We’re still here! I swear!

I’m sure everyone is wondering what the heck happened. Here I am posting a cry for help prior to the LifeBanc event & then BAM! Nothin! I do have an explanation, albeit not a great one, but it is an explanation just the same.

It really boils down to a collection of issues.

First, I hate sitting at my computer at home. My den is not as well lit as I’d like and the keyboard is in an awkward position making it a challenge to type anything. Not to mention that my mouse hates my desk and refuses to register half the time. Where is my mouse pad? Excellent question and as soon as I figure that out I’ll let you know.

Second, getting on my computer at home is not an easy task. There are two little girls in my house who spend hours at a time on it, stalking the people at Radio Disney.

Third, I decided last fall that I desperately needed a career change. Every time I got on my computer that time was spent updating my resume, scouring job listings and emailing people about possible jobs. I’m happy to announce that at the end of December I did manage to find another job. All my months of hard work ended up being completely pointless because I took a promotion at my current company.

Fourth, I didn’t realize it until recently but my browser was out of date. Every time I did finally get here to update, I’d get it all typed out but when I hit post, it disappeared!!!!! This, coupled with the first issue, caused me to become angry and need to walk away before causing my computer to have a nasty accident. About a month ago, my sister said she was going to do some needed site updates & I thought Eureka! this will fix the problem. Nope. Apparently all this trouble was due to an out of date browser. I’ve upgraded to Google Chrome & it’s been smooth sailing. Stupid technology.

So please forgive me. I’ll try to do much better from here on out. I promise. To sweeten the pot, I’m including some pictures in this update. Hopefully you’ll all be so blown away by the beautiful young woman Zoe is growing into that you’ll forgive the transgressions of her overworked and underpaid mother.

Gift of Life Walk/Run Results:

This year was not our largest team as I had hoped. Due to work schedules, prior engagements, injuries, etc… we lost 971004_617480201617085_315479063_nquite a few of our team members. According my calculations, we came in just $115 shy of our fundraising goal. We raised $1,185 for LifeBanc. Not too shabby for our little group. I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Tom Breno and the Strongsville Optimists Club. They have given us our largest single donation for the past 3 years. We couldn’t do it without you fantastic ladies & gentlemen. Maybe some of you will consider joining the team in 2014 & participating in the event with us. Zoe’s Heart would love to have you! Just so everyone else knows, I plan to set the fundraising goal at $1,500 for 2014. You’ve got 8 months to do what you need to do to make sure you can join the team or make a donation. This will be our 5th year at the event so let’s make THIS our biggest year yet! WooHoo!

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Heartiversary  

This was a milestone heartiversary for us. Zoe has reached 5 years post-transplant. This means that she will be on an annual biopsy schedule instead of the bi-annual schedule she’s been at. This also means that she will have her regular check-ups with Dr. B. every 6 months as opposed to every 3. This is a huge thing for Zoe and to honor her last 5 years, I ran 5 miles for her that day. She asked if I plan to do that every year (1 mile for every year on every heartiversary). I do plan to make this a regular practice. What am I going to on her 20th heartiversary she asked me….. I laughed and told her that I’m going to try for 20 miles and hope I make it. We still haven’t heard from the donor family. Every year I think of their anniversary while we celebrate ours. I’m in the process of writing them another letter. I’m hoping that this is the year that they’re ready for us. I’d love to show them what their sacrifice has given the world. Thiers died and because of this mine lived. I truly believe that our children are meant to do great things together.

 

Biopsy/Dr visit updates

Zoe saw Dr. B. back in September for her check-up. Things looked good as always. Poor thing battles canker cores on a regular basis because of her immune system. She had especially nasty one (3 in one spot actually) during this visit so I.D. took a look at her and thankfully it’s not herpes virus related, just your average run of the mill canker sore. Had it been herpes we could have put her on maintanance   drugs to control outbreaks. I did some research though and changing to toothpaste without Sodium Laurel Sulfate has been shown to help. Finding toothpaste without SLS was nearly impossible, but I found one and that with some special mouthwash specifically to fight and control canker sores has helped immensely. Her next biopsy is scheduled for January 31st.

Misc. Updates

Zoe chopped all her hair off. It’s super short. She wanted to copy the style of a girl at dance, but honestly, it was ugly so she & I agreed on a style and it turned out cute. I do miss braiding her hair, but I don’t miss arguing about brushing it.

She’s got a birthday coming up. The big 1-2. She says she wants a quiet party at home. Ha! This kid doesn’t do anything nice and quiet. The bigger the better and she can’t get enough flash & bang. I suppose we’ll find a middle ground like we always do. All I know is that there’s a house full of screaming tween girls in my future. I can feel the headache already.

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