Last Updated:
 Mar 18, 2010

Stories

My mom created a slide show presentation based on my daughter Irelyn and all that she has gone through in the last 3 years. We are trying to raise enough money to get our backyard handicap accessible and to get it leveled so that we can finally get her Make A Wish swingset. this presentation was originally created to be shown at my parents church as well as som other local Christian organizations in the area. My mom is hiking 171 miles of the Appalachian trail in order to raise money.

Eric uploaded the slide show last night to a site called slideshare.net as its a free site for usch things. Anyways, this morning he got an email from the head hauncho at that web site saying that they are going to feature Irelyns story on the front page of their 'spiritual' section and that she has now been entered into a contest (the contest is for the best slide show that tells a persons life story). If she wins she will receive 5000$. Im not sure if the winner is based upon how many votes her slide show gets or not, but Im asking everyone I know to go to the site http: / / www. slideshare. net/ everno/ onward- with-irelyn
then vote for it - you have to create a log in before you vote but it only takes a minute.

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Novalea is 5 and officially a kindergartener! When I asked her if she felt sad about leaving pre-school , she looked at me and said "mom, its okay if I miss my teachers a little bit, but Im a big girl now and in kindergarten. I'll make new friends, have a new teacher, and ride a bus! It'll all be okay."     Her 5 yr checkup had her measuring in at 42" & weighing 42lbs. She had to get a shot which didnt go over too well but other then that all went well.

Irelyn is more then ready to take Novi's place at preschool - each morning when she wakes up she now asks me if its her day to do show and tell. We had an incident a few weeks ago where she fell and we ended up at the ER. Xrays showed that nothing was visibly broken, so Irelyn got to go home with no cast or splint or other device - YAY!!

Avaleen has mastered the art of crawling and is currently working on cruising. She says "uh-oh", "no", "mama", "dada", and "hello". She's going to be 1 in just 24 days!! Oh man I probablly should get a party planned.

In case you havent notice by the current heading on the front page, my mom (aka; tracy, aka: Grammy) graduated from Luzerne College with a 4.0 gpa, a degree in human services, and she was the recipient of schools Outstanding Adult Learner award.  Needless to say we are all VERY proud of her!!! All the good stuff starts at 50. And since Im singing my moms praises right now, let me continue by saying that she is also going to be hiking 163 miles of the Appalachian Trail at the end of this month. She will be out on the trail for 2 weeks. She is hiking not only because she loves to be on the trail, but also to raise money for Irelyn. Its her goal to raise enough to cover the lanscaping costs that her Make A Wish swing set is going to require we spend.

If anyone is interested in pledging money - be it a dime a mile or or a dollar - please email either myself at mrsverno@hotmail.com or Eric at everno@gmail.com .

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Avaleen went in for a checkup last week - she is now 8 months old. She weighed in at 16.5lbs and was 27in long.  Nothing but a clean bill of health! She wasnt a big fan of the shots she had to get, but she recovered nicely after getting in a quick shot at the nurse practioner.

Irelyn also had her 3 year checkup (ok so its a couple of months overdue, but we switched pediatricians and I had no idea how much a pain in the butt that process could be).  Irelyn is weighing in at 27.5lbs and is 36.5 in tall. She is only in the 10th percentile for her weight but is in the 50th for her height (Avaleen is in the 50th for weight and 75th for height).   No shots for Irelyn - which she was quite thankful for.  Irelyn has been having water therapy and we are seeing a definite increase in her strength.  

Novalea goes in this afternoon for her very first dental appointment. She is so excited about it because when she's done she gets to pick out a toothbrush.  She's just going in for a cleaning - we have to have it done before she starts kindergarten in the fall. I cant believe that I just said that...kindergarten in the fall!! Where has my little 5lb baby gone??? She couldnt be more thrilled about the idea of starting "real school". Eric and I and Novi go on March 31st for her kindergarten interview and registration. We'll get a tour of her school, meet teachers, administrators, go over the schedule, that type of thing. 

We got the final approval for Irelyns wish - she is getting a top notch, fully modified, vinyl swingset - complete with a slide, swings, glider, and clubhouse. We are waiting to see the blueprint so we can give it our final okay and then we should have it fully built on in our backyard this spring! Both of the girls are very excvited about having a "park" in their backyard.

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We got the call today - Irelyn is going to be receiving a wish from The Make A Wish Foundation! How awesome is that?! We dont know any of the details yet, but should within the week. Needless to say we are all very excited. What a great birthday present. Speaking of Irelyns birthday she is having a very hard time deciding what kind of cupcakes she wants, though she is sure that she wants cupcakes rather then a cake. She also knows that she wants hot cocoa with tiny marshmellows as well - everything else changes on a daily basis.  

Avaleen has started to master the art of sitting up. She has also become familiar in the ancient art of hair pulling, eating her toes, and chewing on anything she can get her hands on.

Novalea is still insisting upon singing just about 90% of the time. She is doing very well in school and is thoroughly enjoying learning her letters and numbers. She, along with Irelyn, are very excited for Christmas and are both hoping for many "pink things" to be found under the tree.

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ok, so other then being 15 mins late on our first day (my fault! i though it started 15 minutes later then when it actually does), and also underestimating how much work is involved in getting everyone out of the van and into the school (moving Irelyn is an entire ordeal in and of itself as every little movement hurts her...so having to pick her up out of her carseat to put her into her wheelchair is quite a challenge. so once the chair is out of the van and irelyn is in the chair then I have to get the baby in the sling - except of course on days like today when i forget my sling! ugh!! so i had to carry the baby with one hand, push the chair with the other, while Novalea led the charge into the school!), other then that, her first day was wonderful. She was so excited and when we got to her classroom she just ran right in and was her typical social butterfly self. No goodbye to mom or hug or kiss...she just left me in the dust. Its okay though, Im pretty tough.

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Irelyn somehow managed to refracture her C2 vertabrae 2 weeks ago. Last night, she refractured her tibia in her right leg (making this the 5th break in that bone since Sept). Her rodding surgery for her leg is scheduled for Sept 23rd but it very well may get bumped up now due to this recent break. There has also been talk of surgery on her neck if her pain become chronic and the bone doesnt heal - they would place a screw in the vertabrae. For now we have said no to that surgery, and are praying that it heals. Prayers are definately asked for right now - not only for Irelyns healing, but also for Eric, Novalea, & I. Each fracture takes am emotional toll on all of us. Novalea has been such an outstanding big sister during all of this. She has been right by Ileys side the entire time.

Avaleen is doing well - getting big. She actually slept for 4 hours straight  last night...it was awesome. Especially after the day we had and it ending in a fracture, it was such a blessing to be able to get some sleep.

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BABY GIRL #3 IS HERE!!!  (this was written at 10pm on June 25th)

So last night at around 12:45am my contractions (which i had been having for the last few days) were intense enough that they managed to wake me up. So i laid in bed for a few moments and started timing them - they were coming every 8 minutes. I definately wasnt getting my hopes up, so i just tried to go back to sleep. At 1:20 I awoke and had to pee - when i got out of bed I could barely walk - the contractions were intense, but still not close enough together. about 15 minutes later I was hit with a terrible case of diarreah - my body was definately doing a self cleaning - though I then got sacared that my "contractions" were going to be nothing more then actual stomach pains from something I ate that just didnt agree with me. My 3rd trip back to the bathroom I lost my plug. game on. at about 2am I woke up Eric and told him that we needed to go to the hospital - so i made all the phone calls, waited for my sister to get to the house and took off. By the time we got here it was 3am and i was contracting every 5 minutes and they definately hurt more then what they had. I was checked - still only 2cms & 80% baby at -3. So they told us to walk the halls and see if anything happened - after 45 minutes i was 2.5cms. The resident doctor on staff told me that I would probably be going home since even though my contractions were c.ose together and obviously very painful (i was having to really breathe through them and couldn't move when they'd hit - and of course, like all my labors before me, they were in my back). So the resident called my ob just to get a final say on what would be done with me, and thankfully she decided not to send me home as I was clearly in a great deal of pain and I was just going to end up coming back in later today - oh I love my doctor!! I was officially admitted at 6:30am. So I got a serving of cervical tape @ 7am to help get things going - the tape is all I have ever needed when induced with my othe two, and since this wasn't an induction my dr was certain that it would do the trick quite nicely. After about an hourI requested stadol to help take the edge off - it worked. It made me groggy but that wasn't a bad thing as it helped me to catch a few little cat naps. By 11 the stadol wasn't cutting it and it was time for an epidural! After the epi I was checked and I was at 5cm....at 11:30ish my water broke on its own (woohoo!) and I went to 6. So I was told that in another few hours Id probably be ready to start pushing. Well, I started to feel pressure about an hour later but I didn't say anything because I knew it was almost time to start pushing, but I wanted to give my body the chance to push her down on its own. At 12:50 I said I was feeling a lot of pressure and the nurse checked me - my mom and Eric were guessing how far I was going to be dilated (8cms was the general consensus) - well, the baby was RIGHT there and it was time to go. My dr was paged, I was prepped, Eric stood next to my left leg and my mom by my right, and at 1:05 I started to push with the first contraction - I pushed 3 times with that one contraction and she was out!

Avaleen Janetta-Joy Verno was born at 1:10pm weighing in at 7lbs 3oz, 19 inches. Her name is pronounced Av ("a" as in apple) -Uh -Leen. Janetta is after Erics grandmother who passed away this year, however she will be known as Avaleen Joy. She is a champion nurser and whats even more exciting is that there are absolutely no visible signs of OI whatsoever!!! We are confident that she is completely healthy!!

We'll be leaving the hospital tomorrow (thursday). I actually don't feel too sore. I do have a 2nd degree tear, but nothing that I wont be able to recover from. My whole body is very itchy as a side effect to the epidural, but Ill take itch over extreme pain anyday! Eric and I both are in need of sleep, but thats how it goes with a newborn!

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 I had my weekly appt today (im 37 weeks 5 days). Nothing exciting - Im still ony 50% effaced, baby is VERY low and im 1-2 cm dialated. Ok, so after the midwife checks me (which was extremely painful as it turns out I have a yeast infection), I then mention that Ive been "leaking" a bit more then normal lately and that while I was sure it was probablly just clear discharge I just wanted to double check. Well, since she had already checked me she couldnt run the test to see if it was amniotic fluid or not due to the KY she used. So she gave me a special little pad to put on and if i was indeed leaking amniotic fluid then the pad would turn blue. She said to wear it for a half an hour and then take it out and let it set in its tray for about 30 mins and if it turned blue to call the office right away. So, I put it on at the office, leave, drive the 10 minutes home, get home and head to the bathroom to pee (i pee every 15 minutes anymore) and as soon as I pull my pants down i see that its blue!! So i call the drs office they tell me to pack my bag and head over to the hospital. So i let Eric know whats going on, we make all the needed phone calls, pack our bags stick the new baby car seat in the van and head to the hospital - we had to take the girls with us as my sister is out of town this week and our backup sitter's son came down with croup so we didnt want to add to her stress or end up with sick kids of our own, so we figured they would just come with us until my mom was able to get down (it takes her about 2 hours). So, we get to the hospital, head into L&D, i change into a gown, the dr comes right in checks me (which really really hurts due to this stupid infection), gets a sample of the fluid and tests it....it comes back negative! So then they do a u/s to check the fluid levels and everything looks good. So what my ob thinks happen is that Im starting to lose my plug which would have amniotic fluid on it and that in addition to the yeast infcection gave a false positive with the pad. So they monitored the baby for 15 minutes, she looked good, they picked up my contractions but they arent close enough to matter right now, so they sent us home. sigh...so close yet so still so far...

That was just mean. I left my ob appt bummed because I havent really progressed that much more despite ALL OF THE PAIN I HAVE BEEN IN THIS LAST WEEK! Then to get that fals positive in regards to the amniotic fluid I was like "yeehaw! lets get this baby outta here!" And then we end up leaving the hospital an hour after we got there...  Though I will admit I was definatelty a bit scared at the idea that tonight was going to be the night I would have a baby. For those of you who may not know this, having a baby HURTS LIKE HECK! I am so dreading the pain that I know is coming...

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June 9th was Eric's birthday - 32nd birthday to be exact. My hubby is getting old - well, older anyways, but from what I hear that seems to be how it works. Kinda hard to believe that he had only just turned 26 when we first started dating.    When I asked the girls what they wanted to get daddy as a present, Novalea quickly responded with "a new outfit, something for his hair, and something with sparkles because he doesn have anything like that".   So we compromised and got him an outfit and polo black deodarant (the actual cologne wasnt in the budget ).  The outfit though was completely picked out by the girls - black shorts, sandals, and a brown and black Chuck Norris tshirt. yep - i did just say Chuck Norris.   Behold the glory that is Erics new tshirt - the girls insisted on it.    And being the good sport that he is, Eric wore it out for his birthday dinner to Red Lobster - again, the girls insisted on it. Theres no question, we are very blessed with a very awesome daddy/husband.

In another news, Irelyn is not walking yet - her leg is very sore still and very weak. trying to get a hold of someone at KKI in regards to her treatment and her possibly being rodded is proving much more difficult then what it should be. After this week Eric is done with school so he is making it his personal mission to get the whole situation taken care of.

Novalea has her 4 year checkup this afternoon - complete with a needed 4 shots. Shes not looking forward to it to say the least, nor am I for that matter. She is however very excited that summer is now here - she's gotten to see her Aunt Ali alot already (shes a teacher) since schools been out, and there is talk of upcoming trips to the DC Zoo, Dutch Wonderland, Knoebles, and Lake Jean. Though I really think that she would much rather fast forward through all of that just so she can start school sooner. She is beyond excited about starting K4 this fall.

Baby girls #3 is doing well also. We just had an ultra sound this week and there was no visible evidence of OI! PRAISE GOD!! We still will have to have the genetic blood test done after she is born to completley rule it out, but we are believing that she is 100% healthy. At the u/s she was approx 6lbs 4oz at 36 weeks - Irelyn was only 6lbs 9oz when she was born at 39 weeks! So at my next ob appt they may do another u/s to just monitor her size as my doctors really dont want me trying to push out a baby much over the 7.5lb range. I have the hips and birth canal room for it, but unfortunately I dont really have the bone density for it. If they think she is getting too big then they will induce me.  Im not sure if I mentioned this already or not, but we have finally decided on a name - its a secre until she is born though.   You've waited this long, you can wait another week or 2.

Im doing okay - I had an ob apt yesterday and am now 1cm dialated, 50% effaced, and the baby is EXTREMELY low (i didnt ask what exact station I was at). Ive been having a good amount of real deal contractions the last 3 days, and I just feel a bit "off". Im hoping that is just another week or so until this baby gets her eviction notice. My aunt is getting married this saturday so we are driving up to Danville for the ceremony - Im really hoping I dont go into labor while we are there - of course there are worse places that it could happen. My sister is going to be out of town all next week, and she is the one scheduled to keep the girls for us when we do have to go to the hospital, so as much as I hate to say it, I need to keep this baby in until the end of next week! We'll see what happens though.

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I just want to cry!!!! I dropped the girls off at the sitters this morning as I had a listing appointment to go to - the woman who watches them is a great friend of mine and is wonderful with them. So i leave, and not even 10 minutes later I get a phone call from Ava saying that Irelyn just fell and its her leg. So i turn around, call Eric tell him to come pick us up from Avas (we cant put Irelyn in her car seat right after a fracture, so one of us holds her while the other drives to the hospital. i then cancel my appointment, i call her orthopedic dr and let him know we're coming in - theres a series of phone calls we have to make when this happens so that we can get her treated asap and not sit in an ER for hours on end. Ok, so long story short, the xrays determined that she thankfully did not break it all the way through again - PRAISE GOD - but she did crack the healing bone (the new bone forming around the old break). So its swollen and shes in a ton of pain but thankfully her ortho decided not to put a cast back on her, so she's in her custom made fracture brace. We have to go down to John Hopkins hospital in Md to meet with a specialist there as its pretty much 90% certain she will now need to be rodded. :cry: I know it will be for the best, but the idea of my baby being in surgery and all the pain involved in recovering, and the risks and everything else....im an emotional mess right now. I hate that this keeps happening to her!!! She just started walking about a week ago!! :cry: Its so bloody unfair! ARGH!!!! :rant: information on Rodding: http://www.oif.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Rodding

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So here's an update: 

Irelyn is out of her cast and in her custom made fracture brace. She hates to wear it, but for the most part she does a good job of leaving it on. She is absolutely loving the fact that she can take a bath with Novi and doesnt need daddy to hold her in the tub anymore. She has just started walking, she still prefers to crawl or scoot around on her butt, however she is getting a bit more brave with taking unassisted steps. She goes back to see Dr Bixler in 4 weeks for xrays and a follow up - we are hoping that following that appointment we will be able to get her down to KKI for treatment.

Novalea will be turning 4 this week! I dont know how my little 5lbs 13oz baby is 4 already! She has decided that she wants to have a Barbie Mariposa birthday party - basically this just means butterflies, fairies, barbie, and all things girly (a big change from last years bug party she had wanted).  She is requesting clothes, shoes, accessories (purses, hats, sungalsses, hair ties...etc), anything having to do with reading or writing, and toy animals. I dont know, do most 4 year olds want clothes and shoes? I can remember asking for that starting at 13, but not 4.... :-)   She really is becoming quite the little fashion guru.

Eric is approaching the end of the school year - June 12th - so before the freedom comes the work. Hes busy with preparing for finals and last minute grades and all that jazz. Not only does school keep him busy, but so does his wife! With my being so very pregnant right now, Eric has had to do alot more around the house then normal - he is doing a great job with everything though. Right now we are trying to get as much done around the house as we can before Novi's party and of course, before the baby arrives.

Ok, so moms turn: Im doing well. Im very pregnant these days and that of course puts a damper on just about everything. :-) My stomach is huge - defiantely the biggest its ever been, and im only 32 weeks pregnant right now! ack! that means 4 more weeks to go! The baby is doing well - we have one more advanced ultra sound to see if we can see if there are any signs of OI in this little one  on June 6th.  So other then being pregnant, Im kept busy with the girls, the house, and of course work.

And that, my dedicated readers, is the brief run down of what each Verno is up to.

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so since 5am I have been having an absolute terrible lower back ache. It has hurt so bad today that I couldnt sit, stand, walk, lay down, pick anything up...basically i was completely useless today, i had tears in my eyes when i had to change Irelyns diaper - she would ask me to hold her and I just couldnt do it....i was not a productive person or a fun mom today. So, at 10:30am i called my ob to see what i could take - the office didnt call back til 5pm. so when they called finally I was on my way to meet with clients to show some houses in the city - my ob said they wanted me to go to L&D just to make sure it wasnt back labor. So i asked for an hour extension so i could show at least a couple of the 6 houses i had lined up for my buyers, to which she said okay. So i showed 3 houses then headed to the hospital. They hooked me up to the monitors and sure enough I was contracting every 2-3 minutes!   :baghead:  So after making me drink an insane amount of fluid and changing my position 101 times the contrax finally tapered off - but not my back pain. I was then poked and prodded in the name of science (they had a bunch of cultures and tests they wanted to do to rule different things out). then they checked my cervix and I am now dialated a fingertip. nothing to be too concerned about I was told, but between that and the contractions its clear that my body is definately getting ready to have this baby. as long as she stays place for another 5 weeks we'll be good. 

as far as my god-awful back ache goes - while the contractions did play a part in it, it turns out my OI is playing an even bigger part of it. My belly/baby is getting big and the belief is that im not strong enough to support its growing weight. oh great. so all i can do is take extra strength tylenol, rotate heat and ice, and make my husband massage my back as needed. Looks like its just a pain Im going to have to deal with.  beathead so anyways, im home now with the instructions of staying hydrated, no sex til my next appt  on monday, and no heavy lifting (not quite sure how that last one is going to work out seeing as how Irelyn isnt walking yet).

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UPDATE:  Friday, April 4th, we took Irelyn to York Hosptial to undergo her alignment procedure.  She was put under general anesthesia - never a pleasant experience for either patient or parent.

The following I copied from Erics blog - www.casadeverno.com - this is his account of our day spent at the hospital...

Dr. Bixler came to see us after the operation... He said when he took her leg out of the splint, her leg just dangled... he was shocked... he said when he placed his thumb at the break, he could make a small "V" with the leg... he just did this to examine the tissue around the break... Which he said was horrible... Very soft.  He said that the break/leg shifted in the splint.. Maybe the reason that we have not slept much during the night... A lot of pain.

     So he set the bone and casted her, and when they checked it out, he realized that it wasn't good... He said that from one view is was GREAT but the other two views it was horrible.  He took off the cast and was looking at it, and he couldn't get it to where he really wanted it.  She he determined that the front plane was the hardest to reconstruct, so that is how he lined it up.. and she still has the BOW in the leg that was forming before.

     I know much debate, mentally and some verbally has been about the concept of RODDING her leg... He said that it probably would of been a great case to do it, but he doesn't think we should do that yet... Which Devon, myself and Dr. Shapiro are in agreement with.

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Well, Irelyn has broken her leg again. Yesterday around 7pm we decided to take the kids out for ice cream as it had been exceptionally warm all day and  they had been very well behaved all day as well. So, the girls and I headed downstairs to get our shoes on while Eric was upstairs getting ready. Novalea went down first then Irelyn and I went down together, holding hands. At the third step from the bottom, Irelyn lost her footing and fell...I heard her leg break before I actually saw her fall. I picked her up as fast as I could but I was terrfied as i didnt know what exactly had broken - I was holding her hand when she fell, so I was worried that her arm mightve broken as well. I started yelling to Eric that "she broke! she broke!", which of course set Novalea off so she started crying, then I started crying, then Eric swooped in, took Irelyn from me, I grabbed our gear and we headed for the the ER (our ortho urgent care center was closed so we had no choice but to go to the ER - we went to Memorial Hospital opposed to York Hospital). I called our pediatricians office to have them notify the ER that we were coming - so from the time that we arrived til the time we had a room was only about 15 minutes. Praise God! Unfortunately though it took about an hour and a half before they finally gave her anything for the pain - a shot of morphine - which only seemed to take the edge off. Eric went with her for xrays - which was a rather painful experience for the both of them.  The good news is that the xrays revealed that her arm and clavicle were fine, the bad news is that she not only broke her right tibia (the same bone, same spot where she fractured the last two times), but also her right fibula!  So they put her in a half cast from her knee to her toes and sent us home with a prescitpion from tylenol w/ codeine and one for a pediatric wheelchair. 

Needless to say it was a long night last night. Ali came and picked Novi up at the ER and the plan was to have her spend the night at Ali's and then come home in the morning - but after abotu an hour there she came down with a fever and started complaining of a bad stomach ache. So after we got home from the ER, Eric ran out to pick up Irelyns medicine, then met Ali halfway to pick up Novalea, then came home, put Novi to bed, then headed to school to get a lesson plan ready for the substitute for today. So by the time he got home for good it was in the wee hours of the morning, at which point Novalea woke up. So Eric layed down with her in the guest room and I had Irelyn in our bed - then at about 4am we switched and I went in with Novi who was burning up and Eric took over with Irelyn.

Today has been spent just trying to make her as comfortable as possible - shes all propped up on the couch...shes in alot of pain today and completely freaks out if you get too close to her because she knows that if you move her it will hurt. We also have been trying to track down a wheelchair for her - not the easiest of tasks to say the least. Right now though we think we may have found one, but we're at the mercy of hearing back from the insurance company for the okay for it. Having a wheelchair this time is crucial - shes just too big for me to carry around everywhere and Im too pregnant to even attempt it. We are all just in shock over the fact that this has happened again. She had been doing so well - no breaks for months, she was running, jumping, dancing, climbing up slides, riding bikes...and now its like we're back at square one.

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