It's Been A While!

Alright. I suck at blogging. Or maybe life has just been cray. You decide.

So much has happened since the last post, so I am going to make things simple. Short and sweet.

I'll start with the first set of big news: I saw my neurologist a few weeks ago. I was looking forward to this because when you are in the hospital, you see your doctor for MAYBE 3 minutes a day. If that. Its ridiculous. So, here was the good and bad of our convo:

• Good News: He was pleasantly surprised to see me "doing so well". I was not sure if I should be scared by this or just appreciative that I was feeling ok that day? My INR levels have stayed between the 2-3 range (yay!) My side effects (hearing, vision, balance) have continued to get better even though I am still having issues. I don't have to see him for another 2 months (I've grown to be really impatient and can't stand a doctor's office at this point). And last but not least...I was cleared to get back to normal life aka working. YAY.

• Bad News: So turns out my clot was 6 inches (crazy, thought it was more like 4). It is still there and will be for a while (10 weeks +). I could potentially be on blood thinners for the rest of my life. Really hoping this isn't the case. I still get headaches when I strain. And still get tired very easily. I can never be on any type of birth control ever again. A lot to wrap my head around, but ultimately not too bad. I am more annoyed with my diet limitations than anything. Vitamin K is not my friend. I may or may not have indulged in some beer and wine this weekend. Oops.

All in all it was a good visit and I really like the guy. He's pretty straightforward. We'll see how everything goes. Just trying to take it a day at a time.

Bombshell #2: My dad's brain tumor is back. Goodness gracious can ANYTHING ELSE happen to my family right now? I mean really. When it rains it pours. I have complete faith that God knows what he is doing, but DANG. Sometimes I just get really overwhelmed. Like when I just watched Parenthood and the whole episode was about chemo. Bad move. His surgery is this month and he will begin chemo following that. 

Last but not least: I moved.  Christy & I LOVE our place and can't wait to get a few more projects done. Like get furniture. And remove all trashbags/boxes from our deck. Anyone with a truck want to come on over and haul it all to the dumpster? :) Anywho, I'm so excited to finally live together. It's great for us because we are both kind of in the same stage of life. And we both love wine. And each other. And each others closet. On the other side of that, I am super sad to leave my preggo family roomies (I was basically dupree- judge me) and miss them every day. I also miss their fur children something terrible. They will be my famiy always. Love you guys. 

I will end with I am so lucky to have such great parents and friends. Really. The past few weeks have been rough, but the people in my life help me to be strong when I feel like I'm going to lose it. The first few days in the hospital I was literally so overwhelmed with love that I could not look at any messages on my phone and/or speak to some people because everything was so sweet I cried. And crying = terrible headache. I still get those sweet reminders today and am so thankful for them. And can accept them now with no tears...well sometimes. Please, please, please keep my sweet daddy in your prayers. I know he's going to do great, but I am ready to get this over with ASAP and he and my mom are too. 

I'm seriously considering going to bed at 8. This girl is worn out. More updates soon! xoxo

Feeling More Like Me (finally!!)

The end of this week, with the exception of last night, has me feeling like things may get better a little faster than I anticipated! I've had several days with no pain at all, and my body is getting a ton stronger. I know this sounds crazy but my muscles were seriously sore after doing normal things the first few days out of my hospital bed. It was not a good time. But now I can shower and get ready and not feel exhausted, which is awesome. I am still limiting myself to one big outing a day and trying to rest up as much as possible before I get back to work on Wednesday- just to be on the safe side.

Friday I had another doctors appointment and then that night everyone came to the house and we played Battle of the Sexes. Which was hilarious. It was nice to have everyone over instead of having to go out somewhere and get tired. Ha. I am really a grandma. But I am home so much now that I feel a little cabin fever-ish and its nice to have people there. I woke up yesterday and was not feeling so hot. The pressure in my ears was really bothering me but I didn't get a headache (like I normally do after a lot of pressure) so I wasn't worried at first. However as the night went on it got worse. I called the on-call doctor and told her how I was feeling, and she thought it was best I go back to the hospital. She mentioned the possibility of internal bleeding and my mind started going down all kinds of anxiety-ridden paths. I would much rather be safe than sorry at this point so on I went, after a long hot shower. I was not about to get stuck up in there with no shower for days again. So you bet your ace I took my time. My sweet dad picked me up, and missed all of his Breeder's Cup races as well as his anniversary dinner/movie date with Carol. Thirty-three years of marriage and still going strong. Love my sweet parent's hearts. I think I have aged them at least 5 years this week :(

Got to the ER and it was packed. Flashback of waiting THREE + hours last go around. I wanted to walk right on out and cry. I really just don't understand why some people go in there and bring their ENTIRE family. Like all the kids, aunts, uncles, cousins. It's just so excessive and annoying to the rest of the world. Pet peeve. JUST BRING ONE PERSON! Anyways, thank God I got back into a room in about 30 minutes tops. I guess when you have a clot in your brain you get moved up on the list a little faster than when you just say you have a headache, ha. Nurse came in and did all kinds of blood work. Took 3 tries to get a vein. After blowing the first one in my hand- tears were flowing. I thought Ron was going to beat her up and I halfway wanted him to. But she told me that as long as I am on the blood thinners this process would not be fun because it's harder to get a vein and not blow it. SWEET. Doctor came in, told him about all my ear issues and new location of my head pain, and he looked and felt all kinds of things. Didn't see anything to be concerned with. He got some pain meds and Zofran into me quickly and that helped a little. He left for about 45 mins and dad and I watched the LSU/Bama game for a while. He came back, got my blood work results and my INR had dropped to 1.9. They want to keep this in the 2-3 range and last time it was checked it was at about a 2.1. I'm hoping I can get back on track because if it stays below 2 they will have to increase my dosage of thinners. But since it was such a small drop he was not too concerned. We waited for a while to see if my original doctor wanted to do another MRI, but he decided against this and is just going to see me on Tuesday. All in all he said that he thinks today was just a small bump in the road. All of these pains and side effects are so new to me that I am having a hard time deciding when I need to be worried. I mean last week when all of this started I thought I just had a sinus infection and ignored it for several days only to find out it was so much more serious. It's just scary. And I know now I am going to get alarmed at the drop of a hat.

Was planning on going to church this morning, but going to stay home and watch online. Dr's appointments all day monday and tuesday. Getting it all out of the way before WORK Wednesday! Woot woot! I have never been so excited to get to work in my life y'all. My steelers better pull it out today--need those silly giants to stop making comebacks. Happy Sunday everyone! I hope yours is as relaxing as mine :)