Miller Time: 101

Friday, March 12, 2010

101

So I messed up the blogging traditional 100th post. So in honor of that I will call this 101 things about me. So here it is in no particular order….

10 Things I Love
1. Kids
2. Husband
3. Parents, Siblings, Nieces, Nephews, Aunts, Uncles…You get it family
4. Friends
5. House
6. Healthcare and the people who work in it- You have saved my son’s life more then once, Thank you!
7. Great neighbors- I could have not picked a better place to live, we lucked out!
8. Money- kind of have to love it, yet I never have it
9. Good food
10. School

10 Things I Cannot Live Without on a Daily Basis
1. Coffee
2. Diet Coke
3. My computer/internet
4. Cell phone- I never really talk on it, but I feel naked without it
5. Daily Facebook checks- Did I say that? Yes I am an addict, but I love staying in touch!
6. Sleep- I am so grumpy without it
7. Toothbrush/paste
8. Make-up- even though I only wear it if I am going somewhere
9. Car
10. Hubby

10 Things I Hate
1. Health insurance- a necessary evil!
2. Ignorance
3. Prejudice
4. Being broke, but hey we have love!
5. Not working, I miss the money and the sanity it gave me
6. Getting ready, it takes too long, and when I do spend the time, I still look the same
7. Migraines, I can’t stand them and I have had them most my life. It is the worst!
8. Being sick
9. Being bored
10. Hearing my kids cry and fight (yes, that is what I am doing right now!)

20 Things I Love about my Kids
York
1. He is an AWESOME, TERIFFIC, KIND, big brother
2. He is a good Friend. He is nice to everyone.
3. Despite all his trials, he has turned out to be a really good teen.
4. He is funny and even funnier to tease.
5. He is a pleaser and will do anything to make you happy.
Mason
1. He is the sweetest kid ever.
2. Plays with his little brother and sister as if they were best friends.
3. He too is a pleaser and will do anything to make you happy.
4. His love for all animals, we would have a zoo if his Dad would let him.
5. His random acts of kindness. He is always bringing something home for the babies or doing something nice for his Dad and I.
Cache
1. His smile and eyes, they are infectious.
2. His strength and courage, so brave for a 4 year old.
3. He is a Mama’s boy and I love it!!!
4. Nothing stops him, not pain, not the inability to communicate with everyone, NOTHING!
5. He is a spitting image of his Dad, looks, personality, and even food.
Dylann
1. All her cuteness!
2. Her determination to get what she wants, and if you don’t help she will get it anyway!
3. All her girly-ness and her ability to keep up with the boys.
4. When she says “SURE” with her cute little voice instead of yes.
5. Her love for Cache, her best friend.

10 Things I Love about Eric
1. He is the BEST father.
2. He is a GREAT husband.
3. He is always willing to help others even if they don’t ask.
4. He always lets me sleep in. This benefits him too, because I am not grumpy then!
5. He loves his family more then anything and always puts them first.
6. He always calms me down when I am stressed and makes me feel better.
7. He is competitive, and I loose most of the time, but I love when I get in a win!
8. When we have fun, we have FUN, and he is always good company.
9. When he has to admit I am right, oh it kills him. I think we both have this in us!
10. He loves me and all my flaws!

10 Things I Want to do Before I Die
1. See my kids grow old and have their own lives no matter what that is.
2. Have grandkids, I am super excited about this!
3. See all 50 states.
4. Go to a Superbowl
5. Go to Italy/Rome with Eric and see as many countries as possible
6. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro before the ice caps melt
7. Go to Madri Gras
8. Go to a World Series game
9. Be financially stable
10. Have a degree

20 of my Favorite Things to Do
1. Hang out with my family
2. Sleep in
3. Play games
4. Rock Band
5. Eat good food
6. Get a massage
7. Get a pedi
8. Date nights with the hubby
9. Dancing and shaking da booty
10. Having people over/parties
11. Redue furniture, except the sanding part
12. Cook as long as I have time and someone to help cut, chop, and peel
13. Beat Eric at anything
14. Facebook stock
15. Finding good deals
16. Making my family smile
17. Go to Mexico, my home away from home
18. Going to Cali to see family
19. Taking pictures
20. When my kids behave

10 Things I Hate to Do
1. Bills
2. Look at my bank account, it is just depressing! LOL
3. Clean bathrooms, love it when they are clean, just hate getting there
4. Mop floors
5. Take my kids to the grocery store
6. Or grocery shopping for that matter
7. Potty training, thank goodness that is over for the most part!
8. Sit in a hospital, but I am happy they are there when we need them
9. Doctors appointments if I have to take more then the child being seen
10. Yell at my kids, another necessary evil

And 1 random thing you would not know about me…
I work for the FBI…OK I don’t but I could not think of anything fun!

Our Long QT Syndrome Story

My teenage years were full of sports and exercise. There was not a day that went by I didn’t have some sort of game or practice. My days consisted school, track, soccer, a jog, and finished up with some strength training. Never would you have guessed my heart was broken. I was older, married and about to have my second child, Cache. I was off to my usual 32 week check-up at my obstetrician office. That was the day our lives changed forever. It was that exciting moment when you get to hear that slushing heart beat and know that the big bump in your belly is this living being in your body. That slushing sound turned out to be my nightmare. My doctor explained to me that the baby’s heart rate was far too low and that my son had something wrong with him. This is something you never expect to hear when you are having a baby. Babies don’t come out sick? At least that was my naive way of thinking. My doctor told me to walk over to labor and delivery and he would meet me there as soon as he was finished with patients he had in his office. When I got to Labor and Delivery, they strapped me up to all these machines, and I had instant panic around me. Nurses were rushing around and almost screaming. All I could do was sit there and wonder what was going on. Next thing you know I was being prepped for an emergency C-section. That was until my doctor walked in the door and told them all to calm down. It was a sigh of relief. My doctor performed an ultra sound along with what felt like another 30 doctors. They all agreed with one thing, my baby was fine for now and needed to stay right where he was. He stated that there was something defiantly wrong with his heart, but until he was born they would not know what. After 36 weeks and lots of daily monitoring and doctor visits, I was induced and my beautiful little boy Cache came into the world fighting like a champ. The next few hours were about to change our lives forever. Cache was diagnosed with Long QT syndrome a few hours after birth and was immediately transferred to Sunrise Children’s Hospital. I was discharged and headed there to figure out just exactly what was to happen next. There we were greeted by the pediatric cardiologist who had done an ultrasound on Cache’s heart in utero. He began to explain the details of Long QT syndrome and how they treat it. He then told us they could not treat Cache because his heart rate was already dangerously low. To fix this, our son was to have open heart surgery and have a pacemaker placed. A pacemaker, isn’t that for old people? We were numb and just in a really bad dream. Three days after our perfect son’s birth he was placed with a pacemaker in his little tiny tummy. I remember that day clearly and as I held him waiting for the surgeons, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac was playing on the radio. It was a Saturday morning and we meet the surgical team. They answered all are questions and we walked my infant son down a long hall. We gave him a kiss and we said good-by. The hospital waiting room was a ghost town. We waited, and waited, and waited, and then did a little more waiting. I clearly remember seeing the whole surgical team walk into the deserted waiting room. My heart sank and I think my knees nearly hit the floor. Why were all of them coming in? Why did they all need to talk to us? As we approached them the head surgeon said “Everything went great.” The best words we had heard our whole lives. I am not the “reach out and give a hug to a stranger” kind of girl but I did just that. The next few weeks, after Cache’s pacemaker placement, had its up and downs. His heart rejected the pacemaker and fluid began to build around his heart. They eventually had to go in and put a drain in to his heart to relieve the fluid. We had trouble with feeding and jaundice. It was three weeks to the day that my son was able to come home and have his two older brothers hold him for the first time. Life with Cache has proven to be a challenging one. Cache never passed a newborn hearing screen and while most parents would be freaking out about this, we had much bigger fish to fry. We were told at the time of his birth that Cache could have a very rare form of Lonq QT Syndrome called Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome. This rare form of Long QT Syndrome causes sever to profound hearing loss. At about the age of three, this was confirmed through genetic testing but Cache also carries another genetic strain as well, Long QT Syndrome type 1. No one, as of then, had ever carried these two genes on the national registry. He had a double dose. It was also confirmed that I too had Long QT Syndrome type 1 and so did my other two biological children. Through the years Cache has had many obstacles he overcame. At the age of 2 ½ he had a deadly arrhythmia and was lucky to be alive. After that arrhythmia, it was then decided Cache needed his pacemaker replaced with an Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD) and have a left cardiac sympathetic denervation. It was a little over a year after the ICD placement in his stomach that it became infected. The ICD was removed and he was placed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for a week until it was decided that he was big enough to have an ICD implanted in his chest. A few weeks later he had to go back in and have pieces removed that had been left in him on accident. Cache is a thriving child and plays like any other child. We have been very blessed and we all consider him our life saver. He not only saved his Mom, brother, and sister, but his Uncle and three cousins. I am the luckiest Mom in the world to be Cache’s Mom. He has given me far more then I could ever give him. Cache inspires people with his amazing smile, big blue eyes, and love of life. Cache has taught us and everyone surrounded by him that life is far too short and life is more than just the daily grind. It is about living life to the fullest and making sure those who you love, know you love them. It is about today, and living in today, not about what can happen in the future. We have today and that is all we need to get to tomorrow.

Miller Time

ERIC-MELISSA-YORK-MASON-CACHE-DYLANN

Friday, March 12, 2010

101

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