Life is like a box of Chocolates... unfortunately, some have nuts.

This picture was taken before Easter.  The wonderful Mia Maids in my ward did a surprise Easter Egg hunt in our front yard for our kids.  The kids loved it!

Life is like a box of chocolates...  unfortunately some have nuts.  But I guess that's part of life, biting into the chocolates with nuts and having to learn to appreciate the chocolate flavor even if it is a little tainted.  Did I mention that I'm not a fan of nuts, gross! 
  Cory looked at me the other night and said "I can't believe you are having brain surgery."  To hear him put it that way was a little off putting.  When I go to the doctors and they talk about it ofcourse they use the technical term for it "Microvascualr Decompression" but in a nutshell it's a type of brain surgery.
  We've known this was coming but didn't think it would come so soon after diagnosis.  My Neurosurgeon gave me the steps to follow, #1-Take the medication to see if it works which will help confirm the diagnosis if it does. #2-Stay on the medication until the side effects become to much to handle.  #3-take another medication until the side effects become too much to handle or the medication stops working.
  I gave steps 1 and 2 a go and can't imagine continuing on this medicine let alone starting a new one.  It's a blessing that the medicine has taken away the pain but it has come at a huge price.  the side effects started fairly mildly compared to how they have evolved with exhaustion and weight gain.  I now lack motivation, feel depressed, am confused and forgetful all the time, and have acne worse than ever.  That is on top of the already existing exhaustion and weight gain of 8 pounds that luckily stopped at 8pounds but apparently won't go away until I'm done with these meds. 
  I went to my Neurosurgeon last week, explained the situation and he gave me 2 options.  #1-Switch to the second medicine that will cause the same side effects and possibly blood diseases.  #2-Have the surgery now.  I chose option #2.  It wasn't a difficult decision knowing that I would have the surgery sometime this year anyway.  Taking the meds was just prolonging the inevitable and I am miserable taking these meds.
  I go in for surgery May 25th.  For now I am trying to prepare in all the aspects of my life for a major 6 week recovery.  My surgeon says that I'm not allowed to lift, bend, or raise my heart rate during the recovery.  For the first 6 weeks I'm limited to non strenuous walking.
  I feel like I'm nesting as if I were having a baby, but without that wonderful surge of energy that is so necessary for the cleaning and organizing that I wish I could do. 
  I feel down a lot lately but I keep reminding myself as to how lucky I am to live in a time and to be in good enough health to undergo this surgery that will take the most horrible pain in the world away.  If this were the year 1912, I would likely be laying in bed in agony like I did in January and February of this year, but with no hope of a cure.
  I am longing for the day that I don't have to take any more medicine and I can go on with life pain free.  I know it's coming and I just have to be patient.

Cory and I got to go to a Nascar race at the Texas Motor Speedway. 

It was tons of fun but what was really hilarious was watching the guys oogle over the cars.  It's definitely an experience I'd recommend regaurdless of whether you are into Nascar or not.  Hearing, seeing, and feeling the power of those cars in person was impressive.

The kids after one of Alyssa's dance performances. 

Man, they are getting so big but continue to be adorable.

Trigeminal Neuralgia

I guess I should start at what I now know was the beginning of Trigeminal Neuralgia for me. In early August of 2008 I started experiencing what I thought was the worst tooth pain I had ever felt. After my very sympathetic dentist examined me with exray after exray her diagnosis was that I had healthy teeth. She sent me home with Vicodin and a referral to an endodontist. The Endodontist couldn't see me until the next week so I continued in horrible pain even with taking 2 Vicodin every 4 hours. After almost a week of this, with Cory having to take off of work most of the time to help me out, the pain suddenly subsided. I canceled my appointment with the Endodontist and went on with life only remembering that weird experience once in a while.

Fast forward to January 2012, I had been practically living at the Dentist and Endodontist since September 2011. I had to have work done on several teeth and since I have complicated teeth with extra and curved roots it made things difficult and even more expensive than normal. In January we started work on the last 2 of 6 teeth hoping that these would give us no complications. To sum this part up, after numerous visits sometimes in the middle of the night and on weekends to the dentist, my Molar on the bottom very back of the right side of my mouth continued to cause me the most excruciating pain I had ever felt, even worse than natural child birth. On March 2nd, against my dentists wishes I insisted that he pull the tooth instead of me going to an Endodontist and having to spend more money on this. I was horrified when the morning after the Extraction I woke up in the same pain I'd been in before the Extraction. Cory insisted that afternoon that we go to the hospital to get tests done thinking that the only cause of the pain could be and infection in my jaw. While I was at the hospital they gave me a miracle drug in my IV that took the pain away. It was glorious! I had taken my share of pain killers throughout this process but nothing compared to the pain relief that I felt at that moment. After a CT scan and some blood work the doctor delivered the news that everything looked fine and there was no infection in my body at all.

After he left the room I cried not knowing what was wrong and feeling terrified that the pain would come back without any help other than to take more drugs that would merely dull it a little. I went home and continued to feel horrible having this severe pain off and on. I followed up with my doctor Tuesday who agreed with the ER doctor that I needed to see a Neurologist. I called and begged for an appointment with one of the 3 Neurologists that my doctor referred me to and managed to get an appointment the next day.

The Neurologist, who could use a lesson or two in bedside manner, mostly went over my medical history and examined me quickly. He then delivered the diagnosis of Trigeminal Neuralgia and sent me home with a medication called Lyrica and told me to follow up with him in 3 weeks. He refused to talk about long term care and didn't really give me any information about this misterious new diagnosis. He did however inform me that we pulled a healthy tooth for no reason.

I wasn't confident that any medicine would take this horrible pain away or that this guy had my diagnosis correct. I was desperate to know if he knew what he was talking about. So Cory found me a Neurosurgeon located down the street who is covered by our insurance that specializes in Trigeminal Neuralgia. His office even had an appointment the next week. Cory went to this appointment with me and we both agree that we are in love with Dr. Weiner. He was helpfull, answered all our questions, and gave us hope. What more could you ask for from your doctor. He confirmed the diagnosis of TN and after hearing about my experience in 2008 felt very confident that the diagnosis was correct. Dr, Weiner suggested staying on the Lyrica until it no longer worked or the side effects were too much to handle. At that point he wants me to go on an anticonvulsant until either of those two things happen again. At that point (within the next year) he will perform a proceedure called MVD which should fix me, maybe not for forever but for a long time.

Trimgeminal Neuralgia for me, simply put- each side of the face has a Trigeminal nerve which branches into 3 sections of nerves that cover that side of the face. The Trigeminal nerve on the right side
of my head is being pressed on by an artery. This causes sharp, electric feeling shooting pains mostly in my lower jaw, a little in my upper jaw and up the side of my face. I've never experienced pain like this in my life! This pain easily beats natural birth and incapacitates me like nothing else.


The weird news-I'm really young for having this. It's
uncommon to be diagnosed with this under the age of 50 and is more often
diagnosed in people in their 70s.

The good news-This is not life threatening!
Also, because I'm so young I will be able to have a procedure called MVD. It is
a semi risky procedure (because of it's proximity to the brain) where they drill
a whole in the skull and separate the artery from the nerve with a little pillow
like thing. They don't attempt this procedure in older people. When done
successfully the pain subsides in most people.

The bad news-This is a progressive disorder which means that
the pain will only get worse and the attacks of pain will happen more frequently
if we don't take care of it. There is also risk of recurrence sometime after
having the MVD procedure done. If that happens and I'm not a candidate for the
MVD again I would likely choose to sever the Trigeminal nerve all together,
causing some paralysis in that part of my face. I know that sounds drastic but even
after this short time that I've experienced the pain I'd be willing to do that
in a heart beat if it were my only option.

http://wwwmayfieldclinic.com/PE-TRIN.htm This is a link that I found very helpful when researching the disorder and the MVD procedure that I will be having.

As of right now I'm feeling alot of different emotions. I'm so thankful that the medication that I'm on is working. The thought of being in that pain again causes me extreme anxiety because it is that bad. Everything comes at a price with medications as I am learning and the side affects are no fun. It's really difficult knowing that I will have the surgery but that I still have to deal with things like exhaustion, weight gain, dizziness, and more due to the medication. Cory and I are at a sooner is better than later point with this surgery. Don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled with the fact that someone is going to shave part of my hair and drill a hole in my head, let alone all the recovery time, but I know that this is inevitable and that it will mean no more meds so I'm kinda completely on board with doing it ASAP!

I know I'm going through this for a reason and that my Heavenly Father has a plan for me. This is part of my life and I know that I will be a stronger, better person for it. Right now I feel week and at the mercy of everyone but my hope is that one day I will feel strong again.

It's Been a While...

Wow, it's been a while! So much has happened since my last blog post. I guess a little update is in order. One of the main things that has happened in our family has been major changes in diet. After a struggle with what we thought was Fibromyalgia I was diagnosed with Celiacs disease which was difficult but such a blessing since it cured me of all my aches, pains, and fatigue that were affecting me daily. Then when Audelia was about 10 months she had her first allergic reaction to Milk. Since then we have found that she is allergic to Milk, Beef, Pork, Wheat, Egg, Soy, and Peanuts. The reactions that she has had are scary and cause her to go into aniphilactic shock. So we cary an Epi Pen everywhere we go and are very causious about any food she touches. Our whole family has been on a mostly Whole Foods Diet for the past couple of months as a way to stay healthy and make it easier to cook so that everyone can eat the same Meals. This has helped with so many other health issues that is has been a real blessing.

Cory graduated with his MBA at the University of Texas at Dallas last May and we are all very proud of the hard work that he put into that great accomplishment. He then crashed his car 3 days later and bought a Mazda 3 as a graduation present to himself. It's his first nice car and is well deserved.

Alyssa is in 4th grade and is really enjoying and blossoming in dance. She performed in the Nutcracker this last December and did an amazing job. The poor thing suffered from Mono and Pneumonia at the same time through November and part of December 2011. She missed about 4 weeks of school and felt pretty crummy and tired for most of that time. We are so glad that she is doing better. We think that we have found the source of the migrains that she has had her whole life. Can you guess... yep, Gluten and Sugar. She feels so much better when she avoids those things and eats a healthy Whole Foods Diet.

Wyatt continues to amaze us as he has been on the Honor role at school the entire year so far. He is very smart and is learning more and more to sit and concemtrate. Wyatt started cub Scouts when he turned 8 and LOVES it. He recently turned 9 and completed his first year of Scouts earning his "Wolf" and moved on to Bears. Wyatt is learning important skills that come more naturally to most kids but that take him a little longer to comprehend due to his Autism. Just today he was learning how to empty the dishwasher. He struggles with things still but has truely come so far thanks in part to amazing teachers that he has had along the way.

Darion turned 5 last month. That sneaky age of 5 snuck up on me as now the countdown has begun to Kindergarden. I can't believe how time has flown! It seems like just yesterday he had me pulling out my hair as the Terrible Two's, Three's, and Four's seemed to never end. Then one day they did and now my sweet boy is going to go off into the world soon and I will miss him so much! For now our rough and tumble yet cuddly boy is enjoying being Wyatt's best friend and Audelia's big brother. He takes such good care of Audelia and they are so cute together. He loves Power Rangers, Buzz lightyear, and pretty much any boy thing you throw in front of him.

Audelia is definitely the baby of the family and she knows it. Cory and I are doing our best to help her to not be spoiled and snotty like youngest kids can be. She is sweet but knows how to manipulate, so we have our work cut out for us. She is all girl and loves to dress like one, yet she gets out a plays along side the big kids. She takes after her Mama and talks a lot! Her voacabualary is great just like Alyssa's was at a young age. She amazed us all when shortly after her 2nd birthday she decided it was time to potty train. I had been sitting her on the potty since she was about 1 year but didn't expect her to get so into it on her ouwn like that. One day she woke up and said "I go Poopoo Mommy" I thought she meant in her diaper, so when I attempted to change her and the diaper was clean she said "No, poopoo on the Potty Mommy!" So on the potty she went, and she has been doing it ever since. She has had her share of accidents and it took a bit to get used to panties and to lose that sense of security she had when she wore them but when all was said and done she was my easiest to Potty Trainer for sure! When people get jealous I tell them that after the boys I deserved a break.

As for me I'm learning that life seems to go something like this... You go through a challenge, get mad, sad, and down about it. Then you learn the lesson that the challenge was meant to teach you and before you know it another challenge is waiting for you to teach you yet another valuable lesson.

I've been enjoying life since my diagnosis of Celiacs Disease. Health and feeling good are not things that I take for granted anymore. I have even been able to serve as the Young Women's president in our ward since August 2011 and have loved the experience and all it has to offer so much! I've been struggling with teeth issues since September which has been painfull hand expensive! I thought that was the challenge but had no idea what was really in store for me. What we thought was just another tooth problem turned out to be something much more. I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia a couple of weeks ago and had the diagnosis confirmed by another doctor last week. This is a rare and very painful disorder that is more painful than even natural child birth. For now I'm on medication that really helps but has unfortunate side affects and am awaiting a major surgery that will likely happen sometime in the next year. The surgery called MVD, should fix the problem and offer relief without medication. I've been blessed with great doctors that have quickly gotten me a diagnosis and game plan, which when your in as much pain as I have been are very important things to have. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and I know that things like this are all part of life. I do look forward to figuring out the reason and lesson behind this so I can move on though.

I will do my best to keep this updated better. For now I hope that all of our family and friends are doing well.

Audelia's Blessing November 22, 2009

Audelia was blessed by Cory on November 22, 2009 at the Garner Road building in the Rowlett 1st Ward. The baby was so sweet and slept through the whole thing.

Cory's parents were able to come be with us for the weekend and the blessing. In the interest of not making everyone and the baby crazy I waited to take the pictures of the baby in her dress until a few days later. She looked like such and Angel and she was so good for me while I played photographer for the day.

I had this idea to take some pictures of her in her dress laying on my wedding dress and Alyssa's blessing dress and I think this will be great to have.

A New Phase of Life

This is a picture of me when I was just starting to show when I was pregnant with Audelia.

Cory and I were just talking and I realized that I have spent the better part of the last 10 years of my life carrying, birthing, and nursing my children. Thanks to my recent hysterectomy I am officially done having more kids and I am so ready to say goodbeye to pregnancy for good! I loved having my babies but the carrying them part had me feeling physically terrible and emotionally crazy for about 45 months of my life. That doesn't include the aftermath that never seemed to completely calm until a year or so after giving birth which is about the time I was always done nursing.

There is a part of me that gets a little sad when I think about not actually having any more babies but the fact is I have Fibromyalgia now and the way that I felt during the last pregnancy I would never consider doing it again, not only for my sake but for my family and especially Cory. While I was barely able to walk because of the pain not to mention the morning sickness Cory was the only reason that anything was getting clean and that any of us were eating, other than my frequent trips to Taco Bell. Besides all that 4 kids is plenty, and a lot of work, but they are great kids and we are grateful to have them.

I am looking forward to focusing on the kids that I have without making any more. Audelia is 3 months next week and I can't believe how quickly time passes. Cory and I constantly say that it will be alright because as fast as it seems like they grow they will be having their own babies for us to enjoy. Now if only we could convince them not to move away like we did.

Hunter Kids, 2009

We went to our neighborhood lake in Waterview to try to get some cute pictures of the kids with a pretty background. We got a few really cute posed pictures among the other 100 or so random silly pics.

Alyssa is always willing to pose and now loves having a little sister to hold in her pictures.

Wyatt is very well behaved and willing to pose which is a huge change from just a couple of years ago. We use to have to have the camera on the sports setting just to keep the pictures from being blurry and I would stay to help him sit still for school pictures.

Darion as you can see remains a 2 year old for the camera and a very comical one, but we always get a few good poses out of him.

Audelia was good enough for Alyssa to hold and since we have plenty pictures of just her we didn't feel the need to lay her on a rock or the soggy grass to take more.

The Witch, Batman, Mickey Mouse, and the Pumpkin

I have a confession to make, these were not even taken on Halloween, they were taken a few days ago, and the picture of Alyssa is even from last year. Our new camera has a rechargable battery and it ran out before we even started trick or treating. My kids were not very happy about dressing up again and because of that I didn't ask Alyssa to do full makeup which is why I posted the picture from last year of her.

I love seeing the younger kids dress in costumes that the older kids have worn. Wyatt wore the Mickey twice before and all of the kids wore the Pumpkin for there first Halloweens.