Monday, March 30, 2009

Update

Well what to talk about today............

Jimmy will be going back to work tomorrow. He has basically been off since the 2nd week in December. It has been great having him home but he is definitely ready to go back. I am feeling better. Yesterday wasn't so good. Had trouble breathing and coughing up a lot of crud. I was outside a lot of the morning so that probably didn't help.

No more lice, I can happily report!!

I have lost 4.5 pounds now!! WOOHOO!

Mary went to her eye apt on post and failed. She went last year and they said she needed glasses. I was skeptical on the prescription strength. The doctor wasn't very interested in waiting on Mary to decide the shape. Being three I figured they could give her some leeway. So it wasn't a shock when she failed this time. With Jimmy's gene for eyes it isn't a surprise that it hit all 3 of them. So Mary goes to an eye specialist on Wednesday to see what the deal is.

The kids and Jimmy were wrestling yesterday. Morgan got elbowed in the head. She is still not 100% yet. Her head hurts. Poor baby. Right now she has her room to herself. Mary is bunking with Noah tonight. Morgan is watching one of my favorite movies, Cleopatra. Yes the movie with Elizabeth Taylor. It is so good.

I made turkey with all the fixings tonight. The kids wanted to pretend it was Christmas. They set the table like Christmas and used the fancy plates and glasses. We drew names for secret Santa's. I got 2 movies from mom. Morgan got a nice poem from Jimmy. Noah gave Mary his dinosaur book, she is always taking. Jimmy got a beaded key chain for his keys. Mary glued pictures from a magazine on some paper for Noah (they were things he likes). I am drawing a picture for mom.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, that I really don't want to go to.

Other than that not much else going on. Hope this update finds you all well.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Update on working out

This morning I weighed myself and (drum roll please) I have lost 2.5 lbs!!! Now this may seem like a small amount compared to the Biggest Loser, but my goal is to loose 2 or more pounds a week. I have worked out everyday but Sunday and Monday. Now Sunday was laziness on my part and my trainer as well. Yesterday though was my day off for the week. It is weird to work out but strangely fun in a way. The best part is getting in shape. The second best thing is spending time with Jimmy everyday. It is nice to see what he gets so excited about. It will be a long journey to get this weight off at 2 pounds a week but I am determined. For all of you who know me this is something I will do. There isn't a force on Earth that can stop me if I have my eye set on something.

On a side note. I have been feeling better and was feeling like I was finally going to be over this crud. But for the past 2 days I have been feeling run down and very phlegmy (sorry). I am hoping this is just me getting all the crud out finally. I am worried, in that little part of my brain, that I am getting worse again. I hope not. I will not stop working out either way.

Monday, March 23, 2009

The Awards


Morgan and her awards.















Recieving her awards and ribbon.



So I must be a doting mom for a moment. This morning was Morgan's school award ceremony. Morgan got the most awards in her class by a mile. Now I know it is all about achieving your own personal goals. Which by the way she obliterated! I didn't gloat or goosh to her over the fact she earned the most but I am saying it here...lol. Sorry. Anyway here is a run down of her awards.




3rd Nine Weeks Achievement Award


All 'A' Honor Roll


3 AR Award ( AR is advanced Reading and the 3rd is, she has received one for each nine weeks


(or semesters to those in traditional school)


41 Math Objectives Mastered (most in her class)


Terrific Kid Award (means never got in trouble)


4 Star Reader Awards (exceeded her AR allowance for the school year before the 3rd semester was over)


So if you are keeping track, that is 9 awards for 9 weeks. I am so proud of her!!!! OK so I will stop gooshing now. Have a great day.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Life and Movies

Not much to report. The past few days have been pretty low key.

Morgan and Mary are nit and bug free. We will keep checking and crossing our fingers. I think we have washed just about everything in the house.

I am still working out everyday. Jimmy now has me under his wing. I am lifting weights, to get toned. I definitely do not want to look like those female body builders, who I secretly think are men. (Sorry just my opinion.) Anyway, I have found most of the stuff to be pretty easy. I have shocked myself with how I can do sit ups and lift more than the remote...lol. Jimmy also isn't the Nazi trainer I had come to think he would be. He has been very supportive. He didn't even laugh when I slid off the exercise ball. That's when you know your man loves you.

I have watched a few movies the past couple of days and thought I would share my insights.

MAX PAYNE: It's one of those movies you find yourself thinking why am I watching this? Do I not have anything else I could be doing? Mark Wahlberg was wonderful in it. He made a good Max Payne and there were tons of familiar stars in it. But my suggestion is wait for it to come on cable if you desire to watch it. My vote is don't waste your money or time.

The Changeling: Holy cow what a good movie. Angelina Jolie has always been one of my favorites and this movie shows why. She was wonderful!! Some other favorites of mine were in it as well. Like John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan and directed by Clint Eastwood. Any mother's heart strings will be tugged in this true story. A Must See!!!!

Australia: Now this movie is a mix of see or not. The first half hour or so I almost turned it off. It wasn't to engaging. It started to pick up and ended up being a good movie. There were about 3 times in the movie where you thought it would be over but alas it tricks you and keeps going. It is a very long movie which was made longer by children, a husband, and a mother coming in. SO I am not sure what to say about it. It is something worth seeing but I don't think it should be to high on the list of all time must see movies.

I still have to watch 'Babylon A.D.', 'The Secret Lives of Bees' and 'Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'. Yes I do like a variety in my movies. If you have seen any recent movies that you think I should add to my list, let me know. I love a good movie.



Update: I finished 2 movies.

The first was the new Mummy movie. It was ok. Not as exciting as the original 2. But if you are a Frasier fan it is a must see.

The second was 'The Secret Lives Of Bees'. I didn't read the book or know anything about the movie before I watched it. Oh my goodness it was wonderful and heartbreaking. It was a movie I would watch over and over! A must see.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Workout

So it is official. I started working out today. I went and signed up at Omni fitness. Yes I know I have had access to free gym the entire time Jimmy has been in the military. The point of getting a membership is now I have to use it because I pay for it. Yes that ultimately means I have NO I repeat NO self control. No determination to sweat to death and work out. I hate working out. Anyway, this gym is awesome. They have a daycare for the kids. There goes another excuse of can't take Mary there. They have an all women work out room. This takes away any excuse of not wanting to work out in front of guys (which isn't that big a deal to me). They also have the best thing I have ever seen in a gym before. They have a movie room. Yes you heard me right. There is a room that shows a movie while you work out on either a treadmill, elliptical trainer or a bike. Today they were playing the movie "Jumper". Let me tell you, for a person who hates walking in one place this is it for me. I walked for 25 minutes on the treadmill on an incline and it seemed like nothing. Well until I got off lol. Then went to a bike and road another mile and a half. I can't believe they have made working out so mindlessly fun. Needless to say I love this gym. I never thought in my 32 years on this Earth that i would ever say that.

It is sad really that I have paid so little attention to my health. I have let the kids and Jimmy be my first priority and now I need to make time for me. I know easier said then done. I am determined to do it though.

I want to get back to 160lbs. The doctor has said I should be about 120-140 lbs, which is never going to happen again. After 4 kids this will never be possible. Which I think 160lbs is pretty good weight even though it still makes me overweight for the Dr. Anyway more to come and I will keep all 3 of my readers up to date on my progress..... Have a good one!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The joy of being a mom!

Today I thought hey Jimmy, Mary and I will go to lunch. We snuck out and went to Subway. We started having a lovely lunch of yummy subs when my phone rang. It was Morgan. Thus the following conversation....

Morgan: "Hey mom you know how I said my head itched? Well I told my teacher that it itched and she looked and I have bugs in my hair."

Me: "WHAT?"

Morgan:"Yes, the teacher doesn't know what it is. Will you come look?"

Me: "I will be here in a minute."

Of course I show up at school and Morgan's class is in the lunchroom. She hurries and eats her lunch and we go see the nurse. Of course the nurse proceeds to show me the little vermin trapsing through Morgan's hair. We took her out of school and headed straight for the pharmacy. When we got home I spent 20 minutes combing her hair with the special comb. I think there must have been 100+ bugs and nits that I took out. I soon decided that Morgan needed a haircut. I trimmed her hair really short. Took a lot of nits off that way. The whole procedure including the hair cut took over an hour. Ugh! Just they way I wanted to spend an afternoon.

Poor Jimmy took to cleaning. He has stripped beds, started laundry, vacuumed mattresses and carpets and used the lice spry on the beds and pillow. He has all the laundry downstairs. He is looking a little ragged, but he is doing a great job.

I hope your afternoon was better then mine.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Breakfast

This morning Jimmy and I slept in until 8am. Our door kept opening and shutting but no one was coming in. We went to sit up and the door opened again. This time Morgan and Noah strode through the door. They had made Jimmy and I breakfast in bed. It was so cool. This is the first time they have ever made us breakfast in bed without an adults help. The tray was covered in paper towels. They were trying to keep the food warm. As we uncovered the goodies, we found an array of food. We had 2 small bowls of strawberry yogurt with graham crackers to dip in it (no spoons though). We had 2 biscuits and a small dish of gravy they warmed up. They also had an apple and peanut butter. Not to forget our 2 glasses of juice. They were so sweet!!! Come to find out the door was opening and shutting so much because they sent Mary to spy on us. Her job was to make sure Jimmy and I weren't getting out of bed before they were ready. So funny! Just had to share my wonderful morning.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Good and bad news!!!

So I got the call yesterday from the dr. The great news is that all my tests, they have run so far, are negative! The bad news is that I definitely have a bad case of pneumonia. They tested my strain against all their meds and nothing works to kill it. Par for the course right? They tested it against regular amoxicillin and it had some effect but didn't kill it. So they put me on a 14 day course of antibiotics in hopes it will lessen the infection enough for my body to keep fighting it. They are still running the Tuberculosis and fungal tests. They won't be ready for another 5 weeks. So for now we are resting, taking the my medicine and waiting. Sounds fun huh? I have to go back if I don't start feeling better or if I start to feel worse. There is not much else to do. I go back in for another sputum test after this round of medicine is over to see if the infection is going away. It isn't such a great feeling to know that they have no medicine to help this go away. Anyway, I just wanted to pop on and let you know the news. I have to go finish my movie marathon now. Hope you have a great night!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

"Nooooo"

So last night after dinner Mary gets pretty cranky and more tired than usual. Come to find out she has a temperature of 101. So Tylenol and a bath was in her future. Usually she is a splashing and playing but of course being sick she sat in there looking sad and pathetic. I dry her off and she laid down on my bed to watch a movie. About 7pm she is out like a light. She is sleeping so soundly I decided to go downstairs and watch some DVR recordings. At 10pm Mary makes an appearance at the top of the stairs. She is mad that I never turned on her movie. She was so tired she didn't even remember I turned it on or that she watched at least 10 minutes of it. So I drag myself upstairs and turn it back on. She seems content and I tell her I will be back in a few minutes when my show is over. About 10:30ish I come back up to my room. She is awake and watching ScoobyDoo, all warm and cozy under my sheets. I sit at my computer to blog and then I hear it....."Mom I don't feel so good." "NOOOOO" I groaned as I turn around just in time to see her throw up on my bed. I ran over and pulled her off the bed and starting pushing her towards the bathroom. While she is sobbing sorry about the bed, I get her to the toilet. I turn back to the bed to go pull off the sheets and I hear the wonderful sound of throw up splashing on the floor. UGHHHH I go back and console her and clean her up. When she is calmed down, I set her on my floor on a blanket and proceeded to clean up the mess. Mom could hear Mary and came to check but my frustration of no oxygen, the cleaning up and the fresh smell of "vomit in the morning" was to much for me to except help. SO this was our night until about 2am when Mary decided there was no more left to bring up from the bowels of her toes. Who would think a 4 year old could produce such foulness. By then Mary was wide awake and discussing life with some cartoon on t.v. I on the other hand tried to drift off into oblivion. About 3:30 am Mary finally got to sleep and was up and at 'em at 6am sharp! She has been running around all day as if last night had not occurred. It is sickening the recuperative powers of a toddler. I will continue to drag butt until shear exhaustion takes me into a dreamless abyss........ How was your night? LOL

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

"Angry Lungs"

Yesterday was my bronchoscope. It was not the most fun I have had, but I made it through it. My pulse is always high but I was never under 134 beats per minute, usually I am about 105-110. My oxygen levels are dropping as well. They had me on a nasal cannula and my level was staying at 92%. The numbing of my nose and throat was the worst part. Thankfully my 'twilight' meds were awesome. I don't remember anything but the Dr saying "Try not to cough". It wasn't a long procedure. It took about 30 minutes for the actual scoping part. When I came to and they brought in Jimmy, we actually saw pics of my scope being done. The doctor did the lavage (pushed water into my lung and then sucked it out) and retrieved a lot of blood and infected stuff. Apparently it is all hanging out in there having a party. He took some other samples as well. The doctor didn't do any biopsies which Jimmy and I are hoping means no cancer. The doctor did say that I had a really red and swollen lungs. He called them "angry lungs", which I think is hilarious. I pictured Mrs. Potato Head on Toy Story 2, when she tells Mr. Potato Head that she "packed his angry eyes!" He did say that he thinks I have an extremely bad case of Bronchitis that may be bacterial or fungal. They are going to figure out what it is and then decide on a course of action to help get rid of it. As for the lower lobe collapse, he wants to wait on how to fix it until my results come back. The results of some tests will take 4-5 days. The Dr said he would call at the end of this week or the beginning of next week with those results. Some other tests will take up to 6 weeks. I am not sure what tests will come when, I was a little out of it to ask at the time.

He is discouraged that I have been through 6 rounds of antibiotics and 5 steroid bursts since the end of October. I had forgotten I was sick when I got home from NE. So woohoo it adds another month onto this drawn out sickness.(Grand total of 20 weeks I have been sick!) This has to be some kind of record.

So they aren't ruling out anything yet but we are crossing our fingers and praying for a good outcome.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sunday Night

I didn't post yesterday and almost didn't today. I was pretty tired on Saturday so I just sat around and relaxed! Then this morning I even slept in an hour but took 6....count them.....6 naps! I have a low grade fever.

As some of you know I am still sick from November. I have been battling pnuemonia and a collapsed lung for weeks and weeks now. I finally went to my pulmonologist on Feb 23. He was concerned that my mulitple rounds of antibiotics and steroids were not working. So he decided to send me for a CT scan on Feb 26 to check out how things look in there. Well (with my luck) the doctor called back in less than 24 hours to say the results came back "abnormal". He was called by the radiologist and was going to personally go look at the CT hinself. As he is telling me this I am in shock and terrified at the same time. He tells me he needs more blood work and to come in on Monday (March 2) for my labs. He also scheduled me for a Bronchoscope on March 9 (tomorrow) at 9AM. This is a test were under IV sedation they will stick a tube down my throat into my left lung. This way they can look around with a camera, take some samples and do a biopsy. I won't get into all the grose details (you can look it up online if you like). Anyway I can't even explain all the horrific things that have gone through my mind. I am freaking out that he will look in there and find cancer. I don't want him to find anything else either but definatley not cancer. I just want them to say hey it's still pnuemonia and we have to do some IV meds or something. Or at the most that they will have to fix my lung collapse surgically. I hate the hospital but I could deal with a couple days of it.

Jimmy has been home taking care of me since December. His unit it so great! They have really stood behind him and I. No other unit we have been in would have done this. I am so grateful to have him in my life!

Please say a prayer for me. I so very much in need of them.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Love over the years

Today I was talking with a friend about how love for your spouse changes. I was thinking back on Jimmy and I and our 15 years together (chokes). We have been married 12 years this past February. Wow that seems so hard to believe sometimes. I have been in this relationship for half my life!

Let that just hang there in space for a second.....HALF MY LIFE!

Our relationship started out so great, like most couples. Everything in us was a twitter. Butterflies were flying around in the sky under a perfect rainbow. There was confetti and parades in my heart every time he walked in the door. Love at the beginning is so real and filling. It becomes the food that sustains you. You walk around in a glow knowing that this one person is the center of your universe. The one bright spot in the world that exists for only you. The laughs, hand holding, longing into each others eyes and the like, is more than most people looking in, can digest without feeling a little throw up in the back of their mouths (sorry). The euphoria of being with that on special someone is so addicting.

We did the dating and the engagement and finally the big day. Finally we were man and wife. The funny thing is that no one you know ever tells you that the minute you get married something inside you changes. Now don't get me wrong I am not saying changes for the worse in anyway, but there is a noticeable difference (at least there was for me). I started to see him as more than this wonderfully funny and charming guy. He was my friend before but now no matter what he was my best friend. My partner in crime. My confidant. Sure he was all these things before but now it had intensified! My love for him somehow multiplied just by saying "I do!" Was this possible or just all in my head?

Well a few years goes by and the inevitable "I can't stand you!" kicks in. That I hate everything about you. The way you look, snore, chew, talk, laugh, even breathe. Somehow in the mess of daily life, kids and work, that wonderful guy I was so in love with turned into this annoying person that would not go away. So yes for awhile Jimmy and I did split. Almost 2 years we were separated. Those 2 years stunk! I tried to move past my feelings, move past the draw towards him. It didn't work. We ended back together. I am not saying the year or two following was easy or even at times comfortable but we did it. We made it to the other side. It was one of the most difficult and painful times in my life but it was also the most rewarding! I just couldn't stop and imagine anywhere else I truly should be.

The love that we have now is so much more real and tangible than anything we had before. He is my best friend, ally, and yes accomplice lol. He has my back in every situation. Every moment we have now is cherished and appreciated. We are comfortable finally, but in a good way. We accept each other fully now. I can accept that he can not for the life of him pick up his laundry off the floor. He can accept that I can not put a tool back in it's proper place. These are trivial things but if you get down to it....it is life. IT IS REAL LIFE. Not something you find in the theaters. Not some glamorized relationship in a novel. This is the grit of life. Excepting someone for all their faults while at the same time still loving them. I want the last argument Jimmy and I to have is that he left dirty, stinky socks on the bedroom floor again. Or that he still can't find that hammer.

I guess the point of this whole saga is this. Love the person you are with. Love them with your whole heart. Tell that person how much they mean to you. Make sure you tell them you love them any chance you get....don't wait! The worst thing you can do in a relationship or in life is to waste it by not saying or doing what your heart feels like it should!

P.S.- If you see Jimmy ask him if he picked up his socks.............lol

Thursday, March 5, 2009

My first blog......

Well, here I go. Starting a new and exciting future. I am becoming a blogger. Now I have had one or two blog posts on my MySpace page but this is my first official blog spot. I am very excited to start this next chapter of my Internet usage...lol. I am not going to go into the whole this is how my life started thing. Just going to start of this blog saying "Hi." From here on out it will be like your reading a page out of my diary. So be warned!! Enter at your own risk!! My mind can be a scary thing (wooo hahahahaha). Wow, I think I might have scared myself? So in accordance with the law please read the following disclaimer before continuing: I, Julie D****, will not (and could not possibly be expected to) accept responsibility or liability for any views/claims/rumors/or errors that appears here in. The views expressed in this file do not necessarily agree with my own (even though they are my views). I have attempted to present information in a professional and non-sensationalist manner, but as far as the information itself goes, I am obviously at the mercy of my own personal opinion. The information is presented here in good faith, for readers' enjoyment and education. However, I will gladly entertain debate over whether any specific piece of information should or should not be included.