Tomorrow is Daniel’s very first day of kindergarten. To me he still looks like this:

How can I send this sweet Bama boy to kindergarten??

But, believe it or not, the Dan Man is 5, and he is extremely excited about going to school with his brothers. They will all be at the same school together. I had planned it differently, but at the last minute Daniel was awarded a scholarship, so that worked out beautifully.

It’s hard to even focus on how much is happening.

Our heads are still spinning. In June, we trekked across the U.S. of A. In July, we hurriedly unpacked. (So now I need to go back and re-organize everything.) Then we headed off to one vacation after another. We did Disney. We saw friends. We went to Destin. We visited family.

I feel as though all along, our life keeps improving more and more. Happy things keep happening to us, and I’ve been so much in recovery from the dismal beginning of 2016 that it’s taken me awhile for this new thing to set in to my head.

I’m not stressed anymore!

Wait. I don’t have to make lesson plans? Nope.

I don’t have to do any teacher training? Nope.

I don’t have to even feed everyone lunch? Nope.

I can be at my parents’ house in two hours? Yep!

The big boys are already in school, and they LIKE it??  Yes!!!

They actually like their new school a LOT!!!

I keep thinking about those Christian song lyrics, “He set my feet upon a rock.”

Of course, that is also in the Bible, but it’s so much easier to pop in my head when it’s set to music. In my head that’s me. I was sinking in my misery, and I have been lifted and set upon a rock. Amen. Amen. Amen.

I think we’re on the verge of loving it here. I made my schedule for tomorrow, and it doesn’t sound hard! I didn’t even have to color-code it!! 

Praise the Lord, y’all! I have found relief!!! Now we just need to make a friend or two, and we’ll be all set.

We aren’t off to a great start on the makin’ friends bit.

First off, we’ve lived here over a month and we’ve been out of town for most of that.

Secondly, we have a son whose Southern accent impersonation is down right hilarious. I only hope the locals will think so, instead of feeling like they’re being made fun of. I haven’t heard him do it in public though, so we should be good. (Ask Joshua to talk Southern next time you see it. You will laugh!!)

Then there was the doctor’s office incident.

Alan took all four boys to the doc on a Saturday by himself. (I was out of town again.) We just needed to get school and sports forms filled out. Moving is such a pain when it comes to health care!!! (That’s another reason our company should let us live places a little longer.)

Well, they were all there for HOURS, but everyone was well behaved, thankfully. But right at the end, the doctors refused to sign the sports forms for ALL the boys! Can you believe that!!??  And it was because of my heart problem! Ugh.  Way to go, Me!

Alan tried to convince them that the boys do not have it, and even I am fine. I could play sports even. (Not well, but I could do it.) He failed to convince Doc #1, so he asked to get a second opinion from one of the other docs there that day.

Doc #2 also denied us. We all have to go to a cardiologist before they will be cleared to play sports. Doctors totally freak out about the v-tach thing, but I’m telling you mine is benign. It’s monomorphic, non-sustained. I’m good.

So today we’re sitting in Sunday School, and Alan whispers, “That doctor that wouldn’t sign the boys’ sports physicals is right over there.” Yep. Doc #1 is in our Sunday School class.

No way.

Yes way.

We chatted with him after class. He didn’t budge any on the issue, but hopefully we are all on good terms. I’m sure he’s a very good doctor. It was just a little embarrassing.

Oh, yeah, that’s us. We’re just making friends all over the place.

Won’t you be our friend??

I am seriously, for real, truly going to take a “1st day of Kindergarten” picture for Dan tomorrow. And a “3rd day” pic for J and C! I don’t know why I’ve had so much trouble remembering.

Have your kids/grandkids started back to school yet? Share with me in the comments!

The post Life After Home School and the Move appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

It is done. I am Wi-fi equipped. No, literally. My chest has wi-fi. Today Dr. Grogin implanted a Linq heart monitor into my chest.

That’s right. I got to go through just one more heart patient embarrassment.

Let me set the scene for you.

#1. About 5 nurses and 1 doctor in the room

#2. I was naked down to my waist.

#3. They had to cover my face with a cloth because the procedure was just below my neck, and the area had to be sterile.

#4. I was totally in my right mind. Only local anesthesia, because that’s how I asked to do it.

I know you think that as I lay there, blindfolded and half-naked, that I was thinking, “Oh, I am so going to blog about this.”

But not really. I was actually thinking things like:

“This cloth covering my face is smothering me. I should have let them sedate me.”

and

“Oh, I’m freezing. When will this be over?”

and

“I am so naked. I am so naked.”

As you may or may not know, I’ve been having strange heart-pounding and roller-coaster-like heart cartwheels since January. Through much testing, we found out that it’s ventricular tachycardia episodes, but otherwise my heart is structurally fine.

At first, my favorite doctor, PA Carlquist, thought that I would need an ablation, but then Dr. Grogin decided against it. Instead, he wanted to implant a Linq heart monitor into my chest. This thing goes right under my skin and can last up to three years. This should give them more information on what my heart is doing.

I joke that I have Wi-Fi because the thing communicates with a little data base I keep by my bed that sends reports to Dr. Grogin. Fascinating, really. I’d never heard of these until this year. But then, I’d never even heard of ventricular tachycardia until this year either. Medical professional I am clearly not.

I decided to do the procedure, which is very quick and easy, unsedated because I really don’t like feeling woozy-headed, especially considering that I’m going to my boys’ AWANA awards program tonight. I’d like to be firing from all thrusters while I obsessively take their pictures and beam with pride.

But don’t worry. They gave me lots and lots of local anesthetic. I even told them, “Remember, I’m a red-head, so feel free to give me plenty. It takes a lot.”

I can’t explain it, but it’s true. It takes a lot of drug for me. They were nice. They gave me lots.

I think this Linq monitor is going to be a good course of action. In fact, while I was in the hospital today, the EKG machine went off two different times and said “Pair of PVCs”. Of course, you know I came home and googled what the heck a PVC is. It’s basically the same thing as ventricular tachycardia, just far less serious because it’s only one or two beats. It’s like 2 ventricular beats being off instead of 6, and it is actually very common, whereas v-tach is rare. But it’s not surprising that I would have these, since I’ve had V-tach.

I have learned so much about hearts this year. 2016 has been a serious drag, but it’s all okay because April is going home. The South is calling my name. And every time I start to feel down, I just remind myself, “Self, we are going home. And this will be nothing more than the past, my own strange time in the land of Oz.”

There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. C’mon, Toto, only 6 more weeks! I’m clicking my ruby-red slippers with excitement!

For more updates on how the Linq experience went for me over the three years that I wore it see these posts:

Diagnosis: V-Tach

What it was like to wear a Linq Monitor for three years

The post The Linq Procedure for Arrhythmia: Another Half Naked Patient Story appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I had no idea what to expect, so I thought I’d write this for newbies like me who’d like a heads up, complete with my humorous commentary, of course. I’d had MRIs before, but a heart MRI is performed much differently than a musculoskeletal one, as I’ve had in the past.

I was a little nervous to begin with about the IV and the dye because when I’m not feeling well or when I’m cold, it’s about impossible to get an IV into my veins. Go figure. Both problems were in place that day. They brought me nice, toasty hospital socks. I got to take them home with me too. Yes! Souvenir!!

So it was all very low-key. This is not something to be afraid of. I went back, put on my scrubs, and re-emerged. The scrub top was large enough for several of me, and it had one tie.

I go back to the waiting room, and in walks Mike, nice attractive man my age, there to run my MRI. Of course, all medical staff that must see me naked always seem to be male. Always. “Well, that’s okay,” I thought, “I get to keep my top and my bottoms on today; this one’s noninvasive. I can be calm. Calm. Stop smiling so much. Don’t be nervous. Be cool.”

“You have your shirt on backwards,” he said. “I gotta hook up the EKG, so it opens to the front. But that’s okay. We’ll get you a smaller one, and you can change first. Did they tell you anything about what to expect?”

No, obviously not…I changed shirts. The neck hole of the thing was cut all the way down to my stretched out belly button. Oh well.

I headed back out and hunted Mike down again. He told me, “Here’s the bathroom. You might want to go ahead and go to the bathroom first.”

“Nah, I’m okay.”

“You sure? This is going to last over an hour.”

Say what???

I decided it was best to be a compliant patient, and go use the bathroom. I laughed, “Ha! Yeah, I go through this with my kids all the time. I’ll go ahead and go.”

So this was a one man show. Mike had to coach me, explain the gown to me, hook me up to an IV, put the dye in, and take all the MRI photos.

Only we didn’t get to do exactly all of that as planned. I warned him about my veins. He scoffed at my warning, “Eh, I do this all the time. I pride myself on never sticking a patient twice.”

Oh, Mike. You just had to say it.

My veins were not having it. You can find my veins, but it’s not so easy to get into them with a needle. I’m used to this. They often have trouble, but it was so bad that day. He tried four or five different veins, and no dice. Finally, he gave up and took the MRI pictures without the dye.

Drat. I was so looking forward to having neon blood. Wait, no I wasn’t, so it was fine by me.

Besides the dye, which I didn’t get to experience, there are several things different about a heart MRI. You are also hooked up to an EKG machine, your head is all the way into the tunnel, and you have to constantly hold your breath. The tunnel is literally like two inches from your nose, and it bothered me for the first 5 minutes, especially combined with, “Take a breath, not a super deep breath but a shallow breath and hold it.”

“Okay, breathe.”

Over and over and over again. Literally about 30 times you hold your breath for various amounts of seconds and then let it go.

For a brief minute, towards the beginning, I felt like I was hyperventilating in a tiny tunnel. My chest started to rattle, and I wanted to drink the air as deep as possible.

But then my short little panic was over, and it wasn’t hard at all.

The MRI technologist was so nice. I felt bad for him that he had to deal with my hard, stubborn veins. I felt silly for having been so nervous about this really. However, I still stopped at the 7-11 on the way home and bought a Snickers ice cream bar as a consolation prize for my long afternoon at the hospital.

By the way, if you’re reading this in preparation for your own MRI, leave a comment and let me know how it goes! I promise it isn’t bad at all, a little draining with all the breathing stuff, but not bad.

The post What to Expect at a Heart MRI appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

JD keeps me young. Thank you, JD!!

Many people develop heart problems while they are still young, but trust me, I’ve sat in the cardiology waiting room enough to know that I am nowhere near the average age. Most people in there have a walker and an accompanying nurse.

In fact, the receptionists sometimes assume that I’m there with an elderly patient that I walked in after.

“Wait. Are you with Mrs. Hammerstein?”

“No, no, I have a 3:00 appointment.”

Wednesday is my heart MRI. I’ve had an embarrassing number of MRIs in the past year, and I don’t expect anything bad to show up on this one. I wouldn’t even mind getting this MRI, except that the idea of dye coursing through my veins and my heart gives me the eebidy-jeebidies.

Yes, I reserve the right to remain a medical chicken.

I am chicken. I’d rather skip this mess and hope these problems just go away on their own. Some people totally don’t get that, and I don’t know how to make them understand.

“April, MRIs are nothing to be afraid of. The dye doesn’t hurt.”

“I know. It just sounds icky, and it makes me feel queasy to think about it.”

“Well, ablations don’t hurt either. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

Yes, thank you so much for these comforting words of empathy. Doesn’t matter, there’s something about the idea about running a wire up through my arteries and into my heart that, yes, makes my legs tingle, my nose crinkle, and yes, it just gives me the willies.

I’m not unwilling to do it, but that doesn’t mean I have to be all happy about it.

This whole heart patient process has actually been rather comical to me. I laugh a lot inside my head. Some of this stuff is absolutely hilarious, and at the time, there’s no one there to laugh with me.

But don’t worry, I’ve been saving up my embarrassing patient thoughts, and I’m here to share.

All of growing up, having babies, and getting older is this continuous process of being stripped of all pride and dignity, isn’t it? You start out young and cute, strutting your stuff, and up until that first pap smear, people mostly let you keep the private things private.

Then that whole giving birth process happens. There you are, with a person on either side of you holding your legs, in all your naked glory.

For a few months, you remember that you have no pride or dignity left. You know that your husband fully witnessed what happened when you pushed that hard, how stress-ball you could become during a c-section spinal block, and just the blood and gore of it all. Sometimes I would sit there, days after, remember the pain, and accidentally find myself reliving it all and crying…..

*Shudder.*

But fast forward a few years, and I’ve sort of forgotten all of those things. Even still, my body will never be the same. I’ve birthed four children, and I’m not even sure my stomach skin is still attached to me. I’m okay with that. It was worth it, and I think I’m cleverly disguising the pooch with cute clothing.

I’ve moved on, until suddenly I became a heart patient and why are all of the techs who I have to be shirt-less in front of young males? Whyyyyyyyyyyy? Oh, the mortification.

First, it happened in the Emergency Room. At triage, my heart rate was 159. They rushed me straight back. I wasn’t even finished putting on my hospital gown, and they were hooking me up to an EKG machine. Go figure the EKG man was my age. As he placed those EKG pads all over my boob, my breastbone, and my flabby-mommy-belly, I cringed on the inside. Sigh. Thankfully, he was very kind and professional.

He came back to do several EKGs, and every single time, he would forget to cover my boobs back up. I was all covered in wires.

“Ummmm. Can you please put my bra back down?”

“Oh yeah! Sorry I keep forgettin’ that.”

But at least ER EKG man was in his 30s. I didn’t even feel all that self-conscious. I figured he’s seen worse.

That was nothing compared to the next few experiences.

First, there was the stress test. I had no idea that you have to wear an open-to-the-front hospital gown shirt for that, so I brought my ten-year-old with me.

THANKFULLY, I wore a sports bra and high-waisted pants. Yep. I was as covered up as you can possibly get for a stress test. That tech was, of course, also a male. Thankfully, he was my age or older, or he just lost his hair early. Hard to tell. Have you ever seen Gru on Despicable Me? This guy looked exactly like him.

He was extremely professional though, so I wasn’t completely horrified when I showed up for the echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) a week later and found out that Gru is in charge of those as well. Thankfully, I did not take any little boys with me to that one. Heart ultrasounds are nothing like pregnancy ultrasounds. Boobs are all flopping out there in the open, and it’s all very let’s-just-get-this-over-with.

But then there was the 24-hour Holter monitor.

By this point, I should have known to be ready for humiliation, but it was far worse than the other tests. This tech was not Gru. He looked to be all of 15-years-old. I am not even exaggerating. You see, that day I was wearing muffin-top blue jeans and had totally not thought this thing through.

“Unbutton your blouse,” he said.

“Oh. Right.”

There I was. Hot pink push-up bra, muffin-top jeans and the ol’ belly seemed 6 inches larger than usual. I shook my head at myself inwardly.

Dear women in need of jobs, could you please all go apply at your local cardiology office? Seriously, for the love of easily- embarrassed- women everywhere, for the cardiac patients like me.

When I went back to get the monitor removed the next day, it was the same guy. I very quickly started removing the pads and cords myself and fled the building…

Haaaa!!!! No, I’m kidding.

I actually DID begin removing wires myself as quickly as possibly, but he said, “Here, I’ll do that for you,” and came straight over and helped me. I was working at ending the heart-test-embarrassment as quickly as possible.

There’s no one like the medical professionals to keep us all humble, eh?

Enough about my naked embarrassment already…..onto the giveaway announcement!

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who participated in the drawing for a free copy of VeggieTales Puppies and Guppies on DVD! And thank you to the VeggieTales company for partnering with Stories of Our Boys.

And congratulations are in order to Diana of Utah!! Hope you and your kiddos thoroughly enjoy this fun DVD!

The post My Embarrassing Heart Patient Stories and the Giveaway Winner appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Me and my birthday salad: My friend Laura thought this up. I thought the tomato with the candle was so cute and original.

Today I’m on the 9th day of a 21 Day Purification Cleanse. This cleanse has made me feel young and energetic. Brain fog went out the door with the gluten. Pain from all the tendonitis was down to a 2 or a 3 most of the time. Life was good.

On days 1-10 of the cleanse you are only allowed to eat fruits, vegetables, quinoa, approved oils, and the protein shakes and supplements that come with the cleanse. I have been eating delicious smoothies, vegetarian vegetable soup, and salads.

This soup was a life saver! Loved it! I made it with black-eye peas, lima beans, okra, turnip root, carrots, green beans, a pinch of salt, Rotel tomatoes, minced onions, minced garlic, black pepper, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Thyme, Oregano, and Basil. Why do I have this need to capitalize the spice names??

Then on day 7 I saw my cardiologist, and they put me on Rythmol. This is a serious drug to treat my ventricular tachycardia.

I took my first dose of it, in addition to the Inderal I was already taking Friday night. Saturday morning I woke up and realized that Rythmol and I were not going to get along. I felt horrible. I checked my blood pressure: low but not bad low. I figured I just needed to get used to the new medicine.

I took another full dose Saturday morning, and I spent the entire day in bed. My head is whoozy, nausea comes and goes, my chest occasionally feels tight, and the fatigue does not play.

By Sunday morning, I decided that you can’t pay me any money to take another whole dose of this medicine. I think they are trying too hard to help me. I felt much better just taking the Inderal. My PA wrote out instructions for me that said, “If the new drug gives you low blood pressure, cut the dose in half, and call the doctor.”

Done. That’s my new plan. I did research on Rythmol today on the internet. I didn’t like what I found. I have seen it described as a “last chance” drug and a drug for “life-threatening arrhythmias” because the side effects can be so bad, and in some people it can actually cause arrhythmias.

In fact, most of the sources said things like, “used to treat life threatening arrhythmias like ventricular tachycardia.”

(Sources: Slideshow, WebMD, MedicineNet.com)

Heh?

My first thought is, “Am I missing something? I’m not THAT bad off.”

Have any of you ever taken this heart medication? I wonder if it gets better as your body gets used to it. They gave me this drug to help me, but I’m calling it my “frienemy” because I was finally feeling better before, and now I feel like I got ran over by, I don’t know, a bicycle or something. After all, it could always be worse.

I only took half of the Rythmol this morning, but I still felt nauseous, sluggish, and tired. My medication timer just went off, and I’m having this inner battle. There isn’t a single part of me that wants to take even one more half dose! I think I’ll skip it, y’all. It is nasty stuff.

***********

My precious friend Cassie brought us this yummy-licious chicken and veggie dish. We loved it. Thank you, Cassie! I need this recipe!

I know I keep mentioning the cleanse but not fully explaining it. I’m sorry about that.

First, here’s the website: Standard Process

I found out about the cleanse from my chiropractor. He knew I’ve been having a hard time, so he recommended this. It’s supposed to help clear out inflammation while also helping you figure out what foods may be causing you reactions. You eliminate all of the classic food allergy or intolerance foods for 21 days: no eggs, gluten, grains, dairy, no added sugar, no preservatives. You try to eat as cleanly as you can, mostly organic.

My favorite breakfast “shake”: (I don’t know why they call it a shake. It’s dairy free. It’s a smoothie, people.)

-1 whole banana

-1 overflowing handful of frozen strawberries

-1 teaspoon of coconut oil (Yep!)

-2 scoops of protein mix from Standard Process

-1 scoop of Whole Food Fiber from Standard Process

-around 8 ounces of water

-about 5 giant spinach leaves                                                                                                                                                 —

SO GOOD!!!! (I never measure anything. I know. This is why I could never write a cookbook.)

I am the only one here doing this. The rest of the family is still getting plenty of meat and potatoes. Don’t worry.

I have felt WONDERFUL during the cleanse. Actually, I started feeling better even just from cutting gluten. I’m hoping that when I finish my 21 days, I can still stick mostly to only cutting gluten. I want my oats and cheese back!

OH! Also, I lost 5 pounds, but that was mostly because I felt too horrid to get out of bed and eat yesterday, thanks to the heart medication. Before that, I ate too much fruit to lose weight.

Glorious news for this week: 

Tuesday is day 11, and on day 11 you get to add meats!  Can’t wait!!!

Okay. This post made me hungry. Time for a “midnight shake”….

The post The Purification Cleanse and the “Frienemy” Drug appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Things are looking up for me.

“For you did not receive a spirit that made you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” —Romans 8:15

It has been a great comfort to me to remind myself: God already knows what is wrong with me. He knows what is happening and where it’s headed. I have only to buckle up and trust Him.

First, let me tell ya what a relief it is to have some answers to the heart question.

What do you call your doctor when she’s a physician’s assistant? PA Carlquist? I don’t know what to call her, but she has been a great help to me. She came right in to the appointment and got to the point. She had her computer open and she said, “Well, the good news is we know what it is, but it’s not so good.”

Surprise! Wait. Someone actually is holding a piece to this puzzle. I didn’t even know enough about hearts to be worried. I’m not medical at all. I’m just happy someone does know.

It’s called Ventricular Tachycardia, and I was impressed with the simple way she explained it. She said that it’s like there’s an anarchist down in the lower part of my heart. The upper area is in charge of the rhythm, but occasionally the anarchist rises up and takes over, which is not good. The thing is that he throws off the beat and goes too fast. (Yes, an anarchist absolutely must be a HE. HA!) Then the true leader takes back over.

The problem showed up when I did the overnight heart monitor, at 12:44am, for six beats, so there’s a possibility that it could be caused by my not getting enough oxygen in my sleep. Although, I’m not sure if that explains why it happens sometimes during the day. I’ll have to ask.

They changed my medications, which I am adjusting to this weekend. I am so fatigued!! After three weeks of having my energy back, this is hard.

Let me tell you why I like Cardiology PA Carlquist so much. For starters, I feel comfortable enough with her to tell her what needs to be told. I often freeze up with other doctors. She is good about answering my questions too.

I saw her looking at the toes funny, so I explained, “Oh, yeah, my toes are just purple because I have Raynaud’s syndrome, but it doesn’t bother me too much. It’s always been more of a party trick.”  Ha!

She made a note of the purple toes in her computer. Then she went on to explain that the doctor may want to do a ventricular ablation to turn off the ventricular tachycardia. This is a procedure where they go in through your thigh and run a catheter up to your heart and work on the problem that way. The advantage to this is that I would not need medicine anymore, once it’s done.

So I still needed a follow-up appointment with this doctor. He is difficult to get an appointment with.

“I’ll walk you to the desk and see if I can speed the process up a little,” she said. (See, this lady is AWESOME sauce.)

We walk out, and lo and behold, there’s the doctor that specializes in electrical heart problems, standing right there eating an apple!

My PA sent me back to my exam room. She stood out there and talked to the doc for a good five minutes. Then they both came in. I thought he’d just stick his head in for a minute, but no. He pulled up a patient chair, sat down, and asked me questions.  It was a good visit. Of course, I forgot to tell him about the fevers, but I haven’t had too many of those lately.

He decided that he wants me to have an MRI, which we don’t expect to find anything bad on. He also wants me to wear a loop recorder for a week to get more information on the problem. (Last time I only wore it for 24 hours.) Then he asked me to come to the clinic any time that I have symptoms: palpitations, light-headedness, dizziness, so they can have an EKG recording of when it’s actually happening.

That EKG part will never happen. The heart medicine keeps it under control so well that I do not have heart problems so long as I’m taking it, thankfully!

So there you have it. I may or may not need to have the surgery. We’ll see. More tests…fun, fun, fun.

I need to send my PA a thank you note. She saved me another month of waiting for a doctor appointment by bringing the doctor in on the spot like that. Doesn’t it make you feel good when people go the extra mile?

The doctor was very calm about it all, but he did say, “I don’t want to freak you out or anything,” about something.  I laughed.

They both laughed at me when they saw the writing on my hand. I write reminders to myself on my palms, and people often chuckle about that.

Oh, one more little funny for ya:  The doctor said, with the utmost of seriousness, as he had only just met me, “Now we need to talk about it, if you’re wanting to have children sometime…”

Haaaaaaa!!!!! I didn’t even wait for him to finish.  “Oh, don’t worry about that. I have four children, and we are done now.”

Ha! Can you imagine? No, I’m half kidding. I adore babies, and I love my children more than life itself, but that time of life has passed for me. I’m okay with that.

*************

Ventricular Tachycardia:

–Definition: condition in which lower chambers of heart beat quickly

–Rare, especially under age 60

–Symptoms: light-headedness, palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, fainting, cardiac arrest

(Obviously, I have not had cardiac arrest.)

–Causes: heart disease, cardiomyopathy, genetics

(I do not know what the cause of mine is.)

-Risks: Cardiac arrest (where the heart stops beating), heart attack

For more info: Healthline article

**********

My hip problem: Iliotibial Band Syndrome. 

My physical therapist works on this every week. My IT band is so tight, if you touch it I want to cry. I’m supposed to be rolling it at home everyday with a rolling-pin, but oh man, I don’t want to! I have it in both legs, but the right side is way more severe.

–Definition: inflamed illiotibial band–This ligament rubs against the thighbone causing pain. (The IT band runs from the iliac crest down to your shin.)

–Causes: For me, an abnormal pelvic tilt—Either it’s causing the tilt, or the tilt is causing the angry ligaments. I’m not sure.

–Symptoms: tender to the touch, knee swelling, pain with bent knee, pain using stairs, popping sound with extended knee

This thing quiets down sometimes and only hurts if I touch it, or if the kids sit too close to me, touching my leg. Other times, it gets so bad that it’s hard to even walk. I bought a cane in January, but then it improved. Phew! Let’s hope I don’t have another month like this past January ever again.

For more info: MedicineNet article

*******

Is there an overarching problem causing all this mess? Well, I have yet to prove it if there is, so for now, I have this heart problem, with no known cause, IT band syndrome, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and occasional fevers.

Thankfully, the heart meds help, and being gluten-free has been surprisingly beneficial. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t experienced it first hand, but I have had 100 times more energy ever since I cut gluten from my diet. I am fully functioning again, and it is a wonderful feeling!

I don’t know if the gluten is what made the difference or not. The key is that the mystery fevers are gone, because those drained me. Plus, I’ve adjusted to the new medicine, so it isn’t making me tired anymore.

Thank you so much, all of you, who are following along on my little tale of woe. And most of all, thank you to those who have prayed!! It has made a world of difference.

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

my hope comes from Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress. I will not be shaken.”      Psalm 62:5-6

For the next part of this story: Click here: The Frienemy Drug

The post Health Update: Ventricular Tachycardia, My Favorite Doctor, and Tendonitis Everywhere appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

A couple of weeks ago something strange happened. Four mornings in a row I woke up at 4am with my heart pounding and my chest all tight and uncomfortable.

“What. Weird. Why can’t I go back to sleep?” I thought, as I stared at the clock. 4am. That’s a time I usually only see if we make foolish airplane travel plans. April does not do early.

Pound.Pound.Pound.Pound.Pound. Well, I can’t possibly go to sleep like this!

I felt more like going running than going back to sleep.

On the 4th or 5th morning of this nonsense, I decided to go to the ER. My resting heart rate and blood pressure were both high, and one of my doctors had urged me to go to the ER or urgent care the next time this business happened, so I did.

I’ve never seen doctors move so quickly. Wait. That’s not true. I haven’t seen them move so quickly since the emergency c-section of 2011.

They ran all sorts of tests, and by the time two hours had passed my heart rate was down to beautiful numbers, and my heart was working like a well-oiled machine.

“Maybe you were having an anxiety attack,” the ER doctor suggested.

“At 4am, out of a dead sleep? Really?”

“Do you have stress in your life? Are you worried about anything?”

Hahahahaha  Do I have stress in my life? Me, the woman home schooling a house full of male children, sweet, spirited boys who belong nowhere other than a farm with sixty acres?

“Well, I’m worried about my hip pain. And I mean, yes, I have stress. I have four kids!”

“But I mean are you worried about anything other than your health?”

“No.”

Why doesn’t worrying about my health count? I think it counts.

Anyway, I left, and it didn’t take too long for my heart to crank up again, and after watching people freak out about it, I started to feel rather uneasy myself.

“Ok. So I have to just get to Monday with my heart like this, and maybe on Monday my doctor will help me,” I thought to myself.

Don’t worry. She did. She pulled up my records, saw the pattern that dated back to at least 2012, and she put me on a beta blocker medication that has helped immensely.

But that’s not the point of this story.

The point of this story focuses on those days between the ER morning and the appointment on Monday.

I knew I had to get through those two little days with my pounding, schizophrenic heart, and it was uncomfortable, and it was worrisome, and you know what I had to do?

I had to literally “trust God with my heart.”

In church circles, we hear that all the live long day. “Aw. Little Johnny asked Jesus into his heart.”

“You gotta get your heart right with God if you want his blessings.”

“Give your heart to Jesus.”

“Don’t harden your heart towards the Lord.”

When we say heart, we really mean the soul. I get it. But wait. Do we also mean more than that?

Do we just mean the soul? Or do we also sometimes mean life?

Because I noticed something pivotal in all of this rig-a-ma-roar.

The ER people, and even my general practitioner, sure treated me a lot differently when my heart was in distress than they did when my hip was hurt, and my hip hurt way more than my heart ever did.

But my hip is not my life. I could lose my hip, get a replacement, and keep on livin’.

The heart is the life. Once the heart gives out, it’s over. The fat lady is done singin’!

(Sorry. I think bad grammar helps emphasis sometimes.)

Now what these folks are missing is that if they’d bring down my hip pain, my heart might not get so upset, but that’s a topic for another day…

Now let’s apply the heart=life idea to a church phrase or two.

1. “Little Johnny gave his heart to Jesus.”

Little Johnny gave his life to Jesus. Jesus isn’t just there to take you to Heaven. Jesus wants  us to trust him with our life! He wants us to come to him in prayer and to follow his teaching.

2. “You gotta get your life right with God if you want his blessings.”

But let’s not put the cart before the horse. We have to ask for Him to forgive us, and then we have to trust him to help us “get our life right.” It will never look perfect, but you will see a difference.

The biggest take-away for me was the reminder to truly trust the Lord. When you’re consciously trusting Him with the very beat of your heart, it suddenly gets very REAL!

“He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely shall be delivered.”  Proverbs 27:26

“The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.”  Psalm 25:17

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

*****It took a few months to figure out that this episode was actually a ventricular tachycardia episode. Read here for the next part in the story.*****************

The post When Trusting God with Your Heart Gets Very Real appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.