I've not posted a single thing since January. Shame on me!!!
In my defense, I have had a few medical issues with migraines and my eyes being sensitive to light, so I've not been on the computer much at all these past six months.
Let's jump into that for a moment shall we? Ok, so, Christmas I started getting migraines about once or twice a week, and it would be triggered by the faintest glint of light in the direction of my eyes. (Stinks for driving on sunny days, I'll tell ya that.) I also had crazy ringing in my ears. So I went to the ENT first, thinking I had an ear infection. Nope, not that. I was told my ears were fine, and there might be a problem with my eyes. Since the light from the computer and TV hurt I took to reading, and my family swore that this was the cause of the headaches. (Not so says the ophthalmologist) It turns out I have excess spinal fluid putting pressure on my optic nerves, which is why I was feeling the pressure behind my eyes and the headaches in my eyebrows. That makes for a non-sociable and sadly dysfunctional mama. I was grumpy and took to the bed a lot to soothe the headaches and irritable temper.
Through several tests (MRIs freak me out!) and a spinal tap (got a spinal headache three days after that procedure and had to go to the hospital to have a blood patch-not fun), the pressure has been lowered, and several eye exams and neurologists visits, I have been diagnosed with a condition called Pseudo Tumor. Basically I'm not eliminating all of the spinal fluid I'm making causing me to have the symptoms of a brain tumor, but there's nothing there.
The spinal tap hurt like a horse kicked me in the back!! Whew! It was a tough one.
Gag, right?! (Not a fun May)
(The MRI did find a tiny Rathke's Cleft Cyst, less than 1/4 of an inch around, that will need to be monitored the rest of my life, but it was actually something I was born with. I've lived with that tiny cyst in my head my entire life, symptom free.)
My condition, Pseudo Tumor, is controlled (right now) with diuretics. Which means I take several "fluid pills" a day. Since the first draining of the excess spinal fluid, and the beginning of the meds, I feel significantly better, and can actually tolerate being on the computer for longer than 5 minutes, and actually enjoy watching TV with my kids. (Not that I let my kids watch a lot of TV, but let's face it, when you don't feel good, a movie that will occupy little minds for more than 10 minutes at a time is a blessing.)
So it has been a crazy, lazy, and sometimes hazy half a year for us.
I am making more of an effort to be involved and get things going, but I will gladly admit, I've slowed down on the birthday parties for the kids. This is the summer of the laid back birthday party. And, it has made this recovery, though small, a lot easier to bear.
So for now, on with life. God's grace will be sufficient for the rest ;)
We are potty training our youngest, making plans to sew new outfits for our cute Kindergartener (our second), finally going to organize the house (yeah right), and hopefully start some new home projects. I will of course be making my notes to the teacher, and some other cute things, but as you can see, this year is a lot slower than the past years. (Not that I ever posted much anyway.)
If there is something you've seen at one of the parties or on Instagram or Facebook and want a tutorial for it, please feel free to comment, and I'll try to get it going for ya.
Have a great rest of the summer and I'll hopefully keep you posted more. (whomever you are that reads this. LOL!)
I will post more about the kids' parties the next post. Cheerio!
