Waiting.... patiently....

After 5 weeks of being told so many different things, I took matters into my own hands!
I've had 3 different doctors now tell me that I need to see a neurologist... apparently getting an appointment with a neurologist is not an easy thing to do around here. The average appointment was 2~3 months out. I consider myself a patient person.... but personally.... that's a little more patience than I (or anyone) can deal with!

Long story short... I admitted myself to the ER at St. Mark's on Monday and told the doctor that I wasn't leaving without seeing a neurologist and getting an MRI. The ER doctor (Dr. Paradise... hmmmm... I just like saying his name) took me seriously... and the entire staff there took VERY, very good care of me! I was there for about 6 hours... they ran blood tests, did 2 more CT scans, set up an MRI and got me an appointment with a neurologist next Tuesday. Oh, and he's also sending me to an ENT to see why I'm still having vertigo 6 weeks later. All in all I finally feel like I can breathe because I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere. I talked to my dad last night and he told me that this was the first time in weeks where I am actually starting to sound like myself again... I think that not only am I feeling physically drained, but waiting and waiting has drained me mentally and emotionally as well.

There is light on the horizon.... I had the MRI yesterday and the results came back in my favor! Of course I'm very grateful that all of the tests so far have been clean... but then again we still have no idea what is wrong! I'm suppose to follow up with the neurologist next week and I guess we'll just keep going from there... please tell me I'm not crazy and this isn't all just in my head! (no pun intended... seriously!) :)

Thanks to all of you for your love and prayers!!!

A sunny spring day...

After spending pretty much the entire month of April cooped up in the house I was completely elated to get the heck out of here!!! I was surprised when the sweet guy in my life... Brad... rescued me from what feels like eternal house arrest and took me out for a relaxing, much needed day out!
He took me to one of my favorite restaurants.... Harvest (down at Thanksgiving Point) and then to the Tulip Festival there. I was soooo excited... I was sure that I was going to miss going to the festival this year, so the outing was a GREAT surprise! It is one of my spring favorites I look forward to every year!
...I didn't even have to ask him to take me there... (aaaaaawwwe sweet I know!)


The gardens were incredibly beautiful and so peaceful.... just what the "patient" ordered! :)

Lots of pics... enjoy...

3 little reasons why life is GREAT!

MY 3 sweet girls... the month of April has been crazy, but my girls have really kept things in perspective for me. I've been writing a lot about all of the medical junk that's come into our lives this past month, and while I feel it's important for me to get healthy for my daughters' sake, I no longer want it to completely consume me! If any new developments happen, I'll update...

My little girls have been doing their best to keep up with their everyday routines... here's whats been going on in the real world!

So, one of my favorite things to do is to sit and listen to my daughters conversations, either with each other or with their friends. Dang, I hope they never catch on to this because this really is one of my favorite things to do! :)

Well, Kayla had a friend spend the night at our house the other evening. Ceanna has been a friend of Kaylas for several years. Kayla has been doing all kinds of missionary work with Ceanna.... inviting her to church and young womens etc... well, Ceanna has decided that she wants to be baptized. She has a baptism date set for June 20th! YAY!!!

So, Kayla and Ceanna were chatting rather than sleeping (as any kid does at a sleepover) and it was kind of late, so I thought I'd get up and ask the girls to keep it down and go to sleep. As I got closer I realized that Kayla was reading scriptures to Ceanna. I don't think I've ever felt my heart warm so much like that before in my life... obviously I left them to their reading and went to bed... one happy mom!

Cammy recently had her 5th grade DARE graduation at school. I absolutely LOVE this program... police officers and the mayor come in to the school for about 6 weeks and talk to the kids about drug and alcohol abuse. I was actually very surprised by how upfront they really are with these kids. Cammy was so excited to graduate from the program with all of her friends!

Alicia, Cammy, Zarina and Jaelynn

Cammy giving the mayors mustache a tug...

he told her to btw... he's a rather funny man!

Krystian's class recently went on a field trip to the Children's Museum at Gateway... I had volunteered to be a chaperon over 2 months ago, so when Krystian came home from school Monday and looked at me with those big brown eyes and asked if I was going to be better by tomorrow so I could go on the field trip still, feeling up to it or not, I just had to go... I wanted to go! I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting and watching her and her friends play!

Shopping at the Market...

Krystian and her best friend Evelyn... they were having so much fun, we had a near miss hit and run incident! Thankfully no one was harmed!
Making sweet music... "sweet" to their ears anyway!
Attempting the rock climbing wall...
All passed out on the bus ride back to school... oh how I wished that could have been me!!!

Good News???

I thought I'd begin this next entry with some very appropriate words from a favorite song of mine...

Will you fly to me tonight
And bring me your peace
And with your love, lift me up
With healing in your wings
I'm longing for your strength
And rest to my soul
Feeling you near
Offers me hope

********

The entire month of April has been consumed with some random, unexplained illness. Infection? Virus? Serious? Worrisome? Nothing? Honestly, it has left me feeling completely wiped out and feeling less and less like myself everyday. So after a long sleepless night last night, I have decided that the only thing I can do is return to normal life as much as possible regardless of whether I feel "okay" or not. I feel so much better having made that decision and I've realized that sometimes the answers and explanations don't come immediately or even in a "timely fashion".
Yesterday was tough. I went back to the doctor... I was completely unprepared for what he was going to say. I had an appointment at 2:20 and by 5 that evening I had gone from a follow-up doctor appointment to being admitted to the hospital for a CT scan of the brain... thankfully the doctors were able to get me the results right away rather than making me wait and worry the entire weekend! The results came back clean... no brain cancer. hmmmm.... that's comforting! :)
So, now I've gone from infection, to virus, to something neurological. My doctor sent me for the scan because I'm having a hard time getting the right side of my body to work. My arm is really weak and my hand tremors for no apparent reason, and my leg is painfully stiff and pretty weak as well.
So... we are just going to play the "wait and see" game. I'm not necessarily happy about that... I want an answer now... who wouldn't!?

Anyway, my dad put it this way... Doctors work in what we call a "practice". Regardless of how long they've been a doctor, they are still "practicing" medicine. Not every patient or illness is the same, so not every diagnosis is black and white. The doctor will eventually find out what's wrong... it may just take some time.
So not the answer I wanted!!! :) Why do dads always know exactly what to say???

The health update...

So, after a second trip to the doctor (this time I saw my parent's family physician)... I do not have a bacterial infection, but a virus. Labyrinthitis to be exact. Because it's a virus, it can't be cured with medication, so I just have to wait it out. The virus can last anywhere from a week and a half to three weeks. I am at 2 weeks and very ready to be over this.
Labyrinthitis attacks the inner ear, which affects balance and causes vertigo. The virus has also attacked my facial nerve endings causing a mild form of Bell's Palsy. The right side of my face is numb, kind of like I've just been to the dentist and had that side of my mouth numbed... it's more of a discomfort than anything serious. Bell's Palsy is temporary and usually clears up on its own within one to two months... (yeah me!).
I'm being hopeful... the doctor gave me Cortisone/Prednisone shots to ease the pain while I wait out the virus. If I'm not feeling 100 percent better in a week, then we are moving on to blood work and an MRI... let's hope I'm feeling better in a week!!! :)
No worries though... I'm looking forward to feeling completely healthy again! The doctor was very positive.

I really am so grateful for all of you... countless people have just gone out of their way to help me either emotionally, physically or mentally. I really do LOVE you all!!!