I had seizures last night... but I'm ok today! Surgery still scheduled for Aug 20th.... (contacts only!)

Lots of calls made...

Well, today I've been busy since I woke up around 10 a.m.... busy by making lots of calls.

Won't bore you with all I had to call on... I just wanted to post this here, instead of just on Facebook, so all you who are here but not connected with me on FB can read what's the latest. (Also, because this is what my dad reads, because I can't seem to convince him to get a Facebook account.)

Speaking of... I've been enjoying that because I can just post little "status" updates there. Instead of a blog... & since I've really not been feeling like blogging, it's been great to have... & that way I don't bother you all with the mundane things in my life. LOL

(Also, I can play games there like Family Feud, Bejeweled, Collapse, & several others.) (See, I'm hoping that mentioning Family Feud will get my dad to ask me to set him up an account... *grins & winks*)

Oh, don't worry, my dad gets his "updates" from me at least once a week when I call him on the weekends. So, he's not missing anything when I am only posting on FB. However, it still would be great to have him there too!

I just read a story the other day that the age of the average FB user has increased significantly. It's not just for college kids anymore. Case in point... my mom & many of her sisters are there.

Sure is a great tool when you have a large family (lots of Aunts, Uncles, & Cousins), like we do, to update the whole family about something. (Such as when my mom was in the hospital at the beginning of this month.) Plus, I have many church friends I'm connected with... and I've amassed a great deal of other "Chiarians"... which helped lead me to a fabulous neurosurgeon...

& With that it leads me away from the rambling now & on with the "news"...

One of the calls I had was with my neurosurgeon's nurse to talk about my upcoming surgery & if I can get the pre-op testing done here... So, IF there is any problems they can treat it now, so that my surgery does NOT have to be postponed again!

She said I can have the urine culture taken care of here locally... but the blood tests & etc need to be done up there. So, she will relay to scheduling that I want to be scheduled a week before, instead of the day before!!!

Then I asked, if they don't call me by... August 5th, can I call on the 6th? She said yes & gave me the number. Hopefully I won't need to do that.

Also, I called one of their "quality" type of departments to complain how the urine test was not really sterile... & not to be too graphic... let me say it this way... I was given a Styrofoam cup... & had to poor it into a tube. NEITHER of which was wrapped separately to ensure a "sterile" environment.

I spoke to an "ombudsman" & she said she will pass the information onto the "quality department" & they will review it & put new policies into place... IF they feel it's needed! When I was talking to her, I said it surprised me that particular testing was a bit lacking, because I had 2 different nurses take my blood... was told it was for "security" purposes.

One would think if they have that in place... then why was the other test so... well, under "valued"? (Not sure if that's the word I wanted... but I think you know what I mean.)

So, anyway... I also wanted to let you all know that I told Dr. Di's (my neurosurgeon) office, since there has not been any cancellations as of yet... that I just want to stick with August 20th (unless something happens & we need to make it an emergency... aka, I have a bad seizure attack or something along that line. Please pray (or think good thoughts) that this does NOT happen!)

Yep, that means we're in the 1 month count down again!!! Please also pray it's NOT postponed again!!

When it gets closer to surgery date... I will give you a few other things I'd like you to pray (or whatever you prefer) about. (aka: No need to do a larger incision... (I'll explain about that when needed.))

Ok... sorry to taken so much time... but I wanted to be sure you were up to date (YOU TOO DAD!) on what's going on.

OHHHHH .... If you have not been reading my blogs & don't realize what I'm talking about... Here's a very quick synopsis...

I have Chiari Malformation. (Basically my brain is too big for my head) & on Aug 20th they're going to do what is called a Posterior Fossa Decompression (aka: "Decompression") Surgery. (It's just to remove a little bit of the skull bone at the base & possibly a little bit of Cervical 1 (C1) (neck) bone. This is to relieve the pressure caused by the brain blocking the Cerebral Spinal Fluid (& blood) from flowing properly. (That's the easiest way to explain it.)

If you'd like more information, there are a lot of great sites out there... & I'd be happy to post them... just ask for it in a comment below. (If you're from Facebook & reading this... just leave a comment under the link that brought you to this blog... unless you have a Multiply account, then you can leave it below.) :o)

One in particular is: Conquer Chiari.org.

Thanks for your time & I hope you're surviving this heat. (Or cold... depending where you live!) :) For those in the heat... please remember KEEP HYDRATED!!!

Happy Birthday to "The Last Word"... we're 2 years old today!!! (Link below)

I am among the living... today :D

(beware... this is a LONG one... that's what happens when I don't blog often! Now that you have been warned... *grins*... on with it.)

That's right... I'm living, not just existing today! I say this because my sister Gina posted in her Facebook status today, the question: Are you among the living or existing?

While typing my response I realized that's how I can gauge my days instead of "good or bad"... but rather living or just existing... Now had I seen that yesterday or anytime in the past 3 days I would have said I was barely existing. Yep... I was in some serious pain.

Yesterday it was so bad I almost had my hubby take me to the ER. However, I took 2 Vicodin & thought I'd rather deal with a rebound headache than the ER. (See, if you didn't know Vicodin has Acetaminophen (aka Tylenol) in it... & I was told that I get rebound headaches from it & that I should avoid anything with Tylenol... which makes it very tough for someone with Chiari Malformation & deals with daily headaches!!)

Anyway, today when I woke... after a very good solid night sleep (didn't even here Hubby get up, get the dogs out, & etc... WONDERFUL!) :) ... I felt as if I could take on the world... Ok, not really... I just felt a ton better!

Then 10 minutes later my hubby pulls in with a trailer full of stuff from the old house...

Oh... wait did you know? Yep, we've moved!!! YAHOOOOOOO... we're no longer in the city! We are in a house with 3 bedrooms (the 2 upstairs are quite small, but that will be just fine!) & FIVE acres of land! & Here's the best part... we're paying the same amount as we were on our other house... well, at least for now!

How is that you say? Well, see this house was my hubby's best bud's (DM from here on out) house! (The one that got Hubby into the dirt bike club that I created & maintain the website for.) Anyway... well, DM & his wife had been wanting to move to Tennessee for some reason & they both ended up finding jobs & said we could rent this place.

So, last month... (wow, it has been a month since we started moving in here. How time flies when you're... laid up... ha, got ya, thought I was going to say "fun", didn't ya! *giggles* Actually, I was doing good for the 1st part of the move...

Which now leads me back to the past few days... I got to thinking about how God's timing is always into play some how... & you might not see it at first when something gets postponed... but later you might just realize it was actually better. What am I talking about, you ask?

Well, in case you've missed it... (or you don't follow me on Facebook)... The surgery I was supposed to have to correct the pressure on my brain, caused by the Chiari Malformation was to have happened May 14th... however the day before I went up for pre-ops & on the way home I got the call that I had a bladder infection & they could not do the surgery. (Why The Cleveland Clinic didn't get me in the week before for pre-ops like they said they'd do still baffles me. It's just more proof that their many different departments do not communicate.) Anyway, it's now been rescheduled for August 20th, unless they get a cancellation. Which I call nearly every week to check.

So, as I was saying... I believe it was God's way of giving me the ability to be able to help out with the major part of our move... well, at least the 1st big part. I'm sure Hubby feels as if it was not the major part.

I was feeling good for several days when we first moved that I was able to get my kitchen stuff organized & some other things... I even made a batch of brownies AND frosting for it! (I had been craving frosted brownies so much.) Well... after all that, I was down for a few days again... but it seemed there for a while when ever my mother-in-law (MIL) (who has been a HUGE, no, PHENOMENAL help with this move) would come over to help... I felt "empowered" to get up & do stuff.

As many who suffer from Chiari knows (saying this because I have a ton of "Chiari Friends" on Facebook who may be reading this.)... that feeling does not happen every day. And so I've found myself on the couch a lot lately even when MIL or my mom or any visitors would stop.

Thankfully all know that it's best not to try to push me & when I say I'm not doing well.

Let's see, where was I before this tangent... Oh, yes.. Hubby & MIL arrived from the old house with a trailer full of boxes 10 minutes after I awoke. So, I was talking with MIL & sitting on the steps of our deck in the sun when she said she was going to grab a chair (from the deck) & put it in the shade... because she didn't want me sitting in the sun, but she did want me to stay outside for a little bit. (Wow, I just love that woman! Who says mother-in-laws are awful??)

Well, I had to get something to eat. So, I went in grabbed my pillow (for my back); & food & went back out on the deck to the table where hubby had put up the umbrella for. Sat out there for a bit enjoying the sunshine... watching the dogs roll around in the grass & enjoying life!

All the while, Hubby & MIL are unloading the trailer into one of the stalls in the barn. (A barn that is empty of animals... except 2 cats (mousers, Hubby calls them) that we "inherited" with the house. And he had skids to put the boxes on. I feel terrible that I can't help them... however, we all agree that I can't jeopardize it... I can't over do it!!! We just can't have me ending up in the ER again! (My last trip was in April... which that time was such a waste of time really... in my opinion.)

By the way, another thing that comes with this house is an invisible dog fence. It took a couple weeks of taking the dogs (more Hubby than me) out on their leashes with the special collars before we could let them run loose. Now that they've learned the lay of the land... (well, they're still learning & still get zapped once in a while) they can run to their hearts content. At least they do a little bit.

We both knew that it would be an advantage for Coleman to be able to go free, because he's a Border Collie & needs that "freedom" & that it would help both him & Sunny in many ways. And it was proved last Wednesday (or whenever it was) when we went to the vets to get them tested for heart-worm (both were negative, thank the Lord! Now if we can just keep them on the "meds" all the time so we don't have to do that again!)... they were weighed & both had lost a couple pounds already! Woo hoo!

What's even more amazing is that Coleman is starting (not completely yet) to walk on floors without carpet! That's a HUGE improvement, already! So, yes, we're all enjoying the new house.

I'm sure my hubby will really get to enjoy it once all of our stuff / junk has been moved over here. Because even though there are no animals (beyond the 2 cats & our 2 dogs) there's still "farming" type stuff to do around here.

He even got an old Farmhal H tractor that had been sitting in the backyard to finally work. It was so "cute" because he took it for a ride to pick up the brush-hog that goes with it. (About 20 miles away) (This tractor was a mutual friend of Hubby & DM that had brought it to this house a few months ago with the help of my hubby. Hubby ended up buying it when we knew we would be living here. It's much needed.)

Now all we need is to find a better riding lawn mower than the one we had at the old house, because DM & his wife has finally found a house in Tennessee (was living in a trailer at her brother's) & are in need of the mower that they left here. Which we knew would happen.

Up above I had mentioned about the dogs rolling around in the grass... well, I was on the phone with my mom & it was so funny... Sunny started & then Coleman plopped right down next to her & they both were on their back with their legs in the air. I just couldn't help but to laugh... Only wished I could have gotten a video of it. Well, I'm sure you can picture it!

Well, there's so much more I'd like to tell you... but I just saw Hubby pull back up again... another trailer full... which means I need to get up & get the collars on the dogs again.

So, maybe later I'll write another blog! :)

& Please forgive any grammatical errors. No time to proof read... Got to run! *waves & hits the publish button*

(P.S. As usual the blog graphic is from Glitter-Graphics.com... I mention this, because of those who may be new to my blog.)