Beginning of a new hobby :)

Well well, where to begin... I have been wanting to start a blog for a while now after seeing so many of my friends keep up with one, so here it goes! I hope to be able to keep it up to date and if I dont I will summarize the best that I can~

End of new year and into the beginning was a little rocky for our household. However, by the grace of our mighty God, we are coming out of this strong! Let me just tell ya a lil about it...

When I was pregnant with our daughter, I suffered from a low platelet count called Thrombocytopenia... Throughout the pregnancy, it was very difficult for me not only physically but emotionally as well. Thank God, although she was born premature @ 8 months, she is a beautiful healthy little 7 year old! You would have never known by seeing her now that she was ever a tiny premie of 3 lbs. 14 ozs. She has exceeded her height and growing healthy and strong! So anyway, back to the illness... when my platelet count got dangerously low, I was at risk for hemorraging, literally could bleed to death. Very scary. The only indication I had then was a "rash" I noticed coming up on random spots of my body... later known to me as Petichae... broken blood vessels/capillaries under the skin... but by the time I see these spots its because my count is LOW! Normal count for everyone is at LEAST 150,000 and up, back then I had maybe 5,000... maybe... so hospitalization for sure.. on top of carrying a baby, yikes! Throughout my prenancy I was on a steroid treatment to increase my platelet count and to be able to carry my baby. Did I BLOW UP! lol, at 4 months, I looked as if I was 7 or 8 months already!! Needless to say, that certain medication increases appetite! Well, I delivered her well with no problems besides all these obstacles and had a lil trouble with this illness still for about a year or 2 after her birth... These last 5 years I have been fairly healthy and carefree of this problem, UNTIL.... last 2 weeks of 2009!

I was under ALOT of stress during the holiday time, not even having to do with the whole gift mess, just lots of people sick in my family, etc.... and I felt as if I was incapable of doing more for them! I felt almost useless... My husband has his parents in MX, 18 hours away from here and he had left right after Christmas to spend time with them and was gone for 11 LONG days! It really had an impact on me... I missed him extremely, I felt so ALONE... so anyway, I start noticing this hideous rash again!!! YES after all these years here it was to haunt me again! I was scared and of course stubborn not wanting to go to dr... thinking "it will go away" well it wasnt going away and was in fact getting progressively worse. So finally I broke down, literally tears and all, and got the courage to face this @ a local doctors office Friday Jan. 8th... day of truth. I was sent to have bloodwork and based on my past history, there was no doubt that it had to do with this darn platelet count again. Sure enough although doctor told me I wouldnt be hearing from him until Monday with results, not even an hour passed when I get the dreaded phonecall... "Mrs. Palacios, you need to go to ER immediately, just received your results and your platelet count is 9,000" I bawled my eyes out and wanted to be in such denial... We arrived @ ER and with my heartbroken and super scared, they decided to transfer me by ambulance to Abilene Regional Medical Center to be closer to a specialist in this field. Saturday morning after bloodwork, my count dropped even more to 2,000. YES, I thought oh my, what next? Doctor informed me that I was not even to get up by myself to bathroom because I could BLEED and they would not be able to stop it! and that I would be started immediately on an immunoglobin treatment for 4 days to see how it worked to get me better. so Friday I was an emotional mess, but friends I have to share with you that Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues (day I was finally released) I felt at such peace. Peace from God and my faith kept me strong and willing to continue... MUCH MUCH prayer and prayers from so many people allowed me to get better each day! THANK YOU! Sunday I wake up to 14,000 count, Monday, 47,000 and Tuesday when I left 97,000!!!! PRAISE GOD! Later I will share my encounter with God at a retreat I attended first week of December, and I truly beleive this helped me so much to get through this recent dificult time. Whew! what a way to start a blog huh??? oh and btw, I was able to be @ home the following day for my birthday!!! not an all great way to celebrate, but I gave so much thanks for allowing me to be alive another b-day!!! :)