NavyWife-Mom-of-5

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I have been getting lots of nudges to update my avatar photo, and Barb was kind enough to take this for me at our luncheon the other day at Chevy's.. 

((THANKS BARB))

I am so glad I was able to make it.. (even though I was a bit late)

Thank you to all who are there for me in the good and tough times..
I know I haven't been on much, but know that you are all never far from my thoughts and heart!
Things have just been kinda crazy here lately..

Anywho, just wanted to say YEA I finally got a new avatar up.. Whatcha think??

Weight loss update:  I am down a total of 127 pounds so far.. WOW that is still a shock to say..

I love and miss you all..

Hugs,
Jenn

For those of you following along.. I should have been home by now, but 2 visits to the hospital later, I am still in Tucson. UGG!  Let me just say that I am fine.. The first trip was an ambulance ride to the hospital with pain so bad I couldn't breathe. They ended up finding many ovarian cyst (which I knew were there, just have more than last time) and I was passing my very first Kidney Stone.. YUMMY (NOT)!  It was so bad I could barely take it..  My second trip was due to pain on my right side.. I thought that maybe my gal bladder was acting up, or maybe it was appendicitis.  NOPE...  A couple of my cysts had ruptured and was leaking blood and fluid into my belly..

So now I am feeling a bit better, still sore as all get up, but I think that I will be up to traveling now.. (I have to kids start school soon.)  So I should be leaving Tomorrow. 

I am very sad to be leaving.. I love CA, but I really miss my family and friends here..  I know there are always summers to come out, but I can't help but feel saddened by leaving..  So much has gone on in my life, and I wanted to experience that with my family and friends.. (both good and bad)  and to be so far away, well, just plain stinks..

Any who.. the kids are doing great.. Cant wait for them to start school. The kids here started today.

It has been a bitter sweet vacation for me.. I have had a lot of heartaches this trip, but what doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger.

Well that's it for now.. I will be back on the boards shortly..

Have a great week..

Hugs

Well I am still here in Tucson, but just wanted to pop in and check in..

I am proud to say, that I have NOT gained any weight so far, and have lost around 10-15 pounds since being here..  (WOW)

This has been a bit of a hecktic trip.. I will explain later, but wow, this is not what I had planned..

I guess you can not please everyone all the time.

Anywho, for those of you who were worried, I am still alive and doing good.. I will be back at the end of the month.

I don't have access to the computer all the time, so I will try to get on again, but no promises..  

I do however miss you guys and being able to read the posts, and offering my help to those I am able to give it to.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer.

You are never far from my thoughts, heart, and prayers..

Chat with you soon..

Luv and ((Hugs))

I actually did this a little over a week ago, but because I am just a huge Yo-Yo, I got on the scale, saw that I was in onderland, couldn't find the camera, and when I did a couple hours later, I was back up to 201.. It did this to me twice, so this time I was prepared, and so far so good, still in ONEDERLAND.. YEA!  Not only is this onderland for me, but 101 pounds gone.

My highest 299
First Visit with Dr. Vierra 291
Surgery Weight 267
Current 198.7

Wow, it has been since High School since I have been in onderland.. That's 10+ years..  I am so happy..
I thank God everyday  for the opportunity to have this tool to help guide me in my journey. It has been such a blessing.

Hugs,
Jenn

GRRRR! I just HATE head-hunger.

I loved the beginning when I first had my surgery. I didn't have to worry about food at all, cause I just didn't want any. Didn't even have the slightest urge to have the things that were around me.

Now almost 5 months later that has completely changed.  NOW I sometimes want to eat ALL THE TIME. And not so much that I feel hunger (cause I really don't) but because I "think" I need to eat, or I "think" that I am hungry.

I am still learning the new messages my body is trying to send me, but sometimes my head just inter-fears with all of that.

There are also days when I feel that I eat way to much, and others where I feel that I don't eat enough. So I am trying to balance that as well. 

I think that I am going to have to go back to writing things down. Maybe that will help, visually seeing it, but how do I get past this ding dang head-hunger?

Any who,  just thought I would get this off my chest. One more day till TGIF.. Woo hooo!

Thanks for listening/reading..

So yesterday we had our appointment for Joey up at Stanford. It was yet another endocrinology appointment. They have NOT received any of the Genetics testing back just yet, (still cooking) but they did talk to Joey about his height, and with Joey's concern of being so small, and being picked on at school all the time, they want to try putting him back on Growth Hormone Therapy.

I am not sure how I feel about this. Joey is 10 now, and has a right to his opinions, and I respect them so very much, and know all to well the problems he has faced by being so short. I just as a mother worry.. What if this doesn't work. Will he be devastated or will he say, "at least we gave it a shot". I just want to put him in a bubble and protect him, but I suppose we have to take chances too. Isn't that part of life.

So as long as our insurance will accept this treatment, they want to start him right away. This means I have to give him an injection 6 days a week. (I swear it is harder for me to give them, than for him to receive.)

So we will see what happens. I am so very thankful that they are listening to Joey's feelings, and including him on the decisions being made. After all, this is his life..

Any who..

So after our appointment.. I stopped off to get Joey and myself some lunch. We were going to be headed up to Fresno to do some Angel Duties by visiting Cindy, (everyone deserves to have a friend visit them after surgery)  so we wanted to make sure we had full bellies. (It was a 3 hour ride to get there)

I wanted to surprise her, so I didn't call ahead  to let her know we were coming, just assuming that if they were leaving they would call in excitement to go home.

What is it they say when you ASSUME?  That is right.. I got all the way up there, stopped to by some flowers for her, and then decided to call her DH Ron to get the room number. Can you guess what happened next???

YEP she was already on her way home. OMG How could I have been so silly. We all were like OH NO...  They apologized, but it was NOT their fault by any means. So I asked her if it would be okay to pop in real quick at her house, because I brought a huge basket full of goodies for her, and having gone so far to get them to her, I didn't want to go home with out finishing what I had set out to do. (well that was another 3 hours back the way we came)

She of course was very sweet and allowed Joey and I to come over.  Cindy and Ron are just two of the nicest people, and I can't thank them enough for allowing them to let us in after such a long drive themselves.

Cindy looked GREAT.. She greeted me at the door, and even got up to make me a glass of ice water.. LOL I told her that it was supposed to be I waiting on her while I was there, but she insisted on doing it as she had to get up to walk walk walk anyways..  She gave me a tour, and I was able to see pics of all the kids.  (who are now all grown and gone)

Ron also gave me the tour of his patio outside. WOW what can I say, but I am jealous. He did a WONDERFUL job out there. It is so BEAUTIFUL.

She is going to do so well. I can't wait to experience her journey with her. We stayed for a little bit and chatted, but then was on our way as Cindy was getting sleepy and needed to eat some broth and rest.

Way to go Cindy.. Keep up the good work. You are well on your way girl..
Remember I am here if ever ya need me..

SO by the time we got back in the car, Joey and I were hungry and tired. I just drove straight home, as it was getting late, and Joey had school the next day. SO I heated up some soup, and fixed Joey some leftovers, and we both headed off to bed.

My DH was so happy about this old scary movie he got that he hadn't seen in years, that he asked me to watch it with him. I tried but feel asleep after about 10 minutes.. Oops.. Oh well, another time.

It was a very long day, but I would have done it again in a heartbeat.S

OH MY GOODNESS!!  I FINALLY DID IT.. I CUT MY HAIR OFF.

I HAVE LOST SO MUCH HAIR ALREADY THAT I WANTED TO DO SOME GOOD BEFORE I LOST EVEN MORE.

SO I HAVE CHOPPED IT OFF AND AM DONATING IT ONCE AGAIN TO LOCKS FOR LOVE.

THIS WILL BE MY 4TH TIME DONATING. I AM SO EXCITED TO BE HELPING MORE LITTLE GIRLS THAT NEED MY HAIR.

SO HERE ARE THE PICS.. ENJOY!

BEFORE..



AFTER..

Hello to all my Friends and Cali Family...

I have truly missed you all, and missed being here on OH.. I feel that  I have missed so much and it is going to take a while to play catch up.. LOL

As for me, WOW I am EXHAUSTED..  Disneyland kicked my butt, and I am glad to be back, but wished I had more time there as well.

Joey, Chloe, and I had a great time. Upon our arrival, we spent the day at Downtown Disney, and did some shopping and eating. We went to the Rainforest Cafe and I was a good girl and ordered the sausage and bean soup they had.. It was so good...

We then did 3 days at the parks. The first day was the most fun and I think the longest day as we bounced from park to park. I walked over 20,000 steps that day.. HOLY COW..  I even kept up with my friends 6 foot plus brother.. You know the type, he takes one step and my 5 foot self has to take 3 or 4.. LOL I was very proud that I kept up. I know 70 pounds ago, I don't  think I could have done it. It was a lot of fun..

That night Joey fell very ill..  He was so embarrassed to wake me up in the middle of the night to let me know he had an accident in his pants as he couldn't get to the bathroom in time. (Pitch black in the hotel room when the lights were off)   He tried to clean it up, but he only made more of a mess smearing it all over.. There was poop all over, on the toilet, floor and walls,  but bless his heart he tried. So I cleaned that up, showered him and sent him back to bed with clean clothes on. 

Much to my surprise, he woke me up about an hour later.. "Mommy, I had another accident" All I could think was NOT AGAIN.. It gagged me to clean it up the first time. I asked him what happened, and this time it was projective vomit all over his bed on the floor. I mean he covered it from the top of his pillow to the bottom of his blankets. He had it in his hair, all over his body, and more in the bathroom again.. It was so foul smelling, I almost threw-up more than once trying to clean it.  So again I cleaned it up, and showered him, and made him up a new bed. (being a hotel room with other people trying to sleep in the room with him, I had to wrap up the dirty pillow and blankets and stick them out the front door. I hated to do that, but what else was I going to do?)

So needless to say, I didn't get that much sleep that night, and when waking up the next day, all Joey wanted to do was sleep. He had a lot of sugar the day before, and we just assumed that he over did it, so I rented a stroller and let him sleep it off, or so we thought.. He went most the morning sleeping. We went to go see The Club House Disney Show and he seemed to perk up a bit, but buy the time it was over he was again asleep in the stroller. So shortly after eating lunch we went to ride a ride (the big kids, while mom and dad (my friends parents) watched the kids.) When I got back, I couldn't get Joey to wake up at all, and the family was now getting concerned. What we thought was just way to much sugar, and a very long night, started to become something more serious. We couldn't keep him awake, and we couldn't get him to drink much, so now it was time to panic as he is not responding. So I went to the nearest booth and told the employees what was going on and asked if they had a medical station we could take him to, and explained what happened the night before, and they said not to bother taking him to the medical station, that he needed  to call 911.

Within 5 min. we were surrounded by Disney Security, blocking and keeping people moving on their way so that Joey could get the medical attention he needed. There were so many people stopping and staring that you would have thought Joey was one of the exhibits. After looking at Joey, they put oxygen on him right away, and loaded him up on the stretcher. His blood sugar was fine, but he was still not responding, so they packed us up and took him to the nearest urgent care facility. I have to say Disneyland employees are some of the best and kindest people around. They escorted the paramedics,  Joey, and I all the way to the ambulance. They even had a bicycle security escort us to the edge of the property to make sure we got out okay. The paramedics immediately put and opened up a bag of fluids, and we were on our way.

So for the next 6-7 hours Joey continued to sleep, and I sat by his side. I left Chloe with the family so that this didn't have to ruin her experience at Disneyland. They told me that he was just extremely dehydrated, and that he had a syncope episode. (passing out) He was starting to get a slight ear infection, so they gave him some IV antibiotics just in case to be safe. They gave him a whole lot of fluids, and let him sleep. Some of his labs came back abnormal, and they told us to follow up with his doctor, and let us go home.

After eating a bowl of soup, and drinking some much needed Gatorade, Joey was once again sleeping, and slept through the night..

The next day  was going to be our last day at Disneyland. I am happy to say Joey was much better by then and we had a great day. We rode rides, shopped, and had a great time. (other than a bit of drama within the family of course) But it was a much nicer ending than kids being sick, and I am glad Joey got to do some of the rides, as he did NOTHING on the second day.
We ended our time at Disneyland by watching the Dreams Come True Fireworks, and it was amazing..

I already want to go back, and think that if I do, I will make it for a week. So that you can do a day at the parks, rest, do a day at the parks, rest, etc...

From there we went to San Diego and took the kids to the beach. We were going to go to Sea World, but the family decided against it this trip as much of them were far to tired, and spent way to much money.. LOL  So we spent the night in the Jacuzzi talking laughing and having a great time.. (well some of us)

The next morning we all had breakfast together, and then parted ways. They went home to Tucson, and I headed back here to Monterey. I did stop however in Hollywood and took some pics of the Hollywood sign. Didn't have enough time to do the Blvds.. (Next time)

So all in all, although it was a bumpy trip at times, we all had a great time and can't wait to return to the place where even adults can be kids, and where all your dreams come true..

I am so glad to be home though..

So I am sorry I have not updated sooner, but it has been a very busy week.

First of all the baby is STILL sick, and just doesn't seem to be shaking this sickness he has. If he does not respond soon, I will take him back to the hospital.

Secondly, I went to my follow up appointment with Dr. Vierra..  He is very happy with my progress of taking my vitamins EVERY DAY!  But I am still having some dizziness, and have started to have some migraines. He told me to continue with my vitamins, that it is going to take some time. As for the migraines, he wants me to see my PCP.  Nikki (his assistant) said I looked so much better than I did the last time I was there, and that she was happy to see me smiling after my appointment, instead of seeing me crying.  She was just as devastated at the news I got a couple weeks ago as I was. She has since then pushed the vitamins, and is using me as an example (with out using my name) to stress the importance of taking your vitamins from day ONE..

So I go back in one month for my next follow up.  I will of course keep you all updated if and when I hear anything..

There is ONE thing that I asked that I didn't really care for, and that is this... I asked him when I was going to take my first my blood draw to see where I am at with my levels, and his response was this.. I usually don't check the levels till about a year out..  WOW  Holy Crap.. I thought it was at 3 months, 6 months, and again at a year to make sure you are getting everything you are needing, but I guess that is not his style. I don't quite know how to feel about that, but am asking you if you guys have any opinions about  this.

So that is my update!

Thank you all for your continued support.

Big Hugs,
Jenn

SO as all of you know, I was supposed to go to my follow up appointment with Dr. Vierra yesterday.

UNFORTUNATELY.....

My baby woke up not being able to breathe. He had the sniffles the day before, and went from sniffles to waking up not breathing well.

I tried to give him his inhalers, and do his breathing treatments, but to no avail. Nothing I did was working. So I called his PCP and he didn't have any openings till later that day... I wasn't waiting any longer and told them how much he was struggling, so they told me to take him in..

I picked up the school age kids as it was an early out day and headed for the ER, armed with drinks, snacks, and games to keep the older kids busy. 

Upon arrival at the hospital, they took Evan right back given the severity of his breathing. His heart rate was over 200 and his O2 levels were upper in the low 90's and occasionally dipping into the high 80's.. 

They started giving him back to back treatments that were not very successful at first, so they  did a chest x-ray and found that he has bronchitis on top of that, so they gave him Rx anti inflammatory.

He started breathing better but his heart rate would NOT come down, so they admitted him  and we stayed in observation.  It was a battle all night to get his heart rate and breathing under control, and the 5 kids and I stayed overnight with him as the DH had to work.

It was such a sight to see, we got lots of attention.. LOL I guess they never get families that big that often..

They gave us a roll-away cot that Joey, Annie, and Ian shared, then Chloe shared the hospital bed with Evan, and I sat in a chair all night.. (No sleep for me) Man am I sore today.

Any who, they continued the treatments through the night and he started responding and doing much better by this morning.

DH came to the hospital at 6:30am to pick up the school kids, took them home, fed them, and got them ready for school. The baby and I stayed for a few more treatments.

Evan got to eat not ONE but TWO breakfast's.. Mine and his. LOL he was in HOG HEAVEN.  (Not to mention the Nurses waiting on him all night last night.. Popsicles at 3am, jello cause he was hungry, apple juice, milk.... man he got the treatment. and LOVED it)

Shortly after that, and one treatment later, we were able to go home with strict instructions to keep up with the treatments and if there is ONE sign of trouble, take him back in.

SO that being said,  unfortunately I was NOT able to attend MY APPOINTMENT, but will go for my follow-up next Wed..

Sorry to have  worried some of you, I was just really tired today, and tried to sleep when I could..
Thanks for your concern, love, prayers, thoughts, etc..

Hugs,
Jenn