randomness...

1. I played a "charity poker" event last night. My BFF's husband emailed me some link about how this might not be legal; I think that's what it said at least. I came fourth in the tournament, Kasey came in third, and Russell came in sixth. Lee didn't play. It was fun, but Kasey should have won some money...wait..it was charity...hm...maybe I shouldn't call it a charity poker event. :) We did donate some money to charity prior to playing, maybe that's what I meant to say!

2. Spring break is almost over...BOO!!! I am not looking forward to going back to school, but I'm sure it will be fine once I'm back. The sooner we get back, the sooner summer will be here!!!!

3. I went to the ER this morning for some really bad stomach pain. I woke up with the pain, and it would not go away. Eventually, when I could barely walk, Russell and I decided it was time to go to the ER. The good news was the nurse got my IV started in the first stick!! This NEVER happens!! I got blood work done, some pain meds, anti-nausea meds, anti-spasm meds, and a sonogram done .The doctor is adamant that it's my gallbladder, but the sono didn't show gallstones. He thinks the gallbladder isn't functioning correctly, because of some details I told him. So...he gave me the name of a doctor to go see early next week. Yeah right, doc!! Just add that to the cardiologist I need to see, neurologist follow up, "female doctor", eye doctor follow up, need to check my blood sugar levels at my general doctor, and my mother in law thinks I need to see an internists. HAHA!! YEAH RIGHT!! I told Russell I should be a stay at home wife, and patient. Luckily the pain has been a little better thanks to the medicine concoction.

4. I've been conflicted about my boys lately. I feel called to help them, but their actions are pushing us away. It is very discouraging and makes me sad. :(

5. March madness is NOT going very well for me...just call me a loser!!

March Madness!!!

March Madness is here!! To be honest, I was never a basketball fan prior to watching the kids play. Kennie and Sarah are amazing little players, and De'Von just plays because he enjoys it and likes to be part of a team. Last year Russell and I participated in the fantasy March Madness fun at his work. Basically you have to pick who you think will win all 63 games. I had no clue who to pick, and I knew all the guys that were participating were putting a ton of thought into it. So, I picked teams with an X, Z, V, W, Y, or Q in their name. I then picked Duke to go all the way to the end. This method took me pretty far to the end. Duke didn't go all the way to the end, but they did do pretty well. So, we are playing again this year. I took a different approach this year, but kind of the same thing. I knew all the males were going to put a ton of thought into it, so I just went with which name I liked best. This is what I do at the horse races, and that never turns out well for me, so I'm not too hopeful. I just don't want to finish last, girls can have an opinion in the March Madness fun too, even if it's an uneducated opinion! :)

SPRING BREAK!!

Well, it's finally the long awaited Spring Break. I always look so forward to Spring Break, counting down the days until it arrives, and then when it's here,I dread its ending. I just want time to stand still so I can watch all the TV I want, rest all I want, and do whatever I want for as long as I want. Since the break has started, I have done NOTHING. I take that back, I did go to four basketball games on Saturday, but other than that, it has been resting for me. De'Von's team made it to the playoffs, and our first playoff game is next Thursday. Thankfully we don't have any practice this week, and no game this Saturday. I say thankfully, De'Von isn't so thankful. The boys are so bored at home, and I'm tempted to block their number so they will quit calling asking if we can go do something. Eventually, after I've had my peace and quiet, I'm sure we will get out and do something to make this spring break fun for them.

Speaking of the boys, the oldest got into trouble last week at school. :( Ugh, it's very, very frustrating for me. It's hard enough keeping him motivated and encouraged to do his best, and now I think it will be impossible. I don't think details are needed here. Let's just say I'm glad we were issued tickets in middle school for asking for a pencil without permission. Yes, an actual ticket!! With this being his second ticket, he will now have a criminal record. What do I tell the child now? Seriously??

I went to a new neurologist last Monday. We were much more impressed with her than we were the last guy. She is concerned about the cyst on my brain, she changed up my medicine, and she wants to get to the actual cause of my seizures. Unfortunately. my other two doctors did not fax over my records, so she was unable to see all of the testing I had already undergone. After speaking with her at length, my upped my two seizure medications, changed my migraine medicine, and said she may want to redo my EEG. The EEG is where I have to have sensors glued to my head for about 3 days, it's annoying. This will test the brain activity to see if I have any spikes that indicate seizures. The last one I had did indicate seizures, but she said she might want me to do another one. Before we left I asked her about working out. I explained that I feel I can easily do an hour on the elliptical, but I get dizzy. I'm not physically tired (I mean, I am tired, but not so tired I can't continue), but I feel like I might pass out. The room starts to spin, I get light headed, and more times than not, I "black out" or have a seizure when I get off. After we told her this, she said all of my seizures could be heart related. Something about my heart might not be getting enough blood and oxygen to my brain, or something...I don't remember. So, she suggested I see a cardiologist. We were all highly confused, but decided to go with it to rule it out.Well...this past weekend when Russell and I watched Grey's Anatomy, there was a girl in the ER for seizures. Turns out her seizures are caused by a heart condition!! WHAT?!?!?! Russell just looked at me and said "you better call that cardiologist this week!" So, I'll be hooked up to a heart monitor for a day or two checking how my heart goes I guess. So strange, so strange.

sick kids, strange pets, pineal gland....

First of all, all three of my boys are sick...VERY sick. De'Von called this morning in tears, saying he felt terrible and didn't think he could go to school. De'Von has never missed school due to being ill, so I knew he didn't feel well. He stayed home, and the middle one stayed with him because he felt sick as well. I received a phone call from the nurse at the middle school this afternoon saying that the oldest one had a fever of 103.4 and I needed to come get him ASAP. I'm so worried about my boys. I took the oldest one home and checked on the other two. They were both in bed, covered up all the way past their heads, shivering, but sweating. I asked De'Von if he needed anything, and he just looked at me, started crying, and said "no ma'am". How pitiful is that? I'm hoping their mom will take good care of them, or they will be coming over here!!!
Now on to our strange pets. We have one very dramatic dog! If she isn't getting the attention she thinks she needs, usually from Russell, she starts acting like she will be sick. She makes this terrible grunting noise and gets all dramatic, it's so bizarre. When we give her a little love, she calms down and is just fine. Such a manipulative dog!! Now, on to our cat, Maverick. He hates artificial light, isn't that random? He has broken three lamps, three! If we turn a lamp on, he will go up to it and knock it over if he can, and if he can't, he will just swat at it. If we turn on an overhead light, he will go to the light switch and turn it off. He just stands on the closest table or chair and stretch to turn the switch off. Last night Russell turned on the overhead living room light, but Maverick was unable to turn that light off. Instead, he went to where Russell keeps the flashlight and he knocked the flashlight to the floor. Is that revenge or what? He doesn't seem to dislike all types of light, though, because he will lay in front of the window and sun bathe all day. So strange...
Last thing, my mom has done a little research about the cyst on my pineal gland. Apparently it does not affect only birds. I'm not sure what we are going to do, but I think we will get a second opinion about the MRI results.

Dr. update....

I.don't.like.going.to.the.doctor!!!!!



Starting on Friday night, I had severe headaches, sezuires, and once again, lost my ability to speak. Russell paged the on call doctor with my neurologist office, and it happened to be my doctor that called back. Russell explained what was happening, and the doctor explained this is normal for my type of seizures (partial complex) and my migraines. So, he advised us to just wait it out. He said it could last any amount of time, so we had to just wait. My headaches persisted all weekend, and so did the seizures. I still can't talk normally, I sound like a robot. Luckily, I sound better each day, and the more I talk the better it sounds. I fell several times, and "zoned" out many more. The seizures and headaches are annoying, but the difficulty speaking are so frustrating!!! I sounded like a child just learning how to talk, which isn't good when I'm trying to TEACH!!! So, I decided it was time for us to go to the dr. to get my MRI results. Russell called and they said the first available appointment was April 7th. I was really upset, but Russell is so laid back, he didn't argue with the appointment person. So, I called my mom and she called for me. They got me in today, and my mom and Russell took me.

The doctor showed us the MRI, which showed three irregular things. Two of them I can't remember much about. The third is a cyst. At first he said not to worry about it, that this cyst only has an effect on birds. (UM...WHAT? BIRDS? BIRDS HAVE MRI'S DONE?) So, my mom asked more about it, then he said that it's actually still being researched. So, I'm not sure how I feel about that. He doesn't feel like that cyst is causing the seizures, so I don't know. We left with ZERO answers, ZERO!!! He just told us to come back when this happens again (the speech problem) and they will do a three day EEG (which I've had) and see what it shows. I've had the three day EEG done before, and it did show seizures. So, I feel like we are back at square one. Why go back and do the EEG again if it did show seizures? I have no freaking idea!! So, that's where we are. He even talked about taking me off the medicine, which is just unreal to me.

So, I guess we will just wait. I don't want this speech thing to happen again, so I'm not sure what to hope for. I do want answers, but I don't want to get answers at the cost of having this happen.

Valentine's Day

Today has been a great day! We had two basketball games, won once and lost once. The first game wasn't so great, and we lost. The good thing was that De'Von's teacher and another fifth grade teacher from his school came to see his game. I am very thankful they came to support him, and I know it means alot to him. This is the type of thing a kid like him needs from his teacher. We won our second game, so that was good.

We planned to go to a movie tonight at Movie Tavern, but I have a migraine, so we are enjoying a relaxing night at home. Luckily, this is what we enjoy more than anything, just an evening together at the house. Russell sent me two dozen roses to work on Thursday and got me a new pink and silver blackberry phone for Valentine's Day. I just ordered him his favorite brownies from his favorite bakery. He's not much of a Vday kind of guy, so I figured that was enough. The boys had to get stuff for their girlfriends this year. I have now realized how annoying I must have been to Russell as a teenage girl. Thank you, Lord, for still guiding his heart to love me enough to marry me. Teenagers, boys or girls, can be so crazy in love.

Some good....some not so good...

I have the flu, it's not so good. Yesterday when Russell got home from work he checked my temperature, it was 102!! I really don't like feeling this way, but I think I'm getting better. I'm glad it happened at the end of the week, so I have the weekend to recover. I was out of work yesterday and today, NOT a good thing this close to TAKS, but I didn't have a choice.

Now on to the good news, a "perfect match" has been found for a bone marrow transplant for my mother-in-law, Penny!!! All we know about the match is that she is in her early twenties. She will be going through some physical tests over the next few weeks to make sure she is capable of going through the transplant. Hopefully by March we can start with the process. Having a match this soon is a huge blessing!! They are going to test one more person that is a possible match to have a backup just in case that is needed. We are incredibly thankful for this news.

Russell spoke with the nurse about my MRI this week. Apparently going to see the DR about what he saw on the test can wait, which is good news. I won't be taking off yet another day to go see a doctor. He did see something on the MRI, which does concern me, but it's not life threatening, so that gives me peace. When I went to see my regular doctor this week about the flu, I asked him about it, asked what the MRI could show that wouldn't be a big deal, but could cause seizures. He said his best guess would be a cyst. We will see if he's right or not.