Good ways to find veins

I was wanting to find out as parents at home some way to find good veins to infuse in. I've tried many, but someone may have a way that may work better for me. I've tried a heating pad, water and cream. So far it's not helping alot.
Thanks,
DeAnn

Happy New Year!

I hope this finds you all healthy and bleed free!

The beginning of a new year can be stressful time when it comes to insurance. I encourage you to place a call to your insurance company and check to see if anything with your benifits has changed. That way hopefully you will avoid any surprises. Your Hemophilia Treatment Center is a great resource for you as well.

Enjoy 2011!
Lori

Holiday Travel

We are all busy running around making sure we are prepared for the Christmas season. For some of us that means traveling to others homes. When making your list of items to pack don't forget your factor needs! Make sure you back a little survival kit for bleeding. Here are a few ideas of items to include: bandaids, gauze, instant ice packs, coban, factor, factor supplies and whatever items make dealing with a bleeding issue easier in your family.

May you all have a safe and bleed free holiday!
Lori

Elbows and Surgery

We have a mom who is looking for families that have any experience with synovitis surgery in the elbow. Please share your experiences.

My son had elbow surgery in March do to arthritis and to remove a piece of matter in the joint. This elbow had been a target joint for him and became painful for him. He would experience times where the elbow would "lock up". I know he is happy that he had the surgery. The pain after surgery was so much less than the pain he had been dealing with every day. We were very pleased with his recovery.

I encourage you to talk to your HTC. They are a wonderful resource for you!

Lori

Proud Momma Moment!

Wow, Myrtle Beach, SC was beautiful on Friday Dec. 10th which was the opening of our SC Hemophilia Chapters annual Christmas Education Symposium. We had some fabulous speakers and break out sessions. My son looks forward to this event every year. He gets to spend a weekend with other children who have the same disorder and it gives him a chance to form life time relationships with those children. At this event, we were offered a chance to attend a new summer camp here in SC this year. The closest camp to us with a bleeding disorders week is 4 hours away. I think all the kids are getting very excited to have the opportunity to spend another week together. And I think my son finally got what I have been telling him since he was born......As I was hovering over him and his activities at the pool he told me "Mom, this is the way the Good Lord made me and I have to learn to deal with it. Let me be with my buddies and have some fun!" I had to back off....let go (which about killed me) and he had the time of his life, knew his limits and got to feel normal. It was a proud Momma moment.
Happy Holidays to Everyone! God bless. Suzanne

Dayton Ohio GIG

It was a pleasure to meet some wonderful parents of children with blood disorders. We had to come out in the cold but it was worth it. We had dinner with a couple of speakers and then off to the Dayton Dragons Basketball game. We were all able to set together at the game and have a good time. It's always nice to get together with others who understand what you're going through. I look forward to seeing you again.
DeAnn

Snow Boarding

My son Alex is getting ready to go snowboarding next weekend with the youth leadership group from our Oregon foundation on Mt Hood, He will infuse prior to the event and while he is there
he will be save and have a great time. this is his 3rd year and it was hard to let him go the first year but now I know he looks forward to it and has a great time with his buddies. Letting go is hard, remember they are kids first

Have fun in the snow

Community Involement

This weekend we went to OMSI an event put on by our local Hemophilia Foundation. It is always great to go to these, visit with others and let the kids visit compare notes per say
I always see kids that have more problems than our family and then others that have less, it just shows that we are all different and we need to educate ourselves as well as others to our needs.

I hope your problems are few and your hopes are high this cold winter day

New Website Look

I am so excited about the "make over" of our Hemophilia Moms website! We listened to all of your feedback and hopefully have developed a site that is easy for all to navigate! Stop by and visit www.hemophiliamoms.com then come on back and blog to us your thoughts!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the magic of the season!
Lori

What a Great Year!!!

I would like to follow behind Rhonda and welcome everyone to the new website. It is fabulous!!. Play around with it...check it out......ask me a question!! What a way to close out this year with something new as we look forward to a fresh 2011 with new programs and events posted to educate, empower and connect us Moms. I hope you will check in with us and come to some events.

Here in South Carolina we too are also closing out the year with a great event, our Annual Chapter Christmas Symposium weekend held in Myrtle Beach, SC. We look forward to it every year. One point I would like to share with you Mom's is that attending chapter meetings I have found is very important. It is a great forum for education, fellowhip, sharing and just plain fun. Last year it provided me with "just what the doctor ordered"!! I was struggling with some issues and had 2 other Mothers in a very similar stage of life with our kids and one Mom who had already been there to offer some great words of wisdom. I left that meeting a with a new outlook and a much better attitude on tackling some of the issues we as Mom's with children who have blood disorders face every day. It also gives Dad's a chance to mingle and do the same sort of thing. Siblings meet other siblings. Most importantly, my son has met some great kids who share the same disorder and it has empowered him both emotionally and physically.

I hope you enjoy the new website and come to some of the events that are close to you!

Happy Holidays!
Suzanne

Face Lift ..Hemophilia Moms Website

Good Morning everyone, I would like to be the first to welcome you to our up dated website.
please visit it at hemophiliamoms.com

you can meet all the moms and read stories about their experiences and share some of your stories as well

I am looking forward to some new Hemophilia Moms events coming up this year, the new website has a calendar showing up coming events

I hope to see as many of you as possible at these events

Rhonda

Challenges of Infusing without a port

I'm going to make this as simple as possible. We recently had our six year olds port removed because it was infected. (That is another story) We're having a terrible, stressful time trying to infuse him. His veins aren't good and he's terrified of needles. He just got to the point at age six to let us infuse him in his port. It has caused the whole house to be stressed and at times yelling. We can't yell, I don't want this to be a punishment because we can't infuse him. He just cries and won't sit still at all. We've had to lay on him and then miss. When he stresses and we stress it doesn't work. I did get his vein once and he had the biggest smile on his face like it was Christmas I, went in the other room and cried. It has been emotionally and physically hard for us all. Anyone have any good ideas of how to get his veins to come up and help him not to be so stressed. We're trying more water and a heating pad. A favorite tv program won't do the job. His focus is on the needle and nothing else. On top of it all the poor baby has been in the hospital since school started 23 days. It's been a rough year. I plan on blogging about his experiences with the frequent hospital visits.
Thanks,
DeAnn

Neighbors

I received an email where a family had problems with the neighbors thinking that thier hemophilia was contagious. Has anyone every had this problem before, if so please share how you handeled it

NHF - New Orleans - WOW

Just wanted to share with everyone the excitement and friendships I experienced at NHF this past week. My dauaghter, Kristin who also has mild Hemophilia and I traveled to New Orleans on Sunday.. We went early so we could spend some mom and daughter time. We visited the swamp, toured the city saw all the sights, including Katrina disaster that is still very real there a lot has not been rebuilt. We really ate and drank our way throught the city. Since We were there early we were invited to the JNC AWARDS DINNER the JNC is the Junior National Championship that goes on during the summer months and the winners are brought to NHF as a prize and receive awards at a banquet ...Congratulations everyone who participated
NHF officially started on Thursday, they had many sessions that day prior to opening meeting.
If you have not been to NHF you need to go at least once. There is never a stranger. Everyone one there is connected to the Hemophilia Community.
Thursday evening the exhibit hall opened and the manufactures, home care, agencies and chapters have booths with tons of information, friendly faces, answers and fun stuff for you to take home. I got a tatoo at the CSL booth.. I sure have had fun with it these past few days. ok it is not real, and about to come off but it was fun, that was just one example of fun.
I attended sessions durning the day on Friday, many sessions were available to choose from, something for everyone and that night we attending the Unity Jam where Suzanne and I were there for the Hemophilia Moms and visted with many family's while they had fun listening to Music,playing games, eating, dancing and just plan having fun, making new friends and building relationships for life.
Saturday was the last day, with more sessions, more food of course, the awards luncheon where people in our community are reconized for outstanding accomplishments. The exhibit hall was open also on friday and Saturday giving everyone time to visit and revisit those booths and make those releationships. Saturday night in the final night event and it was at the New Orleans float Factory, more food, friends and fun for all.
It is allways sad in a way on Saturday because Sunday you have to go home. But you always take back with you more knowledge, memories, and new friends and renewed friends tell the next year. Keep in touch with those friends by face book, our blog and sometimes just give them a call and say hi, you are allways welcome to say hi on my facebook page as well

I am looking forward to next year in November again in the Windy City Chicago, save your pennies and see you there

NFH New Orleans

Hello everyone out there Suzanne and I are at NHF 2010 in New Orleans tonight we are at a rock and roll party with CSL and about 500 guest enjoying fun and eaducacation .. please join us in sharing information we learned at NHF this year

Hemophilia....It's a Small World!

I have been working at my sons high school selling their school logo clothing. Yesterday something made me walk down to the office to say "Hi" to the ladies. When I walked in one of the ladies started crying. When I asked her what was wrong she said that her best friends son had just been diagnoised with hemophilia. She said when she say me she was reminded of my boys and how "normal" they were. She had been feeling so sorry for her friend and not knowing what to say or do for her. Seeing me reminded her all she needed to do was be her friend!

Everyone around us has a hard time when a child is diagnoised. Hearing of someone going through the beginning stages of a diagnoises brought me back to my sons...all 3 of them. There are not many kids with hemophilia in the US but we sure have a way of finding one another and supporting each other! We are a family!

I hope you all are enjoying your summer!
Lori

Camp

I am on my way to pick up my son from Hemophilia Camp
He is 16 and this is his first year as a CIT counselor in training
As you can see Camp is forever
He as attended for 10 years as a camper and now he is continuing as a counselor
At camp the kids make friends for life, friends that understand, share, comfort, build up, give back...friends that make life a better place

My daughter attended camp as well, has been a couselor and mentor
I think community service is important to raising children and if they can do it doing something they love and enjoy it is a win win

I hope everyone was able to attend camp this year

Sharing

Please everyone share a summer story with us. Remember when you were in school and you had to share a story about the summer vacation when you came back to school? It was fun even though we complained about it. Take a couple of minuets and jot down a story about your summer. I will look forward to reading them all.

Are You Ready For School?

It seems like my boys just started summer break! This summer has truely flown by!

Now it is time to start thinking about getting the boys ready to get back to school. Of course there is the school supply shopping, the clothes shopping and the shoe shopping. There is also the hemophilia side of getting ready for school. Meeting with their teachers, the staff in the health office & front office and of course meeting with their counslors to insure their 504 plan is all set for the upcomming school year. This time of year used to cause me great amounts of stress! I have now gone through 22 school year starts with my boys. I think I have it down to a science! LOL!

It took me a few years to find a system that worked best for our family. I prefer to go into the kids school(s) and do my own inservice. For some families they feel more comfortable having their Hemophilia Treatment Center help. I incourage you to find a system you and your family are comfortable with. It does help to make the school year a bit easier with the bleeding disorder part of it.

Enjoy the last month of summer break! Don't forget to prepare your childs school for the upcoming year....it is just one of the "school supplies" needed for a succesful year!

Lori

Camp

My sons have been at hemophilia camp since Sunday. I know they are having a great time! I just can't help wonder how they are. Have they had any bleeds while there? They are in good hands so I know I don't need to worry!

We will be picking them up tomorrow to head home for Brady's baseball tournaments.

Are any of you sending your kids to camp this year?