Happy Halloween!

Ben had a great time Trick or Treating with his sisters! It was also his sister Klara's birthday today! She turned 6. She celebrated in her classroom yesterday because they were having a parade at school today. So, he also got to join in on that yesterday. Some people are a little skiddish about letting a child who had a heart transplant go door to door trick or treating. They think they might get sicker by being exposed to all the various people. I did think about that. But ultimately, we wanted to let him live. We wanted Ben to be treated the same as any child, and especially the same as his sisters. So, he dressed up as the monkey that he is around this house, and grabbed his bucket and went off in the freezing winds to get some candy :) Yes, it was about 40 degrees out with 40 mph winds and all three of my kids wanted to go trick or treating. Especially Klara! But, Klara was the first to say, "I want to go home now." So, Klara and I went home first and Ben and Abby stayed out a bit longer with Joe. Then, after they got back, we sang Happy birthday to Klara and ate her favorite dinner of chicken nuggets. The next day we had breakfast out (her choice) and visited my grandma. A very nice weekend!

Celebrating in Klara's classroom

Trick or Treat time!

And he's off!

Ready to say "Trick or treat!"

At home watching Thomas Halloween while the girls played Monopoly

The importance of vaccinations. In other words, go get your flu shot!

So, in case you are new around these parts, I am very in favor of vaccination, for everyone that can be vaccinated. Every child that can be vaccinated, should be vaccinated, on time, every time. So, it should come as no surprise that when a question came up last night on a transplant board that I am on about "what do you do about family members that do not want to be vaccinated for the flu?" My answer would be, "we do not go around people who are unvaccinated. All of our close friends and family members are fully vaccinated." What was surprising was the debate that ensued about whether or not the flu shot is worth it, or the fact that the flu shot has toxins in it and "chemicals." I mean, I of course have heard this before, many times. But, on anti-vax sites. Not on a transplant board. These are parents who have been given a great gift for their child! A very selfless gift from someone who has lost a very dear person! Every transplant center I know of has written in to their post-transplant rules that the child should have a flu shot to protect them from the flu. Their immediate family should also get a flu shot to protect them with what is known as herd immunity.  For kids who have had heart transplants (or any kind of transplant) they are put on heavy immunosuppressants so that their body does not reject their new organ. But, what this means, is they also can not fight off diseases as easily as you or I can. With healthy people, or immune system can kick in and try to fight off the flu. But, even in  otherwise healthy people, the flu can kill. You can imagine what this can mean for a child like Ben who is on immunosupressing medication.

In the 2012-2013 flu season, there were 149 laboratory-confirmed influenza pediatric deaths . Now, I have no idea if any of those children had other conditions. But, if there were that many children that died of the flu, you can imagine how scary it is to me with a child like Ben, who can not fight off illnesses easily. So, of course, we do everything we can by protecting him with his own flu shot and by getting our flu shots as well.

Mommy and Ben flu shot selfie

I was really shocked to hear a couple of people on this board claiming that they themselves do not get the flu shot. They do other stuff instead. I won't go into details, as I do not have their permission to post their statements. But, suffice it to say, I was (of course) up for a while debunking some myths about the flu shot. Which were still persisting in to this morning (I mean, come on. Someone was WRONG on the internet! ;) )

I try my best to make sure people have the correct information, and help correct myths that have heard. Such as, "the flu shot will give you the flu". Which, no, it can not. If you get sick after getting the flu shot, you were already sick. Or you got sick at the doctors office getting your shot. Another one I have heard is, "I never get sick, so why should I get the flu shot"? Which again, it is all about herd immunity and protecting little guys like my Ben and his friends. Or, "if your flu shot works you should be fine and not worry about other people not getting theirs." Again, another yay for herd immunity. IF we can keep herd immunity high enough, then people who can't be vaccinated, or for who the vaccine is not quite as effective or who don't seroconvert will still be protected because it will be less likely that the illness will be able to get hold of our most vulnerable (and psst, it's not just our little ones. It's the pregnant lady in line next to you. It's the mom who might be going through chemo that is picking up her kid from daycare. It's the 85 year old grandma who visits her grandkid who doesn't yet know he has the flu because he doesn't feel sick. All of them are at risk.) By the way, follow that link on herd immunity to some great memes that explain it really well, as well as this one. And FINALLY, here is a debunking of ALL of the flu vaccine myths that you have probably ever heard. Yes, I know I posted it on facebook. But, I am posting it again in case you need to use it for some family members. Enjoy. http://www.redwineandapplesauce.com/2014/10/10/33-flu-vaccine-myths/ 

Quite a week

And it's only Wednesday. On Saturday, Ben was playing around as we were getting in to bed. Just as I said, "Ben, no, stop" He fell against the side of the bed. Right on to his eye. Right after it happened it looked like a hard not. Today, 4 days later, he has a bruise around his whole eye, looking like he was in a fist fight. He also has 2 small red dots near his eye, I think they may be cuts. It looks horrible, but it could have been much worse, he could have hurt his eye :(

This is what it looked like right after.

On Sunday, we went to the Great Midwest Train show. The kids all had a lot of fun. Ben loved seeing all of the trains. The girls did too. They also loved looking at all of the stuff for sale. They had a few Halloween type things for sale that we bought. They also sold ice cream and we all shared a root beer float. Well, I drank the rot beer part, the girls and Ben ate all the ice cream out of it ;) All in all it was a very nice day.

Watching trains

Great Midwest Train show

Monday night, we were walking up the stairs to go to bed. Ben wanted to bring a toy up with him. I told him "no, you have too many things in your hand. You need to just walk." He dropped his toy and I turned around to pick it up. Just as I turned around to see where it went, Ben fell down the stairs and hit his head on the baby gate. At first I thought it was just that his legs got hurt. But then, I saw all the blood. He was losing a lot of blood from his head. His shirt was covered in it and so was mine and my pants. He did throw up one time as well, which made me worry about a concussion.  Joe got dressed and took him to Edward Er. He was still screaming at that point, but Joe said as they were driving he stopped screaming. Joe said that he was going really fast to get there in a hurry and Ben liked that. Later on when they got home Ben told me "Daddy drived me really fast on the sidewalks." No, Joe did not actually drive on the sidewalks, but he did try to get there in a hurry. When they got there, the first thing they did was clean him up and put a bandage around his head to try to stop the bleeding and figure out what was going on. Then they did a CT, which they did not even need to sedate him for. I was shocked. I figured they would definitely need to sedate him for that, but Joe said he was fine. The CT came back normal, so they put in 2 staples (which Ben asked me yesterday, "can you take these things off my head?") and said he was ok to go home, they had talked to cardiology, and cardiology also agreed he was fine. He could take a bath or shower the next day. I did wipe him down before school. They said he was ok to go to school because he did not have a brain bleed or concussion. I still woke up all night long checking on him, because, I'm a mom. I mean, obviously. His teachers said he had a great day and did not slow down at all despite the head wound and his eye wound. I felt weird going in with him all bruised and broken. Like "here's my broken son. No, we honestly did not do this too him. No really, he truly did fall. Twice this weekend." I do want to ask his PT about it tomorrow. Like is he having stability issues? Or is this normal 2ish year old stuff? SO, that is our week so far. I hope everyone else has had a much calmer week than us! :)

Bandaged up after they cleaned him off

Getting his CT scan

All one getting staples in. Such a brave boy. He got a popsicle