P. Sunshine
My Flickr Fotos
Friday, January 21, 2011
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thankful Thursday
An online friend of mine, Ronnie "Sickboy" Sharpe, suggested that we all take a time out during this crazy Holiday season to reflect on a few things for which we are thankful. Listed below is my contribution:
1. I am thankful to Ronnie and his stunning new wife, Mandi for creating a huge forum for those of us who are linked to the CF community - It wasn't long ago that I would do an internet search for CF and come up with just short of nothing - nowadays I have a HUGE access to the CF community- new friends to be made, experiences and pictures, progresses and fears to share . Thanks Rondi!
2. I am thankful for the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI
3. I am thankful that our landlord had the heart tolet us rent her house even though we have 2 cats and she hates cats! Also that our house is within walking distance to stores, exercise paths, an aquatic center, a theatre/art gallery and a Thai food restaurant (yes, and a Hot N Ready Little Ceasar's - but don't tell anyone I actually go there)
4. SO SO very thankful to be in the Forest Hills School district where they actually care about helping us solve our children's issues
5. SOSOSO very thankful to my mom for helping take care of my kids since I have to work 1/2 hour away full time, she has brought my youngest son up to be a polite, caring young man :)
6. Thankful for my neighbors who are there when we need them and keep to themselves when we don't (ahahaaahaa)
7. Thankful to my awesome friends and my brother, who has come back into my life.....
That should suffice for now, gotta get back to the grind. Thanks again CysticLife and Rondi for persuading me to dust off my blogspot!
1. I am thankful to Ronnie and his stunning new wife, Mandi for creating a huge forum for those of us who are linked to the CF community - It wasn't long ago that I would do an internet search for CF and come up with just short of nothing - nowadays I have a HUGE access to the CF community- new friends to be made, experiences and pictures, progresses and fears to share . Thanks Rondi!
2. I am thankful for the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI
3. I am thankful that our landlord had the heart tolet us rent her house even though we have 2 cats and she hates cats! Also that our house is within walking distance to stores, exercise paths, an aquatic center, a theatre/art gallery and a Thai food restaurant (yes, and a Hot N Ready Little Ceasar's - but don't tell anyone I actually go there)
4. SO SO very thankful to be in the Forest Hills School district where they actually care about helping us solve our children's issues
5. SOSOSO very thankful to my mom for helping take care of my kids since I have to work 1/2 hour away full time, she has brought my youngest son up to be a polite, caring young man :)
6. Thankful for my neighbors who are there when we need them and keep to themselves when we don't (ahahaaahaa)
7. Thankful to my awesome friends and my brother, who has come back into my life.....
That should suffice for now, gotta get back to the grind. Thanks again CysticLife and Rondi for persuading me to dust off my blogspot!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
reality Check - The "Annie" Look
reality Check - The "Annie" Look by pattisunshine featuring a chain dress
#2 in the Reality Check series - translating our favorite character's looks into real life
Reality Check - The Pippi Look
Reality Check - The Pippi Look by pattisunshine featuring leather boots
How to wear the Pippi look in the real world
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
sorry
Sorry it took so long for me to update this. My flickr page is really:
www.flickr.com/photos/pattisunshine
www.flickr.com/photos/pattisunshine
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Adios, Blogworld!
To the very few of you who actually read my blog, I am announcing that I will no longer be posting here. I have decided to keep putting my pictures up on my flickr site, and perhaps I'll have little comments there, but I just don't have time to write. think the address there is www.flickr.com/pattisunshine
But anyway, I've been writing more in an actual journal lately, and it's personal stuff that I'd rather not share with the world,. so please visit me at my flickr photo site.
Ta-ta! thanks for reading!
Love,
Patti
But anyway, I've been writing more in an actual journal lately, and it's personal stuff that I'd rather not share with the world,. so please visit me at my flickr photo site.
Ta-ta! thanks for reading!
Love,
Patti
Monday, May 22, 2006
Monday, May 15, 2006
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Flashes of scenes from the inside of a PICU room, floor 8, Center Wing, of DeVos Children's hospital cloud my mind as this week is the 1st anniversary of H's CF diagnosis. I thought I would be depressed, emotional, pensive - about the shock and then the disappointment, then the grieving for a healthy child that we went through. Instead, I am depressed and pensive about other things, selfish things. I have been holding H. closer lately, studying his features more deeply, memorizing his sounds and smells. I keep forgetting that he has a life shortening illness, and that we have no idea how long he will be in our lives. He seems so healthy and robust - to look at him. No one would suspect, save for his unusually pale hue, that he is a chronically ill child. Just over one year ago, our littlest one was born, and we had no clue.
I currently have several friends who are expecting their own new babies soon, and I have to bite my tongue to keep myself from asking them if they were tested for the CF gene. No pregnant woman wants to be burdened with the paranoia that there might possibly be something "wrong" with their unborn child. We all go into our pregnancies hoping for a shiny, healthy baby - and most women end up with just that. When I was pregnant with my first son, I knew in my heart that he would be healthy, happy, and perfect - and he was! (although the colic for the 1st three months was a hellacious experience) From the moment of conception with my second son, however, I knew something would not be right. I remember crying about it. I knew I was pregnant, and I knew the child would have some sort of disorder. I kept hearing about the autism epidemic over and over on the news, so I got the idea stuck in my head that he would be autistic. Then I kept meeting people who had kids with Cerebral Palsy, so I imagined that would be the fate of my new child. I was so sick during my pregnancy, and so full of fluid. And I knew.
When H. was a baby, he rarely smiled. He was pale-bluish, and had huge cheeks that puffed outward and hung under his chin. People would look at him, and turn their face away as if they had just seen a troll. I kept telling my mom "I just don't feel like he's in there. He shows no emotion". H. slept all the time, and always on his left side. Everytime he ate, he would cry in pain and then have strange aqua colored poops. I found that if I pounded somewhat forcefully on his back, it would calm him down, but he would always burp and then projectile vomit. Our pediatrician had me come to his office several times to work with the lactation consultant, they thought I wasn't feeding H. properly since he wasn't gaining weight - I would go in, and they would weigh him, and then have me nurse H. for 15 minutes, and then weigh him again - They discovered I was doing everything right, but he just was pooping it all away. In hindsight, if I had known about CF, or if my doctor had seen a CF baby before, he would have recognized this as typical, we could have started H. on CF meds right away, and probably would have avoided his near-death at two and a half months. Good ol' hindsight, eh?
But H. didn't die then; he is here with us, getting into EVERYTHING, testing his limits, making his big brother laugh, terrorizing the cat - everything a "normal" baby would do. The only difference is that we have to stop and give him pills before he eats, and we have to treat his lungs twice a day....and keep him out of daycare, away from second-hand smoke, campfires, sick people, germs...but most moms do that anyway. I love my sick baby like any mom would love their child, maybe even a little more, since I know he's probably just on loan from God. Someday we may have to give him back. I hope not. I hope he will outlive his parents. I hope he lives long enough to be around when a cure is found.
I currently have several friends who are expecting their own new babies soon, and I have to bite my tongue to keep myself from asking them if they were tested for the CF gene. No pregnant woman wants to be burdened with the paranoia that there might possibly be something "wrong" with their unborn child. We all go into our pregnancies hoping for a shiny, healthy baby - and most women end up with just that. When I was pregnant with my first son, I knew in my heart that he would be healthy, happy, and perfect - and he was! (although the colic for the 1st three months was a hellacious experience) From the moment of conception with my second son, however, I knew something would not be right. I remember crying about it. I knew I was pregnant, and I knew the child would have some sort of disorder. I kept hearing about the autism epidemic over and over on the news, so I got the idea stuck in my head that he would be autistic. Then I kept meeting people who had kids with Cerebral Palsy, so I imagined that would be the fate of my new child. I was so sick during my pregnancy, and so full of fluid. And I knew.
When H. was a baby, he rarely smiled. He was pale-bluish, and had huge cheeks that puffed outward and hung under his chin. People would look at him, and turn their face away as if they had just seen a troll. I kept telling my mom "I just don't feel like he's in there. He shows no emotion". H. slept all the time, and always on his left side. Everytime he ate, he would cry in pain and then have strange aqua colored poops. I found that if I pounded somewhat forcefully on his back, it would calm him down, but he would always burp and then projectile vomit. Our pediatrician had me come to his office several times to work with the lactation consultant, they thought I wasn't feeding H. properly since he wasn't gaining weight - I would go in, and they would weigh him, and then have me nurse H. for 15 minutes, and then weigh him again - They discovered I was doing everything right, but he just was pooping it all away. In hindsight, if I had known about CF, or if my doctor had seen a CF baby before, he would have recognized this as typical, we could have started H. on CF meds right away, and probably would have avoided his near-death at two and a half months. Good ol' hindsight, eh?
But H. didn't die then; he is here with us, getting into EVERYTHING, testing his limits, making his big brother laugh, terrorizing the cat - everything a "normal" baby would do. The only difference is that we have to stop and give him pills before he eats, and we have to treat his lungs twice a day....and keep him out of daycare, away from second-hand smoke, campfires, sick people, germs...but most moms do that anyway. I love my sick baby like any mom would love their child, maybe even a little more, since I know he's probably just on loan from God. Someday we may have to give him back. I hope not. I hope he will outlive his parents. I hope he lives long enough to be around when a cure is found.
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