Another pretty day!

Our day started out pretty early. I was up early working and when I headed back upstairs to try to get in another hour of sleep before it was time to get Owen up for school, I realized that he was already awake. So we cuddled for a little bit and read before he got dressed for school. Wyatt woke up when we were reading and came in Owens room looking like this. He is so independent and has to do everything himself....including getting dressed. And he is a very sensitive boy. For example if I told him that his shirt looked goofy he would look at me with a huge pouty lip and say, "no! No it's not!" And then start crying. So I'm trying to learn to pick my battles with him and find that if I lay out an outfit the previous night then he will usually put that on with no troubles.


When we got home from school tonight kris was working on the deck and told the boys to come check out a frog. Sure enough Owen was thrilled with his new friend. He named him "hopper". Creative bud!!


He spent quite some time with his new pal.


When it was finally time to say good night to his frog he put it in the pond so hopefully we will see it back again tomorrow.


Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Well after being sick going on 9 days with a nasty head cold, more snot than I care to admit that I've ever seen or touched, and a gunky cough that just won't go away, I finally decided to take the boys to the doctor. And good thing I did because though wy seems to be on the mend, the doctor said Owen's left side from his ear to his lung looked really bad. He is being treated for an ear infection and pneumonia. I wish that boy didn't get sick every single month. Poor boy!!

On the plus side...we finally had our second nice night of the season tonight so I let the boys eat their dinner on the front porch.




The boys played outside until bath time. Thankfully Owen seems to be feeling okay despite the fact that he sounds horrible. I'm hoping the sunshine over the next couple of days along with the help of the medication will clear him right up.

Till next time!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Location:Sick boys and finally a beautiful night!!

Pics from this week

Life has been crazy, as usual! So much to do and never enough time. We have had a few nice days and are finally able to cross some items off of our much needed to-do list (those will be in a different post) but for now I wanted to share some pics of our boys from this past week.

Wy is pretty much infatuated with anything TMNT at the moment....so I couldn't resist buying him this set from Target. After all, he is having a birthday party next week and was begging to be in character for it.


Owen and kris reading together at bedtime. Titanic books naturally!


Owen attended a birthday party and he scored these awesome teeth with his tickets that he won in the arcade. (Actually I'm going to pat myself on the back for his 308 tickets, yeah I'm just that good at connect four and the ball drop game!!)


And don't forget to notice his snake tattoo across his forehead. He was über psyched about it!


One of our projects before wy's birthday party was to brighten up the front porch. I love our porch, it has so much potential but I've just been so lazy about it. And it doesn't help that most decor items for a porch add up quickly. So I decided to splurge, semi-splurge rather, since there is still a whole lot more I'd like to do out there. But regardless, wy helped me pick out new cushions.... Well kind of.....


Last night we had friends over who we only see a handful of times each year, if that. The kind of friends where whenever you get together it is always comfy and natural and when you leave you always say something like, "let's not wait so long to get together again"...but life gets in the way and before you know it it's been 6 months or longer since you last spoke.. We had this type of night last night and we let the boys stay up super late. It was after 11 and I told them to run upstairs and take a quick bath/shower while I cleaned up the kitchen. When I got upstairs this is how I found Owen. Priceless!!


We are hoping to finish our big projects by mid week this week so maybe I will be back to post some before and after pictures.

Happy weekend!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Infusion update. Not so great

yesterday I had my first infusion and as you know from my last post i was super nervous about it. But as soon as I walked into the infusion clinic I had an overwhelming sense of peace. There were so many people there and as I looked around I realized that my fears were so irrational.

I started the steroids and Benadryl through the iv and instantly felt sleepy. The actual medication started about 30 minutes later. I began to feel a little weird but just assumed it was all because of the benedryl. I also had to pee like every five minutes which was annoying because I kept having to drag the IV pole in the bathroom.

The medication stopped and the nurse came over and told me I could go home in 10 minutes. Ten minutes went by and she said that she was going to take my temp and send me home. When she took my temperature it was higher than it was before the infusion so she said she was sure everything was fine but she was going to keep me for another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes she took my temp again and it was the same. Her and another nurse agreed that it would probably be okay for me to go. But then she wanted to take my blood pressure as precaution first. Lo and behold my blood pressure was high. I started having difficulties getting in a deep breath and another nurse noticed. When she came over she told my nurse that I had a rash and apparently hives all over my chest and down both of my arms. Shortly after that I felt me heart racing. They said it was into the 200 range. They called 911 and paged my doctor. From there things went pretty fast. I had a shot of epinephrine, more steroids, benedryl and Demerol injected in the IV. And they did an EKG to see if there was damage to my heart. Thankfully from what they could tell it was just a fast pace but no damage. I felt a little better after the epi shot but was still having a hard time breathing and my heart was still beating so fast.

Thankfully kris was with me but he was all shaken up at this point. They loaded me up in the ambulance and the paramedic did another EKG and was monitoring all of my symptoms. I started to feel really nauseous. When we got to uofm they took me straight back to a resuscitation room where there were three nurses and two doctors waiting. They got me off of the stretcher and got me situated on their bed and then started me up with another IV and gave me something else, not sure what. They did another EKG and agreed that the heart was just super fast but that there was no damage. I stayed there for an hour or two until they decided I was stable enough to go to another area of the Emergency room. I was still hooked up to the IV and receiving steroids and benedryl as well as fluids. I had another episode later in the evening which I consider mini because though I broke out in hives my heart only went up to the high 130's.

They kept me for about 12 hours and told me that I could stay overnight if I wanted. At this time it was already after 11. I was scared to come home knowing that I didn't have any of the medications I needed at home. They said I could stay or go to a 24 hour pharmacy. Kris and I decided to leave and concurred that if anything started to appear on our way home that we would turn around and head back.

We picked up the prescriptions at around 12am and didn't get home until about 1am. It was a long, scary, stressful day.

I'm thankful to kris for being there with me, to my parents and in-laws and my brother and sister in law for so willingly taking care of the boys for us. They are truly a blessing.

I will be on heavy doses of steroids for a while as well as benedryl around the clock. I also now am the proud owner of an epi pen and while I hope I never have to use it, am sure relieved to know that it will be with me at all times just in case.

My rheumatologist came to see me in the emergency room and she started crying when she saw me and said how sorry she was. She had wanted me to start this infusion last may and I kept pushing it off because I was scared of the side effects....so I think she felt a little guilty.

She said she is going to refer me to an allergist and not the kind that deals with food but the kind that deals with why my body is rejecting these biological agents.

Today I had a good day. I got to sleep in and took an early nap before my mom brought Wyatt back home. Then my mom drove me to get Owen from school. It is so nice to be home and in my own comfort zone.

I thank God for blessing me with life yesterday. I guess they called what i had happen anaphylaxis and it is a feeling I wouldn't wish upon anyone. But I know His plans are his and not my own and His will be done.

Thank you for your continued prayers as we try to figure out a new medication regime for my vasculitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Infusion

Tomorrow I will start my first infusion. My arthritis has not been managed in almost three years. I have tried several injection medications, but the only thing that seems to work for me are steroids. I used to feel good on the steroids but now I'm just tired and feel drained.

My doctor has been trying to get me to start the infusion for about a year. I've kept putting it off because honestly I'm scared. I don't want to have to take anything. So I keep tapering off of my steroids hoping that 'this time' will be the cure but to no avail. And the last two times I have gone off of my steroids I have been really miserable. Very sore, to the point that it hurt to use one of my arms for most any activity including getting dressed, cleaning, driving and playing with the boys. On this last particular episode the opposite hand started to swell and was very sore too! This is when I knew I needed something more than the steroids to manage my symptoms.

It wasn't until I had blood work last week that confirmed I needed more in depth treatment, you see I have my inflammation markers checked pretty frequently and this last time both of my tests were high but one was through the roof. Normal ranges for the test are 0.0 to 0.6 and mine was a whopping 5.4.

I can hide the pain well. I don't like attention focused on me and I don't want people to feel bad for me. Trust me there are much worse things in life and I realize that fully. But I'm gonna step out of my comfort zone and pray that this infusion works.

There are a lot of side effects and like I said I'm pretty nervous about it.

Please pray for all to go well. I'm not supposed to know if the infusion is successful until after two treatments. But of course there are other blood tests that need to be done in the meantime and if any of those come back abnormal there will be a stop or delay in my treatment.


Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Fun at the dentist

Owen had a couple of cavities filled today. Unfortunately this isn't his first time...it's actually his third time ....but as always he did great.





He wasn't quite as goofy today as he was last time but I know it worked because he didn't seem to be phased by anything.

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Jill

Craft time

Wyatt spent the day with Grammy today. They made this super cute teenage mutant ninja turtle craft. Grammy was so thoughtful and sent home a craft bag so Owen could do one too!


Aren't they cute!


Thanks Grammy for always doing something fun with wy man and for thinking of Owen too!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

A day to Grand Rapids

We ventured out to Grand Rapids today to go see the titanic exhibit. Owen has been infatuated with Titanic for a few months now so I thought this would be a perfect trip for him. Thankfully my brother came with his two boys and my sister met us there. It was a great day!

We even got to eat our lunch overlooking the river....it was beautiful.


The boys hanging out by the foxes.


And this creepy guy!


Wyatt was warm so he took off his outer shirt and was running around like this for a few. It was a little embarrassing!!


The titanic exhibit at last....it was really neat, when you checked in they gave you a boarding pass and it had a name of the passenger and what class they were in. Then at the end of the exhibit there was a list of all the people who survived and perished. Everyone in our party survived except for my brother and my nephew. It was sad but also a very neat way to put that into perspective.


This was a game that the boys enjoyed. They were captains to their own ship and had to steer it out of the port. Very cool


Nick taking his turn.


Nathan did great too!


Waiting for the carousel....


My brother and his boys.


My sister with all of the boys.


Me and o.


Me and wy.


Owen enjoying his ride.


My boys!


After the museum we headed across the blue bridge and had dinner at the BOB.


The boys loved this bridge.


We hope to go back in the summer when the weather is even nicer so we can walk the downtown area. It seems like a really nice, fun city!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Puzzle time

We built three puzzles today that the boys got in their Easter baskets, this bad boy was the most pieces.....100. We had fun and Owen was so proud of his work!!


Thanks for stopping by!
Jill