low again!!!!

Yesterday, I took Drew to the lab for his weekly blood draw. This is the new policy we've implemented to make sure he stays healthy enough for football. He was just treated last week, so I wasn't expecting any problems at all.
Well, we had barely been home a half hour and the phone rang. It was Dr. Rob's office... Drew is low on platelets again! He was 49,000 which is just a fraction under the bar for what he needs to play football (or do much else other than run or walk). I'll take him to the lab again on Monday and Dr. Rob said to plan on treatment for Tuesday. What the heck??? This is horrible. Drew is so disappointed. He can work out and run with the team but until Tuesday he can't tackle or practice in pads. Bummer.
I hope this isn't going to be the norm for him. We have friends who only go 12 days or so between treatments and that stinks. I can't even describe the interruption to life if Drew has to spend one day out of every 12 or 14 at clinic all day long from morning till evening. All the missed school, not to mention sports, or just plain fun. When he's low on platelets it also means no bike riding, rip sticks, scooters, skate boards ect. You get the picture.
I'm going to halt my complaining here because I am eternally grateful that this disease is easily treatable and while it is a colossal pain in the ass, I have the assurance and peace of knowing that each time I take my son for treatment, I will be bringing him home again. This is a disease of severe inconvenience but not usually severe danger, as long as it is treated properly. Yes, low platelets are a dangerous condition and I don't mean to imply that its no big deal. What I mean is that if you get treated in a timely fashion, there should be no problems (obviously unexpected incidents such as a car accident while your platelets are low, are another story). As diseases prevalent at the hem/oncology clinic go, if you have to have one...this is the one to have.
Wednesday, he has a game so hopefully he'll be treated and ready to go by then!
This weekend, Manny, Brandon and Jackson all have scrimmages in Belleville. We are super excited to see them and very excited that the times and scheduling match up so that we'll both be able to be there to watch each of them rather than splitting up with the "you take Jackson, I'll take Brandon" approach that I'm sure will be necessary when the regular season gets under way!
Hopefully we'll have pictures soon. Have a great weekend everyone!

school days, tractor rides and football season

The school year is underway and so far, so good. Homework gets a little hairy because of football practice a couple of nights per week but other than that we are doing okay.
I have made a resolution to stay organized this year and have started folders labeled with each child's name so that all 49877 handouts and forms that come home on the first week of school can be properly maintained and not lost. Seriously, the school district has made approximately 2 dozen copies of children's birth certificates for me as I am always loosing our originals. Okay, so this is an exaggeration, but not by much! As we speak they are running off yet another copy of Emanuel's birth cert so we can turn it in for football (darn CA for making it so tought to order a new one via the internet!)
We are looking forward to a restful, relaxing weekend. I think we might take the kids to the local orchard and go on a tractor ride.
Last weekend, Albert was gone to Chicago for most of it, helping his sister move back here. As soon as he got home, we took got the kids take out lunch, then dropped them off at home so we could sneak out for a tractor ride together at the orchard. It was so nice.....after being apart the previous night, it felt good to lie in the sun together and ride over all the bumps and lumps of the orchard. I can just hear that gravel creaking now...can't wait for the weekend. We might even pick some blueberries....or blackberries..whichever they have..

Lab chaos

I know its probably wrong, but I feel I must take the opportunity to call out Quest Diagnostics for thier lousy job in handling not one, but two of Drew's blood samples in the course of three days.
Friday we went see our pediatrician, Dr. Young, so that Drew could get a school physical and a sports physical since he wants to play football this year. After talking with Dr. Rob, we'd determined that he could play as long as platelets were 50,000 or above. So, Dr. Young wrote out a script to take to Quest on the way home to get the blood draw (this saves an hour long drive out to Dr. Rob) Dr. Young told us that she, or the nurse pract. Stephanie would call us with results that night. So, we went by the lab, got the blood drawn and went on our way to buy cleats at Sports Authority. We came home, heard nothing and waited, waited and waited more. Finally around 9:00 that night, Stephanie called to tell us that Quest was unable to process the results, claiming that Drew's blood had clotted off and there was a big clump of platelets preventing them from getting an accurate count. Steph called in a new order for us to go either Sat morning or Monday morning.
Monday morning we woke up bright and early, and called back to Dr. Rob's office and asked if they could fax or send via computer a script for a blood draw so that the results could go directly to them, rather than to the pediatrician then to them so we'd cut out the middle man if we were going to have to go to Dr. Rob's to get treatment anyway. We then went down to Quest, who suprise, suprise couldn't find Dr. Rob's orders. This is an ongoing issue folks. They did however, have the one Stephanie had sent. Okay fine, that will do. It means an extra chain of phone calls if he's low, but no biggie. We get the blood drawn and the phlebotomist informs me that we'd get results...tomorrow. No way, I tell her, I have to know today. She then tells me that the test was ordered as routine, not stat. So, I go home, I call Stephanie and they call the lab to change it over to stat so we can get results SOON. But ooops! Quest looses the sample altogether and when night falls and Stephanie calls them to track it down, they can't find it. Anywhere. Tuesday morning, the sample shows up...in Kansas City. They had forgotton to send it with the Stat pile and accidentally kept it with the routine pile. So they promise to have results in an hour as now Stephanie isn't thrilled with them either. An hour later they call report that Drew's platelet count is 8,000. This isn't good people! Normal is 150,000-300,000. He's quite low.
So, Quest calls Stephanie, Stephanie calls me, I call Dr. Rob and Dr. Rob says bring him now.
We then spent alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll of that day getting treated at clinic. At the end of the day, Dr. Rob wrote me out a paper prescription for a STANDING ORDER meaning as often as we want, continuously, and STAT EVERY TIME! SO help me, if I have any more problems with Quest, I might go crazy. I suppose I could go elsewhere, but don't even get me started on LABCORP. Why must outpatient labs be so inefficent and posess no streamlined way to access information. It drives me up a wall.
Things turned out well though, Drew got his treatment and is better and out of danger. Next Thursday, back to Quest again....

Glue

Early this morning, around 6:00a.m, Albert brought Isaiah into our room. I thought at first, he was just telling me to keep him in our bed so he didn't disturb all the children not yet awake. As I pulled him over to me, Albert motioned for me to look at his face. I peered closer and noticed a thick, white film, much like icing, coating his face, arms, legs, and worst of all his hair. Elmer's school glue. The evidence was discovered next to his bed, in the form of an empty bottle missing its top. I pulled on some of it and it peeled off like a second skin. But the portion that was coating his eyebrows and hair was a different story. If I peeled, the effect would be much like waxing his eyebrows...the entire eyebrow...not a great look for a 2 year old boy. As the morning wore on, it has become easier to peel. So far, I've gotten most of it off his face, arms and legs, and have indeed salvaged the eyebrows. Some pieces of it come out of his hair, though painfully but much remains. After nap, we will be soaking in a warm bath to see what happens then. I get the feeling that worst case scenario, in a day or two, it will peel out easily on its own. What a mess.
I had called the pediatrician to ask if they knew of any solution that would easily remove glue from hair and skin without having to pull. They advised me to call poison controll. I told them that infact, I could not call poison controll due to too many calls in the last year and a fear of DFS visiting our home if I had to call one more time. They got a huge laugh out of this. I did not.

A Give-Away for Tuesday!

My friend, Debi, was approached by Janel Russell to show off their GORGEOUS jewelry and after doing some consulting, and telling them a bit about sweet Tuesday, they decided that they would like to help her out with a fundraiser! How awesome are they!?!?
They sent her this beautiful necklace to auction off!!!!

It's a Mother and 2 children (or twins) It's a GORGEOUS Sterling silver piece and worth $55

So, to enter... here's all you have to do...
Go to Janel Russell's site and have a look around. Come back here and let me know what your favorite piece is.
To enter in the auction, simply donate $1 HERE. (all proceeds go to the Tuesday Fiona Whitt Foundation and Neuroblastoma Research
If you don't have paypal and want to enter, please contact Debi HERE and she will work something out :)
If you donate $2, you get 2 entries (and so on)
To get additional entries, PLEASE SPREAD the word about the give-away.
Place the button on your blog for an entry.

Grab the Button!

<a href="http://www.bouffard11.blogspot.com/2009/08/debi-says-give-away.html"><img src="http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k224/debi90/necklace.jpg"/></a>

Tweet for an entry. Blog for an entry. Send emails. Facebook, etc....
The more people who enter, the more money we raise for pediatric cancer research!
The contest runs from now until August 24th..
And, as an additional bonus, from now until September, 10% of all "Twin/Triplet" purchases made from Janel Russell will be donated to the Tuesday Fiona Whitt Foundation. So, get ready for the holidays early and support pediatric cancer research at the same time!
Good luck and the winner will be chosen, via Debi's very first VLOG entry!

And, just because I think you should see it... when you are done checking out the jewelry and entering my contest, please check out Tuesday's Name Gallery. Back when Tuesday was sick, my sweet friend Tamara, came up with this idea, so that all of Jess' friends could let her know that Tuesday was always in our thoughts. Tamara took our creations and made them into a pillow for Jess and now, you can view them :)
PLEASE feel free to send your own versions of Tuesday's name, to let Jess know you think of Tuesday often too. (believe me when I say this, it helps Jess & family to know...)

...Now Bree is sick too! Her fever was 101 under her arm this afternoon. She's cranky and crabby and nurses constantly. So much for getting anything done. At least I can be on the computer and hold her at the same time, so I've been on my email all day. A record participation day in my twins group for me! And Debi- where are you!?!
Football practices are underway for the boys. Jackson is a running back on his team! Yay!That's what he was hoping for. Brandon has a stripe on his helmet so he'll have to play the line, but that's alright (if you are over a certain weight, you can only play certain positions in order to decrease the chance of injuries to less-hefty players. Brandon is over that weight!) Emanuel's team doesn't have positions set yet, but its looking like D-line or O-line for him too. He's fine with D-line. Not too thrilled with O-line.
Drew gets home tonight! I can't wait to see him. He's been gone too long. I really miss him. The kids are all excited too!
Gotta run, kids are up from nap! Alex is wearing only a diaper and is singing a song she has made up entitled "My Belly, My Clothes." She also has in her hands, "heebow" alternatively pronounced "Haybow" This of course is her precious, prized, pink, polka-dotted hair bow that she wears constantly with everything, even in her sleep. If it comes out, she freaks. Sydney experimented for a day with Heebow's purple counterpart but as she isn't a girly-girl like Alex, the result was more comical than cute. Syd has since misplaced her heebow (or Alex has misappropirated it to her own stash...) Syd doesn't seem to care, as long as food is being served, she's a happy girl...off to snacktime....

Surgery rescheduled

So surgery will be postponed until September 3rd. Brandon started running a fever last night and so they don't want to do surgery when he is already sick. So, bummer but definately for the best. I had been looking very forward to getting it done before school started so he didin't have to be absent but oh well...looks like he'll have to be out a couple days.
Not much getting done today, Brandon is taking up most of my time! I'll update when I can...

Our last Sunday of Summer...for Albert at least

The tummy bug seems to be gone! We went to church today and then to the mall to get Kambree's picture taken at Sears. We have a particular picture we take of each child at roughly the same age. It's one of them in a metal washtub with a towell and rubber duckies all around. We have taken this same picture of every single child as a baby and they all are hanging above our piano in the dinning room. Today was Bree's turn. When the picture comes back, we have to frame it and then move all the other pics down one space to make room for her. I can't wait to have all nine of them up there. I'll take a pic when we hang it and post it here.
In good news, Isaiah finally pooped! Yea for avoiding the hospital...again! Albert goes back to work tomorrow. Bummer. We are getting all his work clothes ready right now and planning to set the alarm for nice and early!

...Just as I thought it couldn't get worse!

The tummy bug continues. We've had the pleasure and fun of Sydney's diaper leaking out tons of runny, gooey poop at breakfast, seeping through the cracks of her high chair (which is now outside in the backyard wating to be taken apart and hosed down). At nap time, I forgot to put a diaper on Alexandria (she is potty training...not going so well). She must have gotten the tummy bug and had an enormous erruption of poo all over her crib. To make it worse, her fitted crib sheet was already in the wash at the moment so I had spread a flat sheet over the mattress for just that nap unitl the fitted one was finished in the laundry. Not so smart. The poop is now embedded in the mattress. It is ruined. A trip to Weekends Only was imminent. Only, as we were packing kids into the van (after a second bath that day for Alex) Brice got the 'bug and announced his intent to throw up. Albert told him to "throw up in the hole" referring to a big hole in our front yard where a small tree used to be planted before it failed to thrive and died. Brice ran to the hole and puked and puked and puked. When he was done we told him to get in the van and handed him an empty Aldi's grocery store bag. Much arguing ensued in the backseats as to who had to sit next to Brice. As I type this, Alexandria has just now spilled orange juice all over herself, the kitchen table and the recently mopped kitchen floor. You have got to be kidding me. I am now telling her to sit still and wait a sec while I finish this! Yes, I know, horrible mom! Brice has continued to puke today, in both bathrooms, all over the carpet and on the couch while I was doing my homework. On the other hand, I just finished pouring laxative down Isaiah's throat. We've done days of Fletchers and Miralax and ....nothing. I'm half hoping he gets the tummy bug so he can poop! I hate to take him back to the hospital, but its been a couple weeks at least since he last went. I really don't want to do any more X-rays,which I know they'll want to do. I don't want to cause a tumor, looking for one we know doesn't exist. I would like to get to the bottom of this diaherra/constipation cycle though...stay tuned...off to clean up orange juice!

Morning stress...

...And the homework continues. Mine, not the kids. Not sure what's going to happen when they start school and bring home backpacks stuffed with papers and books and assignment that need to be returned.
Hoping for a better morning today, than yesterday. Yesterday, within 5 minutes of having the little ones awake, the dog and pottied on the floor, Sydney had come down the stirs saying "mama,look..." as she pointed to her bottom. What she was proudly showing me was that she'd taken off her diaper in her crib...not good. This usually means she has also peed in her bed. About 30 seconds later as she walked to her highchair, she tripped and fell into the dogs water bowl. Manny came downstairs and announced that Alexandria had thrown up in her bed. Seriously. I was cooking breakfast (eggs, susage and ham) and couldn't move from the stove or the food would burn. I asked Emanuel if he could please bring her crib sheet down and put it in the washer. He shook his head "I'm not touching that." Thanks Manny. Then get over here and scramble these 24 eggs. That caused a sudden change of heart and he ran up to grab the sheet.
Getting ready to wake up little ones agian. Hoping things go smoother.
Brandon's surgery has been scheduled for next Thursday at 10:30 a.m. He's very excited!

Good news!

We went to clinic today and have great news! Aside from the fact that Brandon's counts are wonderful (Platelets are 179,000. Hemagloblin/hematocrit are 12.1 and 36.0 respectively. ANC is a beautiful 2170) Dr. Rob said that Brandon can get his port removed! He's had 18 months of fabulous counts and so now the safest thing is NOT to have the port (as its a foreign body, it is an infection risk). We're hoping to get this small outpatient surgery done within the next week or so, before school starts! Yea! Tomorrow clinic is having a Camp Rainbow day. We are bringing all the kids! I'll try to get pics to post. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!