Another Piece of the Puzzle? (273/365)

I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor today to check my cumadin level and to see how I'm doing now that I'm home. My cumadin level is still a bit high, so he adjusted my dose and we'll recheck in two weeks. The genetic testing I had done while in the hospital finally came in, and the only one that came back positive was the MTHFR gene mutation (I'd link you to an article, but I can't find any one that explains it nicely, and I've given up looking for one. Basically it's a risk factor for blood clots). Thankfully it is heterozygous so it probably shouldn't cause me any major clotting issues, but my doc is sending me to a hematologist just to be safe. He thinks that it may just be part of the puzzle as to why I had this PE. From what I've read, doctors don't agree on if heterozygous MTHFR should be treated at all, my doc seems to think that I should be on baby aspirin for the rest of my life so we'll have to see if the hematologist agrees.

I don't know if the rest of you directly related to me need to be tested for this or not, but I will get the opinion of my hematologist when I go. I obviously inherited this from Mom or Dad (my guess is it's Mom, based on her miscarriage history) which means Dad could have it, and my brothers as well. And if both Mom and Dad are heterozygous, there's a chance that one of you boys is homozygous, which would most definitely be something you should know so you can take the proper precautions to avoid blood clots. Better to know before a clot than find out after like me.

So this could have played a role in the formation of my PE, I don't know that we'll ever know for sure, but we'll see what the hematologist says. I tell you, with me it is just one thing after another!

Things That Make Me Feel Good Wednesday (272/365)

• Izzy totally misses Alice when she's at school. Today when we picked
Alice up from school, Izzy started squealing, flailing her arms and
legs, and she exclaimed "Aaa-iii!!" (or Alice, for those of you who
don't speak Izzy).

• My kiddos jammin' to my kind of music. Hearing Alice ask to listen
to Wilco or Izzy sing Pink Floyd sure makes a Mommy proud.

• Reading chapter books to my big girl and watching her fall in love
with reading right in front of me.

• Dinnertime with the family. With Matt in a super stressful class
right now it's really the only time we see him during the day. I'm
sure we'll all be happy when this class is over - especially stressed
out Matt.

• Weddings. Mary is getting married next weekend! I'm looking forward
to good times with family and to seeing Tori, who is coming up here to
watch the girls for us.

• Cooler weather. Fall is definitely upon us, and I'm loving it!
Pulling on my fleece slippers last night was pure heaven!

• Driving. Did I mention that I actually LIKE to drive now? I still
haven't gone on a longer trip on my own, but I'm going to go see my
MIL on Friday, so that'll be an experience, I'm sure. I still get
nervous, but I'm at a place now that I never thought I'd be.

More of the Same (271/365)

Still feeling crappy, but I was able to get more accomplished today.
We even went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and work on
Alice's bike riding skills. Too bad I didn't think to take a picture.

Izzy's been worrying me like crazy lately. She doesn't eat well at
least one meal of the day (today it was all three meals), she's
getting tired easily (she usually falls asleep DURING lunch), and
she'd sleep all morning (and afternoon) if I let her. She also asks
for water all the time. She drinks so much that she leaks through her
diapers on a daily basis. I'm talking dry/slightly moist one minute,
and totally soaked the next. If she keeps this up I'm going to have
to call the doc. I'm hoping it's just teeth/growth spurt, but I just
don't know.

Alice has been more than excited to get back to school this week. She
was even jumping for joy when I told her she had homework to do, and
it was the first thing she wanted to do this morning! I'm so glad we
decided to put her in school.

Not a Good Week for Blogging (270/365)

After a full day if doing lots and accomplishing nothing, I'm too
tired to do much else. In fact, Matt woke me up to write this.

I do have one good thing to report, however - I'm off the Lovenox!

Thank God.

I'll be going back to the doc on Thursday. Hopefully all goes well.

A Few Pics to Tide You Over (269/365)

I'm tired and I have a terrible headache so I'm going to just leave these here.

First Full Day Home and What Did I Do?(268/365)

Nothing.

Ok, I read to the girls, and played with them a bit, and kept them in
check, and talked on the phone, and Skyped with Jess, and surfed the
web, and watched Ponyo for the 900th time, and ate pizza, and took a
nap, but I still consider all of that doing nothing. We're going to
my in-laws tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. I don't know if I'm
tired for no good reason, but I certainly am tired.

Matt is back to work after an unintentional week off come Monday. Like
it or not, things will return to normal soon. I'm doing well for the
most part. I woke up this morning with that excruciating pain again
and so I'm more convinced than ever that the pain that sent me to the
ER truly was muscular/skeletal. I think it got better in the hospital
b/c I had the awesome bed that made it so I didn't have to sleep on my
side. Now that I'm home and I have to, it makes perfect sense why it
came back. I'll be talking to my doc about that when I see him in a
few weeks.

Matt is getting really good at giving me the shots. I don't have a
single bruise on my belly (my arms, a different story - OUCH!), just
some pin prick spots at the injection site. He's so good that I barely
feel the needle go in, and sometimes I don't even feel that. I'm sure
he'll be glad when I get the OK to stop the Lovenox!

Thanks for thinking of me, and for the many phone calls I've received
lately. I love you all and it's nice to know that so many of you care.

I'm Home!! (267/365)

Need I say more?

Things I Learned Today (266/365)

• Lovenox injections burn like hell.

• Apparently Matt was a nurse in a past life.

• I have no clots in my legs - woo hoo!

• Hospitals are super boring when you feel pretty good and are
confined to your floor.

• Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland wasn't as bad as I was expecting
(much better, in fact) - too bad I had to check into the hospital to
see it.

• I don't sleep on a hospital bed, I sleep on a jet engine.

• I am probably getting released tomorrow - woo hoo!!!

• I have the best family in the world - love you all.

Guess Where I Am…(265/365)

I may be in the hospital, but I'm in good spirits. I have a small
pulmonary embolism that they found on a fluke, it turns out. My doc is
pretty sure the pain I had this morning (less so tonight) is muscular.
Lucky for me I had that back pain!

I may be going home soon on Lovonox injections instead of the Heparin
drip I'm on now. Pray insurance will cover it, b/c if it won't I'll
have to stay here 3,4, maybe 5 days. I'd rather be home.

I'm off to bed now, muscle relaxer kicking in. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and there's only 100 days left in the year. Can you believe it?!

What a Fabulous Day! (264/365)

Lazy morning with Grandma, eating animal crackers (the kind in boxes)
in the car, spending all afternoon at The DuPage Children's Museum
with my hubby and kiddos, having a very late and tasty lunch out,
napping, then ice cream for dinner.

Does life get better than this?

We're Here! (263/365)

And we can't wait until 8pm!

Steamrollin' With Grandpa (262/365)

And she couldn't stop giggling.

Tomorrow Matt and I are heading to the city for a Roger Waters concert. Mom and Dad generously offered to watch the girls for us, so we're going to heard over tomorrow after lunch. We'll spend the night, then, if the weather cooperates, head to the zoo on Tuesday. I have to say I'm really looking forward to it!

What a Nice, Lazy, Rainy Day (261/365)

• Izzy tried on her Halloween costume (my MIL found it used and
bought it for her).

• Alice decided she's going to be a CareBear too.

• I discovered that they don't make CareBear costumes in Alice's
size, so now I'm going to make one.

• Alice played with Auntie Tori's "cowguuuurl" boots for the 900th
time this week.

• Both girls were hilarious as usual.

• Alice took a tumble off the couch.

• Izzy asked us several times to put her costume back on her.

• I got nostalgic over Scholastic book order forms (my God are they a
deal - I'll be ordering tons this school year I'm sure). I will be
ordering several easy readers and chapter books for Alice.

• Matt studied for school. Did I mention this was his first week of
grad school? Wish us both luck (him more than me).

• He also reminded me that the Roger Waters concert is on Monday!
How could I forget. He's got two days off, now we just have to fill
them up with fun.

• The girls sat and ate lunch together at the picnic table. All on
their own Izzy laid her head on Al's shoulder and what came next you
see in the last picture. I can hear the collective "awww." coming
through my computer (er, phone) now.

It's Finally Open! (260/365)

The girls and I braved the crowd today (seriously, you would not
believe the amount of people who were there) and had lunch at the new
Chick-fil-A. I've been waiting for it to open for months now and now
that it has I have to say I was underwhelmed.

It's been about 10 years since I've eaten at a Chick-fil-A and I
remember their nuggets being super tasty, and their waffle fries being
one of the best fries ever. Well the fries are still good, but the
nuggets, meh, definitely not what I remember. Maybe I'll try it again
sometime when the crowds die down and maybe next time I'll try
something else.

I have to say, I was totally impressed with how they ran their grand
opening though. It's located right by the mall so they had extra
parking set up at the mall, and mall security guards stopping traffic
for pedestrians. One lane of traffic was designated the drive through
lane, and it stretched on for FOREVER. If only those poor saps knew
that they'd spend 10+ times longer waiting for their food than I did
walking in.

They were so efficiant that I walked in, walked right up to a cashier,
ordered (didn't even have time to look at the menu first), paid, had
food in hand, and had a staff member carry my food to a table for me
in less than 5 minutes. Talk about service! Staff members were
walking around refilling drinks, taking trash, giving out toys for
kids, putting sticky disposable placemats in front of small kids (I
declined one), fetching just about anything you can think of, etc. Now
I know it is just for the huge grand opening crowds, but I have to say
it made the experience delightful despite the huge let down that was
their nuggets.

Anyway, the girls both definitely liked the fries (super surprising
considering Alice typically HATES fries), but like me, thought the
chicken was just ok. Of course I did have the fact that it was Izzy's
naptime working against me so that could have been why she was not
interested in eating. And Alice just had SO much to look at she got
easily distracted (though she did eat pretty well overall).

Meeting their cow mascot was really the highlight of the trip though.
Alice COULD NOT wait to get outside to talk to the cow. Can you tell
from the pic she was being super shy?

When they got home they cuddled on the couch before nap time. It was a
good end to a great afternoon with my girls.

FREE TO A GOOD HOME (259/365)

Two Unruly Children
Aged: almost 4, and 17 months
Names: Alice and Isabel

Will trash your home for you in less than an hour. One speaks pretty
good English, the other mostly swine as she's quite the squealer.
Guarenteed not to listen to a word you say and to give you a headache
with their protests. Unfortunately only one is housebroken.

Please call at 555-ineedadrink if interested.