So bummed....

I came up to the computer tonight to do a few posts and realized that since our computer crashed I can't download any pictures until I find my Kodak disc and reinstall it!!!

Man, I hate it when I am all geared up to blog half the night away

and then don't get to! Maybe tomorrow will work out better.

I guess I will go and watch Lost, I started over with season 1

again!

I've gone dark...

I don't know if any of you watch the TV show 24, but whenever Jack Bauer is on a mission and doesn't make contact with the outside world they say he has 'gone dark'. Well, with being sick and depressed I had to 'go dark', but now I'm back!

It has been one of those weeks where my mind had been so swamped with stress from so many different angles I now feel like my head is just above water. I've probably said this in the last 10 posts, but I am so sick! I did get out of the hospital on Sunday and then Sunday night I started to get worse. Last night I went back to the doctor thinking I was going to go back into the hospital. The doctor bumped my steroids (only for asthma people, no one get excited) up from my usual dose of 2.5 mg a day to 40 mg while I was in the hospital and yesterday up to 80 mg. My lungs are refusing to work so the plan is to hit them hard with the scary dose of 80 mg and I get until Friday to see if there is a difference, before going back to the hospital.

Then there is always my old friend fibromyalgia who is feeling left out and has been making her presence know for the last few weeks. Whenever anything goes wrong or is out of whack in my body my fibromyalgia is triggered and I go through a 'flare up'. To describe how bad I hurt now is close to being stabbed all over and then having my nerve endings set on fire (but you know me, it's no big deal)....I am totally lying, it is killing me!

With my dad, the doctor had originally said that we needed to go down to the Huntsman Cancer Treatment Centers of America, but there is actually a doctor in Rexburg now who trained down at Huntsman's, who also treated my aunt, so we are going to see him first before we make that long drive. We still don't know if it has spread, he is actually having a bone scan as we speak to see what we are dealing with.

Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers it has been a life saver. There is a saying at the bottom of my blog page that says "I have learned that being with those that I love is enough!" You are all included in that.

She's alive, SHE'S ALIVE!!!!!

Well I am finally home from my 5 day hospital stay, but I'm not feeling good enough to blog more than this! I did take my camera with me so there are pictures coming...although they aren't very exciting because it was just my hospital room!!! Anyway, I hope to be back to my blogging self shortly, and I am working on my

"dumbest things that happened in the hospital 'this time' list."

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, they were greatly appreciated!!!

Laughter is the best medicine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egCeIwjIuZM

My mom got this in an e-mail and it is really funny!!! I guarantee that it will make you laugh! So, take 4 min. and 24 sec. and get the best medicine there is!!!

Not AGAIN...

I have had insomnia since I was about 5 and it's looking like tonight will be an all night, uncomfortable and annoying party...well, I will probably just watch all of 'Lost' season 4 again. I was pretty sick when I watched it the first time and so I don't get most of what happened although I think that is pretty much what 'Lost' is all about, you really won't get it until the last season. Or, I could have an all night 'Little House on the Prairie' adventure! Or, I will just play around with my blog all night!

Angel's among us....

I believe that God puts certain people in our lives at certain times.

Last night as my fever was creeping higher and higher I was stressed because I didn't know what in the world I was going to cook for dinner the next day.

I had just finished my last "throw it in the oven, really easy meal" and I knew I wouldn't feel good enough to cook anything...I know that there

are more pressing issues I could/should be thinking about, but

I was obsessing over this.

Amazingly it just so happens that there are two lady's in my

ward who are 100% angel through and through!

Marie, my weekly (when I am not sick) temple companion

and Ruth, the sweetest woman in the world,

called and out of the blue asked if they could bring dinner in the next day!!!

Now in my opinion that is a miracle. Isn't it amazing to know that God is aware of even the silliest little things and watches out for our every need.

Thank you Marie and Ruth!

Venting......

I am STILL sick! It has been almost 6 weeks now. I am so tired of it. I just want to be able to get out of bed (relatively pain free) and go about my day like everyone else. It is so frustrating being sick all of the time. I can usually handle it better than this but I really wanted to go to the temple last week and I couldn't, and I have missed church for a few weeks and those things together make my spiritual reservoir feel like it is running on empty. But, I am going to follow my resolution and Doubt Not, Fear Not! Who knows, my antibiotic could kick in any day now. And maybe my fibromyalgia medication will start working better and MAYBE everything will work out the way Heavenly Father wants it to...yes, I am sticking to that one!! So, my message to myself is to NEVER take good health for granted, because, in my opinion, if you have your health, you have "almost" everything! Thank you blogging world for letting me vent my frustration. I feel much better now!!!

The tests have come back...drumroll please!

NO CLOTS!!!! Man, doctors really have a way of scaring people to death...maybe they get more business that way. My only problem is that my white count is high, and I could have told him that! So now, I think I am going to take my fevered self down to my Lay-Z-Boy and have someone wait on my all day long...oh, wait, that person would have to be me. Oh well, I will just go and lay down and not expect anything :D Life is good! Even though I can't breath out of my nose...or swallow!

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all...

This is a song that my dad sings to me quite often and boy is it ever true! I went to the doctor yesterday because I have been feeling really sick: coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, sore throat, extreme exhaustion...all the good stuff. I have felt like this for about a month, but the scary thing is that I have also had a lot of chest pain which leads me and my doctor to think of one thing, BLOOD CLOT!!!! I had a blood test done that can tell if there is a blood clot somewhere in my body. I am not really having breathing problems like I did last November when I almost died, but I am still scared to deat...maybe I won't finish that thought. I keep thinking to myself Doubt not, Fear not! I know I will be able to handle whatever comes. The doctor was supposed to call me today and give me the results but I haven't heard from him. I guess I will be calling him in the morning!! Wish me luck!

New Years Resolution...

I always hate having to pick new years resolutions, but for some reason I am always drawn to do it. My brother-in-law, who is a counselor, was on the news talking about how to set new years resolutions and keep them. In short only pick one or two. If you have too many most people will never get all of them done and then they will feel like a failure. So I have decided to pick two resolutions.

1. Doubt not, Fear not! I want to trust the Lord with all my heart and know that everything will be ok!
2. Be proactive! I want to make things happen and not just hope they do.

I am not just the "weird cat lady" we have become the "weird cat family!!!"

My parents and I have discovered that Bella is just as much of a family member as any of us. So when my mom and I discovered poor little Bella had a bunch of sores on her neck and they were bleeding we all freaked out!!! We made an appointment with the vet for that day and we were all very somber as we walked into his office. When they called her name ALL of us had to go back into the room. We sat with anxiety waiting for the vet to come in. When he did he felt the sores and my mom blurted out "it's not cancer is," because she had to have a leukemia test when she was taken to the adoption agency. We waited in anticipation for at least 30 seconds and with a smile and a small chuckle the vet said that it was probably just overly dry skin that was causing the problem. We were so relieved!!!!!!!!!

The vet gave her a few shots and then had to shave her neck. We had to clean it with some special cat soap and gave us an antibiotic to rub on it every night for a week.

Well two months have gone by and her neck still hasn't grown back its fur so this is what Bella looks like now. When you look at the right angle it looks like half her neck is gone and it is kinda freaky!!



I also think that Bella has out grown her bed...what do you think?



My dad gets so much joy out of playing with Bella. Here he is dangling a toy fish on a string in front of her and she jumps, dives, and even walks on he back legs to get to it. I think we have a prodigy in our midst.

Dad's photo album...

One thing that I have learned from college classes and from TONS of research is that with dementia, at the stage my dad is at, the best things to surround them with are pictures of family and friends, their favorite movies, and the music that they grew up with. This helps them feel more secure and less vulnerable. So I am taking bunches of pictures of my dad with all of the family. These are the only ones I have so far, but when I get more I am going to make a photo album for him. And of course I will post them for my journaling purposes :D

Diana and her kids came over one night and so this is where I took these.

I love my dad! I also have to give props to my mom who is the most caring and thoughtful person I have the privilege of knowing. My parents are the BEST! (I have to say that because I live at home :D )

Blizzards: Before and After

We had this blizzard, I mean we are talking about almost a complete white out...can you see the house across the street - through the trees...I didn't think so!



This went on forever and when we finally decided to go to bed we looked out the door and this is what we found...



We could barely open the front door because the snow was a little above the bottom of the door! It was AWESOME...but I don't think my dad thought it was that cool because he had to shovel it in the morning!

I finally have my computer back!!

For the last few weeks I haven't had a computer...and it was killing me!!! Finally the people at PC Medical Center decided the tower would have to be totally replaced. But now it is back and faster than ever!!!! I can't wait to start all the blogging that has been backing up in my camera. But, now I have to take my dad to the doctor in Idaho Falls, so dear sweet blogging world...I still have to wait! :~( This is my angry face, aaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggg!