So, it has been a while since I've been able to post. I hopefully am going to be able to catch us all up on the happenings. Since Father's Day Neal and I have had the opportunity to take a 4 day weekend trip to San Diego without the boys. My mother was on Primary Guardian duty for that time and we are VERY thankful for her time and being the best GG we could ever ask for. The trip was good, however, when I left the boys were slightly under the weather with runny noses, mild fevers and the overall poos. This of course meant that I had the overall poos as well. I didn't really feel great when we left but I had hoped it would improve. When we got there though, Neal started running a fever so our first night we didn't do anything but eat and sleep. BUT, we got 10+ hours of sleep each night and I know I hadn't done that since I was pregnant!!! After the ickies wore off, we explored the city, shoppe and had some good food. It was a relaxing trip. San Diego is beautiful and the weather is absolutely perfect.
Since then, the boys have improved in health as far as their runny noses and fever issues go. They're cutting their molars every so slowly though and that is causing all sorts of fun! However, since we've been home, we have had another development that is not nearly as much fun as the teething. Jake has always been a bumpy headed kiddo. He's all boy and since he's been on the go and crawling at 6months, he has had the bruises to show for it. Lately though, my family, Neal and I have noticed that he has considerably more bruises than normal. Yes, he's running, climbing and jumping just as much as usual if not more, but Jonah, who is keeping up, didn't have as many purple marks as our Jakie. So, we collectively thought there may be more to this and I made a doctors appointment soon after we got home from SD. We got to see our Pedi last Thursday and he determined that Jake did in fact have something that wasn't normal. He has what is better known as ITP.
ITP is a disorder of the blood that involves the immune and blood clotting systems. ITP stands for Immune or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic (a decrease in blood platelets) Purpura (purplish areas of the skin and mucous membranes). As far as experts know, ITP occurs when a person makes antibodies, which attach to his or her own platelets. Thus, the boy's immune system start attacking its own platelets because it is confusing them for a virus or other foreign invader. A normal range is 150,000+. Last Thursday, Jake had 41,000. Our Pedi referred us to a hemotologist at Children's Hospital here in Plano. Luckily, this hospital is simply minutes from where we live and it is a brand new facility.
Neal watched Jojo while GG and I took Jake for a Tuesday (yesterday) appointment at Children's. The people there were AMAZING! I had zero issues with anything...even though we were there for 2.5 hours. Jake did great having a lot of blood drawn and being poked and probed all morning long. We got information overload on the who, what, when, where and why's of ITP. The Hemotologist believes that it is ITP based on his labs and physical bruises. Also he has what looks to be a pin-prick red rash that is called petechiae that is very common with ITP. The disturbing thing about our visit is that now Jake's platelets are down to 13,000. I was SHOCKED they had dropped so drastically in just a few days. The dr. said she was not surprised and that it was considered normal with his condition to drop drastically low.
The good news is that this condition does eventually clear up on its own usually within 6 months. It could become chronic and last longer but the chances are slim. However, if within that time, Jake were to suffer a good thump to the head or get in a car accident, we could be in trouble. So, this is where God and prayer comes in. I have already been somewhat of a wreck trying not to follow him around with a pillow all day. This is unrealistic with one let alone two to physically be next to him every second of every day until he gets better. BUT, that is all I want to do. By the time I lay him down to sleep I'm physcially and emotionally drained. I just pray, and I hope you will too, that we have no other issues before Jake gets better. And I also want to pray that he starts getting over this soon!
So cute...Jake put his head on his bro's lap while watching the video. Sweet boys.
I thought this was pretty cute that Jonah actually is smiling in this photo...and Jake leaned forward to get in on the moment.
Hey mom! And yes, Jonah is FINALLY saying "Mommy"!! Thanks Jojo.
Since then, the boys have improved in health as far as their runny noses and fever issues go. They're cutting their molars every so slowly though and that is causing all sorts of fun! However, since we've been home, we have had another development that is not nearly as much fun as the teething. Jake has always been a bumpy headed kiddo. He's all boy and since he's been on the go and crawling at 6months, he has had the bruises to show for it. Lately though, my family, Neal and I have noticed that he has considerably more bruises than normal. Yes, he's running, climbing and jumping just as much as usual if not more, but Jonah, who is keeping up, didn't have as many purple marks as our Jakie. So, we collectively thought there may be more to this and I made a doctors appointment soon after we got home from SD. We got to see our Pedi last Thursday and he determined that Jake did in fact have something that wasn't normal. He has what is better known as ITP.
ITP is a disorder of the blood that involves the immune and blood clotting systems. ITP stands for Immune or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic (a decrease in blood platelets) Purpura (purplish areas of the skin and mucous membranes). As far as experts know, ITP occurs when a person makes antibodies, which attach to his or her own platelets. Thus, the boy's immune system start attacking its own platelets because it is confusing them for a virus or other foreign invader. A normal range is 150,000+. Last Thursday, Jake had 41,000. Our Pedi referred us to a hemotologist at Children's Hospital here in Plano. Luckily, this hospital is simply minutes from where we live and it is a brand new facility.
Neal watched Jojo while GG and I took Jake for a Tuesday (yesterday) appointment at Children's. The people there were AMAZING! I had zero issues with anything...even though we were there for 2.5 hours. Jake did great having a lot of blood drawn and being poked and probed all morning long. We got information overload on the who, what, when, where and why's of ITP. The Hemotologist believes that it is ITP based on his labs and physical bruises. Also he has what looks to be a pin-prick red rash that is called petechiae that is very common with ITP. The disturbing thing about our visit is that now Jake's platelets are down to 13,000. I was SHOCKED they had dropped so drastically in just a few days. The dr. said she was not surprised and that it was considered normal with his condition to drop drastically low.
For now, since the treatments aren't cures but merely bandaids, the dr has suggested monitoring him closely and checking his levels weekly to see if we need to look at the treatments. Unfortunately, the treatments do have some high risks associated with them and I would rather not have deal with more issues.
The good news is that this condition does eventually clear up on its own usually within 6 months. It could become chronic and last longer but the chances are slim. However, if within that time, Jake were to suffer a good thump to the head or get in a car accident, we could be in trouble. So, this is where God and prayer comes in. I have already been somewhat of a wreck trying not to follow him around with a pillow all day. This is unrealistic with one let alone two to physically be next to him every second of every day until he gets better. BUT, that is all I want to do. By the time I lay him down to sleep I'm physcially and emotionally drained. I just pray, and I hope you will too, that we have no other issues before Jake gets better. And I also want to pray that he starts getting over this soon!
However, with that said, I am SO grateful to God that we aren't dealing with Lukemia or other serious issues. I don't even want to think about a diagnosis so devastating to hear, but at the same time, it was somewhere in the back of my mind when I made him the first appointment. THANK YOU LORD!
And on a lighter note, these boys are SO busy trying to talk it up these days. I was trying to teach Jake the sign for Thank You yesterday and when I asked him to "say thank you" he didn't sign it...he said it! My mouth just dropped open. And since then, he's said it a couple of times, not even prompted!! Good boy. Jonah is definately breaking out of his shell some. Today at the library he decided he was going to be the official greeter and said "HI-EE" to everyone that was coming in the front door. SO stinkin cute. Their "hi-ee"s are just one of the highlights of my day. And their baby chatter so mimicks conversational speech patterns. They are working on animal noises and mimick the monkey, cow and of course the doggie. Jake has begun saying "Jo-jo" and Jonah has been trying to say "Jakie" and he's very close. They still sign a lot. They finally learned to incorporate Please into their signing for more. There "please" is just rubbing both hands up and down their chests and is just adorable. And we're learning body parts. Noses and belly buttons are staples. The mouth, ear and hair are sometimes remembered and for some reason, no one wants to point to their eye ever...but maybe it's because they just don't want to end up with a finger in their eye. Who knows. Smarties!!
I bought the boys some crayons and large coloring books for entertainment while we were away. Jonah is mostly interested in how they taste as opposed to how they work.
Still checking to see if the crayons are tasty while Jake is creating his first masterpiece.
Still seeing if the black tastes different than the red while Jake keeps coloring away.
The boys don't really watch Baby Einstein videos often but when they do, they definately are able to sit for a few minutes and take it all in.
Still checking to see if the crayons are tasty while Jake is creating his first masterpiece.
Still seeing if the black tastes different than the red while Jake keeps coloring away.
The boys don't really watch Baby Einstein videos often but when they do, they definately are able to sit for a few minutes and take it all in.
So cute...Jake put his head on his bro's lap while watching the video. Sweet boys.
I thought this was pretty cute that Jonah actually is smiling in this photo...and Jake leaned forward to get in on the moment.
Hey mom! And yes, Jonah is FINALLY saying "Mommy"!! Thanks Jojo.
My busy boys enjoying breakfast.
I love this photo.
A sleepy Jakie with his Daddy.
And the clincher...the boys finally gave eachother a kiss the other day. I know they will probably hate that I documented it on a video (which is too big to upload). But it was precious!
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