Malia Moore

The month of October has been pretty good to me. I have managed to stay out of the hospital this month! As a matter of fact it has been close to two months since I have been without a urinary tract infection. During this month, I have had many episodes of reflux. It seems that the 10 weeks of taking Ciprofloxacine has wreaked havoc on my stomach therefore causing me to reflux. Reflux can be very dangerous as I can easily aspirate food into my lungs causing pnuemonia. We are slowing down how fast I eat to see if that helps and hopefully we will see a change once I stop taking the antibiotic. This lovely drug as well interacts with my seizure medication Sabril, and I have been having two to three seizures daily. I only have a few more weeks taking the drug and as my neurologist said you have to take the good with the bad and currently the good is no urinary tract infections!

My other bit of news to share with you is that Irene, my dear friend and therapist will be leaving us in December. Irene is going to have a baby boy with her boyfriend Javier. We are excited and happy for her. I gave her my old crib and cradle that my paw paw Brown made for me and a bunch of other really cool things for her baby boy. Irene has been wonderful to me. God is always looking out for me and putting wonderful people in my life. She has done an excellent job with me and has gone way beyond the call of duty as this year has been more a year for a nurse rather than a therapist. Thankfully, Irene knew of another great therapist Maria Jose, that will be starting work with me December 1st. She came out and spent three days with us and liked me and our place out here in the jungle and has accepted the position. Mom and dad were excited about that as they did not have to search high and low for another therapist.

All in all, things are pretty good. We take what we can get and staying out of the hospital is a great thing. I am getting excited as I am headed to Texas soon for my big fiesta.
Love Malia

Sept 6th -Sept 30th

We have been home now for almost a month. It seems hard to believe that we are not in San Jose that I have managed to maintain and be healthy here at home! I have to say that I am still not 100% back in the game but I am getting closer every day.

Recently we have discovered that the antibiotic that I am taking can interact with one of my seizure drugs and actually cause me to have more seizures. Unfortunately that is the one thing I have been having almost daily now is seizures. Mom had called the neuro to ask and he reported back with this information. My parents discussed it and figured in the end it was better that I am infection free and that I won’t be on this antibiotic forever although it does feel that way sometimes! I have just now completed six weeks and have a month left to go! So we take the good with the bad and thankfully the seizures don’t last too long and are not affecting my therapy.

I have been enjoying so much my workouts with Irene. She is so incredible with me. We have much fun together! I have been a bit more floppy than normal but then I am better than I was a month ago! She has so much patience with me and work so well with me. I am ever so happy that we work so well together and have become such great friends. I am getting super excited about my party on the 20th of October! I just know I am going to be healthy and strong. These last three weeks of September have flown by before you know it I am going to be on an airplane and on my way to Texas! Si Dios quiere!!

Love Malia

September 5th 8:42 am

Mom was finishing up breakfast with me, I was still in bed lounging around. Dad was packing up and getting us ready to go home! Yep, we were able to leave! My blood work came back great and my urine culture came back negative in both labs! We were ready to head back home! This may have been one of our quickest trips ever! Ok, I will get to the excitement now….

Mom and me were hanging out when all of a sudden the bed started to move ever so slowly, then dad yells at my mom and says Earthquake get Malia and get out of the house! Mom scoops me up like a sack of potatoes and then this eery growling begins like a lion protecting its den, then the walls began to shake and move and the trees were swaying, the pool had waves in it and to be honest it did not feel if it was ever going to stop! Scary!!!!!!!! It was the longest 25seconds ever!!! El Bolero had no damage, the electricity was still on so we turned on the tv to hear that Costa Rica had just had an 7.6 magnitude earthquake and the epicenter was iin Samara, on the Nicoya Peninsula about 50miles from our home!! Yikes! All communications were down and mom and dad had no way of talking to anybody back at home. Later that morning we finally got a phone call through to find out Luisa, and Bismark, were okay and so were our dogs Selva and Indio! The house had no damage and our nursery and store was okay with just a few broken items. We were so lucky. We had friends lose a home in Mal Pais.

We changed plans and decided to stay another night at El Bolero, there was no electricity at home anyway and we were not sure when it was going to come back on! It made more sense to stay where we were although mom and dad were itching to get back to check on things, but safety first. Kiki and Lourdes brought Irene out to El Bolero and we hung out a bit then they were on the way and I had therapy with Irene in the afternoon. It seemed almost surreal that everything was back to normal after a 7.6 earthquake! Costa Rica in general had no severe damage and there were no deaths. So all in all, we all were very lucky.

The next morning we were out the door and on the road by 7:30am. We did not notice any damage while driving or landslides. When we arrived at the ferry the ocean was a dead calm. There were no waves and the day was brilliant not a cloud in the sky. We arrived home before noon, and the dogs were ecstatic to see us and only a few things broke in our house and the store. We kept feeling aftershocks from the big earthquake. Definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat…. I well, am stoked to be back home and not having to stay in San Jose!!! I can just feel that everything is gonna be alright! 😉
Love Malia

September 2, 2012
We left for San Jose on the 11am ferry. Mom had called in advance to find out if Jonathan and Dennis were working as it turned out they had off Mon, and Tuesday so we decided to go in on Sunday so that Jonathan could draw my blod and Dennis cath me. We like them and they do a good job and not just anybody can draw my blood or cath me. This way we get it all over with right away and not have to rush anywhere. Dad is driving us in as Irene is already in San Jose at her parents house. We are staying in Turrucares, “El Bolero” my home away from home. 🙂

Jonathan did a great job, drawing my blood for all my lab work. Since Carmen my favorite nurse in ER is gone we are using Dennis. He is nice and does a good job at catetherizing me. Of course I tinkled right as he was begining to put the tube inside me I always do that to them. I know what they are up to and so I make it a bit dificult! Needless to say we were in the ER room for almost three hours. That is how long it took to get a another urine sample out of me! Two more times he tried and I peed before he got the urine! I don’t like to be catetherized at all. Mom and dad had to take the urine to the other hospital as well as we are now testing in two places. We did not make it to Turrucares until almost 8pm but at least all my testing has been done and tomorrow we can sleep in and not have to rush around anywhere.
Love Malia

We had a great time with the familia!! We had a big bbq where I supervised my dad and Uncle, we went out to dinner at our local pizza place around the corner, we went to Playa Tambor and I slept and took in the sound of the waves and wind in my hair I even made it down to the beach with my Cousin Casey, Irene and mom. I am so blessed and thankful that I had the opportunity to spend time with them. So happy that my little body is being given a break and that I am infection free. Currently my medical protocol is to take Ciprofloxacine for 10weeks. It is a long time to be taking an antibiotic but the goal is to eradicate those nasty mean bacterias out of my body so that they won’t come back. We have to give it a shot it is pretty much a last resort kinda thing. The antibiotic is hard on my body but easy on my stomach so that is a good thing. I feel fatigued and my therapy is not my best but the most important is that I have manage to stay infection free for a month now.

I was sad to see my family go but will be seeing them soon in Texas for my upcoming party. I cant wait and hopefully I will be just fine to travel.
Love Malia

I am dedicating this post to my Uncle Jesse. It was his first time here to Costa Rica! He was so excited to be here with his kids and seeing where I live. I guess the best way I can explain to you about my Uncle Jesse is that well he gets me. We understand each other. I am not the easiest person in the world to get to know. You see in order to know me you have to take time to ”really know me.” I can not talk back to you but I can stare into your eyes and have you know that I am listening intently to what you are saying to me. I can return a smile to you to let you know you are making me happy. My Uncle Jesse takes the time to know me to talk to me and to push me to my limits!

One day my mom had Uncle Jess take me over to my grandparents while she and dad were in town. When mom came over to get me there was Uncle Jesse pushing my legs bicycle style back and forth. He had already been working me out and then told my mom that I had bonked my head on the stroller as he was working on my head control and I wobbled a bit! He told mom she’s tough! It was just a little bonk! 🙂

He loves my nick name little bull since he was a bull rider the name fits in just right! We had a great time together while he was here and I miss him very much. You may know him he always is the announcer at my benefit each year! I just want to say a big thanks to you Uncle Jesse, you get who I am and sometimes not many people do. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me and listen to me and for loving me the way you do !
Love your buddy, Little bull.