Silly Shelby

Recently Shelby has said a few things that just made me chuckle and I want to remember them.

The other day I put toilet cleaner in the toilet to sit for a while. I had completely forgotten about it when Shelby came out and said "I didn't even need to flush because there was a beautiful air freshener in the bathroom!" Oops!

Today in preschool Mrs Jill asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. Shelbys response was "I want to be me of course!"

Shelby will be going to the zoo with preschool and Mrs Jill talks about it often to prepare them to leave their parents behind. Parents aren't allowed to go along, but there is a high schooler per child so they are well taken care of. Shelby was telling me that I would have to stay home and I asked what I was going to do all day. She responded by saying "ummm, you can clean the potty."

Shelby will be going to the morning AND afternoon class for preschool next year so that I can be on campus for school and not have to work my classes around drop off/pick ups. I was nervous Mrs Jill wouldn't want her that long, but she said she'd love her. Then she asked Shelby if she would want to stay all day next year. Shelby of course was very excited. When they were getting their coats and backpacks today Shelby said "I don't need mine, I'm staying all day!"

That girl sure does make me laugh and I'm glad that I get to stay home with her so I don't miss all the craziness.

Health Verdict

So I have been waiting for the results from my iodine uptake that I had done at the end of March. I was hoping to hear back from the Dr before my vacation to Disneyland and I was so excited when they called on April 2nd. Unfortunately they just said that my results were in and the Dr wanted to see me as soon as I could and cancel my April 19th appointment. I was pretty freaked out, but called them back to get a new appointment. Since they couldn't squeeze me in on the 3rd and I was leaving on the 4th, we scheduled for the day after I got back. (today) I was so panicked and new that I couldn't enjoy my vacation without a few more details to I called back and left a message asking them to just give me my results. The assistant called and left me a message telling me that the Dr was just worried about how I was feeling and figured we'd just get the ball rolling sooner since there isn't a reason to wait any longer. I tried to tell myself that was it, but deep down I knew it wasn't. The uptake looks for the cause of the hyperthyroidism and nothing the assistant said mentioned a cause. I enjoyed my vacation with my family and then came back to reality when we got back to Utah.

I had David come with me to the Dr appointment because I was so nervous there was more to the story. I was right. The Dr started by going over my blood work. I guess it is consistent with Graves Disease and two auto immune problems. One of them is Hoshimoto thyroiditis and I can't remember the other one to save my life. He told me that I was "lucky" sarcastically. :) Then he started in on the uptake results. With the uptake they give me radioactive iodine and then do a scan at 4 hours and 24 hours. After 4 hours the normal range would be 5-15%....mine was at 69%. After 24 hours the normal range would be 15-30%....mine was at 86%. He said that this shows that I have the worst case of Graves disease he's ever seen. (I think he should have given me a trophy!) So with all that great news we started talking about treatment. He wanted to start immediately because as he described it, "my body is working in overdrive and functioning as if I had an epipen injection constantly." This isn't good on the muscles and definitely not great on the heart. I told him that I can't do radioactive treatment until summer because David will be at work and I need the help with the kids. With the treatment I am not allowed to be anywhere near my children or even use the same bathroom. This doesn't seem too likely until the end of the school year. He understood my concerns and said that he would consult with the other Dr to see what he thought. I could tell he was hesitant to wait. He called me tonight and left a message and said that he has come up with another option after speaking with the other Dr. I will call him back tomorrow to try and figure out what the other option is. I'm hoping its a fantastic one because it seems as if it's that or doing the radioactive treatment right now without waiting. I have a great support system of friends and family and I know that my girls would be well cared for, but I hate to depend on others and would prefer to avoid it if possible. The doctor also explained what the next 8-9 months would be like for me. Basically I will become even more hyperthyroid as my thyroid dies, then I will go hypothyroid and with that will come weight gain, fatigue and he said all my muscles will hurt. Then they will balance it back to normal with thyroid hormones and I will be good from there on out. It sounds tricky, and not too much fun, but it is what it is. I am taking it all pretty well and with a positive attitude and I'm hoping to be able to find a treatment that works well for me and for my family. If not, I thank you all in advance for the outpouring of support, prayers, love and help with my girls. I truly appreciate it and have the best family and friends I could ask for.

Catch Up!

I'm going to be playing a little catch up before we leave for Disneyland on Wednesday. I'm hoping to get mostly caught up so that when I come home I can post a ton of pictures of the trip. I know everything seems a bit out of order but I just want to get it on the blog so that I can look back in a few years and remember the fun times! (And some not so fun of course.)

St Patricks Day

I am someone who loves a reason to celebrate. Last year I didn't do much for St Patricks day and I didn't really plan on it this year either. BUT Kadence was so excited. She has talked about it at school and she really wanted to catch a leprechaun and make it dance a jig. (She makes me laugh) I had a family member in town from out of state and kind of forgot all about the holiday until the girls were in bed the night before. I sent David on a hunt for gold chocolate coins and green themed candy/drinks. What a great daddy he is! While I was waiting for him to get home, I dyed the milk green and thought that I should make leprechaun footprints to show that he came in our house and left them a treat.

He walked up our steps, jumped on our table and then to the fridge to play a little trick. The girls had a blast and were so excited. Kadence was a little upset that she didn't get to see a Leprechaun jig, but she was easily distracted by a trip to the zoo with my family. Maybe next year. :)

Dr Seuss Day!

Last year we started celebrating Dr Seuss Day...or his Birthday...or Read Across America Day. It was a lot of fun to do a few silly things so I knew I wanted to make it a tradition. The night before Jeff came over and we helped him cut yarn for truffula trees that his 4th grade class would make. We made a few for the girls as well and they LOVED them. Shelby even had to take it to school for show and tell.

I also saw a cute treat that was super easy. You just melt some white chocolate and stick M&M's in them for the yolk. the girls really enjoyed this.

I buy the girls a Dr Seuss shirt for school. I didn't get a picture of Shelby but she had a Lorax one.We made green eggs and 'ham hash' which is something we make sometimes but not with green eggs. I actually have a hard time eating food that isn't the right color, but I managed to stay strong in front of the girls.I also made 1 fish 2 fish red fish blue fish jello cups. I have to admit that the fish were soggy because I put them in a few hours before we ate them. I wouldn't recommend putting the fish in until you are ready to eat them.We ended the night by going to see the movie The Lorax. The girls, David and I have been dying to go see it and we tried to keep it a surprise. We told the girls that it would be a while before we could see it so that they would be surprised. They were so happy and loved the movie too. Kadence kept saying "I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees." It made me laugh. We ended the night with a Dr Seuss bedtime story. I think I will do something every year even if it's just letting them go buy a new book.

We'll Miss you Grandpa Joy!

This morning we lost one of the best guys I know. I didn't think I would have such a hard time because we knew it was coming and I kept thinking it would be easier because it wasn't "MY" grandpa. Well, I was wrong. I did consider him to be MY grandpa all the same. I found a few poems that I was going to be putting on Facebook, but I didn't want to overload with the status updates. I can put all the poems on here that I want. :)

The Day God Called You Home

Anonymous

God looked around His garden,

And He found an empty place.

He then looked down upon this Earth,

And saw your tired face.

He put His arms around you,

And lifted you to rest.

God's garden must be beautiful,

He always takes the best.

He knew you were suffering.

He knew you were in pain.

he knew that you would never,

Get well on Earth again.

He saw that the road was getting rough,

And the hills were hard to climb,

So He closed your weary eyelids

And whispered, "Peace be Thine."

It broke our hearts to lose you,

But you didn't go alone.

For part of us went with you,

The day God called you home.

The Party Had Begun

Anonymous

I'm sorry for the emptiness you feel in your heart today,

but it's hard for the inner child when her dad must go away.

Although she's safe in Jesus care, it's the little girl inside

who still cries a lonely tear and asks Jesus why he died.

Our Father loves you so much, but the party had begun.

Without the guest of honor there, it wouldn't be any fun.

God sent him here to raise his kids and to touch so many hearts.

Then He let you keep his memory near so you'd never be apart.

In time God will unite you and although he had to go,

I'll bet he saves a piece of cake if he's like the dad's I know.

Memories Live Forever

Anonymous

It's hard to say good-bye to someone that you love,

although you now the're safe

with Jesus up above.

It doesn't make a difference if they're in their later years.

It only means more memories

to carry through the tears.

Don't let your selves forget, we each have numbered days.

For reasons that we do not know

God wanted it this way.

Tears wash away the pain, but it can't remove the love.

The memories live forever safe

in God's hands above.

I sure do love Grandpa Joy and will miss him dearly. Family functions won't be the same without him, but I'm sure we'll continue to share memories and laugh as though he was with us.

On a side note: This morning as I was telling Kadence that she would have a substitute because Grandpa Joy died (which meant Barb wouldn't go since it is her dad) she looked up at me with the most devastated face and two single tears fell down her cheeks. It was so heartbreaking. But he was honestly loved by all who knew him.

Crazy Hair Day

A few weeks ago it was Spirit Week at Kadence's school. I try really hard to make sure the kids participate so they aren't disappointed when they are the few who didn't participate. I kind of forgot about crazy hair day until the morning of so I didn't get too crazy. I put in a few pony tails and found some remnant red hair spray from Halloween. Kadence was super excited when she left for school. When she got home her hair was still in perfect shape....WHAT?! She always comes home looking like I let her roll out of bed and head to school. Her hair is a constant mess and the one time its supposed to be silly, its in perfect shape. Go figure. I asked if people liked her hair and she said, "Mom, someone told me my hair was beautiful." She was pretty upset about it. I'm sure she just hasn't learned sarcasm yet. :)

More Health Update

Ok, we got the results of my echo cardiogram and there wasn't anything wrong besides what we already knew. AWESOME!

Also, I was able to go see the endocrinologist. He was very thorough and asked a lot of questions. I told him my TSH level was at 0 and he didn't really seem too bothered by it. I was confused because that had my family dr pretty concerned. I figured he was the specialist so he knew better. After molesting my throat he found that my thyroid was about 50-60% and was firm. Because of this he is thinking that I might have Graves disease. Graves disease isn't curable, but you can treat the different symptoms. It can cause skin problems, eye problems, thyroid problems, and has also been known to cause mental problems. The only way to know is to do an iodine uptake scan. Also, in order to treat the thyroid problem I have 3 options. I can take medicine, I can do iodine radiation to kill the thyroid and then take thyroid hormone pills, or I can have my thyroid removed and take thyroid hormone pills. There are downs to all of them. The medicine makes me super sick, after the iodine radiation I can't go near any children, pregnant women, or breastfeeding woman. I can't even use the same bathroom. So that has its obvious downs considering I would be banished to the basement for up to a week. And then surgery has its normal risks. In order to do the iodine treatment or surgery, my dr wants an iodine uptake test done which is great since he wanted one anyways. The downfall to this is that we can't treat the thyroid with any option until its complete. We didn't schedule the uptake, just took blood.

Today the Dr office called and the lady seemed a little panicky and like it was urgent on her VM message. When I called back she told me that I "was quite hyperthyroid" and that I would need to start a medicine to lower my heart rate immediately. (That's what I was expecting when I went in, but I guess they needed the lab results before they believed me) They also scheduled my iodine uptake which means I get to go on a super fun diet that is low in iodine. Basically no milk, eggs, soy, most salt, red dye #3 and low on the meats and grains. I won't have to continue this long, just a week. I am happy that I can drink soda and also eat skittles. :) I'll keep everyone posted on my results and also which treatment I choose.

Little Bit Of A Health Update...

Ok, so I'm not trying to be super dramatic or whiny and complain but I have been having a few health issues lately that ended up leading me to the Dr. For quite some time now I have had chest pain. I basically have just ignored it because it only lasts for a little while and then it leaves and its like it never happened. (Really responsible, I know.) I didn't even tell David half the time it happened. THEN, as I tried to go to the gym to improve my overall health I realized that instead of making me feel better, it made me feel really really tired and just not good. I then realized that every time that I went on the elliptical my heart would just go CRAZY. After about 2 minutes on level one, my heart rate would jump to 180 and sometimes higher. Considering that a cardio heart rate for me is between 150 and 160, that is way too high. It took me a few weeks before coming to terms with the fact that something must be wrong. (I try to just ignore things as long as I can) Then it took me another 2 weeks before I actually made an appointment with the Dr.

During this 'waiting' period, I tried to think of all the things it could be. After giving birth to Kadence, my blood pressure sky rocketed. (I had postpartum toxemia.) While I was at U of U, they determined that it had damaged my heart valve. So when I have chest pains my first thought goes to that. Maybe it is getting worse faster than they thought, etc. My second thought was about my thyroid. After giving birth to Shelby I developed postpartum hyperthyroidism. This usually only lasts about 12-18 months. I had blood work done a few times and it showed that after 18 months my thyroid did indeed figure itself out so we figured I was in the clear. With hyperthyroidism, your entire body basically is in overdrive. Everything works harder and faster than normal. So knowing both of these facts I figured that it for sure had to deal with one of these two things.

While I was at the Dr telling her all my symptoms and explaining everything she seemed to think that it was all because of anxiety. I have anxiety which can be quite severe at times and I personally KNEW that it wasn't because of anxiety. She wanted to be sure because, well....we're dealing with chest pains. She did an EKG in the office which came back looking great. Side note...Shelby was with me and started getting really concerned as they hooked me up to the machine. She said "I sure hope you are ok mommy." It just about broke my heart. I then went to get a chest xray to see if my heart was enlarged. While I did, another xray tech had to 'babysit' Shelby since they don't allow any extra bodies in their xray rooms. (I was a tad stressed at this point) Then I went and got a full set of labs done. Again, Shelby was pretty freaked out watching them do tests on her mommy. My xray came back and looked great. They scheduled an echo cardiogram for 3 days later and sent me home to wait for my lab results.

My lab results came back 2 days later and showed that I definitely have hyperthyroidism again. I asked what my TSH level was and the lady said, "Well, it came back as a zero." WHAT?! Last time when it was .07ish they were freaked because it was so low but to know that it was at zero made me panic a little. (Normal range is .3 to 3) After the Dr saw that she wanted me to immediately have a thyroid ultrasound to see if there was an underlying problem. So the following day I had a thyroid ultrasound and my echo cardiogram. I won't know the results until tomorrow or Wednesday, but I'm hoping everything else turns out great. I can't meet with the endocrinologist until April 19th which has me a little concerned. As it is, my heart is constantly racing and is over the 'resting heart rate' threshold pretty constantly while I rest. Having such a low TSH for a long time can ultimately cause heart failure due to the heart having to work so hard. I'm going to be calling the Dr and seeing if they can put me on meds before the 19th considering that is a month and a half away. I am pretty constantly nauseous from my constant increased heart rate and heart palpitations, I get dizzy, I'm exhausted constantly, I have chest pain, and I am really restless. I'm hoping to get it all figured out soon so I can go back to being a better mom and wife. (This all has me pretty cranky and down right bitchy!)

Friday Confessional

I CONFESS....I love love love babies! I have babysat the past two days and will babysit tomorrow as well. I really enjoy it. Although I enjoy it, it makes me realize how out of practice I am. I can't believe what a difference 4 years makes. Don't get me wrong, I have the basics down and the babies are well taken care of. :) Its when it comes down to multitasking. I'm a pretty good multitasker, but I've grown out of the baby multitasking as my kids grew. I don't even mind though, I love babysitting the cute little faces. (Especially when they laugh and smile)

I CONFESS....I really miss living in Logan. When I was there I don't think I truly appreciated it, but now I wish I was there again. The main thing that bothered me was that people are too "in your face" about religion. I just personally feel that there is a time and a place. Writing scriptures on your backpack for the world to see....not exactly the place in my opinion. I did however love the view, the people, the 'out of the city' location, and just the overall feel of living there. I love visiting, but I hope to one day live there. My dream is for David to be a professor at Utah State and live up there in our dream home.

I CONFESS....my girls have one heck of an attitude. I know that I am a bit sassy, but their attitude far surpasses anything they would have inherited from me. Kadence wags her finger back and forth, they both put their hands on their hips, they both roll their eyes, a favorite phrase is "OH MY GOSH!" (said with much attitude), and they have the "MOOOOM" down perfectly for when they are teenagers. Sometimes its cute now, but it won't be long before I want to smack them upside the head when they get sassy at me. Wish me luck in a few years!