Introduction to our Family

My husband and I spent the majority of our marriage in New England where I was born and raised. We spent the first 6 years of our marriage just the two of us, due to being unsuccessful at the whole pregnancy thing. We decided to do foster care in order to adopt and over 8 years, we had 17 children (11 infants, 6 toddlers) come through our home. We adopted 3 of our foster children. Our first adoption was of a 21 month old boy and we were his 7th set of foster parents.  Our 2nd child is Miss A who is now 20 years old, who came to us at 3 months old. Our "baby" is Miss J who is now 19 years old and I picked her up at the hospital at 2 days old. Miss A and Miss J are full bio sisters. Miss A has mild cp, auditory processing issues, sensory integration dysfunction, depression/anxiety, panic attacks, skeletal issues, learning disabilities, moderate myopia, and is suspected of having a high functioning form of autism, though not diagnosed. Miss J has mild cp, mild mental retardation, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (she had open heart surgery in 2003 to repair her heart muscle), skeletal issues (especially her feet), severe myopia, and a low IQ. I have worked as a pharmacy technician since 1998. My husband spent 18 years as a sheet metal mechanic and the last 5 years as a safety officer for construction. Prior to that, he was a bass guitarist for various bands and travelled throughout the U.S. and Canada, which is how I met him. We had a beautiful home on the west side of a beautiful city in New England with a gorgeous deck that my husband built and a pool. It was in that home, in 2002, that it was found our son had severely sexually abused both of our girls and also threatened to kill Miss A numerous times per day. We had him put into a sexual offender group home. Over 2 years, it was determined he could not come home as he continuously threatened to "finish the job" on Miss A. We finally had no choice but to surrender him back to the state, so we could work on healing both girls. Miss A had a tough time being in that home, so in early 2005 we sold it. My husband was out of work during the selling of our house. We moved into an apartment and with no jobs on the horizon and our son wanting to still harm Miss A, we made the decision to move to Canada. We have been here for almost 7 years and it has become home. In 2004, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. My rheumatologist back home felt the severe stress of what my son did and Miss J requiring open heart surgery brought it on. I was put on methotrexate and Enbrel shots right away and did so good for 5 years. Then the Enbrel stopped working. I went on Remicade for a year, but it stopped working after a short 7 months. I am now on Actemra and am doing so much better. Living life with an autoimmune disease can be very difficult at times. The fatigue alone is brutal. My hands are so painful some days (especially after having to do compounding at work). Walking has improved for me being on Actemra. When nothing works, I become very "old", sometimes requiring a cane. I hope to blog regularly about family life, RA, work and anything else that comes up. I hope there will be people who follow this blog.