Modern society invades my home

My kids are leading a fairly sheltered life. We are very active in our Catholic church, the kids all attend Catholic schools and nearly all of their friends are Catholic. But, this past week, they made some new friends.

Last Monday, our neighbor's house caught fire. They have lived there for less than a year and, even though we know them well enough to say hello, we really don't know them well. That has now changed. When I saw the firetrucks, I immediately went over to check on them. They had an attic fire that started above their four year old son's room. It was a chilly morning and they were all huddled together in the front yard while the fire department did their job inside. I offered to take the kids (Christy, 7 and Ronnie, 4) to my house while the adults dealt with the aftermath. The kids gladly came with me and they got along great with my kids.

I am always careful of what my kids are exposed to when around new people, especially new kids. I am particular about what movies and T.V. shows my kids watch, what toys they play with, etc. Also, I tend to eavesdrop on their conversations because you never know what some kids are going to "teach" my kids.

So, here is a conversation I overheard between Christy and Sophia.

Christy : I have two dads and two brothers. One of my brothers is older than me and lives in Bishop so I don't see him much. You're lucky you get to see your brothers a lot. My cousin has three dads and two sisters but she never gets to see her sisters. Two of her dads lived with her at the same time and she used to call one of them uncle, but when her dad moved out she had to start calling her uncle dad. How many dads do you have?

Sophia : Umm. I think I just have one.

Christy : Only one? So how did you get so many brothers and a sister?

While trying to smother my laughter at the total befuddlement of both girls, I was also greatly saddened. For Christy, immersed in "modern" society, multiple fathers and random siblings is completely normal. Divorce, remarriage, half siblings, step siblings, all of these are everyday occurrences for most people. However, we are quite happy in our sheltered little world with one father, one mother, and regular siblings that you have to live with all the time.

My latest medical update

I do my best not to focus on the pain and fatigue that my RA causes me. Some days are better than others, and right now it happens to be nearly impossible to ignore.

For many, many weeks I have been taking Prednisone in addition to my regular RA medication, Methotrexate. I hate taking Prednisone. It makes me moody, anxious, moody, hungry, and moody. Did I mention moody? Well, I have tried weaning off, but my pain and fatigue quickly return, so I am temporarily stuck with it. I visited my rheumatologist on Tuesday and, when he listed to all my current maladies, he suggested we switch up my meds. I have known this was coming (which is partly why I haven't been to see him in months) but I am at the point where I am definitely ready for something to change.

So, after a ton of blood work (9 vials!!) I will be starting Enbrel this next week. Enbrel is one of the newer, injection style treatments for RA. Many women in my RA support group are taking it and each one of them has had wonderful results from it. I will, for the time being, remain on the Prednisone and Methotrexate. The Enbrel will take 4-6 weeks to really start working and once it is working then I can start scaling back on the other meds, starting with the Prednisone. Once I am completely off the Prednisone we will try reducing the Methotrexate. I have at minimum a few months before we will now how the new meds are working, but I am hopeful that I will start to return to a more normal state. Well, normal for me at least.

Fall Luncheon

I posted some pictures on Facebook, but I thought I would post a few here with some explanation on the Fall Luncheon for those unfamiliar.

Every year, Sacred Heart School hosts the annual Fall Luncheon. Every year there is an overall theme with each table doing a different take on that theme. There are twelve tables, each seating 40 people. Table hostesses are responsible for decorating their table, providing small gifts and raffles, and generally ensuring that your table guests have a good time.

This year's theme was Golden Jubilee since this was the 50th anniversary of the Luncheon. Our table decided on a 50th wedding anniversary as our theme. Other themes included Queen's Jubilee, King Midas, Golden Ticket (Willie Wonka), Pirate Treasure, the Oscars, Hollywood Walk of Fame, California the Golden State, etc.

For our table we were able to find parishoners who had just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, so we were able to honor them at our table. Our color scheme was white and gold and we were even able to get a wedding cake! The table, though a lot of hard work, turned out beautifully. The two most important parts - our guests were pleased and we were able to raise money for the school.




May God continue to bless Ernest and Maria Columna. They are truly an inspiration for us all.

Thank God for health insurance

Today, I am celebrating the fact that I have great health insurance!

Today was Sebastian's first of many visits to the dermatologist. I really liked the doctor, despite the fact that he looks about 12 years old. He was great about taking the time to explain everything to me - not only the specifics about vitiligo, but also the many treatments available. He was quick to explain that there is no cure and, though there are many treatments, not every treatment works for everyone. The biggest concern is that this vitiligo is called "confetti" vitiligo, meaning that it doesn't have a regular pattern but is scattered all over the body. Confetti vitiligo can be very aggressive, but the doctor is fairly confidant that we will be able to slow/stop progression because we are catching and treating very early in it's development.

Step one is a non-steroidal topical immuno-suppresant. As I said before, his immune system is attacking the melanocytes, so the hope is that this topical will suppress his immune system only in those spots. If this doesn't work, we will then graduate to a steroid based immuno-suppresant. There are a number of these with different levels of steroids that we can try. If none of those are helpful, there is also treatment with UV lights. The doctor definitely doesn't want to think about that yet due to Sebastian's age. He doesn't recommend UV light therapy until at least 10 years old or if the vitiligo is really severe. So, we were given a prescription for his cream and an appointment in 6 weeks. The doctor made sure that I understood that if the spots increase or worsen before the 6 weeks we should get in sooner.

At the pharmacy counter, I was surprised to be charged $30 copay for this tube of ointment. Then I looked at the "actual cost" - $256!!! Holy cow!

So, today I am extremely thankful for Kaiser Permanente. I know that not everyone thinks highly of Kaiser, but I couldn't be happier. With Sebastian's first visit to the pediatrician, there was never a hesitation to run tests. On Friday, I emailed the doctor requesting a referral to dermatology because I was concerned about finding more spots. By Monday afternoon I had an appointment booked for Wednesday morning. All of this, on top of the prescription cost, makes me so relieved that we have the insurance coverage that we have.

I know that not everyone is as fortunate as we are, and I pray those who aren't able to receive the health care that they need.

Adding another chapter to the Schalow medical drama

Over the summer, Sebastian developed a spot on his neck which, over the last few months, has lost all pigment. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a few more small white spots on his neck. I decided to take him in to the pediatrician and he took one look and said "Vitiligo."
Now, for anyone not familiar with this, it is a condition in which the immune system attacks and damages/kills melanocytes, causing depigmentation of skin. Hmmm, a retarded immune system, I wonder where he got that?
The good news is that, unlike some cases of vitiligo, Sebastian's doesn't seem to be related to any other auto-immune diseases. He had all kinds of blood work done and everything came back normal. There are some treatments available for vitiligo, but there is no cure. We are waiting on an appointment with the dermatologist and, until then, counting spots.

Influences

We all have friends who influence us. Some are good influences, some are, well, hmmm.

I know that, for me, the more time I spend with someone, the more they influence me. With this thought in mind, have you prayed today? We all need to remember the importance of spending "quality time" with our Lord. The more time we spend with him, the more we allow him to influence our lives.

Here's another question for you - what do you talk about when you pray? We all have those friends who, at every opportunity, tell us everything that is wrong in their lives. Their world is always on the brink of disaster. They are rarely hopeful or joyful. Is that how we are talking to God? Are we always complaining, demanding, or sorrowful? Guess what - God wants to hear the good things, too! Obviously, we all have difficulties and we certainly need to share them with God (and our friends) but we also need to remember to find the joy in our lives and share that as well. What would happen to our spiritual life if prayer was only an opportunity to complain? Remember that having a good relationship with someone means sharing your sorrows AND your joys.

So, on this celebration of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, pray with joy in your heart. Spend some time with our Lord and let Him influence you today.

(Thanks to Abbot Damien for inspiring this post.)

I am still here

I am so embarrassed to realize it has been weeks since I last posted anything. Sorry! In my defense, it truly has been a crazy couple of weeks. I will give a quick synopsis.

First, Darian is running on the school cross country team. Since the end of August, this has involved practice after school twice a week and a race once a week. His last race will be this Thursday, so I am hoping for some of our craziness to die down a bit. He has LOVED doing this and, even though he is nowhere near the quickest boy on the team, he is hoping to continue running and be on the team again next year.

Another milestone for us has been my two youngest have both started preschool. Sebastian has been attending for over a year, but September 1st was the beginning of Vibiana's preschool career. She is loving it. They go two days a week, from 9:00 to 5:00. Vibiana adores her teacher and I can already see her maturing. She is speaking more clearly and in more complete sentences. Also, she is mostly potty trained. She has not had an accident at school, and at home she is improving. My biggest difficulty with the potty training is the amount of time we spend in the car - it is 1/2 hour to town and sometimes we get halfway there and she needs to go potty. Since there is nothing/nowhere to stop, I just put her in pull-ups when we are driving places.

Sophia is having some difficulties academically and we will be having her tested for dyslexia. She is having a hard time "flipping" numbers and letters and it has reached a point where her teacher is a little concerned. She is also having a hard time focusing. At this point, we need to find out exactly what is going on with her so that we can do what we need to do to help her. She is a great kid and I don't want her to either fall behind academically or start to feel like she is a failure. So, will see if extra work/help on our part is enough or if we need to contact an outside tutor.

On top of all the "kid" stuff, my RA has been giving me problems and Jason has been really busy and stressed at work. Diaconate formation is back in full swing and right now we are just trying to keep ahead of it all. Also, Jason was in a car accident and now our insurance has denied the claim. I won't go into all the horrid details, but we will be involved in fighting our insurance company.

Many days I think of this great quote from Mother Theresa : “I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much.”

Yep. I really wouldn't mind if you eased up a bit, Lord.