At some point I think I'll need to have another blog (one for school, one for everything else) but it's enough to *try* to keep up with one. I will try, though, to keep school stuff seperate from everything else.

So I've been diagnosed with Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID). (this link is to a first person account of her life with CVID as I felt if you were led to read it, it would be easier to understand than an excerpt from a medical dictionary.) It's a disorder in which my body doesn't produce an adequate amount of antibodies, leaving me highly susceptible to infections. For me in particular, my infections come in the form of sinus and upper respiratory issues. And I've had this for as long as I can remember...but just learned learned it had a name. I've always been sick. Literally....always. Imagine my surprise, my relief, almost my joy when I realized that my being ill is not because I "never take care of myself" as people have told me, but because I have a chronic disorder that I'll never be rid of. It's not my fault that I'm sick with infections 4, 5, 6 times a year. It's not my fault that despite taking meds. the illness never seems to go away. It's not my fault that I spend more days than not (by far) feeling sick. It's not my fault that I can wake up one day feeling ok and the next day so exhausted I feel like I've run a marathon. It's not my fault. It's a blessing to know that.

What do I deal with having CVID? Prior to treatment, every little thing could make me sick. Someone could cough four houses down and I've got bronchitis. Someone could sneeze on the other side of post and I have a sinus infection. Ok, so I'm exaggerating...a little. But it's real. I can't fight infections on my own.

What now having been diagnosed? I will start receiving IVIG, which is intravenous immunoglubulin. Each month, I'll go to my hematologist's office where I'll receive immunoglobulin in an IV in my arm. It's blood that has been pooled from many donors to ensure I get the antibodies I need.

My hematologist said that it's a good chance that after starting this IVIG treatment, I could get my infection rate down to maybe once a year. One time. ONE INFECTION a year. What an amazing number. Not sick all the time, maybe just being sick one time.

How do I feel? I feel fine. I feel like I always have. I always feel at least a little tired (some days just a little drowsy, some days overwhelmingly exhausted). I never feel really really great. I think that so many past infections have taken a toll on my body. I feel like I can't wait to wake up feeling great.

That's a lot of info. So I'll stop now. It's not a bad diagnosis. It's a relief. I'm sick because of this, I'm not sick because of me. The treatment seems simple enough and I'll let you know tomorrow how my first one goes. I'll share more information in the future. In the mean time, my name is Nicole and I've been diagnosed with an incurable chronic disorder. :)

Yay for getting lots of school stuff done today!

Last week we reviewed spelling words we had used in the last six weeks of last year (when we started with My Father's World). This week, we finally got a new list going. The words are pretty easy for Adisson, but it's the curriculum MFW recommended and I guess I'll just have him stick with it.

He also worked on his puncuation (period, question mark, and exclamation point) and handwriting, had some more math review, and discussed Ben Franklin. We did a science experiment on yeast. We put yeast in a glass with sugar water and yeast in a glass with salt water. Here are our pics:
Experiment Picture 1

Experiment Picture 2 (just 90 minutes later):

We stopped the experiment then because Adisson was sure the yeast would explode everywhere.

We've also been reading The Courage of Sarah Noble and today went over new vocabulary words and discussed how fear could be measured even though it's a feeling.

And after the yeast experiment, we made bread. :) I'll hopefully have pics later of us eating it!! :)

This year we are learning with My Father's World. We started it at the end of last year and it seems to be going really well. Adisson is really into American History, and while we both really loved Five in a Row, it felt like MFW would be a better fit right now.
This week we mostly did review work over the first six weeks (what we covered last school year) and started on week 7. We discussed more early settlers and their interactions with the Indians. We made a canoe from construction paper (pic coming soon!), made and mapped a sundial, made play dough, and worked on punctuation. It was a great week!

Because my family is so far away, I'm soooo hoping that I can keep my blog updated this school year with what's going on with us and our homeschool. We'll see. :)

So three months. That would be all summer. That's how long since I've blogged. When I was blogging it was about how I was trying so hard to get in shape while Adam was gone for a month doing some Army training. A lot has changed since then.

If you know me, you know I get sick often. Sinus. Bronchitis. Allergies. Pneumonia. 4-6 times a year. Serious infections. On July 1, I got sick....again. And to tell you the truth, I'm not completely better. In August, I went to the ER twice for pain while I was breathing. On the second trip, two weeks after the first one, I was admitted to the hospital. For six very long days. My journey will this illness has not ended, though. It seems I could have a lifelong autoimmune disease. I've consulted with a hematologist and had some more blood work done (my stint in the hospital included a variety of tests), but due to the lack of a babysitter to keep the boys, I've yet to learn those results.
Last week we went on vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It was amazing.

We had a great time in an amazing part of this world. So much fun that Adam dreams of living there forever.
Today we started school. Finally. Due to my illness, hospitalization, and vacation, we started much later than I had planned. I wasn't too worried as Adisson had already started his second grade curriculum at the end of last year (and we were six weeks into it) so really we aren't too far behind and rather maybe even a little ahead. :) It went super well today. The boys did great and if everyday was like today (in a homeschool sense) the whole world would want to homeschool.

Here are some first day of school pics: