Endocrine Follow Up

Talked with the endocrinologist last week and he said that all my levels are within normal range and that one of the images from St Joes that I had done a year ago showed my adrenal glands and they looked fine as well.  So he did not want to order an MRI of my brain.  He said there was probably subtle damage of the pituitary gland, but since the tests are normal, that shows it is still functioning so I just need to continue my current dose of Levothroid and my levels should stay stable.

So why won't this fat go away?  I oscillate between being disgusted with myself and thinking that it's ok to just be ok with the way I look and go on living.  Sometimes I see my reflection and think, 'I don't look that bad.'  and other times I'll see a picture of myself and think, 'holy cow, who is that huge fatty?!' 

I started taking Cymbalta to help with anxiety and joint pain, but it also has the side effect of weight loss due to lack of appetite.  However, I've been on it a week and still not losing any appetite.  Especially when I work out, I get sooo hungry!  You know that feeling you get in the back of your throat when you're just starving...that's what happens when I work out.  It's hard to push that feeling out of your mind, let me tell ya!  I know what it feels like to have no appetite because that's exactly what happened after I came off the feeding tube and people kept pushing me and pushing me to eat more even though that's the last thing I wanted to do.  I think that might be where this all started because eating more combined with my thyroid going whacky would send my body into a metabolic tailspin right into fat-land. 

Moving on...Nola is saying words in context now.  Like she knows what some things are without even seeing them and she can name them.  Like, she knows her milk is in the fridge and she'll say 'thank you' without being prompted.  She's growing up, but she's still my little tiny baby girl.  I had a HORRIBLE experience with her the other day when they had free kids meals at Chilis.  I took both the girls out to lunch by myself and we sat down and Nola just flipped out.  Like serious screaming, kicking, throwing herself on the floor meltdown.  I tried everything: snacks, milk, crayons, toys, blanket...she just kept screaming.  So I told Embry to not move and I rushed Nola into the bathroom where she continued the tantrum for a good 5 minutes before I whisked her and Embry out of the restaurant.  The waitress took pity on me and didn't charge me for our food since we had only gotten our drinks so far.  Once we got to the car, she was absolutely fine...I however was crying from exhaustion and embarrassment.  Ugh! 

 Embry spent 3 hours a day for 5 days at church for a 'Sky' themed vacation bible school a week ago.  She LOVED it!  Each age level learned 2 songs from a children's cd and performed in on stage that Friday night.  She's had me play those 2 songs over and over and over again every time we're in the car since then.  It's a little repetitive, but still cute to hear her little voice singing along with big hand motions and everything.

She insisted she wear all her headbands to VBS one day

At the Friday night program

Nola really enjoyed the umbrella

The performance, Embry is the second from the right

Nola going to see Pancake Pig.

Embry in the obstacle course at VBS

Embry and her friend Ava in the train.

My section of the mom to mom sale

most of the mom to mom room

We finally completed our lastfundraising effort of the summer for MOPS...The Community Fair!  It was a huge success, much more than we had anticipated and we had about 1500 people come through.  We ended up with over 100 vendors which spilled into our outdoor space and about 20 sellers for the mom to mom portion (which is what I was in charge of).  It was a LOT of work and now we have to write out a bunch of thank you notes for all of the donations we received and sponsors and vendors.  I talked to the woman who headed it up this morning and she said she already had vendors and patrons contact her about when next year's fair is going to be because they want to make sure to be included.  I'd say that's a good sign for future success.  :)

Independence Day

 Nola loved to play in the big mud puddles!

We went to a bbq at a park with some of our friends from Young Marrieds.  It was a lot of fun even though the weather turned into the rainiest day we've had all year!  Although this also meant it wasn't sweltering hot, so all in all, it turned out great!  The girls had so much fun splashing around and playing on the playgrounds with their friends.

 The sun came out for a little while.

 We had lots of fun in the splash pad!

 Embry loved the splash pad, we haven't been there since last year when Nola was just a baby.  Nola was very apprehensive and hardly got wet, but that was to be expected, she hates getting splashed.

 Nola kept her food in her mouth the entire time.  She's crazy.

 

Sisters!

Then we went to the University of Arizona parking garage to watch the fireworks on A Mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fireworks show started at 9:15 and then after about 1 minute it stopped for about 20 minutes.  Apparently one of the pyrotechnic guys had a medical emergency and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.  Then the fireworks started again.  Embry seemed to like them a lot and kept saying 'wow!' and 'that was a big one!' and Nola just repeated me saying 'ooooh' and 'aaaah'.  We started towards home around 10:30 and both kids slept on the car ride home. 

Endocrinologist

 As you may notice, finally changed my blog title.  Here is the inspiration...
Proof of Your Love
I love this song.  It embodies all that it should be to be a Christian.  Only love remains in the end and all that I do with my life and every word I speak, I want it to show Jesus's love to others.  It's the least I can do in return for all He's done for me.

This morning, one of the zumba instructors at the Y said that her husband was on life support in ICU because his liver and kidneys were failing.  She said she just had to get out of there so she came to zumba.  She was so strong the whole time, then afterwards a bunch of us went up to hug her and she just broke down crying, oh my heart just breaks for her, so please pray for her and her husband.  I really pray that they can feel God's love through all of this.  Life is so fragile and fleeting. 

I had the appt with the endocrinologist yesterday and I'd say it went pretty well.  He didn't seem like an idiot, so I'm calling it a win!  He was very nice and seemed knowledgeable. The end result was that he thinks my pituitary gland may be damaged either from all the blood clots (hmm I remember asking my PCP about that) or from hemorrhaging after I had Nola.  I guess since your blood volume doubles during pregnancy, your pituitary glad enlarges during pregnancy so if you have a sudden drop in blood pressure (like when you hemorrhage) it can damage the gland.  So he took 6 vials of blood to run a ton of tests.  He also said, 'I'll definitely make sure to check your growth hormone' which is another thing I asked my PCP about and she told me that in all her years practicing medicine she's only had one person on growth hormone supplements and she didn't see the point of even checking it on me.  Take that PCP! Anyhow, he also said depending on what the blood tests show which we should get by the end of the week, he would like to order an MRI.  I'm supposed to go to St. Joe's and release all of the imaging I had done there to him so he can look it over.

The plumbers started tearing our house apart yesterday as well.  There are about 30 big spots of drywall missing all over.  Kitchen ceiling, dining room ceiling, bathroom downstairs, garage, laundry room, office, master bedroom, and both upstairs bathrooms. They have off tomorrow so they'll start back up on Thurs.  They started placing the new pipe downstairs this afternoon, but it should take about 7 days total.  Then we get to paint all the drywall patches.  Joy.  ;)  I brought the girls home for lunch today after doing zumba and a swimming playdate and the entire dining room/kitchen/living area was covered in plastic tarps...so it's a good thing I had picked up something to eat on the way home otherwise we would have had to wait quite a while for me to get into the kitchen.

Our good friend from young marrieds, Scott, came home from his year long tour in South Korea with the air force this afternoon.  A bunch of us went to the airport to meet him.  It made me so happy and I'm just a friend, I can't imagine how his wife (Janell) felt, but this picture captures her excitement of seeing him:

 and of course pics of the girls showing their American Pride!

Ah, I love our country and I love being FREE!  Wooo!