Crazy Nights

I have been so proud of how things have been going with my health in the last month!

As mentioned in earlier posts, I used to have a lot of my pain at night - especially around 2 or 3 am - and it was really severe. I never get much sleep, but Randy wasn't getting a lot of sleep during this time, and that was a problem.

With the exception of one or two nights, I have been doing really well lately! They seem to have found a good combination of meds and things to help me! It has been great :)

That all changed starting last Wednesday or so...
I had one night where my legs had some pretty severe shooting pains, but it wasn't too bad.

^this is how small they are!

Thursday night, I went to the restroom for a second before bed. After that, I suddenly started coughing uncontrollably. It was the kind of "pressured" cough vs. a tickle in your throat or something. So I hurried to the kitchen to grab these pills Dr. P prescribed me for a cough. Normally, they're incredible! They're safe and work really well so you don't have to take cough medicines with controlled substances. Oh, and they don't make you sleepy!
But that's all beside the point...these pills are TINY. They're smaller than a green pea, and they're smooth like a gel capsule. So I took one, and I could barely get it down. Yep, my throat was closing up. At this point, I'm getting kind of scared and it was getting really hard to breathe. So I managed to get a benadryl down, and tried not to panic. After a minute or so, I was much better. I was still kind of itchy, but I didn't feel like I was going to pass out anymore. I stayed up a few hours to make sure I wasn't dying, but things stayed pretty calm. We decided not to go to the ER...

So yesterday (Wednesday) I went to see Dr. P and I was scolded for not going to the ER. I was also prescribed EpiPens...I never thought I would have anything like those. I have to carry one with me at all times. Weird. I think the worst part is not knowing what I'm allergic to! I feel like my house is a time bomb :)

At every appointment, Dr. P always gives me a paper for "at home" instructions. So at the end of the appointment yesterday it said, "use EpiPen in case of reaction, and go to the hospital whether your symptoms go away or not" hahah

Sometimes he's a little passive aggressive.

So then Friday night rolls around and my legs were KILLING me! I worked in my garden for part of the afternoon after a frustrating visit to the hospital. I should have gotten one of my CT scans done, but someone had messed up my scheduling and the preauthorization didn't get done...so 2 hours later I left to run some errands. After that, I made dinner for my wonderful mother-in-law and father-in-law, and then I made 40 cupcakes for one of my best friend's wedding. So I was standing pretty much all day.
Side note: I made spaghetti and meatballs from scratch and OH MAN was it good! I make spaghetti all the time and I have made my own, unique sauce since I was a freshman in high school, but I had never made meatballs before. They were so good that my father-in-law, who is not really supposed to be eating red meat, originally had only one just to try it, but then decided he needed 2 more :) and he's pretty strict with that new diet of his! So that was an honor! I'll post my recipe later.

Anyway, my legs were really hurting, so I went to the bathroom (again, with the bathroom!) to get our heating pad so I could put it under my legs. When I reached up, I immediately dropped to the ground because I got a sudden, severe pain in my stomach and I was so nauseous I thought I was going to throw up right there. It took a few minutes before I felt okay enough to stand. I grabbed a few gas-x after hobbling to the kitchen because I wanted to make sure it wasn't gas pains...it was pretty intense, though. So my left side gets better after about 30 minutes, but my right side was in a severe amount of pain, especially when I pushed on it. For anyone familiar with appendicitis, this is kind of what it looks like. However, since I didn't have a fever, and the pain eased a little after a few hours, I just decided to take my chances and go to sleep instead of making a trip to the ER. I figured, if it gets worse the pain will be enough to wake me up, and if it gets better at least I'll get some sleep. The next morning, the pain wasn't too bad, but I was still pretty nauseous. We still don't know what it was, but it got better so I don't care. I've had mesenteric adenitis before, which is where the lymph nodes around your appendix flare up due to a virus and I'm told it can feel like appendicitis, so who knows if maybe that's back? I've also had a kidney stone before, and that can cause pain on one side, too...so maybe I have another one? Either way, I am having a CT scan on my stomach soon, and I knew that's all the ER would do anyway to diagnose either condition. I can wait.

Saturday night, we went to the wedding of one of my best friends and her amazing HUSBAND! She is such an amazing person, so it's only fitting that she married a great guy, too. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to. I was so honored to be there!

They had been worried about rain all week, but on Thursday I saw Brandi and she looked so calm and happy - even when the chance for rain Saturday was HIGH. She smiled and said, "bring your umbrella because there's gonna be a wedding - rain or shine!" Saturday morning, I woke up and prayed "Lord, please let them have this day. Please hold off the rain!" And He did! A few hours later, Randy came and told me the rain had gone over us. That night, the weather was perfect and there was no rain! During the reception, the sky opened up for a moment and shined this gorgeous, golden/pink light onto the reception tent. I didn't realize until I looked at the picture that it was in the shape of a heart. How amazing is our Lord??? Blessed are Luke and Brandi for their faithfulness!