bilateral papilledema update

My vision has gotten so much better. The day I was admitted my vision was 20/60. My two week check-up it was 20/35 and last week it was 20/25. It's still a little hard for me to see letters and numbers clearly because it's so off from my previous 20/13. Dr. Fortin has been taking pictures of my eye each visit and it is resolved except for a small hemorrhage in my left eye (a result from my optic nerve being stretched) and that it should take care of itself.

I fired my neurologist. Waste of my time and money. My physician has agreed to monitor my case.

When I visited my physician last week I expressed my concerns regarding my 500 mg/twice a day dosage of Diamox. While on the higher dosage I had these horrible tingles in my hands and feet all the time. He cut my dosage in half and in 6 months we'll begin weaning me off the Diamox to see if my condition truly was brought on by the steroid and antibiotic I was taking. While this last lumbar puncture was the least risky one I've had and provided almost immediate relief, we hope we don't have to do it again anytime soon.

Ever since I was discharged, it has felt like my Celexa hasn't been working. And I can't be a good mommy if I don't have my mental health. I can handle pain and illness until it prevents me from being a good mommy to these precious little ones entrusted to my care. Apparently the higher dosage of the diuretic was flushing it out of my system too fast. So far, so good on the lower dosage.

Zoey

When Ben & I started dating I was working at a vet clinic. It was one of my favorite jobs because I got to work in the kennel with all the animals and didn't have to adopt any. However, one day before closing some kids brought in a kitten they found in the woods and I ended up taking it home for my Mom, since her cats were seriously old. The kitten had other plans and attached herself to Ben and would come running everyday when he came to see me. Accepting this was his cat, he named her Zoey. She even moved into the apartment with Ben before I did. She always preferred Ben over me and if we were sitting together she would only sit on the opposite side of him, never between us. Once we bought the wrong cat food and she informed us by dumping over the bowl. We didn't want to waste the new bag, so we mixed it in with the correct food. That sassy cat dumped the bowl over and picked the correct pieces out of the food. She definitely helped prepare us for some of the frustrations of parenting.She was a very gentle cat and never hissed or growled even to dogs or other cats. Once she reached adulthood she quickly became known as Fat Cat and would respond to Fatty as well. When Carlise was born she weighed 10 lbs. 4 oz. and Zoey still outweighed her. In fact, Carlise was 3 months old before she outweighed Fat Cat. Zoey enjoyed being around all the children especially if she could tease them. All 3 children started crawling because Zoey would sit just out of reach and when they moved close enough to grab a fistful of fur, she moved again just out of reach. She would play this game for 30 minutes and keep the baby crawling. But she also lovingly endured much abuse from the curious babies.Over the last year, we saw her health decline and slowly lose her Fatty status. She stopped socializing and couldn't jump up on our bed. The day after I was discharged from the hospital this last time I set up a vet appointment. Ben took her and we were informed she was severely jaundiced and was dying. We don't believe in making animals money pits and declined blood tests/treatment since no treatment would return her to her former self. She was 7 years old, disoriented at times, would still purr if I petted her, and wasn't crying in pain. We decided to make her as comfortable as we would and let nature take its course. On September 13th she passed away in a stupid hot pink pet bed that she always refused to be in. Even in her disoriented state, she would almost bolt out of it. But it ended up being her choice for her final moments.
Even though she was a pet, she was still an important member of our family and it's kind of hard to lose someone that you've had longer than your marriage. Sometimes Ben & I will call for her or think she is by our feet before we remember.

And we're horrible parents because we still haven't told the children! Don't you either!!

only twice a year

This only happens twice a year for us, so it's a different sort of Sunday.

We're watching church at home today over the internet. Are you?

You can watch it here www.lds.org or over at BYU tv (and if you have satellite, you are super lucky)

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