Links to Amazon are affiliate links.
Every day Facebook notifies me to check out "On This Day." To take a look back at all the memories posted on Facebook on that exact day for every year that I've had an account. Usually it's a quick minute of fun. Looking back at old photos. Embarrassing posts that were made back when Facebook was much, much different than it is now. Fun albums from when Katie and I would comment obsessively on everything with all of our inside jokes. But sometimes I wish there was a way to pick and choose what memories Facebook has us see. Some flashbacks in time we really don't want to relive or re-experience. At the same time, some moments in life are unavoidable to remember. Even if there isn't one single post regarding that moment, any photo or memory from the time surrounding that moment will trigger those emotions and that memory. Some moments in life are a clear marker of "before" and "after." As a mom this is often to do with kids. My life is di...
It's hard to believe that we are reaching the one year marker since Zach's episode. A lot has happened in our lives since last year! I will be honest...coming up on that one year marker does make me nervous. I'm irrationally afraid that he'll start having symptoms or another episode just because it's that time that he did before. It's crazy to think back to a year ago and think that we didn't know what was coming. We really just don't ever know what is around the corner, do we? I did a post with a general update in June so you can read that here! I wanted to do another update though now that we're officially switched from Tysabri and have begun the new treatment plan with Ocrevus. We have been very eager to get rolling with Ocrevus. We knew Tysabri was a short term plan and that Ocrevus is the longterm one. I'm the kind of person that likes to feel settled and I just want to get on our regular plan so I can feel settled and content. I feel ...
I haven't done an update on Zach's multiple sclerosis situation since his first infusion in February. If you want to get caught up on everything that's been going on since September you can read all of my posts on the topic here :) Zach is currently on a 28 day infusion called Tysabri. He travels to Atlanta every 28 days. We have a good system down where he has his appointment early in the morning so he goes to Atlanta the night prior then is able to beat traffic on his way home (or to another area if he needs to work somewhere near Atlanta). For the first two infusions he stayed with some wonderful blog-turned-real-life friends Ruth and Nathan. For the others he's been staying with a friend of mine from childhood who also played football with Zach in college (shout out to Scott and Fontana!). We are SO blessed by so many friends who have offered up their homes to him and we are thankful to have options available which we may be utilizing ;) I only went with him on...
Zach got word a week prior that his first infusion would be Wednesday February 22nd. It was a tad tricky being mid-week but actually worked out. The kids were off school both that Monday and Tuesday and Zach and I had to be at an all-day meeting on Tuesday. So we left from there and drove up to Atlanta to be ready to go for the infusion Wednesday. Mrs. Charlotte already had planned to help with the kids Tuesday so it wasn't too complicated for her to just keep them that night and handle school stuff the next day :) I will be honest though: whew I was stressed. The combo of the meeting we had Tuesday coupled with having his infusion was just a LOT for me. We had assumed he wouldn't have his first infusion until after he met with a local hematologist. They found some protein in his blood during his labs from his first Shepherd Visit and we were told we needed to be seen by a hematologist. Turns out they still felt fine moving forward with the infusion even prior to the hemat...
Need to get caught up on all this medical saga? You can read about initial symptoms and appointment locally here , results from further MRI scans here , and spinal tap results here. I've debated about how to go about writing this post but decided that this post will stick with the actual appointment at Shepherd. I'll do another one later on (in chronological order) that will cover our full trip as we went up together and had almost 2 full days of adventure while up in Atlanta ;) We had both assumed the first appointment at Shepherd Center would take awhile . I was eager to get the appointment set but was also just in a REALLY good mental place. I was SO HAPPY after our visit for his spinal tap results. I felt so positive. So hopeful. To go from feeling SO low to SO high was a great feeling and I just didn't want to hear anything that could bring me down from feeling so great. I knew the visit to Shepherd was needed but I also knew it'd make things much more REAL for...
