The Mess That Is Mommy aka Never Take Florinef

The month has been rough.  Actually, I guess it was two months. 

Two months ago,  Lucy began having trouble breathing almost every night.  She would end up in tears regularly and really struggled.  Stephen and I were super stressed, because.... hello!  it's breathing.  You've gotta breath! 

Long story short, many crying nights till 2am, purchased a home spirometer, many Dr appointments: allergist, pediatrician, pulmonologist, and we got a diagnosis.  Vocal chord disfunction.  The treatment?  Breathe through a straw.

Ok so that could have been a lot worse, but the process WAS stressful!

Then Iris passed out 3 times... so yes, she has my syncope.  Stephen is now the only human in the house without a tendency to pass out.  He is overjoyed at this prospect.  But these were just leading up to what is hopefully the grand finale.

It started with a simple back spasm.  I didn't want to miss out on Dollywood, so I went to a clinic and they gave me a muscle relaxer.  Dollywood went off without a hitch, but the next night I was in the ER.

They told me that Florinef, the med I take to keep my blood pressure up, was bleeding me of potassium, which is pretty important for survival.  They gave me potassium, but not enough, because less than 10 hours later I was back in the ER.  I'm not crazy...my cardiologist TOLD me to go.  They gave me more potassium and sent me home.

Well, you can understand, at this point, I was terrified of taking my florinef.  My cardiologist had always treated it like M&M's.  "Hey, you need more?  Take more"  I had no idea he was supposed to be monitoring my potassium.  So I just stopped taking it.

Four days later I began getting severe cramping around my neck... like some one was choking me.  With the occasional grip on the back of my neck that made me feel like I needed to crawl out of my body or knock myself out or something.  I can do nothing but lay still and try to stay calm.  But my blood pressure shoots sky high (unheard of for me) and my heart races, I get the shakes all over and nausea.

This has not been easy on Stephen and the kids.  Iris is fairly certain I'm not going to be around much longer and they have all had crying spells.  And I don't know how to calm them down.  I do my best, but I'm trying not to freak out myself.

I'm supposed to be seeing a psychologist soon.  I never thought I'd say this, but I am SO eager to see him!  I am just ready for some help.  Is it withdrawal, do I just need more potassium than the average bear, am I suddenly going insane?

But last night I had my worst spell yet and went to the ER.  They were most unhelpful.  My potassium was at the very bottom of 'normal' which they admitted was relative, but they didn't give me any.  BUT, my internist called Stephen this morning and said he was going to double my potassium and my anxiety meds until I got in with my psychiatrist.  Woo-hoo!  Thank-you Dr T!!

ALL PRAYERS MUCH APPRECIATED!!  I really covet them!  There are so many people I'm trying to pray for myself, and I've been feeling like a lousy person, because I haven't been able to help some of my friends that I know need help.  I do get out on the occasional good few hours, but I'm normally escorted by my Mom, my Sherry, my Stephen or my Amy ;)

We're just clinging to the hope for normalcy right now.  School is suffering, as are the people around me, as am I.  I try to remember that God disciplines those he loves and that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  

And I'm hoping we all gain from this what God wants us to gain.  But I'm also hoping it ends soon!!

Thanks for reading!

Civil War Era

This is Lu's last year of doing living history classes with Mrs E!  :(  She is SO sad!  But she is also SO excited about this year, because it's Civil War history! 

So far, they've gotten to participate in a reenactment where they taught school groups some old dances and danced with them.  They had a great (but MUDDY) time.  You'll notice they had to raise Lu's skirt with some "rosettes" to keep her from tripping over her hemline (apparently I made it too long). 

And they've also had one class so far.  I'm sure I'll put much more pics up, but here's a few for now :)

Dad's 70th!

I cannot BELIEVE I am saying this, but my Dad is 70.  What on Earth??????

And he WOULD NOT tell us something extra cool he would like for his birthday, and we came up with NOTHING, so we just brought him food kind of things.  *sigh*

BUT here are the pics!  Wish I had taken way more (although, I'm sure Dad and Janet are glad I didn't!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!  Love you!!  And you do NOT look 70!

Entrepreneurs!

Sherry & David recently had a yard sale and graciously allowed the kids to set up shop!

The kids had recently done some heavy cleaning, sorting and organizing and had a few things they wanted to get rid of.  They also made some items to sell.

Here's the yard sale... it was quite a success for Sherry & David!  And we met lots of neat folks :)

Lu & Clyde's set up....     Turns out Clyde is quite the salesman.

Iris's set up...

business transactions ;)

I believe Lucy's soap made the most money.  But Clyde and Iris didn't fair too badly either.  No one made less than $11, so that's not too shabby.  Clyde's hottest item was his stuffed animals.  Iris's was her cookies ;)

You can buy Lucy's soap (made with essential oils and NO dyes) at www.craftsbylu.com

:)

Oh Deer!

More wildlife!!

Deer are such frequent visitors, that I typically don't try to get pictures.  However, we've had twin fawns visit occasionally and I finally got some pics, and none too soon!  I'm just glad they still have their spots, other than that, they're looking pretty grown up!

To Play or Not To Play

We had a game night at Nena and Papa's.

Clyde decided he didn't want to play.  Here's what happens when you give Clyde a camera:

 When we switched to Liar Liar (aka- BS) he decided to join in.

First Day of School !

I deliberately picked the first day of our local paid co-op to be our first day of school.  Mainly for the excitement factor... you know... every one is dressed, there is an actual reason to own a bookbag, all that ;)

This year is Clyde's first year doing this co-op.  But he and Lu are only taking one class each there, the rest they're doing at home.  She's taking math and he's taking drama.  So far, they're both loving it!

So here they are!  My brand new 5th grader, 7th grader and 3rd grader!!

Six days down!  Only 174 left to go!