December Sickness

December pretty much sucked for me health wise. It started with having a bulging disc in my lower back. I was put on steroids twice to heal it and took a few weeks of physical therapy (which I loved). Then I had some horrible pain in my right hip that was so bad we took a trip to the ER. I found out I had bursitis in my hip. I had an injection of an anti-inflammatory and some pain meds and it got better. THEN (yes it keeps going), on Christmas Eve I went to insta-care and was diagnosed with an ear infection, a sinus infection and bronchitis. I was put on some heavy duty anti-biotics to heal. On December 26 (day after Christmas) I got a really bad case of dizzyness. It was so bad I was throwing up (TMI?) and got to the point that I had no energy to move. I couldn't open my eyes and could only barely talk. Hutch ended up calling an ambulance to get me to the hospital. (I learned if you want fast help at the ER, arrive by ambulance). In the ambulance they put an IV in my and not sure what else. The next couple of hours are a blur. I was told I got an IV of Valium, anti-nauseous meds, and a CT scan. Once they got the dizzyness to stop it was discovered that my infections were really bad. My white blood cells had doubled. So they gave me an IV of anti-biotics. They also learned that my potassium and magnesium (I think that's what it was) were really low so I was on an IV for those. Then I was checked into the hospital. After they got everything under control the next day I was discharged and sent home with a bunch of meds. I didn't like these meds. I was in a cloud for the next few days. I was miserable. I was constantly tired and didn't want to do anything but lay in bed and sleep. (which I did). On January 1, I was getting ready for bed and got another dizzy spell. Hutch drove me to the hospital where they gave me another IV of Valium to stop the dizzyness. They discovered that my sinus infection is in the sinus that is in the middle of my head (I didn't know I had a sinus there). So the next day I went to an ENT. She gave me more anti-biotics and told me which meds I could go off of so I could start feeling normal.

A week or so later, I started to feel normal. I'm just recently starting to feel like myself. I'm starting to try to get my life back to normal. Being this sick has also taught me something: I'm not healthy. When you eat healthy and exercise regularly, you are less likely to catch things and get sick. I'm overweight which also doesn't help my immune system. This past month was my wake up call. I don't want to go through what I went through again. Especially the vertigo.

The physical therapy started me on the right track. To help my back, most of my PT was in the pool doing strength training. When I was released from PT, I was given papers that show all of the training I was doing so I could do it on my own. For my birthday Hutch got my a Fitbit. I wear it on my wrist and it counts how many steps I take, how many calories I'm burning and how well I'm sleeping. It also syncs with the ap Myfitnesspal that I use to track my food so I can see how many calories are going in and how many are going out. Each year I start doing this, I start eating write and exercising then it all goes away. But after experiencing the health problems I have, I'm extra motivated to keep going. I've already lost 5 pounds which feels great!

One thing I have to mention about this last month is I couldn't have survived without my sweet husband Hutch. He took care of me, Agent P, and our house while I was sick and trying to get better. He's been so busy with school and work that I know that taking care of me was burden. But he never once complained. I am truly blessed with such a wonderful family. I'm also grateful for my parents for their willingness to step in and take Agent P for us while I was sick and/or in the ER. It was more of a blessing then I can even say.

Not only am I working this year to be healthier but I want to be happier. I really reached a low during my sickness. I got to the point where I wished I could just be put into a coma until I was healed. I didn't want to be around anyone and I didn't want to do anything. It was a level of miserable I hadn't experienced before. I don't want that to happen again either. Each day I'm finding at least one thing that makes me happy. I'm working on finding my daily happiness. I'm going to start writing them down so I can look back over all of the things that make me happy. Then when I'm going through something hard, it will be easier to go through knowing all of the things that make me happy.

So here's to a better, healthier, happier new year and beyond!

And here's an adorable picture of what makes me happy each and every day!!

Quick Agent P Update

I haven't blogged in such a long time, how sad. I'm sorry to those who read it.

I do have more things I'm going to blog about over the next few days but wanted to post a few pictures of Agent P.

Agent P attended Primary for the first time last Sunday. He is now a Sunbeam. He did a wonderful job going to his class and was very well behaved.

The pic is a bit fuzzy because I took it with my iPod and it's an old one. Oh well. He's still as cute and charming as ever.

Agent P also went to the dentist! He did an amazing job!! Everyone in the office kept commenting that they couldn't believe how well he was behaving, especially at 3 years old.

 This is Agent P getting his teeth cleaned. The dentist assistant was really good at showing and telling him what they were doing to his teeth. He picked raspberry flavor for his cleaning.

This is him getting fluoride done. He picked cotton candy for this flavor. The dentist said that they don't usually do this way until they are a bit older but since he was behaving so well they thought they'd have him do it. And he did a great job with it.

After it was all done he got a yellow toothbrush and a yellow bouncy ball. He thought the whole thing was pretty neat. After they were done with his teeth he got to watch me get my teeth cleaned and checked. And all of us in the family left with clean and healthy teeth. No cavities!