What I've been thinking about....

This is where you would normally see a post about something book related. But, I'm going to talk about something a little different today - something that I've been thinking about a lot lately.

2 years ago my kids were 6 (about), 3, and almost 1. I was worried about birthday parties, Easter, and getting my house clean before my parents came for the littlest's baptism/birthday party. In the midst of all of that, the dreaded RSV virus hit our house. It hit middle really hard - including a brief hospital stay when his oxygen levels dipped to the low 90s. We got through everything and thought we were on the other side. After a fairly normal April, things started to get strange in May - so strange that we headed to the pediatrician 2 weeks in a row. Before that second visit, my sweet little 3 year old looked like this:

While at the doctor's office, he said the scariest words ever - "We need to get you to the ER for some testing - which Children's hospital do you want to go to?" This was scary because it meant the hospital 5 minutes away (where all three kids were born) wasn't good enough - we needed the specialists "Downtown." THEN, he asked if we needed an ambulance to transport us! GULP! (The ambulance thing was more because he was concerned about a freaked out Momma driving than anything - and Hubby was able to meet me before we headed downtown). 

We got to Lurie Children's in Chicago and they took fantastic care of us from the minute we walked into their ER (they knew we were coming). We weren't at the hospital long before we were with the kidney team hearing "Nephrotic Syndrome" and "Minimal Change Disease." Over the next 10 days, we basically lived at the hospital. My husband and I took turns staying with T- man and being home with the other kids. Family and Friends kept us sane and kept things functioning on the home front. At the hospital, we had a constant IV to get protein levels up and fluid levels down. The nurses and volunteers at the hospital took such good care of us. (okay, the doctors did too - but we saw a lot more of the nurses and volunteers.) The Family Life Center was an absolute life saver. They brought T things to help keep him entertained for the two days he had to be quarantined, then once he could move around they provided a much needed break for him and us. 

Loving the big fire truck at the Family Life Center

At the end of 10 days, over 10 pounds of fluid had been pulled off my little man and he had a 6 month course of steroids ahead of him. He looked like this:

Are you still with me? Why am I telling you all this? Well.... Needless to say, we are incredibly grateful to have the T-man healthy today (we've been in full remission for about 18 months). Last year we found out the Lurie Children's Walk for Kids 5K and decided to walk. We ended up raising $1,000 to help the hospital that took such great care of our little dude - he even walked the whole thing! 

Walking a 5K almost exactly 1 year after hospital admission

We are walking again this year. We would like to raise the same $1,000 and have a couple of fundraisers coming up. 

• A March Madness Bracket - It's $10 to enter. Half of the funds raised will go to the winner of the bracket and half will go to T-Man's Fundraising page. If you would like to participate, the link to sign up is HERE

• An Online auction - More details coming soon! So far we have very generous donations from some of our book world friends.(Ebooks, paperback books, SIGNED Paperbacks, gift cards, etc) I'll be putting the auction together this week, if anyone else is interested donating - please fill out the Google form HERE. 

Our Team Fundraising Page has details about where the money from the walk will go.

If you are interested in keeping up with us and our walk progress - you can follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BreeseMoveforKids/

Thank you all for being patient with me today. I know you come expecting to see something book related and got my long story instead. Thanks for putting up with me :)