Possible Diagnosis

I blog a bunch in the beginning of the new year and it takes me nearly a month to get it together again to add another entry! In my defense, it has been pretty hectic around here. I cannot go into too much detail on some things yet, but I can in other areas at least.


If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I have been having bad stomach issues since October of 2014. I had a sensitive stomach growing up, but it went way down hill then. I had my gall bladder removed, multiple tests at multiple doctors (primary ones, two gastroenterologists, and a rheumatologist) and still no answers. Medications helped some, but I was still having awful stomach attacks every four to six weeks with no explanation.


Well, we may finally have one.


My rheumatologist gave me some blood work results in November that he said he wasn't too concerned about but I should show to another doctor I was seeing just in case. Well, in December that doctor looked at it and went, "Um, no. Not normal. Definitely a problem." The possible verdict?


Subclinical Hypothyroidism.


My TSH (thyroid hormones) were at a 10.67 when the normal range is around 2-3. My thyroid antibodies were also super, super high. The norm is between 4 and 32.... mine were at 464. I was started on 100mcg of Synthroid within 24 hours and referred to an endocrinologist that day. My first appointment with the endocrinologist will be this Friday, so I am hoping we finally can fix this thing once and for all. I will most likely be on Synthroid the rest of my life, but hopefully we can lower the levels once my blood work balances out again.


The one doctor thinks that's why my stomach was so messed up, apparently metabolism and hormones and all sorts of other things can get screwy. It also adds to the tiredness, cold, and many other things. I did have to step away from Google, but fingers crossed we finally get somewhere with this.


The other goodish news is that I am transferring in my job. I currently work at the reference desk at the Main Library (which I do like don't get me wrong) but I will be moving over to the Research Library within the next month or so. The big perk to this will be a much more steady schedule and.... they're closed weekends! Hallelujah! As of right now I am working half and half (including some weekends), but once they hire another person I will be at the branch library permanently. It is also much quieter, a different sort of patron, and a definite change of pace I am looking forward too.


Hopefully I will be able to update with more shortly. Until then, thanks (as always) for sticking with me.

2015 Retrospect

Every year I try and do a retrospect post of all the things that have happened in the past year. Last year was a rough year and I was very optimistic going in to 2015 that this year would be better than the last. Unfortunately 2015 ended up being a rough year for us as well. I didn't blog a lot, but between losing our first pregnancy, marital troubles, legal issues and other things, 2015 was pretty harsh too. I hope I do not sound like a broken record when I say I hope 2016 is a better year and I make you all positively nauseous with how great it becomes, but here is hoping.

Past retrospects:
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010

January

We spent New Years in the mountains with my family since we didn't see them for Thanksgiving or Christmas with them. Unfortunately I had horrendous gall bladder attacks the entire weekend and could barely move.

We also took our first trip to a local favorite, Mike's Farm, as pictured above.

Ryan and I decided to go in for a Tune Up of sorts.

Ryan had his IUT (or Training) Cycle as an instructor with SOI-E.

At the end of the month I finally had surgery to remove my gallbladder, hoping my stomach issues would subside. Not the case.

February

I spent most of February pretty sick recovering from my surgery at the end of January.

But we did manage to have a nice Valentine's Day together before I went back to work.

I spent the rest of the month sick, on and off, trying to gather myself.

March

Ryan was still going through cycles with work and I was still sick.
I did take some time to do a rare craft post on this blog with my wine cork wreath.

April

April things got better.
We spent a nice, quiet Easter together at home.
My brother Stefan came and spent his Spring Break with us.
And we attended our first Dining In together, which was a nice excuse to dress up!

May

In May we were officially gutted as my first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage on our fifth wedding anniversary. It was truly devastating. 

June

I went to my first ever Jane Wayne Day or, In Their Boots Day, as it is now called.
I blogged a bit more about our loss.
My baby brother graduated high school.

July

I didn't blog a lot in July, but I did a quick update with the 4th of July and the birth of our niece.
To get away for awhile I joined my parents, brother, aunt, uncle, and cousins at the OBX.

August

Stefan came and spent another week with us in August before he left for college.
Ryan and I took a day to be spontaneous and drove to Myrtle Beach SC and rode in a helicopter. It was so flippin' cool!

September

September nearly shattered me again. I didn't go in to details, but something happened that will change the course of our lives and it nearly broke me.
I turned 28 and time continued on. We spent the weekend with my parents at their new house.
And I did a random sort of post that talked about 9/11, football, Etsy shops and nail polish. Because, why not?
I got cast as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet at the local Community College Theatre.

October

I blogged my frustrations in the form of a Cha Cha and the author of the quote commented on my entry, which was very touching.
Romeo and Juliet was cancelled three weeks before the show thanks to shoddy administration at the college.
I became a blogger with Influenster
My grandparents visited my parents for a few weeks so we went to see them and I learned some important family traditions.
My major nerd side came out with Back to the Future Day
Plus we had a pretty epic Halloween.

November

Ryan and I went to the Polish Festival in early November, where it was over 80 degrees.
We attended the USMC Birthday Ball.
Plus we spent Thanksgiving in South Carolina with Ryan's family.

December

We met my family in New Bern and went to Tryon Palace to see it for Christmas. It was in the 70s.
Plus we spent Christmas in New Jersey, which made my heart very happy.
I auditioned with another local community theatre (NOT at the college) and got cast as the Judge in John Grisham's A Time to Kill. The show will start rehearsing in January and go on in March.

So there you have it, my 2015 retrospect. I overly optimistically blogged in my 2014 retrospect that 2015 couldn't possibly get any worse... naive I know, but let's hope for sure 2016 is accurate in that. It will be a fantastic year. My stomach will settle, our lives and jobs will be ok, and everything will keep moving forward.

Happy New Year my friends.

Cha-Cha

source (via microsoft publisher)

“Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha.”

― Robert Brault

I am trying to be an optimist. I am trying to take my two steps forward, one step backward and make it into a cha-cha... but man it isn't easy. 

I know the importance of goodness and positivity. I just feel like every time I take a step forward lately I take two backwards. No stomach attack for six weeks? Let’s have three in four days and put her in the Emergency Room twice. Fertility cycle successfully tracked and used? Let’s have her period arrive two days earlier than anticipated and with a vengeance. Cast in a dream role in a Shakespeare play? Let’s have her work her ass off to have it cancelled at the last minute. Add in some stresses I choose not to blog about, stupid doctors who give me a snap diagnosis and tell me I should be on antidepressants to see if they help anything (when I am not depressed regardless of all this going on) just makes me want to hit something. I am not clinically depressed. I can laugh, I can feel happiness and joy and I am not in a fog of sadness and hurt hours a day. I am not sad. I am not depressed.

I am frustrated. There is a huge difference. 

Sometimes my frustration brings me to tears because that is my body’s uncontrolled physical response. But more often than not, I am just me. I don't dwell on these things all the time. I am how I always have been. I don't know how else to put it. I have been in that horrible fog before, my teenage years especially... I know the difference and how important mental health is to people. But I will not just take medication because one doctor who has spent five minutes with me and sees my medical issues happening and thinks I should, even if just as "preventative maintenance" because it is "only a matter of time at this rate."

Seriously?

So, as you can tell from my ranting things have not been easy around these parts lately. I cannot believe I naively expected to get pregnant as soon as I stopped taking my birth control over a year ago. I cannot believe I thought having my gall bladder removed would fix my stomach issues and make me normal again. I cannot believe certain things happen. I cannot believe I am officially the "someone else" certain things happen to, but never to you person. I mentioned in my 2014 Retrospect post how hard of a year it was and 2015 can only be better.... well I was wrong. Different sorts of awful can happen and be just as hard if not harder. Sometimes that makes me wish I was a kid again, this adult stuff is for the birds. Maybe next year will be better. Maybe October, November and December will be better...

All I can say is, I am working on my cha-cha as much as a rhythmically challenged girl can. 

Not So Wordless Wednesday

On your birthday Starbucks gives you free drinks. The Starbucks on base doesn't use the app or whatever it is with the gift card reloadable thing (you can tell I do this a lot) but they still give you a free drink. I asked for a medium and the girl behind the counter told me to live a little, it was my birthday after all, so I ended up with a passion tea lemonade the size of my head! Plus they matched my new birthday present Ray Bans my mom found on major sale somewhere. So I took a rare selfie, especially since I had my hair curled, another rarity.

On 9/11 I didn't have work, so once Ryan came home we went to the 9/11 Memorial in Jacksonville. I am ashamed to say I didn't know it existed until that day and the base Facebook page posted about it, but I am glad we went. It is a piece of steel from the Twin Towers and you can see the notes and flowers people left throughout the day. We arrived just after it rained so it was just us for awhile in the evening sunlight. It was beautiful.

Football season started and I was super excited. Now both my teams are 0-2 and I want to bang my head on the wall. Sigh.

Last weekend my parents met us for lunch in New Bern and we tried a delicious restaurant called Persimmons, which we had never been to before. It was right on the waterfront and all of their food was made from fresh, local ingredients. Check out my fried green tomatoes (with regular tomatoes, goat cheese crumbles and balsamic reduction). Oh my gracious it was heavenly.

We walked around a bit then and just enjoyed the view and showing my dad New Bern since he hasn't been before. It was pretty hot so the breeze coming off the water was much appreciated.

I finally managed to snag something from The Enchanted Brush. I was way too excited and I already wore it! I ordered it Friday, it arrived Monday, and I wore it Tuesday. One day I will own a pair of her amazing shoes... when I can afford them!!!

I am back to the "Let's guess why your digestive system doesn't work game." with a new gastroenterologist. So far I like him, we have some ideas, but until I have an attack again they cannot do as many tests as they want. I am under instructions to go to the ER during my next attack and have a CT scan and blood work done... which should be fun. When I am in attack mode I can barely move or leave the bathroom let alone get myself to the ER in time, but we shall see. I cannot seem to go more than six weeks without an attack so maybe within a month we will know more. He did decide to test me for celiac's disease with a simple blood test after my appointment. I went to the lab and I told the young HN naval guy I have deep veins, just to give him a heads up. He felt around, said he found one and was good. He then stuck the needle in said, "Oh." and promptly pulled it out again. As blood trickled down my arm he went and grabbed someone else and said, "Can you tap her, I blew out her vein." Sigh. I warned you dude. Now I have a lovely bruise on my arm. The other arm where the other lady tapped me? Not even a mark. I also have a gastric emptying test scheduled for this Friday. I sincerely hope I get some answers anyway possible at this point. I am tired of these stomach issues... it has been nearly a year now! But I like this doctor and I feel like he actually listens to me, unlike the other one, so fingers crossed.

When I visited my mom over the weekend of my birthday I got a gel manicure that lasted me a full two weeks. My nails are never long so I wanted to keep it up if I could. I went to Target and got the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish since it was no light necessary. I really don't have the time to go get my nails done every few weeks so I was excited to try this. Sadly, it chipped in less than a day. My nails look a little extra ragged from when I removed the salon gels, but the chips weren't even in the same spots on some of my nails. So yea, kind of disappointed. I have done a touch up already and those have chipped too. Just in case you were wondering before you buy! It's a shame because the colors are gorgeous and they dry pretty quickly, but they sadly just do not last with me.

I am trying to get back to blogging regularly, so thanks for sticking with me and my random accumulation of thoughts... especially in this post in particular.

This is not a sponsored post in any way, all opinions here are my own in terms of restaurants, Etsy shops, and nail polish... just sharing what I experienced!

Weekend with Stefan

This past weekend my little brother Stefan came for one more visit before he leaves for college next week. Now that my parents no longer live in Western North Carolina, they are actually much closer, about two and a half hours north of us on the coast. So Stef had a much easier drive than normal! He came down Thursday and although Ryan and I had to work Friday he was quite productive, mowing our lawn and weeding our front walkway. I was pretty thankful! Two less things I have to do! We had some Buffalo Wild Wings one night, the boys' favorite, and sushi the next night... so I got a break from cooking too. Bliss.

 

We spent Saturday at the beach even though we were a little aprehensive about the weather. It looked gray and stormy at home but on the beach it had clear and cloudy moments. It was warm and we never once got rained on, and we were there for many hours!

 

 

The boys swam and used the skim board while I relaxed with a good book or two. We all found shark teeth too. I did have an awful stomach attack while they went for a walk, but it was mostly over by the time they returned. Normally my stomach attacks only happen in the morningbut lately I've been lucky and had them in the afternoon and evening too. Joy. I have another doctor appoitnment in the works, two weeks away since that was the Naval Hospital's next available appointment. Sigh.

It was cloudy at points and looked gorgeous.

After the beach we just hung out at the house and enjoyed each other's company, playing poker and rummy until Ryan had to go to sleep since he is still in cycle.

Dup loves her uncle Stefan, as she gets to sleep in the guest bed with him whenever he comes over. He is obviously also one of her favorite people in the world because if you even mention his name she gets pretty darn excited. It is kind of adorable.

 

When Stefan left it broke my heart a little. How is my little buddy going to college?! His school is six and a half hours away, back out in Western NC where they used to live, so I won't be seeing him too often. I remember going off to college like it was yesterday, but I cannot believe that was ten years ago. Goodness. I was glad for the visit and I know he is going to knock em dead at Mars Hill.

 

All Over the Place

Time has been a tricky thing for me lately. With Ryan in cycle and me back at work it feels like there isn't really a set schedule for anything anymore... it's strange. I am now almost six weeks post op and feeling much better. On two occasions (naturally at four in the morning) my stomach rebelled something and I was up and sick for awhile and then off kilter for a few days, but I am just watching what I eat and going from there. Red meat and I may never have the same relationship, which kind of stinks. I only seem to handle the very expensive ground beef or burgers (93% or 97%), but roast beef, steak and anything else is a no go. I guess I can live with that.

Ryan is now in his second cycle as a combat instructor and this one is much better than the first (which was his training cycle). We still have periods of time where we don't see each other for a few days but there are those wonderful few that we get to hang out and spend some time together. After this cycle he will have some time on a normal work schedule since the busy season for SOI is over, which I am looking forward to.

I've been doing a lot of meal prepping on my days off, trying to cook lunches and dinners for the week for two people and doing the laundry and cleaning and grocery shopping; let's just say I remember days off being more relaxing than they have been as of late! Sometimes I feel like he is deployed again, but instead of maintaining a house and a life for just me it is for him too. He ghosts in exhausted; eats, showers and sleeps, and is gone again long before I wake up. I try to keep food in the fridge and the laundry clean and the house not a total disaster. I try not to get frustrated when mud tracks across the floor I just vacuumed or the laundry pile magically reappears as soon as I fold the last load, but it isn't easy. Not trying to complain by any means, I'd rather have him home in this capacity instead of deployed, but it can be exhausting at times trying to keep all the plates spinning.

Besides that my poor blog has been suffering for the past year or so. The community I was welcomed into years ago has drastically changed. I never have been one to blog for profit or into the business side of things, but I wonder if I missed out by not doing that. All the bloggers I started out with have pretty much stopped blogging. My readership is way down, comments and page views alike, and it is a bit depressing. I unfortunately do not have the time (and truth be told motivation) to go on a social media blitz or do some of the other things that extend into uber readership. I remember when blogging was more about sharing your story and personal relationships than networking and graphs and such. It's intimidating. I see blogs with thousands and thousands of followers and almost feel dizzy! That's a lot of pressure! Sometimes I think, I want to blog about this! but before I know it a week or two or three has passed and I have no idea what happened. How have I not come back to the space that was once my ultimate sanity?

I know this is all over the place... but I am still here. I am still trying to find my voice and write it down.

I hope you're still here too.

Gall Bladder

So it has been over a week since I finally had my gall bladder removed and I am finally feeling up to blogging a bit about it. My recovery has been pretty crappy so far.... bad nausea and lack of appetite (sound familiar) have plagued me since the Super Bowl and I have been pretty miserable. Today marks the first day I put on jeans and ventured out of the house (to the grocery store) in almost two weeks.

Back to last Wednesday, the 28th, when I had the actual surgery. I was supposed to be there at 9am with the surgery at 11am. Anytime I have surgery I have bad luck with timing. The night before they call me and tell me not to come in until 1:30pm due to back ups in the OR with a surgery at 2:45. Goody. Especially when you can't eat or drink after midnight! My mom flew in the night before and we had a nice dinner at Olive Garden together before heading home. Ryan surprised the heck out of both of us when he managed to get off work for my surgery. We were convinced the SDA meant it was impossible but I was glad he was able to be there. So we get to the hospital around 1:30pm and the wait begins.

We waited and waited and long story short I didn't get into the OR until almost 4:30 that afternoon. Sigh. I was pretty hungry and thirsty by that point. I sat in a room with my mom and Ryan and watched TV for a few hours as we waited and once it is go time it is GO TIME. I felt like we were waiting for ages and suddenly I was kissing them goodbye and getting wheeled up the hall. I vaguely remember seeing the OR and then... nothing. My next conscious (and quite embarrassing) memory is waking up in recovery sobbing. I mean full on sob fest. My throat was scratchy from the tube and obviously my midsection hurt and I just remember sobbing my heart out and apologizing to the recovery nurses for sobbing. 

Ugh.

I was supposed to have an outpatient surgery but because it started so late the surgery center closed and they wheeled me into the actual hospital for the rest of my recovery. We thought that meant a few hours but then they mentioned keeping me overnight and that was exactly what happened.

My goals were simple... drink, pee, walk and eat. I couldn't go home until all of those were done. I was horribly itchy and in pain so they had me on morphine, then percocet and benadryl as I drank a ton of water. Ryan eventually had to go home since he had to be at work at the crack of dawn but my mom stayed with me. Actually when Ryan left they hadn't mentioned keeping me all night yet and he was quite surprised when he woke up the next morning and I wasn't there.

I had a nice view of the sunrise from my bed at least? It was a long night. I hate hospitals and my poor mom was in a chair... they didn't offer her anything more comfortable until about four am and at that point she didn't want to bother. I did eventually walk and use the bathroom... and when I did I nearly fell over. Blood pouring out of your bellybutton will do that to you. Apparently that's normal after my surgery so a well placed bandaid stopped that problem. Ugh. I finally ate breakfast in the morning and to my surprise my husband walked in as I was eating oatmeal and jello. Work let him go since I was still in the hospital. We eventually got discharged and I was able to go home by 8am or so. We all basically went straight to bed and slept until midafternoon.

I spent the next day or two on pain meds on the couch watching Friends on Netflix while my mom cooked and cleaned and was awesome just helping us out.

The Dup was a little put out at having to share her couch at first but she quickly became my snuggle buddy.

 

 As you can see she just squirmed right in between my mom and I and made due. At 90lbs, give or take, this is no easy task for a Dup!

My view.... she is cute luckily!

And the Dup loves her Granny, my mom, so they snuggled a lot too.

Saturday, the night before my mom left I started feeling nauseous. Saturday we went to the store and I was eating normally but sore... Sunday the nausea was worse. I barely ate all day before taking her to the airport and I was feeling awful by the time I got home. I got on the couch with the Dup to watch the Super Bowl but she wasn't too interested....

By halftime Ryan was home and I felt awful. Before the third quarter started I was throwing up and Ryan was giving me medicine and dragging me into bed to go to sleep. The next four or five days were miserable. I was on anti nausea medicine like crazy and eating nothing but fruit and toast and light bland things and just trying to stay hydrated. I went back to my doctor and they basically said it had only been a week post op and to give it more time. Very frustrating. Finally today I am feeling a little better. Good enough to at least put on jeans and go to the grocery store. I am still taking it easy and watching what I eat, but here is to hoping I am finally on the up and up.

Adios Gall Bladder. You will so not be missed. Here is to hoping I can have my long awaited cheeseburger soon. Really soon.

Training Cycle 1 and Life Goes On

As many of you know, my husband recently began his new job as a combat instructor with MCT (Marine Combat Training) as part of SOI East (School of Infantry). We are well in to his first training cycle and things have definitely been an adjustment. The hours are crazy, some nights he doesn't come home at all (and I have my trusty 9 mil on standby) and when he does the poor guy eats, showers and sleeps. He is definitely exhausted and I am trying my best to help where I can. I make his coffee, grab snacks and things for him when I can, have the house clean and leftovers in the fridge, and I try and keep the noise level down when he is home and asleep. It is weird after how much time we spent together lately that we barely see each other any more, most of that time is just sleeping, and he is usually too busy to even answer a text during the day. Training cycles are 29 days straight, so we still have a bit left to go in this first cycle, but hopefully with each cycle things will get a little easier. I know Ryan is pretty worn out already so here is to hoping things get better on his end too.

I finally had my pre-op appointment on Wednesday for my gallbladder removal. I met with the nurse, anesthesiologist and got blood work done. In between my meetings with each of them my doctor's office called me. I listened to the voicemail and they basically were saying there was a scheduling problem and they were wondering if I could push my surgery back until February 4th. Oh. Heck. NO. I was literally AT my pre-op appointment! Since Ryan cannot take leave my mom is flying in to take care of me. I am already scheduled for the time off work and the surgery is a week away! The surgery THEY scheduled back in MID DECEMBER.

Needless to say I was not happy.

I called them back and basically told them no... I could not switch. I mentioned my mom was flying in, ticket already booked, and it was not possible for me to reschedule. The nurse said "Ok, we will see what we can do. We just wanted to check with you and see if it was possible."

Well, it isn't.

I have been sick since October. I waited a month to get a diagnosis. When I finally did get one I had to wait another month to even see a surgeon. Then when I finally saw him I had to wait a week for them to schedule the surgery. Then I had to wait another five weeks for said surgery. Meanwhile I have been sick this entire time. I have altered my diet, I have endured gallbladder attacks, been nauseous nonstop, missed out on holidays and delicious food with my family, ruined date nights, been throwing up/nauseous/in pain/on medicines and I am DONE. There is no way I am switching my surgery when I am a week away from it... even if it is only by another week. Sorry. Done.

Anyway, I am working this weekend and Monday and Tuesday. My mom flies in Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning is my surgery. If anything changes that the hospital will have one angry patient on their hands! I may sound ridiculous right now, but I am so tired of not feeling well. I really hope this surgery works. I want to be able to eat again without being worried it will make me horrendously sick. I miss cheeseburgers. I miss just ordering whatever I want at a restaurant. I miss having the ability to cook anything and eat anything without fear of getting horribly nauseous or throwing up. I really, really hope this works.

Send some good vibes my way if you can!

New Year's

Since we spent Christmas at home on our own we decided to spend New Year's with my family at their house in the mountains. I was really looking forward to a few days off and spending time with my family, so naturally five hours into the six and a half hour drive I get hit with a vicious gallbladder attack. I was instantly horribly nauseous and for the first time in some serious pain all across my back and stomach. I was worried I wasn't even going to make it to my parents' house without being sick so I was taking my zofran and trying to close my eyes and hope I made it. The thing with my gallbladder attacks has always been if I actually throw up it continues in that vein for days and days, so I was really hoping to avoid that. We eventually made it to the mountains and less than a mile from my parents' house it started to snow. It was gorgeous even in the dark. We made it and I sat up with my mom a bit (who plied me with more stomach medicines she had) before we went to sleep. The next day, New Year's Eve, we woke up to a beautiful dusting of snow.

 

And I still felt awful.

I laid on the couch (mistake 1) to nap on and off. My mom and Ryan went to the Cherokee Casino to do some gambling and have lunch and I knew I was in trouble when even that didn't want to entice me to get off the couch. I took a bath in the amazing bath tub at the house and still felt awful. We planned to go out to a fancy dinner that evening and as I sat up to get ready the pain that shot through my stomach and back was enough to make me sob like a five year old. So no dinner for me. We had reservations, and I felt terrible messing everything up, and was trying to get everyone to go. Ryan insisted on staying home with me and my parents and brother went for the dinner. Since they had made reservations and it was price fixed people had to go or pay anyway. It turned out the dinner wasn't that great and they got some BBQ for Ryan and came home with that later on.

 

I sat up on the couch and dozed all evening. Laying down apparently is a big no no during an attack (at least for me now) and my mom said she had the same problems. We all watched the ball drop at midnight and I went to bed drugged up and sick. New Year's Day I sat up on the couch all day barely moving. We watched football and I napped on and off before going to bed early.

 

Happy New Year, right?

 

Friday I was finally feeling better, I managed to eat a bit and shower and my mom and I even ventured out of the house. She took me to get my nails done and the color was a bit darker than I normally get but I love it. It is the shellac (no tips, my natural nails but the gel over it) so my nails still look great a week later.

 

 

I also discovered my eighteen year old brother can do hair better than I can. He did an elaborate braid for me one day when I was feeling a little better and it was way nicer than anything I can do! Apparently his girl friends all taught him how.

 

 

The rest of the weekend I wasn't up for much but I was up and moving. Stefan and Ryan got some guy time too. Mainly to watch football and talk Marine Corps stuff and working out... things like that. My family also celebrated a late Christmas together and we exchanged gifts one afternoon. My parents got us some much needed lotions and perfume/colognes, ornaments, candy, and some things from my grandparents like a knitted hat from my Babci.

Frick and Frack watching football

Ryan and my dad hiked a lot and took the Dup with them. I think out of any of us the Dup had the absolute best time. I swear my dog is part billy goat, she can climb straight up the side of a mountain like it is nothing! My dad took her to the ski slope one morning and she happily dragged him over the ice in excitement.

One of the days when I felt better Ryan insisted I go with him and the Dup on an easy walk. I wanted to get out of the house so I went, and it started raining naturally. We were all bundled up and under my parents' large umbrella but we had a wonderful time. The Dup climbed straight up and down the sides of the mountain and even jumped into the freezing mountain stream regardless of the fact it  was absolutely freezing!

 

Rylie was more concerned that we stopped than anything.

On a rock after hiking with Ryan and my dad.

Part mountain goat, part Dup.

Ryan managed to take some gorgeous pictures of their hikes and the scenery too since I wasn't exactly up and able to most of the time.

 

The creek that goes through my parents' back yard.

 

Part of a very difficult hike I did not go on! Ryan, my dad, and the Dup did

 

Yes, she climbed all the way up (and down) there by herself and absolutely loved it!

 

Dup on a log

The days I spent feeling better went by too fast. We went out for sushi one night all together and had a really great time. Lots of football was watched, Frozen was watched (since my mom had never seen it and got it for Christmas) and all too soon it was time to go home.

 

Such a gorgeous view from their driveway

I managed to drive a good portion of the way home before my stomach decided to roil a bit again and Ryan finished up the drive. Sunday we got home semi late and rushed to unpack and get ready for the week ahead.... which is now over and I am already behind blogging! Ryan picks up his first class this week as a Combat Instructor and our "new normal" for the next three years will begin. Wish us luck! And I hope you all had a Happy New Year.

 

PS - Gallbladder removal in T-17 days!