Great Strides Walk!

Yesterday was the big day, and we had a lot of fun!  They changed venues from last year, and I wasn't quite expecting the hills we had to walk up, so my leg muscles are a bit sore today but it was definitely worth it.  I finally got to meet one of my friends I've been talking to online for the last 2.5-3 years, along with her adorable son and her husband!  I was also able to spend time with another friend, and also with my family.  I'm not sure what our final total will be, because we handed in a bunch of money yesterday and I know my parents have more to mail in, so I will update with a final total once I get it.

The weather wasn't too bad: cloudy, and there was a small shower at the beginning of the walk, but it was cool and great weather for walking!  They had a bunch of activities for the kids, including a clown and a guy who has reptiles (we kind of avoided that because he had a huge snake, and I don't care for snakes at all).  I got to talk to one of my CF mom friends, which was also great because we can't get together with the kids for obvious reasons.

This year, instead of doing wristbands, they made t-shirts for all of the CF patients so they would be easily identifiable and we could enforce the new 6 foot rule.  It did make a difference, and Judith also got her own shirt out of it.

I doubt we raised enough money for the team banner this year, but they did do team signs for every team that raised at least $200, so that was nice!  We're planning to hang it in Judith's room.  I know she's still too little to really appreciate it, but maybe someday she will.

Week Recap

Things have been really, really crazy around here since I last posted, and I'll try to keep this post as brief as possible as I recap everything!

Last Sunday, I had Judith dressed and ready for church, and was doing her vest before we would have to head out the door.  Saturday night was rough because she kept coughing a lot overnight, and Sunday morning she had a really tight, croupy sounding cough.  Her vest treatment and an extra dose of albuterol didn't loosen things up, so we stayed home instead.  I called the after hours line for the clinic and talked to the on call doctor, and for a bit I was very concerned that we would have to take her to the emergency room and possibly end up with a transfer to Hershey Med so the CF team could start more aggressive treatments to help her out.  They changed her antibiotic from augmentin to cipro, and had us giving her albuterol treatments every 4 hours (4 puffs of the inhaler since we don't do the nebulized version with her).  We were thisclose to starting steroids, but the on call doctor decided to hold off a day and see what her regular pulmonologist recommended.  By the time I called Monday morning, she seemed to have more energy, and her cough was starting to sound wetter and looser, so her doctor said that we could wait it out a couple days and see if the cipro kicked in.  That was a good thing, because by Monday I was feeling like crap and didn't really want to go anywhere if I could help it.  Sunday was, by far, the worst day of the ordeal and she's been improving steadily ever since.  Judith was so kind to share her infection with the rest of the family, but at this point everyone seems to be improving and I hope this infection is out of the house very, very soon.

On Wednesday Judith had a follow-up eye appointment with her ophthalmologist.  Everything looks good, so we can space out her appointments!  She'll go back in the fall for her annual exam, and hopefully will only have a couple follow-ups after that.

Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated my mom's birthday and threw her a surprise party!  I still can't believe we managed to surprise her, because she's really good at figuring things out in advance.  She really enjoyed herself, and I'm glad that she had a good time!  Today we celebrated Mother's Day at my parents' place and watched the Make-A-Wish convoy in the afternoon, followed by a cookout for dinner.  Judith was being especially challenging today, but I think in the end we all had an enjoyable day.

Go Away, Infections!

It hasn't been that long since Judith and I got over that wicked sinus infection, and now she's sick again.  I know a lot of people have been battling colds and horrible allergies this spring (and I'm right there with most on the allergy front), but I still can't help but feel bad that she picked something else up.

Earlier in the week, mainly on Tuesday, Judith seemed a little sluggish but was still relatively chipper.  I noticed she was spending a little more time watching some of her favorite shows instead of pulling out 50,000,000 toys in the living room, but I didn't think too much of it and chalked it up to her teeth bothering her.  Wednesday rolled around, and she just wasn't herself: she spent a lot of time sitting on her chair or sitting with me, occasionally looking at books, but mostly chilling out.  Mid-morning, I went to change her diaper, and put her in her crib temporarily so I could wash my hands and not worry about her trying to go down the stairs on her own since I didn't have a gate out.  I thought she felt warm, and after I washed my hands I went back to her room to get her out of the crib for lunch.  She was already falling asleep a good hour before her normal nap time, and I decided to take her temperature because something felt off.  One swipe of the temporal thermometer said 101.7, another swipe said over 102.

Judith's been coughing a little bit, and I noticed that it was increasing.  She was super fussy when I was putting her glasses on or got too close to her ears.  Because of the fever, I decided to call the pediatrician and see if we could get an appointment.  It's a good thing I did that and took her in, because she has a double ear infection and a respiratory virus, most likely a cold.  So she's on yet another round of antibiotics, and we have an appointment for a follow up visit in a few weeks to make sure her ears are clear.

Wednesday night was getting scary, because her temperature kept climbing.  John stopped at the local CVS on his way home and picked up some ibuprofen, and thankfully that brought her temperature down.  She was hovering in the 100-101 range on Thursday, and today it looks like things are finally breaking, which is good because I was worrying that we'd have to take her in again over the weekend, per her pedi's instructions, if things didn't improve.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she feels better soon, and that things clear up quickly so she can go to the Great Strides walk with us later in the month.

What A Week

It's been interesting, and I blame full moon.  It always baffles me how such a natural occurrence can make people and animals go bat crap crazy.

Judith has been a whiny mess for most of the week.  I do think part of the problem are the pesky molars that still have not cut through her gums.  She is gnawing on things more than she previously was, so I'm hoping we're nearing the end of teething.

Last Friday my poor little peanut was so constipated and so tanked up on miralax that I didn't know what to do to give her relief.  She finally was able to go mid-morning, and for the last week her diapers have been rather interesting.  It's been a long time since we've burned through so many diapers in a day, but I'm glad she's cleaning her system out.  On top of that, she started coughing again.  It's not anything super serious like a respiratory infection, but it's happening more than normal.  I just wish I knew what I could do for her to help make it better, and I wish I knew if it was allergies or something else.

Sometime next week we'll get Judith's 4th pair of frames since she got her glasses last September.  It's not a bad break, and the same thing happened this time as the last time: the coiled wire piece that wraps around her ear unraveled and weakened, but this time it actually snapped off.  John and I are trying to keep it taped so she has her glasses for the weekend.  I wish I would've realized it was that bad yesterday so they could've called in the order and had them in the office faster (last time they had the frames there within 24 hours).  This is yet another time when I'm grateful that her ophthalmologist has that 1 year warranty on the frames!

The dogs have kept me on my toes as well.  I'm almost convinced that Lady is starting to develop some arthritis in the shoulder that she injured a few times (I jokingly call it a sports injury, since it usually happens when she's playing).  She started limping early in the week, and I had to restrict her play times so she could rest the shoulder a little more.  Lady still gets rather pissy when this happens, but she's also a little better at accepting it.  Buster's having allergy issues, and keeps reverse sneezing frequently.  Poor pup is so itchy, too.

I was able to snap a cute picture on Wednesday, so since I forgot to do a Wordless Wednesday post I'll share it now.  I like to call it "breakfast with a friend":

Dollar Challenge!

It's been a week, we're here, and I really don't have anything new to blog about.  Instead, I'm going to pose a challenge to you, and hopefully you'll be willing to help out our team for the Great Strides walk!

I'm starting a Dollar Challenge.  I'm really close to my personal goal, and would like to reach or exceed it!  So my challenge to you is to donate at least $1 to our team.  Dig under the couch cushions, under the car seats, the bottom of your purse, wherever you have spare change lying around.  For every dollar donated, about $.90 goes back to CF patients in various ways, one of them being for the studies for VX-809 and VX-661.  With your help, Journey for Judith can reach our team goal and help so many people like Judith who are affected by this disease!

Donating is easy!  Click on the badge on the right sidebar and enter your amount!  We appreciate anything you can do to help!

A New Beginning

Today was John's first Sunday at our new church, and I think we both agree that things went well!  We're meeting so many great people, and Judith also has a new boyfriend (who is about a month and a half younger than she is) that she got to play with during the sermon this morning because she was having a very hard time sitting quietly.  It's going to take a while for her to adjust to the new space, but I'm hoping that eventually she'll cooperate and won't act like such a hellion during the service.

John played really well, and it's really great hearing him play a pipe organ again!  He's settling into the new routine, and it's a nice bonus for him that the new church is much closer, because he can be a little more spontaneous with practice times and not have to worry about planning to do as many things at once to account for the really long commute time.

I really think that we're going to like it there!

Easter 2013

Easter is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  The services throughout Holy Week are rich with tradition, as are the liturgies on Easter Sunday.  There is something glorious in the proclamation "Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!", followed by the singing of the amazing hymns proclaiming Christ's victory over the grave.  The one thing I missed this year (and last year, for that matter) was playing with the brass ensemble to accompany the liturgy.  Ah well, there's always next year!

We started our Easter celebration a little early by participating in the church egg hunt Saturday morning.  This was Judith's first year searching for eggs, and she actually did really well (and got a really nice haul!).  This year there was an extra bonus, as one of the members brought a bunch of her show rabbits for the kids to look at and pet.  Judith spied a beautiful brown bunny when we went inside the church, and immediately called it a "doggie" (the rabbit was on a harness, so I think that's where the association came from).  Once she realized it was a rabbit, she kept saying "hop hop!"

I felt a little sad that evening, because it was the first year in a long time that I didn't attend Easter Vigil services.  I took Judith last year, and it was a nightmare because she did not want to be in the sanctuary and was an overtired, cranky mess.  I told John that there was no way I was going to tempt fate this year, and decided to keep her home so we could observe a normal bed time.  I made up for it, though, by watching the masses from the Vatican and the basilica in Washington, DC.

Easter Sunday was not a chaotic mess for once.  John had to get up early for the sunrise service (his last one, thank goodness), but Judith and I were able to take our time getting ready since we planned to take separate cars so Judith would only have to sit through 1 service and would still be able to fit in all of her extra vest and breathing treatments that she needs right now.  I was bummed because I didn't have a voice and couldn't sing the hymns, but otherwise it was the service I expected it to be.

After church, my parents came to our house for Easter lunch.  We placed some eggs in the front yard for Judith to hunt, and she found and sifted through her Easter baskets.  I was impressed that she didn't melt down too much toward the end of the day, considering it was somewhat busy with a lot of stimulation.