i mean WOW~
that is really all i can say...other than a few explicatives. as if we needed anything else to "deal" with.
we have been fighting a BROWN RECLUSE INFESTATION in our HOUSE for about a month now! we have lived here almost 3 years and never had a problem. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere they are EVERYWHERE!
the first one i found was over 1 inch from leg to leg. It was hangin out in my bathtub. :/ at the time i had never seen a brown recluse up close. so after i killed it i googled them to see what they looked like. and to my horror, thats what it was.
about 1 week after i saw the first one in our house, my neighbor got bit on the foot by one in his house.
and every since we have found dozens, all sizes from babies to BIG ones.
this sucks, because all the research i have done says that they are resistant to commercial pesticides. it will just make them aggressive and kill off anything else which in turn makes more food for THEM! wth???
i have NO clue where they came from. all i know is that there have been tons and they have been found in every room of the house. *sigh* we have glue traps everywhere. yikes
ps-2 days ago, i also found a scorpion in the living room. nice
Sunday, July 10, 2011
I am so crazy with emotion today
This is one that I do NOT even know what to do....
*sigh*
I have been thru alot in my 37 years...and considering I have come out pretty "normal". I have manged to stay strong and usually positive. I thank my MOTHER for making me a strong woman. But how much can one take? I have to stay strong for everyone else. Thats what mothers and wives do. But when does someone stay strong for me? The funny thing is that my family doesnt notice me being there for them. well my mom does. but thats because shes been in my shoes. even SHE says she doesnt know how i do it.
My faith is strong and will never be broken...and I believe that is what carries me thru these things.
*sigh*
I have been thru alot in my 37 years...and considering I have come out pretty "normal". I have manged to stay strong and usually positive. I thank my MOTHER for making me a strong woman. But how much can one take? I have to stay strong for everyone else. Thats what mothers and wives do. But when does someone stay strong for me? The funny thing is that my family doesnt notice me being there for them. well my mom does. but thats because shes been in my shoes. even SHE says she doesnt know how i do it.
My faith is strong and will never be broken...and I believe that is what carries me thru these things.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Update on day 1
Well as I said he started at 5:30 this morning. When i checked on him at 9 this morning, he said he felt "ok".
I got him up around 1:30 pm to get ready to head to work. The side effects are kicking in. Hes runnin a temp with the chills. His body aches all over and his stomach is upset. He cant any eat, food just doesnt sound good to him right now. Altho Ive stressed to him and so hasa the nurse about eating to keep his energy up.
:/ dont like seein him this way and unfortunately this is only the beginning of the side effects.
I got him up around 1:30 pm to get ready to head to work. The side effects are kicking in. Hes runnin a temp with the chills. His body aches all over and his stomach is upset. He cant any eat, food just doesnt sound good to him right now. Altho Ive stressed to him and so hasa the nurse about eating to keep his energy up.
:/ dont like seein him this way and unfortunately this is only the beginning of the side effects.
It GO Time!
Well today is the day...
He started his Hepatitis C treatment today at 5:30 this morning. We were both anxious for him to start. He is taking a once a week Interferon injection along with Ribavirin and Incivek pills that he takes twice a day.
Incivek is a new med on the market, but it is supposed to have great success with people who have had little or no success in the past.
All 3 of the meds are reported to have nasty side effects. But everyone is different and I pray that he will be one of the people who can tolerate the meds without all the side effects.
Thats all folks!
God bless
He started his Hepatitis C treatment today at 5:30 this morning. We were both anxious for him to start. He is taking a once a week Interferon injection along with Ribavirin and Incivek pills that he takes twice a day.
Incivek is a new med on the market, but it is supposed to have great success with people who have had little or no success in the past.
All 3 of the meds are reported to have nasty side effects. But everyone is different and I pray that he will be one of the people who can tolerate the meds without all the side effects.
Thats all folks!
God bless
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Heres where we are with my husbands battle...
Again, he was diagnosed in early August with Hepatitis C.
He had symptoms of it but we attributed them to other things. He was exhausted all the time. But we just chalked that up to him working in the oil field for long hours in the heat. He had elevated liver functions and high triglycerides. Which could have been due to drinking alot of beer (which at that time he was) or eating fatty foods. We always just explained everything away.
He was having a check up for his work wellness program because his numbers were off. She asked us about testing for it. We didnt know, but figured why not with his history. Not ever suspecting anything would become of it.
The test came back and the nurse told me that he had Hepatitis C. At that time I didnt know anything about it, so it wasnt really anything that was scary. So I researched everything I could. It was kind of a shock. We do not know how or when he got it. Judging by how progressed it is, we are assuming 15 years or so. But its only a guess. He has had alot of tattoos (some homemade) and when he was younger he got into MANY fist fights, hes been in the military and gone overseas and had his fair share of problems with the law. So really no telling and at this stage it is really a moot point.
For the first couple of weeks, he took it really hard. He really didnt understand it completely (like most people dont) So he made alot of assumptions that were incorrect. He was depressed, wouldnt get out of bed on days off. But now that he has a better understanding about it, he deals with it much better. He talks freely about it with people. I do think he looks at things in life a little differently now for the better.
I have found since he has had this that people respond to it similar to the way they respond to bipolar disorder and other things they are misinformed about. For years I dealt with people and their ignorance about bipolar disorder. People dont understand if they havent been thru it. They would just make an assumption that my son was a "bad kid that just needed a good whoopin"...
The same is wth Hepatitis C. People it and freak out. News flash it is said that about 75% of people that have it DONT know about it. They say its 1 in 4. Yes, it is possible to get it from someone but only if you come into contact with their blood in some way. You will NOT get it by hugging him, shaking his hand, or even if he coughs or sneezes around you.
He wanted me to get tested for it, because unfortunately he gets hurt ALOT and im always the one there tending to the wounds. I did get tested and luckily I have tested negative. We were both thankful.
He had quit smoking around the end of 2009/beginning of 2010. Now he needed to give up the beer. He did...hesitantly. Then we find out that he cant have high fructose corn syrup because the liver can not break it down the same way it can not break down alcohol. Have you seen how many things that we eat or drink contain high fructose corn syrup? Practically everything. So now theres alot of things he cant have to eat or drink.
This is what makes him mad. He has come along way. He has been drug free for 4 1/2 years. He quit smoking a year and a half ago. He was just learning to be happy with "normal" life and felt like this was a punishment of sorts. That it wasnt fair, hes doing everything right and then this happens. But he turned things over to God and found a way to accept it. He did give up the beer and changed alot of the things he eats and drinks. He has had to give up the dipping because of the chemicals that they use to process it, again damging to liver. He has had to give up energy drinks, which he was having to have because he was literally wiped out ALL the time.
We found out that he was genotype 1a which is one of the hardest to treat with a relatively low response rate. They did a biopsy on his liver and that is when we found out that he was in stage 3 (the stage before cirrohsis). Lots of lab work all the time.
He was scheduled for an appt in December of 2010 where we thought he would start his treatments. But first they wanted to test him for a certain gene that people have. It could make treatment more difficult or not responsive at all. His viral count at that time was 900,000. Although that sounds like a high number, for Hepatitis C, that is actually a rather low number.
So unfortunately, he wasnt able to start in December because we had to wait to find out the results.
There are 3 genes. If one has a T/T gene, it has a better respone rate with the meds. The C/T gene doesnt have as good of a response rate and a C/C gene very little or no response. Well it turns out that he has the C/T gene.
So they want him to wait until some new meds came out this year so he would have a better chance at getting a sustained viral response and not developing a resistance to the meds. We were very disappointed as we were very anxious for him to start in December.
We went back in June and found out one of the new meds is out. So now if the insurance approves them, then he can start treatment. The only thing about the meds is that they are very expensive. The problem the insurance companies have with the new med is that it is not on the list.
His viral count is now 3,000,000. It has more than tripled since our last visit. He has had more symptoms on a daily basis such as night sweats, dizziness, lightheadedness, confusion, exhaustion, muscle aches and pains and so on.
Heres where we are on this...the duration of his treatment depends on several things. He will be taking 3 meds. (1 injection, and 2 different types of pills) He will have lots of lab appts and dr appts. All 3 of the meds have nasty side effects. But different people respond differently. They may affect him, they may not. We wont know until he takes them how they will or wont affect him. He could become very anemic with the meds. One med can affect the red blood cells, while another can affect the white blood cells. His immune system will be very susceptible to things.
If he responds and at the first 4 week interval, if his viral count is below 1000 they will continue treatment. If at 3 months he is still responding they will decide whether to treat him for 24 weeks or 48 weeks. If by chance he is responding but slowly they might even increase it to 72 weeks of treatment. However, if at 4 weeks his viral count is NOT below 1000, they will discontinue treatment so he doesnt build up a resistance to the meds.
We got word just Friday that they did approve the meds and they will be here on Wednesday! YAY! He says that he wants to start them on Thursday. I worry about what kind of side effects he will have. But I know hes ready to try and get over this so he can feel better. I hate watching him be miserable all the time.
Will give updates as we have them. Thanks to everyone that has expressed concern and support!!! God bless
He had symptoms of it but we attributed them to other things. He was exhausted all the time. But we just chalked that up to him working in the oil field for long hours in the heat. He had elevated liver functions and high triglycerides. Which could have been due to drinking alot of beer (which at that time he was) or eating fatty foods. We always just explained everything away.
He was having a check up for his work wellness program because his numbers were off. She asked us about testing for it. We didnt know, but figured why not with his history. Not ever suspecting anything would become of it.
The test came back and the nurse told me that he had Hepatitis C. At that time I didnt know anything about it, so it wasnt really anything that was scary. So I researched everything I could. It was kind of a shock. We do not know how or when he got it. Judging by how progressed it is, we are assuming 15 years or so. But its only a guess. He has had alot of tattoos (some homemade) and when he was younger he got into MANY fist fights, hes been in the military and gone overseas and had his fair share of problems with the law. So really no telling and at this stage it is really a moot point.
For the first couple of weeks, he took it really hard. He really didnt understand it completely (like most people dont) So he made alot of assumptions that were incorrect. He was depressed, wouldnt get out of bed on days off. But now that he has a better understanding about it, he deals with it much better. He talks freely about it with people. I do think he looks at things in life a little differently now for the better.
I have found since he has had this that people respond to it similar to the way they respond to bipolar disorder and other things they are misinformed about. For years I dealt with people and their ignorance about bipolar disorder. People dont understand if they havent been thru it. They would just make an assumption that my son was a "bad kid that just needed a good whoopin"...
The same is wth Hepatitis C. People it and freak out. News flash it is said that about 75% of people that have it DONT know about it. They say its 1 in 4. Yes, it is possible to get it from someone but only if you come into contact with their blood in some way. You will NOT get it by hugging him, shaking his hand, or even if he coughs or sneezes around you.
He wanted me to get tested for it, because unfortunately he gets hurt ALOT and im always the one there tending to the wounds. I did get tested and luckily I have tested negative. We were both thankful.
He had quit smoking around the end of 2009/beginning of 2010. Now he needed to give up the beer. He did...hesitantly. Then we find out that he cant have high fructose corn syrup because the liver can not break it down the same way it can not break down alcohol. Have you seen how many things that we eat or drink contain high fructose corn syrup? Practically everything. So now theres alot of things he cant have to eat or drink.
This is what makes him mad. He has come along way. He has been drug free for 4 1/2 years. He quit smoking a year and a half ago. He was just learning to be happy with "normal" life and felt like this was a punishment of sorts. That it wasnt fair, hes doing everything right and then this happens. But he turned things over to God and found a way to accept it. He did give up the beer and changed alot of the things he eats and drinks. He has had to give up the dipping because of the chemicals that they use to process it, again damging to liver. He has had to give up energy drinks, which he was having to have because he was literally wiped out ALL the time.
We found out that he was genotype 1a which is one of the hardest to treat with a relatively low response rate. They did a biopsy on his liver and that is when we found out that he was in stage 3 (the stage before cirrohsis). Lots of lab work all the time.
He was scheduled for an appt in December of 2010 where we thought he would start his treatments. But first they wanted to test him for a certain gene that people have. It could make treatment more difficult or not responsive at all. His viral count at that time was 900,000. Although that sounds like a high number, for Hepatitis C, that is actually a rather low number.
So unfortunately, he wasnt able to start in December because we had to wait to find out the results.
There are 3 genes. If one has a T/T gene, it has a better respone rate with the meds. The C/T gene doesnt have as good of a response rate and a C/C gene very little or no response. Well it turns out that he has the C/T gene.
So they want him to wait until some new meds came out this year so he would have a better chance at getting a sustained viral response and not developing a resistance to the meds. We were very disappointed as we were very anxious for him to start in December.
We went back in June and found out one of the new meds is out. So now if the insurance approves them, then he can start treatment. The only thing about the meds is that they are very expensive. The problem the insurance companies have with the new med is that it is not on the list.
His viral count is now 3,000,000. It has more than tripled since our last visit. He has had more symptoms on a daily basis such as night sweats, dizziness, lightheadedness, confusion, exhaustion, muscle aches and pains and so on.
Heres where we are on this...the duration of his treatment depends on several things. He will be taking 3 meds. (1 injection, and 2 different types of pills) He will have lots of lab appts and dr appts. All 3 of the meds have nasty side effects. But different people respond differently. They may affect him, they may not. We wont know until he takes them how they will or wont affect him. He could become very anemic with the meds. One med can affect the red blood cells, while another can affect the white blood cells. His immune system will be very susceptible to things.
If he responds and at the first 4 week interval, if his viral count is below 1000 they will continue treatment. If at 3 months he is still responding they will decide whether to treat him for 24 weeks or 48 weeks. If by chance he is responding but slowly they might even increase it to 72 weeks of treatment. However, if at 4 weeks his viral count is NOT below 1000, they will discontinue treatment so he doesnt build up a resistance to the meds.
We got word just Friday that they did approve the meds and they will be here on Wednesday! YAY! He says that he wants to start them on Thursday. I worry about what kind of side effects he will have. But I know hes ready to try and get over this so he can feel better. I hate watching him be miserable all the time.
Will give updates as we have them. Thanks to everyone that has expressed concern and support!!! God bless
10 months in 10 minutes
I havent been updating the blog for almost a year. Life gets in the way sometimes. Id be lying if I said nothing much has been happening. I believe my last post was somewhere around august of 2010. I dont even know where to begin. Things have been kinda overwhelming for quite sometime. In a nutshell, heres a summation of 10 months in about 10 minutes...
Since August, lots of Dr appts and tests for my husband. We were going to some Dr or having some lab drawn seems every "days off". That had eased up a bit, however it is about to pick back up as he starts his treatment.
Lots of babies born on the farm. We have had several months of just nonstop babies hitting the ground. we had 7 calves, 3 kids, 12 goslings, 24 chicks, 5 ducklings, and 9 lambs. That is something that always makes ya happy :)
After several wild and crazy years, Harley adopted Dakota. It has really been a good thing for both of them. Since Harley decided to adopt Dakota, there has been a substantial change in Dakota and his behavior (for the better). He is so proud of Harley and likewise, Harley is so proud of him. It is great. Dakota got academic and mathmatic honors this year and he received commended scores on science, social studies, and reading on the TAKS test. Way to go Dakota SCANLON!
On many levels the 2 of them are exactly alike. Im not convinced that Dakota is somehow secretly Harleys biological child. They are too much alike in every way.
Kenzie is now a teenager!! OMG She finished 10th in her class this year. She would have been higher if BOYS hadnt clogged her brain this year. Shes beautiful, but luckily the boys are afraid of Harley! lol
We adopted Floyd out to a new home. I wouldnt have let him go anywhere else. He is a great dog and has a wonderful home with my dear friend Nicole. He has a large yard he can run around in and loves the kids. It was a perfect fit. I miss him :( but I know hes happy :)
March brought along with it my dad falling ill. He was moved to Texas on our property so he could be taken care of. He is doing considerably better now. That is kind of interesting having my mother on one side of us and having him on the other.
We are dying here with no rain. The pastures are burning up. We get chances of rain, and somehow it always seems to rain everywhere but where we are. It will make for a hard winter with hay. But all is not lost. I still have faith.
My mom is doing much better than she was. She still has some issues that the Dr has to figure out, but all in all shes doing much better.
My mother in law is up and down with her battle against the myeloma. Just as soon as she makes a miraculous recovery, something else happens. I dont even know where to start with that one.
I had the surgery on my left hand in April. Im so thankful. Now I dont have the issues with the carpal tunnel anymore. I can use both hands without the pain and numbness. I had a wonderful Dr at Baylor! I have most of the strength back in my left hand now. So both are almost back to normal. It is great.
Through it all one thing has been a constant, or faith in God. He always provides and pulls us through.
Things my mom taught me...
I could go on and on about things my mom taught me. I imagine this post will be in parts. lol
My favorite: My mom used to sing a couple songs to me when I was a kid. She doesnt remember where she first heard them, but they are cute and catchy :)
The first one goes:
I have a horse, his name's Napoleon. Named him for his boney parts.
He can win in any horse race...if you give him a big head start! :)
Then theres:
I have a dog, his name is Fido. I have raised him from a pup.
He can stand up on his hind legs....if you hold his front legs up! :)
I love those and love my mom! :D
My favorite: My mom used to sing a couple songs to me when I was a kid. She doesnt remember where she first heard them, but they are cute and catchy :)
The first one goes:
I have a horse, his name's Napoleon. Named him for his boney parts.
He can win in any horse race...if you give him a big head start! :)
Then theres:
I have a dog, his name is Fido. I have raised him from a pup.
He can stand up on his hind legs....if you hold his front legs up! :)
I love those and love my mom! :D
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