A Real Pain in the Neck

It's been a little while since I last blogged. I was trying to get better. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working.
I had my ultrasound of my kidneys Friday afternoon. Friday night I had my Bunco night and I felt pretty good. I thought maybe I was getting better. After Bunco we came home and went to bed soon after getting home. When I was laying down I noticed my neck hurt a little. I told Colin, but didn't think too much about it until I woke up Saturday morning.
Saturday morning I woke up and started to get up. My whole back hurt. My neck hurt and I could hardly lift my head off my pillow. When I did finally make it out of bed I could hardly straighten up and when I did the pain in my pelvis took my breath away.
Even my knees hurt! It was like that all day yesterday.
When I woke up this morning it was the same plus my finger joints hurt. So I called and talked to the consulting nurse and found out some interesting information. I found out that I do not have kidney stones, but they want a CT scan of my kidneys to get a better picture of them. Then the nurse asked if they had mentioned anything about some deformity in the vertebrae in my spine which they had not. I asked if it was like arthritis in my spine and although she isn't allowed to diagnose, she said yes it's like that. So I have an appointment to see a doctor tomorrow and see what they say. I do have an MRI of my lumbar spine scheduled for Friday. We'll see how it goes. At this point I am experiencing more pain in my body than I ever have before.

The Long Road To Being Well

Well, I'm still working on getting better. I've been taking my antibiotic so some of my back pain has gone away. I'm still having pain that comes and goes, I never know when it will start hurting. So I still have a couple of tests to get. Friday I will get an ultrasound of my kidneys to know whether I have kidney stones or not. I also have an MRI of my spine scheduled, although I doubt that they will find anything, but at least I'll know for certain, I hope!
One thing that is no longer hurting my back is walking the dog. Colin was talking to a lady who might be in his van pool (whenever that happens, until then, he's on the bus). She started talking about her dog and so he talked about our dog and it turns out we both have Airedales and Dilly's daddy and their dog came from the same breeder, so they might be cousins. Colin started talking about how Dilly likes to pull and she said that her dog did that until she got a head collar for him. So we bought one called a Halti. Man, I love that thing! Dilly can't pull. Well, she can try, but if she does, it turns her head to the side and she stops pulling. It is a joy to walk her now. We actually look forward to it! I didn't realize how badly walking her when she was pulling made me feel until she stopped.
So, while I am trying to feel better, I heard some bad news about my neighbor. We were out weeding and watering the garden and Mr. Neighbor was outside working. He got to talking to Colin and told us that Mrs. Neighbor is sick. She has Alzheimer's. I don't know if they've known this for a long time and just haven't mentioned it or if they recently found this out. I'm sad because she is such a sweet lady and Ian just loves her. I'm not sure how old Mrs. Neighbor is, Mr. Neighbor is either 81 or 82 and I think she's a little bit younger.
Well, it's late. I know I had more things to say, but I can't think of them right now. Take care!

Dr. DeAnn

Well I had to go back to the doctor this week as I was still in pain. Two whole weeks of pain. Let me tell you, it's not fun.
I had called in to talk to the consulting nurse and she wanted me to be seen right away. She said my symptoms sounded like kidney stones. Colin had taken the van downtown to meet the bus, so I begged a ride from a neighbor to get the van so I could make it to an afternoon appointment with my doctor. I almost requested a different doctor, but I didn't.
So I made it to my doctor appointment and it was very frustrating. I explained that the pain seemed deeper than just some back muscles and that it had moved (it started on the left, but now it was mostly on the right and sometimes on both sides). My doctor was still talking like it was my back. Hello?!! Is anyone listening???? Obviously, my doctor was not. I explained that it didn't feel like a sprain. He asked if I thought it might be my Hodgkin's coming back. Hmmmm...who is the doctor here? Aren't there tests that would tell you exactly what is going on?
Finally he said 'I suppose it could possibly be your kidneys' and he ordered a test for that. He also ordered physical therapy for my back and an MRI of my spine. Still stuck on the back sprain!
Yesterday I got an email from my doctor saying that there was some bacteria growing from my test. I have a bladder infection, maybe a kidney infection, too. I'm now on an antibiotic and I'm having an ultrasound to look for kidney stones next Friday.
So it looks like I was right about it not being my back and my doctor was wrong. He sure didn't listen very well and didn't take measures to rule out other possibilities. So just call me Dr. DeAnn. I diagnosed this one better than my soon to be gone doctor (he's moving his practice to another town, thankfully).

VBS and Back Pain

Well, I haven't written for a while for two reasons. First, I was busy with VBS this week at our church and second, I've been trying to cope with the pain in my back.
VBS was great! Ian had a really good time. I was the craft leader for the elementary group. The crafts went pretty well. Our first craft was the only one that was a little tricky. It was a really cute name tag with a horse wearing a cowboy hat. The kids loved it, but it had a few too many steps for trying to finish in 20 minutes! Thankfully, the rest of the crafts were easier.
My back bugged me the entire week. Every day after VBS I took a nap. I'm still dealing with my back, but I'm not sure that I agree with my doctor's diagnosis. For one, he didn't check out anything. No feeling my lymph nodes, no blood test to check and make sure it wasn't an infection. He just said 'you probably sprained your back' and had me get an xray of my back. The other reason I disagree is the pain has been moving around. It started on my left with a little pain on my right and now it's the opposite. Weird. I suppose if it doesn't get better soon I'll need to go get a second opinion. *Sigh* I don't like going to the doctor. Here's hoping it will get better all on its own.
We did have a little bit of excitement around our house on Saturday. Colin and Ian went to the Festival of People downtown and went to the classic car show. They brought home some elephant ears for us to munch on. Ian and I were sitting in the living room when I started hearing a lot of cars going by our house. I looked out the screen door and saw lots of classic cars going by. There must have been 15 or 20 cars going by. They stopped in front of our house. I told Ian to tell Colin that the cars were at our house. Colin leaned out the door and one of the guys asked for directions. Turns out they got lost on the way to someones house! Nice for us though, part of the car show came to our house!

Life Since Our Trip

Well, life is slowly returning to normal since we got home. I still have some laundry to do from the trip. I got slowed down by whatever I did to my back. We've all been a little more tired than usual. Even Ian has been sleeping past 8 am, which is almost unheard of for him.
Even though my back has been messed up, I was able to do a little decorating. This past Monday night, someone on our home school group posted a Queen bed frame (headboard and foot board). I emailed them, sure that someone else had asked for this. To my surprise, I had an email telling me that it was mine if I wanted it.
Even though I hadn't even seen it, I'd only read a description of it, I wanted it.
So I made arrangements to pick it up after my doctor's appointment and after some errands and after Colin got off work.
It turned out to be a very pretty bed frame. Colin set it up the second day we had without even being asked. I am happy to say that my pillow will no longer slip between the mattress and the wall. Hooray!!
I'm calling this more of my freestyle decorating because that's exactly what it was. Free! I'll post a picture for you. It's really great. It's a blessing!

Tales From Our Trip- The Final, Final Chapter

Okay, back to the story. What are we ready for? Day 10?? I think that's right. So here we go.
Day 10: Sunday morning. I woke up feeling much better. We gassed up the van, took it through a car wash to get rid of all the bugs and headed over to Wal-mart to pick up some supplies. Colin wanted to find something to make the weather stripping on our van windshield stop flapping. We had a little section in front of the passengers side that kept coming up and flapping. Very annoying. We also wanted to pick up something for breakfast as all the motel had was make your own waffles and those aren't usually great. So we went in and came out with more than we had planned on. We broke the first rule of shopping: don't go hungry!
So we came out with chips, lunch meat, buns, a hoagie to be shared by everyone (we had done this previously on the trip when we stopped in Evanston, WY. We had been in a grocery store to use the bathroom and grab a snack when we saw the lady in the deli department making a humongous sub sandwich..it had 30 pieces of meat! It was half of a loaf of sour dough french bread. It only cost about $5. It ended up feeding about 5 of us). Colin had located some super glue for the windshield and we found a few other things to buy.
After mending the windshield problem we were on our way! Off to see the Golden Spike.
Well, okay, not the Golden Spike, it's in a museum in California. We went to the site where they drove in the Golden spike to connect the railroads creating the transcontinental railroad. Boy, was this out of the way! It's out in the middle of nowhere. It was really neat, though. We stayed long enough to see them move the trains and we watched a Charlie Brown movie telling us all about the Transcontinental Railroad. We got a couple of neat souvenirs; a train Christmas ornament, a book to read to Ian, and of course, a magnet for our fridge. Our fridge is full of magnets from places we've been, it's a fun reminder of some great memories and experiences.
We had our lunch (a slice of the hoagie sandwich) as we headed out again. We paused long enough to take our picture by the sign for the Golden Spike. Some other people stopped, too, so we took turns taking pictures for each other. Then we left.
Guess what else they do in the middle of nowhere, Utah?? They test rockets! So we were able to stop and look at some that they had on an outside display. Colin really liked that! We just stopped for a minute, though, we were getting behind schedule.
We headed back toward the main highway and drove for quite a while seeing mainly farms and ranches and some beautiful horses. Our next big stop would be in Boise, Idaho, where we would stop for dinner. It was about 7:30 when we got to Boise. We headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I had a $25 gift certificate to use there (I'd earned it through My Points). It paid for dinner and the tip. Hooray! Dinner was great. I had their fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. Ian had a kids meal with fried shrimp. Colin had French toast and bacon and an egg, I think. I had a bite of that French toast...yum! Unfortunately, the gift certificate did not pay for our souvenir shopping, which cost almost as much as our meal! We did find a cute gift for Colin's parents to thank them for watching Dilly.
We left Cracker Barrel quite happy. We headed toward an historical landmark that had significance to Colin's family. A marker of a massacre on the Oregon Trail. One of Colin's ancestor's helped rescue one of the survivors and even fought the attacking Indians. Again, we took pictures.
Finally, we were on our way to Ontario, OR to find our motel. We stayed in Ontario on our honeymoon moving trip to Washington. We got there around 9:30, which seems to be our average arrival time. We were so happy when they told us that the pool was open 24 hrs. a day (even though the signs said 11). So we finally got to go swimming!!! Ian and Colin even got up in the morning and went swimming a second time while I slept some more! We had breakfast and went over to Jiffy Lube to get the fluids in the van checked and topped off and then we headed for home.
We stopped for lunch at Taco Time in La Grand and ate the crunchy tacos I had been craving. We also stopped in Yakima at a fruit stand where we bought some cherries and they gave Ian an apple. That boy gets more stuff given to him!
Colin took us over White Pass and we got some pretty cool pictures of Mt. Rainier...I posted one earlier, so I'm sure you've already seen it. It was a very pretty way to go.
We got to Colin's parent's house around 7:30 and I was really hoping to get home before dark. I hadn't planned on Colin's mouth. Boy, was he keyed up. 10 hours of driving and he'd had caffeine. At 8:30, I announced that it was 8:30. It didn't make him budge a bit, he kept talking. I finally had to ask him to come make room for Dilly's crate. He did a little. I think his mom did a lot more. In this process, we discovered why the floor where I was sitting was all wet. Colin hadn't pushed in the drain plug in our cooler, so all the melting ice was leaking into our van. I think it's still drying out. And yes, Colin was still standing around talking. So I took the leash from him and got Dilly and put her in her crate and said we needed to go. By the time we left it was already after 9. I was so tired and ready to be home.
After we arrived home, Colin went to get our house key from our neighbor and talked some more! I believe he talked for about 45 minutes!!! It was long enough for me to walk the dog and pretty much unload the van by myself. I love Colin, but sometimes he can just talk too much! I got very annoyed with him and he apologized and we both realized we were very exhausted from our trip. We had big plans for getting things done the next day, but I think mostly, we slept. Oh, wait, Colin did mow the lawn and do a couple of things. The road trip really hit him hard Wednesday morning when he tried to get up and go to work! He tried at least three times. Once at 5:30, so he could walk to the bus. Once at 6:00 so he could drive to the bus and once at 7:00 so he could drive to work. None of these worked and he finally realized that he was just exhausted and ended up taking a sick day. We slept the majority of Wednesday in our own bed, which is nothing like a hammock! It's good to be home.
So there you go, I finally did it! I got to the end of the story. I think I'll it it the way any proper story ends.
The End

Tales From Our Trip- The Final Chapter- I Hope!

Okay, I am really going to try to finish the stories from our trip. My back is cooperating for the moment. So here goes!
Day 8: Thursday. I could feel that the end was rapidly approaching. This day we headed back into Rocky Mountain National Park and went to Bear Lake, where I did not see a bear. I did see a beautiful lake that we walked all the way around. I think it was about a half a mile around it. I was still having trouble breathing with the altitude and what was left of my sinusitis. Most of the family decided to go on a mile hike to see a waterfall (Alberta Falls, I believe it was called). My mom and I opted to wait. She has bad knees, so it wouldn't be good for her. I really wanted to go, but I knew that I just didn't have enough air and it wouldn't be a smart decision for me to go. So we sat around and talked while we waited. Ian went with Colin and somewhere on the way, he managed to fall down and skin his knee. Thankfully, Aunt Becca had band aids!
By the way, Bear Lake is a very popular place to visit in the park! We had to park in a parking lot several miles away and ride a visitor's shuttle to and from the lake. Ian was so tired, he fell asleep on the ride back to the van!
Day 8: The 4th of July. Happy Independence Day! Becca's sister and her family was supposed to come out and visit, but her kiddos got sick, so it was just the ten of us. We spent the morning resting and then making potato salad and deviled eggs. We went up to a big rock to try to get a family photo. It was a bit too sunny, so they weren't the best pictures. We decided to try again later at a different location. Bob had planned for us to watch the fireworks that Estes Park sets off from the area near Twin Sisters. It was really hot when we left so we kind of forgot how cold it gets around dark. We were sitting there, waiting for fireworks and freezing and then tons of people came. I am sad to say that some of them who sat very near to our children, were less than sober. We moved the kids closer, but even then the topic of discussion from these people was pretty disgusting. Then the fireworks started, but they were very far away and kind of behind a tree. I sat there thinking, I'd like to go sit in the van. I thought that for a while and finally I said it out loud. So my mom, my dad, Ian and I all went back to the van. It was yummy warm in the van! We were all happy to be out of the cold and we could even see the fireworks a little better from the van. I was really happy that we went to the van early because it was already dark and my mom has to go slow. She would have had a hard time if she had tons of people walking with her while trying to find her way carefully in the dark.
So the fireworks idea was a good one, it just didn't work out the way we had envisioned!
Day 9: Time to say good-bye and head home. We cleaned up the cabin and loaded up the vans. There was crankiness and sadness. We were all ready to sleep in our own beds in our own homes, but reluctant to say good-bye, knowing it would quite a while before we see each other again. I was up at 4:30 am, I just couldn't sleep and I felt like I had a lot to get done before we left. Besides, the bed we had been sleeping in would have been heaven for Gilligan. It swayed and cupped you just like a hammock. So every time one of us would roll over the other would rock and rock. Colin compared it to a waterbed, but I preferred the hammock comparison. Sure, it had waves, but no waterbed I ever slept in was cupped like this bed!
We headed out around nine and drove to Estes Park, where we tried one more time to find a pocket knife for Ian. Let me explain this to you. On Tuesday, when we all had gone shopping in Estes Park, Bob and Becca found pocket knives for Hannah and Emily with their names on them and Colorado on the other side. The girls used them for whittling and Ian was rather envious. Andrew already had a pocket knife, so Ian was the only kid without one. So Colin thought it would be neat to get one for Ian. So on our second trip to Estes Park, we went to the store where Bob and Becca had found the knives, only they didn't have the name Ian (sorry Ian, it's almost like trying to find my name somewhere, talk about next to impossible!). We decided to give it one more try before we left Colorado. We just wanted a pocket knife for Ian. It didn't matter if it had his name on it. So we went to almost every store in town. I kid you not! If it was downtown and had even the most remote possibility, we went in. We did find a tiny Swiss Army knife, but it didn't have much on it and it was almost $20....keep looking! We found scary looking blades at least five inches long. Uhhh... not for a 7 yr. old!!!!! Finally, we stopped in the Colorado Homestead store where Ian had purchased two light up globes and a stuffed Bison that Grandpa named Billy. They didn't have any pocket knives. We asked if they knew of any stores that might have a pocket knife suitable for a 7 yr. old. The lady told us she was certain that the store by Subway had them. Oh, that store, by where we STARTED our shopping??!!!
So we went there and at first, I thought it was another dead end, but then the sun shone through the window onto a display and harp music began to play!!! There it was a whole display of pocket knives with elk or wolves and Estes Park on them. Ahh, sweet success!!! It only took an hour to find! Well, three trips and one hour on the last trip! Colin chose one with an elk for himself and Ian chose one with a wolf howling at the moon (well I helped him choose, he was too distracted by the marionette puppets). I also found a brown ball cap with a moose and Estes Park embroidered on it for me! Ian and Colin had purchased hats on our first trip, so now we all had hats that said 'Estes Park'. Ian used his money and bought himself a horse marionette puppet. He was very excited about it! Bob's kids had been in to puppets and it got Ian excited. Andrew bought a coyote puppet and Emily had purchased a horse marionette puppet (not the same as the one Ian got) and all the kids had put on several puppet shows using puppets and stuffed animals. It was very cute!
So now, with our purchases in hand, it was time to head for home. First stop: Brigham City, Utah.
Now keep in mind, every motel we stayed at had a pool and so far, we'd arrived too late or too tired to use them. Colin was determined to get there early enough to go swimming this evening.
We stopped in Loveland, CO to grab some lunch, get the fluid and tires checked and gas up. Good thing we had the tires checked. They had been affected by the altitude. The pressure was at 42 lbs!
For lunch, I had a burger at Burger King. When we reached Wyoming, we pulled over at a rest stop and ended up getting 50 cent ice cream cones at McDonald's. I'm not sure which one got me, the burger or the cone, but I started feeling bad. Colin had to make several extra pit stops, so I could be sick. I messed up our schedule! I think it was almost 9 by the time we got to our motel. I wasn't going swimming since I wasn't feeling good. Colin didn't go swimming either!
Okay, I thought this was going to be it, but my back says, enough! So hang in there, we're really close to the end. Only two more days to tell about. I will finish the story soon!