tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76292266109775440602024-03-13T17:04:15.350-07:00Abby's MiracleBritt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.comBlogger228125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-1288229220420075122014-07-18T10:19:00.001-07:002014-07-20T06:58:51.904-07:00A perspective on life, 3 years post transplant. By both Abby and MichelleLast Saturday, the 12th, we celebrated Abby's 3-year heart anniversary. It's hard to believe it has only been 3 years, it feels like a lifetime. We celebrated the day by paying it forward in honor of Abby's donor. We still don't have any information on who her donor is, but that's okay. I've decided that maybe we never will, and that's okay too. If it's meant to be, it will happen. For now, we'll just keep thinking about and praying for them and their family. We are definitely grateful. <br />
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For our blog post to celebrate 3 years, we thought it would be a good idea to share what life is really like now, both for me as the mother of a child that has a new heart, and from Abby, a heart transplant recipient. Our story is probably very different from other transplant kids, every kid is so different and has different ups and downs. We try very hard not to compare Abby's story to other heart transplant kids, it's like comparing apples to oranges; that being said, this is Abby's life now………<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Abby</b></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></div>
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Hi everyone! It’s been a while
since I’ve done a post on here, but my mom and I thought it would be a good
idea to tell you guys what our lives are like approximately three years after
receiving my heart transplant. So I’m going to start off with a list of some of
the bad things that have come out of this trial, then some of the good. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So here we go!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>THE BAD<o:p></o:p></u></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><u>Medications and their side effects.</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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I have to take medicine three times a day. 9
AM, 9 PM, and again sometime <o:p></o:p></div>
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after 11 AM and before 7 PM. I will have to do this every
single day for the rest of my life. Now the medication that I take in the middle of
the day will supposedly be taken off , but it has been three years of the
same dose and I still have to take it. I take about 11 pills in the
morning, 2 in the afternoon, and 9 at night. I know it shouldn’t seem like a
big deal, but just knowing that I have to look forward to this every single day
for the rest of my life really sucks. Medicine also gives you really
crappy side effects. Just this week we had to go into the doctor because my legs kept falling asleep.
We found out it was because my migraine medication was at too high of a dose
and had to bring it down. When we change my anti-rejection medication dose, without a doubt I get diarrhea for at least a week while my body gets use to the change.
Most of the time when I stand up too fast I get dizzy. My hair is getting
thinner because it is falling out. A few of the side effects have stopped now
that I'm not on Prednisone. I personally call Prednisone the ‘Devil Drug.’ Let
me just name some of the side effects of Prednisone: Weight Gain, Glucose Intolerance, Low
White Blood Count (No leaving the house), Bone Thinning, Easy Bruising, Mood
Swings, Insomnia, and Acne. Just what every teenage girl wants right? I have to take the ‘Devil Drug’ each time I go in rejection, which can happen at any point
throughout my life. Yay.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><u>Friends… or not friends?</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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At the begging of all this it
seemed like everyone wanted to be a part of everything that was going on, and please, don’t get
offended by this. I am just telling you what it feels like to be in my shoes. But now, I have nearly no one (friends) left in my life that are still willing to work
through the struggles of my transplant with me. I have no contact with 90% of the people that were there at the start. Part of this could be that I
had to move away from home for a about 6 months during 7th grade, and that I have not been able
to return to school full time, and I am not blaming anyone for this or telling anyone to
do otherwise… It just sucks. And going through this I feel like I have matured
so much and been around adults most of the time, so that when I do go around my
friends it just feels different. Hopefully going back to
school full time in a month will change my perspective on this a little bit.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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</u></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><u>Getting tired</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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You would expect some fatigue
the first couple months after recovering from a heart
transplant... but you would not, three years after, still be expecting to go to
a day of school and come home and sleep for two hours. Or go to the beach for a
couple hours and have to sleep ten hours a night plus sleep on the beach to be
happy enough to enjoy the trip. I guess what I’m getting at is the tiredness of
the transplant does not go away, it just lessens, and it’s just something you
have to learn to deal with.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><u>What about the future?</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s not sugar coat it; my
life is not expected to be as long as any of yours is. But there’s always that nagging in that back of my
mind of how long? Why am I doing all this work to get through high school if I
might not even get the chance to finish it? Will I make it to college? Will I
ever get married? All these questions can go through my mind as many times as
they want to, but the thing is, I will never know. I will not know until it
happens, so they are pointless things to think about, and pointless to worry about,
and pointless to ask. So I put it in God’s hands, and I go through high school,
and I work for college, because what else is there to do?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>THE
GOOD</u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;"> <u> </u></span><u>The realization of how important family is</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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I know we have said this many times
in the last three years, but I cannot express this enough. When I had my cardiac
arrest we had to move up to Salt Lake away from Brittany and Brock for 5
months. This is one of the hardest trials we have encountered. We are also very
close with my grandparents and cousins that live in St. George, during those 5
months we were stripped from seeing them as much as we were used to also. BUT,
since we’ve been making frequent trips up to Salt Lake we’ve grown closer to
our other families that live up in Salt Lake, and I could not be more grateful
for the chance to see them more often and help those relationships to grow. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My mother is going to kill me for putting
this on here, but I truly do like driving up to salt lake every so often. Maybe it’s because I
sleep most of the drive, or maybe its because spending four hours in the car with a
person you love while listening to good music isn’t so bad after all.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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</u></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><u>Primary Children’s Medical Center</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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Oh goodness where do I even begin?
The house on the hill, our second home. So many friendships have started there. I could tell you all
the memories I have from Primary Children’s, I could go on and on for hours and
hours on how that hospital has made the darkest years of my family’s life just
that much better. I could tell you all the miracles that that hospital has
performed for me. But why would I right now, in this short paragraph, when my
whole life is possible because of the work Primary Children’s has been able to
do for me? It’s because of their staff that I am here, sitting on my couch. The
doctors we see at clinic have put more hours into making me healthy than I can
imagine. I just cannot even put into words how much thankfulness and awe I have
for what this hospital has done for me the last three years. I could not ask
for a better place to get taken care of. Thank you doctors, nurses, and
patients that I have grown close to because of Primary Children’s. I could not
have done it without you.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now these experiences aren’t always
good, they may include learning what it feels like to have a PICC line put in
with no sedation, or getting shots everyday for two weeks by your family members, but still, necessary nonetheless. <span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The experiences that come out of
having a heart transplant will be like no other experience any other person
could ever have. From holding my own heart, to meeting other heart kids,
speaking at Primary Children’s fundraisers, even seeing my new heart on the echocardiogram machine. There are so many things that are just simply
breathtaking that I get to do and be apart of now.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I had my cardiac arrest, my
heart stopped for 15 minutes. Many of you know what happened in that time
period, and if you don’t, click here <a href="http://www.abbyninja.blogspot.com/2012/05/happy-birthday-post-that-you-want-to-be.html" target="_blank">http://Abby's near death experience</a> That experience alone makes everything I have gone through and
everything I will go through for the rest of my life worth it. No matter what
happens throughout my life, I know that what I saw and what I heard that night in the hospital
was real. And that’s all that really matters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So for the most part I am a pretty average 15 year old girl. In fact, when my mom told me about her idea for this blog post I thought it was a really stupid idea because I'm just normal, but after nagging me for a month and a half I decided to do it. We have our ups and downs, but in the end if I had the choice to go back and change what happened on May 18th, I would not. Too many blessings have come out of this trial. </div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Michelle</span></u></b></div>
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For the most part, day-to-day life with Abby is very similar to any kid. She still has to take her rejection meds, and some others two times a day, exactly 12 hours apart. Abby is still on quite a few medications, but they're totally helping her. We've finally found a medication that helps with her migraines, so that's awesome! I spend lots of time making sure that she has all of her medications ordered on time and that they're ready for her to take each day. She could probably do this on her own, but I don't think she's quite ready for that. I deal with many prescriptions and 2 different pharmacies and they all need to be refilled at different times. It's time consuming, but just part of her life now. I'm impressed with Abby because she has never missed a dose and is rarely late. Which is good, because once I heard that if she stopped taking her meds, she would only survive for about 3-5 days. Not good. She will be taking the majority of these medications of the rest of her life.<br />
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As far as appointments go, if everything is looking good, and Abby is feeling good, she only has to go to clinic at Primary Children's every 3 months and she has a biopsy once a year to make sure that she's not in rejections and to look at her arteries. Not too bad, we can do that! She usually ends up seeing her pediatrician in between those times for different reasons though. Her next clinic is on August 3rd, right before we go back to school.</div>
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Abby only has a few restrictions. She's shouldn't swim in pools that aren't kept up very well and hot tubes are a big no! Lakes are questionable as well. She can eat most foods, but no grapefruit or pomegranate. We're pretty careful about restaurants we'll eat at, and buffets aren't' the best idea. She can travel wherever she wants, but she struggles with elevation. For some reason, probably because of her pulmonary hypertension, when we're in higher elevations she has a hard time catching her breath and it exhausts her, so we don't go up very often. She feels great at sea level, so trips to the beach are always a bonus (I love this too!!!) For the most part, she just a normal kid! School has been a little bit of a challenge for Abby. Last year, she did a lot of her classes online because she was missing so much school the year before because she got sick a lot. This year, she's going to try to go back to school full time. I'm so happy about this, I think she really missed the social life. That's so important especially now that she's going to be in high school. I'm praying so hard that things will work out for her this year so that she can stay in school with her friends! She's still pulling A's and B's, but it's harder for her now than it was before her transplant. It's probably harder now because she missed a lot of her 7th and 8th grade years, but after doing some neurological testing, we found that some parts of her brain were affected a little bit when she was having CPR for 15 minutes, as well as when she was on bypass. But, it's nothing too serious. She has some strategies now that help with her memory, learning, and focus. Abby works hard in school and is very determined to be successful. When she graduates from high school she's planning on going to college and eventually become a psychiatrist or counselor of some kind. But, who knows, she's still pretty young to make these decisions. Like I said, she's just a normal kid. Yes, she has a lot on her plate and lots of things to think about and worry about that most kids her age never even think about, but she's adapting and handling things very well. She is definitely amazing in every way. I look to her and her strength daily, she's very inspiring to everyone that knows her.</div>
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As her mom, I've learned to deal with a lot of the stress that comes with having a medically fragile child. I know that a heart transplant is not a fix, it's just changing one set of problems for another, but Abby is alive and thriving, and for that I'm so grateful. There are some facts about heart transplants that are always in the back of my mind.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Approximately 80 percent of heart transplant recipients survive the first two years post-transplant, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Long-term rates are generally lower, but are still encouraging. About 70 percent of patients reach the five year mark after a heart transplant and 50 percent live for 10 years or more with a donor heart. </span></span><span style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The average is 10 years, but we personally have a friend that has lived over 20 years with her first heart. We also know kids </span>that are already on their 2nd heart and it's been less than 5 years. Not knowing is hard. We just don't know what to expect. There's a good chance that Abby will need a new kidney someday as well as another heart, her medications are just too tough on them. But these are all things that we're not going to focus on. The best thing we can do and that we try to do is to live day-by-day and remember that every day is a gift. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 21px;">Some things are harder than others, like on Mother's Day when Abby said to me, "Probably some day, this day will be really hard because I can't have kids of my own." This is true, Abby can't have kids. Not only because the anti-rejection medications she's on can cause multiple birth defects, but also because she has a 50% chance of passing on her cardiomyopathy. This is a hard things for both Abby and me, but we'll worry about it when the time comes. Who knows how things will change before then. Another hard thing is that I also still like to have my kids close by and I often worry about getting the call that something has happened to one of them. I think that this is one reason it's been extra hard for me to have Brock in Florida on his mission. I worry, a lot, that I'm going to get a phone call that he's been in some kind of an accident there. I think that this is probably a common problem with anyone that has received a phone call similar to the one I did on May 18th, 2011. That worry is real and it's always there.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 21px;">Overall, I've learned to have faith that things will happen as they should. It doesn't do me a whole lot of good to worry or fret, because things are going to happen anyway. We have learned to expect to have problems along the way, that's what happens when you have a new heart. There are going to be many highs and many lows, we just have to take them as they come along and roll with them. This made me laugh while writing it because it's easy to say this now because we're on a high, things have been good and stable for a while now. Hopefully, I can remember this when one of the those lows hit too. We are grateful that Abby is doing so well right now, but we know not to expect it to always be this way, and we're good with that. That's a life we can handle. So we'll take advantage of these good days as much as we possibly can!!!</span></div>
Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-56923278762702543632014-06-03T13:41:00.001-07:002014-06-03T21:02:24.903-07:00Abby's 3rd annual biopsy and other Doman happeningsOur first couple weeks of summer vacation have definitely been eventful, never a dull moment at the Doman house! Let's start by talking about Abby's annual biopsy she had last Thursday. <br />
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It was a long day, to say the least. We checked in at 6:00 am and didn't finish until 4:30 that afternoon. Good thing we had Britt there to share in the fun! The 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait while Abby is in the cath lab is so stressful. I just sit there praying the pager doesn't go off early, but doesn't go off late either.<br />
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Luckily, it was exactly on time. When the pager went off, we walked down and met the doctor in an office by the cath lab and they showed us and discussed the video of Abby's beautiful coronary arteries! And they did look perfect, much better than my dad's which we were "lucky" enough to see only 2 days earlier (more on this later.) We also talked about the pressures in heart, which also were perfect. After that, I always seem to relax a little bit, but then the waiting begins. It's up to recovery for a 6 hour, lying flat and not moving recovery. For some reason Abby had a really hard time with the anesthesia this time. When we first got into recovery, she was having a hard time breathing and she felt really crummy. This lasted for 3 days. 3 days of aching, feeling exhausted, and overall feeling crappy. I don't know why it was so hard this time, but it wasn't a great day. Abby was grouchy too, and she's never grouchy. During her recovery, we met with the transplant team to go over her results as well. They weren't exactly what we wanted, but they could be worse too. It seems like everything with Abby is "borderline" right now. First, her kidney's aren't doing the greatest. This has been on and off all year, so it's finally gotten to the point where it's time to see a nephrologist. We've scheduled an appointment, here in St. George, for this Thursday. Abby had to have labs and an ultrasound today and then we'll see what they want to do from here. Abby is also in mild rejection. For those of you that know the scale, she's a C 2.5. This is a level that they sometimes treat, but not always. They've chosen not to treat it for now. They took 4 pieces of her heart, and only one of them showed any inflammation, so that's why they're not too worried. We just need to watch for any other signs rejection. Her blood counts were also all borderline being too low, especially her ANC, so this is just something we're going to watch. The last thing is that at her last clinic visit, they decided to take her off of one of her medications because she was having some uncomfortable side effects. This medication is used to lower her lipids and her cholesterol. Since she hasn't been taking it, her lipid count was way too high. Rather than putting her back on the medication, we're going to try to take of it by putting her on a strict diet first. Hopefully that will do the trick. Other than those things, everything looked great. After our 6 hours was up, we headed down to get an echo and an EKG, which both looked fabulous as well. Her heart and arteries did look good which is so important. Overall, we feel like things could be much worse, but they could be better too. We're hoping everything will take a turn for the better here very soon.</div>
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We've had lots of other things going on top of Abby's biopsy. Last Monday, Memorial Day, my dad had another heart attack. Thankfully, he called an ambulance. They took him into the cath lab the next day and he ended up getting a couple of stents put in. He's home, on lots of new medications, and recovering now. It doesn't seem very fair, he only had his bypass a year and a half ago. He was supposed to be good for 5 years, but I guess that would be too boring. It hasn't stopped him from kicking our butts at hearts on a regular basis. I am a little mad though, when he called to tell us he had called an ambulance, we were in the middle of my greatest bowling game ever and we had to leave in the middle of the game. I will probably never be able to top that amazing score either. We're just thankful that he's okay.</div>
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We've also been busy with Brock's graduation and getting him ready for his mission. It's different with Brock graduating. Britt didn't really like high school, she was so ready to move on, but Brock loved high school and so it made it a little sad. He's got such great friends that are all going in so many different directions. It's hard to even imagine my house with Brock and his friends there. It's going to be lonely.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUVsYad7LtI/U44EoInFWCI/AAAAAAAADCk/CoInYt3cE70/s1600/C48A1459.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUVsYad7LtI/U44EoInFWCI/AAAAAAAADCk/CoInYt3cE70/s1600/C48A1459.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brock with my parents</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QnZB7vwrPJg/U44FnDEvR-I/AAAAAAAADC0/7oeQC3uFI-8/s1600/buddies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QnZB7vwrPJg/U44FnDEvR-I/AAAAAAAADC0/7oeQC3uFI-8/s1600/buddies.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great group of boys that I'm going to miss so much!</td></tr>
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And finally, we've been getting Brock ready to leave on his mission to Orlando. This has all happened so fast. From the time Brock decided he wanted to go on a mission, until the day he's leaving is only about 8 weeks! He got his call so fast, then we only had 6 weeks to prepare for him to leave! Let's just say that there's a lot to get done in a very short period of time. It's probably better that way so that I don't have too much time to think about it. Brock goes to the temple on June 7th, his farewell is on Father's Day, June 15th at 9:00, and he leaves on June 18th. So fast. I'm so sad, but I'm so proud as well. Here's some of our favorite missionary pictures that my dad took last week.</div>
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He's looking so good and ready! It makes it easier on me to know that he's so excited to go. To say that my last 6 weeks have been crazy, is probably the understatement of the year, but I'm hanging in there. I think after Brock leaves on the 18th, I'll be ready for some extremely relaxing down time. But, for now, we'll just keep plugging away.</div>
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Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-3879022367293402014-04-16T12:17:00.002-07:002014-04-16T12:17:17.359-07:00So, what's going on with Abby?First of all, our trip to Hawaii during spring break was awesome of course! We love it there, the beach never gets old! It's always good to spend some time as a family, this is going to get harder and harder to do the next few years with Brock and Britt getting older. We were able to spend time with friends while we were there as well, in fact, both Brock and Britt went on dates with some friends from home! Mostly we just hung out having fun. One really great thing, Abby's legs and feet didn't swell up at all on the flight! I'm so grateful that we got that problem taken care of. A couple of really weird things happened with Abby while we were there were that: we did a really good job keeping sunscreen on her, she didn't even turn red at all, but the third day we were there, she broke out in little blisters all along her chin and her mouth. It was very painful. The other weird thing is that after the second day, she had a very strong sensitivity to sun, so much that just walking from the car to the beach in the direct sunlight would physically hurt her. It was so strange. She had never had anything like this before, not even when we went to Hawaii last June. It really stunk because for the rest of the trip she would either have to be in the shade, or in the water, or else she hurt, a lot. We still haven't figured that one out. For the most part, we loved our trip and can't wait to go back!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hanging out at Laie point. I love how happy we all are!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spending time at the Laie temple</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is one of the beaches right by our house</td></tr>
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<br />It was when we got home that Abby started feeling sick, and now, 4 weeks later, she still feels crappy. She's had a lot of GI issues, stomach cramping, throwing up, diarrhea as well as migraines and she's been exhausted, lots and lots of naps. The other problem she's having is that her arms and legs keep falling asleep, this would happen 3-5 times every day! The first couple of weeks we thought she just had a virus, and we were just waiting it out. Then things didn't change, so we talked to the transplant team and they suggested we see our pediatrician and have some labs done. So we did, and the lab results came back negative. We thought she had CMV again, and one of the lab results for CMV came back positive, but when we retested, it was negative. She continued to feel awful, for 4 weeks, some days worse than others, so that's when the transplant team decided they needed to see her to make sure that her heart was okay and to rule rejection and to figure out what's going on! We went up to Primary Children's on Monday. Thankfully, the echo and ekg looked perfect, so that ruled out any issues with her heart. Her blood pressure has been running a little high, so they're changing the dose on that, and they're taking her off one of her medications that after taking for a while can cause numbness in the arms and legs. Hopefully this will fix that problem. Because Abby has been having frequent migraines and headaches, we're scheduled to see a neurologist when we go back up the end of May for Abby's annual biopsy. Hopefully they'll be able to help with this. Right now we are still waiting for her lab results. I think it's her eosinophilic colitis again, she had this back in April a couple of years ago. Here's the link to that post 2 years ago:<a href="http://abbyninja.blogspot.com/2012/05/abbys-annual-biopsy-and-eosinophilc.html"> http://abbyninja.blogspot.com/2012/05/abbys-annual-biopsy-and-eosinophilc.html </a> They've also talked about her possibly having an autoimmune disorder, if that's the case, we'll deal with that too. We're almost to the point that we don't even care what it is, we just want to know so that we can help her start feeling better. Hopefully we'll hear later today and we can start a new plan!<div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOHmJxM0h14/U07Oj5d8hDI/AAAAAAAADBs/E94OIvx0TZE/s1600/murphy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IOHmJxM0h14/U07Oj5d8hDI/AAAAAAAADBs/E94OIvx0TZE/s1600/murphy2.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a>One good thing that has been going on at our house that has definitely made us happy is our new puppy Murphy. We new that our old shih tzu Rebel was sick and getting sicker and that he wasn't going to make it much longer, so I started looking for a new dog. Murphy is our new English Cream Golden Retriever and he is the perfect puppy. He is so stinking cute and hilarious. We miss Rebel, but we now have our little shih tzu Marli, and our new Golden, Murphy. Murphy is going to be big, we're thinking around 60 pounds. So far, he's the perfect dog, let's hope it stays that way.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The last exciting thing that is happening at our house is that Brock has decided to go on his mission before playing football at Weber State. His coaches told him that he should get his papers done and in as soon as possible so that he'll be back for spring ball in 2 years, so Brock and I sat down and filled out all of his papers and submitted them all last Saturday. I think we probably set a new record for fastest time ever! He thinks he could get his call as soon as next week and that he'll leave the first part of June. I have mixed emotions about all of this. Brock will be an excellent missionary, I've always known this, but I don't like to think about not seeing him for 2 years, that's too hard. With Britt being in nursing school starting in August and being gone all day, and Brock on his mission, I'm going to be lonely! I guess it's time, but it doesn't make it any easier. For some reason, Brock's thinking he's going to England, I'm thinking South America....but we'll probably both be wrong!</div>
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For right now, we just want Abby to start feeling better! Hopefully they'll find something today that is easy to fix and she can get back to feeling good right away. A month is a long time to feel sick and not to be able to go to school or anything. Lots happening, but summer is just around the corner!</div>
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Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-1284973629746726192014-02-10T19:14:00.002-08:002014-02-10T19:14:33.090-08:00Clinic Day!!! Clinic day today. We had to postpone it last week because somehow, even though I got my flu shot, I still ended up with h1n1. So after two weeks of being sick and missing school, I was finally feeling well enough to get Abby up there. I do have to say that I'm pretty impressed that Abby didn't catch the flu, we are feeling pretty good about that. As soon as I was diagnosed, Abby and I both started on Tamiflu and then I went and stayed at my parents for a week to keep Abby safe, I think it worked....so far, so good. Thank you to everyone that brought my kids dinner while I was staying at my parent's house, they were well taken care of! Even though it's been two weeks, I still don't have a voice, but I'm back to work anyway. Hopefully it will continue to get better.<br />
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Now for clinic day. When we first walked in, we were grabbed by a lady that wanted to know if we'd be interested in participating in a study they were doing on finding another genetic link to cardiomyopathy. Of course we said yes, we will always do anything that could potentially help determine the cause of cardiomyopathy. Brock was with us, which they loved because they wanted siblings of the carrier as well. So, all 3 of us had a lab draw today. Brock thought it was sweet because after they took our blood, they gave us each a $25 Visa gift card. Good day for Brock to come to clinic! Abby had her echo and then we talked to the transplant team. The good news is that her heart is as beautiful as ever, no problems whatsoever. The not so good news is that her kidneys are not functioning in the normal range, her creatinine is too high. This is the 3rd time this year that her level has been a too high, and because of that, Abby's going to have to start seeing a pediatric kidney doctor. We knew this eventually could be a problem, her anti-rejection meds are just so toxic and bad for the kidneys, but I didn't think we'd be dealing with it this soon. Hopefully, we can do some things now that will save her kidneys for as long as possible. We'll see what the doc says after our first visit. The other good news is that ever since Abby went off of her med, Amlodopine, about 6 weeks ago, she hasn't had any swelling in her feet and legs, not even once! I think we finally figured that problem out and it is taken care of now! Thank goodness, because that was not good. Abby's next clinic visit will be the end of May when we do her annual biopsy again, until then, she just needs to stay healthy, especially through March and our trip to Hawaii! Also, in May, Abby's going to have some neurological testing done. Ever since Abby's collapse, when she was not breathing or alive for 15 minutes, she's had some memory problems, and we're starting to see it more and more. We're going to try and find some things that we can do to help her, school can be frustrating for her sometimes. Dr. Molina told us today that this is a quite common problem with people that have suffered a cardiac arrest like Abby. Even though we can't "fix" the problem, we can discover what the best ways are for Abby to learn and store new information. It just might not be the same as the rest of us. Abby's excited for this, it should be helpful. Although clinic wasn't perfect, it was okay. We know better than to expect perfection anymore.<br />
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As for the other two Doman kids.....Britt has her nursing test next week and she has her nursing school application complete and ready to submit. Then it will be a waiting game. If she gets in her first attempt, it will be awesome. But, if she doesn't, that's alright too, she'll just have to decide what her next move is. She's definitely put the work in! And Brock, after going through the exciting, yet frustrating recruiting process, has signed to play football for Weber State next year. It's a little farther away than I wanted him to go, but he is so excited, and I feel like it's going to be a good thing for him. We spent some time yesterday with the coaches and looking around at the campus. The coaches that we did meet were great, I know they'll be good to Brock. I felt a lot more confident about things after talking to them. It was not an easy decision for Brock, but we both feel like he made the right choice. He's still debating whether or not he'll go on a mission this summer, but I think that right now he's leaning towards going to school for a while first. Hopefully, he won't be criticized for this choice. The decision isn't always as cut and dry and some people think, not every kid is the same. Brock will need support with whatever he chooses to do right now, and I have complete confidence in the choices he makes, he knows what he's doing. Anyone that knows Brock knows that he's got his head on straight and he's mature enough to do what's best at this time in his life. <br />
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Lots of fun and exciting things are going to be happening around here in the next few months, I need to get myself ready for some changes to take place. that's not always easy, I kind of like things how they are right now. Going through the past 2 years with Abby has made me appreciate the little, easy things and life as it is, I think it will be hard for me to give some of those things up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brock visiting the coaches and campus yesterday</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signing his letter of intent to play for Weber State</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Best friends forever! It will be sad to see them all go their different ways next year!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The shadows are bad, it looks like Britt has a disease, but the faces are cute!! I love these kids!</td></tr>
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-58088277088083705702013-12-31T09:29:00.001-08:002013-12-31T14:25:51.315-08:00Reflections and Predictions2013.....One thing I can say is that it was definitely easier than 2011 and 2012! Things settled down for us a little bit this last year and we were able to start finding our new "normal." That doesn't mean that we are normal in any way, we're definitely not, but we've found a place that can seem normal, for right now anyway. <br />
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<b><u>Things I learned in 2013:</u></b><br />
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Sometimes when you think you have a new boy puppy named Milo, you really have a new girl puppy named Marli.<br />
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There's nothing sweeter than seeing one of your kids succeed at something they've worked so hard at and care so much about. Watching Brock's reaction to winning the state championship was something I'll never forget. Pure joy.<br />
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Sometimes, when you've taken on too much, it's okay to say no or to give something up. I had to do this recently and it wasn't easy. I was feeling too overloaded and like I was drowning, something had to go. I backed out of something I was supposed to do. I felt guilty for a long time, but I know it needed to be done, it was the right choice. I'm okay with it now, I think that sometimes you need to say enough is enough.<br />
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People are weird. Okay, I already knew this, but I relearned it this past year. Some of the people that were the most involved and concerned with Abby during her transplant, are the same people that now never ask me about how she's doing, her name is rarely brought up; But some of the people that stayed in the background when things were crazy are now the ones that are the most concerned with her and continue to ask about her and how she's feeling. It's strange. This isn't true for everybody, just a few. I haven't been able to figure it out yet. I don't think it's because they don't care or don't want to know, but I'm not sure why. Like I said, people are weird.<br />
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Never count on anything. A month ago, we were pretty sure that Brock was going to be playing football on a scholarship at SUU next year. The coaches had even asked him if there was anyway he could graduate early and come up to play spring ball with them. But, a couple of weeks ago, 3 of the coaches, including the one that had been recruiting Brock, left SUU and went to Weber. Now things are up in the air again. We'll just have to wait and see how things play out. I think that signing day is the first week in February. It will be so nice to have things settled and not worry about it. We are lucky though, if nothing else works out, Brock can always play at Dixie State, they've been interested in him and in contact with him for a long time. I'm sure that things will work out just as they should.<br />
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You can't lose weight with just good intentions, dang it. I wanted to get back in shape and work hard, I wanted to really badly, but it didn't happen. I guess I have to act on those good intentions.<br />
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Abby and holidays don't mix. She was sick on Christmas this year too. For some reason, Abby is always sick on holidays. It breaks my heart, it really stinks.<br />
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I love it when my family is all home and together at the same time. I know these days are numbered, my kids are getting old and are going to be doing other things soon, but for now I'll just enjoy it as much as possible.<br />
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There's no better, more peaceful and relaxing place, then the beach in Hawaii. I love it there, it's heaven for me. I wish I could live there.<br />
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It's really hard not to properly be able to say thank you for a gift. Especially a gift that saved the life of your child. We hope and pray that someday, we'll be able to meet Abby's donor family to let them know how grateful for we are for the decision that they made back on July 12th, 2011. Without them deciding to donate their loved one's heart, Abby might not be with us today. I just want to thank them in person. Maybe it will happen this year.<br />
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Probably the most important thing that I learned in 2013 is that I can survive anything and come out okay. We had 2 really hard years, really hard and I'm still here and I'm doing well. It didn't beat me, in fact, I'm better for what we went through. I'm stronger than I thought.<br />
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<u><b>Shell's 2014 Predictions (I'm sure that some of them will be way off, but I'm going to try anyway):</b></u><br />
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Britt will apply to and get into nursing school at Dixie State. She'll be applying soon, keep your fingers crossed for her, she deserves it.<br />
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Brock will be playing football at SUU on a full-ride scholarship.<br />
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Abby will be a sophomore at Desert Hills and will pass the driving test and get her learner's permit in May. Scary, I know.<br />
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I will get in shape and lose weight. I'll get back on my bike and back in the pool. This is the year that I have time to take care of myself again.<br />
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Abby will have a hospital stay. I'm not being negative, I've just been feeling it. Hopefully, this is the one that I'm wrong about!<br />
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I'll still be in medical debt! Ha! I can predict this for a long time :)<br />
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We will have trials, I don't expect things to be easy, but we'll be okay next December 31st too.<br />
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There you go, my predictions. I actually am not a real fan of New Year's. It just means that the gym is going to be crowded for a couple weeks, but it is a good time to reflect and refocus. I know that most people look forward to adventure and excitement, but I'm looking forward to peace and normalcy, that's what I'm hoping that our new year brings. I've heard people say that for the new year they choose one word to focus on and to live by, a one-word resolution. My word for 2014 is contentment. "The acknowledgement and satisfaction of reaching capacity," "A source of satisfaction," "ease of mind." I want to be content with where we are today and where I am at the end of this year. I want to be content with the decisions that I'm making. I want to have a life full of contentment in 2014. What's your one-word resolution?<br />
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-49111449151357988052013-11-23T18:51:00.004-08:002013-11-23T18:51:54.745-08:00Crappy Halloween, clinic, changes in meds, and a championship!!! My last post was on October 14th, since then, we've had lots of ups and downs around here! I can't believe that I didn't even post about Abby's clinic either, but I've been busy just trying to keep up. <br />
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Things started out great in October, and then, in a typical Abby and October manner, she got sick, really sick. She was feeling awful. So crappy that we ended up calling the transplant team and getting her in to see our pediatrician. Abby wouldn't eat or drink anything and she was feeling so tired, she was sleeping all day long. She ended up going in to the hospital twice to get fluids and lab draws to find out what was wrong. The first time was a fiasco! The nurse tried 4 times to get blood and didn't have any luck, so she had to call up backup to help her. It wouldn't have been so bad, but Abby also had a serious migraine at the time. The one funny thing that happened, was that after about 45 minutes of the nurse poking and searching for blood and Abby crying, Britt called to talk to Abby to try to make her feel better. Abby was too upset to even talk to her, so Britt said to put her on speaker phone. Then she said, out loud so everyone in the room could hear her, including the nurse, "Abby, just because you have an idiot nurse, doesn't mean you have to be a butthole!" Yep, out loud for everyone to hear, it was awesome. I hurried and turned the phone off speakerphone. I got a good laugh out of it, Abby not so much, and I think that Britt was just embarrassed...and the nurse didn't know what to say! A few days later it was back for more fluids, this time we tried the ER and we had a lot more luck. The bad thing was that it was on Halloween....Abby's 3rd year in a row being in the hospital on Halloween. What a bummer! Thankfully the labs all came back negative and after almost 2 weeks Abby started feeling better. I guess it was just a nasty virus and she has been feeling better since then.</div>
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Right after Abby got feeling better, she had clinic. We went 10 weeks without a clinic visit! The transplant team told us that her heart, as well as everything else, looked perfect and that we wouldn't have to go back for another 3 months, that was good news! We made it into a fun weekend while we were there. We celebrated by going shopping and out to lunch with Abby's transplant friend Miabella and her mom. It's always fun to see our friends from up north! Then we got to watch Brock win his quarterfinal football game, and I was able to spend some much needed, quality time with some good friends as well. All in all it was a good weekend.</div>
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But, to keep us on our toes, about a week and a half ago, Abby started getting the swelling and redness that's usually in her legs and feet, in her arms too. One day, it was even in her cheeks. This is something that has been hard for Abby since transplant. Sometimes we think that it's something that she can just live with if necessary, but then it flares up and we think that we need to figure out what's causing it, this was one of those times. We heard from some other transplant recipients that it could possible be from one of her blood pressure medications, so I called the transplant team to see if we could make some changes to see if we could finally get to the bottom of this. They have always been extremely reluctant to make any changes to Abby's meds because every time they've made a change, it throws everything off. But after talking to the doctors, they came up with a plan, this was just last Wednesday. The plan was for one week, to lower her dose of Amlodopine, which regulates her blood pressure, but also helps with her pulmonary hypertension, that's why they didn't want to take her completely off of it. We have been tracking her blood pressure, morning and night during this time to make sure that it doesn't raise too much. They really didn't think that this would help her swelling, but it was worth a try. The funny thing is that since Wednesday, her swelling has actually been worse, not better! She had to leave school early on Thursday, and she had major problems yesterday after our drive up north too. I'm supposed to call again on Wednesday and let them know how things go. If we don't see an improvement, we're going to be referred to a vascular specialist to see if that's where the problem is. If they can't figure out, we're going to keep searching. Something is causing this, and for some reason it seems to be getting worse. I don't think it's something that Abby can just live with anymore. We've got to figure it out and do whatever is necessary to fix it. Thankfully her blood pressure has remained steady even going half off of one of her meds. I just feel good that we are finally trying to do something about it! I will keep you posted, but I have a feeling we'll be making a trip up north this month to see another group of doctors.</div>
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.......and now to the "up" part of our past month. We've spent the last 3 weeks traveling up north every weekend to watch Brock and the Thunder play football! They just kept winning, and last night they won the state championship! I've never seen Brock happier than he was last night after the game. He couldn't stop smiling and crying and yelling and hugging everyone, it was just too awesome. I know that many of you have already seen the pictures and read the Facebook posts, but I have to put it in our blog too for when I print up our blog book again. It's our family record of what's going on. The game last night came down to the last second. It was the perfect ending to a sweet high school career.</div>
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Brock had an incredible season this year, he played really well. Brock loves football, he loves to work hard, and he loves the game. He's been very blessed to play for Desert Hills, he's played at Rice Eccles each year since he was a sophomore, finally, this year, they took home the trophy. The senior class that he plays with is full of talent and good kids as well. The coaches are amazing. They've always been good to Brock both on and off the field. I've always been grateful for the coaches in Brock's life because his dad doesn't want to be a part of his life. It's good for him to have some positive role models to look up too. Brock is also lucky because he has the shape and size of a football player, but he also has the desire and motivation, he knows how to work. It isn't official yet, but there's a pretty good chance that he'll be playing football for SUU next year, we'll just have to see how things play out from here.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brock and Coach Franke, I love how happy they both look!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Britt.....nice earmuffs!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The captains heading out for the coin toss.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brock and some of the greatest kids ever! It will be hard to see all of these boys head their separate ways after this year, I hope they'll remain friends forever.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the crew at the semi-final game, it was much colder at the championship.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby and Britt with their Thunder gear and ready to go!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Game!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brock after the semi-final game, already looking forward to the state championship.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crazy, but proud mom at the game!!! I will truly miss watching Brock play high school football, I think I love it as much as he does!</td></tr>
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It's been quite the month at my house. I always think that things will settle down, but I'm starting to realize that they never will. I feel stretched pretty thin most of the time, but mostly I'm just so thankful for where we are today. I've been blessed with the greatest kids, they're amazing in every way, what more could I ask for?? I'm the luckiest and most blessed mom ever!<br /><br /><br /></div>
Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-63664761296622693252013-10-14T20:03:00.000-07:002013-10-14T20:03:05.454-07:00Doman update!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I can't believe it's almost 2 months since my last post! Either I'm slacking, or I just don't have too much say, or maybe a little of both. This will be a catch up post, I really don't have too many updates. But, to start with, here's some humor. We've been looking at some old pictures and slides and movies at my parent's house, and we came across a few old family favorites.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to wear this on my head after my mom put my pink, foam curlers in my hair.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty cute, I know. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zxT206FtqxI/Ulyh3fZB0_I/AAAAAAAAC58/KZWNZIrnQqM/s1600/vests.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zxT206FtqxI/Ulyh3fZB0_I/AAAAAAAAC58/KZWNZIrnQqM/s1600/vests.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love my brother's leather vests. We always joke that they were made out of old couches.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't know what my mom was thinking. Nice Polygamous dresses on me and Meri, and my brother's collars are so stylish.<br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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And now for the more current news.........<br />
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Britt-I don't have any pics of Britt, and not a whole lot of new stuff to talk about either. Nursing school applications start after this trimester. We're hoping and praying that she's accepted to Dixie State's nursing school. She's done everything that she can, so it should happen. Lots of school and night shifts as a CNA is what Britt is up to.<br />
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Brock-Football, football, and more football. The Thunder has lost their last 2 games, but will rebound this week against Snow Canyon on Wednesday. Brock has been playing really well and gets emails, texts, facebook messages, and postcards for schools all around the US. But, we'll see what scholarship offers he gets after the season ends. I can't believe it will all be over in about one month. They only have 2 more regular season games, and then it's playoff time.<br />
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We did have a big scare last month with Brock at the West High game. A player on West did a total cheap shot at Brock's leg during a play at the end of the game. Brock heard a loud popping noise and couldn't walk on his leg at all. He was carried off the field. When I saw that happening, I knew it was serious, Brock has never been hurt so much that he missed any playing time. After being checked out on the sidelines, we thought Brock had torn his ACL and would be missing the rest of the season. He was devastated. I was so impressed with the outpouring of love and support that we got, not only from the players on the team but the parents and our friends as well. I think that everyone was thinking, "are you kidding me? this cannot happen to the Doman's, they've had their share!" The boys on team were especially amazing. I could truly see the love they had for Brock, not only as a player, but as a brother. They were all crying right along with Brock, some of them even more than Brock was! No matter what happens the rest of this season, I know in my heart who the greatest team in Utah is. We went straight to the ER in Salt Lake and thankfully, my cousin was the doctor working that night. It was good to have him be there, he was in on the blessing that Brock was given along with some coaches and my dad too. The xray showed that nothing was broken, so that was good. We spent the rest of the weekend waiting for an MRI and believing that Brock's season was over, not only his season, but potentially his college scholarship as well. I know that I was in a very dark place. It kind of scared me that I was that close to being in a place I never want to be in again. I think I had given up on my life being easy and trouble free and I wasn't willing to try to climb out of that hole again, I've had to too many times this past 2 years. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, and thanks to some serious help from a friend, Brock had his MRI. It came back showing no tears in either his ACL or his MCL. What a relief!!! After visiting with his doctor the next day, we found out that he tore his gastrocnemius muscle. We were also told that it's a good thing that Brock is as strong as he is, or his knee would have been blown out for sure. The hit was cheap, very cheap. Brock missed about 3 weeks of football and is now feeling good again. The biggest problem with this injury is that that muscle has a tendency to tear again after it's been torn once, so I now sit on the sidelines just praying that it doesn't happen again or his season will be over. But, it's not going to hold him back from winning the state championship this year. I think it will be as sad for me as it is for Brock when it ends, I love watching him play football!<br />
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Abby-Abby has been doing pretty good since we made a few changes in her schedule. For the first month and a half of school Abby got sick.......a lot. Nothing major, just stomach bugs, then sore throats, then coughs, etc. etc. She finally came to me one day and told me that she was sick of feeling crappy and being sick too tired to do anything fun after school and that she wanted to try online school. At first, I was completely against it, school and friends is where the fun is! But, after lots of conversations (and arguments) we decided to compromise and it's been perfect. Abby does her core classes online, and her electives at the school. She only has to go to school every other day for just the afternoon. Abby has loved it! She is very self-motivated, so the online courses work well for her, and she still gets to have the social with her friends at school. Abby said that she has learned more this past month then she learned the past couple of years because she's had to miss so much school. For this year, we're sticking with it and then we'll re-evealuate again next year. This is Abby after her choir concert last week. It's always awesome to see Abby do anything.<br />
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We haven't gone to clinic since August 19th and aren't scheduled to go until November 6th. I can't believe we're going to make it almost 3 months. In fact, I've only missed 1 day of school all year! We're both nervous about making it through October because the past 2 years Abby has been in rejection in October both years. We're hoping it's not a curse and that we miss it this year! Abby does feel pretty good most of the time. She's been having some stomach issues lately, but after chatting with other transplant parent's tonight, it seems like the majority of these kids are having issues with one of the anti-rejection med levels being too high for some reason. I might request a blood draw just to make sure that all of her levels are where they're supposed to be. We don't need any shockers at clinic in November.<br />
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Me-I've been good. The hardest thing I'm dealing with is trying to stay on top of medical bills, they're never ending. My insurance deductibles just started over in August too, so I'm right back where I started plus what I didn't pay off last year. I sometimes feel like I will always be in medical debt, in fact, I know I will be. I just got Brock's new MRI bill today and I still haven't paid off his surgery and MRI's from last year! ughhhhh, it's never ending, but I can deal with it. I'm going to be selling my book at the Dicken's Festival down here in St. George in November and hopefully that will help. OTher than that, things are good. School is hard, but fun. I love teaching, it's just what I do. It's been nice to be able just focus on the regular for a while.<br />
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I saw this on Facebook today and I like it. If you ever start thinking that I'm crazy or find yourself asking, "What is wrong with Michelle???" just remember this saying. And someday you might find me acting like this again, it's not that far off, some of you have seen it already (I'm the one on the bed in the glasses and bandana, singing Guns and Roses, Sweet Child O' Mine......I remember it so well!)<br />
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-20974909138583302622013-08-26T20:14:00.003-07:002013-08-26T20:15:10.226-07:00Lots to talk about!I know, I know, it's been a very long time and a lot has happened. Thankfully, none of it has been medical, Abby had a very healthy summer; In fact, she didn't get sick once! I'm just going to update on a few things that have happened since my last post.<br />
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I talked in our last post about our new puppy "Milo." Later that week, when we took Milo to the vet for the first time, we had a great surprise! We found out that we didn't have a boy puppy, we had a girl puppy. You'd think it would be obvious, but really, we were told it was a boy and we never checked. Why would we? The dogs legs were only about an inch long so we just couldn't see it, we would have had to intentionally check it out, and we just never did. Anyway, Abby and I had a good laugh over that one! We now own a girl puppy and her name is Marli. She's probably the funniest puppy I've ever seen, great personality. She's the cutest puppy too! I think she's already doubled in size since when we first got her. Rebel still thinks she's annoying, but she'll grow up eventually.<br />
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One fun thing that Abby got to do this summer was that she got to go to our church's girl's camp. This was the first year that Abby's really been able to go. Obviously 2 summers ago she couln't go, and last summer she only was able to make it for one day. So, she was pretty excited to go this year. I'm also in the young women's so I got to go too. We had a blast! It was fun to be able to see Abby do one of those things that most girls probably take for granted. This was our group and what a great group it was! We spent the days hanging out and playing games and the the nights were spent laughing by the fire! We can't wait for next year.<br />
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The week before we went back to school, my dad decided that he wanted to take us on a trip to SanFrancisco. Unfortunately, Britt and Brock couldn't go because of work and football, so my mom and dad, me, Abby and my niece Mina, spent 5 days hanging out and school shopping in San Fran. We had a great time. The girls loved riding the cable cars everywhere and trying on every article of clothing in the stores. We ate delicious food, spent time at the Wharf and Pier 39, and the girls got completely spoiled!!!! It was the perfect get-away to end the summer. The only problem was that we walked so much that by the time we got back to the hotel, Abby's ankles were swollen bigger than her thighs. But, she would get up the next day and be ready to go again. Thanks dad!<br />
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After our trip, it was back to school! School started on Wednesday, the 14th, and on the next Monday, Abby had clinic, so we had to miss the 4th day of school. But, it actually ended up being perfect timing. My sweet Grandma Lambert passed away that same week and her funeral was on the Saturday before clinic, which was perfect for us because we were already going to be in Salt Lake. Her funeral was so perfect. All of my cousins and their families were there. I can't remember the last time we were all together. It was fun to catch up with all of them. During the funeral each one of the grandkids stood up and told a short memory of my grandma. It was so interesting to hear each of the things that stood out to us......It ranged from her obsession with Aloe Vera, to being a Ute fan, to stories about the cabin in Midway, to just the times we were able to sit and chat with her. My favorite part of her funeral was when the grandkids and great grandkids all stood up and sang the closing song,"Families can be together Forever." I know my grandma loved seeing that, it must have made her proud. Hopefully, it won't take a funeral to get us all together again.<br />
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Abby and I stayed in salt Lake all weekend, but Brock and Britt had to go home after the funeral. Britt was starting school again and Brock couldn't miss football. Clinic for Abby couldn't have gone any better. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING looked perfect! Her kidney function looks great, her heart is perfect, even her med levels were right on. Absolutely no problems. We don't have to go back for 3 months! The longest stretch ever. We also delivered another letter for Abby's donor family to our social worker. Maybe now, they'll be ready to make contact. We're not going to push it too hard, when they're ready, we'll be ready. We all feel like if it's supposed to happen, it will. We will continue to send them occasional cards and letters thanking them and letting them know of Abby's continued health, but we know that they'll contact us when the time is right.<br />
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Later that night, Abby was lucky enough to be able to speak at the Primary Children's Medical Center Foundation golf fundraiser at Jeremy Ranch. What a great opportunity for Abby! We thought that there would be other speakers there too, but when we got to the dinner we saw that Abby was the featured guest! We had written her talk together the day before. She was supposed to tell her story and talk about all of the things that she's been able to do since her transplant. There were about 60 + people there, most of the them were men. Most of them had tears in their eyes as Abby talked about what happened to her and how thankful she was for her donor family's decision to donate their loved one's organs. When she was done talking, they all stood up and gave her a standing ovation, it was awesome. I was extremely proud of Abby! She was confident, yet humble, and so sincere. I'm so grateful she was able to do this and we both hope she has even more opportunities to share her story.<br />
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To be honest with you, I've had probably the busiest start to any school year that I ever remember. In the last 2 weeks I've helped both Abby and Brock write talks for church, helped Abby write her fundraiser talk, taught 2 young women's lessons, given a short talk at my grandma's funeral, written a letter to Abby's donor family (this is one of the hardest things to do!!), had back to school night, and started back to school. I'm officially beat up already. I decided that it got so busy so fast that when things slow down again, it will seem easy. Even though it's so much busier than our summer was!<br />
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To update what Britt and Brock are doing: Britt just started her 2nd year at Dixie State. She'll be applying for nursing school after this semester. We're hoping she gets into the nursing school at Dixie State, but this won't be easy. She's been working almost full time as a CNA at the Cliff View care center. I'm so thankful every day that she worked so hard in school and got a scholarship. We haven't had to pay a penny for her schooling yet, and we shouldn't have to for her first 4 years. I love it when hard work pays off!<br />
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Brock is a senior this year. They had their first football game last Friday and won 12-0. Brock played great. He's going to be fun to watch this year. I think the team is capable of winning the state championship this year, how sweet would that be for his senior year? For our friends up north, they'll be playing at West High on September 6th at 7:00 if you want to come watch. He won't play up there again until the state games in November. We're still not sure where he'll be going to school, we'll just have to see how he plays this season. Once again, his hard work should pay off when it comes time to go to college.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Game Night. Desert Hills 12, Stansbury 0</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite part of the game....Brock is #77!</td></tr>
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Although things are busy, they are good. We'll get back in the swing of things again here very fast. We're hoping and praying for a school year full of good health for everyone in the family and maybe even a little bit of peace and down time :)Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-78110015902164090222013-07-07T19:17:00.000-07:002013-07-07T19:17:09.768-07:00Milo and Derek**Notice the link on the right side of the blog now that you can click on to buy "Abby's Miracle." Thanks for the help Britt, and if you still need a copy of the book, you can buy it on the link or email me and I'll get it to you: domans4@yahoo.com.<br />
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I can't believe summer is halfway over already! The first 5 weeks was the craziest for us. Not only did we go to Hawaii for a week, but we always made 4 trips to Salt Lake, that's right, 4 trips in 4 weeks! But, as far as I know, we won't be going up again until August. Coming home from Hawaii was extremely depressing, I had no worries there, it was perfect; But, life goes on and we've had a couple of exciting things happen since we got home.<br />
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First, we've had two little Shih Tzu dogs for about 4 years. They were twins and looked almost exactly the same. Well, one of them, Gus, was having some skin problems that the vet was having a hard time figuring out. We had tried many things, even Prednisone, but we couldn't determine the cause or the cure. It was making Gus miserable, he was scratching all the time and was sick too. I finally decided that we weren't being good owners if we continued to make him suffer like he was. It was not easy, but I took him to the vet to be put to sleep. I hated it, Gus was my buddy, but it needed to happen.<br />
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Our other dog, Rebel, followed Gus everywhere and we were afraid he was going to be lonely, so we decided to get him a new friend. We got another little, 6-week-old Shih Tzu puppy, and after a lot of arguing and debating, we decided to name him Milo (or should I say that Abby decided to name him Milo.) Brock's top choice was Zeus, and when you see the puppy, you'll understand why that wouldn't work, and Britt wanted to name him Kevin, I don't think we even need an explanation about why we didn't choose that name. Nobody really cared what I wanted to name him, so Milo was the name. He's adorable. I don't know if I've ever seen a cuter puppy. He's Abby's dog and she just can't get enough of him, actually, none of us can. He's a lot of work though, but I think we can handle it. We sure miss Gus, but we love our new Milo.<br />
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He's actually pretty smart too. He's now only 7 weeks old and he's already using our doggie door. Our goal is to have him completely house trained by the time we go back to school in August. Milo mostly just annoys Rebel and tries to bite his tail, but I bet they'll be friends when he gets a little older.<br />
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Last week I also got an email from the foundation director at Primary Children's. We had been in contact the past few weeks because they had asked if Abby would be willing to be a speaker at their big golf fundraiser coming up in August, which she is going to do. But, this time they wanted to invite her to the new music therapy room ribbon cutting at Primary Children's. Of course that meant another 600 miles of driving, but Abby really wanted to go.....and good thing we did! As we were standing out in the hall waiting to go into the ceremony, Abby and Britt's biggest, most famous heartthrob walked by. It was so funny, Abby's cheeks turned bright red and she couldn't even talk. I couldn't figure out who he was, but finally Abby whispered, "It's Derek!!! Derek from Dancing With the Stars!" How could I not know that????? As soon as he walked by again, and after Abby wiped the drool from her chin, we were able to get a picture, and Abby was set for the day! When we sent the picture to Britt, she was so mad that she didn't come with us! She was so jealous, I think she maybe even shed a tear or two :)<br />
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When we got home, I had to make the picture memorable, so thanks to Costco, Abby now has a poster of her and Derek hanging in her room.<br />
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The rest of the day at Primary Children's was also fun and we were able to spend the day with some of heart friends too. Abby and the other kids had a front row seat to listen to both Linkin Park and the Stone Temple Pilots perform some of their songs. We were able to tour the new Forever Young zone and the new music therapy room too, they are both amazing. Abby actually said that she'll be excited to spend some time in there next time she's admitted, which is hopefully never!!! It was a good day and I think it was even worth the drive. Here's a link to the story that was on KUTV: <a href="http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_5626.shtml">http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_5626.shtml</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linkin Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stone Temple Pilots</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-87NgimbGlBo/UdoagFzXRpI/AAAAAAAAC2c/iw9fpj_8fe8/s1600/IMG_1511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-87NgimbGlBo/UdoagFzXRpI/AAAAAAAAC2c/iw9fpj_8fe8/s320/IMG_1511.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matthew Sperry, a heart transplant friend, cutting the ribbon!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby and Steve Young</td></tr>
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<br />Last thing....This Friday, the 12th, is Abby's 2-year heart anniversary! We are going to do the same thing that we did last year and make in the 2nd annual "Pay if Forward for Abby" Day! If you're on Facebook, go to the page and see what we did last year. Or, you can click this link and see what we did last year: <a href="http://www.abbyninja.blogspot.com/2012/06/pay-it-forward-for-abby.html">http://www.abbyninja.blogspot.com/2012/06/pay-it-forward-for-abby.html</a><br />
To honor Abby's donor family and to show how thankful we are for her new heart, we ask everyone to do something for someone else on July 12th, Pay it Forward for Abby!<br />
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-39393729641965332802013-06-21T15:33:00.001-07:002013-06-21T15:33:35.616-07:00Abby's 2-year biopsy.......We couldn't be more grateful!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We are so grateful! Abby's annual biopsy was perfect. We decided to do a picture blog to show the events of the day. <br />
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Check in was at 7:30, we loved this because usually we are first case and check in is at 6:00. But, even thought I didn't have to, I woke up early anyway, I was a little nervous. Abby was nervous too, I've never seen her as grouchy as she was on Wednesday night.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wide awake and driving to Primary Children's.<br /><br /><br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check in at the surgery desk. There are always so many kids in the waiting room that we wait in the hall.<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby sporting her hospital digs, looking hot!<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We always have to wait an hour and a half before they take Abby to the cath lab, so after they take her weight and height and take her vitals, she always asks for warm blankets and then falls asleep while we're waiting.<br /><br /><br /><br /></td></tr>
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The doctor that's performing the biopsy usually walks upstairs to our waiting room and talks to us before walking us down to the cath lab. We thought it was going to be Dr. Gray today, but we were surprised when Dr. Martin walked in instead. Abby had never had Dr. Martin before, but we loved her from the start! Right when she came into Abby's room, we loved her! She knew everything about Abby and knew exactly what to say to ease our nerves a little bit. We walked down to the cath lab together, and as soon as Abby walked in, all of the cath nurses were so excited to see her! They love Abby down there, they've really gotten to know us and we always spend a few minutes chatting with them before I have to give Abby her kiss and hug and leave her (this is the worst part of the entire process! I hate it). Abby always get to choose what flavor of gas to have as she's going to sleep, but today they chose pineapple for her to remind her of our trip to Hawaii! Hopefully she was thinking about the beach as she was drifting off.</div>
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I walked down to the waiting room, and was so thankful to see my heart mom friend Shauntelle waiting for me! Even though I told her not to come because she already spends so much time at that hospital, she came anyway, and I was grateful. Abby's biopsy was supposed to take 90 minutes, and that's a long time to sit alone worrying. Shauntelle helped make the time pass so much more quickly. We definitely didn't run out of things to talk about! No only that, but she also brought the much needed chocolate and diet coke. Thanks for being there Shauntelle, that meant a lot to me! Have I ever said how much I love my heart mom friends??? They are the greatest!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My hero for the day!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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When the pager went off saying that Abby was done, was when I really got nervous. As soon as I hear the pager, I have to walk down to the cath lab to meet the doctor to go over what they found. Dr. Martin sat down with me and showed me the pictures and videos of Abby's heart and how amazing her coronary arteries look! There is absolutely no narrowing, they are perfect. Abby's heart pressures were all the same as her last cath too, this was a huge relief! I loved how Dr. Marin took the time to really show me and explain everything, she's really good. She said the entire cath/biopsy went perfectly, no problems. Seeing Abby's heart looking so strong is always an amazing thing. I so wish that I we knew Abby's donor family so that we could share the good news. Maybe someday.</div>
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The next thing I had to do was to walk upstairs to the waiting room and wait until Abby had waken up enough for me to come back. At the top of the stairs I ran into one of our heart transplant heroes, but I forgot to take a picture, duh! Laura Hofheins received her transplant over 20 years ago and she's still going strong! I loved that I saw her and got to talk to her! She met me because she wanted to buy a book. Thank you Laura! Seeing Laura always gives me so much hope, she's an inspiration to us. Then I ran into another one of my biggest heroes, Dr. Kaza, Abby's transplant surgeon. We love Dr. Kaza, he's one of the greatest men that I've ever met. We've spent a lot of time with Dr. Kaza talking about many things, and he's definitely a person that I look up to. Not only is he brilliant, but he's also very spiritual and so completely caring. From the very beginning he's had a soft spot in his heart for Abby, he always asks the transplant team how she's doing and he makes it a point to see us whenever we are there. We appreciate this man so much, he is incredible. A few weeks ago, I sent him a copy of "Abby's Miracle," and he was so complimentary and so thankful for it. I could tell that he really did read it, he'll always be a hero to us. My next step was the waiting room. Because of all the time we've spent there the past 2 years, I've become friends with ladies at the desk. When I walked in, they were so excited to see me because I hadn't seen them in such a long time. I had brought one of my books to give them, and as soon as they saw it and read the back cover, they were in tears. They insisted on buying it and wouldn't accept it as a gift. It's always touching to see how many people truly know Abby's story and care about her!</div>
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I finally got to go down and see Abby in the PACU. Then they told us that she would have to be there, laying flat for 6 hours!! That's a long time, we were expecting only 4 hours. She was extremely drowsy when I saw her, but she said she was feeling good. She got a big smile on her face when I told her the initial results of her cath, and an even bigger smile when I told her that I had seen Dr. Kaza and he was asking how she was. Then the waiting began. I actually got Abby to give a thumbs up even though she was so incredibly tired!</div>
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We were excited because we got spend the next 6 hours in our own private room where it was quiet. During her last annual biopsy we didn't get our room and we spent the day listening to a baby right next door crying. It was awful. This was like heaven. Abby stayed awake on and off for the 6 hours and I fed her lots of slushies. I set up my own little office and we had many visitors that knew we were there and wanted to stop in and see us and to buy a book. Thank you to everyone that stopped by and for buying "Abby's Miracle." Every book I sell helps me to try to get caught up on some of Abby's medical bills. The time actually went really fast.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When she could sit up a little bit, she ordered some food from the cafeteria. I had to go downstairs and get one of their amazing sandwiches for me too!</td></tr>
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I love this picture because even though Abby is sound asleep, she still has her phone in her hands! Typical teenager. I'm glad that Abby slept a lot, it made the time go faster for her too. While we were waiting, the transplant team came up to to talk to us about her lab results. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, looked amazing! Her blood counts are up, her kidney function is good, she's not anemic anymore and her BNP, which is a measure of heart failure was only 29. The lower the score, the better. BNP levels below 100 indicate there is no heart failure, and Abby's was all the way down to 29. SWEET! The transplant team was thrilled with everything. I talked to them about possibly taking Abby off a few of her meds, she's still on about 9 prescriptions, but we decided that because everything is where it needs to be, were not going to mess with anything right now. It was good for us to just sit and chat with the transplant team for a while. They're still trying to figure out if Britt and Brock need to have echoes done this year, or if they can wait for 5 years. They're going to do some research and let me know next week. After the transplant team left, Abby had to have an EKG, this was just another part of the annual tests that needed to be run.</div>
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Then, finally, it was almost 4:30 and time to go down to clinic to for an echo and a chest x-ray. Abby's echo was done by a lady that had a heart transplant when she was younger. It had been 22 years since her first transplant, and 13 since her second. It was fun for Abby to talk to her and ask her questions while she was getting her echo. She was even asking why she decided to become an echo tech and what was involved. I think Abby loves to talk to other recipients, she always has questions. </div>
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Also while she was getting her echo, the transplant team and Dr. Tani came in to tell us that they had already gotten back the biopsy results and that it was "squeaky clean," meaning that it couldn't look better! Best news of the day for sure! Finally, Abby's appointment was over!! But, we still had to make a couple of stops before we were ready to leave. Our first visit was with a family that I had spent a lot of time messaging on Facebook and texting, but that we had never been able to meet. Sara is another transplant friend. She didn't receive her transplant too long ago and was still living away from home and family and trying to recover from her transplant. It was fun to finally be able to meet Sara and her mom and to spend some time just sitting and chatting together. They were so much fun to talk to, it was so comfortable and it felt like we had known each other for a really long time, even though we had just met. We'll definitely keep in touch with them, it's good for Abby to have transplant friends. that she can keep in touch with, and it's good for me to have other moms to talk to as well. It's reassuring to talk to someone that knows what I'm going through, it makes me feel more confident in how I'm handling things and it makes me feel like less of an oddball!</div>
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Our last stop was up to the 3rd floor to visit with some of our nurse friends and to meet a little 2-year-old that is patiently waiting for his heart right now. Christopher hasn't been listed for too long, but we're hoping that his heart comes fast! Thank you Holly for buying a book, I hope that by reading our experience, it will make your next few months a little more peaceful! I know this isn't a great picture, Abby will probably kill me when she sees it, but it's the only one I got.</div>
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It was now 6:30 and Abby and I were completely beat. I felt so emotionally drained and Abby was physically drained. Her leg wound was sore and we needed some dinner and to go get some rest. Thankfully, we didn't have to drive all the way back to St. George. We stayed with my brother in Lehi for the night and left to come home this morning. I am so lucky that my brothers both live up north, we'd be in trouble if we didn't have someone to stay with up there every time we have to go. What a day! What a long day, but what a good day, it was perfect!!!</div>
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While I was driving home this morning, and Abby was sleeping, I had some time to reflect on things. I'm scared to share this out loud, but finally, after 2 years, I feel like things are really going to be okay for a while. Every time I've said that before something has happened, but I don't think it's going to this time, I think it's our time to just "be" for a while. I don't know how long, and I know that something will come up again at some point, that's just how it is when you're living with a child that has a new heart, but for now I'm going to let my guard down a little bit and just relax. Unless something comes up, Abby doesn't have to go back to clinic until September! That's a long time. I also felt so incredibly grateful for so many things. We are so lucky to have the transplant team that we do, they care so much about Abby and truly love her, we couldn't ask for better care anywhere in that hospital. I'm also so grateful for all of you. We had so many people send messages and texts and Facebook posts asking about Abby and letting us know that they were thinking about her and praying for her. It's very humbling to have that happening on your behalf. Thank you, we could feel your prayers. I'm still so in awe about how our past 2 years have played out. Everything has happened just how it was supposed to happen. People have been put in our lives at the exact time we've needed them to be. It's just been perfectly orchestrated. I'm grateful I've had this experience because now I have a story to tell that can hopefully inspire other people and strengthen their faith too. I can finally, honestly say that I am grateful for the events of the past 2 years.</div>
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July 12, Abby's second heart anniversary, is coming up fast. It will be time for the 2nd annual Pay It Forward for Abby Day!!! Think back to what you did last year, and start thinking about what more you can do for someone else on July 12th this year!!! You've got about 3 weeks to figure it out. Remember that we want to hear about it again too......post it on our Pay it Forward for Abby Facebook page, email it to us (domans4@yahoo.com), text it to us, whatever. But be sure you do something for someone else on July 12th to show your support and to Pay It Forward for Abby!!!</div>
Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-52214685316820758652013-06-18T09:45:00.005-07:002013-06-18T09:45:52.479-07:00Abby's annual biopsy is now this Thursday!!!After talking to the transplant team yesterday, we decided to move Abby's annual biopsy up to this Thursday instead of the 28th. The past few days Abby has been showing some very subtle signs of rejection. My gut feeling is that everything is okay, but it's always good to make sure. I've had some people ask me about the procedure, so here's a quick rundown. Since it's her annual biopsy, this procedure will be slightly different and more intense than most of the biopsies Abby has had. Usually they go through her neck, but not for her annual one. Abby will be put under anesthesia in the cath lab. They'll then insert a small catheter through a blood vessel in her groin and advance it up through the aorta and into the heart. Through this catheter they will measure the pressures in her heart and inject dye through the arteries to determine if Abby is showing any signs of coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease is very common in transplanted hearts and is one of the main reasons that transplant patients need to receive a second transplant. They will also take a little piece of Abby's heart tissue to test for rejection. During the cath they'll do a blood draw to test all of her med levels, kidney function, blood counts, etc. If I remember right, the procedure takes about an hour and a half, but recovery is longer. Abby will have to recover in the pacu for 3-4 hours. She will have to lay still and flat the entire time. After recovery, we will head to clinic for an echo and to talk about what they find. For those of you that are familiar with Primary Children's, it will be Dr. Gray will be doing the procedure. It seems like we haven't seen Dr. Gray for a long time, but we've always liked him in the past. We will know most of the results before we leave the hospital on Thursday, but sometimes the biopsy results take a little longer. It will be a long day for sure. <br />
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I think that both Abby and I are a little nervous, mostly because she hasn't had a biopsy for such a long time, her last one was in October and she was in rejection at that time. Plus, it's always risky and scary when anesthesia is involved. If everything looks perfect, which it will, Abby won't have to have another biopsy for a whole year, unless something comes up before then. This is just one of the many things that comes with having a heart transplant. The average transplanted heart only lasts 10-15 years. I'm not sure what the statistics are about how many people end up needing a second heart, but I'm sure it's high. Recently I've become a member of a Facebook group called Heart Transplant Survivors. There are many members of this group that have had their hearts for over 20 years, it makes me very hopeful. There are definitely lots of ups and downs along the way, no heart recipient ever denies that, but they can practically live a normal life. I even know of a man that's had his new heart for almost 15 years and is participating in an Ironman triathlon next month in Idaho. How cool is that? Extremely inspiring, it's always good to hear stories like that. So, Abby will do great during her biopsy and the results will be perfect, and then it will be back to living her life. Things will be okay.<br />
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Since we are headed to Salt Lake a week earlier than planned, we won't be doing a book signing on the 28th. Instead, we will be at Lone Peak Park in Sandy, 10140 South 700 East, tomorrow night (Wednesday) from 7:00-8:00 pm. We would love to see you there! The book is $16. I will also bring some books with me to Primary Children's on Thursday for those of you that will be at the hospital that day. If you can't make the book signing tomorrow, but are interested in getting a book, just email or Facebook me, we will meet up somehow! My email is domans4@yahoo.com<br />
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Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for Abby this Thursday. We can't wait until it's over. I will post the results when I hear. If you have a Team Doman shirt or wristband, Thursday will be the perfect day to wear them! Thanks for sticking with us. Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-35187231424465127142013-06-13T18:44:00.005-07:002013-06-13T20:59:28.343-07:00Hawaii, our favorite place!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hawaii, the greatest place in the world. A little over 2 years ago we had a family trip planned, we were all going to go to Hawaii, both of my brothers and their families, my sister and her family, us and my mom and dad. Our flights were booked and our house was ready. We had been planning on it and looking forward to it since Christmas. Then, Abby collapsed and school and our world changed. Hawaii was no longer an option for us because were were waiting for her new heart. Everyone else in the family went, except Abby, my dad, and I. It was so hard. I missed my kids so much. But one of our greatest miracles happened the night Brittany and Brock got back to Salt Lake. They got to our "blue house" at 6:00 pm on July 11th, we got the call for Abby's heart only 9 hours later. I'm so grateful we were all together the day Abby got her heart.<br />
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Other than the flight over, Hawaii this year was perfect. Abby's feet got so swollen on the plane about halfway through the flight to Hawaii, that she couldn't walk and was just bawling. She was miserable. It took a few days to get them back to their normal size again. After talking to the transplant team, for the flight home, we made an adjustment to one of her medications, wrapped her feet and legs in Ace bandages, and made her move around a lot the entire flight and she did much better. The rest of our trip was exactly what we wanted and needed. We spent every day at beach. We did lots of boogie boarding, body surfing, and just playing in the waves. Boogie boarding never gets old. We spent lots of time at Hukilau beach, which is one of our favorite places. There was a house for sale right on our beach that I decided I wanted to buy (I am really loaded with extra cash right now:)) So, I called on it. It's 5 bathrooms and 6 bedrooms, and only 3.2 million dollars. So, if there's anyone out there that has an extra 3.19 million dollars and wants to go in on a house with me, just let me know!<br />
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I loved it when I found these pictures when I got home, it shows how much we love Hukilau Beach and it's fun to see how much my kids have changed the past 10 years. The house we stayed in this year was right on the beach, we could walk out back door and the beach was right there, it was so perfect. This is what our backyard looked like for the week. You know when you're doing relaxation techniques and they tell you to imagine your peaceful place??? This is mine and always has been. There's just something about me and beach and the ocean, we belong together. <br />
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It was so hard to come home after only 1 week. I told my kids that when I go through my mid-life crisis ( If I ever really get the chance), I might become a beach bum. We really needed the time there. I felt more relaxed and peaceful then I have in a long time, probably about 2 years, and I think my kids did too. Thank you Mom and Dad for the trip, we loved every second of it.<br />
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We were home for a couple of days, and then I had to take Brock up north. He had a visit with the BYU football coaching staff and a one-day camp at Weber State. For anyone that doesn't know us, we are huge Utah fans and always have been. Before we moved to St. George, we went to every football and basketball game every year since I was a kid. Brock is the biggest fan too, he never misses a football game, so, going to BYU wasn't natural for us. I could tell it was weird for Brock too, especially when he was walking up the stairs of the student-athlete building with all of the BYU paraphernalia in it, and looked down at me like he was gagging! It was funny. The meeting went well though, Brock gave them film and met all of the coaches. I guess is they gave him a scholarship I would let him go there, but only for a good scholarship :) It's been fun having him meet with lots of different coaches and having them show some interest in him. They wish he was taller, I guess 6'3" isn't big enough, but we'll see what happens. I'm so grateful he's got such great coaches that are helping him through this process because I don't have a clue what we're supposed to be doing. Next week he goes to a Utah State camp, and the next is SUU. I would be happy having him stay really close next year, like Dixie State, but I'm pretty sure Brock has his sights set a little higher. It will be fun to see what he decides to do this next year, he'll have a lot of big choices to make. A lot will depend on what kind of scholarship he's offered and to what school, and then he'll have to think about going on a mission as well. For now, we'll just have to hope for a fun and injury free senior season! Even if he doesn't get a scholarship anywhere, I still be just as proud of Brock, he's always been a great kid.<br />
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For the rest of us, we get to try to chill for the next 2 weeks, but then it's time for Abby's annual biopsy. It's on June 28th, and honestly, I don't even want to do it. I'm kind of to a place now that I'd rather not know if something is wrong. But, we'll do it, because we should and we have to. I know we need to do it, but it's not fun. I'm already nervous, and I know that the anxiety will continue for the next 2 weeks, but hopefully everything will look and good and we can just relax for the rest of our summer.<br />
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Here's more Hawaii pictures, a trip that I never want to forget.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby and Leah trying to catch crabs!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shave Ice and ice cream at Angel's. The shave ice has ice cream in the bottom, cream poured over the top, and whipped cream on top of that. YUMMY!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We played hearts almost every night, Brock seemed to be the biggest loser!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this place!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My hair is always bad in humidity, but I look so happy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our back patio.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No even ask for coconuts!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No matter what how much sunscreen we used, we still got sunburned.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We bought Abby this shirt from a place called Lei Lei's at Turtle Bay because our last night she ordered the seafood scampi and it was huge, a plate filled with pasta, shrimp and scallops. Somehow, Abby ate the whole thing, every last bite. We were all in shock, I think the waitress was too. I've never seen Abby do that before, ever!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks mom and dad, best trip ever!</td></tr>
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Please send good vibes and pray for good results on June 28th for Abby's biopsy!! Also, remember you can buy Abby's Miracle on Amazon here: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Miracle-Michelle-Doman/dp/1939795168/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371173781&sr=8-1&keywords=abby%27s+miracle">Abby's Miracle</a>. It's also available on Nook and Kindle now too. We will be doing a book signing next week in St. George and on the 27th in Salt Lake. I'll post more details later. If you want me to mail you a book, I can do that too. I sent one to one of our followers in Canada last week, and she just paid through my Paypal account-domans4@yahoo.com. Email me if you're interested. Thank you to everyone that has purchased the book, every penny I earn helps me stay on top of Abby's medical bills. I'm still working on getting on the Ellen Show, but it hasn't happened yet :)Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-71530846360461865292013-05-28T18:42:00.001-07:002013-05-30T08:17:55.939-07:00Book signings, Good Things Utah, and Clinic.......Hawaii here we come!What a crazy week we've had! We're finally out of school, YAHOO! I do love teaching, but I do love taking a break too. It will be nice to get caught up on some things again. As of Friday, May 24th, our summer has officially begun. We started it off with Abby's birthday. My youngest kid is now 14 years old, not very young at all. Abby wanted to go shopping for her birthday, so we planned to go when we were in Salt Lake, the shopping is so much better there. But, we did go out to dinner to celebrate on the 24th. Here's Abby when she was almost 1 year old. Isn't she so incredibly cute and she hasn't changed a bit :) Every birthday we have with Abby is a miracle, one we'll never forget!<br />
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We went to Salt Lake on Sunday because we were doing a book signing at Sugarhouse Park that afternoon. It was perfect weather outside and it was fun. The turnout was about what we expected, but I sure missed seeing all of my heart mom friends that day! It was fun to see some friends from high school, swimmers from the University of Utah swim team that swam when I did, teachers I taught with before we moved to St. George, a couple of heart friends, and of course family. I wish I would've taken pictures of everyone, but it was too crazy! At least I got a few. If you took pictures, will you please share them on Facebook so that we'll have them too?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby told me to try to look official!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Abby!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My two nieces and my sister-in-law Deedee, and my brothers legs.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Vicki aka Tweedle Dum, we swam together at the University of Utah. I, of course, was Tweedle Dee!<br />
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Monday morning we had to make our appearance on Good Things Utah. We were both so nervous. I had never seen the show, and we were told it was filmed in front of a live audience, so we even more scared. We were supposed to be there at 8:30, the show started at 9:00....so of course we showed up at 8:15. When we walked into the studio they were filming the news segment that was on right before the show, we both were pretty surprised that we were on the actual set! We met the staff and were told that we were going to be first, so we had to get our microphone clips on. The "Live audience" turned out to be a small set of bleachers with the other stars of the show that day sitting on them, that was a relief! Overall, other than me looking like a beached whale, I thought it went okay. Abby was perfect of course. We weren't thrilled with the choice of questions, and the host kept asking about meeting the "donor." Well, obviously, we will never meet the donor, but hopefully we'll meet their family. But, I think we did a good job getting the word out about organ donation......and I will probably never eat again. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was right before we went on.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby loves Australian guys, so she had to get a picture with the Aussie host. Not a good picture of him, but Abby was in heaven when he said, "Good bye daaaahhling!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom, Dad, and Britt-This is for you!<br />
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We spent the rest of the day shopping and going to a movie, it was Abby's day for sure! Then of course, it was time for clinic. We were so worried. Monday night, after shopping, Abby had a horrible night. Her feet were so swollen they were killing her, her stomach was hurting, and she had a horrible headache. We thought something was up. Thankfully, she woke up feeling a little bit better. Clinic was perfect! Abby's echo looked fabulous, her labs were all perfect, and even her kidney function was looking better. It was actually a very quick and easy clinic. We were also given the okay for Hawaii! I have to admit that I'm a little nervous though because there isn't a transplant center in Hawaii. The transplant team kept stressing that if anything happened, we take Abby to the nearest hospital and then call them so that they can tell us our next move. They also emailed us a copy of clinic notes from today and the results of her echo too. Abby will have to be slathered with sunscreen and keep tons of water in her as well, she gets dehydrated so easily. Abby even asked them if she could have a nightly IV to keep fluids in her, they all laughed of course. I'm sure that things will okay, but it's good to have a plan just in case. So finally, after almost 2 years of waiting, we will get to go on the trip that we missed while Abby was waiting for her heart. I kind of feel like it's well deserved! I think Britt and Brock are just as excited to get a break too! </div>
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While we were driving home, I got the dreaded call. They were calling to schedule Abby's annual biopsy. It will be on Friday, June 28th. For those of you that don't know, this is a big deal. This isn't like the one she had last November through her neck, it's the big one through her leg like we did last May, it's much more thorough. If something isn't right, this is when we'll find out. It's actually quite nerve wracking, but I'm not going to think about it once while we're in Hawaii. That's going to be our complete relax and no worry trip!</div>
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For those of you that have asked, here's the link for you to purchase "Abby's Miracle" on Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Miracle-ebook/dp/B00CXS47BK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369791415&sr=8-1&keywords=abby%27s+miracle">Abby's Miracle</a>. We love to look on Amazon and see who's interested and who's purchased it our book. It is also available to Kindle and Nook now too. Thank you to everyone that has bought the book, it helps with all of Abby's medicine copays. We will probably do another St. George book signing when we get back from our trip, and we have a sweet story on KUTV news that will be coming up soon as well, probably on Abby's 2-year heart anniversary. Thanks for staying with us, things are good :)</div>
Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-73828896699093846042013-05-14T10:49:00.000-07:002013-05-14T10:50:56.571-07:00April and May happeningsIt's been 5 weeks since the last post......5 weeks! That's good, that's real good because it means we haven't had anything major to blog about, finally! Abby seems to be doing a little better. She still has her exhausted, sleep 15 hour, recovery days, but those seem to be coming farther apart. The swelling in her feet and legs happens less often now too. She still struggles with headaches and stomach aches a lot, but we can deal with those! I can't believe that not only have we not been to clinic since April 4th, but I haven't even had to call the transplant team. I'm sure they're missing hearing my sweet voice up there in the cardiology clinic. This is by far the longest without any contact with them, which means that things are good. Abby has clinic again on May 28th, then hopefully, it's off to Hawaii on May 31st. If something doesn't look good on the 28th, and we can't go on our trip, I'm afraid I'll throw a tantrum. I'll probably cry uncontrollably and I won't be able to stop. It's just not even an option, not an option at all. We need this trip, a lot, all of us. It's going to happen.<br />
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But first, we need to make it through the school year. Britt is done with her first year of college. She ended up with a 3.95 GPA and thoughts of possibly not going to nursing school, but medical school instead. She's still deciding, but right now she's leaning towards a nurse practitioner. I will leave the decision to her. She definitely needs to do something medical. She loved her anatomy class and daily talks about the things she learned. She's extremely fascinated with it all. I'm proud of Britt for making school a priority, it's something that matters to her. Brock, Abby, and I have 6 1/2 more days of school.....not that I'm counting or anything! I can't believe that next year Brock will be a senior and Abby will be a freshman! It's funny because Britt and I and even Abby sometimes still think she's in 6th grade. Maybe it's because she never officially finished it, I don't know. Maybe because that's when EVERYTHING changed. Abby's birthday is coming up, it's on May 24th, she'll be 14 years old. I can't even believe she's that old. Celebrating another birthday with Abby is something I'll always look forward to!<br />
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It's kind of funny how the brain works. The past week or so, I've been having flashbacks to Abby's collapse again. I haven't for such a long time. I think it might always happen this time of year because we're getting really close to May 18th again. I thought that maybe this year it wouldn't happen, but I thought wrong. Triggers are everywhere. I definitely don't want Abby out of my sight very much the next few weeks.<br />
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Last thing. My book, <i>Abby's Miracle</i> is done! It's for sale on Amazon already. Here's the link:<span style="color: blue;"><b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Miracle-Michelle-Doman/dp/1939795168/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368550410&sr=1-1&keywords=abby%27s+miracle">Abby's Miracle</a>.</b></span> It should be available for Nook and Kindle sometime in the next couple of weeks, and in the bookstores very soon after that. There should be a follow up article about Abby and the book in the St. George Spectrum this Saturday, and Abby and I will be on Good Things Utah on Memorial Day, May 27, Channel 4 at 9:00 AM! We were excited when we heard about the TV show, but then we were both scared to death because it's a live show! This is all so much fun though, and it might even help me pay a few bills. I would appreciate it if all of you would spread the word. Especially other other heart moms out there that have blogs, if you could post it on your blog, I would greatly appreciate it. That's definitely one of my target audiences. For now, I'm just enjoying the process of actually writing and publishing a book. It's all falling into place for us, just like everything that's happened the past couple of years. If it sells, that's great. If not, that's okay too. I can still say I did it!<br />
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-86646304545271294992013-04-06T18:35:00.002-07:002013-04-06T18:35:47.750-07:00Then He said, "I'll see you again in four years......"This last week, Abby finally had a perfect clinic, perfect, like EVERYTHING looked good! Every single thing! Her echo, her blood counts, her labs, everything! It was so nice for a change. In fact, I think it could have been one of her first perfect clinics! It's about time too. It's been 20 months since her transplant, we were due for a perfect clinic. Dr. Everitt wanted her next visit to be her annual biopsy in June, but I had to nix that idea. We won't be doing her annual until after our Hawaii trip the first week in June. So, we'll just return for a clinic visit a few days before our trip. I just want to make sure that everything looks okay before we leave for a vacation. We'll be doing her annual the first week in July instead. The transplant team didn't want to make very many changes since things looked so good. The only change is that we're lowering her prograf level(anti-rejection meds) to between 5 and 8 rather than between 8 and 11. I guess this is standard for the second year post transplant. It makes me a little nervous, but I always trust her transplant team will do what's best for Abby.<br />
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And now for the thing I've been hesitant to write about, but I feel like I should. Last month I was going to teach a lesson in our young women's about finding comfort when a loved one dies. I thought it would be perfect to have Abby talk about her near-death experience. I was a little nervous to ask her to do it, because in the past she was nervous to talk about it to anyone but family. But, she said she wanted to do it! Our plan was for me to give the background about her transplant, then for Abby to read her experience, then to let the girls and other leaders ask questions. Abby didn't want to just teach them, that made her too nervous. We talked for a while about everything that had happened to Abby since May 18th, then Abby started to read what she had written about her experience. She made it about half way through and then the tears started falling. I think by that point everyone in the room had tears in their eyes. I helped her finish reading and then she asked if there were any questions. I couldn't believe how quiet it was in that room. I don't think that anyone knew what to say, it was just too much to take in and they had to think about it for a minute. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, they started to talk and ask questions. Abby was completely calm and confident in everything that she had to say and the girls listened to every word that came out of her mouth. It was actually a very spiritual experience. <br />
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Near the end, as Abby was talking about some of the things that Christ said to her, she said something that I had never heard her talk about before. Something that I kind of wish I never would have heard her say. She very peacefully said that while she was with Christ, one of the things that He said was that He would see her again in 4 years. WHAT???? She went on to say that now she was now almost to the halfway point. First of all, I couldn't believe that she said it at all, then I couldn't believe that she hadn't ever told me that little fact. I had the biggest lump in my throat, but somehow made it through the rest of the lesson. I didn't know what to think, and I couldn't believe that Abby could be so calm about it. As soon as we got in the car I asked her more about it. She said that she had told Britt about it and that they decided that it was better for me not to know. They thought it would scare me too much, and they were probably right! When I asked Britt about it later that night, she said that Abby had told her about it one night. I asked Britt if Abby was upset about it, but Britt said that she wasn't at all, she was just very matter of fact. It's just what He said.<br />
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I've been throwing this around in my head for last couple of weeks. It took me a long time to tell anyone, I think that I was afraid that if I talked about it, it would make it more true. It's definitely shocking, and not something that any mom should ever have to think about. I didn't know what to do with the information that was given to me. I now know that even though this will always be in the back of my mind, I can't live my life in fear of what could happen in 2 more years. Abby doesn't want to live like that either. I've convinced myself of the fact that time in heaven is much different than time on earth. Four years to Christ could be a lifetime for us. Am I still scared?? Yes, but I was scared before I learned this anyway. Living with a child that has had a heart transplant is already living with the unknown. I already knew that things could change at any second. Abby's heart transplant didn't "fix" her, I know that. So, what do we do now? We continue living our lives like we already do. We remember to be grateful for every day and for the little things that happen. We focus on the good and try to live each day like it's the last. We spend time with the people we love and we appreciate every last second that we get with Abby! Hopefully, there will be many, many more....I'm counting on it.Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-18973267815121821142013-03-17T19:32:00.001-07:002013-03-17T19:32:24.662-07:00One whole month without a post, no way!I can't believe that I haven't had to post anything for one month, I think that's the longest we've gone since May 18th, 2011. You know what that means? Things have been good, much better. A few weeks ago we had a major bout with the stomach flu around this house, Abby started it, then it went through all of us, and Abby still had it. It took her so much longer to get over it than the rest of us. I think she thought it was awesome that she passed something to us this time rather than the other way around! Other than that, Abby has been feeling better. Her legs haven't gotten swollen since we changed her meds back, now they just turn bright red and become burning hot, like mini heaters. Sometimes they look like this, mine is the normal colored foot of course. It's weird because sometimes it goes all the way up her legs, but sometimes just to her knees. The transplant team asked her to keep a "red leg diary" to see if we can determine what's causing it. So far, it's just random......just weird.<br />
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Her Prograff (anti-rejection med level) came back really high last week too, so we cut back the dose this week and she goes for another lab draw tomorrow. Abby's creatinine level is still high, but we're still working on pushing the fluids to keep those kidney's healthy. The only thing I still worry about Abby is her energy level. She will have one great day where I think she's feeling good and doing great and she has lots of energy, but then the next day she'll sleep most of the day. It's like it just exhausts her. It makes me worry, but I'm just trying to make myself think that it's just because she's still recovering from the past year and half. She has gone through a lot and might just be taking her a little longer to recover. I won't say that I'm not nervous about her annual biopsy that's coming up in June, I already feel the anxiety. We decided to push the biopsy back until after our trip to Hawaii, sometimes it's better not knowing, right?? For now, we'll just keep plugging along until clinic on April 8th. Another thing that worries me a little bit is that in May, since it's been 2 years, Britt and Brock need to get echocardiograms again too. Just another little thing to stress my little brain. I will be relieved when their echo reports come back normal and Abby's annual biopsy comes back showing no rejection and and no coronary artery disease!<br />
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A couple of weeks ago, Abby and I were able to spend some time volunteering at the Dixie Regional Health Fair at the Intermountain Donor Services booth. It was a great opportunity for Abby, it was fun for me to hear her talk about her story and to promote organ donation. We had to laugh at a couple of the old people that came up to us and said, "I'm not a donor, I won't be a donor, I don't know why, but you won't change my mind!" They couldn't think of any good reasons, they were just against it. I think that they're too set in their ways to want to change, even though they know it's the right thing to do. Abby also got to meet another heart recipient. Dan Martin received his heart only one year ago. It was neat to hear them compare what they've been through. I also enjoyed hearing the unique perspective on life that they both have. They know what's important and how to truly live their lives. It was a great opportunity for Abby and I hope we have many more chances to give back. Big thanks goes out to Jordan Woodward who chose to do his Eagle project on promoting organ donation and made it possible for us to have a booth at the fair.<br />
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Britt and Brock have both been doing great. We're all trying to get in shape for Hawaii, so we're working hard. Brock was so frustrated at his last ankle appointment though. Dr. Leitze told him he can't do the shot put or discus this year, he doesn't want him putting that much pressure on it yet. It's been hard for Brock because it feels so good that he thinks he's ready to go full speed ahead. I think they're being very cautious, the goal was to be ready for the first football camp the end of May, and I think that's exactly when he'll say it's time. For now, it just frustrates Brock. Britt is still working hard and doing well at school. She's been learning all about the heart in her anatomy class this past couple of weeks and she took in the pictures of Abby's old, sick heart and us holding it. The class thought it was awesome! Whenever I think about it, it reminds what a surreal experience it was, something we'll never forget. </div>
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Thanks to our friends the Brickey's, I found a company in Salt Lake that's going to help me publish my book. It's at the copywriters now. I should get it back next week, then I send it on to a graphic design company. I'm still working on the cover, I have a couple of ideas, but I haven't settled on anything yet. I think it would be great to have it ready to go by Abby's 2-year anniversary on July 12th. That might be pushing it a little, but I'm not sure. I'm trying to think about things step at a time, otherwise, it gets a little overwhelming. I can't wait until it's ready to sell, I have lots of good ideas about promoting it. I still can't believe that it's really going to happen!</div>
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We just got done with our spring break, and it's back to school tomorrow. We had a great break filled with lots of fun, relaxing, and spring cleaning! This spring break I learned that:</div>
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- as a family we stink at bowing (Brock is the worst, a total score of 44 is pathetic). Abby was so excited she beat him, with a whopping score of 45.</div>
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-it's worth it to drive to Salt Lake for my sis-in-law's baby shower, even if it was only a 1-day trip. It was fun to see and catch up with everybody!</div>
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-Abby is a major procrastinator. She's finishing up some science homework right now. She's had the assignment for how long?? Maybe 2 weeks, arggghhh. (Sorry Rich-Abby's teacher and uncle!)</div>
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-Britt is obsessed with getting perfect grades and will not settle for anything less than an "A". She's so determined and when Britt is determined, don't get in her way. Even if it is spring break.</div>
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- I was rundown and tired and in need of good rest. The break was perfect for me, hopefully it will sustain me through the rest of the school year.</div>
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-My mom stinks at hearts......actually, we already knew this.</div>
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-Brock needs money. He will do almost anything for money. He can't find a job, but he likes to go do things on dates and with his friends, and he is in desperate need of money. If you need anything done, call us. I'll hire Brock out for a day....or lots of days.</div>
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-We HAD a lot of junk in our house. But, it's all gone now! I love spring cleaning.</div>
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-We like to play games. Settlers of Catan is our new favorite, but it's not fun if you win every time so sometimes you have to let others win too (right Meri and Rich and mom and Britt?)</div>
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-The greatest feeling is when Abby's med cases are filled for the next 2 weeks and all of her prescriptions are full too!</div>
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- We are ready for summer break......always</div>
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-We still make fun of Britt and how she talked when she had her tonsils out. If you still can't figure out what it sounded like, go see the movie Jack the Giant Slayer. She sounded just like the 2-headed giant's second head. Sorry Britt, we just can't stop.</div>
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-I ran out of time. I got my house done, but need another week for my yard! Thank goodness for weekends.</div>
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We did have a good break. I can honestly say that our house is cleaner now than when we moved in, and that feels good! When I was cleaning out drawers I came across a pile of cards and letters that people gave me right after Abby's collapse. If I didn't thank you then, I'm sorry. We had so much support, and I know that's what helped me get through those first few weeks. Reading through those notes made me cry. We are so very blessed to know so many amazing and thoughtful people. Thank you for being there and for helping us. I know that many of you still think about and pray for Abby and my family and we will always be extremely grateful for that. We've definitely had a rough couple of years, I think we've had our share of trials, but we still feel so grateful for who we are and for the blessings that have been given to us. </div>
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Hopefully, I won't be posting again until after clinic on the 8th. Last year at this time Abby came down with CMV and she spent 2 weeks, including Easter, in the hospital. Good thing we can cross that off the list :)</div>
<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-45517958239301286792013-02-18T19:56:00.001-08:002013-02-18T19:56:13.874-08:00Clinic (last) Monday....I forgot to post!Abby just informed me that I forgot to do a post after clinic last week and that I needed to get on that, so here goes..........<br />
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We did go to clinic last Monday. Abby and I both felt like her blood counts were still going to be low and that they would have to do something about it, so we packed our bags for more than just one day (we always do this, but this time we were more serious about it.) Abby's echo looked great...that is always a huge relief, but her labs came back with low blood counts, both white and red, again. Because they had slightly increased from the previous lab draw, Dr. E told us that we weren't going to do anything to treat it, we were just going to keep our eye on it. Abby will have another lab draw the beginning of March and we'll keep our fingers crossed that things have turned around. Abby doesn't have to be on house arrest, she just needs to be extra careful. Lots of sanitizer and hand washing. I think we both almost fell off our chairs when Dr. E said that if things look good with the lab draw in March, we won't have to go back for clinic until April!! Almost 2 months, that is our record for sure. I think that the longest amount of time that Abby has gone between visits is 6 weeks. We were out of clinic and back on the road to St. George by 10:00, it was awesome. <br />
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So, this past week Abby had the okay to go to school, the problem was that she didn't have the energy to go. I think it was because she's anemic, but I don't really know. She went a couple of days in the morning, but that was it. The other problem was that they took Abby off of one of her blood pressure meds to see if it would help bring her white blood count up. But, the day she went off of it and every day she wasn't taking it, her feet and legs would turn red and get swollen and really hot again. They were hurting her so bad that she couldn't walk very well, and it was very uncomfortable. When we were at clinic, Dr. E decided that we had to put her right back on that med, but it took 5 days of taking it to get the swelling to go down. Weird, I know. It's baffled all of the doctors. It's just a weird problem that Abby has that has no known cause. Luckily, the past couple of days has been better. The plan for tomorrow is for Abby to finally go back to school! Yahoo!! That will make everybody happier.<br />
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One funny thing about school that happened a couple of weeks ago was that we met with her teachers and school counselor to officially write up Abby's 504 education plan. We talked about some things that we could do to help Abby if she needs it, and the counselor asked about her being able to participate in PE. I told them that Abby was completely able to go to PE classes, but I guess that the teachers are too nervous to have her in their class. I guess it would be pretty scary since her heart did stop beating and she collapsed in PE and people just don't know what people with a heart transplant are capable of doing. They also mentioned that the other kids were probably still pretty shaken up as well and it could scare them too. Many of them were in the gym when Abby collapsed and they saw her on the floor getting CPR. So, for now, unless we find a gutsy PE teacher, Abby is exempt from taking gym classes at school. Abby said that she didn't care about that, but I have mixed feelings. Since it's such a little thing, I'm just going to let it go. It really doesn't matter as long as it doesn't make Abby feel different. <br />
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Other than that, things are good. We had a sweet 3-day weekend full of lots of friends and family and fun. I wish we could have a long weekend every week! The weather in St. George is finally starting to feel like spring. I can't wait until it's hot down here, I love it! Brock had another appointment with the surgeon that fixed his ankle and he said that things are looking good, he's even ahead of schedule. He's already started getting ready for football next year. My book is written and edited and ready to be published, I'm just trying to figure out who to send it to and how to go about taking the next step. It will happen, it's just taking me some time. We're all looking forward to spring break in March, and Hawaii the end of May. Things always look brighter when you have something to look forward to :)Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-23070554842846659342013-02-05T18:48:00.000-08:002013-02-05T18:48:02.246-08:00Brock's birthday and bad news again!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tomorrow, February 6th is Brock's 17th birthday. 17, wow I can't believe it. For those of you that have never had the chance to meet Brock, I wish you could. He's one of the greatest kids ever! Everyone that knows Brock, loves him, he's so personable (except on the football field anyway!) I love it during school when I get a text from Brock, because I just never know what it will be, but it usually makes me laugh. Sometimes it's just a "funny" joke. Usually, it starts with "Guess what?" and then he won't tell me until I text back, "What?" Or sometimes he just sends me pictures like this one:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lFt63CzjO_0/URG2OKNxh5I/AAAAAAAAChw/EVeFhZM8Hwk/s1600/honey.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lFt63CzjO_0/URG2OKNxh5I/AAAAAAAAChw/EVeFhZM8Hwk/s200/honey.png" width="133" /></a>How can I not laugh when I look at my phone during a break and see Honey Boo Boo's sorry mom looking at me? Brock loves to tease his sisters and me, but he's really just a sincere, nice kid. He knows how to work hard and be dedicated, he's played sports since he was 4 years old. I can't even begin to write about how many all-star teams and championship teams he's been on. He just loves to be on the field competing. Another thing about Brock is that he's got a natural ability to lead, people always tend to follow Brock and they look up to him and watch for his example. I'm proud to be Brock's mom, I know he can do whatever he wants to do in life....and he was so cute when he was a little kid that I just have to add some pictures.<br />
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<br />Happy Birthday Brock! For his birthday he wanted his own football helmet with a sweet face mask, and his own personalized cleats. He's going to be so ready for football next year, he already can't wait. His ankle is healing perfectly. Physical therapy is really helping, in fact, he feels like he's ready to run on it again, but that's not allowed for a couple of months still. Luckily, he can be doing lots of other things to stay fit and get stronger. He should be 100% by the first football camp of the season!<div>
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Britt's tonsils have almost completely healed too. She hasn't had a sore throat for almost 6 weeks, which is probably a record! I have to laugh at Britt because she's such a good student, she works hard and always does well; But, for the past few weeks she's been constantly complaining about how horribly hard her chemistry class is this semester and how she just doesn't get it, and that it's too hard, and that she needs a tutor, etc. etc. Then she takes her first test and gets a 91% on it! Whatever Britt, I know you'll always do well. I can 't wait until she's in nursing school, she's going to love it. </div>
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Abby survived her Neupogen injections. It was 5 rough days, they just make her so achy. It was hard for her to be on house arrest and not go anywhere for that long! But, last Wednesday we got the word from the transplant team that they did their job and her blood counts were almost right where they needed to be......until yesterday anyway. Abby had labs drawn again yesterday to see if they were maintaining, and unfortunately, her blood count was right back where it was at clinic at couple of weeks ago. Not good. Thankfully, they don't want to do more shots yet. We're going to try to make a few changes in her meds to see if this will help. Personally, I don't feel like this is the problem, I think that there's something more going on, but what do I know?? The other problem is that the shots gave Abby a rash on her face, we're still trying to figure out what to do to make that go away! Abby goes back to clinic on Monday and they'll draw labs again then. If they still haven't come up, I'm not sure what the next step will be. For now, Abby is on house arrest again. It's discouraging for her, she was just trying to get back into school and going to the gym again. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_-Zuq2_7Hvo/URHCBwrZxII/AAAAAAAACi8/6HF7ymacO7Y/s1600/brittshots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_-Zuq2_7Hvo/URHCBwrZxII/AAAAAAAACi8/6HF7ymacO7Y/s320/brittshots.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Britt giving Abby her shot. She had to fill in when my dad and sister were gone. There was no way that I was going to do it, I have to draw the line somewhere!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_MjMYuAll9M/URHDCHdClAI/AAAAAAAACjI/dkSCu2N10hg/s1600/abbyshots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_MjMYuAll9M/URHDCHdClAI/AAAAAAAACjI/dkSCu2N10hg/s1600/abbyshots.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute Abby, her color isn't looking the best, but she's been feeling okay!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is my sister giving Abby her shot when my dad was gone. Thanks Meri!</td></tr>
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I absolutely hate leaving her everyday when I have to go to work. Sometimes she spends the days with my parents, which is good, but she wants to be at school with her friends. It makes me sad. I guess we'll have anther stressful week of waiting. I was talking to the transplant team a couple of weeks ago about how after a transplant, most families eventually begin to somewhat "normalize." Things are never completely back to normal, but they start to get back to some kind of a routine. But, they were saying that because of all of the crap Abby has gone through, we still haven't been able to get to that point. I think that's true. It seems like every time we get to the point of doing our regular things, something happens. I have to admit, it's not easy. Not for me, Brittany or Brock, or especially Abby. It really starts wearing on you. I seem to wake up in the morning as tired as I am when I go to bed. I've been trying to go to the gym at 5:00 most mornings before school, but it's hard. Some mornings when my alarm goes off, I really question whether I'll be able to make it through the whole school day if I get up that early. It seems like there's always something to worry about, we seem to trade one set of problems for another. I know everyone told us that after the first year things would get easier, but maybe they meant to say after the first year and half! That's what I'm counting on anyway! If you have any new ideas to keep Abby busy for the next few days, let me know, I'm sure she's already bored.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
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Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-85834150641058065182013-01-24T18:47:00.001-08:002013-01-24T18:49:54.230-08:00Sometimes when things seem like they're perfect, they're really not :( We just got back from Salt Lake, and I agree with everyone that has been posting about how cold it is there. Yes, it is cold, very cold. We also got to be a part of the ice storm today, luckily, we were already at clinic so we missed all the fun on the roads! When we walked, or more like skated, out to our car after clinic, it was covered in a thick layer of ice. I've never seen anything like it before! Thankfully clinic lasted long enough that we didn't have to be a part of the mess on the roads. The drive home wasn't too bad, lots and lots of rain.....but we can handle rain!! <br />
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Now to talk about clinic. This was the first clinic, in a very long time, that we were certain would be perfect. Abby has been feeling so good lately. She's been going to the gym and running and going to school all day. She also hasn't had any swelling in her feet and ankles for almost a week now. We have had almost one full week of "normal" around here, and it felt good, really, really good. We felt so confident that they would say that everything looked great and to come back in 6 weeks. But, as we're learning so quickly, things aren't always as they seem in this transplant world, it can be very deceiving. Abby's labs came back showing that her white blood count is extremely low, too low to just wait and watch and see what happens. Low enough that it has to be treated, and that's the crappy part. She's extremely neutropenic. For now, Abby is back on house arrest. She's not allowed to go anywhere for at least 5 days, possibly more. She just doesn't have anything to help her fight a virus or anything else that she could so easily catch right now. Not only is she on house arrest, but she also has to start Neupogen injections again. We went through this last April when Abby had CMV. The Neupogen stimulates her bone marrow to make white blood cells, and it makes her ache all the way down in her bones. Abby said there has only been one thing more painful than the Neupogen shots, and that was getting her chest tubes taken out after her transplant. It was bad enough that she asked the transplant team today if they would admit her for the next 5 days so they could give her the medication through an IV, because that's less painful. With all the sick kids and germs up there right now, I knew that wasn't a option. I know that the transplant team felt so bad that they had to give her the news because when Abby started crying, they looked like they were going to as well. It broke my heart to see her tears. I know it wasn't just because of the injections either, she was just discouraged too. It's hard to think that things are going so well and then to get crappy news thrown at you. Not only does Abby have Neutropenia, she's also slightly anemic as well. This is something we're just going to have to watch for now and not treat.<br />
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So, the big question is, what's causing her to have a low white blood count? They decided they wanted to run some more labs to try to determine the cause. We got to visit the "Suction Shack" for the first time ever today, and we thought we knew that entire hospital! Abby didn't have to get suctioned, but they did stick a thing way up her nose. It was pretty gross. The results already came back, and they were negative. It tested her for all of the most common viruses. It sounded to me like Dr. Molina was thinking that it could possibly be CMV again.....ugh. This makes sense because this is exactly what happened to her blood count when she had CMV last time. But, for now, we're just going to give the injections for the next 5 days. Then Tuesday, she'll get some more labs. At that time will test for CMV and EBV as well as see how much success were having with the Neupogen. We also have to watch very closely for any fever or other sign of infection. We have to call immediately if we see anything, that would probably be a sure ticket to being admitted. Even if things start looking better, we will still have to go back for another clinic day in 2 weeks. I swear they promised we were going to start spacing our clinic days apart, I think we're supposed to be up to 3 months in between! Unfortunately, I don't think we've ever gone more than 6 weeks. Oh well, why would we ever want to just stay home and relax a little bit and have things be easy?? That would be boring, right??<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuck, 5 days of Neupogen injections. Not fun at all!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thankfully my dad will give her the shots. I just can't do it. Day 1=complete, only 4 more days to go.</td></tr>
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-56616295880157281562013-01-09T16:05:00.001-08:002013-01-09T16:05:11.639-08:00Justin Bieber Concert by Britt and AbbyHey everyone! This is Britt and Abby. We just wanted to do a blog post about the awesome concert we got to attend. Yes, this amazing concert was by Justin Bieber. It was probably the greatest thing that Abby and I have ever witnessed. So, here are the memories that we will never forget.<br />
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On the drive up to Salt Lake we were so excited! By the time we arrived I think we listened to his album 5 or 6 times. We got to the Energy Solutions Arena and waited in line to go inside. It was freezing! But we didn't care because we were so stoked to go see the Biebs (Justin Bieber.) We finally got in the doors, and we started looking for our seats. We walked around the entire place and then realized our seats were on the second floor. So, once we figured that out, we decided that we definitely needed some souvenirs. The lines for these souvenirs were extremely long. Abby and I couldn't believe all the people there! But we decided it was well worth the wait. So, we got in line. When we finally got to the front, Abby decided she wanted to get a hat and jacket that both said the word swaggy on it. So, I got the opportunity to order a swaggy hat and a swaggy jacket. It was great. So, we got those swaggy items, and then went and found our seats. Well, what we thought were our seats. We sat there for a while admiring the stage, and watching all the crazy teenage fans. Then some of Abby's friends came and said hi, and they were just as excited as we were! Then Carly Rae Jepson came on stage! She sang a few songs, and then she sang her most popular song, Call me maybe. Abby and I were singing along, and having a great time. Then she ended, and said that Justin Bieber would be on shortly. When she said Justing Bieber, you would not believe the sound level of the screaming fans. It was insane! But, of course, Abby and I were also screaming our guts out.<br />
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After Carly Rae Jepson got off stage Abby and I realized we were in the wrong seats! So, we went and found our right seats.. which were closer than the other ones, so we were happy! Then we waited for the Biebs. We got some cotton candy and ate that while we waited. The crowd also did the wave.. for at least 15 minutes. Then the 10 minute countdown started. Every time the minute would change, the stadium would scream. Abby and I were ecstatic. Then the time ran out, and Justin Bieber was on the stage. We were in awe. It was Justin Bieber! We both agreed that he was even more attractive in person. We listened and sang along to his first song. We were in shock that we were actually seeing Justin Bieber in concert! It was amazing! The stage was also very cool! This was our first concert, so everything was new to us. For me, the craziest thing was how loud it was!! There was always some sound going on. Abby kept saying that she wanted to be "The one less lonely girl." If you don't know what that is, it is when Justin Bieber picks a girl from the audience to go up on stage, and he sings a song to her. Abby did not get picked but I told her it was because Justin wanted to serenade her without all these other people watching. haha. The concert went on, and we sang and danced, and listened. It was some of the best hours of our lives! We were literally smiling the entire time. It was a blessing to me to be able to see my sister so extremely happy. We are so thankful for the Cook family who donated the tickets to us. Thanks for giving us this opportunity.<br />
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-73682119480638306772012-12-27T19:57:00.004-08:002012-12-27T20:01:39.738-08:00Christmas, updates, clinic, and tickets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ahhhhh, Christmas, I love Christmas......it's always such a bummer when it's over! Despite Britt's sore throat from her tonsillectomy, and Brock being in a wheelchair, we had a great Christmas. Thankfully, Abby was feeling good too! We were able to do most of our regular Christmas traditions, and then we even added a few more new ones. This is the first year......ever..... that I haven't given any neighbor gifts or friend gifts, I just couldn't get it together enough to get it done, and a Christmas card just wasn't going to happen this year either, but that's okay, we did what we could. Even though it was a pretty small Christmas, we as a family, knew that we had a lot to be grateful for. The holidays always make me feel so thoughtful, yet curious, about Abby's donor family. I can't help but wonder who they are and how they spent their Christmas. I hope they were able to feel some peace through the holidays.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abby and her cousins loving the chocolate fountain I bought for my mom and dad , it definitely was a hit for everyone!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The traditional nativity.......kind of anyway!! We even tried to get Maggie involved, she was disgusted with all of us!</td></tr>
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Update on the kids:<br />
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Brock went to his post-op appointment last week. Dr. Leitze said things were going as planned. He took the splint of Brock's ankle and then told him to try to move it around a little bit. This was too much for Brock, unfortunately for him, he has the same weak stomach as me. He went completely pale and broke into a sweat. We thought he was going to pass out for sure, but he hung in there. He's still not allowed to put any weight on it until at least January 14th when he sees the doctor again. The crutches and wheelchair were tricky the past couple of days while we were in Salt Lake in the snow, but he managed without any falls!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what it looked like when the doctor took the splint off, maybe you can understand why Brock was feeling queasy!</td></tr>
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Finally today, day 14 of the tonsillectomy, Britt is feeling better! It has been a rough 2 weeks though, she has been feeling really crummy every single day for 14 days. It was miserable, just like everyone told us it would be. Britt was great though, she was so tough the whole time, even when we were all making fun of how she's been talking. Just in case you're wondering, it sounded a little like Young Frankenstein in this song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6-tYS9k1U">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6-tYS9k1U</a> or like the guy with his tongue pierced in the movie Rat Race, listen here, just start the clip at 1:00 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeHrARnPfOs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeHrARnPfOs</a> (this is one of my favorite clips anyway, a hilarious movie too, you should watch it if you haven't before!) Yes, we couldn't help but tease her, my brothers especially enjoyed the teasing, it was just so hard not to. But really, she was such a good sport and I think that finally today she's made the turn around and is almost back to feeling really good again! Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling good enough to come to Salt Lake with with the rest of us, so she just hung with grandma and grandpa while we were gone. We sure missed her though.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5yPqPJ9LfX0/UN0KYUaioKI/AAAAAAAACXo/kg-FpYxELGo/s1600/tonsils.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5yPqPJ9LfX0/UN0KYUaioKI/AAAAAAAACXo/kg-FpYxELGo/s200/tonsils.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the back of Britt's mouth when she was able to open her mouth again. Pretty gross, but the scabs are all gone now :)</td></tr>
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Abby had clinic today. I wasn't very excited to have to go to Salt Lake, some down time at home sounded pretty good to me, but it was time, so we knew we had to go. We ended up leaving on Christmas night because of the storm that was coming in. Clinic wasn't until Thursday morning, but we had to be up there by Wednesday at 4:00 to meet some amazing people!! A few weeks ago, I got a call from our social worker at Primary Children 's. She knew we had been going through a rough time and that Abby had had a hard year, and was wondering if Abby would be interested in some tickets to a big event in January. A family had purchased some tickets and had decided to donate them to a patient at Primary Children's that was feeling well enough to use them, luckily for Abby, Julianna had thought of her! I said that of course she was interested, I think that Abby really needed a boost. So, yesterday we were lucky enough to meet the Cook family and they gave Abby her gift. What great people they are too, I don't think they could even realize what their gift meant to Abby, it was amazing! Sometimes, it's the unexpected things that make all the difference! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QjWWCMhhojA/UN0OjbvBb9I/AAAAAAAACYw/6VkIAYNgW80/s1600/cooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QjWWCMhhojA/UN0OjbvBb9I/AAAAAAAACYw/6VkIAYNgW80/s400/cooks.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What an amazing family-thank you for making Abby so incredibly happy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LlX8fv8QrP4/UN0OmOSMktI/AAAAAAAACY4/ic9Ng_Bgr7c/s1600/tickets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LlX8fv8QrP4/UN0OmOSMktI/AAAAAAAACY4/ic9Ng_Bgr7c/s320/tickets.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the tickets! I don't think there's anywhere in the world that Abby would rather be on January 5th than watching JB in concert!!</td></tr>
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Abby hasn't stopped talking about it since yesterday, she's so excited! Brock and I are both shocked that we weren't the people that Abby invited to go with her, she decided on Britt instead! The two of them are going to have the greatest time ever, we promised to take lots of pictures and post it to the blog. I'm so grateful for people like the Cook family. We've been so blessed to meet many selfless people the past year and a half, that's the greatest part of what we've been going through. We get to see the good in people, and we get to be a part of their lives. We are grateful.<br />
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Clinic went well today. Abby's echo looked great and her heart sounds really good. Her labs all came back looking good too! As for now, we aren't making any changes in her meds. The only thing that's been a problem recently is that the swelling in her feet has gotten worse, last night was the worst it's ever been. She said it felt like needles were stabbing her in her feet. I took a picture to show the transplant team today.<br />
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Notice the left ankle especially, it's been getting especially huge, and look how red her feet are too. Since her pressures in the cath lab have been looking good, The transplant team has a few other ideas about what might be going on and they are going to do some research and talk to a couple of other doctors so we can see if we can figure it out. They think that maybe it's something other than her pulmonary hypertension that's causing this. Hopefully by our next clinic visit in one month, they'll have some more information or be ready to run some other tests. Abby was willing to live with a little swelling now and then, but then it got worse and is extremely painful, and that's not okay. Last week I spent some time talking to Dr. Guthrie, Abby's GI doctor, to see if we could figure out her stomachaches too. He thought we should try Abby on a non-dairy diet. She's been doing it for one week now, and she hasn't had one stomach complaint since!! I think it's weird that an allergy like that can just pop up out of nowhere, but if going non-dairy is working, we're sticking with it! We'll keep trying it and then we're scheduled to see the GI team on the same day as cardiology-January 23rd is going to be a busy day for us. It's a relief to at least have something we can try, I was feeling like everyone had given up on making Abby's stomach feel better. It always feels good to have a plan. Now we just need to keep Abby healthy through the rest of the "sick season!"<br />
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I will admit that it's been a rough month around here, but I think we're handling things really well. I was talking to a friend the other day that's going through a rough time, and he said to me, "I know things are hard for me right now, but then I look at you and I feel grateful for my struggles!" I didn't think about it at the time, but after we got done talking, I had to laugh a little. I'm glad that I can be the one at the bottom of the barrel, I can be the one to make everyone feel better about their situation! "At least I'm not the Doman family right now!" HA!!!! Really though, I hope that people don't truly see us in that way, because we don't. Things are hard, but they could be so much worse in so many ways. We try to look at it as being blessed. My dad was lucky he didn't have his heart attack while he was out running in the desert, we're lucky he's still with us today. Brittany and Brock are getting closer and closer to being back their normal again. I know that Brock will never take being able to walk for granted again. We were able to spend Christmas home, all together. Sure, Abby has had a rough year and a half, but she's been able to be home and happy, and just a normal kid most of the time. Maybe this past month had to happen so that when we get through it, I'll be more willing to accept our "new normal" of Abby with her new heart. I know that I'll be grateful when we get back to that normal, I'm looking forward to it.Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-40331740527590040602012-12-13T12:57:00.000-08:002012-12-13T12:57:11.312-08:00And the tonsils and adenoids are gone!!!To say that this past week hasn't been the greatest, is really the understatement of the year. To sum it all up, it has not been fun, not fun at all. I can not wait until all of my loved ones are back to feeling good and being happy again, that time cannot come soon enough.<br />
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Today, was Britt's big tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy day! We had to check in this morning at 7:30, and I couldn't believe it when we were back home by 11:00. Dr. Chase described her tonsils as being "very angry," what exactly that means, I don't know, but he said they definitely needed to come out. Her adenoids were also too big and needed out as well. When Britt woke up, she said her tonsils and adenoids were still sitting on the table in a little cup next to her, she thought that was pretty cool. Too bad she wasn't able to take a picture so we all could see. So far Britt is feeling pretty good, but we know that the next 10 days or so are going to be rough. We've loaded up on popsicles and gatorade and smoothie stuff and we have the humidifier going. Hopefully, we'll be able to stay ahead of the pain with her pain meds and that she'll be feeling better by Christmas. Britt was so nervous, but she was a rockstar, even waking up from anesthesia wasn't too bad, and that's been hard for her in the past. So far, even though it's only been a few hours, everything has gone much better than expected!<br />
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Brock has been wheeling around in his wheelchair for a week now, and I'm truly wondering how he's ever going to survive 5 more weeks like this. He's so frustrated because he can't do anything by himself and it's driving him crazy, he completely hates it. He's gone to school the last couple of days but come home at the end of the day in serious pain. So, 2 of my 3 kids are now regularly taking Lortab, not good, I know. Maybe I should start taking them too, it would probably be good for me! Brock goes to his post-op on Monday, they'll take all the stitches out and maybe remove the splint, but I'm not sure about that. One thing I do know is that I'm already tired of lugging that heavy wheelchair around and loading it in and out of my car, but I'm probably not as tired of it as Brock is! needed to get out of the house for a while last night so he went down to watch the high school basketball game. He came home even more depressed, he really misses playing. It was hard for him to be just watching the game, he wanted to be out on the court. This is definitely going to try Brock's patience, as well as mine and Britt's and Abby's.<br />
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Abby just can't fight this stomach virus she's had, and it's the weirdest virus I've seen her get. I know that because she's immune-suppressed, viruses effect her differently anyway, but the last couple of weeks have been so up and down. Some days she's nauseas and feels like she's going to throw up, other days it's coming out the other end, then she'll have a day where she feels okay and I'll think she's finally over it, but the next day it starts all over again. She's going on 2 weeks of this now. I haven't talked to the transplant team about it much because the symptoms come and go and they're not too severe, but the one constant is that she's sleeping about 3-4 extra hours each day. School has been hit-and-miss as well. I can say that when I hear about all of the sicknesses going around right now, maybe staying home from school is okay for Abby for a while. She needs to get better though, this has been dragging on too long, she needs her friends and school, a lot.<br />
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So, as you can tell, things haven't been exactly fun around the Doman house, in fact, they've been pretty depressing. Somehow, I've managed to stay healthy through everything, which is good, because I spend most of my time that I'm not working, doing things for my kids and taking care of them. Or, visiting with my dad. He ended up needing a second surgery last week. His sternum wires had come loose and were rubbing on each other, and he got an infection. During the surgery they reopened his sternum and cleaned out the infected tissue, then rewired his sternum and put in a titanium plate to help to reinforce it. They also had to get a plastic surgeon involved, they had to cut his muscles and use move them around to help to cover the sternum. I told him that his new talent can be playing Christmas music on the titanium plate in his chest, he could probably become famous someday! It wasn't an easy surgery and it made it so that he had to spend an extra few days in the hospitals. He's home now and recovering, but it's going to be long recovery too. I really want everyone to feel better by Christmas, I love Christmas. Despite Britt's sore throats, Brock being on crutches, and me being broke from paying for it all, I sure hope we can still find some way to enjoy it.<br />
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Abby goes back to clinic on the 27th. Even though I haven't had much time to think about it, that thickening in her heart is still in the back of my mind. Hopefully, her echo on the 27th will look perfect and that worry can go away! If Britt and Brock feel good enough, we're taking them to Salt Lake with us and then we're going to do some shopping while we're there, that gives us something to look forward to anyway. Then, someday, someday that I hope isn't too far away, I'm going to take a vacation somewhere where there's a beach and that it's nice and sunny and where everyone is healthy, ahhhhhh..........that's my peaceful place.<br />
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Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-54325086139546830492012-12-05T17:38:00.001-08:002012-12-05T18:41:11.076-08:00"...and Durango's for you, and Durango's for you....." Today was Brock's big day, the day he's been waiting for since since last year. We've known he's needed surgery for a long time now, but Brock decided he wanted to play through the football season before having the surgery. So, he's been hurting since basketball ended last year. The problem was that he had an OCD lesion on his talus. It looked almost exactly like this, but the chunk of cartilage and bone that had come loose and broken off was even bigger than this picture shows:<br />
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Dr. Leitze made 3 or 4 little incisions in his ankle to make the repair. He said the loose cartilage was about the size of 1 square centimeter, which was quite substantial, even bigger than her thought it would be. He removed that chunk, scraped off the bone, then drilled 4 little holes right in the talus, this allows pathways for new blood vessels to nourish the area. This procedure is successful in about 80-90% of patients, Brock better be one of those. Brock now has 5-6 weeks without putting any weight on his foot, then he'll start physical therapy. Eventually, he should return to 100%. The biggest problem is that his other foot still hasn't completely healed form the injury he got in his last football game, so he'll be in a wheelchair for a while. What a hassle, but at least it will give both feet a chance to heal. <br />
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This was Brock's first surgery, so we didn't really know what to expect from him. We kind of laughed and made fun of him when they had to go get a bigger gown and booties for him to wear because he's such a big kid, but Brock really loved it when they had to get a bigger blood pressure cuff because of the size of his bicep! Brock was pretty calm before the surgery, he wasn't even very nervous at all, I think he was more worried about the recovery than the surgery. I was probably nervous enough for both of us!!<br />
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Here he is right before they took him back. I love the hat, it's just so Brock :) The surgery was only supposed to take a an hour, but the doctor didn't end up coming to talk to me for almost 2 hours, it took a little longer than he expected. So, of course, every minute after 1 hour I started getting more and more worried. But, thankfully, everything went as planned. I was waiting for him in his recovery room, and I heard a lot of laughing when I heard them coming down the hall. The nurses were totally laughing. Apparently, Brock is a pretty funny kid when he's coming out of anesthesia! They said he was hilarious. The nurse said that Brock kept looking around the room and telling everyone that he was going to buy them all Christmas presents. He kept pointing to each person in recovery and saying, "and for you, Durango's! and for you, Durango's! and for you, Durango's!" The nurse told me he had promised up to about $600 in Durango's gift cards in the 15 minutes he was in the pacu! He also said that Brock just kept overly and dramatically thanking everyone for fixing his ankle and for saving his life. He wanted to give all of them big hugs to thank them! They were all getting a big kick out of him! He was wide awake by the time he got to me, it didn't take him long at all. Then he started acting just like Abby does in recovery, he wanted to get out there ASAP! So about 30 minutes later, we were out of there! It was a long day though, we checked in at 8:15, and didn't leave until 3:00. Now he just needs to be patient, follow the doctor's orders and recover. He'll go back to the doctor in 10 days to get his stitches out, until then, he's supposed to just take it easy. No school until Monday.<br />
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The other big event of the day was that while I was waiting in the waiting room for Brock to be done, I saw my mom and dad walking down the hall in the hospital. I guess that my dad woke up this morning feeling lousy and with his heart having some afib issues, so his cardiologist wanted him to come back to the hospital. while I was in recovery with Brock, they were readmitting my dad. They're still running some tests now to see what's going on. Hopefully, it's nothing too serious. But, my backup babysitters for Brock won't be able to help anymore, but I'll work things out. Brock and I stopped by to visit on our way out of the hospital, and they were already trying to figure out what's going on.<br />
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Lately, all of this medical stuff we've been dealing with, almost seems ridiculous. How can we not just laugh? It's either laugh or cry, I'd rather laugh, but sometimes I don't get to choose. Whatever happens, just happens, I've lost most control of that now! The saddest part of all of this is that next Thursday, I'll be right back at the hospital in the waiting room again, while Britt is getting her tonsils out. But, for now, I can't think about that, I think it's better to only take things one day at a time.<br />
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Abby spent the morning at the hospital with me. She still hasn't been feeling great this week, she has zero energy and she spends a lot of time each day sleeping. When she's awake, she feels okay, but has a headache. but she's exhausted most of the time. I haven't been able to worry too much about her, and I haven't even called the transplant team, I'm just watching her still. She's had lots of swelling in her feet this past week too. This is the picture she sent me from school last Friday to show me her cankles:<br />
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The transplant team made some med changes last Friday, and we're still waiting to see if they'll start working soon. If things don't change by this Friday, I'll be calling them to see what we should do next. One thing I know for sure is that I can't go to PCMC for the next two weeks, not until Britt's recovered from her tonsillectomy, so I hope they don't want us to. That would definitely cause some anxiety and problems. <br />
Another reason Abby came with me was because I was too nervous to have her go to school. There were just too many similarities between today and the day she collapsed on May 18th. I was too scared that she would go to school and I'd get a phone call from her school, just like when I was waiting for Britt's knee surgery last May. It was just too scary, I'm kind of glad Abby didn't feel good enough to go to school today, it made the decision to let her stay with me easier. There was a story on the news yesterday about a basketball player from Utah State that collapsed in practice. The team trainer revived him by doing CPR and then using an AED. They still haven't said what the cause of the collapse was, but I will be very surprised if it's not some type of cardiomyopathy. Hearing the story and the family's reaction was so familiar, it brought everything right back. When we heard the story on the news last night, all 4 of us just kind of sat there without talking for a few minutes, our eyes were wide and we just kept looking at each other. I knew we were all thinking the same thing. No matter how much time goes by, the memories of that day will always be right on the surface.Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-4674222064437076802012-11-26T17:46:00.003-08:002012-11-26T17:46:53.438-08:00Clinic Monday and my dad's quadruple bypass surgery I'm not quite sure where to start with this post, but I think I'll go backwards chronologically. That means that I'll start with clinic today. With everything else that's been going on lately, I wasn't even worried about clinic, I knew things would look good, and I was right! Abby has been feeling really good the last few days! She was so active with her cousins all weekend, running, playing on the tramp, going to the park, playing hopscotch and jumprope, and guess what????? NO SWELLING!!! none, at all, well okay, maybe just a little, but nothing too serious! I think the transplant team was as excited about this as we were! Abby gets to go off of 3 meds today and will be off of steroids and Valcyte on Saturday. Making these changes always worries me, Abby doesn't like to come off of meds, for some reason her body does weird things whenever we make changes, but not this time, it's not allowed. Going off of 5 meds sure makes my job as pharmacist much easier. My only worry at clinic was that the past few echos have shown some thickening in her heart, for now we're blaming the steroids for this. But, the thing that worries me the most is that it started before she was on steroids, that's one reason we knew she was in rejection. I just keep trying to tell myself that if Dr. E wasn't worried, then I shouldn't be either. I'm pretty sure she knows a little more about the heart than I do :) If her next echo, on the 27th, doesn't look better, then I'll know it's time to really worry. One really good thing about clinic today is that we got to see so many of our heart friends, and that made everything even better, and I really needed that today (more about that in the next paragraph). I even got to discuss colors and their opposites with the amazing Matthew and his mom Chrissy, touch base with Shauntelle and Kaidence (who we miss so, so much), and have a very brief chat with both Hilary and Aubrie and their cute babes, what more could you ask for in a clinic visit? Then, to top it all off, we very, very briefly stopped by the Festival of Trees to check out the tree and to see some of our other favorite heart mamas! It was just the boost I needed to motivate me to get back in the car and start driving. We sure love all of you that we've met this past year and a half, you mean the world to us!<br />
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Now I'm going to go backward to Saturday, and Sunday of last week. Because I didn't have enough on my plate right now, my dad decided he needed to be included in my troubles too. Before I continue, let me tell you a little bit about my dad. He's probably the coolest 70-year-old I know. Just last month he retired, he's been working as an emergency room physician forever. He worked his last shift the beginning of November. My dad also held the record for the fastest mile run at the University of Utah for many years, he ran track there and went to medical school there too. That's probably the beginning of us being extreme Ute fans. He's run in multiple marathons since then, his fastest one was around 2:37. He runs or bikes every day and always has for as long I remember. He just recently started mountain biking again. Like I said, a pretty cool 70-year-old, definitely not your typical one. He's been Abby's biggest ally this past year and a half. He's spent so many days with us at PCMC and in our Sugarhouse house too. He always knows when Abby needs a shopping day to cheer her up too! He's just always been there for her.<br />
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Anyway, last Saturday morning, after running and biking, he told us he was going to the emergency room to get an x-ray to see if he broke a rib when we he crashed mountain biking the day before. But, really, he knew that he was having a heart attack and just didn't want any of us to worry until he knew how serious it was. Then we got the phone call that he was being admitted and they would be doing a heart cath the next morning to see exactly how bad his heart really was. It's a good thing I'm an expert on heart cath's and everything cardio now, I felt like such a pro. The cath was Sunday morning. I can't believe he stayed awake the whole time they were doing it, he refused to go to sleep. He watched them do it, and probably told them what to do as well! The cath told us that it was pretty bad and that he would be needing surgery to repair all of the blockages. They thought at that time that it would be a triple bypass. We weren't sure when the surgery would be scheduled until they talked to the surgeon later that day, so Abby and I hopped in the car and drove to Salt Lake for clinic. I was hoping the surgery would be on Tuesday morning so we'd be back, but they ended up doing it this morning, right while we were at clinic. My sister had to work and my brothers both live in Salt Lake, so since I was gone, that left Britt to go sit with my mom during the 4-hour surgery. Thanks Britt, you're my hero! Britt worked the night shift from 6-6 the night before then went right to the hospital and stayed with my mom until the surgery was over. What a great kid, I love you Britt! The surgery ended up being a quadruple bypass, it was pretty bad. I feel like we're lucky he didn't have his heart attack while he was out running in the desert that morning, or that it wasn't a more serious heart attack. It was hard being in Salt Lake while he was in surgery, but that's how it goes. It kept me busy. The transplant team probably thought I was a little distracted, but I did okay. I didn't tell any of them what was going on because I didn't dare start talking about it, I didn't know how my emotions would hold up, so I just pretended it wasn't happening. The surgery went well, he's now recovering in the ICU and we are going to go visit him very soon. Abby is excited because she said they can do cardiac rehab together and they can compare scars and meds. I'm not excited because he has a 2-month recovery, probably even longer, and keeping my dad down during that time will be hard. At least he'll be there and can recover with Britt and Brock after their upcoming surgeries!<br />
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So, the thing I was trying to figure out on my drive home today was why all of these things keep happening. Haven't I had enough yet? Is it my fault because in my last post I had finally accepted everything that was happening and I even said, "Whatever, bring it on, we can do it?" Am I supposed to crumble in a ball and fall apart and not be okay and then things will stop? Is that how it works? Some people have said that I chose these trials before I came to earth, but honestly, I don't think I'm that stupid. Or else, I probably didn't understand how time works here on earth when I volunteered. There's no way that I chose for Britt to have 3 knee surgeries, Brock to have ankle surgery, everything that goes along with Abby's heart transplant, Britt to have her tonsils out, and my dad to have a quadruple heart bypass, all within a 2-year period, nobody is that stupid. Then there's the people that keep saying, "You're only given what you can handle." But, what does handle mean exactly? I think it means you survive, and that's all. For the people that keep telling me that I'm so strong. I'm not, really. I'm probably the most tender-hearted person I know. I cry when someone else is crying, even if I don't know them. I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not strong. I started thinking that maybe there's some lesson I'm supposed to be learning but that I've been too stressed out to see it, or maybe I'm doing something wrong and I'm just missing it. There's got to be some reason, or maybe not. But, it seems like maybe I'm missing something. If any of you can help me figure this out, I'd appreciate any advice I can get.<br />
<br />
For now, we'll just keep on keeping on. Brock is scheduled next Wednesday for his ankle surgery. Britt is scheduled the week after that, on the 13th for her tonsillectomy. Hopefully, they'll both be feeling better by Christmas, and my dad too. Abby goes back to clinic on the 27th. This will definitely be a Christmas to remember! I'm taking back my comment about bring it on, we can do it. We're done. I'm not accepting any more trials this year, I reached my quota long ago.<br />
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Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7629226610977544060.post-17509922986040650672012-11-21T09:36:00.001-08:002012-11-21T21:32:33.264-08:00Doman family medical update and gratitude<div style="text-align: center;">
Yep, I named this post the "Doman family medical update and gratitude" It's sad, I know, but that's what we're dealing with for the next month, lots of medical stuff. So here goes......</div>
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Abby- Abby is finally feeling better! She hasn't had a sore throat for a couple of weeks now and I think we've finally figured out to treat her GI issues! She's still on the steroids, but she's at the bottom of the taper, so hopefully, she's almost done! She worries about her cheeks and the weight gain they cause, but she also understands that they're a necessity to treat rejection. Her only problems right now are that she's still feeling a lot of fatigue, she still gets occasional swelling in her legs and feet, and she's having intense headaches in the evening whenever she stands up. I'm hoping the headaches and fatigue are just from her coming off of the steroids. We decided the swelling is just something that she'll have to deal with. We go back to clinic on Monday. We're hoping that everything looks good and we won't have to go back up for at least a month. I think they'll take her off of a couple of her meds again too, one of them is Valcyte which prevents CMV. Abby just better not get CMV again when she goes off of it, I let her know that this is not an option :) It's nice to see Abby feeling better and to know that we'll for sure be home for Thanksgiving. Last year, she had a surprise echo the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so we were worried we wouldn't be able to come home. But, this year, unless something really weird happens we will be here!! Yahoo!</div>
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Brock- Good news here, lots of good news. We went to Brock's pre-op appointment last week. He is scheduled for December 5th. The good news is that he will only need surgery on his left ankle, the right ankle injury from the game a couple of weeks ago should eventually heal on it's own, hopefully he'll be able to walk on it again before December 5th because he won't be able to put any weight on his left ankle for 6 weeks after his surgery. The other good news is that when Dr. Leitze first saw the MRI, he thought that he would have to cut into Brock's ankle to fix it, but after he researched it, he decided that that's not the case, it can be an arthroscopic surgery. He just had to order some unique, special tools that should be able to reach the OCD lesion and fix it. There is an 80-90% success rate with this kind of surgery......Brock just better not be in the other 10-20%, I've also warned him that this is not an option either :) After 5-6 weeks he'll be able to walk on it again, and then we'll start physical therapy. We're hoping by March he'll be able to start running again and start preparing for the next football season! 5 weeks on crutches is going to be horrible for Brock (and the rest of us) but he'll just have to tough it out. Maybe he'll even be throwing the shotput this year too, he would be great at that! </div>
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I was proud of Brock this week when he was awarded the Desert Hills High School lineman of the year award. Brock was excited and felt honored to win that award. It wasn't an easy award to get, There's a bunch of good lineman on the team, so it was especially great. Brock's lucky because not only does he have the heart and drive to be a good football player, but he was blessed with physical attributes as well. You see Brock and you think, football player, he's one lucky kid, but he works his guts out every day as well....both during the season and during the off season. He works hard and is extremely driven. He's already missing playing basketball this year, he's been playing since he was 4-years-old, but we have to get his ankle fixed, there was no way he could play on it again this year. Maybe next year he'll be able to play again. We're hoping for an easy, successful surgery. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zdwYMq-vDSE/UK0cSdvFBXI/AAAAAAAACLg/fM1BOib14gQ/s1600/brockaward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zdwYMq-vDSE/UK0cSdvFBXI/AAAAAAAACLg/fM1BOib14gQ/s320/brockaward.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm such a lucky mom!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Brock
and Coach Franke-Brock loves all of his coaches. He looks up to them and
I love that they are all such great examples for him. He knows that they
are always watching out for him and will do anything for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Britt-
Britt is getting her tonsils out on December 13th. I've had a lot of
people ask me why she's getting them out right now while things are so crazy
for us. Believe me, it's not a choice, we really don't want to do it.
In September Britt got an abscess on one of her tonsils that almost
needed to be removed surgically. The ENT told us then that Britt needed
her tonsils out ASAP. Unfortunately, Britt is also in college and can't
just miss class, especially with all of the credits she's taking. She
also needs to maintain a high GPA to keep her scholarship. Her Christmas
break begins the week of December 13th, so that's when we have to do it.
She really doesn't want to get her tonsils out either. The doctor
looked right at her and told her to plan on at least 2 weeks of moderate to
severe pain, it's not going to be easy. Britt doesn't wake up from
anesthesia well either, it's not going to be fun, but it has to be done.
At least we know that this is a one-time thing, once they're out, they're
out forever! She'll be okay, I don't think it's going to be as bad as she
thinks. Hopefully, she'll be feeling better by Christmas.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Me-
Physically, I feel great. I don't need any surgery, and I never get sick.
My only problem is that I keep getting big knots in my shoulders and
neck, but that's nothing a little massage here and there won't cure. I
know that I carry my stress in my shoulder/neck area, and the massage
technicians always love to inform me of that as well. If there's anything
I do need, it's probably a psychiatric evaluation! No, I'm just
kidding, I'm actually pretty good right now. I felt sorry for myself for
a while, then I got mad, but now I just shrug my shoulder and say,
"Whatever, bring it on, we can do it!" I am not currently winning the weight loss battle though. I'm just maintaining, and that might have to be okay for a little while. Losing weight is hard enough when you don't have a bunch of other things to stress about, trying to lose at stressful times is almost impossible for me. Abby and I decided that we're going to start running and try to work our way up to running a 5k. It should be fun to get in shape together.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">
We, as a family, have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
Even though it's been harder to remember those things lately, I know
they're there. I'm grateful that we get to be home together almost this
whole break and we don't have anything scheduled until Sunday when Abby and I
have to go back to Salt Lake for clinic. We need some down time. I'm so
grateful for my friends that I work with at school. I can't tell you how
many times they've had to cover for me when I've been stuck in Salt Lake or had
to leave in a hurry. They make my job so much better. I'm thankful
for my job. I love teaching school this year. My classes are
incredible and I love teaching them, it's really fun, in fact, I have a blast
teaching. I love it. I'm grateful for our house and the
neighborhood we live in. I love where we live, and we are surrounded by
great people. I know they are always willing to step in and help out
whenever we need them. I'm grateful that my family all lives here in St.
George or in Salt Lake and that we get to spend time with them often. We
probably take this for granted, but I know a lot of people that aren't able to
spend time with their family this Thanksgiving, and that would be hard. I'm so, so incredibly thankful for my "heart family." They completely understand what I'm going through and know what to say and do, they know just what I need to hear. They can relate to my ups and downs because they've been there too. I'm always thankful for them. I'm always thankful for Abby's transplant team and all they've done for our Abby as well as my family. I know that I can always rely on them to do what's best for Abby and her continued care. It makes me feel better knowing that I can always trust what they do. Especially this time of year, but really always, I'm grateful for Abby's donor and their family. I think of them
often, almost daily. Without their selfless decision,
Abby wouldn't be here with us, and that's something that I'll never forget. I will never forget how grateful I am for them, they're always close to my heart. At the top of my thankful list is always my 3 kids. Even when they're trying to push me to my
max, like they are this month, I'm still so thankful. I think I'm the luckiest mom alive!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">
A few weeks ago, when I was having such a hard time and feeling so
sorry for myself, a good friend sent me this quote. It helped me get out
of my funk. I told her that I would post it on my next blog for any of you that hadn't heard it before. She told me to just insert "Child with
a life-threatening disease" instead of a "Child with Cancer."</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">THE CHOSEN MOTHERS </span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">By Erma Bombeck <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by
social pressures, and a couple by habit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">Did you ever wonder how mothers of children with life threatening
illnesses are chosen? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting His
instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant
ledger. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">"Armstrong, Beth, son, patron saint Matthew. Forrest,
Marjorie, daughter, patron saint Cecilia. Rutledge, Carrie, twins, patron saint
Gerard." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">Finally, He passes a name to an angel and says, "Give her a
child with cancer." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">The angel is curious. "Why this one God? She's so
happy." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">"Exactly" smiles God, "Could I give a child with
cancer a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">"But, does she have patience?" asks the angel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown
in a sea of self-pity and despair. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">Once the shock and resentment wears off, she will handle
it." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and
independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child
I'm going to give her has it's own world. She has to make it live in her world
and that's not going to be easy." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">"But, Lord, I don't think she believes in you." No
matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough
selfishness." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">The angel gasps -"Selfishness? is that a virtue?" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child
occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with
a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied.
She will never take anything her child does for granted. She will never
consider a single step ordinary. I will permit her to see clearly the things I
see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice...and allow her to rise above them."
She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her
life, because she is doing My work as surely as if she is here by My
side." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">"And what about her patron Saint?" asks the angel. His
pen poised in mid-air. God smiles, "A mirror will suffice."</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;">I hope
you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Thank you all for your
continued thoughts and prayers for my family.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<br />Britt or Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14214412511328378976noreply@blogger.com3