It's that time of year again... Lyme Disease

In western PA, we're in prime Lyme time. In our household we've dealt with it, with two people. Our daughter A and myself.  A was diagnosed at 2 years old (Sept 23, 2010- which happened to be our 4th wedding anniversary, in the ACMH ER). She had these huge red rings all over herself, not a typical bullseye rash. She was cranky, just not acting herself. I at first thought she somehow got horrible ringworm all over her body thanks to a neighbors cat. But, we took her to the ER, because she had a fever on top of just not acting herself. 

Notice her arm, chest, ect. 

At the ER, A's arm.

She was put on 3 weeks of Ceftin, since she's allergic to amoxicillin.

Fast forward to November 2012. It was after the bad storms that postponed Halloween for our neighborhoods. A started limping, but still wanted to trick or treat (hey, she's 4 years old and was excited for trick or treat night :-P). We checked her feet, ect to see if maybe she stepped on a Lego (common w/ her brother around), and didn't see any cause for alarm, so we let her trick or treat. She did a few blocks and wanted to quit because her "leg hurt".

This is what we found the next day:

Her left knee was hugely swollen. Luckily, daddy was off work so him and I loaded the kids in the car, and went up to the fastER care center, since we thought she twisted her knee or something. We got an X-ray before seeing the doctor, and when the doctor came in he looked at her knee and said he thought it was Lyme Arthritis (he did not know A's prior history of Lyme Disease). We were told to go to ACMH's ER right then and there, so off we went to the ER. We spent nearly all day at ACMH. It was an extremely busy day at the hospital, and my poor 4 year old was hungry and thirsty. They had to strap A to a board and drain some of the fluid out of her knee. (Her crying still is stuck in my head from them doing that to her). The ER doc was very kind to A, and wanted to consult with children's hospital of Pittsburgh because of her age and because he felt like she needed surgery. The nurses brought her snacks, juice, Popsicles for her before they made the decision to withhold food b/c of surgery. And lots and lots of stickers. I think we were stuck in the room they put people in who are having breakdowns, but the padded floor was nice for A to sit and play on, and she could just sit w/o risking a fall. About 5 pm they made the call and we were waiting for an ambulance to take us to children's. ACMH said Lyme arthritis too. So they put in an IV to give her antibiotics and so they wouldn't have to keep poking her for blood draws. But sent her down with transport as "septic knee". We were down at children's at about 6 and in our own little ER pod, so A and I were sitting on her bed watching tv. The ER doctor and nurses were very nice to A and expressed our concerns as well. The ortho doc thought she may have "transient arthritis" and actually wanted to send us home after IV anti inflammatories. But the ER doctor wasn't convinced, and after much discussion with us (my main point being we live over an hour away, what if something happened and we go back to ACMH?), and watching A walk around (cause really, how do you keep a 4 year old still who can't eat or drink and is crabby?), he decided to keep her overnight. She had a surgery time scheduled for the next day, just in case she needed it. We also needed to speak with the head ortho doctor and infectious disease doctor. Luckily after IV antibiotics we were able to avoid surgery, but they diagnosed her with Lyme arthritis too, and we were sent home the next evening on 4 wks of antibiotics. Ceftin at first, but we couldn't get it in her, so she was on 4 wks of doxycycline.

This was her last western blot test from the hospital.

She reacted 10/10 IgG bands and 1/3 IgM bands. Anna had late stage Lyme disease, and we're waiting for the episode of Lyme to surface.

This past June I had a weird rash/bruise looking thing on the back of my knee, it just kept getting bigger and bigger, but I didn't recall a tick bite (with A we didn't either, but she's a tick magnet now).

This was a few days later

It wasn't a "true bullseye", but I just wasn't feeling great. Sluggish, tired, cold chills, ect.  My blood titer came back neg, but with the way this looked, and how it was darker in the center with a ring around it, they have to treat as Lyme since I don't recall being bit, and the blood test often is crap. Lyme is a clinical diagnosis. I was on 3 wks of doxycycline.

Watch tick bite areas, bone up on Lyme disease literature. Geocaching gets you outdoors, which unfortunately leaves you prone to ticks and Lyme. If you notice any flu like symptoms after being bit, get checked out by your doctor. Early treatment is key. It's not fun being sick, and I wouldn't wish what happened to my daughter on anyone.

Safe geocaching!

-Kailey 

Something non geocache to blog about this evening..

I felt like blogging something that wasn't geocaching today. 

We have a local group down in Pittsburgh that does shadowcasting for the Rocky Horror Picture Show and other films.  The group is called the Junior Chamber of Commerce Players (or JCCP). They've done 2 theaters down there, The Oaks theater and the Hollywood Theater. We've only been to the Hollywood, and I believe that's the only theater they are working with now. We've been to 4 showings of RHPS down there with them. We've also see the actual musical done with a full cast, at the Indiana Playhouse in Indiana, PA. 

Recently, Fox made the decision that they would only allow showings of their films done with the digital format. A lot of the drive ins and smaller theaters cannot afford to make the jump into digital, which is causing the theaters to shut down. The Hollywood Theater is affected by this. They are the only single screen theater in the area, and it costs them $75,000 to make the leap into digital. The Hollywood generally does local films, cult horror films, ect. All 35 mm films. When Fox made the announcement about going digital, the Hollywood had permission from who they bought their DVD copy from to run it in the theater, but since the end of 2012, that company went under so they could no longer do it. 

JCCP did a few other shadowcasts, Clue, Grease, and Reefer Madness. I wasn't able to see these performed, but I heard they did fantastic. 

About a month or so ago, the Hollywood a special announcement. They somehow gained permission to run the 35 mm film of RHPS again. First night being July 27th. Tickets went on sale online, expecting to sell out. We got our tickets a few weeks ago and were anxiously awaiting the return of RHPS. We went with friends we went on a trip to Montana with, who we haven't seen in 2 years. It was a sell out show, and it was awesome and exciting. The JCCP have been dying to come back and do RHPS, and the audience was dying for their shadowcast fix. They are doing more shows from Sept-Nov (that were announced, perhaps more to come). Next month, they are doing a shadowcast of Cry Baby. I can't wait to see this. I love the film, and have the DVD as well.

The Halloween show is always a sell out for JCCP. Maybe you should join us this year.

RHPS isn't for everyone, you've got to have an open mind for it (lol). But I grew up watching the movie every year on Vh1, I have the DVDs, cd's, ect. We really have a lot of fun at the Hollywood. 

The Hollywood theater is at 35,000 of their 75,000$ campaign to go digital or go dark.  You can find them on Facebook by searching the Hollywood Theater of Dormont. Support the Hollywood! It's a gem!

You can also find JCCP on Facebook as well. Just look up the Junior Chamber of Commerce Players. 

At the late night (Sunday Morning)..... Double feature (Rocky Horror).... Picture show....

Family Friday

Just wanted to share a few family photos. This is my little girl A. She's so adorable!

This is K and our newest addition, Pepper the shih tzu! My mom found him dodging cars on a very dangerous road and was able to grab him so he didn't get hit. We were told he was dodging cars for atleast two days. After taking him to the shelter to be scanned, and finding no chip on him, we posted on Facebook for sale groups cause someone had to be missing the lil fella, someone gave me the number of someone missing their shih tzu. My husband got ahold of them, and it turns out it was a breeder, who was 'retiring' Pepper, so she asked us if we wanted to keep him. My husband was a little upset that these people weren't worried about their full blooded shih tzu, and didn't want to hand him back over if they didn't care (we found him 5 miles from the breeders, so we question if he was dropped off, ect). Pepper is our little buddy, loves the kids and us. He was a little skittish around Mike, my hubby but they are thick as thieves. 

This is our Kitterz, who's my big cuddle bug. We adopted him March of 2012.

My goofy husband Mike on the 4th of July this year.

Afternoon at Crooked Creek State Park

We spent our afternoon over at Crooked Creek park. We stopped at Speedy's for ice cream (which was yummy, as always), and went off into the park to do some geocaching. The first up was the A-Frame. I swear we walked by that lock n lock box like 4 times! 

It was the first "big" cache my kids have found with us :)

We tried to find another off the fisherman's trail, but we couldn't find it. A and K found some little frogs and got a kick outta them. We really worked up a sweat hitting that trail! I'll be bummed if I don't loose a few pounds hiking and hitting the trails. 

I'm glad I'm instilling a love for the outdoors with my kids. Both were chomping at the bit to do some Geocaching. K had a couple big days. He got to go to the Carnegie museum of natural history yesterday, and to the laurel caverns today with his 2 day camp with our local Salvation Army. Tomorrow it's bak to the school grind for him. I'm taking A to the library for their story program tomorrow since she couldn't do the girls camp, and then we are hitting the ACGT with K's TSS. I hope she wears her tennis shoes.. We've got a hike ahead!

The kids being silly on Fisherman's Trail.

A beautiful sight going into Crooked Creek! Twins!

  

Trader cache

We found it finally :). Hubby went and fixed a friends car today, so we were sans kids, and he asked if I wanted to see if we could find it. We found it all right.

Just an FYI: 

This wasn't the location of the cache. I don't want to give it away for others, this was a little down the trail and we signed the log and put it back snugly where it belongs.

Thanks RitaBell for the find!

You may see us on the trails tomorrow :)

Armstrong GeoTrail

We can't wait for Wednesday! K has school till noon (extended school year for his autistic support class) and I'm taking A to the local library's story hour for the little kids. After K gets home, we're going to hit the trail and find us some caches. If we get 20 each, we get a geocoin from the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau.

So excited!

New to the Geo thing..

Hi everyone! We are a family of four out of the Armstrong County area of Pennsylvania. We literally just started geocaching last night, when I convinced my husband to see if we could find the one geocache that's at a gas station near our house. My friend has been talking non stop about geocaching, and I wanted to give it a try. Now my husband is hooked :). There is one right over the hill from our house, but it's basically in the woodline and the weeds are too high to take our young children back there. So that's either one my husband picks up or one him and I go on when it's just us. It's a 50 cal box so I'm anxious to see what's inside.

We are on geocaching.com as BowserFamily2013. 

We plan on doing the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau's geo trail this coming week. If you get a log and get atleast 20 punches (they have hole punchers in their boxes), you get a minted geo coin. We plan on getting each of the kids a passport to earn their coin.

Speaking of our kids, K- is going to be 8 at the end of October (just missing being a Halloween baby). He's in 2nd grade this year, and has high functioning autism . He's a math wiz and an avid reader. A-will be 5 in less than a month, and will be in Kindergarten this fall. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and is a kind spirit. 

Both kiddos are outdoorsy, and loves the thought of the treasure hunt/hide and seek game that geocaching is. We plan on designing our own trackable/travel bug for them.

We also have an idea for a geocache of our own. It'll more than likely be placed either somewhere in Armstrong county, or out towards St Mary's/medix run area.

I want to have the travel bug hosts email me or come onto the blog and let me know where they are dropped off at, so the kids can watch where they end up. Not sure if the hype will catch on, but we hope!

I'll post more here in the next few days. Take care everyone!