Updates on Me

There isn't too much to tell on me. They still have no idea what's going on. I think the last thing I posted was my hospital stay at Christian Hospital. Well, I went back to the hospital the very next weekend with the exact same problem. Numbness and no feeling on the right side of my body. It started in my arm this time and went to my face next and ended in my leg. Nick dropped the kids off at my mother in law's at took me to Missouri Baptist Hospital and they admitted me and again found no answers. They did the same stroke protocol and found no problems. However, this time they also did a lumbar puncture test to check the pressure of my spinal fluid and to check my spinal fluid. Everything was normal except the protein level in my spinal fluid was elevated. After doing this check I felt amazing. No more headache, no more pain, I felt amazing. I was discharged the next day and told to follow up with the neurologist.

I felt pretty good for a bit, but then got another migraine a week later. My mom picked me up and brought me to my regular doctor. I was throwing up the whole way there (don't worry, I brought a bag - thank goodness my mom doesn't have a weak stomach) and I just felt awful. I told the doctor about the lumbar check and feeling better and he thought because of that, that I had a psuedo tumor. So he prescribed a drug to help with that. Acedozolomide or something like that. So I started taking that. I felt ok for a bit and then I started having tingling. Mainly in my hands and feet but it was all the time. So I started freaking out about that! Now I was worried about MS and all sorts of other things.

Luckily I had another appointment with my neurologist. I went to see him and told him about my tingling. He was worried until I told him about the new medicine. That's apparently a side effect of that drug. He checked my eyes and told me I didn't have a psuedo tumor and switched me to a new med, but warned me this also has a side effect of tingling. So now I'm on a migraine prevention med twice a day. He also set me up to do another lumbar check on Dec. 26th to re-check the protein levels.

My dad picked me up at 6 am on the 26th to bring me to MoBap to do the lumbar puncture. I got checked in and set up and everything was ready. My dad went back to work with me promising to call when I was ready to go home. My appointment was for 7:30 and I got back into the x-ray room at 8 am I think, so not too bad. They did the lumbar puncture and everything went well. Not too too painful and I was back in recovery.

I got to order breakfast but had to stay on my back for about an hour and a half. I thought this was weird because when I did the first one I had to stay on my back for 4-6 hours and my paper for my instructions before I went in for this procedure said I'd be in the hospital for 6-8 hours, so an hour and a half was not a long time. Especially with the risk of a spinal headache for getting up too early, but they are the docs right??

Around 10:30 I was completely discharged with the instructions to stay on my back all day and night and drink plenty of fluids. My dad picked me up and I went back to his house and laid in bed all afternoon. Nick picked me up and brought me home where I stayed on the couch all evening until I went up to bed. The next morning I got up for work and it went well, but by the end of the shift, my head started to hurt. Like I was getting a migraine. I was nervous, but went home, took some meds and tried to relax. 

It ended up being the worst migraine I ever had. I made it to work...for an hour or so. I made it home from work and my dad had to meet me there to take me back to MoBap for a blood patch. I had studied blood patches in school but wasn't entirely sure what they were and didn't really know if they would work. What a blood patch is: They basically are giving you an epidural. An anesthesiologist comes in and sticks a needle in your back and puts a tiny catheter in the epidural space in your spine. Then instead of amazing drugs going into your spine to make you feel numb, they put in your own blood. So I had to sit up (which caused my head to throb so bad I just wanted them to kill me, and I wish I was kidding but sadly I'm not), sit extremely still while they got the catheter in the right spot, then wait with the catheter/needle in my back and hold my arm still while they drew out 20 mL of my blood from my arm and then transferred that into my spine...

Luckily it only lasted about 5 minutes for the whole thing. Then I laid back down because I felt dizzy and nauseous. She wanted me to sit up and tell her if I felt better because apparently you are supposed to feel better immediately. I didn't feel better immediately and I couldn't sit up right away. So she left. They gave me more drugs and I slept for a bit. When I was able to get up I still had a pounding headache. Not a migraine, but a pounding headache. I took this as a good sign. They gave me a prescription for a pain med which I was excited about until I got it filled and it was actually Hydrocodone/Acetaminophen which makes me sick...It took 3 days but that migraine is now finally all the way gone. I'm taking my other meds and I'm hoping it's GONE gone.

I'm hoping also that these migraines will STAY away!! Like Nick said: I have school and work and I can't afford to miss anything! I need to be healthy!

Anyway, those are the updates on me. :)

My Immediate Family Christmas

We always do our immediate family Christmas the Saturday or Sunday before Christmas just because the holidays get so crazy busy. This year, my sister and I took my mom to see Wicked at the Fabulous Fox on Saturday so we did Family Christmas on Sunday.

It was a great time. We went over to my parent's around 3 pm. We did dinner first because I knew my kids wouldn't sit through dinner if we did presents first. We had a great meal and then did presents. All of these kids are so loved and spoiled that it's ridiculous. :)

Dominick got a ton of stuff on his Christmas list, including: new Christmas PJ's, a new "piggy bank" which is a big green dinosaur, a big boy green cup, a new puzzle, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and a ton of the Melissa&Doug brand wooden food. What a lucky boy.

Annabelle got a new baby doll, a baby stroller, Melissa&Doug wooden food, new Christmas PJ's, and something else I think, but can't remember...

Gretchen got new Christmas PJ's and a TON of clothes. Just what I wanted her to get!

The food was great, the kids had a blast, everything was perfect!

We gave some presents and got some presents but of course, Christmas is now all about the kids.

Here are some pictures of our day:

 Dad, Dom and Celia all opening a few presents

 Addie opening one of the presents from us, a bag full of baby accessories

 Annabelle looking at her new Christmas PJ's (which she's wearing today!)

 Celia opening her Lego Camper from Grandpa and Grandpa

 Celia opening her play-doh present that Dom picked out

 Gretch just taking it all in

 Angela opening her gift from us, kitchen stuff! 

 Andrew opening a present from Mom and Dad, a signed copy of Tony La Russa's book

 Another pic

 Grandma opening the Cookie Jar the kids made then

 Grandpa opening the calendar of the kids that Angela makes him and Mom every year

Annabelle playing with her new stroller and new baby that she named "LaLa"

It was a great FIRST Christmas. One of many that we got the pleasure of going to this year. What a lucky family we have. :)

Gretchen Updates

Gretchen is just getting to be SO big!! Seriously I can't believe how big she is. She seems to be doing so much. I'm not sure if it's because for the last year I've basically been gone, with school and work and everything that I haven't noticed a lot of the changes with the other kids and now that I'm home and she's changing the fastest that I'm noticing everything or what the deal is but she's getting so big so quick.

Did that make sense??

Anyway, Gretchen is now almost 15 lbs according to our scale at home with me weighing myself with her and then without her. She rolled over for the first time from her back to her belly on Saturday, December 29th when she was about 3 1/2 months old. This is the quickest of any of my babies to do this. She now coo's all the time too. We joke around that she talks more than Annabelle (who still only says about 10 words, and yes I'm still very worried about this). 

She is so alert all the time. She really focuses on things now. She can track you all around the room. Her whole face lights up when she sees or hears someone she knows. If Nick has been gone to work all day and he comes into the room, she just smiles and looks for him. She starting laughing yesterday, December 30th for the first time.

I hate that I'm going back to school in just a week because I know I'm going to be missing so much more!

But that's what's been going on with Gretchen!

What a BIG girl!! :)

Work Updates

I'm no longer just a Unit Secretary! I'm now a Student Nurse Technician!

Which means I get to work directly with patients! Woohoo! This means a lot to me because it feels more like being a nurse. Last week was my first week as a SNT and I got to do 2 blood draws (1 I got, 1 I didn't, but in my defense, the one I didn't get I was in the vein, the patient just freaked out and begged me to quit. I would've gotten it if she let me). And I got to start an IV.

I get to do vitals during the day and just be in patients rooms all day. It feels so much better than sitting at the desk all day and working on their charts or stuff like that. It makes me feel that the end is in sight and I really can't wait to be a nurse and graduate.

Only a few months to go!!!! WOOHOO!!!

Dominick's Christmas Show

Dominick was in his Christmas Holiday show on Dec. 6th. Yes it's been that long since I've blogged...Sorry!!!

It was the cutest darn thing I've ever seen. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. They all got up and sang their little songs and it was so adorable. We sat in the very back because we had both girls with us and wanted to be able to make a quick get-away if Annabelle was a terror but that wasn't necessary because everyone had kids there and basically all the kids were terrors!

My mom came to help and to watch Dom and he was so excited. When his group was up, we stood up to take pictures and record his class singing. I stopped recording in between each song but I wish I didn't because in between the two songs he yelled "That's my Mommy!!" and I didn't get it on camera!

I'll see if I can upload his class singing; I know I can upload the pictures I took.

 Dommie reading in his classroom before heading down for the show

 His class lining up to sing. He's in the middle, the second row from the top. He's wearing a white sweater vest. He's the cute one. ;-)

Just another view. 

 

After getting off the slide at McDonald's where we went for dinner to celebrate how good he did. 

Sorry for the shaking!! I took the video with my regular camera! 

All in all it was a great night and Dom had a great time. We are really happy with his school and he loves it. This was a great start to an amazing holiday season!

Too long

It's been way too long, but again, there's no way to catch up tonight. I'll try tomorrow, but that will be tough since I'll be home with all three kiddos tomorrow.

So instead I'll just mention the most important thing right now, Gretchen rolled over for the first time yesterday!! Yay!! :) She's getting to be SO big!

I'll try to post within the next few days to catch up on everything.

Christmas
Cousins Holiday Party
Gretchen's Newest things
Dom's school Christmas show
My work
My school
My hospital stays, etc
Addie's Scare on Christmas

So much to discuss! I'll try tomorrow, I promise!!

Catch up?

There's no way to fully catch up since my last post. Too much has happened. But I'll glaze over the basics.

First, I went back to the hospital. I got home from the hospital on that Monday. Had a rough Tuesday, an ok Wednesday, a great Thanksgiving, a rough Friday, a bad Saturday and was back in the hospital on Sunday at 2 am. Again, I did a million tests, and again I left with no real answers. The only thing that was interesting is that a spinal tap made me feel better. I was at the hospital from Sunday, very early AM until Tuesday at 6:30 in the evening. It was another long stay. And the worst part was I missed Gretchen's baptism!!! :( And I've still only seen 3 pictures. Nick's sister texted me 3 pictures, which were great, but those are the only pictures I've seen.

Second, Thanksgiving was amazing. We went to my Dad's side in the morning and my Mom's side in the evening. We were going to celebrate with Nick's family in conjunction with Gretchen's baptism, but I missed that. I'm sure it was amazing though as well. And that was the one day I felt good enough to eat!

Third, Gretchen is baptized! Yay Gretch! A big girl! And Dominick completely ripped up her baptismal certificate because he's very into ripping these days. So I have to get her a new one, but that's ok.

Fourth, I went back to work and I love it! I missed it so much!!!

Fifth, Annabelle and Gretchen are at a new sitter's. The old sitter, Stella, didn't have an open spot for Gretchen and it seemed crazy to send the girls to two separate places. So both girls are going to Karen's. And they love it! And I love that Karen charges by the day and not the week. So I stay home with the girls on the days I'm not working. So it's cheaper (although a little more stressful), but totally worth it. I think it's harder work than my work but I love spending time with my girls!

I think that's about it!

I'll try to be better on here, but it's tough. I'm getting ready for bed at 8 with the kids and exhausted by 9:30. But I'll try to get on here more!