Painful Braces & Gallbladder Trouble

Goodness, I have so much to blog about! The problem with that is that sitting down to write a post has become a completely overwhelming thought so I just put it off and put it off, all the while my list of posts to write grows even more. So instead of writing a massive update post, I'll just write on one thing at a time and see if that helps kick my blogging priority up a notch :)

As you probably can tell from my lovely post title, this post is a health update. Let's start with a quick recap on my braces situation. Can you believe they've been on for over 9 months already? Time is flying! This past week I had the forsus spring appliance added to my braces (remember when I talked about that in this post a while back?)... Check out my sweet new gear...

And by "sweet" I actually mean horribly painful and awkward.

Between the jaw and cheek pain caused by the giant spring, and the tooth pain caused by the added "power chain" to close the gaps in my upper teeth, I was in misery for the few days following my appointment. But now, the pain has worn off and my mouth has adjusted to the new appliance so all is well :) This spring is a great option considering my other ones include wearing braces with rubber bands for two years, or having surgery to have my jaw realigned (eek!)... Yeah, I'm definitely appreciative of this hard-working little appliance in my mouth. And the exciting news is that I only have two more appointments before the braces come off for good! Just in time for my sister's June wedding :)

Alright, moving on to my gallbladder trouble... Two weeks ago when I met with the surgeon, he was not convinced it was my gallbladder giving me trouble - He gave it an 80% guess that it could be the problem which to him wasn't enough to go through with surgery. Honestly, I very much appreciated that because I was not at all wanting to rush into a surgery, especially if it wasn't going to do any good.

So anyways, the doctor decided to put me on a strict, low-fat diet for two weeks to see how my symptoms responded. This diet has been MISERABLE - No dairy (no milk, cheese, whaaat??), no butter, no eggs, no chocolate, no tomato sauce, nothing fried or cooked with oil, no bacon, only lean/grilled meats, no gravies, and absolutely no eating out (as there is nothing on most menus that adhere to my diet plan). Thank goodness I was still allowed to have coffee or I might not have made it! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have horrible eating habits so this was definitely a new experience for me. But to my wonderful surprise, within just two days of eating on this diet my pain and symptoms were gone! Not better... but actually GONE. I continued on with the diet and have felt almost completely back to normal ever since!

Then, this past Saturday night all of friends decided to go out to Mexican food. I was NOT going to stay home just because of this dumb diet. Mexican food is my absolute favorite! I knew I couldn't have any chips and salsa but I thought I'd go ahead and try to eat one chicken enchilada, with no cheese of course. Harmless right? Nooo. That night the pain came back with a vengence and this time it not only was in my chest but it also radiated around my back which was a completely new symptom. I guess I overlooked the fact that the tortilla was fried in oil...oops! Anyways, today I had my follow-up appointment with the surgeon and he now says without a doubt that I need to have my gallbladder removed. I will be scheduled for the surgery to happen sometime within the next two weeks. I'm really praying that this will relieve my pain and let me resume life as normal again, and I'm hoping for an easy and speedy recovery as Jake and I prepare to move to our new base next month. Prayers are very much appreciated! I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading!!

Five months down, One to go!

Way back at the beginning of September, I said goodbye to my husband and sent him off for 6 months of training. Back then I remember thinking that March was forever away and that time would definitely pass so slowly until we were back together. Today I realized that its already February, which means that there's only one month until we're back together and at our new base! 35 days to be exact...

Where has all the time gone? How is it already February? Granted I was dead to the world for 2 months - Oh shoot, wait, pretend I didn't say that - I'm not talking about being sick anymore :) But aside from that and the awfulness of being away from Jake, my time here in Turlock these past 5 months has been pretty awesome! I get to have coffee or lunch with my mom most days, spend time with my little brother and dad most afternoons, and have girl time with my friends most nights. Life is good! I had forgotten what it's like to live by my family and best friends... and it's wonderful.

Here's a picture of me and my favorite girls on New Years Eve. I've known them for over 10 years and am so happy to have them in my life.

And thankfully I haven't been only hanging out and sitting around for the last 6 months (or I'd be going CRAZY by now). I've been working 25+ hours a week designing and doing schoolwork for 12+ hours on top of that. Having more time on my hands has been great for my business and I've been able to put in the time it needs to really get started and keep growing. I've been booking design clients steadily now two months in advance (which is great for budgeting my income) and in April I'll be moving to a full-time, 40 hour work week!! I can't say enough how amazing it is to be working for myself and doing something I enjoy. School has been going well too, although the classes are SOO very challenging at times. But in March I will have completed the first portion of my certificate and will be over half way done with the program already! Although school has been hard, I really do enjoy it and with every class I get more and more excited about my new career path.

Hmm, what else do I have to tell you. OH! As most of you know, my sister is getting married in June so as her MOH I've been in full wedding planning mode. I'm so excited for her and feel lucky to be involved every step of the way - I don't want to miss anything! This wedding is going to be FABULOUS! Can you feel my excitement? :)

I had the pleasure of designing their "Save-the-date" postcards a few months ago. Here's the front of the card... Aren't they just the cutest couple ever??

Well, I think I'm going to end on that lovely note. I have lots more to say but it's late and I need to get some sleeeep. I'm just so happy to be blogging again! Did you miss me? :)

Running in Circles

Well another month has gone by and honestly I've been too depressed to blog because my life has been nothing but sickness, medical tests, and laying in bed, while also trying to keep up with work and school. There's really nothing about this past month that I want to remember so I had no motivation to blog. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic... I'm just so ready to feel healthy again!

Since I last wrote, I've had a battery of tests done including an EDG scope, CT scan, multiple ultrasounds, and multiple blood tests - and all of my tests came back "normal". The scope showed that my esophogus was inflamed and swollen but the Dr didn't find any ulcers or anything that would be causing me severe pain.

Next the Dr wanted to check my gallbladder. He said that could be the reason for the inflammation in my esophagus and the cause of my chest and stomach pain. I got a Hida scan done and it came back showing my gallbladder functioning but only 2% away from not functioning. It seemed like we finally found the problem. Well, today I met with a surgeon to see if getting my gallbladder out would relieve my pain and he seemed to think that it wouldn't. He thinks my symptoms don't necessarily point to a problem in my gallbladder and taking it out might not even help at all. Is it crazy that I was praying that it was my gallbladder? I was so hoping that having a small surgery would take away all my problems.

I feel like I've been running around in circles for the last 9 weeks. I get my hopes up every time a doctor says "this is your problem - here's how we fix it" and then get let down every time they find nothing and leave me with no answers. After every appointment I end up back where I started. The only improvement is that I've been prescribed medicine to help with the pain while they try to figure out what to do next.

Maybe I just have a virus that needs to work itself out. Maybe I will wake up one day and feel back to normal...

On a positive side note, I did mange to get everything straightened out with insurance so I don't have to stress about going to the doctor when I need to. It actually turned out to be super easy to switch my insurance from Mississippi to California (Thanks for the advice Angela!)

Anyways, I'm so tired of talking about being sick... For the month of February, I'm making it my goal to blog at least once a week about something other than sickness :) I'm going to attempt to take my life back even if my body doesn't want me to!

Prayers for a Better January...

Sorry I've been MIA for the last month. I had so many great holiday posts I wanted to write but to be honest December was one of the worst months I've had in a long, long time and writing on my personal blog was the last thing on my list. On top of several things going on with my family and friends (that I don't feel are appropriate to talk about on a blog), I've been very sick for several weeks and nobody seems to be able to help me. WARNING: This is going to be a long story, but I really need to vent... Don't feel like you have to read all this :)

Last you heard (on this blog anyways) is that I had bronchitus, the same bronchitus I get every year that has always been easily cured by one simple round of antibiotics. Well, no such luck this time. I've been sick for over 5 weeks now, seen 4 different doctors with 6 different appointments, 1 trip to the ER, several blood tests & xrays, and about 10 different prescription meds... and with all that I feel no better than when all this started and don't really have any answers.

Essentially it started when I got meds for bronchitis and was prescribed a zpak and prednisone (the same meds I get every year and have never had a problem). This time, I had an awful allergic reaction to the zpak that sent me to the ER. Then I went on ammoxicylan, which seemed to work great at getting rid of the bronchitis but I was still feeling horrible chest pain and severe exhaustion. Come to find out out I have an ulcer in my stomach caused from the prednisone (or so they think...) and was put on meds for it. They also took some blood tests and found that I have an underactive thyroid (Hypothyrodism).. which apparently accounts for my exahuastion. After these tests (two weeks ago), I was optimistic that everything was figured out and I would be feeling better soon. Again, no such luck. I've tried 3 different meds for this apparant "ulcer" that I have and none seem to help at all - in fact, I've ended up getting worse because of the side effects of those drugs which makes me wonder if I am being treated for the right thing. The only thing thats improved is the exhaustion since they started me on medicine for my thyroid, but the chest and stomach pain have not improved. Apparently, the next step is for me to get an endoscopy of my GI tract... where the put a tube down your throat into your stomach to take a look around... yeah, not fun...

And to make matters worse, I've been having a hard time even getting in to see a doctor at all because of Tricare (military insurance). Technically right now I am not at any base - we've outprocessed from Columbus but don't report to Travis AFB until March 14th and I'm not at Altus AFB with Jake so I really have no doctor in all of this medical mess. It's been such a pain dealing with the insurance and the clinic at Columbus and trying to get so many out-of-town referrals from across the country. It's been a very stressful situation, which I'm sure isn't helping me recover any faster. Any tips on dealing with Tricare are very appreciated!

On top of all that, today I had to say goodbye to Jake for another 10 weeks :( We were able to spend the last 10 days together (which were wonderful, even if I wasn't feeling great... everything's better when my husband is with me...) but now he is back in Oklahoma to complete his last few months of training. At least this time, when he gets back we will be able to finally resume our lives together at our new base... we've been apart 4 months already so now I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Okay, now that I've had a chance to vent, I'd love to ask for your prayers. First please pray for my family as they are going through some tough stuff right now and can really use your thoughts and prayers this week, and secondly I ask you to pray for my healing. This ongoing sickness, especially being off and on so many different medications with no relief, is really taking a toll on every part of my life - physically, mentally, emotionally... and I'm starting to really wear thin.

Anyways, I hope you all were able to enjoy a great holiday season with your loved ones; despite everything going on, I was still able to have a really nice time with my family and friends.

Praying for a better January and a wonderful 2011 for everyone!

Happy Birthday Blog!

From time to time I like to look back at old posts I've written on this blog, and while doing so I realized that as of this week my blog is TWO YEARS OLD! Since I started this blog, I've graduated college, moved to Mississippi, experienced life as a newlywed, got my first "real" job, adopted two dogs, furnished two homes, decided to go back to school, started my own business, learned how to handle the ups and downs of military life, got braces, moved back to California, and the list goes on... Through all of that, I continued to blog and document my thoughts and daily happenings (happy, bad, good, sad) and now 341 posts later I have an amazing journal of just about my entire married + Air Force life thus far. It's so neat to look back at my life and get to remember the little details!

The biggest thing that amazes me though (and always will) is how I "fell into" my perfect career because of this blog. If I had never started this blog two years ago I would've never started playing around with blog designs and HTML, never known that it's something I enjoy and have a knack for, wouldn't be back in school, and definitely wouldn't be working for myself and loving my job every single day! It seems like it just kind of randomly progressed over time but I know better - God had this in His plan all along :) It's just funny to see that something as simple as starting a blog changed the course of my whole life. Happy birthday blog!