Remicade

1st infussion done. Called day 0 and then 2 weeks and 4 weeks and then every 8 weeks.

No side effects that I noticed. I was tired when I got home and went to bed for the night in the late afternoon noticing some waking with hot flushing feeling in my face. Other than that it was pain free and fine. I drove myself an hour and a half to the clinic where the infussion took place and then drove myself home.

I did notice that a week after the infussion my bowel movement was solid for the first time in years but there was a significant amount of blood still. I know that's probably way too much information for my mommy blog but the first thing I did was go to good old google for some info on response to treatment times and could find nothing. So if I help one poor scared person out there just starting remicade then well it's worth it.

Unfortunately my 9yo daughter Courtney woke up with a lovely vomit fest of the flu yesterday morning and I now have it. Not really cool when your immune system is trying to infuse with a new drug and you cannot even get said drug if you have the sniffles. Soooo needless to say I feel like crap warmed over and pray it's completely cleared up for my next infussion this coming Wednesday.

Oh and I've managed to cut my T3 usage in half since starting the remicade. That speaks volumes to me. I still feel kinda yucky but the degree of yuck is much less I guess. I used to go for the tylenol when my sides were burning so bad and my back could not stand another minute of pain and everything just hurt all over. I would be near tears and now it's just way easier to get through the day. The inflamation in my body must be decreasing. It has to be for the pain to be that much less.

I am very pleased and only one infussion in. Goooo REMICADE!!!!

Just some boring stuff...

Reagan has been doing much better with Kindergarten. I think she's getting into the groove of things. Transition is tough for her I think. We did purchase a pre K workbook from Costco and she loves to work in it. She matches letters and knows her colors but really doesn't care what a letter is at this point. It will come and I don't believe in pushing anything with her. She'll just push back.

Remicade is coming soon. I need to wait until the middle of October for my darn TB test at the local health unit. We've got a mumps outbreak here so the health unit is swamped and just can't get my darn TB scratch test done until Oct.9th. Other than that it's all approved and affordable. I've developed the shakes lately so I'm really hoping someone calls me to let me know if I need another iron infusion soon or not. I don't know if I'd shake or not if my hemoglobin is low but it sure sucks. Keeps me away from the coffee for sure.

Courtney's teacher applied for a new position at the beginning of the school year and is now leaving one week into the year. So the poor class of grade 4's have been stuck with a sub since the second week of school while they wait for the school board to figure out who gets the job. I can't believe that my kid has to endure this. Last year was so horendous for her that this just takes the cake. I just pray that this teacher is kind and caring with the kids. I can see the anxiety coming out in Courtney every morning before school already. I cannot handle another repeat of last year.

Jordan seems to be doing his homework so far. He almost has enough lawn mowing hours to turn in to buy a laptop for himself. He's over the moon excited about it. I'm happy for him to reap the benefits of his hard work all summer. He's done good even though I've had to stay on top of him constantly. I hope it will get easier. I need to go into his school and talk to the school psychologist to make sure they get all his testing under way this year. He needs all of his learning disabilities tended to and monitored constantly or he'll just sit there doing nothing and saying nothing. He's more argumentative than ever with me in this teenager phase.

I must stop buying all these kids clothing. That's the only way I can see this laundry crisis getting any better. We all agree in this house that the pool table has become more of a laundry table than a pool table. It is clear now and maybe daddy and the kids can sneak a game or two in this weekend but not for long. Ha!

It never ends.

Not kindergarten mother of the year this morning

So all 6 of the kids (3 daycare 3 mine)are dressed nicely and hair primped and clean for school. Lunches are packed up and I asked Courtney to help Reagan get a snack to put in her backpack for her first full day of kindergarten. Uh oh. All the snacks purchased are healthy snacks in packages from Costco exept those darn Thinsations and Reagan of course chooses the oreo kind. I of course ask her what she chose as we were pulling up to the school. Well Dean and I just sat through a meeting last week all about kindergarten and were told HEALTHY SNACKS. Well crap I suck already. So I flag down the teacher at the door and apologize and say it won't happen again and she says "Reagan needs to learn to recognize her name ASAP! She is lost every time the children are asked to go to their name tag or pick up the item with their name on it." I tell her OK we'll work on it right away. I feel like double crap. What kind of mother am I. Should have sent the poor kid to preschool that second year when she was 4yrs. Yep I totally screwed up. NICE!

Note to self: less time in the bathroom with the colitis monster and more time teaching my daugher her name. This morning I was another 2 lbs lighter from yesterday thanks to lack of absorption. That's 32lb loss now in the last 3 months. Remicade cannot come soon enough. I am banking all of my hopes and dreams on this shot. Next option- surgery. More blood tests today or tommorrow to see if I need another iron infusion. This will be number 3. I seem to be losing blood at the rate of someone with a slow nosebleed. Kind of dangerous. I am soooo grateful for my doctor who does telephone visits sometimes 3 times per week and I NEVER have to call him. He is my knight in shining armour through the darkness that is pancolitis.

OK this all my guilt pouring out and excuses for my daughter not being able to recogize her name. We'll get in a couple of days. I called hubby and he said to make some flash cards to put up in the house of all the kids names. Hubby is the academic overachiever in the household. He'll patiently work with her till she gets it.

Fun stuff. I better go wipe some snotty noses and change some diapers and do some dishes. These little people are getting bored with the backyard playground and I think I hear a tractor on the front of the property. That always throws the little ones into a crying tailspin.

Into the house we go....

Laurie