Another "we can't find anything wrong" Test Result and Other News

In good news:  I had my last appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon's office yesterday for my knee and I have just 3 more physical therapy appointments and I'm done with my knee!  I cannot wait to get back to the gym.

In bad news:  I went to my neurologist for an EMG to check for carpel tunnel in my right arm and the results came back totally normal.  Okay, then why in the world is there so much pain in my arm and why in the world does my hand turn absolutely ice cold.  (I was told there was absolutely nothing wrong with my knee last summer too, when I was finally sent to the right doctor the problem was identified and fixed relatively quickly)  The neurologist thinks it is muscular or something wrong with my tendons.  So I'll ask my physical therapist what she thinks and then I'll probably go back to the Orthopedic doctor's office or my regular doctor's office and have them start running tests to figure out what is going on.

In other news:  We have decided to start looking for another house, we actually decided that a while ago.  We are going out this weekend to look in Yukon.  We were approved for well over what we want for our top budget so we are very comfortable with our budget.  I'm more worried about our house selling, the economy doesn't seem to be picking up at all and I don't see housing turning around at all.  We are going to fix up the boys bathroom and the master bathroom counters and maybe do some more painting but nothing that will cost much money.

In exciting news:  When I went to pick up Zachary today there were fire trucks lined up outside the school and the fire alarms were going off.  All the kids were outside lined up (and very well behaved!)  They had been lined up for quite a while by the time I had pulled up at the school because the classes were taking turns standing up while the other classes sat down to stretch their legs.  Luckily it was a warm day, by that time it was already nearly 50 degrees out.  Apparently the teachers told the younger kids it was just a fire drill but it obviously was not a drill, there was no problem found and the kids were returned to their classes just in time for the kindergarteners to be released.

Snow Day 2011

This  constitutes a snow day in Oklahoma!  School is cancelled for the first time this school year.  Ok fine.  There is ice, not much and anyone in Oklahoma knows that ice is more of an issue than snow normally, the amount of ice out there today is minimal and it's only 10:50 now and it's already melting on it's own but ok, fine, it's been a really mild winter this year so go ahead and burn a snow day, I don't mind.  BUT the 5:30 phone call alerting us to school being canceled wasn't the only early phone call we received this morning.  

At 8:00 I received a phone call from physical therapy that I would need to reschedule my 8:30 appointment and that they would call back this afternoon to take care of that, ok, fine.  Then about 2 minutes later the orthopedics office called to reschedule that appointment, so I now have to go there next Wednesday.  Now normally this would not bother me since I normally have to take the boys to all my appointments with me but Jerry was off work today because he will be out of town this weekend for training so I would NOT have had to bring the boys with me to my appointments today as I normally would have had to do...this would have been a blissful treat for a stay at home mom.  So now instead, tomorrow I get to bring the boys with me to physical therapy, as well as twice next week (as normal), then I'll have to bring them to the orthopedics office on Wednesday with me and to the neurologist office for an EMG on Thursday and there is also swim lessons and grocery shopping I have to fit in and Jerry won't be home until late Monday or sometime Tuesday...talk about a stressful week for mommy.

No Rocking the Boat Please!

I attempted to sign the boys up for the next session of swim lessons at the YMCA yesterday.  Sign ups start on the 15th of each month and yesterday was the 17th, this last session there were only 12 kids total in the time slot/day the boys were in so I wasn't very concerned with getting there on the 15th like I usually am.  


I went up to the counter and asked to sign them up for the Monday/Wednesday 4:15 class Eel (level 2) for the 5 year old and Pike (level 1) for the 3 year old, the lady behind the desk said they didn't have an Eel or Pike class at that time on those days...WHAT???  That's that time/days we've been coming since September when we started swim lessons, you can't change things on me now!  I'm a creature of habit!  


She nicely said the classes were available on Tuesday and Thursday at 4:15 and 5:15, which would I like.  Well, that's wonderful but not for me because I'll still be showing up on Monday and Wednesday, it's a habit you see, and a habit 5 months in the making, it won't be broken easily...


So she pulled out the February schedule and showed me that on Monday and Wednesday there was a 4:15 class only for Pike/Eel combined.............


Really lady...it's the same dang thing... 


So the boys will continue with their swim lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays at 4:15 and we even had to let some of their friends know so they can continue on Mondays and Wednesdays as well because apparently more then one lady at the front desk was quick to say that there was no Pike or Eel class on Monday and Wednesday in February *sigh*

Neurology

I had a Neurology appointment and it didn't go as I expected it to.   The appointment started out as I expected, we discussed my history of migraines, the progression and the fact that the last year has just been horrendous.  At that point I was really expecting to be sent for an MRI or something.  Instead, I was put on an additional preventative medication.  I already take Topamax.  The new medication is actually an antidepressant and I was put on a very low dose.  I researched it and it is used for the treatment of migraines.  I have been put on anti-depressants in the past to try to alleviate migraines and it didn't work so I'm really not holding out much hope this time either.  The other medication is to use in addition to, well, really to alternate with the Treximet.  I told the doctor that my insurance only allows 9 pills a month of Treximet (which is a medication I take after I feel a migraine coming on, which is definitely more then 9 times a month even when taking Topamax), he said I should not take Treximet more then 3 times per week anyway or any of those types of medications more then 3 times a week so he wrote me another prescription for the same type but different medication so I could alternate them if the 2 preventatives together don't lessen the frequency of migraines. 

The doctor actually seemed shocked when he asked how many days a month I get headaches and I told him at least 20. I don't think he believed me. :(   He told me to keep a headache calendar so I took mine out and showed it to him.  Why would I lie about having a headache or migraine. I don't mean to be sexist but I don't like male doctors. I doubt this man has ever had a migraine in his life. I like going to doctors who know what I'm going through, that's why I choose female OB/GYNs.

Oh yeah, I've had migraines the last 3 days in a row :(  I have not had a migraine since I started blood thinners on the 23rd of December, then all of a sudden I started my period 3 days ago and WHAM! Migraine!  And I haven't had a day without a migraine since.

I'm also supposed to start taking Migralief, it's a vitamin with B-2 (riboflavin) and magnesium in it, it's specifically for migraine sufferers...only 1 pharmacy in my area carries it and it's in the neurologists office and they carry it because he asked them to so they special order it for him. 

I'm up to 9 pills a day now :(  One I take twice a day (Topamax), 2 are vitamins (B-12 and D) and the rest are prescriptions.  Then if I need to take anything for a migraine, well, the number just goes up.

I got no answers today :( Just more pills. I go back in 3 months to see if the pills are helping at all then we'll discuss maybe going for some tests, in the meantime he'll look at the CAT scan images I brought him today that were done in 2008 which were clean.  He mentioned an MRI a couple of times today but not really in terms of sending me for one, just that the imaging is better.

I did get scheduled for an EMG (I think that's what it's called) to test for carpel tunnel in my right arm to figure out why my right hand keeps turning ice cold for no reason.

Seriously, I'm 33 and feel like with all these problems I should be in my 70's at least.

The Reason

I do believe things happen for a reason.  I also believe that the reason, eventually, will be known.  


We decided in August to put an offer on a house in Mustang and put our house up for sale.  I said from the beginning that if everything didn't work out exactly the way I wanted that I was not going to move forward.  The first house fell through but we found another house that we liked and it was actually a lot better then the first house so we put in an offer on that house and it was accepted.  Our house was on the market with the closing date of the other house quickly approaching on October 31st.  Well, that came and went.  We decided to extend our offer until the end of November, even though I just knew it wasn't going to happen.  I didn't know why but I just knew this just wasn't "it".  I didn't know if it was the timing, the right house, the right school or what.  I knew the elementary school was a good one.  I knew I liked the house.  But the whole time something just didn't feel right.  So the November deadline came and still no decent offer on our house came so we took our house off the market and rescinded our offer on the other house.


Jerry and I discussed what we wanted to do next.   We could stay where we are but he really doesn't want to take care of our 1.25 acres.  We could put in another offer on the house we had the accepted offer on but again, something just wasn't jiving there.  So we discussed it.  We like the school the boys will be in for elementary school, but what about after that?  What about high school?  Oh, yeah, Mustang High School, well, it kinda sucks.  And it's not going to get any better in the next 10 years.  Mustang's population is going to increase but there isn't any room to bring in new businesses.  Yukon's population is going to increase but they are brining in new businesses to match.  


Ah Hah!  


So today we began looking at houses in the Yukon school district area.  The schools are at least equivalent to Mustang in elementary but as they get older there is definitely an advantage in Yukon.  Not to mention a brand spanking new High School slated to open in the next year or so. 


I have been unhappy with Mustang School's decision to delay all day kindergarten so they can rebuild their already new sports complex just to try to out-do Yukon's new complex (which they will never do in the first place).  I've talked to people in the community, both Yukon and Mustang and even the Mustang parent's and business's prefer Yukon at this point.  Mustang is a nice community, it's smaller but I do think Yukon is where we need to be looking right now.  It feels right.  And I think we found the neighborhood we like.  We drove through today and there were kids playing together and even dad's out playing with them, it was idyllic, it's what I want for my kids.  I even got out of the car and talked with a mom who was out un-decorating her  front yard with her 2 little boys.  We discussed the neighborhood and the schools, she's lived there for 6 years, loves the school and the area.  


So maybe this is the reason our house didn't sell when we had it up for sale.  Maybe this is why it didn't work out the way we wanted it to.


Then there's the whole blood clot thing...Which came first the blood clot or the surgery?


Was the clot sitting there threatening my life?  It could have been there for months.  I had calf pain for a while but I had been hiking or exercising and thought it was from over-exertion, and it could have been; or it could have been a clot but I didn't notice it because I was active.  Did the surgery save my life?  Is that why I've had to suffer with such bad knee pain for a year?  Maybe the surgery did cause the clot because I was on birth control pills?  That is entirely possible too.  I had an echo-cardiogram yesterday (and am now stressing about the results for no good reason), my family is rampant with heart problems, maybe the clot's whole purpose was to get the echo because a problem will be revealed?  I won't know that until I get the results.  Maybe it was to reveal a problem with my blood (a clotting disorder)?  Again, I won't know that until I get the results of a blood test that cannot be done until the clot is gone so that will be at least 3 months...so this reason won't be known for a while...


I'm not a religious person, mostly because I find it silly that every religion thinks that if you don't follow their religion they believe everyone else is going to hell or whatever version of hell they believe in.  I'm not sure I believe in the bible, at least not word for word, I tend to believe it's kind of like the game 'telephone' where someone says something and someone else repeats it then that person repeats it and by the time it was written it may have been contorted from it's original version.  I'm not saying it's a lie, I'm just saying I tend to believe it should have a 'warning' on it like a movie that say something like "based on actual events" instead of taking it literally word for word.  I do have a lot of respect for people who believe wholeheartedly in the bible and their faith, I'm just the type of person who needs evidence and, well, that's not faith is it?  


I do believe in God, I do believe in Angles, I do believe things happen for a reason, I do believe that everyone should treat people the way they want their mother or grandmother to be treated (well, their dad and grandfather too, but generally you want your mom or grandmother treated even kinder and gentler so that's my reasoning for that).  Mostly I believe in living my life 'so the preacher won't have to lie' to borrow from a title from one of my favorite songs.  

Rescheduled to death!

First my neurology appointment was rescheduled....that's now on the 12th.

Then my echo-cardiogram was rescheduled....that's now on Friday the 7th.

I hate when these things are rescheduled, especially at the last minute, I mean really, if I was still working and had to request this time off, my boss would have been pissed if I had to change the time off, especially at the last minute.  It was hard enough to get things ironed out, dh here to watch the boys, Physical Therapy scheduled around the appointments etc...then to be called and rescheduled the day before...grrrr...

Road Trip

Jerry has an Army reunion coming up at the end of March in Las Vegas.  Our original plan was to make it a 'mommy and daddy only' trip and leave the boys home with one of their grandmas.  Well, that isn't panning out too well.  For one reason or another neither grandma can stay the full week so Zachary can stay in school for the week (he doesn't have school on Friday of the week we'll be gone) and there isn't another person we know who can stay with the boys at our house that we trust enough to stay in our house.  One grandma is willing to watch the boys at her house but I'm not willing to leave the boys a mere hour from home to play video games all day for a week while missing school.
So, our 'mommy and daddy only' trip has morphed into a family trip.  If I can get Jerry on board, which let's face it, I usually get what I want so it won't be hard, we will all pile into the car after school on a Friday in March and drive to California and stay with my parents. On either Monday or Tuesday we will take the boys to Disneyland (their 2nd and with the $303 it will cost us to get in including parking probably the last trip).  On Wednesday Jerry and I will go to Las Vegas for his reunion where we will stay and this will be the 'mommy and daddy only' portion of the trip.  On Friday my parents will bring the boys to Las Vegas and we will do some sightseeing on our way back to Oklahoma and arrive back sometime either Saturday or Sunday in plenty of time for Jerry to return to work and Zachary to return to school on Monday morning.
Pulling Zachary out of school for a week goes against every single grain of my being; but to allow Jerry to go to his reunion we really don't have another choice, he'd either have to go alone (and really, that's not going to happen since I'd never get an equivalent no kids trip - yes, that's selfish, petty, whatever you want to call it but that's what it is! Besides he'd have to fly since we only have 1 car and for him to fly and the Hotel would cost him the same for us to take the full California/Las Vegas trip as a family) or we have to make it a family trip.  Since he's only in school for 2 hours a day he's only missing 6 hours of school so we can easily make that up in the car or at my parent's house without a problem. If this was next year when he's in 1st grade, we would not be doing this.
Now we just need to figure out when to have Kaleb's birthday party since we'll be gone the weekend we were going to have his party...luckily we have a couple of months to get everything ironed out.

2011 and it's starting off busy!

• Monday I've got my 2nd Coumadin Clinic visit (let's hope for better numbers this time!) but will likely have appointments every Monday this month until we get my levels consistent 
• The boys return to swim lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays
• I have an echo cardiogram on the 6th, which is Thursday
• I continue physical therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays through January
• Parent's Night Out on Friday the 14th
• I'm the parent helper in Zachary's class on the 11th which is a Tuesday
• Lowe's workshops on the 8th and 22nd (Saturdays)
• I've got a Neurology appointment on Wednesday the 12th to try to figure out my migraines
• I have my final (hopefully) Orthopedics appointment on Friday the 21st

We also need to go to the eye doctor's office to get Zachary's glasses fixed since he and daddy were running through the house and Zachary ran into a wall and a shelf fell on him, knocking his glasses off and broke them, so add that to my Monday.  Thankfully he has his old glasses to wear in the meantime and he doesn't have school on Monday so I have the time to bring him over the get his glasses fixed.

My January to do list doesn't look so bad in list form but put it all on a calendar and it fills up very quickly, basically the only days not busy are Sundays and 2 Fridays and 2 Saturdays.  I told Jerry if I had a job I wouldn't have time to go to it! 

It is a good thing I filled out the calendar though, because I was putting all the school days off on the calendar and noticed that Zachary goes back to school on Wednesday, not Thursday...oops :)  He almost got an extra day off!  I almost got an extra day to sleep in!  And since he only goes for 2 1/2 hours by the time the attendance was turned in and the office called me he'd just be absent for the day, which would bug me since he hasn't missed a day so far this year.