I'm Still Here

Gah!!! We moved into our new (to us) house on March 19th, 2012. Geoff's Mom and Dad cam up to help us unpack. Seems they needed to be here for other reasons. On March 23rd, Geoff was hospitalized. He had tested positive for having the gene to have an enzyme deficiency when he was a teen. Seems he DOES have said deficiency. The condition is called Acute Intermittent Porphyria. It causes quite a bit of pain and pain can be a trigger. He was in the hospital for a week on lots and lots of meds. He was close to comatose for the entire time, so someone needed to be there with him the whole time. Bev and I tag teamed for that. One of us was always her to get Michael of the bus and one of us was always at the hospital with him at all times. I usually slept there. At one point his blood oxygen level went down to 39, so we were all paying special attention to that. He came home the day before Michael's 4th birthday, which is April 1st. Geoff's Mom stayed until he was out of the hospital and for a few more days after that.

Michael's birthday went off without a hitch. We had it at a bounce house. All Children were happy and no parents were injured :) So now we have a great 7 year old boy. He's been healthy all year :) April was relatively quiet. Geoff did half days at work for the first week back, then he was on a normal schedule. Eating alot more, but on schedule. He needs to do high carbs and protein to try to avoid another episode. Plus, he had lost about 15 pounds. He needed to gain that back. We were all settled in and moving swiftly towards Geoff's sisters (Theresa) wedding. We were all to be in the wedding. Geoff as usher, me as a bridesmaid and Michael as the ring bearer. We were all getting ready for May 19th and the wedding of Theresa and Kevin.

On May 6th I went into the Urgent Care. I was having cramping and lower back pain. I KNEW it was probably a kidney stone, but I was hoping different. Sure enough, scan showed a few kidney stones. Given meds and told to go home and drink lots of water to help pass (yeah right). On the 7th, I went to the ER. They did another scan and found that one of the stones was stuck in scar tissue from previous stones. I was admitted by 8:00am on the 8th. The docs immediately put me on high levels of pain killers. Evidently my body has enough pain, that it takes alot to reach extra stuff that happens. I was put on a dillaudid drip, a fentenyl patch and oxycontin pills every four hours. The docs wanted to give me a couple days to see if it would pass on its own. It didn't. So I went into surgery on the 9th. When I woke up, I was told the surgery didn't go as was expected. They had to put a stent in my urinary tract where the scar tissue is. They were afraid that section would collapse. Instead of having it in for a couple days, it was going to need to be in for a few weeks. The stent moved everytime I moved, causing a great deal of pain. So I was in the hospital for a few more days on large amounts of meds. More than one doc came in the room wondering how I was awake, considering what I was on. By the 11th, we knew I wasn't going to make the wedding. I called Theresa and she was glad I was going to be OK and at least Michael and Geoff would still be attending. I was released from the hospital on the 15th. I spent Mothers Day in the hospital. Thank you to all my friends who came to visit me in the hospital, took the kid so Geoff could come see me and/or brought food to the house to keep me chair bound (since the stent was still in the body).

When I got home, things went as expected, except for one thing, a couple days after I got home, I was talking to Bev, and she asked how Geoff was, that he had called her and told her he hadnt been feeling well. He had called his doc. He was having a mild "episode", so I asked Geoff about it. He said yes, he was having an episode, but mild, so he was able to go in every other day or so for infusions of glucose (helps the attacks). He hadn't wanted to tell me because I was having such a bad time. So, he got to call his baby sister to tell her none of us were going to make the wedding.

After the wedding, Geoff's mom came back to take care of us some more. Thank God, Geoff was able to avoid the hospital stay this time. Mom stayed with us a couple weeks until the stent removed. She even removed wall paper!! I was so excited about that, especially since I wasn't able to do anything but sit. I sooooooo love my mother in law!! Actually all of my in laws!!! Summer went fast and uneventful, except for figuring out what all is planted in my back yard.

Then in July, we got Spot. He's a Brittany Spaniel and adorable!! Beginning of August, I decided to fracture my foot again. I was put in the walking cast (boot).

Then Michael and I took our annual trip to little rock, but we flew this time. We stayed in Little Rock for 2 weeks and had a great time. When we got home school started and doctor appointments and a short bout of Bronchitis for Michael, then for me. Then Geoff was in Dubai for a week (and only got me 3 lousy pictures!!!!) But he did bring me swiss chocolates from his layover in Zurich and perfume from the duty free shop:) I was then told I had fractured two more bones in my foot while in the boot (yes, same foot), but the original bone had healed. Three weeks ago I was given a fiberglass cast going from my toes almost to my knee. Then I was told it would have to stay on until mid-February. I'm totally non-weight bearing and on crutches. I've been using those and a rolling desk chair around the house. That works pretty well. Fun Winter for Daina and the rest of the Syracuse Stocks!! In a couple weeks we'll go to Little Rock and then St Louis for Christmas. This year we're flying. Trying to decide if that's gonna easier or harder.

Good thing about flying is that we have a 5 hour layover in Chicago. So I get to see Shannon and Brad and all the girls for breakfast that day :) Michael is doing well in school. Fitting in and trying real hard. He's being so very helpful with me on crutches. He brings me things and is cleaning up after himself well. That's all for now. Thanks for reading. And I promise, things will get better!