Gettng Ready to Leave

My mother drummed this sentiment into our heads as children.  With this in mind I will just give you the facts of our last days at McMaster.

Sunday afternoon we were surprised to see two Drs. from Infectious Diseases.  A medical history was taken and then they conferred.  Their opinion was they were 99.9% sure that she did not have Lyme Disease or any other Infectious Disease and a lumbar puncture was not necessary to support that decision.  In their minds it is a open and shut case.

Monday morning came and with it a change of on-call Neurologists, we finally saw the neuro that we regularly have our appointments with.  He had been in contact with the other Drs throughout the week and they had come to the conclusion that all we had managed to capture on the monitors was "a whole lot of normal".  All they could conclude was that her minor events did not register on the monitors and she had no episodes of sufficient intensity to review.  As usual, the enigma that is Leah, has left her doctors baffled.  Their parting words carried a suggestion of a pediatric psychiatrist to assess stress levels as stress can do many things to a body.  With that, we were discharged.

Normally such a suggestion would have incensed me, but I had been expecting it.  In speaking with other parents who have been seen by this team, it is a very common "go-to" diagnosis.  When they can't figure it out, it must be psychosomatic.  And as a side note, anyone that truly knows Leah knows that she is so laid back and relaxed, that the idea of stress induced symptoms is laughable.

The six days since her discharge have been a whirlwind of activity.  Losing an entire week to the hospital admission had created chaos at home and in our planning.  Last minute errands such as getting her passport, packing, getting the household stocked up and ready for us to leave, doctor's appointments and finding time to spend some quality time with the other kids before leaving again; have all managed to suck up every available minute.

We leave the house tomorrow morning around 4am.  We board the plane at 6:35am and arrive in Minneapolis at 8:15am  Central Time.  We then board a shuttle bus to Rochester and will arrive at the Mayo Clinic around 11am.  Then the real adventure begins!

I am bringing our laptop and plan on updating as new information becomes available.

Before we leave, I have a message from Leah to pass along.....

Garage Sale an AMAZING Success!

To every single person who stopped by the garage sale yesterday!  So many people asked about Leah, paid more than they had to, dropped extra money in the Loonies for Leah jar, took the flyers and cards to pass along to their friends.  And to the wonderful people who couldn't find anything to buy but pressed money into my hand or into the jar to help Leah, your kindness and generosity is greatly appreciated!

To all the the people who donated items for the garage sale; whether it was household goods, books, tables for it all to go on, baked goods, hot dogs and condiments: some of you friends or family, some of you I don't even know.  The generosity you have all shown is humbling and overwhelming.  The stunning success of the garage sale could not have happened without you!

Special thank yous to some very special people who went above and beyond to help us out:

Peggy - for all your hard work before we set up, for the loan of the tables, for your help picking up items, for baking the dog biscuits, for the sorting and arranging you did and your help at clean up.  For taking the time to take pictures for me and putting them on a CD for us.  If I have missed anything you did please know that every bit of help you gave us made the day even more successful and took a lot of weight off my shoulders!


Tara, Jeff and Abby Etling - for the tables, the donations, the baked goods you delivered, your help sorting cleaning, setting up and working the garage sale a huge thank you!)


To Karen (the Etling family's neighbour)  We have never even met, but you sent so many items for the bake table - all of which were sold and sold quickly!  Thank you for all the time and effort and your amazing generosity!



MaryLou Crumb and family - thank you for the hotdogs, condiments and generous donation!  It was so nice to finally meet you at the garage sale!


To two of my favourite people in the world Geoff and Joann Male, the awe inspiring amount of items you donated, your help, advice, love and support; THANK YOU SO MUCH!


Kris, Bernie, Sara and Megan Tessier - for staying up late the night before baking, for ransacking your house to bring donation items, for working at the garage sale, and everything you do every day to help Leah and I, you have our heartfelt thanks!


Valerie Azotini - for all the items you brought, for soliciting your friends and bringing even more and for all your help the day of the sale, a big thanks!


Stephanie May - for bringing all the contributions and the big tables, we really really appreciated it all!

To my wonderful family, Mom, Dad, Anne, Brandon, Amanda, Matthew, Christopher, Teresa, Paul, Connor, Bethany and Hannah.  For the hours and hours you spent helping us, the blood, sweat and yes, even tears that flowed, the aching feet, ankles and backs, for every broken nail, every hug, every giggle, laugh and spray of coke, for turning your vehicles into moving vans, for spreading the word, FOR EVERY LITTLE THING YOU DID TO HELP US, Leah and I offer you our humblest and sincerest gratitude.

and here is the part you have all been waiting for....

THE GRAND TOTAL raised at the Garage Sale/BBQ is     $1105!