Busy Busy Bee

I am 24 years old, now, and have never been stung by a bee... well... up until one night about 2 weeks ago, anyways. :-(

I got home from work a bit later than planned, and we rushed around to get everything together and get Austin ready so that we could head up to the Fort for the game. The plan was to get there early so that he could warm up with everyone and be ready for the start of the game.

Yeah.

That didn't exactly happen.

We got on the road (finally!), and got stuck in traffic. In order to avoid even just a little bit of stress, we turned down a back road to skip some of the traffic. We were almost at the end of the road when we realized that Studly didn't have his ID with him... didn't have any ID with him. So we turned around and headed back towards the house to get his ID.

When we'd finally got the ID, we turned back towards the Fort and took the back road again to avoid some of the traffic, and save a bit of sanity. Time was ticking and we were getting closer and closer to game time, yet we hadn't even made it on base!

We finally see the gate, turn in, and are quickly turned away. In our haste to make it to the field in time, we had turned in to the closest entrance... but didn't consider the fact that my car didn't have base stickers. Boo!

So around we went to get through inspection and hustle it on over to the field...

But wait...

What field are we on?

We drove in circles, already having missed the start of the game... the dog was whining, the husband was stressed, and this wife was going crazy!

We finally spotted the field and McStudly hopped out to get over there ASAP. I went on and parked, got the dog out, and got all of the "shtuff" together before beginning the long awkward hike to the bleachers.

At this point, I felt like I could at least take a deep breath. We'd made it. Studly's head was in the game, the dog was out of the car and no longer whining, and we were finally good to go for another couple of hours. With Austin in hand, we crossed through the tall grass area and were finishing our little trek across the grassy knoll, dotted with spots of dandelion weeds. All the while we were walking, I was thinking about how I'd have to check the pup for ticks, later, because of those long weeds we'd walked through.

oww...

Ouch...

OOOOOOUUUUUCCCCHHHHHH!!!!!!

WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!?!

Oww OWW OOOOWWWWW!!!!!

In that split second between feeling a little prick on the arch of my foot, and getting my hand to that area to wipe away what I thought would be a stick or something that was poking me sharply, the pain intensified immensely!! It was only a split second! I mean... what the dilly?! What the HECK kind of devil stick is this?!

It wasn't a devil stick. Well, devil seems fitting, but definitely not a stick.

...stupid little bee...

In the time that it took to blink while turning my head down to my foot, and also while reaching my hand down to wipe away the devil stick (all in less than a second), my hand touched the spastic wings of the stupid little devil bee before my eyes did and I FLUNG it off my foot!

Totally freaked out, now!!

Well, I hobbled over to the bleachers, which were still a good 100ft away from where "it" happened, and stretched out the hand that was holding Austin's leash...

"Hi, umm... can you hold my dog?!" Poor stranger was nice enough, though. He took his leash and watched him while I examined my now gimpy foot.

Poor little lefty. *sniff sniff

Sure enough, I had been stung right on the arch of my foot. I'm still not really sure how it happened, but it did. And at that moment, all that mattered was knowing that the little devil bee that had stung innocent ol' me was now dead. (I promise I'm not a violent person... but I know bees don't have feelings, so I was perfectly fine with the fact that he died for what he did to my foot. And I did NOTHING to him! Grr... yes it was a boy. No sweet little girl bee would do such a thing for no reason!)

So I basically sat there staring at this odd looking target-esque devil marking on my foot trying desperately to breathe deeply and fight back the tears that were welling up behind my oversized brown sunglasses (so thankful I hadn't forgotten them!), all while McStudly had not-a-clue what had been going on.

I got out what I thought was the last bit of the stinger (found out later that I wasn't accurate in that assumption) and used the antibacterial hand sanitizer offered up by another sweet stranger to clean the war-wound and keep it from getting infected. I asked that poor girl so many questions... I had no idea what to do about a bee sting!!

Well, as you can tell I survived. I did make it and now my foot is on it's way to some semblance of "normal". I went to the doctor last week for a follow-up on some other things, and mentioned the bee sting to her. It was super itchy and driving me CRAZY, so she gave me some topical cream that would help drive out the rest of the stinger and relieve the itchy reminder of what that devil bee did to my poor little left foot.

I don't care how cute of a movie they made, those bees are evil little creatures!

Craziness

We're never given more than we can handle, but that doesn't mean we don't start to feel broken by the weight of it all, right?!

I had a rough weekend. Some of that was captured in yesterday's blog. But the stuff not mentioned, as well as a pretty rough day today... let's just say I'm feeling pretty weighed down today.

And tonight I have to go to the clinic and meet with my client for a re-test, since she still hasn't gotten her period (and I think she's probably pregnant, and the last test was too early).


Don't get me wrong - I still absolutely LOVE volunteering and interning at the clinic. I really really do. And I'm looking forward to working with her again and helping her. I just pray that when I'm walking in, I'll be able to leave everything at the door and be Jesus to her when she needs it.


But now that, too, has me thinking. I wonder how many people have left baggage at that door.

Interns. Counselors. Clients.

I wonder what it would look like if we could put on our special goggles and see the kind of stuff that's just been chillin there for who knows how long.


I've heard the saying, before, that if everyone threw their troubles into a pile, we would each be quick to take back our own, after seeing it amidst the weight of all the others.

That's probably true.



This week should be full of interesting things. Some really good friends of ours are already overdue to have their baby girl, and I just CAN'T wait to meet her! Come on little Abby!! She's apparently just way too comfortable hanging out in there.

Sunday, on top of answering all of the questions regarding our worship pastor leaving, I was also lucky enough to field the "baby watch" questions.

*sigh*

Now I know how google feels.


Anywho - we're on baby watch. Kind've on neighbor watch (I'll still need to fill you on in all of that mess, soon. oh it's good... you'll love hearing all that action). Still recovering from our eventful and emotional weekend. AND I have a Dr's appt on Thursday. Fuunnn stuff.

I'm beginning to feel like the only solution would be planning a good vacation for just the two of us...





Can I get a Amen?!

You Can Stand Under My Umbrella

SO we're finally home. McStudly was discharged yesterday from the hospital and was super excited to finally sleep in his own bed, last night, next to his wonderful, amazing, totally awesome wife *cough cough*. And he missed his dog a little bit, too (understatement of the century). It was a very happy reunion, folks.


So the Doc "feels strongly" that it's Crohns' Disease. The biopsies from Friday's Colonoscopy came back "inconclusive", but she said that's not uncommon for Crohns' patients. There's one final test they are waiting on, and here's the thing: if it's negative, it won't rule out Crohns', but if it's positive, it'll pretty much point all fingers in that direction. Let's hope we just get some more answers. We don't like getting a "probably" diagnosis. We aren't the kind of people that just want "a" diagnosis... we'd rather get "the" diagnosis, even if it's "we don't have a clue", though that would totally suck.

I'm exhausted. I can hardly say he's exhausted, but he is tired of all the drama of this past week. Poor guy's got thoughts flying a mile-a-minute in that gorgeous skull of his... and so many questions.


The kicker? We have to decide by Friday is he's going to re-enlist. You see - he's been working tons of job leads for the past two months. Some have fallen, some have re-appeared, and some have been going strong. But a few of them needed him to get some information to him this past week... and then this happened. So we're kind've in limbo as to where they sit, and also if it even matters.

The thing we've learned about Crohns' is that it's pretty unpredictable, at best. You can have a mild to severe case, but it can change. So you may have a mild case this year and then next year it's severe. Or, you can go into remission and not have a relapse for 30 years. So... we're still learning. Our biggest concern is it's impact on employment. We've read that it can make a difference in some areas. Depending on how severe of a case it is, of course. And the 10 pills he's currently taking a day (which is supposed to be 18, if they can figure out how he can take this other medicine... we'll get to that later) for a mild case of Crohns' disease would be WAY expensive without Tri-Care covering it. Not to mention what could happen in a normal job if he has a flare-up like this one, where he was in the hospital for 5 days.

It seems that re-enlisting is the most reasonable option. And it's not awful, just not necessarily what McStudly wanted to do. And I want him to be happy - cause when McStudly's happy, I'm happy... and Austin McDog is pretty easy to please either way, but it still helps.


The worst part, at least for the next 3 weeks, is the pills. McStudly has NEVER been able to take pills. NE-VER! Since he was a child. His father even put him in the bathroom, once, and told him he couldn't come out until he swallowed them. He sat in there for hours. It didn't happen. McStudly was sad. But that means that now - we have to buy everything in Chewable or liquid form. And I guess they don't make Flagyl in an orange flavored, chewable tablet... or any of his other meds, for that matter. So we have to crush them all up in applesauce or Chocolate pudding. We may try oatmeal, too, but that's still up in the air.

The Doctor prescribed something called Pentasa, which is a common Crohns' medication. The problem? It's an Extended Release (ER) tablet and, well, he can't take pills! Crushing an ER tablet just makes the whole "timed release" aspect null and void. In all fairness to the Doc, she didn't know he can't take pills. In all fairness to us, if she had given us more than a split-friggin-second of her TIME then we could've TOLD her!! (different rant for a different post, I suppose...) So we talked to the Physicians' Assistant (PA) - who was AWESOME,by the way - and she did what she could, but wasn't able to find another form of the medicine. So she recommended we talk to the Pharmacist about similar meds that may work. Well, he came up with another ER tablet (super helpful, sir!) and one non-ER tablet (hooray!) which we called the PA back about... etc, etc.

So the Doc just decided she wanted to call the people who make Pentasa and see if it would be alright for McStudly to just spill the contents of the pill and take it that way... obviously making it no-longer ER, but still giving him the meds. Once we hear back on that one, we'll be adding at least 8 more pills to the daily mix, and possibly more - because he has to take 1000mg 4 times a day, so it'll just depend on what dosage they give him.


Whew! That's a lot! We're still considering getting a second opinion, but that would be the military, so it may not even be worth it... then again, the guy he saw last time was pretty good, so it may not be bad after-all.


So - question for all you mil-wives out there: any idea how/if Crohns' can affect eligibility for enlistment? Or if he'll be deployable? We're pretty sure an auto-immune disease would make some kind of impact, but we're hoping not, if it's under control by meds, etc.

Anywho, prayers are greatly appreciated. Thoughts are pretty much just as good, and encouragement would be wonderful! McStudly went from being completely healthy - never sick a day in his LIFE (literally, I believe) to now having a disease that will be with him for the rest of his life. It's life-changing, for him. Not that he felt invincible before, but it's kind've a wake-up call to someone who's taken advantage of their health for so long... maybe even a reminder to those of you who are doing the same?



Well, I want to thank all of you for your warm encouraging comments and your help (Kristin - THANKS for the advice about the C. Diff diagnosis!!). You've been so great to us and we appreciate all of your support. Now - hopefully we'll be able to have some more upbeat posts in the near future, instead of this depressing medical drama.

I'll leave you with the lyrics to a very well-known song that's been in my head for the past week. I think it sums up an aspect marriage the that it's supposed to be, and I love it - so far every version I've heard is great, but the version I like right now is actually Mandy Moore's mellow-er version (hang in there... it gets good in the middle). Check it out if you get the chance - it's NOT the original, not even close, but it's pretty awesome. Anyways, here are the lyrics:


"You have my heart
And we'll never be worlds apart
Maybe in magazines
But you'll still be my star
Baby cause in the dark
Who can see shiny cars
That's when you need me there
With you I'll always share
Because...

When the sun shines We'll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'd always be your friend
Took an oath I'mma stick it out 'till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Told you we'll still have each other
You can stand under my Umbrella
You can stand under my Umbrella (Ella ella eh eh)
Under my umbrella (Ella eh eh)

These fancy things
Will never come in between
You're my entity
Here for Infinity
When the war has took it's part
When the world has dealt it's cards
If the hand is hard
Together we'll mend your heart
Because...

When the sun shines We'll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'd always be your friend
Took an oath I'mma stick it out 'till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Told you we'll still have each other
You can stand under my Umbrella
You can stand under my Umbrella (Ella ella eh eh)
Under my umbrella (Ella ella eh eh)
Under my umbrella (Ella ella eh eh)
Under my umbrella

You can run into my Arms
That's okay don't be alarmed
Come into Me
There's no distance in between our love
Gonna let the rain pour
I'll be all you need and more ooohh
Because...

When the sun shines We'll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be your friend
I Took an oath I'mma stick it out 'till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Told you we still have each other
You can stand under my Umbrella
You can stand under my Umbrella (Ella ella eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella (Ella ella eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella (Ella ella eh eh eh)
Under my umbrella (Ella ella eh eh eh)

It's raining (raining)
Ooo baby it's raining (raining)
Come into me
Come into me
It's raining (raining)
Ooo baby it's raining (raining)
Come into me
Come into me"



I love you, baby! Forever and ever. 143

Toodles!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS: I really am going to send out those Pay-It-Forward gifts. Things have been a tad-bit crazy, lately. I hope you can understand!!

The Skinny

McStudy's been in the hospital since early Wednesday afternoon. He hasn't had anything to eat since the apple he ate late Tuesday night and he's been given fluids and antibiotics to treat his symptoms.

They believe and are treating it like Crohns' Disease. However, this morning we were thrown a curve-ball. (if you're squeamish or don't like talking about intestines... stop reading. kthanksbye)


The Physicians' Assistant came in this morning (the same uber helpful girl we had last time we were here - she's seriously amazing, folks!) and told us that the stool sample that McStudly gave Thursday morning (it was not easy... but he finally did it) tested positive for C. Diff (click the link to read more about it - it's kind've creepy and anyone can get it).

They want to make sure that it's just C. Diff, and not a combination of things, so they moved forward with his Colonoscopy, scheduled for 1300 today. So... as I type they should be finishing that up. But, the thing about C. Diff is that it can cause spores to develop in the intestines, which can prevent them from being able to do the procedure. Hopefully that wasn't the case and they were able to do what they needed to do.


The strange thing about C. Diff is what causes it. Now, read up on it, via the link above, because it's something that can be easily spread from person to person, meaning anyone can get it at any time... but the original cause is usually antibiotics. Weird, right?! When you take certain antibiotics (like Flagyl), it kills the bacteria in your intestines. The problem? It kills both the good AND the bad bacteria types. This allows C. Diff - a common every day intestinal bacteria - to actually start running rampid in your intestines. It kind've takes over and make itself at home, so to speak. Puts down some nice roots and sits back to enjoy the havoc is wreaking on the body it's living in.

It presents itself through diarrhea, fever up to 105, and abdominal cramping... so pretty much the same as bad Mexican food, so most people write it off for the first little bit, until it gets so bad that you can't stand it anymore - which is what happened with Mcstudly.


The reason this is all strange to me is this: if C. Diff happens when your body's bacteria levels are off kilter and you can't fight it off on your own, the how did McStudly get it in the first place? I ask for this reason - McStudly isn't working, right now (thank to his military terminal leave) so he doesn't have contact with anyone at work. We are at church only 2 days a week and we both come in contact with all the same people. So that leaves me - and I've never had C. Diff before. If this is the case, then where did he get it? Up until the first "episode" (which you can read about here and here), he wasn't on any antibiotics. And he hasn't even so much as thrown up in about 7 years... up until this past Wednesday, that is. So how did he get it in the first place?


The Doctors are all wondering the same thing. Which is why they went ahead with the Colonoscopy. Something had to cause the first "episode", at which point they put him on antibiotics... and then the antibiotics worked their magic and over time allowed C. Diff to run rampid and screw with McStudly's emotions.



The bottom line is that we don't know anything yet. Scratch that - I don't know anything yet. Looking at the time, his Colonoscopy should be finished and they have hopefully learned the cause of everything at this point.

Either way, I'm ready for this to be over (and I'm sure McStudly, if he wasn't heavily medicated and loopy at the moment, would be throwing in a hefty "Amen!" at that) and life to be back to normal... whatever that means.



I'll keep you in the loop as we learn things. Check out my twitter for updates as I get them (and it's posted on the right column for those of you who aren't cool, yet, and don't do twitter).

Toodles!





PS: If you are able, go get some sleep for me. I'm running on about 6 hours total since Wednesday morning and it's NOOOOTTT cool. Just ask my co-worker... she'll tell you. ;-)

Oh yeah - Another PS: Anyone living in the MD area want to watch my over sized cuddle-pup this weekend? Poor thing hasn't had any time out of his crate except to eat, poop, and pee, and then he's back in again. :-(