What We've Been Up To (Summer)

So I almost forgot I had set a blog up for our family....almost. Mostly it was hanging over my head, way way in the back. I am feeling some pressure since it was created back in March and I just got around to puting a twitter tag on the page. I do have some excuses. We had Fisher's first birthday party in April---which any mom can tell you is BIG and is more for all the people who supported your family during the first year and less for the child. I was pretty determined to make Fisher and the rest of the kids enjoy the party first, then the adults...and I think I succeeded in making all happy. Pictures to follow later (don't get upset if it's much much later).

Also in April I went for a "normal" heart transplant checkup, which for me includes an allomap DNA test to check for rejection and an echocardiogram. To make a long story (and summer) short, the echo showed swelling in my heart that eventually was labelled as "b-cell / antibody mediated rejection." That means (in non-nursing terms) that my body now knows that this heart isn't my original, and it knows how to get rid of it... Then came the 2 week hospital stay, a round of chemotherapy, another (shorter) hospital stay, more chemotherapy, more chemotherapy, more checkups, changing drugs, fighting with (stupid) express scripts (yay for Lowe's picking the cheapest most irritatingly ignorant company for drug coverage that exists), more checkups, denial from disability, low-dose chemo for the forseeable future....I can go on, but I recall somewhere in there mentioning this was a SHORT story...

So if I was smart in the blog-related world I would have taken my boring and isolated hospital time to post some pictures...but No. Hindsight, well don't make me say it. So when we finally emerged at the end of the summer, we tried (somewhat successfully) to jump back in our former lives. We're still working on that. But let's just say the Rhodes' Home was eager to see summer go. Although Chase and I WERE really starting to get used to our second home (the Mason House) and our favorite new tea bar (I get the drinking chocolate...incredible) The Steady Hand Pour House. I'm sure Fisher was enjoying his weekly overnighters with Grampa and GiGi...but we are all so happy to be back in our own quiet little house.

I will post those pictures of Fisher's first birthday party later. :)