Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Part 2
One Day Without Sickness Would be Awesome
I had a feeling when Miles was acting so staid during his cardiology appointment yesterday that something was up. I chalked it up to the early hour (we had to be there at 8:15am), and put it in the back of my mind. When we returned home at about 1:00 yesterday afternoon, Miles went straight to bed. While he slept, his breathing quicken, he became very hot and his heart was beating rapidly, which doesn't necessarily mean anything for Miles, but I could tell he was sick. Every hour or so I'd take his temperature. It generally read between 100 and 102 but did get up to 104 in the middle of the night, so I took him into his doctor late this morning. Miles seemed much better, but I wanted to do everything possible to make sure that we kept our appointment on Thursday.
At first, Dr. Ditty thought that it was nothing serious. He'd seen a ton of flu, so he did a swab (it was negative). He started listening to his lungs and immediately said, "His lungs are sounding great." He spoke a little too soon though because when he changed the position of his stethoscope his face kind of changed, and he said, "Uh oh, I'm hearing rattling in his upper right (weird, it's usually the left) lung. I think he's got pneumonia." So, we headed over to radiology and got a quick x-ray. When we returned, Dr. Ditty was actually gone to his own doctor's appointment, so Dr. Haroutunian (the chief of medicine at the hospital out here--not saying much-- and Miles' actual pediatrician--don't love him though) took a quick look at Miles and the x-ray results. According to him, he didn't think that there was any indication of pneumonia, but he was concerned with how high Miles temperature had gotten. He decided to run a strep test, despite there being no really strong indications, but it was a good thing because it came back positive.
I was concerned about this because since Miles is a little kid that like to squirm around, he has to be completely put under for echocardiograms. There are certain medications that have to be avoided when being sedated and in general, you can't be sick. I talked to Dr. H about this, and he said that there shouldn't be any issue with the antibiotics, and that in his opinion, unless his symptoms weren't improving, he'd be just fine to keep the echo appointment for Thursday. I had talked to sedation this morning, and I told them that I would call after his appointment to let them know if we needed to reschedule. I explained that Miles was being treated for strep, but he'd have been on antibiotics for more than 48 hours by the appointment. They told me that as long as he was breathing okay and wasn't too congested, he should be okay to continue with the echo. There would, of course, always be the possibility that after the doctor administering the sedative examined him, that he could be sent home. I was willing to take that risk.
So, I gave Miles his amoxycilin, fed him some lunch (since he's eaten almost nothing in the past 24 hours and has lost 2 lbs. in the past week) and he went back to bed. Unfortunately, just as Ben was leaving for work I got a call. "Hey, Stephanie, it's Bryan..." Who? What Bryan do I know with a 435 number? Ah, crap! It's Dr. Ditty. "Hey, I just spoke with radiology, and they did read the x-rays as pneumonia. I talked to Dr. H, and he hadn't heard the rattling when he listened to miles, but Ii definitely did, and radiologist read pneumonitis and pneumonia in the upper right lung where I heard it. The antibiotic that he prescribed for the strep should take care of it. I'm sorry, but you really need to call Primary's and reschedule that echo." And this is why I don't trust good easy things...
I called sedation back and spoke with the same woman that I had originally spoken with early this morning. She was very nice and sympathetic, but she did assure me that I would definitely have to reschedule. Not only that. Protocol dictates that I have to wait 4 weeks following the disappearance of symptoms. A month. We have to wait another month. I can't be thinking about this for a month. Sedation transferred me to cardiology to set the new appointment, and we scheduled it for April 8th. I asked the receptionist to please leave a note for Dr. Puchalski about the situation because I was under the impression that this was something that he wanted done soon.
When Miles went to the hospital unexpectedly for breathing difficulties prior to his surgery, we ran into the same problem. They wanted us to wait at least 6 weeks before they would do the surgery following his discharge. The problem was his surgery was scheduled for 3 days later. I was super upset about the idea of waiting another month and a half, especially because Dr. Puchalsi had said at the initial diagnosis, "Your son has pretty serious heart disease and is going to require heart surgery within a couple of weeks." We had already waited a couple of weeks. I didn't know if we even could wait another 6. I called cardiology and explained the dilemma. Dr. Puchalski wasn't in, but i was so impressed that another cadiologist called me back, himself within about a half hour. He sat on the phone with me for a good 15 minutes. He told me that he had reviewed Miles' charts, as well as all of the notes from his hospital stay. He told me that he could find no reason to delay the surgery 6 weeks, that he had already spoken to anesthesiology, and we'd be able to go ahead with the surgery in a week and a half. That is why I love Primary Children's. Miles wasn't even his patient, but this doctor took the time to thoroughly review his case, call me and spend considerable time talking to me then pull strings to accommodate us.
I'm hoping that if Dr. Puchalski knows about what is going on, maybe he'll so something similar. I don't know though. Maybe the immediacy of this echo isn't nearly as important as I feel like it is. Maybe 4 weeks is just fine. What I really wish would happen is that Dr. Puchalski would see that Miles has pneumonia and have us come in right now, so he could examine him, himself. If Miles really does have mitral valve stenosis, I think that he is frequently misdiagnosed with pneumonia (or it's the cause) because fluid is seen in the lungs, when it's actually blood that is leaking in. I guess the problem this time is that it's in the wrong lung. Anyway, I have more than doubts that that will ever happen. I think, more likely, we will wait 4 weeks, and have the echo.....assuming that he is not sick again in 4 weeks. And that's a pretty big assumption.
This is all so frustrating and discouraging. i just want one day of healthiness and maybe a few answers. I'm so tired. Plus, what is wrong with my family? I'm just going to assume, now, that anytime anyone is sick, among whatever other ailment, they have strep. The other week Coney had strep and influenza. Right now miles has strep and pneumonia. When I was little I had strep and the chicken pox, then when I was a little older, I had strep and pneumonia (which made me miss the auditions for my school play which ruined the rest of the year). Can't we just all have something removed or something, so we don't keep getting strep? Maybe we could have antibiotics added to our drinking water? I don't know, but this is getting ridiculous, and I just know that I'm going to wake up with a sore throat tomorrow.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Annual Cardiology Appointment
Everything was pretty standard. The nurse started by taking his blood pressure, which as always, took a few tries. It was about where it should have been though. The numbers were about reversed from pre-surgery, so that's good, I guess. She did a quick EKG, and I have no idea what it said, but nobody said anything about it, so I guess that's also good.
Dr. Puchalski came in, and the first thing out of his mouth was, "So what's up with all of the asthma?" I don't know. He has asthma. Then, "All the times you were hospitalized, where was that?" Well, all but one time, we were at Primary. I always made sure to tell the treating doctors about Miles' situation, and they always had said that they would inform cardiology. Dr. Puchalski said that what most likely happened was that they would send a note to inform that a patient was admitted for something unrelated but was doing well, so it probably would never make it to him. I will make sure that in the future I let them know that Miles' cadiologist has requested to notified with details that Miles is there. I think that on both my part and the hospital's part, we've probably been a little more concerned about notifying the pulmonologist rather than the cardiologist since it is breathing problems that he's always admitted for.
Anyhow, Dr. Puchalski does think that the breathing difficulties could be related to the Shone's syndrome. In his words, "Lightning does strike twice," meaning, I think, that having unrelated breathing problems could be a second strike. He continued to basically say that he wasn't going to ignore something that could very possibly be a real problem. He said that he definitely thought that we needed to do an echocardiogram, so that he could look at things.
He listened to Miles thoroughly and said that his heart SOUNDED great. Where his coarc was repaired, it sounded just as it should. His murmur sounded just as expected. However, he said that, even then, he could hear Miles wheezing in both front and in back. I've learned something throughout this that I had never realized having asthma myself. Asthma has a very specific wheez. It has something to do with the inhalation or exhalation. I wish I could remember exactly. The point is, Miles does have that, meaning that he does have asthma. He has more though that goes along with it that is not asthma. That's what we've been working with the pulmonologist and ent dept to try to figure out. I think that was what Dr. Puchalski was referring to when he said that.
Shone's Syndrome is characterized by 4 or more abnormalities, basically blockages in the left side of the heart. We've already taken care of the aortic coarctation (narrowing of the aorta--massive, massive narrowing in Miles' case). There were some slight abnormalities with his mitral valve (the valve that separates the left atrium from the left ventricle), but they were very minute. It is Dr. Puchalski's thinking that, if I understand correctly, that the mitral valve is not functioning properly, thickening and not allowing the blood to flow out of the upper left chamber of the heart. The blood gets backed up and leaks into the left lung causing it to be inflamed. I believe that what he was describing is mitral valve stenosis, but I don't remember him actually using that phrase. I have a hard time really concentrating on what the doctor's saying though, so he may have. I did go out and buy a couple of planners this afternoon, so I can record instructions for both of the babies. Believe it or not, this all makes a lot of sense to me (assuming that I interpreted things correctly). Doctor's always think that Miles has pneumonia because his left lungs rattles constantly. When he is given x-rays, his left lung always shows slightly cloudy but doesn't really show pneumonia. To date, the thought was that an underdeveloped swallow reflex was allowing liquid into his lungs, and that would inflame them. I think that this scenario makes much more sense. I've always felt like his breathing problems were related to his heart problems, and it's kind of nice to have that validated.......even though it pretty much sucks at the same time.
What Dr. Puchalski was describing wouldn't really be able to be heard through a stethoscope, so, as before mentioned, he ordered an echocardiogram, so he could actually look at his mitral valve. He said that he may even go as far as to order a cardiac catheter. I interpret that to mean, "if I cannot see what I assume is causing the problem with the echo, we'll do a cath to really make sure it's not happening". He sounds pretty serious about this all.
Dr. Puchalski did not give any idea of possible treatment. I think that that was probably intentional since we don't know if this is even a problem yet. Why worry about something prematurely. I would assume that if this is the problem, depending upon the severity, another heart surgery would be in order. I think in mild cases, this is treated with medication, but from what I've read, that's typically in adults. I don't know about small children. I think it would be more likely, that they would try to do a valve repair or replacement. Again, I have absolutely no idea. This is all just speculation.
Of course I always have concern for my baby, but right now, I feel pretty positive about everything. I do not doubt that this may be partially to blame for Miles' respiratory problems, but in a way, I think that that's a good thing. We've expected, from the beginning, that Miles' heart problems would worsen, requiring more surgeries. It's hard playing the waiting game. I would rather something be found now, at a regular cardiology visit, than have something terrible and unexpected happen in the future because I didn't realize that things were getting worse. So, I look at it this way: either Miles is suffering from mitral valve stenosis, we'll do what we can to correct it and his breathing improves-- or his mitral valve is fine, and we won't have to have surgery right away. Win. Win.
We'll know more on Thursday. We're taking Miles in for a sedated echo (echocardiogram with full sedation is pretty typical for little guys that can't hold still) at 2:30. I was instructed to make sure that Dr. Puchalski was there, so he could review the results and talk to us about further testing or treatment or whatever. I will try to get some blogging in that night, but I'm not promising anything. That's a pretty late appointment, and those things are so stinking long and tiring. I may just not feel like doing it. I'll get it in there sometime though, so stay tuned......
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A Trip, or Two to the Allergist
Miles' meeting with the allergist went really well. He had already been tested for environmental allergens such as animal dander, pollen, dust, mold, etc. a couple of hospital stays ago. And, of course, he tested positive for everything, with dust and cats at the top of the list. I wanted to rule out any possible food allergies, so I got a referral for him at the same time that Conan was referred. Surprisingly, but not too surprisingly, he did not test positive for any food allergies. Nice! However, Dr. Moffat was pretty concerned about Miles' asthma history. Luckily, he's networked with Primary, so he had all of the Dr.'s notes from hospital visits, and he knows Dr. Uchida, Miles' pulmonologist well, so he had already discussed a potential routine to try to improve things. I really appreciated that he'd already done his research before I got there. When he listened to Miles' lungs, he was a little concerned about what he heard on his left side (and this was a healthy day), so he actually sent us down the hall for a chest x-ray. It ended up being okay. Miles just has a constant rattle in his left lung. At the end of the visit, Dr. Moffat didn't have the most encouraging words. He said something to the effect of, "His x-ray looked just fine. I don't think he has any pneumonia". I said, "Oh, good". Then he continued, "but I you need to understand that this is not good". He basically said that we'd do what we need to do to get the asthma under control, but it would take a long time, and it wasn't going to be easy. Fantastic parting words. He ended up increasing his maintenance meds even more and putting him back on Prednisolone. I've actually already seen an improvement, so hopefully, we'll be able to ween him from some of the steroids. I'm actually not sure where I'm supposed to go from here. Dr. Moffat wanted me to make a follow up with the pulmonologist if Miles' night coughing hadn't stopped within 10 days. It pretty much has, so I'm not sure if and if so, with who I am supposed to follow up with. Probably should've asked Dr. Moffat yesterday, huh?
Which brings us to Conan's appointment. Even though Conan is very young, Dr. Ditty wanted him to see an allergist because 1: just look at our family history 2: he does get a little wheezy now and then & 3: he's got super horrific eczema that we are having a hard time controlling, and eczema usually=allergies. He was tested for both environmental and food allergens. Actually surprisingly, Conan tested negative for all environmental allergens. Dr. Moffat did kind of burst that bubble by telling me that those results would most likely change in about 6 months, he's just really young right now. That would make sense. Miles didn't really react to anything until he was about one. Unlike Miles, Conan did test positive for some food allergens. Eggs and peanuts were the big ones, with a more mild allergy to wheat, carrots, and green beans. There may be more, but with the food they only tested the foods they always test (milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts) and foods he's been exposed to. For now, I have to exclude those foods entirely from his diet. Not too hard since he's just a baby and doesn't eat much anyway, but I do have to read labels, because as I was told, "you'll be surprised at what has eggs and wheat in it". I won't be surprised at what has wheat in it because I was on a wheat free diet all through elementary school. An interesting bit of information: Twizzlers have wheat in them. It did pose a little bit of a problem today. I was at the store looking for something to make for a fun Valentine's meal. Although Conan can't eat a lot, he has gotten used to our crumbs. I wanted to at least find a dessert that he could have some of too. It seems like everything that is wheat-free has eggs in it. I finally came up with maybe a fruit pie with a crust made with rice or oat flour. We'll see. There's got to be something easier and more obvious than that. Anyhow, I'm supposed to introduce a new food to Conan about every 3 days and watch to see if it affects him negatively at all. Today was squash. Hopefully, it works out because Conan really seemed to like it.
In addition to the food stuff, we were put on a strict skin regimen. Poor Coney's skin is so bad. While I was getting him ready to go yesterday. I looked down to see blood just streaming out of his arm. It was just from him scratching an itchy patch. Every morning he wakes up with new cuts on his face where he's clawed himself in his sleep. So far, nothing has really seemed to provide anything other than immediate relief. So, here's our new routine: 1. soak Conan in a lukewarm bath (without actually bathing him) for 20 minutes, including a moist towel on his face for 20 minutes 2. lightly pat dry 3. immediately rub in one steroid cream from the neck down, focusing on particularly bad spots 4. rub in second steroid cream from the neck up 5. immediately following steroid creams, coat his entire body with a heavy moisturizer cream (Eucerin) 6. spot treat bad spots a second, possibly a third time during the day 7. take an oral medication at bed time to prevent itchiness. It's a lot to begin with, but it's all to get the eczema under control, then we'll cut back.
Lastly, Conan does get his own inhaler. Although, the doctor thought that his lungs sounded fine while we were at the office, based on our family history and what I had told him about what we sometimes hear from Conan, he thought it prudent to send us off with an inhaler. Next time we hear any breathing difficulty, we'll give him the inhaler and see how he responds to it. We are returning in about a week and a half to see how things have progressed. I suppose we'll see.
I posted something about Conan's allergies on facebook today, and I had a friend respond by telling me that she was impressed that I was able to stay positive. I had to tell her that I really wasn't positive about it all on purpose. (and I probably don't sound positive at all in this blog since it's kind of the medical update blog) Honestly, at this point, I just can't help but laugh every time we go to the doctor (barring any major ailment, of course). After Miles' diagnosis and surgery, nothing really seems like too big of a deal. And everything now is just another thing on the list. It's probably not very nice to our poor kids, but Ben and I really do chuckle each time something new is added. In regards to our unhealthy genes, I think it was Karri that referred to us as the "perfect storm". Yes, we have doomed our children. Sorry Miles and Conan, that's the price you have to pay for having such awesome parents. Ha. Ha. (especially since we parents are paying all those $prices$ right now)
On to something completely unrelated. While driving home from the pharmacy today, I compiled a list in my head of some recent pet peeves. I think I'll share, quashing anybody's assumption that I am a positive person.
1. people who wait for parking spaces--It doesn't matter if I am the person that is stuck behind you for ten minutes while you wait for someone to load their car to save you from walking an extra 30 feet, if I am the one loading the car while you impatiently wait for my spot, too close to my car for me to back out, or if I am completely on the other side of the parking lot just witnessing, I want to beat you up. The only time that waiting is appropriate is when the lot is full. Side note: the Walmart parking lot is never full; there are more spaces than there are Tooele residents.
2. business establishments that use the word "dollar" in their name, then sell their ware for more than a dollar--Dollar Cuts and Family Dollar, I don't understand you. Is it because you sell your product for dollars? Everyplace uses currency, I think. As far as I know, we've all outgrown the barter system. Maybe we should just change everything to a dollar store. We can call Albertson's, Grocery Dollar. Maybe McDonald's could be Greasy Drive-Through Dollar.
3. fund-raisers that don't actually do anything to raise their funds--Fund-raisers themselves are really annoying, but I understand that that money for your sparkly new drill-team uniform needs to come from someplace. However, holding a sign in front of Walmart saying give me money for our new rugby league is not raising funds, it's begging. Do something, anything, and I'll probably give you something. I would have given them my lecture, but they were raising money for high school rugby. That's football without pads.
4. smacking--Just smacking.
5. people who waive you on at a 4-way stop--Waiving someone on at a 4-way stop throws off the natural balance of things. It's not polite. It's just confusing. The polite thing to do is to go when you are supposed to. There are those rare exceptions when you all arrive at the same time, but those are special circumstances. The rest of the time, JUST GO! This applies double to downed traffic lights.
6..........Sorry, I got distracted by television and forgot (I'm sure that's someone else's pet peeve), so I'll have to get back to you.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
My Favorite Miles Moments of Today
10:30am: (Miles is still asleep, but I need to run errands, so I go to get him up.)
Me: Miles. Wake up. You need to get dressed, so we can go to the post office.
Miles: Mehhh....
Me: Miles, wake up.
Miles: Mommy, Meeels (my son always speaks in 3rd person) sleepy. Turn the light
off.
10:37am: (Miles finally wakes up)
Miles: (panicky and accusatory) Mommy, Meeels padtoos (platypus) shirt. Take it off!
I happened to be wearing a Perry the Platypus t-shirt (love me some Phineas & Ferb)
Miles has a similar one and was convinced that I had stolen and was wearing his shirt.
Yes, Miles, mommy is wearing her 2 year old's clothing.
11:00am: Miles: (excitedly) Mommy, where you going? A dentist?
Me: No, we're going to the post office, then to Walmart.
Miles: No, mommy. A Walmart and a dentist.
approx. 11:15am: Miles eats the Valentine's chocolates in the cart at Walmart.
approx. 11:20am: Miles eats the Valentine's suckers in the cart at Walmart.
approx. 11:30am: Miles eats the sliced mushrooms in the cart at Walmart.
approx. 11:301/2am: Miles spits out the sliced mushrooms in the cart at Walmart.
2:30pm: Me: Oh, are you watching "Choo Choo Soul"?
Miles: No, mommy, it's "Choo Choo (with the second choo exphasized) Soul".
2:53 pm: Miles: (holding an empty bag of beef jerky--an economy size bag that had been mostly
full) Mommy, Meeels eated more meat.
2:56pm: Me: What do you want to do, Miles?
Miles: (tapping his lip with his index finger) Hmmm...... Poop!
3:05pm: Miles: Mommy, Meeels poopy.
Me: What? You're poopy again!? (I had just changed him about a half hour ago--I guess
he was serious about the poop thing)
Miles: I do. See. (throwing a poopy diaper at me)
4:00pm: Me: Hey, Miles, do something funny.
Miles: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Me: That's just laughing. It's not very funny. Do something funny.
Miles: (much louder) Ha, ha, ha.
4:30pm: Me: Give me that book back. That's mommy's special book.
Miles: (waiving his hands in mockery) Oh, give it back. It's special booky.
5:30pm: Miles: (stealing money and running out of my bedroom) I have to buy Meeels canny.
Me: Oh, really? You have to buy candy, eh? And how much does it cost?
Miles: Chenty dollas.
6:04pm: Me: (catching Miles with a handful of assorted inhalers) Hey, what are you doing
with all those inhalers?
Miles: Mommy, I just wasting them.
You know, looking back on this list, it has come to my attention, that Miles isn't just silly but a huge stinker. Anyone want a slightly damaged 2 1/2 year old?
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
We're Supporting the Entire Medical Industry!
Conan had his 6 month appointment last week, and boy, was it fun. It really wasn't too bad, just much more came of it than expected. Since birth, Conan has had really bad eczema. I've tried just about everything over-the-counter that exists but with no success. This time, we not only got a prescription cream, but we also got a prescription vitamin drop and a referral for a dermatologist. Oh, but it doesn't stop there. You see, eczema, allergies, and hay-fever share the same gene, so we also got referred to an allergist. This is super uncommon for infants because as a rule, they haven't been exposed to enough to test accurately. However, when you have a history like my dear little family and the symptoms like my dear little (big giant) Coney, you do what you can to nip any potential problems in the bud. The truth is, we all know that any offspring that Ben and I produce are going to be plagued by respiratory problems untold. May as well try to figure their triggers out right off. Miles also got a referral for the allergist. Although he did get tested during our last stay at PCMC, he was not tested for foods. Conan is also being sent to the eye doctor. He shows a little bit of an astigmatism, but not a big deal at all. Miles went at this age too.
It's interesting that we have been so busy in the medical sense because this has been the longest that we have gone, since Miles' first birthday, without him being in the hospital. We've done surprisingly well considering the cold weather and bad air. The one problem that we've been battling lately is night coughing, and we have been battling that since our last hospital visit almost four months ago. Every night, without fail, Miles starts coughing uncontrollably a couple of hours after he goes to sleep, and it continues through the night. This is pretty typical for asthma and allergy sufferers, but the allergy and asthma medications haven't been controlling it. Until now, Miles has been on Flovent as a maintenance inhaler, singulair as a maintenance allergy medication, and xopanex as a rescue inhaler. Because it's persisted so long, we visited the pulmonologist last week. Miles' regular pulmonologist moved to Texas, so we had a new doctor. It ended up being great because it happened to be the same doctor that treated Miles at his last hospital visit. He knew what was going on, what we'd tried and already knew what to try next. For now, we're adding an additional inhaler at bedtime as well as two oral steroids and an additional rescue inhaler. We'll watch this for a while, and if it doesn't produce the results we're looking for, the next step would be a sleep study and maybe removing his adenoids. I was a little concerned because night coughing can be an indication of heart failure, but luckily, the pulmonologist does not think it's heart related. Still, I made our next cardiology appointment. It's not until March though.
Tomorrow, I have a doctor's appointment for myself. I've decided that it's a new year. I've got good insurance. I'm going to take care of all of those things that I've thought in the back of my mind, "I should look into that". Tomorrow's appointment is partially just a general checkup, so I can get refills on all of my asthma medication. Doctor's have gotten really lame and think that i should come in every time I need a new inhaler. Really? I don't see how coming in every month is going to change anything. I'm also going in to have my hormone levels checked. A quick explanation. I have a small, no big deal, non-cancerous, pituitary tumor that can mess up my hormone levels a little bit. That's why I've had to be on medication to get pregnant. I'm supposed to get annual MRI s, but I haven't had one since before I was pregnant with Miles. It's probably time that I checked on it all. Plus, I have been losing hair at an alarming rate, and after some research, I'm pretty confident that it's the result of my issues. I need to get that corrected because at the rate it's going, I'm going to be bald soon. Plus, I am done cleaning hair off of everything. I'm sure that that was too much information for everyone.
On a serious note, my heart is breaking right now for my friend, Heidi. For obvious reasons, I developed a special soft spot in my heart for "heart babies". My friend's little boy has undergone a couple of surgeries in the past week or so, and they haven't been as successful as hoped for. He'll require additional surgeries and most likely a heart transplant. Please, everyone say a prayer for baby Logan.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Festival of Trees
Thanks to my mom for all of her ideas and efforts. We've spent so much time at my parents house these past couple of months that I'm sure that my children think that we have two homes. Since we don't live super close and had so much to do, we'd usually go in and spend the night, so I'd have full days of my mother's assistance. We went into Sandy for a Christmas party on Sunday, and I "moved out" once and for all. I didn't realize how much crap I'd accumulated there over the past couple of months. It all barely fit in my trunk.
