MARCH MADNESS

I can't believe it has been more than three weeks since I last posted. Life has been quite a challange this entire month. Spring is in the air and with Spring comes allergy season. Need I say more.

February began with both my boys getting sick, followed by my husband and I. My oldest son, the healthiest of the two, recovered quickly but my youngest had a cough for more than four weeks and by the beginning of March, his asthma was getting worse. Even his inhalers weren't being effective. So off to the doctor we went.

I thought we'd get a new steroidal inhaler for him and he'd be on the road to recovery. Not!!! We were sent home with a nebulizer which we were to use three times a day, Prednisone (a very nasty drug which can make one very moody), and an antibiotic (to fight any bug that may be present in his lungs). Well after two weeks of treatments, I am happy to say, my five year old has recovered - just in time for soccer season. Now we are back to weekly allergy injections again to hopefully ward off any future problems.

Now here I was thinking we were all going to remain healthy. Surprise, my eldest started showing signs of allergies about two weeks ago. What!!! He is my healthy child. It started with his eyes burning and swelling following soccer practice one night and has progressed to sneezing, a runny nose and a nasty cough. It seems he is worse in the evening, following soccer practice. So I finally made the decision to have him screened for allergies. So off we go tomorrow, back to the doctor for the allergy scratch test. Oh, please give me strength....Hopefully, he won't have to have allergy injections. I think two of us getting shots for allergies (my youngest and myself) are enough but what the heck, why not make it a family affair.

Anyhow, I was fortunate to be picked to evaluate a new and exciting product from Artbeads and I was hoping to incorporate it into one of my designs but given the craziness currently in my home, I was unable to create something. So within this next week, I will be evaluating the product on its own. So make sure and check back.

MARCH - DVT AWARENESS MONTH

Almost seven years ago, my mother passed away due to a Pulmonary Embolism, a complication associated with Deep-Vein Thrombosis (DVT). Deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) is a common but serious medical condition that occurs when a blood clot forms in one of the large veins, usually in the lower limbs. A complication of DVT, pulmonary embolism (PE), can occur when afragment of a blood clot breaks loose from the wall of the vein and migrates to the lungs, where it blocks a pulmonary artery or one of its branches.

Blockage of the main pulmonary artery by one or more of the emboli may be life threatening. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, a feeling of apprehension, rapid pulse, sweating, and/or a sharp chest pain that worsens with deep breathing. Some patients may cough bloody sputum, while others may develop very low blood pressure and pass out.

Up to two million Americans suffer from DVT each year, approximately 300,000 deaths annually result from PE, the majority of which result from DVT - more than breast cancer and AIDS combined.

In memory of my mom, I am donating 20% of all sales made during the month of March to the Vascular Disease Foundation. For more information about DVT and Pulmonary Embolism go to http://www.preventdvt.org.