Winters can be fun...i guess :)

As winter continues all I dream about is green grass, spring breeze and colorful flowers. I really do like seasons and I do love snow, ice skating, snow man building....but having it just cold without fun snow (or worse-raining) and the lakes slowly defrosting really makes winter sucky. If it is going to be frigid out it mind as well snow! Kids did get to play outside the other day when the weather warmed up to 45-50 two days in a row. We loved it. Went for a bike ride, played on scooters and of course stomped in the slushy melting snow. How awesome was it to be able just to wear my shell instead of both layers of my ski coat...no mittens, no scarf and no

hat. And now, 28* cloudy and chance of snow Saturday or Sunday....Kids cannot wait to sled. They never have been sledding and Devin has been talking about it for weeks. Last two snow storms have been a total bust in Shamong so hopefully we get some this weekend that will allow him to try it out.

 Devin is beyond excited to go to his first dance. I got him a new tie per his request and he told me that he will try to not step on my feet :) I just love him. His classmate asked him to dance with her so I will upload a picture of them if I get her Mommy's approval. She was in his kindergarten class as well and was sweet on him then as well. She's a good kid and I think it is harmless and cute. Devin is going to be serious trouble in years to come I can just feel it.

Riley has started to request things for her birthday. She wants sneaker roller skates meaning regular ones not the kind you strap your shoe in. That is her number one request and finally today she asked for something else. Golf clubs. Yup she said that she no longer wants her other ones "because they are short and for babies and we need to give them to Brock." I am not sure Deidre would still love me if I gave her son a 3 piece real metal golf club set...My only question is do I do lefty or righty. She plays lacrosse lefty and holds an ice hockey stick lefty. She has only ever used the righty clubs simply because that is what we had but I am thinking if she had leftys she would be more comfortable with them. The only other thing she asked for is a skate board which she is not getting because neither her nor Devin use the one skate board we already have.

reoccurances from July illness-wasn't tick borne!

Back in July I got really ill. On a Monday I felt weak and light headed and almost like I was going to passout after I dropped the kids off to camp. I thought I was dehydrated or suffering from heat exhaustion. Frank and I had taken some trees down the day prior and had been out in the 95* heat for the better part of the day. I ended up going to the ER that night because I felt just terrible. Now I am a pretty tough person and have never been to the hospital besides for labor....that said the ER DR was not very patient with me and really just blew me off. After my blood work came back he said I had a mild summer virus and that I needed to hydrate, take motrin for my 102.8 fever and sent me on my way. Frank had to stay the next day for the first time of me being a stay at home mom due to me being sick. I slept 23 out of 24 hours and could not kick the fever. Next day same thing but Frank went to work. I finally went back to ER (same hospital system, different location) and they immediately admitted me. Due to the fact my blood work was in the gutter and I still had a fever over 102 they were quite concerned. They did a spinal to rule out meningitis and tested out the wahzoo for tick borne illnesses and blood infections. I figured I would stay a night and they would give me some steriods etc. NOPE. The illness attacked my heart, giving me a VERY low heart rate, and chest pains which gave me the opportunity to have rapid response come in (they were super awesome.) I had an EKG, Echocardiogram and was the lucky recipiant of a 6 sensor heart rate monitor that attached to a little sachel I wore 24/7 for just under 4 days. The cardiologist was super nice and very professional while also being extremely thorough. I also had daily meetings with the head of infectious disease as well as hematology/oncology. Now they were originally treating me for a tickborne illness given it was the summer time and I live in the sticks...but all tests were negative. Infectious disease dr told me that there is a good chance that it could be a false negative so he kept me on the IV antibiotic concoction. That shit burns like a mother when being run. They had to dilute it big time and change my IV site daily. I then started to have collasped veins and the path department ended up having to use infant draws in my hands for my daily draw. Just awful. Since my blood levels were in the drain, I was in reverse isolation. Meaning everyone who came in...drs, nurses, visitors all had to be masked. I felt like bubble boy. I got discharged with them still dangerously low but there was nothing more the hospital could do for me and I was finally able to eat so they felt confortable to release me. From the spinal I had on the first night I got a spinal headache. WORST headache I have ever had in my entire life. I could not stand upright and that was very difficult to function with. Thank god for some super awesome friends and family that helped with the kids, cooking and such! Now fast forward a few months. My hair is falling out, my nails are brittle... Why? I go to the doctor. They run full blood work and I thought it was thyroid or hormonal....NOPE reoccurant issues from this illness. SO yes, my hair was falling out. In wads. Daily. My cycle was messed up. For months. The doctor said that its extremely common and I can see improvement around 6 months post "trauma." He was right. In early January my hair stopped falling out. My energy level was better and my cycle seems more normal. Oh heres the kicker it was NEVER a tick borne disease. It was some virus. all my repeat blood work was negative for any tick disease. Some crazy horrible virus that attacked my blood and heart while sending me to the hospital for almost a week. I wish that on noone. In hindsight. I should have listened to my body sooner. I do not know if it would have done any good, but it may have saved me a day in the hospital. I will however suggest Virtua Voorhees for all your hospital needs. They were AWESOME. the Nursing staff, all the doctors, all the specialists and even the triage was great. Since I was a bubble boy, I had my own room....but I think that is standard? You can order food any time of the day from a book of a menu and although it was bland, it was much tastier than my 8 plus hospital stays in Vegas with the babies. 5 stars to Virtua Voorhess. :)