Summer update

Sonia
Many of you are aware of the tumor I have growing on my pituitary gland. The doctor diagnosed me with Prolactinoma. A Prolactinoma is a noncancerous pituitary tumor that produces a hormone called prolactin. This results in too much prolactin in the blood.

With this comes swelling or soft tissue enlargement, change in ring and shoe size, unexplained weight gain, galactorrhea, fat build-up in face, excess hair growth, oily skin, fatigue and muscle weakness, headaches, as well as my worst symptom of all... heat intolerance.

Although the doctor has switched my medicine for the pituitary tumor, I still think we have this under control. I will be on this new medicine until January and at that point they will reevaluate treatment.

Thanks for all of you who have shown concern and compassion for what I am going through. It is a lot to take in and having friends and family to help with the stress really makes each day bearable. It is nice to have people care enough to try to understand what I am going through.

On the flip side, I have been lucky to be at home during much of my treatment, rather than at work.

Andy
Andy has been working hard in all aspects of life. Outside in the yard, on his career, with his boy's athleticly and for the family. It is no wonder that he never can catch up on his sleep.

Right now he is working on getting the basement more inviting. Andy and I are going to host a USA hockey player in our home if everything goes as planned. He will be 16-years-old. We just wanted to have the basement ready for him if he wanted a place to hang with his friends away from us and the kids if he needed to.

Andy & I are excited to have this addition to our family, even if it is temporary.

Giuseppe
Giuseppe finished Kindergarten with 9 As. He also finished his baseball season last month. He was awarded the "Where am I gonna hit this" award. The coach gave him this award because he'd ask Giuseppe before he pitched to him where the ball was going to go. Giuseppe would point out the further spot he could see and say, "I am gonna hit ___."

He is currently doing a summer hockey clinic in Ann Arbor. At the same time he is trying out for Chelsea travel and Ann Arbor travel. Lots of pressure for a 7-year-old, but he is lovin' it.

Vincenzo
Vincenzo has completed all speech classes and a summer pre-preschool program. It is a good thing since he loves social interaction. When school starts he will be in two separate pre-school programs. One will be through the school system and one will be private. It will be a total of 12 hours a week of formal schooling for him. I think he will thrive with all the interaction.

Also, we have big news to report. Vincenzo has been broken of his pacifier (for the 2nd time)! This also means that Rocco has been broken of the pacifier. It was necessary that we did both at the same time.

Still working on getting him to go on the potty, but so far no luck.

Rocco
Yes, my little Rock can now walk. Over the last 11 months I have enjoyed watching a very vibrant and colorful personality evolve. He turns 1 this Friday.

His most recent comical endevour was when he kept saying "DaDa, DaDa." I asked him if he loved his Daddy? He said, " Ya ya, Ya ya." It was hilarious.