One person ruins it for everyone...

Last night we were at South Hills Village, ready to go trick or treating at the mall with countless other children! My friend Chrissy and her two kids were downstairs in the children's play area and we agreed to meet after Chris, Brady and I were done eating dinner.

We finished eating in the food court, put Brady's costume on, and headed out into the mall to go to the bottom floor to meet Chrissy and the kids. The elevator had a big line, and we had the stroller, so we headed into Sears. We took the elevator to the bottom floor and started to head toward the mall. An employee stopped us and said that they were closing the mall and we had to leave. We were confused - but it sounded suspicious when they said it was because of a "mechanical difficulty" - so I started leaving quickly. Chris took the stroller up the escalator - so we got out pretty quickly.

Outside was maybe one or two more families waiting there. I said, I'll bet it's a bomb threat - it's pretty fishy. So ... Chris called the assistant chief and confirmed that it was a bomb threat. Once I heard this I was out of there. I was packing the car up with Brady's stuff, and I heard other people saying, the mall might open again soon, let's just wait. I was like, no way. I'm outta here. Good thing, too, because there was gridlock only a few minutes later when the rest of the mall got out and they began evacuating the parking lot.

We left, drove out of the way towards McMurray because I knew if I drove on rt 19 the other way I would get stuck in traffic. Brady still had his giraffe costume on - I shoved him in his seat to get out quickly, and the giraffe on his hood was annoying him. He was screaming and crying and he didn't have his pacifier because Chris took off in the truck the other direction.

We finally got home unscathed. When I talked to Chrissy later - she said that she saw the stores starting to close their gates and then people started running. She said it was chaos.

It's a damn shame that some ass had to call and make a bomb threat. Honestly. Why someone would want to ruin a day for the kids is beyond me. All the poor little kids were dressed up, and, no trick or treat. Chrissy's son Tyler was upset, one minute he's ready to trick or treat, and the next, in his words, the firemen came and ruined it.

The media said that a "specific threat" was made and that they're looking for the person and they will prosecute.

I have a few issues with the way that this "threat" went down. First, according to the media, the mall patrons and employees were notified by loudspeaker that the mall was evacuating. Chrissy said this is not true - she didn't start to leave until people were running. Second - the people outside, if it's at all suspicious why the mall is closing (and it certainly was), in this day and age you can't fool around with a threat like that. If there is anything I learned from 9/11 it is that you have to take these things seriously. And, I know, having my 1 year old son with me certainly made me take it seriously!!!

So now I'M the sick one.

Braden's platelets are up - in the 300,000 range, which is great! No more blood tests for him!

Me, however, well, let's just say I am not the picture of health.

I've been to the doctor twice this month. I have bursitis in my knee, the result of a fall in the garage (and a bruise the size of my entire knee) and slight hearing loss. The doc has given me three meds to try to unclog my ear. Seems like the last one worked.

Got a blood test as well. Various things wrong with me. I get yet another antibiotic, for some "infection" they found. My white blood count was up which indicated. They think it is in my ear, which may be causing my temporary hearing loss.

And... surprise surprise... high cholesterol. They don't want to put me on a long term maintenance med, so they tell me to take over the counter niacin (a vitamin). It is supposed to open up your blood vessels so there is not as much clogging. My stepmom tells me to take it before I go to bed, apparently it makes you itchy and hot, which shouldn't affect you if you're sleeping.

THAT WAS AN UNDERSTATEMENT. I took one pill (apparently half the dose of what I should be taking). Within 10 minutes I feel itchy. 5 more and my skin is on fire. I literally felt like my skin was too small for my flesh. My fingers felt like sausages and my lips were puckering. It was awful. I ran downstairs to try to cool off, and start feeling like I can't breathe. My pulse was racing. My heart was beating out of my chest. It was exactly how I imagined a heart attack to be. Well, in a few more minutes I was fine.

The doctor said - take an aspirin a half hour before you take the niacin. Fortunately that worked. Last night I kept waiting and waiting to feel like I was on fire again.

Brush teeth

Chris tried to brush Braden's teeth tonight. He would NOT let him. Apparently this is a mom thing! He opened his mouth really wide and let me brush every one!

His new thing is that he likes to dip his food. Everything he eats he wants to dip in something! Today it was fries and honey mustard, yesterday it was quesadillas and salsa!

Also - platelets are good! 215,000! One more blood test to go!

Busy Busy...

Taking a short break from my nightly routine of cleaning up and preparing for the next day to write a quick blog.

Today Chris worked at bingo, so Brady and I met him down there for lunch. Brady made a beeline for Chris every time he caught his eye. He literally ran to him a couple of times. He ran back to me, but only when I had food! Other than the time at the fire hall today was a "mommy day". Each day he seems to choose one or the other of us, and the other one gets snubbed!

I dropped him off at "Aunt Nicole's" house because she was going to watch him for a couple hours while I went to a Tastefully Simple party at one of the Pittsburgh Mom's houses. He did very well at Nicole's. I was impressed, because a lot of times he acts up when he's staying with someone who hasn't watched him before.

The Tastefully Simple party was fun. I always like tasting all of the new foods! Susan, the consultant, is from the Mom's group as well, and she's very sweet. I also saw Suzanne, another friend from the mom's group, and she brought me a huge box of magazines! Janet, the hostess, gave me a bunch of little boys clothes that Brady can grow into!

So, I guess I better get back to cleaning up. Sorry for the boring blog, but, it's a boring day! Back to work tomorrow!

Another day...

This morning I went to the big consignment sale to check it out. I got a few things - a few pieces of clothing for Brady, a pair of shoes, a Little People barn and some random little toys. I'm selling things there too. So far after one day of the sale (plus the pre-sale) I've sold $60 of my stuff. Hopefully after the week I do better!

The past few days I have not been feeling so well. I have no other signs, just really tired. Thursday I started to feel like crap. I came home and fell asleep on the couch at 8:00 that night, and didn't wake up until work on Friday. Then last night after Chris and I went shopping, I couldn't wait to go to sleep.

I had an almost 2 hour nap this afternoon, and then fell asleep almost 2 hours on the couch tonight. My head is pounding. I'm stressing out over all the stuff I should have done instead of sleeping.

We visited Michele and Leo today. I was headed to the mall to take Brady to play in the kid's area, but called her and went over to her house instead. It's so funny to watch the two of the kids together. They are hilarious together. At one point they were trying to hit each other with the little metal pots and pans from Leo's kitchen. We had to step in at that point.

I guess I should get to work. I need to do some laundry, load the dishwasher, clean up the toys. Chris is working at a wedding at the fire hall tonight. He should be home soon.

New words

Brady learned how to say "uh oh" today. We were over at Michele and Leo's and Leo said it, next thing you know, Brady said it too!

He also does the sign language for birdie. All the time. Birdie birdie birdie. Any time he sees or hears a birdie.

He also knows "woof". I taught him when we saw dogs, I would say, "Dog. Woof".

We were reading a book tonight and each time I said or pointed to dog, he said, "Woof." There was a birdie too. That made the birdie sign.

I'm so proud.

Whew!

We went to see Braden's specialist today. Braden was diagnosed with is called ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura). This is an autoimmune disease, which means that Braden's body was attacking the platelets as if they were a foreign body.

His platelet count today was 51,000. Yesterday's was 26,000. The normal range is 150,000 to 400,000. I think that around 20,000 is a danger zone - the paperwork they gave us today said that at 20,000 you can start to bleed for no reason.

Luckily they diagnosed him with this rather quickly. Given that his platelets practically doubled overnight - they say he's doing well and needs no treatment. They are going to monitor his platelets weekly, so that means a blood draw every week. They will stop this when his platelets are acceptable for some time.

The doctor we saw, Dr. Wollman, was excellent. I guess he would have to be to deal with children's blood disorders and cancer. He had a great bedside manner and really just knew his stuff. He said that Braden either had an underlying virus that caused this (not surprising) or he had a reaction to his recent MMR vaccine. I wouldn't be surprised if it was some sort of virus - he had bronchiolitis / RSV and pneumonia in the past 6 months.

So, bottom line is Braden should be fine, and get better on his own! The big danger would be if he hit his head, he could have internal bleeding easier than other kids. It will be hard work to keep a newly walking toddler from climbing, etc!

What a huge relief. I don't know how I'm going to continue to be worried about him every day for the next 17 years... or... well, forever.

Worried...

We took Braden for a "routine" blood test on Saturday morning. They were testing for lead, since we live in an older house, and hemoglobin, which is routine as well.

Sunday morning I received a phone call from his pediatrician notifying me that his platelet level was low. She told me that the lab called her at 3 am, which alarmed me to start with. Then she asked me questions, like, is he bruised a lot, which he is, which I thought was due to him being a 13 month old who thinks he can RUN. Does he have a fever? Not currently, but in the past 6 months he's had quite a few that had no other symptoms. A few more questions I don't remember specifically. She said it was probably a mistake in the blood test since they did a finger-prick test, and that we had to take him today to test again.

Today Chris took him for the second blood test - again, platelets are low. We are seeing a specialist tomorrow at Children's Hospital. Hopefully we get some insight soon. Until then this is pretty scary. I don't know what is wrong with my child. There's nothing I can do to help him. No one can tell me how serious this can be. I'm tempted to do more googling but that led me to some scary things so I'm going to resist the urge.

If you're reading this, please say a prayer that all goes well tomorrow at the doctor's. I'll post more as I find out.

I don't have 2 nickels to rub together...

Chris and I need to create a budget. Seriously. I can't tell you where our money goes. I know our bills take up a major portion of my paycheck, if not all of it. (Mortgage, vehicles, utilities, etc.)

Now the thing that kills us is the ten dollars at Wal-mart, twenty dollars at Giant Eagle, etc. At the end of the month there's nothing major to show for it and we're just getting by.

I definitely spend more time working than I do at home. This frustrates me because I feel like I'm working my ass off, and just getting by. I would love to stay home with Braden (and future child/children...) However, this is just a dream.

Don't get me wrong. I do know that we have all the comforts of modern living, a nice place to live, extra stuff, yadda yadda. It's just frustrating me that I'm working my ass off to just make it.

Brings to mind one of my favorite sayings - once you make the ends meet, they move the ends.

I hate Sears...

I'm angry right now. We have a digital camera (which I would not recommend this one to anyone.) I've hated it since we bought it. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that it is broken.

Long story short, the LCD screen is cracked, and the "liquid crystal" is leaking out. Over time it will get worse. I called Sears, because we have their "Master Protection Agreement". Long story short, this damage is due to negligence on our part and it is not covered.

I don't remember dropping it, breaking it, or mishandling it in any way. One day it worked and the next day it did not work. We paid for this extra warranty, we always do on practically everything (even though I think it's a waste of money.) The first time something actually breaks within the warranty period - we can't do anything about it.

I guess it technically is our fault somehow. But either way, my camera still takes pictures - you just can't really view the screen. So I'd like a new one... but it's definitely NOT in the budget. I'm sad. I don't want to miss pictures of my little guy. Good thing I still have the old school camera with the film!