Allow me to blow your mind

I finally have a day off with nothing more pressing to do than my morning run. I know an update is LONG overdue and I hope zoesheart followers will forgive me. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day to accomplish all my lofty goals. I have much news to share so I’m going to break it up a little to make it easier to follow.

Biopsy/Check-up results:  Zoe had her bi-annual biopsy in January. Her results were a 1a & 0 as always so we’re pleased. Dr. Boyle said all her numbers looked good and was pleased that her cardiac output numbers were better than in the past. They’ve always been good, but this time they were better than good. She’s due for a check-up next month (April) and her next biopsy should be in July. We did have a brief weekend stay at the hotel Cleveland Clinic in January right before her biopsy. I blame an over-zealous ER doc. Zoe had been on antibiotics for a little bronchitis and that particular drug can be harsh on your system and gave Zoe some diarrhea which came with abdominal pain. She started complaining about the pain late on a Friday night so the local ER was our only option. After numerous (unnecessary, in my opinion) tests, the doc in charge decided to send us to the Clinic for “observation”. Apparently her fear was dehydration, but we didn’t know that at the time. There was poor communication all around and Dr. Boyle’s staff was not contacted prior to our little ambulance ride. The ER talked to the peds attending at the Clinic & not Zoe’s team like I suggested. Had Zoe’s team been notified I honestly don’t believe we would have gone anywhere but home. They know me and Zoe and they know I’d force liquid down her adorable little throat before I’d let her dehydrate because of some diarrhea. Once the right doctors got involved we got our walking papers and went home to salvage what was left of our weekend.

Flyathon: Flying Horse Farms, Zoe’s camp, is having a benefit to raise money for camp. On June 3rd. at Glacier Ridge Metro Park they will holding the first ever Flyathon. It’s an event for kids from ages 7-17. Zoe will be participating, naturally, and her age group will be doing a 1/4 mile run, followed by a 3 mile bike ride, and finishing up with a second 1/4 mile run. The fundraising goal for each participant is $350 and all the money goes to camp. She’s very excited and since mother nature has blessed up recently with such good weather, Zoe can begin her “training”. I’ll post more details here as soon as I have more information regarding sponsoring Zoe in the event.

LifeBanc & Channel 19 Action News: Channel 19 news in Cleveland has partnered with Lifebanc this year in their endeavor to raise awareness & register 20 million donors in 2012. On or around the 19th of every month Channel 19 will “go green” for organ donation. They shot a number of different promo spots for this purpose that are aired during the news hours. Lifebanc was nice enough to include Zoe in some of these promos. Go to http://www.woio.com/ and click on the Live to Give tab at the top of the page for more information or visit www.lifebanc.org. A number of different organ recipients were used in the promos so watch Channel 19 news to see these amazing stories of success. I don’t know when Zoe’s will used, so while we wait I’ve been given the link to view Zoe’s spots: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2Ftby3m-WiG_k&h=cAQHJVMBA & http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F0MXGextHzgU&h=HAQEe5nrJ

Birthday: Zoe turned 10 last week and we celebrated by letting her have friends sleep over. Amazingly, they were better behaved than the 14 year old boys we had sleep over 2 weeks before for Gabe’s birthday. She got a cell phone (10 is the cell phone birthday) and yesterday we went and got her ears double pierced. She officially feels like a tween now she says.  We’re grateful to her donor family everyday, but birthdays are a day when I’m exceptionally grateful. 10 is a milestone and we wouldn’t be here without the amazing gift Zoe has been given. rock on little muffin and here’s to many more birthdays!