Antiphospho.....what?!

I am not alone? Really??? There are more people out there with this issue?
In high school I really didn't think that 10 years later a stupid acne medication would leave me with life long heart ache.

Thank you, makers of Minocycline... not only did you ruin my High School experience, but you have caused the miscarriage of several of my babies.

Let me explain. One, very small and overlooked side effect of Minocycline is a "Lupus like reaction"... or "drug induced Lupus".

Pretty much everyone knows that Lupus is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissue. This results in symptoms such as inflammation, swelling, and damage to joints, skin, kidneys, blood, the heart, and lungs… ok, so they might not know all that… but they do know it is no fun.

Drug induced lupus is most known for joint pain and fatigue.

I started taking Minocycline when I was 15 or 16… I can’t remember for sure. Shortly after I felt like an 80 year old women.
In high school I got lunch and various school essential items thrown at my head in the hallways because I was the "slow girl"... I couldn't walk without wanting to vomit from the pain. I should have invested in a Rascal scooter. I couldn't sit on the toilet to pee without tears flooding my eyes because my knee joints hurt so bad. I couldn't take notes in class because my fingers couldn't hold a pen... to be honest, much of this experience must be blocked... I can't remember... and if you ask anyone, I have an impeccable memory.
Countless blood test, pain management, but mostly God Himself healed my body from that pain of a “Lupus like reaction to the drug Minocycline”... it's not Lupus... but it is. I still don't understand and who would have thought that a pill for vanity sakes could cause so much grief.

Fast forward to 2007... several pregnancy losses... I was living in Arizona. My OB ran countless tests and decided he wanted to put me on birth control "you must loose weight if you want to sustain a viable pregnancy."

No gracies Senior OB... Fat girls get pregnant, have a boring uneventful pregnancy resulting in a healthy baby every day... I will forgo the birth control and loose weight the normal way. The OB didn’t address my PCOS or Hypothyroidism… but this blog is not about either of those… so I will leave them out.

We ended up moving back to Redding. Fast forward... January 21, 2008... 5am... Happy Anniversary Daniel... double pink lines!

Hola Dr. Perry "I think I might be pregnant"... He ran the.same.exact.tests. as the Arizona OB. "Sarah, you need to be put on blood thinners. You have Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome. Here... I made you a copy from my medical dictionary book telling you what it is". (I should call that Arizona OB and thank him for trying to murder me... birth control is very widely known for creating blood clots... something I only NOW know APS does in excess in my body). I have to say that Dr. Perry DID address my other health issues, but they are very mild and under management so are a non-issue.

There are two main classifications of the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. If the patient has an underlying autoimmune disorder, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, the patient is said to have secondary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. If the patient has no known underlying autoimmune disorder, it is termed primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome…. AHHHH LUPUS!!! Which brings me back to high school and that stupid vanity pill…

81mg a day of low dose aspirin gave me the opportunity to carry a pregnancy to term...Resulting in my healthy baby boy. I am very lucky that I did not need a more extensive anticoagulant therapy. I have read about women who have to give themselves daily blood thinner injections.

For years now I have googled the shiz-nit out of Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome... every time I Google it I find and learn so much more. It started out with one or two medical journals with information I didn't understand... I posted my experience in yahoo answers, hoping to find someone with similar experiences. A year or so later I got an IM from a mom in Nevada telling me about her “Lupus like reaction… and need of blood thinners”… today I found a whole website WITH A YOU TUBE CHANNEL!

You all must think I am so lame... but thinking you are one of two medical journal entries leaves you feeling very much a freak... 1 in 3,348,627,020! But today I found a You Tube channel... I have to tell you... I cried... like a nerd! A You Tube channel people… I can’t say it enough times!

A mixer of generosity

My Grandma has to be the most generous person I know. Last week she asked me if I wanted her old Kitchen Aide mixer... I said "yes, please!". I have always wanted a Kitchen Aide mixer... and I was pretty sure I could never afford to purchase one myself. The next day she called me and apologized because she didn't know her old Kitchen Aide was broken... it kept shorting out. I said no biggy...

Sure I was bummed, I was looking forward to having a Kitchen Aide mixer... but didn't dwell on it ya know... I put it out of my mind...

Today my Grandma calls me and says she has a prize for me. I thought it was one of Elijah's toys he left at her house the day before... so I drive over there and she has this waiting for me


My very own...brand new... Kitchen Aide mixer! I cried... I was so surprised... I think that is the nicest thing anyone has done for me... and my husband who is excited for all the yummy things this mixer will help me make!

I went home and put it together...







Thank You Grandma...

Conversations with God

Dear God,

I would like to upgrade this giant broken body for the 2.0 version. If an upgrade is not available, I would like to exchange it for something similar, smaller, and that has less flaws. Thank You. Love Sarah




Dear Sarah,

I gave you a larger size because I like you more. Have fun! , Love God

ACOG regarding new VBAC guidelines

There are so many blogs blowing up about the new ACOG VBAC guidelines right now...

So many opinions... I just have to say that I am excited about another option. I should be allowed to try to avoid surgery if I want. I agree that the number one concern during child birth is safety of the Mother and Child... But I feel that Cesarean is offered to quickly. I completely understand that c-section is very necessary on many occasions, and to the option and knowledge of the cesarean, I am very thankful.

I was induced 3 weeks early... I honestly feel that if Dr. Skipitis (who was NOT my OB)had NOT taken me off the meds, (so he could sleep that night)that I would have progressed. I had to start the induction over twice. Being 3 weeks early I feel I needed more than 12 hours at a time to progress to active labor... I knew that I was going to have to have a c-section after he took me off the meds. I was sent home after 3 days of in-active labor. Labored at home for a week... then had a c-section. I was thrilled to have my son, so I didn't care how he arrived. I just was ecstatic to have a healthy pregnancy resulting in a very healthy baby.

Looking back, I used to wish I would have pitched a massive hormonal pregnant fit that night Skipitis took me off the meds... but now... now that TOLAC is available... I am more than excited to experience the awfulness of child birth! LOL! I just want to try... if I don't progress again... then so be it. I just want the opportunity!

I am curious as to if Mercy Medical Center is going to willingly offer the TOLAC... I know that if you drive down to Red Bluff that they do VBAC... but having such high risk pregnancies, I was seeing my OB weekly... I would not enjoy being giantly pregnant and having to drive to Red Bluff every week.

Now... I just have to wait and see when God gives me those two pink lines... waiting on God.......................

A Zombie affair

Craziest dream by far....

I was working in a hospital as a MA, when this crazed Maniac was brought in. He looked similar to Manson, except oddly short. He was escorted by a police force because he had just murdered several people. He was handcuffed and... uh... footcuffed. He was brought in for a serious of flu vaccines. So an other MA and and myself were setting up vaccine trays when this crazed murderer grasped the other MA's undies and pulled them over her head... and when that happens in dream land, your head falls off. The crazy guy continues to chop off all the police peoples head with their undies... but I escape!

I RUN! The hospitals alarms are going off and all the doors were being quarantined. Then all of a sudden the crazed murderer was a zombie... and it was the end of the world... I am running, begging people to open a door so I can get away from the quarantined rooms and the zombies... I finally find a pharmacist who is escaping the quarantined rooms via trash shoot. He lets me escape with him. We are out of the quarantined area... only to be meet with chaos in the ER waiting room.

Everyone is afraid of the zombie flu so they are wanting the Zombie vaccine. I am terrified for my life so I try just walk out of the hospital. A cop stops me because I had yellow Zombie blood on my shoes. The cop was trying to bring me back in the hospital yelling... "you have to save us all! Give these people the vaccine!" ....

I was fighting the cop, trying to run away... when a Zombie on a tricycle road up and knocked over an old lady and started to eat her brain.

That is when I woke myself up... AH!