New Addition

Monday August 22, 2011 - About a month ago we went and got my class pet.  The kids have fallen in love with him and I think they are going to have a hard time with him being away from the house.  We are turning into a zoo.  I think I should start selling tickets.  We have two kids, a cat, dog, fish and now the guinea pig.  I think we are maxed out.

No Meds

Thursday, August 18, 2011 - Wow! It has been a busy couple of weeks and it is only going to get busier. I have been trying to get some stuff done for my classroom along with trying to get the kids ready for school. We have met Dylan and Emily's teachers and seen their classrooms. They are both excited. It is going to be very strange on Tuesday when I drop both kids off at school and not just one. :( I am soooooooooo ready for school to start though.

I had my appointment with my neurologist today. We discussed my medication. I told him I hate taking it. I hate thinking about taking it. So we have decided to stop medication for now. He said that since I am stable at the moment and me taking the medication is making me depressed, angry, etc. that we will stop for now. The pill is not an option because there are just too many BAD side effects. So yes me not taking the medication may end up being a bad decision but there is no way of knowing that for sure. I will go back in 6 months to see him and we will do another MRI in 6 months to a year and make our decisions based on that.

We also talked about my left leg. The one leg that always seems to have an issue. I am still having muscle spasms, of course. The last few days my leg has been stiff to the point that I can barely bend my foot back. He said he could send me for physical therapy to get on a stretching regimen but I told him for now I will try to get back into my yoga and see if that helps. If it doesn't I will be going to PT. Ugh! I know that will cost us another arm and a leg.

So I know some of you may be thinking "is she crazy for stopping her medication?" Maybe so, but for now I have to. It is very hard to explain what I go through in my head on a daily basis thinking about that darn medication.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I know we will try to enjoy our last weekend with no homework.

Amanda

Emily's Graduation

Emily and her teacher Ms. Amy.

Yes, these pictures are from Emily's preschool graduation in May, but I thought I would share them. Most of our pictures came out fuzzy, but we got a few.
Garrit (Emily's Boyfriend), Zachary and Emily

Happy it is all over with. Ready to move onto BIG school.

Pain, Pain Go Away!

Monday, August 8, 2011 - So for the last year and half to two years I have despised cold fronts. Every time we have a front I am in pain. My legs hurt so bad to the point that I can not get out of bed at times. I am not sure how many days of work Jerry has missed because I can't get out of bed, can't sleep and am in pain. Well, apparently there was a slight shift in the upper level high last night that has been over us forever and guess what - I felt it. My left leg has hurt all day. I have taken Tylenol and of course it does not help at all. What will the first real cold front bring?

The other issues I have been dealing with for a couple of weeks is my vision in my right eye. It has been very blurry. I can not see far away or up close with it. Everything is blurry. I am sure the heat is the cause of the problem. Nerves effected by MS DO NOT like heat at all. They don't function very well. I am hoping and praying for some rain and cooler temperatures very soon. I am so sick of the heat!

Okay I promise my next post will be more positive. :)

Amanda

Argh!!!!

Monday August 8, 2011 - This is the time of year I curse insurance companies. Oh wait, that is every day. Jerry's office changes insurance plans September 1st every year instead of the beginning of the year. It is a pain for lots of reasons but the main reason is the plans are never the same so all the $$$$ that we have paid since January 1st toward our deductible somehow does not count. So we start over September 1st and then again on January 1st. This is why we had $18,000 in medical expenses last year!!!

So I have not seen the plan details yet but it is with the same company (that covers nothing) and our premiums are going up $1,000 a year and our deductible is going up $2,000 more. Argh!!! We can not get ahead. So needless to say I am trying to cram all the appointments in this month that I have to have. I have to go back for a follow up mammogram, so I will be doing that in two weeks instead of two months. Also, we have spent a ton of $$$ on occupational therapy recently for Dylan and I am sure all the $$$$ we just spent will not count for anything. On top of the fact that our insurance will only cover 6 weeks of therapy after we have shelled out $5,000.

Sorry I am griping but I just have to vent. I get so angry when it comes to this time of year because it never fails that we get screwed.

Amanda

Tea Party

Sunday August 7, 2011 - Here are some pictures of the tea party Emily and I had a few weeks ago. She was so thrilled she could not stop smiling. :) We had another tea party a few days later with some friends and she loved that as well.

Saturday I decided we would have a tea party for our breakfast. So it was Emily, Dad, Dylan and me. Afterwards while I was cleaning up Emily asked when we could have another tea party because that was not a real tea party. She wants one without the boys. ;) She is so full of herself.

The Results Are In......

Friday August 5, 2011 - My brain MRI came back stable. This is good! This means that my MS is stable and not progressing right now. I will meet with my neurologist on the 18th and I will let you know what he has to say after that appointment. He is not going to be happy with me.

I tried starting my medication again and I still can't do it. I know I need to take it and any other medication is going to cost me an arm and a leg but when taking medication makes you depressed every time you think about it is it really worth it? As much as I don't want to take the oral medication due to side effects that may be where I am headed.

I hate that my medication is a constant drain on me. Not just the side effects but also the mental drain is almost unbearable now.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Stay cool (I know my parents will ;) )I am going to try to post some pictures this weekend of some of our summer activities. I want to start posting more often. We will see if I can get off my rear and do it. :)

Amanda

MRI Done

Monday August 1, 2011 - Well, I made it through my MRI today. Hopefully, I will have the results in the next few days. I will share more info once I know anything. Hope everyone has a great day!