we interrupt the regularly scheduled programming....

did i get your attention? well i am waiting any day for the producers of mystery diagnosis to knock on my front door. i have said for many years i feel like God's science experiment. i mean for pete's sake what else can possibly happen to me and my family. i don't think this is what stephen signed up for...

i think when i last left you it was on thankful thursday...oh i do have so much to be thankful for...on that day i had gotten out of the hospital after a 4 day stay....that stay was a result of my having chest pains...let me tell you, if you want to gt people moving, tell them you are having chest pains. i no sooner got those words out of my mouth i was in a wheelchair on my way back to the ER, thrown on the bed, stripped naked and hooked up to more wires tan what is behind my television. :) the ER doc decided that i had everything wrong with me that a person could have wrong with them, he would admit me for observation and let my doc take a look at me the next day. ok...we were agreeable to that. so i spend Labor Day at the luxurious St Vincent's / St. Clair hospital. on Tuesday a doctor who was covering for my doc came to see me. did not really learn a whole lot from him but he did not know me from adam. well about 5is, my cardiologist walks in. i had forgotten he came to pell city on tuesdays. he sat down beside me and in his kind gentle voice says, "you need to go to birmingham and have a heart cath in the morning...i think you mya have some blockages." HOLY COW! so he made the arrangments to have me transferred by ambulance to brookwood. so i got to ride 50 some odd miles in the back of a cracker box. we get to brookwood and get into a room. the nurse introduced herself to me and said she would be back shortly. oh did i mention they could not find a vein, surprise surprise, so i had to have an EJ done. i rested pretty well, the morphine helped,....bright and early on wednesday morning they come to get me for this procedure...i was by myself...none of my family was there....we had some other stuff going on that just did not allow for anyone to be there...i did not think it was a big deal until they start wheeling me down the hall....anyway, went into the OR, they gave me some awesome drugs and i woke back up to find out that my heart is ok...mild CAD but that is to be expected with diabetes. so since cardiology said it was not my heart they passed the ball to gastrointerology who said it was not their problem and they passed it back to cardiology...this went on about 10 minutes and i flipped my lid....i know that is hard to believe but i did...because ultimately i am the one who is suffering by not knowing what is going on...btw...the gastro on call was not my gastro doc....so everybody came to the agreement that i would go home on thursday and follow up with everybody....whoo

so i go home thursday...low and behold friday evening if my chest started hurting again, going down my arm and up into my jaw, sweaty, blood pressure 178/126 and heart rate 145....yeah i was pretty...stephen loaded me up in the car...called the doc on the way and took me back to pell city...they run a bunch of tests...urine, cbc, cmp, bmp, etc....nothing....doped me up and sent me home....i was miserable....

sunday i began running a temperature of 101....my blood sugar would not register on my machine so that means its was above 599...but i was determined to go see my daddy in the hospital...(he has been in the hospital for over a week...doing better...long way to go) anyway, momma said, "why don't you go to the ER down here while i visit with daddy and see what they say...you need to know exactly what your blood sugar is so you can take the right amount of insulin." i agreed. (daddy is at citizen's baptist) so i go down there and there is not a soul in the waiting room. they got me right back. i explained all of this to the triage nurse. she took me straight to a room and the doc was in my room in less than 10 minutes...i explained all of this to him and that i had been throwing up alot...he said without doing any blood work and just going off what i was telling him, he thought i was in diabetic ketoacidosis with a bladder infection. all the lab work came back and sure enough he was right. so i was admitted to the hospital. my dad was on one floor and i was on another. i typically don't go to talladega to the hospital for various reasons, but this was a very pleasant experience. they gave me tons of fluids as in the words of the doc, "you are dry as a bone"...don't you love being from the south? they gave me 2 different antibiotics and watched my blood pressure very closely. my blood pressure has decided that it can do whatever it wants to. we all know how this is going to turn out.

so i got to come home today and cannot be more happy...there is something about your own bed...it just sleeps better...so now if i can get my dad feeling better and back home, our family will be complete...i have the greatest family in the world...they get on my nerves sometmes, but i bet i get on their nerves too....my sister takes and picks Jacob up from school....she takes jamie to appointments and me too since i can't drive...she helps momma and daddy around the house...she has just been a blessing....my momma is the strong one...she takes on the world but she will let you know when she has had enough....she loves her husband and she loves us girls...then there is my daddy...he is one of a kind...he is laid back...if the sun comes up great if it doesn't then i will be that muck closer to seeing Jesus....that is basically his attitude about life....if i can be half of what these three people are i will have accomplished something....and i cannot close this out without mentioning my wonderful friends....yall pray for me daily, pray for my family...yall have been with me through some pretty tough times with my daughter, yall have been there through the triumphs, the celebrations, proms, broken hearts just to name a few...i want yall to know i would not be here today if it weren't for my family and friends.....I LOVE ALL OF YOU!