Where I've Been: The Good, The Bad & The Fantastic

Some people have noticed there's been no activity here on Star Struck Luck. Well, I'm here now...sort of. The past few months have been an emotional rollercoaster for me and I haven't been capable of sharing or participating in anything. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything in order to properly explain without writing a novel. So here goes. 

In February, my beloved cat Louie passed away. Before we rescued him, he had a gunshot wound to the head. Although he was extremely healthy, we think the bullet moved. We rushed him to the vet but his seizures were uncontrollable. Despite their hours of efforts, he still didn't make it. My heart was so broken that I overly neglected myself. I was broken. 

Since my immune system failed me, I caught the flu, which is practically a death sentence for people with my disease. Spinal Muscular Atrophy doesn't react well to any kind of virus. As this wasn't our first rodeo, we were fully prepared this time. My living room looked like a hospital with all our fighting equipment, which ultimately worked. I beat it without going to the hospital! It did take me 2 months to fully recover but it wasn't boring. Oh yes, I totally binge watched my Netflix. 

 During this time, we did welcome a new member to the family...Prince Ozzy. Funny thing is, we didn't exactly adopt him on purpose. Around Christmas, this adorable kitty just walked right in like he owned the place. Oddly, he was immediately accepted by the other cats. I have to wonder if they recruited him themselves. I did however, find his owners through HelpingLostPets.com. They took him home but brought him back shortly after due to allergies. This lucky boy is loved by 2 families. I think he's already comfortable with his living situation.

After all of this, my wheelchair broke down. I swear I'm not writing a country song but I totally could, right? Anyways, we finally got it fixed after 3 weeks of pain and discomfort. I'm in the process of getting a new wheelchair as well. It's been 3 years of building and we're so close to being done. I know I know, I said that 2 years ago. GAH! I keep telling myself it'll be worth the wait. 

So I bet you're waiting for the fantastic part, right? Well it's about a successful clinical trial buzzing around the SMA world. I'll copy and paste the cool part. 

"AVXS-101 is a proprietary gene therapy candidate of a one-time treatment for SMA Type 1 and is the only clinical-stage gene therapy in development for SMA. AVXS-101 is designed to address the monogenetic root cause of SMA and prevent further muscle degeneration by addressing the defective and/or loss of the primary SMN gene. AVXS-101 also targets motor neurons providing rapid onset of effect, and crosses the blood brain barrier allowing an IV dosing route and effective targeting of both central and systemic features." 

Crazy right? This might mean we're closer to a cure! Hopefully of coarse, but I'll be keeping everyone updated on whatever journey I go on. So where does this leave my blog for now? I have no idea. I'm trying to come back full force, but I keep getting sidetracked. Right now, I'm focusing on my health, my future, my family and my fur babies. I'll be posting more often though and definitely keeping my Twitter Party and Instant Win lists updated, so please enjoy.

Anguish La-Z-Boy Review - Contest Win

Back in June, I entered The Deserving Dad Father's Day Photo Contest. It was run by The Brantford Expositer and the grand prize was a gorgeous recliner chair from Anguish La-Z-Boy. We entered by submitting a photo of dad and his 3 kids. After the submission period was over, the voting process began. During this time period, my dad was battling a very daunting form of bladder cancer. Shortly before the contest ended, we got the news that my dad won the battle and beat cancer. Two days after that, we found out we won the contest as well. 

After receiving the winning email, we were in very good spirits and made our trip to Brantford to claim the prize. With our very deserving father, we arrived at a store that was even more awesome than originally anticipated. The very first thing we noticed of coarse was the Red Tag SALE sign on the window. No one can understand my love for the word Sale besides 90% of the female population. 

With lots of excitement, we went into the store and were immediately greeted by Jenn Barker from The Expositor and the lovely owners of the store. The little bit of nervousness we had went away very quickly. The people were so kind and the store was full of eye catching furniture. As we were directed towards the chair, we were all making our own mental inventory for the future. 

And there it was...the chair of all chairs. My dad sat down and instantly fell in love. We stayed about 40 minutes just chatting with everyone, partially because we loved the people and partially because my dad didn't want to get out of the chair. While we were chatting however, we learned that it had over 50 positions. My mom stood there looking at the chair and looking at the one day sale sign. The decision was made before she announced it. She bought a second chair as a his and hers. Before we left, dad and I got a picture with one of the owners. 

Less than a week later, both chairs were delivered to the door. The deliverymen were just as nice as the people in store. Not only did they set up both chairs in the house, they helped dismantle and remove the old one. As soon as they left, dad assumed position upon his brand new throne. 

We read reviews about this chair and completely agree with the 5 stars. We hope it lasts us many many years. Now to state our one and only problem. We can't get dad to go to bed at night. Whenever he falls asleep in his chair, there's no getting him out. LOL. A big thank-you to our friends who voted and a big thank-you to the companies who ran the promotion. I encourage everyone to shop at this store for new furniture.

Shop Here

Meet The LaPlante Cats

CRAZY CAT LADY IN THE HOUSE!!!! I swear that wasn't my intention growing up but it happened...I'm nuts and love my cats. I can say however, I never intended to have 8!!! I rescued a couple, my mom rescued a couple and my sister rescued one. Only 3 were on purpose...sort of. Long story for another day. 

These 8 precious puddy cats are our family, forever. When we adopt, it's a lifetime commitment and caring for them is a team effort between all of us humans. In reality, I think we're their pets. All of them are spoiled rotten...literally. They're even picky on what flavor their treats are. We buy them all because each of them have their own special preferences. 

Since I'm blogging about my life again, you'll definitely see a lot of posts about my cats. I thought it would be perfect to introduce them all to my readers and friends. Here they are in order of oldest to youngest. 

ROSIE

LUCY

PEANUT

BUBBA

MOLLY

ARCHIE

LOUIE

BETTY

So that's all 8 of my precious fur babies and I can promise much more cuteness in the Star Struck Luck future. Before I end this post, I'd like to show a beautiful picture of my baby that passed away 4 years ago.

In Loving Memory of Stuart