Update

I have been so focused on catching up on my blog that I have neglected to update what is happening with my family and Long QT syndrome.  Click here if you don't know what I'm talking about. :)

So, it has been quite the process with getting my children tested.  I finally got their cheek swabs done and shipped off only to receive a phone call a month later saying that they weren't going to work.  I guess the lab couldn't get enough DNA from them to proceed with the genetic testing.  Aargh!  We got that call at the very beginning or our month-long trip to CA and were told that we needed to get the kids in for blood work now.  Ha!  I decided to not worry about it and enjoy the vacation and we would do it when we got back. We finally got that done about 2 weeks ago and it was not fun.  I probably shouldn't have told the kids they were going to have to have their blood drawn, because I think the anticipation was actually worse than the actual draw.  Davis volunteered to go first and was a trooper, but turned white as a ghost half-way through and starting feeling sick.  Tears followed.  Ginger was next and did the same thing, but literally almost passed out.  More tears.  I thought we were in trouble for sure when Gillian's turn came next, but she did awesome.  Hardly even phased her.  Ryan started crying the second we walked into the nurse's room and buried her head in my chest screaming, "I don't want to do this!" throughout the entire thing.  Awesome.  Then came Ethan.  This boy was a tough one!  He cried silent tears and didn't fight us at all.  The nurse tried to draw from the first arm, but it wasn't working so she took it out.  Ethan thought he was finished, and became quite distraught when she had to poke him in the other arm.  It wasn't working well again, so it took forever!  Tears, tears, tears.  Finally, he was done and the kids had all survived the trauma.  Don and I took them straight to Braum's for double scoop ice cream cones.  It's amazing what a little ice cream can do. :)

So, the blood work was sent to the lab and we should be getting the call any day to find out the results.  My sister, Summer, just got the results for her 4 children, and to our surprise, ALL FOUR came back positive.  Each child has a 50/50 chance of coming back positive so it's just crazy that the odds were stacked against them.  I am preparing myself for the same odds instead of hoping for negatives just to be  disappointed.

As for me, I have been on the beta blockers for several months now and they sure make me tired, or should I say lazy?!  They just really zap me of my energy and it's hard to not want to lay around all day.  I do take a few 10 minute power naps throughout the day and those really help a ton.  And I do think my energy level is better than what it was in the beginning so I hope to get more used to the medication as time goes on.  After a lot of fasting and praying, I also decided that I didn't need to have a defibrillator implanted right away.  I may never get one, but that may be a different story for my children who are much younger and have worrisome years to pass through still.  I appreciate the prayers and fasting of so many of my friends and family and have really felt so comforted and so peaceful.  I am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for every single one of us and that if we keep His commandments and strive each day to follow Him that all will be well.