERFECT – it was warm and mostly sunny for all but 1 hour out of the entire 2 weeks – we had ONE hour of rain the entire time we were there – how awesome is that?) and everyone else was roasting in the mid-80 degree weather.

I have to say, I was not a fan of all the interesting creatures down there…..

But overall, it was the most amazing trip that I will cherish forever.

I am so incredibly grateful to my parents as this trip would have not been possible without them.  It was a trip I will never forget – we created some amazing memories, special moments…and we did it together as a family – what more could I ask for?

I missed Beast SO much – I couldn’t wait to pick him up!!!
This was Beast when I first picked him up…..

And Flame and Phoenix were so happy to see my mom too!

When we got home, he had lost 15 pounds, was not himself, and I was worried.  My mom’s dogs were with him also and they were fine.  The boarding facility said he ate well and they had posted pictures of him the entire time and he looked like he was well cared for and loved – but he clearly was not feeling well.  We ended up taking him on Wednesday to the vet because he woke up covered in hives….

Turns out he had more than one thing going on – the hives were an allergic reaction to something and he also had a fever, was vomiting, and his liver enzymes were elevated. She put him on ‘service rest’ and did a bunch of lab work.  $600.00 later (yes, you read that right) we were on our way home with heavy duty antibiotics and a pretty sad pup.  He eventually perked up by Saturday, but he was pretty pitiful.  We really love our vet so much!  We have to return in 1 week to have labs rechecked (for his liver) and I hope to be able to give him a great report on his progress.  So far, so good!

We have spent the past week unpacking and catching up on everything…and BOY was there a lot to catch up on…I still am up to my eyeballs in things to take care of!

I did end up in the ER one night this week for having a ton of palpitations all day and decided it was best to not wait it out any longer as I was told not to let them persist – but THANKFULLY it resolved within a few hours of me getting to the ER and I told the doctor I really didn’t feel admission was necessary since it had corrected and labs were normal – and I was ready to go home…and he was happy to oblige! I’ve had this doctor before and we know each other well enough that he knows that I know my body well enough to say if I am good to go!  I hope this is a start of a new trend – this is the first time in 2 years that I have been to the ER and NOT been admitted.  Celebrating the little victories!  I even went 2 months and 1 day between hospital visits.  Maybe my body will start cooperating!

We have appointments this week (for both the kids and I) and then it looks like we don’t have ANY medical appointments (unless something comes up) until December!  I can’t tell you how exciting that is!

 On Saturday – we hosted our regular Team Hope/Children’s Hospital blood drive.  We anticipated that it would be a light turnout as everyone was preparing for Hurricane Sandy – but we actually did really well with 48 usable pints and 7 folks who tried to donate but were unable to…so 55 people came out to make a difference….we are so grateful for that!

We even got to sneak out for an hour and a half to Great Brook Farm to take some last minute foliage pictures before Sandy stripped the landscape of it’s beauty…and we brought Beast with us to see if he was up for some good old fashioned fun….no work, all play – totally off duty!  He loved it!

You can see the rest of the album HERE

Please keep your fingers crossed that all goes well this week and that we have good appointments…and keep your eyes peeled for another 2 or 3 blog posts over the next 2 weeks, I have lots of great things to share!

Well, that’s enough for now….thanks for reading this far – it was pretty lengthy, but 99% jam packed full of goodness!!!!  I’m going to call it quits before we lose power (lights are flickering) and I lose this post!

More to come….

Love and Light,
Stefani