Archive for May, 2011

This week’s adventure…

May 16, 2011 | Updates

On May 1st, I took Ben into the doctor. He had this weird rash all over his body, fevers on and off and a huge headache. The Instacare doctor told me it was a viral rash. Two days later, I took him to a different doctor and got the same diagnosis. I kept him home from school for a week hoping that would keep him from passing the rash to anyone else. This week, I sent him back to school. But, he kept complaining that he was tired, had a headache and chills.

On May 9th, Nathan got sick as well. He had fevers, headaches, a small cough, sneezing, etc. I figured he and Ben now had ANOTHER sickness. The rash was gone, so I figured this was new. The next day, I got sick. I had mostly the same symptoms, but my throat was killing me. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t even sleep because it was so painful. But I figured I had the same thing the other 2 had and they weren’t complaining about their throats. I thought I was being a baby. By the 14th, I couldn’t take it anymore and drug myself to the Instacare. Quick swab of my throat, and I had strep. I drove straight home and got both of my sick kids. Took them back, quick swabs, and they both have strep. Honestly, I’m just glad to know. A round of antibiotics and I might actually be able to eat something. Plus, Ben is sick of being sick.

What I’m wondering, though, is did Ben have a Scarlet Fever rash way back on the 1st? I looked up some pictures of it and I think it’s definitely possible. I’m not gonna lie. That’s a bit frustrating. But at the same time, he never really said his throat hurt, so I’m not sure they would have thought of it as a possiblity. Hmmmmm.

 Since then, Wes has been diagnosed with strep as well as Tom.

Anyway, I’ll be taking Samuel to the doctor in a few days to have his throat swabbed just to be safe. Not sure how I could tell if he had a sore throat.

So, we’re all on antibiotics and now we just have really crappy coughs. So fun. Here’s to hoping the sun will come out soon and burn this crud out of us!

Abbie’s Mom…

May 5, 2011 | Updates

I don’t have much time to post tonight, but I wanted to quickly write about Abbie’s Mom. I found Abbie’s Site years ago. It’s been so many years that I can’t remember exactly when I found it. But I can tell you this. Her site gave me hope when I needed it the very most.

I still remember the first picture I ever saw of Abbie. She was wrapped in a beach towel and had a smile on her face. She had the longest eye lashes and the cutest little dimple. And she was a ray of light for me. And her Mother, she exuded faith. I could feel it in her posts. I KNEW it was in her heart. I loved that about her and I’d never even met her.

And then Sue, Luke’s Mom (who I’d met at a brain injury conference a few years ago), decided to have a retreat for mothers of near-drowning survivors. (Thank you, Sue, for knowing how to DREAM BIG!) At first, I thought there was no way I could go. And then, I watched the list of attending moms grow (many of whom I had followed on the internet for years) and I knew I HAD to make that trip happen. And so…I went.

While at the retreat, I showed Abbie’s Mom (Tiffany) the results we’d had doing ABR with Samuel. She wanted more information so I pointed her to Leonid’s Blog. I have to tell you that Leonid’s blog is SO TECHNICAL and difficult for me to understand even with a few years of ABR under my belt. But Tiffany, she’s incredibly smart. And she spent that whole night reading through the blog, watching the videos and absorbing the information.

In the last 5 months, Tiffany has pulled together some incredible plans for implementing ABR in Abbie’s life and, hopefully, the lives of many other children in her community. And I’ll leave those plans to her to unveil as they become a reality. But in the meantime, she is doing an incredible job of taking all the “technicalness” of ABR and writing it down on her blog in words we can all understand. Her determination, faith, energy and intelligence are astounding to me. But what I love most about her, is that she shares her knowledge in an understandable way.

So, if you’ve wanted to understand ABR and haven’t been able to because it was just too technical or because you asked me and I just couldn’t figure out how to explain it to you :), then take a few minutes and visit Abbie’s Blog at www.prayforabby.blogspot.com. You’ll be glad you did!