Getting Answers

Last week I received my test results from my visit with the high-risk pregnancy specialist. It showed I had a Prothrombin 20210 Mutation (Factor II Mutation); It is a kind of blood clotting disorder. So yesterday Josh and I met with a Genetic Counselor. She was super nice and answered all of our questions before we even had time to ask them. We met with her for over 2 1/2 hours.

They determined that I got it from either my Mom or my Dad. So one of them has it. They went through my whole family medical history, but nothing sticks out on either side, so we don't know which side it came from. However, it does not always cause problems for people who have it. That is how you could have it and not know. It was only discovered within the past 10 years.

Prothrombin is a protein in the blood that is required for the blood to clot. Blood clots are composed of a combination of blood platelets and a meshwork of blood clotting protein fibrin. I think Prothrombin is the meshwork. If someone has too much Prothrombin, blood clots may form when they shouldn't. This website has additional information:

http://www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/110/3/e15

I learned that even if someone knows they may have a Prothrombin Mutation they aren't treated unless they have a history of having a blood clot. The risk of putting someone on blood thinners who may not need it is more dangerous. Like I said, not everyone who has a Prothrombin Mutation will for sure have a blood clot. So if they put all pregnant women who have a Prothrombin Mutation on blood thinners who have not had any history of having a blood clot more women and babies would die than be saved. It kind of sucks I had to find out THIS WAY!

So since I have a history of a blood clot now, she suggested I take one baby aspirin a day for the rest of my life. Since they now know what caused Katlyn to die they said I can try and get pregnant again whenever I am ready since it has been over 3 months, but Josh and I are gonna wait awhile. Once I get pregnant, they will get me in for an appointment within 2 weeks and then will teach me how to give myself Heparin injections everyday for the duration of my pregnancy. I will also have ultrasound's every 4-6 weeks. They will monitor my blood clotting levels throughout and adjust the Heparin intake accordingly. Once I've given birth they will put me on warfarin (which is a stronger blood thinner, but dangerous to babies) There is a stronger chance of clotting after giving birth so they put me on that once the baby is out and it can't hurt the baby. I will be on warfarin for about 6-8 weeks and then go back to the baby aspirin. This will have to be done for all my future pregnancies.

She said it doesn't necessarily make me more susceptible to heart attacks or strokes, but it does make me more susceptible to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is a blood clot deep in your calf. It also makes me more susceptible to pulmonary embolism (PE), which is a blood clot in your lungs. But they said if I ever get any symptoms I just go in and they can dissolve it. They said if I ever get into an accident or need major surgery I should let the doctor know I have a Prothrombin Mutation so they can give me blood thinners.

I am not too keen on the idea of giving myself daily injections of Heparin, but I will do whatever I have to if it will save my baby. So it sucks that I have this clotting disorder, but at least now we know what happened.

John Michael Bolger Strikes Again!

Michael Mann and the cast of Public Enemies returned to Columbus Monday to do some additional filming for a few days. Josh and I took off work to finish up some housework and go stargazing since the cast and crew's "basecamp" was right next to our house.

Josh finished mowing the lawn and we were outside surveying some of the new flowers and trees we had planted in our yard. All of a sudden I hear someone yelling my name... "Jenny...Jenny I'm back!" I turn around and there's John Michael Bolger. He had just arrived at basecamp and immediately came looking for me. I was truly touched that he had remembered me from our last meeting in March.

It turns out, he had read the story I wrote about his last visit to Columbus on my step-dad's blog (See the following post "My First Encounter with John Michael Bolger") and really appreciated the things I said. Everything I said was the truth. I never thought he would ever read what I wrote, but I'm glad he enjoyed and appreciated it.

That day, he again came out and chatted with the crowd, signed autographs and made more people smile. He must have spent at least 2 hours throughout the afternoon and evening with the fans. He wanted to make sure that I conveyed the following message...

"To the people of Wisconsin; especially Madison and Columbus, I've really been touched and graced by your love and kindness. You don't understand that actor's can't be who we are without you, the fans. It adds to the experience, I mean it" - John Michael Bolger

I had a video of him saying this, but unfortunately my file got corrupted. There is another girl who was video taping him so hopefully I will be able to get a copy of her video.

Later that night I was able to introduce him to my Mom, who also fell in love with him right away. He is always so warm and personable.

Thanks for the Memories John!


Photo courtesy of Rod Melotte

My First Encounter with John Michael Bolger

This story was initially posted on my step-dad's blog:

www.publicenemiescolumbus.blogspot.com

But I decided to post it on my own blog as well, since I wanted to write a follow-up story...

Me and about 500 other people were across the street from basecamp Thursday afternoon (March 20th, 2008) around 2:30pm, waiting to see Johnny Depp come out of his trailor and go to his next filming location (the Poser Mansion). While we were waiting, a guy in a 1930's style suit came over and started chatting with the crowd. People asked him who he was. He said "I am John Michael Bolger". He was super friendly, he signed autographs, posed for pictures with people, and made small talk. He said that it was his first time in Wisconsin and thought it was lovely. He was quite a character and a very funny guy. He wouldn't reveal who he played in the movie. But when I looked him up online later in the day, one of his profiles stated that he often plays characters in law enforcement/FBI types. I am thinking he might be playing Hoover, but it is only a guess. He looked like he would be able to pull it off.

When he came over to me to give me his autograph he asked my name and said I was adorable. Then he wrote on my notecard "To Jenny, Your adorable" then signed his name. He continued to walk around and talk to people. About 5 minutes later I was taking a picture of him and he saw me and waved. He said "Is that Jenny again?"



Here is a picture of him waving at me. Then he and actor Michael Bentt were messing around. Michael Bentt was teasing him for "working the crowd".




Michael Bentt started taking pictures of John Michael Bolger from across the street and laughing. They were funny. Then John Michael Bolger spotted me again and waved "Hi Jenny". I think he just remembered me because of my voice, since it is rather unique, kind of smurf like.

So later that night around 8:30pm after Johnny Depp had left and everyone was packing up; Josh and I were looking out the window trying to see if there were any actors left wandering around that we could meet or get autographs from. We spotted a guy in a long coat. When I looked through the binoculars I realized it was John Michael Bolger.

Josh had been at work all day so he never got to meet him. I immediately told Josh that he needed to go out there and meet him since it was soooo nice and funny. So Josh went outside and walked over to him and said:

Josh: "Mr Bolger?"
JMB: "Yes?"
Josh: "Can I have your autograph?"
JMB: "Sure what's your name?"
Josh: "Josh"
JMB: "How did you know my name?"
Josh "My wife Jenny told me"
JMB: "Jenny? She's a doll, she's a doll! You have a wonderful wife! Now don't get mad at me for saying that. You look like a pretty big buy, you look like you could hurt me haha!"

Then I waved at JMB from the window and he waved at me "Hi, Jenny"

He signed Josh's autograph "To Josh, You have a wonderful wife, -JMB"

Although I haven't met many famous people in my life so far, I can truly say that John Michael Bolger is one of the nicest, most charismatic actors I have ever met. I can understand the actors reluctance to come speak to the crowd. Especially famous ones like Johnny Depp. But most of the actors on set that day were not "super famous", yet he was the only one who made the effort to really come speak to all the fans who had been waiting for hours to catch a glimpse of Hollywood. I truly wish there were more people like John Michael Bolger in the world.

The Waiting Game

Tomorrow May 3rd was supposed to be Katlyn's birthday. I took off work today to be by myself and give me time to reflect on everything that has happened the past three months. Tomorrow we'll go to the cemetary and give her flowers and a pinwheel we bought for her. We still need to pick out a grave marker. There is a place not far from here that gives away free markers for infants. We still have to go there and look. I don't want to settle on one just because it is "free", but we can at least look at them.

We were at the docotrs again yesterday. If you remember from an earlier post, the first person I met with thought I might have a clotting disorder, she was a nurse practitioner I believe. Then about a month ago I met with my doctor who said she didn't think I had a clotting disorder. She said that for some reason Katlyn's placenta stopped growing and parts of it started dying off and then the blood inside clotted which caused her death. She didn't think there was any problem with MY blood though. So she referred me to a specialist at the hospital who only deals with high-risk pregnancies.

Yesterday we met with the specialist. She went over my familys history of illnesses which includes diabetes, congestive heart failure, alzeihmers, and lymphoma. She seemed most interested in my grandma who had diabetes and congestive heart failure. My Grandma had also had a stillborn, but that was caused because she had diabetes and didn't know it at the time. They had already run diabetes tests on me which turned up negative.

So now this doctor is running tests to see if I really do have a blood clotting disorder. We probably won't know the results for a couple weeks. One thing that really irked me was that she suggested waiting at least a year to get pregnant again, which I think is absolutely ridiculous and Josh agrees. So we're gonna wait to see what the test results say. But if they can't find anything wrong, I'm sure not waiting a year to get pregnant again. She said we should really wait two years because that's how long it takes for a womens body to return back to normal, but since I didn't carry Katlyn to full term she suggested a year. MY doctor told me I would only have to wait 3-4 months. Plus I know a lot of people who haven't waited a full year between pregnancies.

Josh and I want to have our kids when we're still young and mobile. I want to have enough energy to go out and play with them and have fun. I also want to be young enough to enjoy my grandkids someday. So now we are just waiting; still mourning the loss of Katlyn, but trying to look for hope in the future as well. I'll keep you updated.