Jack Jargon {past conversations, part 1}

Here are a few past gems:

January 19, 2014
Jack: What's next?
The hubs: We're going to Church.
J: I don't know where Church is! Where's my backpack??
Me: It's right here...why do you need that?
J: I don't know where Church is! Backpack,  backpack?! We need the map!

February 9, 2014
Jack: MOM! What you doin' in laundry room?
Me: I'm getting some clothes.
J: Oh ok! See you later, bye!
-brief pause-
J: MOM!! You still in there?
Me: Yes...
J: Ok. How it's goin' in there?

February 11 (Stalling at bedtime edition):
Jack: I have something in my eye. (opens his mouth)
Me: I thought it was your eye?
Jack: (pause, then a gasp) I have TEEF!!
-brief comparison of his "little" teeth to my "big" teeth-
Jack: Lemme see ya big teef! *gasp* Oh mom, they're soooo shiny!!

(This one still makes me laugh out loud when I think about it!)
Feb 14th: Doctor's office edition
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a man walk up behind us as we're waiting to pay.
Jack (loudly): Mom! He's missing one! Yook!
Me: (Silently praying) Please, sweet baby Jesus, don't let it be a leg or an arm that man's missing...(slowly turning around to see it's just a shoe)
Jack (even louder): Hey, you just have one?? Where's your 'nother shoe? You missing one! Where's your shoe?!?
-Thankfully the man just smiled and laughed. Just a few minutes later at the pharmacy, I had to use my best ninja-mom skills to keep the dude from seeing the man who actually was missing both legs...you can't make this stuff up!

March 6:
Me: Did you finish your cow pouch? (pudding with a cow on the box)
Jack: Yep. I frew it away.
Me: Where did you throw it?
Jack: In da trash.
Me: Are you fibbing?
Jack: (long pause)...Yep. I'll go get it...

March 30:
Me: Do you like your broccoli?
Jack: No...
Me: Did you even take a bite?
Jack: I can't , Mom! It's dirty!
Me: It's not dirty..look, it has cheese on it.
Jack: Oooohhh! Cheese?!? Ok.
Me: Can you take a bite now?
Jack: No, I don't sink so.

April 14:
Jack: MOM MOM MOM!!!
Me: What?
Jack (panicky): There's something in my mouth!
Me: What is it??
Jack (very calmly): Just my teef.

**Hope you got a chuckle! More to come soon!**

Zebras

This is a long story, so I'll just jump right in. If you've already heard it, feel free to skip to the next post. :)

In July 2013, Jack starting running a fever with no other symptoms. After running temp everyday for a week, we went to our pediatrician. She assumed it was something viral, and sent us home. Two weeks later, we were back again; still running fever. She gave him a full check-up and still couldn't find a source. After six weeks of still running fever, we starting running labs. SO MUCH LABWORK! I swear if it's possible to detect via blood test, we tested for it. Still nothing. After nine weeks of daily fever, it finally broke and was then recurring about 5 out of 7 days. Finally, on October 30th, we saw a pediatric rheumatologist at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. Jack's pediatrician was trying to rule this out because I have an autoimmune disease that manifests as moderate to severe joint pain, which doesn't show up neatly on labs.

The rheumatologist was very thorough and decided to run more labs. His initial opinion was not rheumatological, but instead related to his immune system. These new tests came back two weeks later; the doc was right. We were referred to an immunologist closer to home. In December, Jack was diagnosed with Specific Antibody Deficiency (of IgG). In my own non-medically-educated words...the immune system has several different types of immunoglobulin, which function as antibodies to fight different types of infections. IgG is the type of immunoglobulin needed to fight off viral and bacterial infections. A healthy immune system has 14 different IgG antibodies; Jack's body was only producing 3, and the amount of those three in his blood was barely traceable. His only physical symptoms were persistent, recurrent fever and little to no appetite, with a history of being resistant to antibiotics If you have no experience in Primary Immune Deficiencies, which we did not, you've probably never heard this expression. In medical school, doctors are typically taught "If you hear hooves, think horses," meaning, look for an obvious source first. Immunologists practice by the idea of thinking zebras instead of horses. Kind of cute, huh? Anyway, patients with P.I.D. call themselves zebras.

The first step of treatment for Jack was a booster shot call Pneumovax, which boots production of 23 different antibodies. He initially had a great response to the shot, but after 6 weeks was going back down. We decided to start immunoglobulin replacement therapy. We opted to have the medicine administered via subcutaneous infusions, which we can do on our own at home, versus IV therapy in a infusion suite at a hospital. Jack started treatment on June 9th, and gets an infusion once a week. We'll be rechecking labwork in another month to see if it's working. If it isn't, we'll be back at square one and will be referred to another specialist. If it is working, we'll continue treatment for up to 6 months, then take him off to "see what happens." From what we've been told, in some cases a few rounds of replacement therapy seems to clear up the condition, and no further treatments are needed. More commonly, the condition is life-long, but thankfully not life-threatening.

For more information about Primary Immune Deficiencies, please visit http://primaryimmune.org/about-primary-immunodeficiencies/.

Starting Over...

So a year ago, I decided it would be a good idea to start a blog. My reasons were simple: 1) I'm a talker; 2) I've always loved to write and haven't made the time for it in years; and 3) I enjoy reading other people's blogs. It all sounded good, then life got in the way, changes came along, and with them came some major writer's block. Perfect timing right? So I'm starting over, and trying again. The writing juices are flowing and I have more ideas.
One of the main reasons I've always liked writing is that it helps me process things. The truth is I am a counselor. When I'm working, I help my clients process things. When I'm off, I spend my time processing my own stuff. Writing helps me do that. I think blogging could be a fun way to process things, as well as a way to open up to others. I've always been an open book--I can keep others' secrets, but was never good at keeping my own. So, if by blogging I can make you laugh, help you see something about yourself, make you feel less "alone," or learn something new, it's worth my time and effort. But, first and foremost, I am doing this for me.

What I Intend to Write About:
Whatever strikes me! When I work on coming up with blog ideas, I always come back to things I do often enough to write about more than once. I've confessed before that I have an unhealthy relationship with Pinterest, but I don't pin just to pin--I actually do most of the stuff. So, I'm hoping to have a regular series about what pin I'm trying that week.
If we're friends on Facebook, you're familiar with "Jack jargon." If not...I'm lucky enough to be the mother of the funniest kid I've ever met. He's almost 3. I first posted a "Jack jargon" not long after he started talking in complete sentences, and those posts have really taken off since. Whenever I run into a Facebook friend in person, they always comment on how much they love those posts. Several have suggested in recent months I start a blog...imagine that! Needless to say, Jack jargon will have a prominent place here.

Here we go...!!