Last full week of April 2013

Hello my friends,

     Sitting has given me plenty of time to work up some stories for posts for you. Life hasn't slowed, for which I am grateful. My fear was that with surgery, life would slow. The only way wife for a mother of 2 (techinically 4 because these dogs are SO needy!) is if activities are cut out. I want my babies to be able to go to sports, Awanas where they can see friends and be around wonderful caring adults, play outside, play with their Poppa, and enjoy projects that they create. All of those have been able to continue.

     The Lord has also used this time to open my eyes. The LORD says to "Lift up your eyes to the heavens" & count the stars, not one is missing! "Lift up your eyes to the heavens & your children will be gathered to you! Lift up your eyes! Look at the earth. The heavens will disappear and the earth wear out like a garment." (All found in Isaiah) Did you notice what happens when we take our eyes off the heavens? Off of Christ? We see all of the sad, horrid things going on. I had my eyes focused on me, even worse than looking at the world. Friends needed a person to talk to & show they cared, I didn't notice. Family needed love, I didn't notice. Friends, God has opened my eyes to how selfish, self-centered, immature, and silly I have been lately. I am so thankful we serve the risen LORD who is willing to forgive so much more than we deserve!

     We have all been very busy this week!

HA! Ok, that's not true. It is so hard to write this blog a little at a time. I wrote the above section on Monday. Here it is Saturday! We all stayed busy with walks (bad idea for me!) grocery store runs, Dr appts, another grocery run, laundry, and naps. Kaden has been COMPLETELY spoiled. Sarah has run him  using the Chuck-It and taken him for loooooong walks. Each time she goes outside with Kaden a certain little puppy dog whines and pines (sp?) and cries and pouts until she returns! Frankie can't be walked right now because ... well, let's say he has an "it" now. He stayed at the kennel for the first few days post-op due to us being out of town. Between the excitement of the kennel and coming home, little man popped a couple stitches. We had to go back and get two staples. He took it like a champ and didn't even whimper! The cone of shame only goes on at night now. He hated it! Sarah is convinced she is stealing the truck, the recliner, and Frankie!

So...the doctor. We told him I'm still swelling quite a bit so he prescribed an anti-inflammatory medicine. It helped my discomfort SO much that I no longer take anything other than the occasional Tylenol with it! As in 2 Tylenol in 2 days!!!!!! Stephen went fishing! He caught our dinner! It was delicious! He also made us some shrimp et-2-fay. I've no clue how to spell that word for real, so that is how you pronounce it! Tonight he made us some gumbo that was to die for! Sarah & I had ours with mashed potatoes and that was wonderful! Sarah made us stuffed peppers! Oh so delicious! The kids come home tomorrow evening. We are also half-way celebrating my birthday tomorrow! The other half of the celebration will be on my actual birthday WEDNESDAY!!!!! So excited!! This will be the first birthday since 2010 that I've had a family member with me on my birthday!!!

Some of you know about my momma. She has had a pretty tough fight with Lymes. I'm SUPER excited to tell ya'll that we have some encouraging news! Her Lymes specialist in CO has found some new treatments that seem to be helping Momma a lot! Her voice sounds SO much stronger on the phone! It's a strict regimen that requires a lot of monitoring because they have to adjust her supplements up to 3 times a day. She spent almost a week at her doctor's home with my daddy. They saw almost instanaeous results. That doesn't mean YOU would be able to see them. There are 3 steps to the treatment. Step 1 breaks down the defenses of the Lymes spores. Step 2 kills the spores. Step 3 detoxes her system and flushes the spores that were killed. The detox phase is the most difficult because her body gets as weak as a kitten. However, once the spores were flushed she feels a lot better! Just please please pray that she is able to beat this 5 yr battle. I've got pictures and captions waiting for you! Keep on scrolling!

Sarah took very good care of little Frankie.

She made sure he didn't run and play too much too soon.

 

 

"I do no like the cone of shame."

My Chief and Me in Memphis!

 

We just HAD to make homemade ice cream.

I caught someone eating it out of the mixer!

My beautiful surprise bouquet from the LOVE of my life!

It's so much more beautiful in real life!

 

A gorgeous dapple!

He would high step and lift up his tail whenever he trotted.

I tried to get a pic of that, but he is still beautiful!

 

My beautiful sister Sarah!

 

Some people love to spoil children.

This couple spoiled their dog!

 

 Stephen on our SO comfy bed!

A beautiful mirror in our room downtown Memphis.

Sarah chillin out on her bed!

 

My beautiful babies and me at the Chief's Inititation dinner!

They did WONDERFUL!

We are SO proud of them!

 

I love my family!

 

Abby got snuggled Friday after the dinner. =)

All four of us couldn't squeeze on one bed,

but my babies still needed snuggles before Spring Break.

These three are so precious to me!

The kids were SO excited Aunt Sarah came to the dinner!

Please ignore my crazy hair!

My sister and me all dressed up!

 

 My wonderful hubby and me!

I am wearing 2 1/2 inch heals, he's technically 1/2inch shorter.



April 13

Can you believe a whole week has passed?

 

I sure can't! It has been a very busy, crazy week! Of course, I've been mostly confined to a couch. Bless my FIL's heart because my frustration at being cooped up has tended to come out on him. Bless my hubby's heart because he has also been the recipient.

 

Anyhoot, we have some pictures for you.

There are lots of stories, however, I just can't think of any because I'm tired.

We have been showered with lots of love!

We have had meals dropped off (thank you sweet friends!) Those meals were such a stress reliever for these men! They've done a great job of taking care of me. However, balancing 2 children, 2 dogs, 2 sports schedules, 2 sets of homework, dinner, baths....you have all saved our sanity! Another friend dropped some books off for me to read b/c I've read all of the books we have in the house. (Thank you!!!!!)

 

Picture time!

 

These are pre-op! However, just too cute! We just HAD to go & take pictures (or at least that is what Abby says ;)

 

 

Stephen & me on Easter! =)

 

 

Stickin out our tongues while painting Easter eggs! 

 

Kyle lookin stellar in his shirt & tie!

 

 

At my first procedure (3/22/12) My fabulous Mother in law (MIL) bought me some beautiful daisies!

They are still  blooming! Hopefully one day, Frankie & Kaden will stop chomping on them!

 

 

I told the boys some funny jokes!

 

Ok, so maybe that isn't true. I was sitting outside for the first time post-op & Jim had just exercised the them. To me it looks like they are both laughing & sticking out their tongues!

 

Last but certainly not least, a precious one entered this world this past week!

 

My dear friend & her husband welcomed a very healthy baby and I can NOT wait until I get to see him & kiss his beautiful cheeks!

 

 

 

Forgive my grammatical errors.

I'm very tired.

Excited my sister comes soon!

Stephen has Chief's initiation coming soon!

Jim has to go back to FL soon. =(

Baseball/Softball going on.

Tired.

Sweet dreams friends.



Learning to breathe.

I don't know where to start this post, so I will just jump in.

All that work to password this dealio

and we took it off.

Family was having too much of a difficult time reading it.

I am supposed to be writing a 100 word letter for Stephen.

However, inspiration is failing me.

I can trim it to 122, but that is the best I have got.

So much is happening!

Mom was cleared of Lymes.

Now is has reared its ugly head again.

Her specific strain goes into a spore like state that throws a false negative on tests when it discovers antibiotics in the blood. Once it believes the antibiotics are gone, Lymes sends out "scout-like" spores and if everything is clear, it comes back.

If you believe I have been ignoring you, dear friends, I have been.

Don't take it personal.

I knew I was uncomfortable lately, but didn't know why.

My precious husband has felt the brunt of it.

Well, now we know that my problem is still my kidney.

Pray for that one.

I avoid & go loner when I feel myself getting grumpy.

In my typical, convaluted fashion, I was protecting you.

If I don't realize you are waving or smiling or coming to say hello, don't take it personally please!

I'm working to block out my discomfort until they get it taken care of.

There are lots of good things going on, we will focus on that right now!

Well, the discomfort has been taken care of.
November 28th we were able to laser out some scar tissue that had blocked my kidney a 2nd time. That was highly uncomfortable. My darling body decided to cramp on it every other second and I could always feel it as a dull ache in my back.

Christmas came with all of its hustle and bustle! The kids went with their mom, Stephen & I spent some time together and we all had a wonderful break. January flew by with basketball games, job searches, homework, etc. February 5th dawned bright and early! The day my stent was to be removed! Some fabulous friends took our babies for the night and delivered them to school the morning of the 5th. Stephen and I made it safely to McComb and back. May I just say one thing?
This getting stents business is for the birds!
However, we have fabulous friends/staff at the McComb hospital and all went well. Dr. D did say that there was some scar tissue and it wasn't as open in there as he had hoped for.

Are you sitting down?!?! One of the places I applied for and interviewed for called back! Yes! I started work on February 6th! The people were great and very accomodating considering I started the day after the stent removal. 2 weeks flew by. Stephen was home more, which was nice for me! Kyle was released from the ear doctor! No more procedures in the forseeable future! Abby was doing fabulously at basketball as well! Everything was wonderful! (still is!)

End of February I called Dr. D to report some tenderness and general discomfort. The next week we did a Lasix scan. Followed up with an appointment that I had to bring both kids to due to work schedules. Dr. D walked in & I greeted him with, "Please tell me I'm crazy and this is just normal." ....pause... (a tad too long of a pause if you ask me)..."Elizabeth, I'd love to. But your kidney is blocked & you lost 10% functionality."

Not what you want to hear, right? Doctors, they just don't seem to understand that they should be magical creatures that wink or blink or waive a wand and fix the wrong. Anyhoot, I asked if I were a relative of his, what would he recommend?

"I want to put a stint in next week. We will schedule the next procedure later."

"Next procedure?"

"Yes, I want to redo the original procedure with the DaVinci machine."

Can we say.....bombshell?

Indeed.

I called to do pre-op for my stint and went to have it inserted on 3/19/13.
Those fabulous friends I'm always telling you about once again saved the day and helped with our babies. I was emotional and anxious throughout the entire procedure. Seriously people, when the out patient WARD knows your voice? There's an issue.  They were all wonderful, kind, reassuring, and couldn't have been sweeter if we'd been friends all of our lives. I was called two days later with the date April 5, 2013 for my procedure. There was a flurry of phone calls and coordinating schedules in order to find people to help. Keep in mind military never know their schedule so we had to have a plan if Stephen was here and if he wasn't. PLUS that means coverage by family to help post op for approx 4 weeks total. I was an emotional mess because, come on, all of this past year and it still isn't fixed?!?! It's my own body's fault, but still! Stephen ended up being here. I am so incredibly grateful that God allowed that because it was a much tougher pre-op than before. Jim made it into town safely and had the kids well taken care of. We left home at 4:15am the day of the procedure. Everything went smoothly until time for IVs. Please understand that God orchestrated us getting the absolute sweetest people EVER to take care of us! ...and I don't pass out compliments like that just to pass them out. Suzanne did most of my pre-op prep & made us comfortable. My right IV went in easily. The left took 5 sticks. After the 3rd I was hurting so much I held Stephen's hand with my right. He was compassionate and helped me gently laugh and lickety-split, it went in! I couldn't have held still that last time without him. From what I am told the procedure took about 4+hrs. Brandi, Jennifer, Brenda, Lola, & Brittany kept us in good spirits & good comfort from Friday through Sunday afternoon. We laughed, I cried (laughing post op isn't comfortable, FYI,) we shared stories, and it was great!

Let me just say that medical staff are highly under-appreciated!
We had a couple of loud demanding people on our hall. We've no clue what was wrong, it could have been legit, it could not have been. We might never know. However, on our last morning there, we were jogging (ok, shuffling) a couple of laps around our wing when a young boy came flying out of one of the loud rooms.

"Ma'am! You've got to come quick!"

"What's the matter, honey?!" as nurse hurriedly collects her things...

"He's got the hiccups! You've got to give him something quick!!!!!"


Seriously?

Hiccups?

Stephen & I had to "dash" for our room as we burst out laughing!

Is there medicine for hiccups?