Showing posts with label Diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diabetes. Show all posts

Monday, September 26, 2011

Where Have We Been?

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Seems like 2011 keeps finding ways to knock me down, but I keep on getting up!

My newest adventure involves yet another trip to the emergency room followed by another surgery.  I was fine last Saturday morning even participating in the JDRF walk with my nieces' team and spending the afternoon with family.  By the time 7 PM hit though, I was in so much pain I could barely move - abdominal pain is nothing to joke about under normal circumstances, but being pregnant, I called my OB who had me come in to get checked out.  I was hoping it was just that I have over-done it like my OB suggested at first, but I was fairly certain that was not the case. 

Luckily baby was dong perfectly fine, and we found a nice strong heart beat right away.  No contractions.  No bleeding.  Lots of abdominal pain though!  They quickly rule out any type of bladder or kidney issues and by the time my blood work came back it was not a surprise to see an elevated white blood cell count.  I was admitted overnight and sent to ultrasound to check for appendicitis.  The ultrasound was inconclusive (and very painful I might add) as they couldn't find my appendix.  A CT scan usually is the next step, but being pregnant we of course wanted to avoid that.  The doctor decided to wait until morning and check my blood again to see what we found, of course keeping me on some good pain killers overnight.  Blood work was again inconclusive in the morning, so it was decided to send me for an MRI.  Ever had one?  They are pretty terrible.  About an hour of sitting totally still with no one around while in a big tube magnet. I shudder to think I"ll ever need one again.  Thankfully, the results of the MRI were much better than the ultrasound and we found I for sure I had appendicitis.  While it's never "good" to have something like this, the timing as far as the pregnancy is concerned couldn't have been much better. 

I went in for surgery that afternoon, and came out perfectly fine with a very healthy baby.  The concern of course was that the surgery would irritate my uterus enough to send me into preterm labor, but despite a few contractions we never had issues.  I'm now a week post-surgery and while very sore, I'm doing well all things considered.  Baby is kicking away and very healthy - we had a level II ultrasound a few days ago that was pre-scheduled and did go very well.

We're hoping the rest of the pregnancy proceeds without any other complications.  I'm halfway there, so it's looking good.  Still considered high-risk due to some other issues, but all this means really is we'll be seeing baby on ultrasound once a month unless something else is detected. 

So...that's been our last week or so!  I hope all of you out there have had much more productive weeks than I have.  Hoping to resume some normal posting in the next day or two.
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Sunday, August 28, 2011

About a Video...

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I had this video shared with me by a friend...and wanted to share it here as well.  The video creator goes over some numbers, that I want to add Fragile X to as well.

Leukemia affects 1 in 1200.  Funding: $227 Million
Muscular Dystrophy affects 1 in 100,000.  Funding:  $162 Million
Pediatric Aids affects 1 in 300.  Funding:  $394 Million
Juvenile Diabetes affects 1 in 500.  Funding:  $156 Million
Autism affects 1 in 100.  Funding:  $79 Million.

For 2010...the National Institute of Health (NIH) had a budget of $35.6 Billion.
$218 Million of that went towards Autism research, $29 Million to Fragile X research.

**NIH numbers taken from here, Prevalence numbers taken from here.

Fragile X is the most common known cause of autism or autistic like behaviors. The Fragile X gene is the cause for autism in 2%-6% of all children diagnosed.

I certainly don't believe Ayden can be "fixed" and there probably will never be a "cure" for Fragile X or Autism  - but the research out there can help make life better for these kids, easier, more normal.  It's this funding that can bring that much needed research and development about, and for that there can never be enough.  I hope you take a few minutes to watch this video, it's well worth it.





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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

When the Heart Aches

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Going to do a little off-topic post today in the fact that it doesn't directly relate to Ayden or FXS - though it is about his aunt, uncle, and cousins.

April 1, 2009
It was one of those days that I will remember very clearly for a long time. I was 9 months pregnant with Issac at the time, exactly 18 days from my due date.  While doing laundry, I lost my balance and took a pretty bad tumble down the stairs.  I ended up in the hospital with very irregular contractions and in a lot of pain.  The doctors suspected I hadn't fallen, and while they didn't say it out loud  we are fairly certain they thought Mr Awesome had pushed me or something.  Thankfully, they stopped the contractions and gave me medicine for pain as well as something to help me sleep.  We got home that night and I went directly to bed while a poker game (that was already planned) took place in my basement.   In attendance at the poker game that evening was my brother in law.  It was this same night that he informed us he was being deployed to Iraq in two weeks time.  You know how they say bad things happen in threes?  The same day all of this happened, my sister was 90 miles away receiving her families' own terrible news - her second daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes just one month after her third birthday.

April 10, 2011
Exactly two years and ten days after my niece was diagnosed with type 1, her little sister was diagnosed as well at just 3.5 years old. 

There are not words to express the ache I have in my heart right now, but I know that it is nothing compared to what my sister and brother in law are feeling.  I've watched my sister struggle over the past few years.  I've seen her down and out and completely overwhelmed.  While I haven't been there to hug her and tell her things will get better, I'm thankful I know she has so many people that are there when I can't be (or when she just needs someone who isn't family).  I've seen her husband being strong for her and supporting her.  Mostly, I've seen her giving everything to daughter, often times leaving herself behind.  She was starting to achieve balance though.  Balance between friend, family, herself, and of course - diabetes. While we haven't been close the past few months, I have always paid attention.  Her Facebook statuses began to be more positive; her blog began to show more hope.  She is reaching out to befriend others who went through that terrible diagnosis, and throwing herself into raising money for a cure.  I can't even speculate what the future holds for her, but I know she will make it through.  I also know there are three little girls out there that couldn't have been given better, stronger, more capable parents. 

So, the end result of this is that I ask you to pray with me for their family.  Pray they would find peace and comfort in their hearts and know they have so many out there supporting them.  Pray that my newly diagnosed niece will start falling into the routine that will soon be 'normal' for her, and likely all she will ever know, that her older sister will help her in a way that only she can.  Pray that their oldest sister will not feel left out or overwhelmed with two type-1 sisters.  Most of all, pray for my sister and brother in law to stay confident - to know they couldn't have prevented this and that they are doing everything they can for BOTH of their girls.

I'll leave you with a few links:

2011 JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes.  Sign up or donate here  Search for "Audrey's Brand New Day" to donate to my sister's team.

My sister's diabetes blog
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