This year has had highs and lows, but I’m come out unscathed… for the most part.
My nephew Jesse was admitted to the hospital on January 8th, 2010. To start at the beginning, My sister Hailey had noticed that he was grunting a lot and she just thought that he was trying to poop, but then he started throwing up when she would feed him and he was sleeping more and more. She took him to the doctor and told her all this and they ordered a chest x-ray and some blood work. As soon as we go back to the doctor’s office they put an oxygen meter on him and his levels were really low, they put oxygen on him and another doctor came in to try and put an IV in him because he was so dehydrated, but they couldn't get one in. They called the ambulance and told me that they are going to transport us to the hospital in Tucson because he has pneumonia.
My Sister Hailey, and Brother-in-law Cam get to the hospital and they do all their own labs and x-rays and the doctor came in a told them that there is some fluid in his chest cavity and that they will probably have to put a chest tube in to drain all the fluid out. The put in the chest tube and did cultures but nothing came back to say why he had pneumonia. They did some other tests on the fluid and they came back that the fluid was really fatty and that is called chyle (said like Kyle). They couldn't figure out why he was putting out all this chyle and so they were doing lots of research and trying to figure things out. There were a lot of diagnoses put out but none of them were right. One of his doctors said that they needed to send all of his labs and films to Boston Children's Hospital to see what they think, because they are kind of the leaders on diagnosing kids when no one knows what it wrong.
They said that they believe that he has something wrong with his lymph nodes. And what that is they weren't sure. So the surgeons at Tucson tried to close off any leaks that they could see but they were all unsuccessful. The doctors told us that there was nothing that they could do for him in Tucson and the doctors in Cincinnati were thinking that they could really help him.
So they left Tucson last Friday evening to go out to Cincinnati, Cam had to stay in Arizona for his job. There was a team of one nurse, one doctor and one respiratory therapist that came out to move Jesse to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Dr. Adams is his doctor In Cincinnati, she is wonderful. She is one of the only lymph node specialists in the world. They are doing a study here with a drug called rappromysin or sirolimus and it to slow the growth of his lymph nodes down because they are over active. And that is why he is leaking out so much fluid into his body. They did a CT scan yesterday and they found that from his chest to his pelvis have malformed lymph nodes. Some of his bones are affected and his spleen is affected. The spleen is a giant lymph node so they said that is normal when someone has lymph node malformation. He is doing great now, he was able to go home June 7th and I am so grateful to all the blessing that have come to pass with this whole situation. Hailey, Cam and Jesse now live in Cincinnati and like it a lot. The drug they have him on is doing what it is supposed to, I am so excited to see them on December 13, 2010. They will be here until January!!
In July my dad, Mark, was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I felt like the world had stopped spinning. All I could think about is my friend Logan and how he lost his dad to cancer a few years ago. But me being me, I didn’t let it show, to my family or friends. It’s not that I’m cold or unfeeling, I don’t just don’t believe in showing emotion to the whole world, “There’s no crying in baseball!” is one of my favorite quotes and I believe that it applies to life, The only person I really ever cry in front of is my best friend Kimberly. She knows everything about me and still loves me and always will.
My dad decided to have surgery to have the cancer removed; it was a long recovery process but is now cancer free, which I am so grateful for. I would be so lost without the guidance of family, friends, and Heavenly Father.
In August Kimberly, Kelsey and I went to Cedar City for the Shakespeare Festival!! It was one of the most fun vacations that I’ve ever been on!!! We Left on the 11th and stayed until the 14th. It was so so so much fun!!! We shared a hotel room and went to two plays while we were there “Much Ado About Nothing”, and “The Merchants of Venice”. They were really amazing!!! I’m so excited to go back next year!!! We got to spend some time with our friend Raechel which was a lot of fun!
Also in August I started my second job! It is called Paradigm Solutions/Medical Group. I love working here. The people I work with are great! I stay busy and I really enjoy it!
On October 6th I was in my first car accident. It was one of the worst experiences of my life! I was making a left hand turn, but the light had turned yellow and I was in the middle of the intersection. The first two lanes of traffic had stopped and I couldn’t see a car in the third lane so I started to turn, however there was someone in that third lane who decided to keep going instead of stopping so we crashed into each other. Oh and by the way I was in one of the cars from Murdock Hyundai. The cops and paramedics arrived on the scene and ended up putting me on a back board with a neck brace. The then took me to IMC hospital where over a four hour period had a X-ray and Cat scan all the while being on that stupid Back board! I am fine nothing was wrong with me except some whiplash.
After my accident I was fired from Murdock Hyundai over the phone, which really pissed me off! It was just so cowardly and unfair! However I am ok with it now I love the job I have at Paradigm, it is a great place to work!!!
It’s now December and I’m starting to look back on this past year and I see how far Ive come and all that has been accomplished in my life!! And I can wait to see what 2011 brings me besides turning 21!!!!!!!!! I know it’s a really long post but I have set a date once a month to blog so they won’t all be this long anymore!!!
Hope this finds you well!
Much happiness and Joy,
Raygan
