Saturday morning, I was up bright and early after about 3 hours of sleep. Geli and I got ready and then took off for the school.
Putting Labels on the Night Before
We got there just after 8:30am and it was scheduled to start at 9:30am.
We found our table and got everything set up.
I was so nervous and ended up texting Jon that I felt like I was going to be sick. I know that it was ridiculous, but…..it is what it is.
The Craft Fair opened its doors and people started to come in.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but people came……some walked by and some stopped and bought and some didn’t……..and it’s all okay!
It was AMAZING to have a few of you come up and introduce yourselves. It was SO nice to put names to faces.
Probably my favorite moments of the day were when I had people come up and mention that they had problems with their skin and then they tried some of the Simple Beauty Products. To have them mention how amazing the products felt or how they didn’t hurt or burn their skin like some other creams and lotions have, and how they noticed that they felt “better” even after just a few minutes……that was my favorite part. It felt wonderful to be able to have these products that could help other people. I know how they have helped in our family; and to be able to share that…….AMAZING!
If you are interested in checking out what products there are, just click here on the link, and it will take you straight there.
It was getting passed around and looked at and played with and somehow 5 of the little tiny magnetic balls got lost. I managed to find 1 of them which left 4……I’m pretty good at Math, aren’t I?
I wasn’t too worried because I had swept every square inch of my floor and I didn’t figure that Judah had been around when it was getting passed around and so there was no way that he had gotten into or near any of these tiny – BUT STRONG – magnets.
Everyone left and I said that I’d keep a look out for the other 4 magnetic balls and carried on my way.
Monday was just a normal day and Tuesday looked like it was shaping up to be more of the same…..until the afternoon. I went to change Judah’s diaper and when I did……something looked oddly shiny and most definitely out of place. Yup, It was one of those magnetic balls.
I was a bit shocked and super upset because if there was one…what’s to say there wasn’t more than one and how would I know that two magnets hadn’t stuck together inside of his intestines and were going to cause some major problems….if you know me at all, I went straight to the “worse case scenario”. It was pretty sad. I couldn’t fathom a million hour ER visit and so we called our family Dr to see if they could possibly fit us in. They couldn’t so then we called the walk in clinic and seeing as he was happy and had no fever and didn’t seem to be in any discomfort, they said to bring him in first thing in the morning and they’d check him out and send us for an X-ray. Of course they gave us the whole “fever, blood, blah, blah, blah speech – do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to the ER” spiel.
Long story short, on Wednesday morning, we hit the clinic at 8am….hit the X-ray facility at 9:am and were back at home at 10:30am waiting to either hear or not to hear…in this case, no news was good news.
As soon as I got home, Siah met me in the garage complaining about a sick tummy. This was weird because he was fine when I left. Over the next hour, he got progressively worse to the point where he was sitting on the floor crying in pain. When asked where it hurt, he kept pointing at the lower right side of his abdomen…..heck, between cancer, ADHD, ODD, No Gluten, No Dairy, No Soy and now possibly a Magnetic Gut…..heck, lets just throw some appendicitis in there as well.
Jon took him up to the clinic and fortunately the wait time was only about half an hour. After about 15 minutes, Siah burped about 4 times, and then “miraculously” his tummy ache went away.
And just to be safe, Jon did stay to see the Dr. The appointment went a little something like this…
Dr: Nice to see you guys again. This little guy didn’t swallow any magnets, did he?
Jon: No, and he burped about 15 minutes ago and then everything stopped hurting…..so sorry for wasting your time. My son has gas.
Dr: Well, it’s always good to get it checked out anyway.
but you all know he was thinking…..”stupid parents, bringing their kids in because of a little gas.”
And then basically, my week just kind of blew up after that.
In all seriousness, I feel a bit traumatized about the whole hospital thing. When we found the magnet in Judah’s diaper, all I could think of was which hospital should we go to? And what about Jon’s new job and how would I handle caring for the kids by myself and would it be better to go to Children’s or to be closer to home….and what might they have to do to Judah if there were magnets stuck inside of him…..and how would we deal with the whole Gluten Free thing and well, it was not fun….
The whole hospital thing with Geli has not played nice with my emotions and I hate being confronted with how “unstable” I feel over the possibility of a hospital visit. Not Cool, cancer. NOT COOL!
The rest of the week didn’t have any medical craziness in it, but we did pull apart Jeremy’s room, the girls closet, the garage, the boys room, the TV room, ALL (as in every single toy that we own) the toys, and our storage closet. It was quite the undertaking and yet…..we did it!
This is the boy’s room that is right beside ours, down stairs in the basement. We currently have all three of the boys sleeping in this room. Fun times, there! (oh, the wall border and color….original to the house. not my choice, just haven’t changed it yet, but I did want to mention that I do NOT like the decor…carry on, please)
We made two dump runs and put away 15 separate bins of toys. No, they are not all HUGE boxes of toys, but all the toys we own are separated out into their own groupings…..Hot Wheels, Mr Potato Head, Playmobile, Little People, Infant Toys, Wooden Blocks, Tinker Toys….you get my drift.
We’ve put the majority of them away and I think that will cut down on the mess in the rooms. That’s the idea any way. We’ll see how well it plays out over the next couple of months.
Here is Jeremy’s upstairs room…
(I have NO Idea why it’s so stinking small. I thought I used the same camera on my phone, but obviously not…sorry about the mini view…just squint and then it should be all good! and again with the house’s previous occupants decor….lovely, ain’t it?)
The carpet is a bit thrashed but it’s the original carpeting from 15+ years ago and it just needs to get replaced, so other than a quick vacuum….I’m not even trying to clean that sucker.
Probably an even bigger miracle than just cleaning things out…was that we also managed to finish off each day of cleaning with a totally clean house.
Do you ever start to clean something and then find that the job is too big and you end up with a mess at the end of things that you pulled out, but have no current home and so you end up with a big a mess just in a different location in your house. Yah, it was my goal to not have that happen. YAY US!
Part of my push to get this done was because Jon starts his new job tomorrow morning and it was my hope that if we cleared things out and got rid of a bunch of junk that it would make it easier to keep things clean. Again, I’m really hoping that’s the case. Only time will tell, right?!?
What are your tricks for keeping a clean house? Do you have any tips to share?
I have so many things that I’m trying to think through and I just wish that I could just “sort” a few of them out so that I could “file them and put them away” if you know what I mean.
There are things that we are working through and trying and wondering about and it’s all complicated and messy and well….there are a whole bunch of “adult decisions” that we need to make right now.
Well okay, we don’t have to make any decisions at this exact moment and some things we cannot make decisions about right now, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t think things through so that we can at least make well thought out decisions if and/or when the time does come right.
One of the things that it taking up WAY TOO MUCH mental space inside of me is the whole “store” deal.
I love to create! I love creating things and I have for as long as I can remember. I feel like it’s something that I’m supposed to do and yet I don’t know “what” it is that I’m supposed to do with that creativity. I could just create for pure enjoyment purposes, but I keep feeling like I am capable of doing more with my creativity and yet……I don’t know what.
I’m beaten and battered by insecurity and fear when it comes to putting myself out there to see if anyone would be interested in purchasing the things that I create because, for whatever twisted reason, I equate lack of purchases with personal rejection.
See, these things that I create….I put a little bit of myself into each one, so when I try to sell things (and I’m not even talking just about right now, this is right now and in the recent past and in the far distant past) if they are not wildly received and purchased in a mad flurry of excitement and energy – then I feel like “I’m” not good enough….
Messed up, eh?
I know it is. I don’t want to live like that and so I keep trying. Often I try badly, with only a half attempt so that no one knows or guesses how much I care. Often I throw it off like a passing interest so that I don’t seem that invested in it, all in an attempt to fool myself into not caring and then not getting hurt.
I can tell myself that I love to create. I can tell myself that regardless of what happens – I will continue to create and give things away because I FEED and THRIVE ON CREATIVITY.
Even saying that, I plagued by thoughts. Comparisons, insecurities, criticism….so many thoughts and yet…
I AM CREATIVE!
I think I’m saying that in an effort to personally grab a hold of that concept and embrace it as truth.
“I” am creative!
I “AM” creative!
I am “CREATIVE”!
“I AM CREATIVE!!!!”
All I know is that I love to create….
I bought a small watercolor journal in the summer and told myself that I was going to paint. Just…..PAINT! If it was crap – well then it was my crap! I painted my feelings and paired them with words and inspirations that mirror those feelings. I can see the difference between my first painting in that book and the most recent ones. I’m a bit more comfortable. I’m a bit more confident. And that’s only in the last 4 months….
I’m going to continue to create.
Intentionally! I can only get better. It doesn’t matter what it is – I need to create, even if it is only for me.
And I’ve decided that I’m going to give the whole store a go. I’ve been waffling so badly on it and every day the mental anguish has been worse than the day before….the thoughts and fears and insecurities swirl round and round and round until I’m dizzy and sick because of it all. And because I do not want to live that way, nor model that for my children, I’m just going to say it out loud here (more for myself than for any of you)…
I’m going give the whole “store” a real go..I’m gonna try. I’m going to CREATE things and stock a store and attempt to sell things and I will attempt toNOT find my worth in the things that I create. I’m so much more than that….
Currently my store is on Etsy, but we are working on a better one….Whether anyone buys or not – I’m going to work as hard as I can at creating beautiful things to stock the store with. Things that I love! At the very least, I will have amazing gifts to give away whenever I want to….I don’t even have to wait for a special occasion. I will not judge my worth by whether or not people buy. This is a tough time in the economy – we understand that and regardless…..I’m going to create.
I hope you understand that I’m not saying this in an attempt to manipulate you. I needed to put this out there for myself. I need to face these thoughts, these Worry Dragons and tell them to “Be Still” or better yet to “Be Gone!”. I need to remind myself that I am loved and not rejected. I need to remind myself that people are out there ready to accept me and not waiting and searching for an opportunity to reject me. People are not looking for something to knock me down with but they are there to encourage and support me and life me up.
I choose to accept those as truths in my life. I am worth being accepted. I am worth being loved.
This past year has played a big number on me and while I accept and appreciate all your support and love….my life has been so insular and I’ve not had a lot of personal, face-to-face, human contact; and so many of the fears and worry dragons that I had faced, beaten back or even beaten down have slowly crept back up and are trying to get back into my life and I don’t want to let them in.
And so, I make no bones about it…..I have a store. Currently it’s over here (click to go through to Etsy)…..it will be here for now and I’ll continue to add more things to it, until the new store (yes, we are working on a different store option and it’s going to be amazing when it’s done) is finished being set up.
That being said, the name of my store is “Simple Choices“…..I’d love it if you would check it out. I’ll be adding more and more items to the store in teh coming days, so keep checking back.
I am passionate about living simply. I’m passionate about having healthy, natural alternatives to the chemicals that we so often use without even realizing; whether it be on our babies or on our bodies or in our homes. I’m passionate about simple toys that won’t harm our children (with chemicals in the plastic) and that will stimulate creativity and imagination. I’m passionate about learning about healthy and natural living and sharing that knowledge with others who want to learn about it. I’m so excited to share how small simple choices can make such a HUGE difference.
My life has been radically changed (for the better) by a whole bunch of small, simple choices. It didn’t happen overnight and I have so many more choices that I could make to be healthier, but like the name of the store, “Simple Choices”… Life is all about the simple choices. You might be surprised at how those simple choices add up…. That doesn’t mean that it’s always the easiest choice, but there are a lot of times in life where the harder, more difficult things are often appreciated more because of the effort that we must put in to them.
Simple Choices can make a huge difference in your life…I know they have in mine. I know that as I continue to make simple choices, I’ll continue to see the benefits in my life and in the lives of those around me….
“There may be a thousand little choices in a day. All of them count.”
Dr. Shad Helmstetter
I’d love it if you would take a look at my new Website….it’s still under construction, so you might want your hard hat and your steel toed boots, but I promise that we’ll be up and running smoothly in no time.
ps….you can also check out the Simple Choices blog. It was supposed to be a little readier than it is, BUT…we’ve had some fun this morning. Check back tomorrow for all the CRAZY Drama from this morning…..
I dumped all the pictures from my iPhone the other day and thought that rather than taking up a bunch of posts, I could just put all of these photos into one post and BAM! Get it all done.
I do still have one more post about our trip home from our vacation and I want to get it on here for memory sake, but it can wait one day….
October 9 – Mommy’s Little Helper
Judah helps me to load the dishwasher…such a helpful little guy
October 11 – Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie & Chiro
I made a Gluten Free Pie Crust and it turned out fabulous. I was pretty excited.
Geli had Chiro cause we are still dealing with the after effects of a year of intensive chemo.
October 12 – Independence
Judah helps himself to some cereal. Not cool, Son!
Still October 12 – Physio for Geli ..getting stronger and healthier!
October 15 – Kathryn comes for a few days
Jon’s cousins Kathryn came over from Uganda, Africa and stayed with us for a weekend. It was AMAZING to see her and to spend some time with her. The time went by WAY TOO FAST!
October 18th – Cranky Baby gets worn so Mommy can actually get some stuff done!
Being worn in a “wrap” transforms Cranky Baby into Happy Baby!
Still October 18
Reference Photo so we can see “where” Geli is as as far as strength and mobility.
October 21st – YOUTH!
Jeremy’s First Night at Youth – They had Nerf Gun Battle…it was pretty epic…they played in the whole church. How fun is that?
…he was pretty excited about it and hasn’t stopped talking about it every since…almost every single day! Seriously!
October 22nd – Homemade Pasta
I made Gluten Free Pasta from scratch…and it actually tasted pretty good.
October 29 – CHEESE!
Pictures for Jack from Aunty and Judah
And we carved pumpkins – although I am going to do a post on this because it’s tradition – and then we baked the seeds…that’s the best part. This is what 5 pumpkins worth of seeds looks like.
October 31st – Siah’s Happy Pumpkin – I love him!
October 31st – The Force is Strong with This One!
October 31st – Butterfly
I didn’t dress up, but I did find a butterfly…and scared the crap out of my nephew…more on that story soon.
November 1st – Gluten Free Crackers
I made these almond/cheese crackers and they taste like Cheese Nibs….I’ll definitely be making these again and cutting them into tiny one inch squares for a delicious snack.
November 2nd – FIRE!!!
I used the self cleaning option on my oven and started a fire….and learned that I need to clean my oven more often…once every 2 years is just NOT ENOUGH! But it sure looks purty now!
November 3rd – We’ve come a long way!
If you had told me ten years ago that I’d be eating fresh onion soup (like 3 whole onions chopped up), gluten free crackers and goat cheese – I’d had thought you were INSANE! And now this is just normal…a lot can change in ten years…
November 3rd – Cranky Babies are not so easy or fun to take care of.
He’s been “not feeling well” for far too long!
November 4th – Firsts!
Siah gets his first fillings at the dentist and ROCKS it like a champ.
And that concludes a month of iPhone Photos…..Which one is your favorite?
By Thursday we were ready for a slower day…..we only had two full days of our holiday left. This was a 7 day Eastern Caribbean Cruise that we were on.
I woke up before the girls & Judah did; and headed out to my balcony to sit in the quiet for a few moments.
We had been given two rooms on the ship that were side by side….for whatever reason, we had believed that we would have adjoining rooms and it was a bit of a surprise to find that we didn’t, but we adjusted fairly quickly.
It did mean that we had to split up and so Jon took the two boys into one room with him; and the girls & Judah and myself were in the other. It did require some juggling when putting the littlest boys to bed and….well, it wasn’t ideal but we did work it out. I think that if we’d been prepared for to have two separate rooms that it wouldn’t have been such a surprise, but we decided that it didn’t matter if we had to be in two different rooms, because we were just so blessed to be able to even be on this vacation and we were determined to enjoy every single minute of it and to not waste time over silly things like sleeping arrangements.
Judah woke up and I quickly got him so that he wouldn’t wake the girls and we hung out on the balcony for a while. It was AMAZING to have the balcony. I LOVED sitting out there early in the morning or relaxing with Jon out there after we put the two little boys to bed. It was such a treat to have.
(I only have iPhone photos from this day. So while the quality is not perfect; it’s good enough for memories.)
Finally Jon woke up and went and got me a coffee…..YUM! I stopped drinking coffee back in March, but I had coffee while I was on holiday’s and it was a nice treat….sucked when I had to quit again once I got home…but a nice treat nonetheless…
Once all the kids woke up, Jon took a few of them up to the buffet and picked up some breakfast for us all and we ate back in our room and out on the balcony. It was so nice to not be in a hurry rushing off to anywhere.
It was looking like it was going to be an AMAZING day on the ship and we had a few special treats planned.
Jon had booked a spa special for both Geli and I to have together. We got to choose 5 spa services and get pamperd for an hour and a half. We both chose to have a neck and shoulder massage, a scalp massage, a facial, a hand massage and a foot massage. We walked away from our time at the spa feeling very relaxed and very special.
We had signed up for a babysitting slot in the Flounder’s Nursery and were told on Wednesday night that a spot had opened up between 1-4pm on Thursday for Judah and so we took it. We grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch and then placed ALL the kids into their respective “clubs” and Jon and I had some actual “down time” just for us.
It felt so amazing and yet really weird at the same time. I was quite worried about Judah because he had started screaming as soon as we left him in the nursery and he alternated between screaming and falling asleep in one of the workers arms, but he wouldn’t let them put him down or he’d wake up and start screaming again. Needless to say, he didn’t enjoy his time in the nursery, but Jon and I really did enjoy our time off.
The rest of the cruise we not really a vacation for Jon and I. Taking a trip with 5 kids is not a “holiday” but it is definitely a vacation from the daily grind. But we were just so thankful and grateful for the opportunity and what a wonderful and amazing opportunity it was. I’m not complaining, it’s just the reality with a big family….it’s like we work hard to make it an amazing memory for the kids. And it truly is a MOST AMAZING MEMORY!
I don’t remember too much about that evening, but I’m sure that we headed back to our rooms fairly early because we were going to spend the whole day at Castaway Cay the next day and we were really REALLY looking forward to it.
Things have felt a bit intense over here recently and I feel like I’m going non-stop from the moment I crawl my OH-SO-TIRED self out of bed in the morning, until the moment I flop into bed at night.
Now to be completely honest, I shut down for the evening around 8:30-9:00pm on a “normal” night and then Jon and I sit on the couch and watch a show or two and then I do the whole “flopping into bed” thing.
So I’m not on the go ALL DAY, but boy it sure feels like it. And it’s been worse over the past few weeks because my babies have been sick. Josiah brought home some lovely virus from the Cruise ship (YAH OVER A MONTH AGO) and he was sick for a week-ish and then I got a sore throat and cough and then Judah picked it up and then just as he was getting better…..both Judah and Siah managed to pick up another bug from somewhere.
And those two little boys have been CRANKY!
And Judah’s not sleeping (not at night or during the day) and he’s wheezing quite a bit and I’m using Eucalyptus Cream on his chest 4 times a day and using a Castor Oil pack on him twice a day and trying some homeopathic medicine twice a day away from the Eucalyptus….and between his clinging and whining…..when I sit down at the end of the day….I’m so DONE!
Unless I’m holding him…..this is typically what Judah has looked like for the past week or so….It’s about as awesome as it looks….blurry photo and all.
He seems to be a bit better today than he was yesterday and I’m hoping that tonight is better than last night….Hello 3:30am until 5:30am – it was nice seeing you!
Jon has spent the greater part of this week Job Hunting and it seems like his efforts have paid off. He should have the contract in his hands as of Monday, but he has been contracted to do a great job for the next three months. Hopefully, there will be more work at the end of the three months, regardless, I know that we will be okay. He should start on Monday November the 14th. Yah!
I’ve been working on making a bit of grocery money in my spare time (HA HA HA HA!) and I have a few things put up in an Etsy shop…with a few more things to come….I just need to take pictures of the products.
If you see something that you like, you are more than welcome to contact me personally and we can work out payment details….I know that some people don’t like to pay for things online and that’s totally cool. I understand!
I have planned to “MAKE” time tomorrow to sit down and pound out the rest of our vacation. I can’t believe it’s taken so long to get to it. Life has just been that crazy busy for us! It’s mostly good, but I’m a big fan of quiet, peaceful, SLOW times. The business gets to me after a while. I crave the down times and lately they have been elusive.
I’ve had a few days to process and …..we were not prepared for this.
As of October 31st, Jon has been laid off.
The church has not been doing well financially for a while and at this point cannot afford two pastors and so, we are now out of a job.
I felt okay for the first part of this week, and I think that was shock. As the week as progressed, it has slowly begun to sink in…..we have no job! No employment! No Income!
This past year has not been kind to us and we are not in a position financially to absorb any time without a paycheck!
I believe with all my heart that we will make it through this. By that I mean that we will all have each other and that we will love and that we will live and yet……..I have no idea what this means for us practically and realistically.
Will be have to sell our house? Without a job we can’t buy another one, but without a job, we can’t pay for this one either. I know that it sounds rather dramatic, but I’m feeling rather traumatized right now.
I feel like I’m floundering and I don’t know where to go or what to do…..I’m trying to figure out what we can sell and what we can live without and how I can make some money. Even if Jon were to start his business up again, there is no way that he can just instantly make enough to support us…..
I just want to run away.
I know that there is never good timing for this, but this….this is just really, really difficult. Especially after coming on top of this past year.
I’m so tired. I want to sleep and yet, when I lay down….I can’t. Too much to think about and yet I feel so helpless…so hopeless. It’s been a hard day….a tough week…..
If the rash on Geli’s back and thigh showed up on Sunday night then we are on day 2 and a half of this stupid cycle.
After she was admitted on Monday they started her on an anti-viral mediciation that is used to treat Shingles. Typically if a child gets a virus there is not too much that they can do other than just let the virus run it’s course, but with this particular virus….the one responsible for Chicken Pox….they can give a course of the drug, Acyclovir. Right now she is on an IV medicine, but can switch to an oral med if her body heals up quickly.
Doing Homework after school on Monday
And that is what they’ve done. She in on a 7 day treatment plan and basically they are waiting for the rash to blister up and then start to crust over…..disgusting, eh? But, that is what happens and so that is what we are looking forward to.
The rash started out not too badly on Sunday night and Monday but by Tuesday morning it was worse. One good thing though….the actual “blisters” within the rash were really tiny. It’s pretty nasty looking, but I think that she is starting to get better now. She has not had too much pain. On Sunday night and Monday she said that there was pain where the rash was at about a level 2 out of 10 and that there were times where it would be “shooting pain” and that shooting pain was at about a 4 out of 10. The worst pain was when someone would touch the rash and in order to get a sample to “test” they had to do a scraping….yah and the first sample didn’t have enough to get a good test and so they had to do it a second time. Sucks, eh?
Short Nap in the Stroller
Yesterday she said that it maybe hurt a little bit more, but for the most part it was okay. This morning it doesn’t really hurt at all and when the resident came in to see Geli, she was pleased to see that some of the rash has already started to scab over which is earlier than they would have expected.
He just crashed on Monday night
Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement and support. It means so much to us.
Here are a few things to pray about….
We’d love to see Geli (and Jon) be healthy enough to come home by the weekend.
We are still praying the little boys don’t get Chicken Pox.
We are hoping that Geli will be able to catch up on all the school work that she’s missing this week without feeling overwhelmed.
So Proud that he climbed up on the stool by himself
As much as this is frustrating, I’m trying to look at the positive side of things. While in the hospital, Geli has been able to have the Physio Therapists come in and look at her and work with her and they will continue to do so every day that she is in and once she leaves, they will be able to be in contact with a Physio Therapist out here and to be able to communicate with them exactly what Geli needs as most of her issues are as a result of the chemotherapy. Some of the drugs actually damage the nerves and it can take some time before the nerves heal. Some of the drugs cause muscle damage and that can also take a while before the toxicity flushes out of her and her muscles are able to recover and rebuild. And on top of that there is muscle atrophy, just from lack of use…..
It actually fits in the garage now! Thanks, Momma!
This is such a tough road to walk out but at least now we have a “sort of” “somewhat” plan moving forward. On top of that Geli was able to hear that all this physical crap is “normal” for someone who has gone through what she’s been through and that it will take her probably 6 months to recover from the damage that the chemo has wreaked on her system. It’s so good to hear that this is all a part of the journey.
I mean, it’s horrifying to go through this and yet there is a certain level of comfort in knowing that this is part of the process. It’s a horrible HORRIBLE process, but she will come through it.
4 Boxes and 2 bags of recycling after the big clean up
And so we carry on. The kids at home are doing okay. I’m doing okay. I’m tired. Even more tired than usual, but possibly less tired than earlier this year and so that’s a good thing.
Monday was a tough day for me and I’m so thankful that my Momma came over and spent the day with me and then she slept over and was around for the morning on Tuesday. She helped me to get my garage cleaned out from all the camping crap that we just “dumped” in our garage in our efforts to unpack the camper at warp speed at 10pm the night we came home.
Signs that your child is a climber.
And now I can actually park our van in there which is a HUGE HELP as we had been parking it out on the road outside our townhouse complex. Now I don’t have to schlepp the diaper bags and kids and other assorted crap out to the van when I want to leave….I can just huck all that stuff in from the comfort our our own garage. YAH!!!
I still want to share about our time away up at the lake and also about Jeremy’s official diagnosis. Lets just say that the last half of the summer was not uneventful.
Down time for me, before bed
Currently, the baby is sleeping and has been sleeping for just over an hour. I am shocked and amazed and and fully expecting him to wake up any minute as he NEVER sleeps this long. Mind you when you half wake up and won’t settle from 11:45pm until 12:20am and then are up again at 2am and at 4 am and at 6am and then up for the day at 7am……you’d think that you might be slightly tired, no???
Well, I’ve got to get going and the battery on my laptop is about dead, so with that….I’m off.
Oh, one more thing…Geli reads the blogs and comments when she’s in the hospital so if you have a quick hello or a cute joke or a funny story, I know that she’d appreciate it. She’s a little bored and she’s not allowed to leave her room unless she wears a mask and heads right outside. They’ve got her in isolation to protect any other kids with compromised immune systems……and isolation….is not as cool as you might think it could be.
Thanks again….YOU ARE AMAZING and WE APPRECIATE YOU!
Jon has just taken Angelica into BC Children’s Hospital (as of 9:30am, Monday morning.)
This has left me a bit shocked and I am really praying that Xandra and Jeremy handle the news better than I have. (I’ve already been crying and angry and upset and shocked and so confused and frustrated and really REALLY PISSED!)
Last night around 8pm Angelica came down to the kitchen to show me a rash that was in a stripe and started at the middle of her back and wrapped around hip and down onto her thigh. It was quite angry looking and some of the welts…..well, they weren’t weeping, but they looked close to it….
We called into the hospital and told them that we’d given her benadryl and put some hydrocortisone on the rash and they said that this didn’t sound like a complication of her chemo or the meds she was on and that we’d done the right thing and that was it.
So we sent her to bed.
Things have been a tough recently with Angelica because her body is so fragile and “broken down” from the past year of treatment. Her muscles have atrophied some and she has grown so on top of weaker smaller muscles they are also stretched and she hurts all the time. She walks like an old lady and…..and….well, she hates it all. She hates being in pain. She hates that shes not strong enough to just do “normal” things. And to top it all off….our insurance doesn’t cover her going to see a kinesiologist – which would be a way better treatment for her than Physiotherapy. It’s all so frustrating….
Yesterday we had a huge conversation with her (that involved a lot of tears) about her BELIEVING that she will get better. It has felt like she’s unsure about whether or not she’ll get better and be able to just be normal and strong when it’s been so long that she’s been hurting and feeling sick and weak and unable to just do the things that you and I take for granted.
She finally got to the place where she could say, with some conviction, that she believes that she will get better, get stronger, get healthier……
And then this rash shows up….
And then we have to call the school and have her paged to the office to be picked up…
And when she gets into the car, she has a bag packed for a possible extended hospital stay…
And this is all happening on the first “normal” day of her grade 9 school year….
And this is all happening after she stands and believes that she will get better…..
And this is all happening 2 weeks before we are supposed to leave for Angelica’s “Wish trip”….
And I’m a bit in shock about it all….
I want to believe that it’s going to be nothing and we’ll see them home in a few hours, but I’m scared to hope for the best and to be let down.
Jon and I had planned to spend a “down day” today on his day off. Cleaning up our grarage (which is still loaded with crap from our camping trip) and just spending some much needed time together….and instead we are gearing up for Anti-Viral’s or Antibiotics and Extended Hospital Stays or Who knows…..
Please pray.
Pray that Angelica will he healthy. That the two little boys will not get chicken pox from this. That Jon and Geli will be able to come home. That this won’t affect her Wish Trip. Just please pray!
I can do this…I have to do this. But I really don’t want to.
It sucks.
It sucks for her.
It sucks for me.
It sucks for all of us.
Well, things have been a little quiet for the past few days and that’s because life has been SO CRAZY BUSY!
We had Chris and Brynn’s Wedding on Saturday. Angelica and Alexandra headed up to Camp Goodtimes (the cancer camp) for a week. And I am trying to get ready to go camping with three little boys underfoot and no big girls to help……while recovering from the chaos that comes with a wedding.
Oh and what an AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL wedding it was! Hopefully I can snag a few photos and put them up to show you.
My house is a disaster. I had a Doctor’s appointment for myself and Judah today and I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. GAH! I’m not entirely sure how I’ll get it all done, but I’m sure that it will eventually all come together. It will, right?
Judah and I went to the Dr’s today to talk about veins, moles and poop!
Sounds like a fun trip, no? Can you guess which issues belonged to whom?
Well, maybe you shouldn’t guess….wouldn’t want things to get too embarrassing up in here…
I have the moles and veins and Siah is dealing with poop issues. There, does that make it a bit clearer…
I go about once a year to get my moles checked out and to make sure that none have changed or that any new ones aren’t scarey and as of this point….everything is A-OKAY! None are sun-related and all look fantastic…well, as fantastic as moles can look…
The veins….well, I have a couple of veins on my calf and yup….apparently they are varicose veins and I can have something done about them because well, they are not cool looking. So, I’m probably gonna do something about them before next summer…but no rush.
And then there is Judah. Still having pooping issues. And from all the symptoms that I described (Diarrhea, bloody mucus, food not being digested, food processing through in a matter of 4 hours, etc.), it could very well be celiac disease. As the treatment is the same (no gluten) we are just gonna be extra vigilant for right now, but will get him tested in a year or so when it’s a bit easier to draw blood and to do the other testing.
Did you know that Celiac Disease is most common in people who are Irish, Scottish, English and Scandanavian? Guess what my heritage is…….yup, all four of them. Not to mention that on both my side of the family and on Jon’s side of the family there are people who have issues with wheat…..I guess we are blessed that only Judah seems to have massive issues with it. Although I know that wheat/gluten doesn’t sit well with me either…
Oh well, I’ve gotta run and clean this house and plan out this week and the next two weeks worth of meals…..GAH!!! Not fun!
