Hemoglobin is a funny word

Jake has been sick. On Saturday, it came on all of the sudden. I'd already mentioned how frightening his symptoms were, and how they made me wonder if this was the beginning of the end. He is being treated for a gastric ulcer. It has been bleeding quite a bit, so last night we went in to have him checked for anemia. The normal hemoglobin level in a male is 14, his was 9.2, but they don't start transfusing until 7. He's taken quite a hit from blood loss. The first plan of attack consists of him taking 80mg of Prilosec every day to see if the ulcer will start to heal itself and stop bleeding. If the bleeding doesn't stop in 3-4 days, he's going to be treated with a series of antibiotics to treat the bacteria H. Pylori (a major cause of ulcers).

We're not really sure how long he's had it, but he lost 15 pounds basically out of nowhere in the last months of last year. He also has had an ache in his abdomen about two inches below his sternum. It's an on/off kind of ache. It started happening after we were sick with that horrible stomach bug on Christmas Eve. It's just so weird that something can be going on in your body without being aware of it. Especially to have the severity of his symptoms come on all at once.

In other news: I didn't get dressed today. I remember thinking, before I had kids, that I would always get ready for the day. Nope, I don't. I've been working in Cora's room for the last few days. My first order of business was to get her butterflies back on the ceiling. She asked about them every time she saw them. I had to cut the strings they hang from this time because she's so tall, and I didn't want her reaching up and yanking them down. I hung the curtains from our living room in Chicago yesterday. I know they've been washed, but they smelled just like our apartment. Today, I made room for a clothes rack for her dress-ups that will be getting here on Saturday (Did you already guess that Vaughn made it?). When we moved in, Tracey gave Cora these cute little flower hooks that I haven't ever hung up because I'd been waiting for just the right spot. I'm into stations/centers, you know, just like in kindergarten and first grade. She has her book nook with a bookshelf and chair. She has her art station with her easel, and now she'll have her dress-up spot with clothes and flower hooks to hang accessories from. I like her room. It's eclectic. I can tell I'm the one decorating it right now. I can't wait to see what sort of flair she'll add to it as she gets older. My room was always all about collections. The focal point was the top of my dresser with my treasures - including an angel clock, a small silver jewelery box that I kept all the teeth I lost in, and four balance mobiles. Those were so rad.

PS: I got on to post something last night, but got seriously sidetracked by my stats. There was a website listed as a referring URL that I didn't recognize with some very unflattering words, I clicked on. Major porn site. Major. I clicked out, but then I was like, WAIT?!? Why is my blog linked to a porn site? I clicked on the link again hurried down through looking for anything that links to my blog - nothing. Then I did some research, and I don't know how it works, but blogger URL's can be spammed by sites looking for more hits. I fell into the trap. I clicked on the link to their site, giving them a hit (twice actually - ugh). So, if ever you're looking at your stats, and you see an unfamiliar URL that you can basically bet everything you own on being a site with less than desirable content, don't go there. If you're really concerned and doing the super "I'M GOING PRIVATE RIGHT NOW" freak out, give it a few days and see if you get anymore hits from that site. You probably will not, and you won't have to endure the myriad of images I wish I had not seen. I do, however, have even more resolve to teach my girls how to grow into self-respecting women who know the real value of their bodies, and if e'er I have a son, to teach him just the same. I couldn't help but think, in retrospect, those faces and "parts" were all someone's baby, and how sad that thought made me.

PSS: That could have been a record long PS.

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