The past week or so have been hectic, filled with drama and exhausting.
I feel bad complaining when there are so many other more important, sad, terrifying things going on in the world.
My broken washing machine means nothing in the grand scheme of things and I really don’t like to use this blog as a place to gripe.
However, I also feel like I’d like to document the Debbie Downer moments, just as much as all the happy things we have to share and celebrate.
I think of it as, keeping it real.
Because we all know, life is not always sunshine and daffodils.
That would be too easy.
Something that truly has not been easy for our family for the past year or so and that is actually very real and serious to us, is our oldest daughter Mia’s health.
Last January through May, when she was in Kindergarten, she was constantly sick.
It went something like this.
Ear infection… sinus infection… strep throat.
Then sinus infection…strep throat…ear infection.
{Watching Aunt Maggie play at Purdue University last Spring.}
All while we were road tripping the country watching my youngest sister Maggie play softball for the University of Michigan several times a month.
I think back and feel awful for what she must have been going through. Not feeling 100%, but being such a trooper. She rarely even said her ears or throat hurt, but when she went in to see if her previous infection was better, it usually turned out that she already had another infection.
We finally had her blood tested, since the only time she was infection free was when she was on an antibiotic, to see if there was something going on with her immune system.
Sure enough there was.
She had very low levels of one of the five antibodies that all of us have to help us stay healthy by fighting off foreign things, such as bacteria or viruses.
The one she was low on, is the IgG class of antibodies, which just so happens to be the most predominant one we have. Most of the antibodies in the blood and the fluid that bathes the tissues and cells of the body are of the IgG class.
{Last summer at her first appointment with the immunologist. On her 6th birthday.}
She saw an immunologist in July and was given another vaccination (one that all babies get) to see if her immune system would respond and produce the antibodies she was low on to defend itself. Thankfully, it did just that! This means her immune system is functioning.
We were so happy that her levels were back to normal and she has been healthy up until recent weeks.
She had strep and then a double ear infection and another sinus infection.
Once again, no fevers, no complaining. Just a bit of a headache.
I am so glad we took her in because we have learned that her levels have dropped again and unfortunately she must be on antibiotics for the next few months to keep her healthy.
30 days on. 10 days off. 30 days on. 10 days off.
A journey we are still unsure of and praying that everything will work out in the end. Praying her little immune system will grow strong and overcome this.
After reading this blog written by a mom of a little boy who suffers from the exact immune deficiency as Mia, I found myself discouraged and in a fog. What this little boy has been through is so upsetting. A life with such trials and tribulations. I can’t begin to imagine.
However, my hopes were heightened after talking with a mom at the girls’ dance studio whose daughter suffered with the exact thing as Mia since she was one year old. She is now seventeen and is perfectly healthy! She did have to have infusions, through a port near the heart, of the IgG antibodies from age one to ten, but by ten her immune system was strong enough to not need the infusions!
So we continue to pray and hope for the best for our sweet Mia taking it one day at a time. Sometimes feeling so in the dark, and others feeling extremely positive and thankful that we are happy to know what her situation is and that’s it’s a manageable issue, even if it means that she must endure infusions at some point.
As if Mia’s health is not enough, we have had many other drama filled adventures the past few weeks. What you ask?
For example, I came home from preschool to a flooded laundry room.
Our ten year old washing machine was a goner.
And after a week with no washing machine, I can finally do laundry in my own home again. Thank you to all who allowed us to lug our dirty clothes over to do a few loads. You saved this mom’s sanity for sure.
And the list goes on…
-Sophie’s brand new birthday Barbie’s wing broke.
Drama.
-I have been caring for some sick children this week, while trying to also take care of five healthy ones.
Drama.
Snot sucks. Pity party. Bring on summer.
-If you recall this post, I chose to have a vein lasered in my leg and I am unfortunately still limping around like a weirdo.
Drama.
-Our trampoline was picked up in a recent storm/tornado and ended up on our roof. We flipped it over to see if was still functional, and it’s definitely not. The girls are sad.
Drama.
-It snowed on Monday.
Then Thursday is was 83 degrees and sunny.
My sinuses want to explode.
Drama.
-I watched my cat barf on the top of my Suburban yesterday.
Awesome Drama.
-I drove off Wednesday night in a tizzy to get my three girls to dance on time, along with our neighbor’s little girl, with my iPhone on my bumper.
Drama.
*Luckily I have so many awesome and generous people in my life, and thanks to one of them, my friend Kristy Bradley, I now have a new iPhone! She gave me her old one and I am so thankful to be back in the cell phone loop. How did I ever survive without an iPhone? -And finally, the finale…we woke up this morning, the start of Steve and the girls’ Spring Break, to find and smell about 15 piles of dog poop upstairs.
Green none the less, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
We now have a sick Gussie dog. I am wondering if she ate something last night in the back yard as they were outside for about five hours celebrating the nice 80 degree weather.
Drama.
Thank goodness I have so many fun and positive things to lighten my spirits as life gets dramatic….
Like these two bucket heads….
who may or may not be princesses as well…
a sleep-talking ducky-on-the-head-wearing crazy kid…
bowling beauties…
a Sophie Cat in the Hat….
and sisters who go line dancing with me.
Life doesn’t get any better than that.
PS I need some hair help.
Here it is now. Long. Too witch like?
This is what I would love to do.
My sister Haley sent me this picture and I stole it to use as an idea for my hair.
Thank God for sisters.
What do you all think?
To cut or not to cut?
Have a great weekend!
