Making the switch

Making the switch to Mid-Shift is pretty much miserable. Aaron was on Day shift the first month and a half we were here. Then when most of his AMU got deployed they moved the guys from the 89th over to the 91st. Once there they switched him to Swing shift where he was going in at 3 in the afternoon and getting off at about midnight. Not my favorite shift, but not awful either. Then only 2 weeks later they told him he was going to Mid-Shift (they told him wednesday) so he worked friday from 11 to 7 and on Sunday he has to go in at midnight, that gives us roughly 40 hours to switch from sleeping from from midnight to 9 to being awake all night and sleeping during the day. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot??? Yes this is what we give up as military families. Normally when you have a shift change IRL they give you a week's notice or more so that you can start making changes...oh no, not the military...lol. Oh well, Aaron is taking a short nap because we woke up at 10 today and it is already 1:30 AM. Ugghh. Shoot me now.

Dear Tricare

Dear Tricare,

Thanks for the run around, when someone is experiencing, numbness, tingling, fatigue, dizziness and any other number of symptoms, I'm sure protocol is to give them more red tape than they thought imaginable. I really appreciate not being able to see someone until november, and not being able to get the tests that I need without having everyone and their mom approve it. What's better, is that I live an hour from every single doctor you have referred me to, and gas is getting pretty expensive, wouldn't it be cheaper for you to approve a one day free for all, so I can get some answers and you can quit having to file all that paperwork? I'm just guessing here, but I'm sure the thinking behind all this is that it will weed out the people who don't really need treatment, But once a person proves that they are willing to go through all this, can't you offer some way to make it easier on the sick person? No? Okay then, I guess we will keep dancing this tango until I get some answers.

Still No Answers

I went to the doctor today, who told me I needed to be seen by a neurologist...well duh! I told him I had an appointment in november, and he couldn't believe they couldn't see me sooner. He decided to start ordering tests to see if we could discover something sooner, and be seen earlier. He ordered an MRI of my lower spine, and some bloodwork, So we are still waiting.

Still biding our time until we find out what's wrong, and how we can treat it.

Do you ever wish...

for a new body? I'm not talking about upgrades, bigger boobs, thinner thighs, or blonde hair. I mean the same body, just better. I tell Aaron all the time that I wish I could trade my legs in for new ones. My back is always aching, i don't want a better looking body, I just want one that works without hurting, or going numb. I Wish I could trade this one in for one with out flaws, one who's synapsis' work the way they are supposed to work.

These are the things that run through my mind at midnight when I'm trying to go to sleep. This is my biggest wish. To have a body that works the way I'd like it to. Or to have a body that moves without pain. I imagine sometimes when the medicines are working how it would feel to live that way all day everyday, instead of only the 30 minutes of freedom I get at night before I fall asleep. The other problem is that the medicine makes me so tired, and when fatigue is one of your big problems, medicine that makes you sleepy is another big no no, during the day.

I am hoping the doctor tomorrow will have something for me, that will help me be able to get through the day in a way that I can get stuff done. Here is to tomorrow! Here is hoping that he has some answers, and a treatment plan.

Have I told you my husband is going deaf?

Well at the risk of sounding repetitive. Aaron is going deaf. His job in the air froce requires him to have almost perfect hearing. Every two years they require he take and pass a hearing test. This year he failed it...horribly. He failed it so bad that he isn't qualified to do the majority of the jobs in the air force. In fact there is a list of 5 jobs he is eligible to do, flight attendant being one of them. Well so much for being a crew chief for another few years before cross-training. It's lookinglike we are going to be doing that sooner rather than later. At least he is willing to do this. I love my husband more than anything, because he is dedicated to us, and doing what he can to keep us in a house and with health care. I love my husband, even if the cat crying for hours in the middle of the night doesn't even rouse him from his slumber. Even if I have to repeat myself 8 times before he hears me...I love my husband.

Neuro-Surgeon

My doctor also referred me to a neuro-surgeon in the quest for some answers about my current health concerns, and while I can't see my neurologist until November 12th. I have an appointment next Wednesday with a doctor who will hopefully ba able to provide either some answers or at least some options for the treatment of my major symptoms. In this journey I have realized more than a few things, but one of the most important things is this: Trust your own body! If something doesn't seem right, get answers. If you feel your doctor isn't taking you seriously, find someone who listens to you and is willing to search for answers.

November 12th!!!

The first appointment the neurologist had availble was november 12th! That's almost a full 3 months away, and is only 6 short days before my birthday. I'm not sure if there is something wrong I would want to find out on my birthday. I guess sometimes we don't really get a choice on when to be seen, or when to get sick. Here's hoping that if there is something on my MRI that they will squeeze me in sooner.

What do you mean you've never had an MRI?

Well lately I've been having some slight (ok pretty serious) health concerns and today I had my very first test on the road to finding out what is wrong with me. I had an MRI with and without contrast and will hopefully be having an appointment with a neurologist shortly. Apparently Neurologists are so busy that they won't even schedule a patient without an MRI to make sure there is a problem....here's a shocker! There is a problem, even if it doesn't show up, something is causing my falling, tripping, spinning, numbness, and headaches. If it's not my brain I'm not sure what else it could be. Here's hoping that at some point soon I will have an answer and a treatment.

It's that time again...

Time when it's the beginning of the week, and it's a whole nother 4 days till the weekend. Luckily for me, I don't actually have a job, or anything else that requires my personal, special attention. I have the greatest husband in the world and he is letting me stay at home until I have been seen, and figure out what's going on with my legs. They have been acting wonky, and that's not the only problem, however for me it's the most concerning. So right now I'm playing the waiting game, waiting on an MRI, waiting to be seen by the neurologists. I will keep you guys posted as updates become available.

Wait...what do you mean this isn't normal?

I woke up this morning feeling like someone had vacuumed out all my energy. I knew it was going to be a glorious day. So today I'm just going to say this. We are staying at home most of the day. We will go to the grocery store, because we have absolutely no food, except some frozen meat. Here is a picture of my husband standing on the front porch.

Pizza!

Mmmm who doesn't love Pizza? I sure do. I'm not talking about that greasy gross stuff you buy from the pizza place. I'm talking about homeade pizza. This pizza was made using a store bought refrigerated crust from pillsbury. We sometimes make homemade crust but this stuff is great, and is super quick. Make some pizza sauce using tomato sauce and your choice of spices. I often use an italian grinder, some garlic salt, and some other odds and ends. Use as much sauce as you want, and top with whatever you have around, we used pepperoni, red pepper, and mushrooms (only on my side), and of course mozerella cheese.

My two guys

I never thought I would share my home with not one man but two, and I especially didn't think the second guy would be of the feline variety. I never thought I was cat person. In fact I swore up and down that we would own a dog, and then we went to the local animal shelter. This guy had been there for almost a month and as soon as I picked him up he started licking my neck and kneading me. I was smitten, Aaron fell in love and we put him back to discuss what we were going to do. The first major obstacle we had to over come was the fact that both of us were now covered in a sheen of white fur. I had some misgivings, in fact I had a lot of misgivings, however we decided to give this guy a chance, since he was such a sweetheart. We brought him home and proceeded to give him a bath and a major brush down. The next day I was in tears beause my brand new couch was covered in little white hairs. Aaron and I had a serious talk in which we decided that we would wait out the shedding and see how it went. Three weeks later and I don't even notice it anymore...unless I'm wearing a black shirt. Thank goodness for our handy dandy lint roller, and our fantastic vacuum cleaner. Here are my two guys doing what they love best, lounging on the couch.

This is Apollo (named after a character on Battlestar galatica)

My poor feet!

Warning:::: Pictures of feet ahead! There you have been warned. I blogged a few weeks ago that I had broken a toe. The littlest one on my left foot to be exact. Well it turned all kinds of awesome colors during the healing process, but it has finally started to feel better and guess what I did? 3 days ago I stumped the big toe on my left foot, and 2 days ago I scraped a giant chunk out of my big toe on my right foot. I've heard of being clumsy, but seriously? This has got to stop I don't have that many toes left to damage. I have never been "Graceful" but I have never had this much of a problem with slamming my poor feet into anything and everything foot level. I have done this more times in the past three weeks than I can count. I am starting to seriously wonder if I should start wearing steel toed boots around the house. Theses three incidents have been the only ones to leave evidence so I decided to post some pictures. Anyone else having clumsy weeks?

Welcome to Mountain Home Idaho!

So here are some of the pictures from our trip cross country. I have to say that we didn't do anything to denote N.C. which is where we started or Virginia which was the second state we passed through. We started taking pictures in West Virginia. and got some really good ones later on. Wyoming was the most photogenic, however there was nothing out there in the way of food or gas...not so good on the bladder.

West Virginia tourist stop

La Carreta the best Mexican restaraunt in West Virginia
It was delicious.

Us at the beginning of 4 long days of driving.

Kentucky!

A good shot of a bridge at night in Kentucky.

Indiana.

A broken bridge in Indiana.

Missouri!

The St. Louis Arch.

In Kansas there was rain...and lots of it.

Iowa was some more rain and a few things of interest.

Like the Sapp bros water towers, which are actually for gas stations...who Knew?

Nebraska!

Wyoming? Oh yeah this is one of those western states right?

Man I look like a rockstar. Even after 2 and a half days of driving.

Some pretty Rocks piled up randomly.

A refinery, on of the two that we saw.

Some windmills.

Utah. The last state before the promise land.

Idaho!!! We finally made it!

A funnel cloud? Is the first sign of something ominious?

It's Broken alright.

My toe that is, the little toe on my left foot got broken last night when I walked into a wall corner. Immediately I yelled "It's Broken" and then fell into sobs because it hurt so bad. Poor Aaron came over as soon as I started crying and carried me to the couch. Then he got an ice pack and helped me ice it, however the pain was pretty intense the first hour afterwards. We went to base urgent care just to insure that it wasn't dislocated or anything and didn't need to be set. He buddy wrapped it to my other toe and scheduled an x-ray. This morning I had my x-ray and it is broken. On Saturday Aaron and I are going White-Water rafting I just hope my poor toe doesn't get too seriously injured.

In the house, will post more later.

Aaron has had all this time off, so I will update and post again once he starts going to work again.

Idaho!!!

I am currently in Idaho, at Mountain home AFB, however the new TLF buildings do not have internet and so I can't upload pictures and all sorts of other things. We have a house! Brand new housing with a beautiful yard and kitchen and a front porch and a covered patio. It is everything and more than I could have hoped for, and it is ours as soon as some maintenence gets done on it. Which will be by the end of the week. We have already picked out and bought furniture, there will be picutres, as soon as possible.

Indiana

In indiana, leaving this morning for 12 hours of driving, woo hoo! I have pictures and will post them once we are in idaho.

Leaving today...

Well Aaron and I are leaving to go to Idaho today, we have a 36 hour trip ahead of us, and it's going to be a test to both of our nerves I'm sure. We went out and got a handy dandy GPS device! I am super excited. Well we are out of here!

Hello again...

I'm still alive, Aaron is home and that has been great. We are getting ready for moving on Monday and all of that jazz. Nora came by today to get some other stuff she left here and to pick up her birth certificate, and her social security card...she's getting married...great :( I'm not sure it could be any worse. I keep hoping she'll figure it out sooner rather than later, but right now I just hope she will learn her freaking lesson. That is all for today.