The Watts' Adventures

First let me say.. I am not crazy, or a negletfull mother, nor do I choose to put my children in situations that will harm them, they just always seem to get the worst end of the stick!

Which leads me to tell you of our most recent ER visit. Nope, not Hunter.. MICHAEL.... he is going to be the death of me, yet.

Michael started go kart racing thru the school. It's a really awesome program and he could do alot with it. Racing the karts are just the beginning. Anyway, they are real safe little karts. They aren't "true" racing karts. Trust me, I had David look all into this. So Michael had his first practice this past Friday night in preparation for the race on Saturday. We were so excited and so was he! He was to race in the 4 th race. Finally it was his turn. We saw him get in the cart and then get out of the cart and we were puzzled. He then walked over to the fence and I started walking towards him. He said, "mom, i've burned my arm". I looked at it and took him directly to the EMT cart. I knew it was bad! He was getting out of the cart and his hand slipped and his arm hit the motor! They had nothing to help me and Michael was begging me to just wrap it up and let him race then we could go to the ER. I wanted to give in soooooo bad, but I knew his burn was bad and getting dirt in it could be fatal. So, we wrapped it loosely and took him to the ER. Luckily my friends were working and they met me outside, took one look and took us back. We were in and out of the ER in record time of 1 hour. Diagnosis of 1st & 2nd degree burns. They took awesome care of my baby and backed me up that I had done the right thing. Michael kept saying he should have never told me until after he raced. But I was so proud of him for making the right choice and telling me. Bless his heart! Lucky for him his traveling game was rained out today and we are praying for rain tomorrow. He has the biggest game of the season scheduled tomorrow and his pitching arm is the one with the burns! God is looking out for us!

We are very fortunate that Michael's injuries are treat able and in time his arm will heal. I'll post some burn pictures and baseball pics soon!
Stay tuned for more Watts adventures as they unfold right here!
Until then, keep praying, cuz we certainly do need it!

Sorry for the delay in postings, baseball is in full swing and time is limited! Since my last update Michael's counts went up to 68K and hung out there for a week. Last week we got a smack down. They dropped to 44K. Yikes! Sent the results to his Duke Doc and as usual.. let's see what happens next week. So, that is that. We got back to Duke on May 1st and see what they have to say and we'll go from there.

So we wait and live our lives as normal as possible. We have decided that is just what we are going to do. Live life normally but always aware and ready for anything that is thrown our way!

Hunter decided that he wanted to ride his 4 wheeler with the neighbors last weekend. Just ride thru the trails we have around our houses. I always hang around outside when he is on the 4 wheeler, so I can listen out for him. Good thing! I was pulling weeds and I heard this scream and I took off running towards the sound of the voice. At first I didn't know if it was Hunter or one of the other little boys. The closer I got, I knew it was Hunt. When I reached him at the edge of the neighbors yard in the bottom of a gully he was pinned under the 2 front tires of his 4 wheeler. I was scared to death. My neighbor came out and helped me lift the 4 wheeler off of him and Hunt jumped right up. I just felt him all over to make sure there was no blood or bones sticking out of his skin. Then I squeezed him real tight! Luckily he was laying in thick leaves.

Needless to say he was trying to climb a steep hill. His brother had done it in the past so he was trying it. Lordy! Hunter is my dare devil. Thank God he was ok and learned a lesson. I also got to tell him that if his helmet had not been on his head correctly he would not have been standing there retelling his story!
Nough said!

Well, it is baseball season for the Watts. The weather hasn't been cooperating very well but we have managed to get a game or two in. Both boys teams are undefeated! They are both at the top of their game this year. Michael is the starting pitcher for his team and he is throwing the heck out of the ball. He is 5 for 5 with his hitting. He made $60.00 off his Granddaddy the last game. He gave him $20 for every ball that hit the fence! Hmm, I didn't know of the agreement otherwise I would have told Dad he was out of his mind! Granny Granny even promised him $10 to hit the fence! She only made the bet for one hit, so she was the smarter of the two! This past Wednesday night at practice Michael knocked one over the fence. If he could just do that in a game with the bases loaded!!!!

Hunter is pitching for his team too. He is doing an awesome job for an ((((( 8 )))))) year old! He hits the ball just about at every bat! David and I have a hard time remembering that he is just (( 8)) years old!!! He practices every day at home. Thank goodness Dad is here to catch him because I can't do it anymore. yep, he burns my hand up!

So baseball it is... We love it! One day we are gonna miss these days! I hope they creep by!

The Lord is buying time for Michael. His counts are hanging around 50K. His doctor at Duke says "no baseball". My docs say he's ok at that level, just no catching. David & I sit on the fence post. We have decided to let him play but no catching unless his counts are 100K or better. Saturday was his first game and it was rained out. I truely believe God made it rain to give Michael a few more days. His next game is Wednesday and that is when we check his counts. He has to get them checked weekly but we are checking them twice a week, Weds & Friday's (if he has a game on Sat). Fortunatly, I can do this because we can do it at my work! How lucky we are! We feel like if Michael gets hurt it is just ment to be whether he has a blood problem or not. We have just turned this around and whatever God has planned will be. Michael has been playing ball for 9 years and knows how to protect him self. He has a helmet on when hitting and running bases. He can get out of the way of the ball if needed. Accidents happen and again whatever God's plan is.. it is what it is. He could just as easily get hurt riding in the car and simply playing at a friends house. Looking at things this way makes it easier on us and is actually helping us get thru all of this. Yes, I still worry and do alot of pacing when he is playing but I'm right there and we have a medical plan in place. So before each game we all say our own prayer and we believe Michael has angels in the infield watching over him!

Well as you know this is my favorite time of the year. I have been watching MLB for the past couple of weeks on TV and enjoying every pitch! My most favorite of baseball is watching my kids. Hunter is in his 2nd year of Minor League ball and David is still committed to coaching the team. He coached Michael until he moved to Major League and his is doing the same for Hunter. Hunter is pitching and doing a great job for an 8 year old! He is very versital and can play any where the coaches put him. He has had an advantage pre season as he practices with Michael's travel ball team and Major League team! He is gonna rock this year!

Michael is also pitching this year along with catching (when his counts are up), third base and short stop. Our first game was rained out but he played in a scrimmage game this past week and had 2 awesome hits! One hit the fence. I'm sure we will be seeing a few of his balls go out of the park this year. His 1st one is worth $50.00!!! He has been practicing pitching on a daily basis with David, conditioning his arm to go the distance when needed! This is Michael's last year at HCS. It is a milestone in his life. I can't believe he will be graduating this year! It just seems like yesterday that his was playing T-ball! I wish I had pictures of him playing T-ball but that was before digital cameras! LOL

Thursday was our final Rituxan treatment. Thank Goodness! Results weren't so good and I was expecting that. Michael's counts this week were 50K. Why? Who knows! I knew they were going to be, I could just tell. I can tell if they are up or down by the way he acts. Happy go lucky, they are up. Grumpy and tired, they are down. I've hit the nail on the head for 4 weeks running, so I guess there is something to a mother's instinct!

Where do we go from here? Well, we are now going to check his counts every Thursday for the next 4 weeks.. We go back to Duke on May 1st and talk about it. What else is new? Hmm, are you feeling my fustrations? I could go on and say alot more but I don't want to offend anyone. Duke is Duke.......My docs are looking into another drug and we may decide to do that and if we do I can assure you it will be done here at HOME and in my office! So, I'm really hoping that the Rituxan will kick in and do it's thing. I hate puting all this gunk in his body! Splenectomy is still not out of the picture and we will decide on that after we have exhausted everything else. If we are going to do it, I would love to do it this year since we have met our out of pocket expenses for the year!! But reguardless of that we will do what is best for Michael whether it be this year or next year or the next.... etc.....

So once again we sit a freaking wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!