It's Been a Rough Winter

January and February didn't disappoint and turned out to be yet another germ-ridden month. Meaning, Stephen got sick again....and then sick again this week.  This Winter really has been terrible in terms of illness and I'm hoping that this year is just a fluke and we won't have this every year going forward!  I don't think Stephen's been in school one full week (he goes three days a week) since the beginning of October before we went to Disneyland.  Since his Make-A-Wish trip over Halloween, he's been hospitalized twice and has had four different viruses.  It's crazy!

Thankfully though, none of the illnesses happened last week while Bill and I were in Miami.  He got sick with an ear and lung infection before we left, was fine while we were gone, but when I picked him up Tuesday morning from Mimi and Poppy, he was sick again (I spoke to him that morning and he was great, and within the hour, he was sick).  His pediatrician thinks the antibiotic for the infection worked to suppress whatever virus or illness he had while we were away, but once the antibiotic stopped, the fever, runny nose and cough came right back.  This time though, we're going to try to ride it out without any drugs.  He went to school yesterday and had a great day.  His teacher even commented on how great his energy level was and I had high hopes we would be there today for the Valentine's Day celebration; even the parent's were invited.  He missed it last year, shocker, because he was sick, so I really hoped he'd make it this year.  But wouldn't you know it, he woke up at 5AM shivering and with a 103 degree fever.  So no party for Stephen or for Mommy.  Boo-hoo!

Thankfully though on Monday, we'll be up in Philadelphia at CHOP for his monthly transplant clinic, so they'll check all of his lab work and make sure everything is A-OK in terms of kidney function and suppression (he started back on CellCept at the beginning of the month after a long hiatus).  And I'm waiting to hear from his nephrologist if we can check his immunoglobulins (IgG) on Monday, at his pediatrician's request, to see if we can give him some stuff to help boost his immune system.  We had to do IVIG pre-transplant when Stephen was on dialysis to help boost his system, but that was an IV treatment and can have some bad side effects.  But I understand that it's now available in a sub-cutaneous (shot) form, that we can give at home.  I'm not looking forward to having to give the poor guy more shots, but if we can get him healthier so he can be at school and playing with his friends on a more regular basis, it would be worth it.  

In other news, we totally converted Stephen's nursery into a big boy room!  He loves his new big bed (we got him a double bed) and Mabel loves laying in bed with him.  In the afternoons when we climb into bed to read books, she right there at the foot of the bed, snoozing away.  It's so cute! And Bill and I had a great time on vacation.  The weather this year didn't quite cooperate (it was rainy, windy and chilly in Miami most days), but we heard some great music and ate a lot of amazing food!  And Stephen had a blast with his grandparent's! Actually, I'm pretty sure he had a better vacation than we did!! :)

These were the Valentine's we made this year for Stephen's preschool class.  Hope everyone is staying warm and has a nice Valentine's Day tomorrow!