Drew is in the white with the big stick.....:)
His cheerleaders
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
My Hockey Honey
Drew has picked up the new hobby of playing hockey. He played hockey when he was younger and now he's putting his skates back on and giving it a shot. It makes me love him even more! He is so cute out on the ice all decked out in his gear. The girls LOVE going to his games even though they don't start until 8 and we have to leave early. It's also fun because when it's over 100 outside we get to bring sweatshirts and blankets inside the cold ice rink to stay warm.
His cheerleaders
His cheerleaders
Sunday, September 18, 2011
BPPV
I've been cured from Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)!!! Let me explain:
If you don't know let me summarize what happened 11 years ago. (I'll make a very longs story short) To sum it up Drew and I and two friends were playing baseball in the park. Though he did not want to and not without a fight, Drew allowed me to pitch to him. He hit a line drive and I caught it...with my left temple. Took an ambulance to the ER, spent some time in intensive care, had a blood clot in my brain, cracked my skull, and lost all hearing in my left ear. No big deal. Luckily, everything healed itself (or so I thought), but for the most part after a few months I felt normal. The blood clot absorbed on it's own, the crack healed itself, and all my hearing was restored. I was in college and didn't seem to have the time to go to my follow up doctors appointments when I felt fine, so I didn't.
Fast forward almost 11 years later. I have these random headaches that occur a few times a month and they are always right where I was hit in the head. It's not like I can't take the pain, but I let myself start to wonder if there was something wrong in there. Every time I have a headache I was pretty sure it was from a brain tumor. I know, dramatic. I decided to put my head at ease and have my follow up appointments. My last neurologist was in Flagstaff so I had to find a new one. I found a great Dr. who was very much intrigued by my story. After meeting with him for about 15 minutes and doing a few short tests he told me that he was pretty sure that I did have hearing loss (my other ear just did a great job compensating for it since I am young), and that I do get very dizzy when I lay down, roll over, and sit up. He set up a series of appointments for me. 1. An MRI to see my sexy brain. 2.) A hearing specialist 3.)Balance and dizziness test.
The MRI came out great nothing abnormal. My hearing test did show that I do have some hearing loss in my left ear, but I can hear fine so I don't have to do anything except take good care of that ear. (ear plugs for loud music and such) And my balance and dizziness test came back horribly. I get severely dizzy. I just don't remember life when I didn't feel this way, so it was normal to me and wasn't a big deal. Anyways they told me I have BPPV. When you have head trauma particles can get knocked loose in your ear that collect in one area of the inner ear that throws off your entire system. I met back with my doctor and he sent me to physical therapist for my "ear rocks".
I almost didn't go because the dizziness just didn't bother me that much and I thought for sure going to physical therapy wasn't going to help, but I decided to go. For most of my appointment I thought I was on a hidden camera show. The therapist, Karen, laid me down on my back with my head hanging over the table. She had my head in her hands and turned it to the left and then slowly jiggled my head. She continued to jiggle my head and rotate it at the same time all the way to the right side. Then I had to lay on my right side while the ear rocks were "leaving". I was waiting to see a pile of something on the floor. I guess they are microscopic and just absorb into the body and she just had to shake them loose, and then direct them to a place they can absorb without re-settling first. I was skeptical. Very skeptical. Especially when she said it usually works the first time. It didn't for me. Not the first, second, third, or fourth time. After about 40 minutes of head jiggling I had had enough. I allowed her to do it one more time though mostly because she was really nice, and what did I have to loose? We went for one more round of head jiggling and it actually worked!!!!! So weird. I don't know how she did it, but she was amazing.
I had no idea how bad my dizziness was until it was gone, and OH does it feel good to be cured! All in all it was worth the appointments to have peace of mind about my headaches, know to baby my left ear, and get rid of my dizziness. If only I had done this 1o years ago!
All of this made me think of Jesus. When I was in the middle of getting my head jiggled I realized many things.
1.) I was so focused on worrying about my headaches that I didn't worry about the other stuff going on. I think Jesus wants us to have healing in every area not just what we are worried about. He can show you where you need work in your life and give you the healing that you need even if you thought you were fine.
2.) It's okay to ask for help. It's good to have people around you lifting you up, jiggling you if need be, and pointing you in the right directions.
2.) Sometimes Jesus calls us to do things that feel strange, uncomfortable, or just plain don't make sense to us. Dealing with issues takes work, but brings peace. In the long run if you have faith God is good then you will great results. Trust him enough to lay your head in his hands. Let him jiggle the "ear rocks" out. And enjoy a repaired life that he wants for you!
If you don't know let me summarize what happened 11 years ago. (I'll make a very longs story short) To sum it up Drew and I and two friends were playing baseball in the park. Though he did not want to and not without a fight, Drew allowed me to pitch to him. He hit a line drive and I caught it...with my left temple. Took an ambulance to the ER, spent some time in intensive care, had a blood clot in my brain, cracked my skull, and lost all hearing in my left ear. No big deal. Luckily, everything healed itself (or so I thought), but for the most part after a few months I felt normal. The blood clot absorbed on it's own, the crack healed itself, and all my hearing was restored. I was in college and didn't seem to have the time to go to my follow up doctors appointments when I felt fine, so I didn't.
Fast forward almost 11 years later. I have these random headaches that occur a few times a month and they are always right where I was hit in the head. It's not like I can't take the pain, but I let myself start to wonder if there was something wrong in there. Every time I have a headache I was pretty sure it was from a brain tumor. I know, dramatic. I decided to put my head at ease and have my follow up appointments. My last neurologist was in Flagstaff so I had to find a new one. I found a great Dr. who was very much intrigued by my story. After meeting with him for about 15 minutes and doing a few short tests he told me that he was pretty sure that I did have hearing loss (my other ear just did a great job compensating for it since I am young), and that I do get very dizzy when I lay down, roll over, and sit up. He set up a series of appointments for me. 1. An MRI to see my sexy brain. 2.) A hearing specialist 3.)Balance and dizziness test.
The MRI came out great nothing abnormal. My hearing test did show that I do have some hearing loss in my left ear, but I can hear fine so I don't have to do anything except take good care of that ear. (ear plugs for loud music and such) And my balance and dizziness test came back horribly. I get severely dizzy. I just don't remember life when I didn't feel this way, so it was normal to me and wasn't a big deal. Anyways they told me I have BPPV. When you have head trauma particles can get knocked loose in your ear that collect in one area of the inner ear that throws off your entire system. I met back with my doctor and he sent me to physical therapist for my "ear rocks".
I almost didn't go because the dizziness just didn't bother me that much and I thought for sure going to physical therapy wasn't going to help, but I decided to go. For most of my appointment I thought I was on a hidden camera show. The therapist, Karen, laid me down on my back with my head hanging over the table. She had my head in her hands and turned it to the left and then slowly jiggled my head. She continued to jiggle my head and rotate it at the same time all the way to the right side. Then I had to lay on my right side while the ear rocks were "leaving". I was waiting to see a pile of something on the floor. I guess they are microscopic and just absorb into the body and she just had to shake them loose, and then direct them to a place they can absorb without re-settling first. I was skeptical. Very skeptical. Especially when she said it usually works the first time. It didn't for me. Not the first, second, third, or fourth time. After about 40 minutes of head jiggling I had had enough. I allowed her to do it one more time though mostly because she was really nice, and what did I have to loose? We went for one more round of head jiggling and it actually worked!!!!! So weird. I don't know how she did it, but she was amazing.
I had no idea how bad my dizziness was until it was gone, and OH does it feel good to be cured! All in all it was worth the appointments to have peace of mind about my headaches, know to baby my left ear, and get rid of my dizziness. If only I had done this 1o years ago!
All of this made me think of Jesus. When I was in the middle of getting my head jiggled I realized many things.
1.) I was so focused on worrying about my headaches that I didn't worry about the other stuff going on. I think Jesus wants us to have healing in every area not just what we are worried about. He can show you where you need work in your life and give you the healing that you need even if you thought you were fine.
2.) It's okay to ask for help. It's good to have people around you lifting you up, jiggling you if need be, and pointing you in the right directions.
2.) Sometimes Jesus calls us to do things that feel strange, uncomfortable, or just plain don't make sense to us. Dealing with issues takes work, but brings peace. In the long run if you have faith God is good then you will great results. Trust him enough to lay your head in his hands. Let him jiggle the "ear rocks" out. And enjoy a repaired life that he wants for you!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Our week in Flagstaff
This last week we had the opportunity to stay in Flagstaff for the week!!! It always feels like home when we go up there. I can feel myself getting more and more excited as we drive up the mountain to get there. It. Was. GORGEOUS! Ah, to play outside again and not worry about my children turning into raisins after 5 minutes of the heat. We really didn't do anything crazy, but we just enjoyed our little town. We spent plenty of time at the parks because all the girls wanted to do was swing, and they swung their hearts out laughing the whole time. Gotta love cheap fun! My favorite thing that we did was go to Lowell Observatory. If you are not familiar with Lowell it's where they discovered Pluto! And let me tell you they are very "pro Pluto" still being a planet. The girls are so interested in the solar system that this was just amazing to them. All in all it was a super fun week of family time and a little rest and relaxation in cool weather.
The drive up
Bliss
Lowell Observatory
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