Apparently, we really missed the hospital

IIIIIII’mmmmm baaaaaaaack, after over a week. The Girl and I have been in the hospital all week. Ironic isn’t it, The Husband finally gets home, he finally gets over the nausea, it finally stops snowing and the sun comes out, so instead of the family finally getting to hang out together we decided we missed the Cuneo hospital too much and needed to spent more time there. Sarcasm aside, the poor Girl got a terrible rash, which appears to be an allergic reaction to something mysterious. She looked like I had forgotten her in the midday sun in august in the Caribbean. It started around her mouth and nose and it spread to her face then her whole body, the only part of her that didn’t turn bright red were her legs and feet. It was really horrible, she screamed every time we touched her… at first I thought she had dislocated a shoulder or something (I’ve heard of that happening) so I took her to her doc on Thursday and she found an ear infection. She couldn’t explain the rash, but said that the pain was probably due to her ears…ha! We went home, dutifully started taken an antibiotic, but the next morning she was still in pain so I went back and was promptly sent to the hospital. There we started a whole other ball game. Watching a doctor and two nurses hold down a teeny little screaming baby while another doctor took blood from, I’m not kidding, both arms and both hands was the worst, most excruciatingly horrible moment of my life. The Husband had to leave the room. Anyway, they told us she had something called Stevens-Johnson syndrome, it’s a reaction to possibly bacteria, a virus or some medication. They don’t really know what causes it, just probable causes. (so informative!) Of course, The Girl hadn’t taken any medication when this happened, I hadn’t either (she’s still nursing, so that’s a factor), she had an ear infection but they excluded that this could be a reaction to whatever bacteria or virus caused that. The only other thing that could be a possible cause (and it’s definitely where I’m leaning) are the vaccines she had exactly one week prior to her symptoms starting… coincidence? Obviously, the doctors exclude that the vaccines could have caused this, but on the Mayo Clinic website it says that two of the illnesses that cause this syndrome are diphtheria and hepatitis, shockingly those were two of the six illnesses she was vaccinated for. Coincidence?

Ok, I’m done being a smart ass. (for now!) They kept us there for a week, though they couldn’t give her anything other than Tylenol and an antihistamine, and the hooked her up to a saline solution IV to keep her extra hydrated. The Girl was a total star, she didn’t complain about having an IV permanently stuck to her foot, she started smiling at all the nurses as soon as she started feeling a little better. Unfortunately, now she’s peeling like crazy, and that makes her very uncomfortable and itchy.

We staged a prison break on Thursday, they weren’t 100% comfortable letting us go, but we’re so close to the hospital that we felt ok going home. Everybody was thrilled with the plan, The Boy was happy to have us home, The Husband was thrilled at not having to go back and forth from the hospital, The Girl was happy there was nobody to poke and prod at her all day, and I’m ecstatic at sleeping in my lovely bed again.

Of course, the weather turned crap on us, but we think we may just have a couple of sunny days this week, so we can do outdoors type stuff before The Husband goes back in for his third and final round.

Tomorrow our friends The Brazilians are coming to visit so I’ll have something interesting to relate!

Today, The Husband and The Boy started on a series of home improvement projects The Husband has to cover before going back in. The Boy was thrilled to go to the hardware store, and to watch Daddy make holes in the wall with the noisy and dirt creating drill! Ok, over and out for now. Hopefully next time I’ll be more inspired and my writing style will have improved!!

Will the snow ever stop and why the heck is everyone sick?

Everybody is getting sick. The Boy has bronchitis and an infection in his gums, he had to take antibiotics, which made us none too happy, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and when the doc asked me how many times he’d taken them this winter and I told him he’d only taken them once when he was three months old for a UTI and never again I felt a little better about his having to take them now. (I know I’m a little paranoid, but I hate giving him meds, and I’m especially crazy about antibiotics!) And now The Girl’s got a cough and she’s all red and blotchy with what looks like some sort of allergic reaction so we’re off to the doc again. I’ve been fighting off a sore throat for a few days now, and am starting to worry that I’m going to OD on vitamin C and Echinacea and various homeopathic remedies. Ironically, The Husband is the only really healthy one here… 

It snowed here for two days straight, and I really mean two days straight, we’ve had about 3 feet of snow, which I’m totally thrilled about cause I really missed shoveling snow for the whole entire week we’ve managed to be snow-free, and of course I so didn’t want to have to put away my furry snow boots in favor of flats since technically spring is almost here, but hey when does the weather ever consult the calendar to find out how it should behave?!?!

I almost forgot, my brother G and sister in law M came to visit Saturday and Sunday. The Boy wasn’t in top form but The Girl made up for it by smiling all around (see they’re already helping each other out!). They arrived from Rome laden with pizza bianca (this bread-like pizza , or pizza-like bread, that they only make in Rome and that we use to make sandwiches– it’s divine and The Husband has been hankering after one for months) and fresh buffalo mozzarella. We were all very happy to see them and we spend a nice albeit brief two half-days with them. 

Unfortunately, Nana is leaving tomorrow, she has lots to do in Rome and I bet she’s pretty sick of the weather here (she also has to take advantage of the brief respite from all the snow to get on a plane and get the hell out of dodge, or she may be stuck here for another two weeks).

As far as The Husband is concerned, he’s doing okay, he’s pretty nauseous all the time and he’s been having to go into the hospital pretty often for tests and stuff to get him ready for the transplant. I won’t get into the whole transplant bit now, but it’s freaking us out some.

Argh, I’m not done with what I wanted to write, but unfortunately my free time is up, must take The Girl to the doc. Updates coming soon, I hope!

Food, food, food and a surprise at the end

I haven’t written in a really long while, so of course a LOT happened… Last Friday, finally and against all expectations, Nana arrived in Cuneo (only 8 days late). We are all really happy to have her here. Then Saturday her, wait for it…. fiancé... D arrived. Yes, Nana will be tying the knot at a date to be established to a Mr D, or should I say professor D. Of course, to keep you interested I will reveal tidbits of information on our new family member little by little in the following posts. Saturday night we went to dinner at La Chiocciola, the first Slow Food restaurant, we literally stuffed our faces and had a generally lovely time. Sunday everyone woke up late, even The Boy slept till almost ten (miracle of miracles). Nana and Mr.D visited Cuneo while I was with The Husband at the hospital and then in the evening we had a fantastic dinner at “Il Baluardo” a Michelin star restaurant in Mondovi. Monday night we took The Boy out for pizza, The Girl stayed home cause “she’s too little” (one of the most spoken sentences at our house along with “NO!”, which is the preferred answer to all questions – guess by whom!!) On Tuesday we were all set to start getting the house ready for The Husband’s homecoming on Wednesday or Thursday and then I got a wonderful phone call: “they’re kicking me out of the hospital, come get me!”. And thus started the whirlwind of activity involved in getting the house ready for The Husband’s arrival. We washed, disinfected, vacuumed and generally deep cleaned the house in record time, while The Boy hopped around in a state of high excitement occasionally yelling PAPAY (daddy) at the top of his lungs. At 11 I left to go pick him up hoping to drop off the car at the carwash next to the hospital but apparently one must make an appointment to wash the car several days in advance (kind of like going to the theatre or reserving a really chichi restaurant), so The Husband came home to a sparkling clean house in a very dirty car…

The Boy was so happy at having Daddy home that on Wednesday he ran a temperature  so he’s been home from daycare since. And Mr. D left on Wednesday morning, so it worked out quite well, cause at least The Husband got to meet him too.  Anyway, we are all VERY proud of The Husband who only had 10 white blood cells last Friday and by Tuesday he had produced 3,000! Then he over compensated and Wednesday he had 20,000 – normal is between 6,000 and 8,000 for men – but we’re happy because the bone marrow test confirmed that he’s producing HEALTHY white blood cells for now and the numbers should go back to normal in the next few days. This is great news for several reasons, first and foremost the leukemia went into remission after this round of chemo, so though he still has to have the transplant asap we’re a little more relaxed cause at least this time he responded the way he’s supposed to, also he gets to stay home for almost three weeks and he doesn’t have to worry as much about the risk of contagion from regular illnesses (basically we don’t have to freak out if The Boy gets a cold), we still need to be careful and monitor his health and the kids’ and he has to wear a mask if he goes outside and generally has to avoid very crowded places (like movie theatres) but we can see friends and go to restaurants. Of course, he still has very little energy and it’s still hard for him to adjust to the outside world, which is pretty normal considering he’s been confined to a relatively small room for the past 6 weeks.  So basically we’re taking it easy, getting used to the new routine, The Husband is getting to know The Girl a little better (he even changed a diaper last night, first one in over two and a half months!) and The Boy is getting readjusted to having his daddy home. 

Today’s reason for why we’re really lucky: The Husband came home a day early!

Birthday Boy

After a week-long silence I’m finally back online. What’s kept me away? Why, thanks for asking! Last Friday was The Boy’s second birthday and I spent almost all week preparing (which begs the question of what on earth I’m going to do for, say, his communion or 18^th birthday, seeing as it took a week to get ready just for his second birthday!) . Anyway, I managed to send out the invitations for his party a whopping ten days before the big event, but of course the Italian postal system being what it is his friends have yet to receive them… thankfully I got some sort of divine illumination and decided to send out text messages to everyone, just in case… The party was supposed to be train themed as we’re going through a Thomas the tank engine phase right now, so I went online, found (shockingly), ordered and received (even more shocking) a train cake pan, made and decorated a practice cake and, moderately satisfied with the results, went about the business of finding the rest of the party items in a train theme. HA! There was nary a train plate, cup or napkin to be found, nor was there any sort of small, (affordable) trains to put in the goody bags, no train décor whatsoever, in fact. So after a week of searching for what I thought would  be a pretty easy theme for a party (boys like trains, right? And we live in a country where trains are as common as buses in public use, so what the hey!!) I gave up and the theme was no theme at all, but the train cake was totally awesome, if I do say so myself!!! We had a small birthday party Friday afternoon with just the family so The Boy had a happy couple of hours opening presents and playing with his cousin R. Of course, him being two and right smack in the middle of the contrary toddler phase, we were not allowed to wish him a happy birthday (all of our attempts were met with a scream of noooooo!) Though when we sang Happy Birthday (too many of us, he couldn’t stop us!) he got all teary eyed and flustered and wanted to leave. Daddy participated online (thank goodness for webcams) and overall it was a good birthday. Saturday was a very exciting day, the Bears came over all the way from Milan, we had lunch together and the kiddos played a little bit, then in the afternoon we had The Boy’s  “train” party at his daycare. Unfortunately, a few kids cancelled at the last minute cause of a variety of bugs still going around (another reason to move somewhere warmer - I’m compiling a list!) but we had fun, which at this age means everyone played reasonably well together, there were no major meltdowns, no one got hurt, and they all ate at least something moderately healthy before cake.

From scratch

Ok, I’m watching the first episode of Flash Forward and it’s FREAKY! I don’t know if I like it yet, but it’s definitely intriguing (plus, Joseph Fiennes…). Getting back to us, I had a very happy Valentine’s day. My wonderful husband managed to send me flowers even though he’s in the hospital, The Boy and I made a beautiful card for Daddy and most importantly I got to see The Husband after 8 days of being sick and then tending to sick kids! We had a lot to talk about, which is weird cause we talk about 8 times a day, but somehow in person you remember so much more. 

We’ve received news of several good friends expecting babies and one just had a baby plus The Boy is in a very mommy-centric moment right now and The Girl is starting to interact more, smiling and laughing at me, following my voice around and stuff so all this has made me start thinking of the relationship between mothers and their kids. What amazes me most is the sheer strength of my feelings towards these little people. It almost seems unbelievable to me that other mothers love their children as much as I love mine, and that their kids do the same amazing things mine do… rationally I know it’s true, but I guess that in our heart of hearts we all think OUR kids are a little bit more amazing than others. I look at them and think, I MADE them, I actually made them from scratch… and I’m responsible for them, right now I’m responsible for their whole entire world, and I’m the most important person in their lives. Isn’t that just AMAZING??

 I realize that these thoughts seem obvious but if you sit there and actually think about it it’s actually a little mind-boggling. So, I want some feedback, what do y’all think?

Back to our more mundane news, The Husband is doing ok, he could definitely be better (though, if we’re wishful thinking then he could definitely be completely healthy..) but he’s hanging in there and being very strong and concentrating on the fact that in a few days he’ll start feeling better.
I talked to one of his docs today and got a better idea of the timeframe for the transplant, which should happen at the end of march after 3 days of radiation therapy and 3 more days of chemo and the recovery time seems to be between 6 to 12 months for a full recovery. But, he cautioned me not to think too far ahead, so right now we are concentrating on getting him through the effects of the chemo he just did, and getting him to produce good, healthy white blood cells (which didn’t happen after the first round last month) and of course on the fact that he’s coming home for two weeks in march (YAY!!!). Though I must say that I’ve decided not to talk to his docs again unless it’s absolutely necessary cause the statistics, which they always end up bringing out, are a little bleak – but then again we’re talking statistics here so the whole concept is a little bleak! (I apologize to all you math minded people out there, but seriously, statistics are never fun!)

Anyway, we’re staying positive and only thinking of what to do with our time together in march!

Snow and stuff

So, things are definitely looking up today…  sun is shining, The Boy has moved on from constant vomiting to diarrhea (which basically means that I only have to change his clothes every hour or so rather than both his AND mine, a definite improvement!), R came over unexpectedly this morning and shoveled all the snow from our drive and from the cars and I’m still not sick (though will now start worrying that I have jinxed it…). The only sour note is that the poor Girl is sick now too, though I must say this for babies vs toddlers, it is soooo much easier to give her medicine than the Boy and (I realize this may fall in the TMI category) she’s so used to spitting up that when she vomits its really no big deal she just goes right back to being smiley. I’m also really happy cause I managed to find and order a train shaped cake pan (not an easy feat here in Italy) as well as train invites so The Boy’s birthday party is well on the way to being organized. It remains to be seen whether I will manage to decorate the train shaped cake and get it to his daycare (where we’re having the party) all in one piece and most importantly whether I will manage to get the birthday boy to the party venue on time and in a good mood, but for now I’m cautiously optimistic... We’re looking forward to Nana’s (my Mom) arrival next week, and I’ve already got an email ready in my drafts folder with all the things I need from Houston! Poor Nana, between her daughter, two grandkids, and a son in law who loves American stuff, she has to bring a suitcase just for us!

On the hospital front, The Husband is still doing well, he actually had a 3 hour video conference with his sales team today so he’s definitely doing better than expected! In fact, this video conference thing may well become a permanent way to interact with the sales guys  cause apparently he finds it a lot easier to get them to shut up and listen!

Ok, well, The Girl’s waking up so my free time is over. Today’s reason why we’re so lucky…. Our good friend R, coming over to shovel our snow of course!!

Bugs, bugs, bugs

The health situation at home has gone from bad to worse, but thankfully my mood has improved… the last post was a little depressing, I admit! The Boy obviously caught my cold, so we spent several fun nights awake with him coughing, and then he segued directly into a lovely stomach flu, which has been no fun for any of us though I will spare you the details! We had our first watercolor experience which was a lot of fun, The Boy was really happy to see his biggest passions combined, color, water, making pretty pictures but most importantly making a right mess!! Today we tried playdoh but apparently it’s too soon for him, it wasn’t as exciting, though tomorrow we’re making Daddy a Valentine’s day card, all I can say for now is that scissors and glitter glue are involved so I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a winner…

The Husband is doing ok on this second round, today was the hardest day of the cycle but he’s holding up pretty well. We haven’t seen each other in a few days, but he sounds in good spirits over  the phone, though I can’t wait for The Boy to get better and for me to be sure that I didn’t catch his bug so I can go see him again. (I realize there are about ten grammatical errors in that sentence, but I’m sure you get the gist!) It’s been snowing all the live long day, we’ve had about a foot and a half already and I’ve decided not to complain about it or worry about the shoveling I’m going to be doing tomorrow so I can reach my car, I’m just concentrating on the wonderful holiday-like feeling of having a great excuse not to go outside. Also, the city is cooperating with me cause we’ve seen neither  hide nor hair of a snow plow this afternoon, I assume it’s because it’s snowing so much they’re having a hard time getting to the higher traffic areas done and have forgotten about our little residential area. Free time’s up, The Girl must eat….so as Tigger would say, ta ta for now!

Damn Cold

I’m sick, crap! I’ve got a stupid cold. I HATE colds, the headache, runny nose, itchy throat… I hate them. I realize it looks like I’m overreacting but seriously, having a cold means I can’t visit The Husband (dammit!) and that’s literally the best part of my day, plus for the next couple of days I’m going to be worrying that I was contagious yesterday and that I may have taken my germs over to his sterile room. Also, The Boy looks like he may have caught it too so that sucks doubly because he’s going to be feeling like crap, not sleeping and guess who is going to be up with him, feeling like crap too…. The silver lining (and I hope I’m not jinxing it) is that since The Girl is breastfed she may not get it. Thankfully The Husband is doing a little better, he seems to have enjoyed the soup I brought him for lunch and the lasagna for dinner  so at least that’s some good news. Oh, and miraculously, right now The Boy is being put to bed by The Nanny (I’m trying to limit the spreading of germs) and The Girl is sleeping (shock, disbelief, joy!) so I’m happily typing away with both hands (and that is a rare occurrence lately). I will now push my luck to the limit and turn on a tivoed episode of Desperate Housewives, which will probably result in her waking up screaming for food and The Boy refusing to fall asleep with anyone but me, but hey, I’m an optimist! So that’s all for tonight folks!

Day to day part 3

I haven’t managed to write in a few days, so I’ve got some catching up to do! Since round 1 didn’t get the job done this round of chemo was a lot stronger and has been a lot harder on The Husband.  This time around the cycle is 3 days of chemo, which he finished on Thursday, a 4 day break and then 3 more days of chemo next week. Poor Husband started feeling bad pretty much right away this time, nausea and his face became reddish (which actually made him look less sick, and more like he spent a day on the slopes!) he also had a lot of pain in his bones, he described it as having really bad flu symptoms. Thankfully today he’s better so we are all relieved! Though, honestly I am not looking forward to next week cause he’s probably going to feel even worst (I realize that possibly The Husband is looking even less forward to next week as he’s the one actually feeling sick, while I just feel bad for him…). On the home front, we’re busy planning The Boy’s 2^nd birthday party, which will probably be train themed as he’s really into Thomas the tank lately. Thursday The Husband’s aunt and uncle came to visit and The Boy had a great time showing them all of his toys. Yesterday was a very special day for me cause it was my Vovo’s 100^th birthday (my grandma). I’m really sad not to have been at her birthday celebration this year, my mom organized a big ole shin ding, with all our Brazilian family and friends. I’ll post some pics as soon as I get them. Of course we couldn’t tell her the real reason we weren’t going to make it, it would have made her too sad, but we did promise we would be there to celebrate her birthday next year so there’s a trip to Sao Paolo in our nearish future! I can’t wait to show Sao Paolo to The Husband who didn’t make it over with me and The Boy last year and of course to introduce The Girl to my grandma.

Today The Boy’s Nonni (grandparents) came back, so his afternoon entertainment is right back on schedule!  And, last piece of news, The Girl started laughing, which is really cute and entertaining for us.

That’s all for now, and today’s reason why we’re so lucky is that R (a really nice gentleman who we consider a friend and who is also our gardener during the summer) came over today, out of the goodness of his heart, to shovel the foot of snow that came down yesterday from our drive and my car. God bless him!

Day to day, part 2

Today life went back to the normal routine, The Boy went back to daycare (which we stopped two weeks ago so he wouldn’t get sick before The Husband came home) and I resumed my regular visits at the hospital. The Boy was very excited to go back “to school” and see his friends, but he was just as excited to come home apparently since he met me at the door in just his socks having chucked his slippers as soon as he heard the door and with his shoes in his hands (I pick him up right after lunch before naptime so it’s pretty predictable). I finally found a book for two year olds about the hospital, so tonight we read all about where Daddy is and what doctors and nurses do. (Hopefully this will help him deal with The Husband’s absence better). Also, last night The Girl took her bath with The Boy in the big tub for the first time, not that it was planned, I just realized after dinner that she hadn’t had a bath and I wasn’t going to be able to get one in until after The Boy fell asleep (since I now have to lie with him till he does, I’ll get into the whole nightmarish sleep situation soon) and who the heck wants to give a baby a bath at 10pm, so I figured two birds with one stone! That’s it for today, short but (hopefully) sweet. Oh, and today I feel lucky because now that The Husband is back in the hospital I get to spent two hours every day alone with him just chatting about random stuff, a rare occurrence when you are married with two small kids!