Crossing our Fingers

Round Two!

Here we are again. Same thing all over. Back down in Santa Barbara CA trying to be cleared for surgery. I say 'trying' because believe it or not I woke up with a swollen throat two days ago on Saturday- a what?! A swollen throat?!! Totally. Freaked the crap right outta me. Last time we came down in January to have surgery..I got sick 5 days prior to surgery. So not a good idea. I felt absolutely fine when it came time for the Dr appointments, but when the Dr checked my nose it was too congested for surgery. Come to find out I am allergic to EVERYTHING. Yay me! (Check out my earlier posts) So for the past 2 months I have been working on taking care of my allergies and keeping my dang nose as clear as possible. And for the past couple weeks my nose has been clear and my breathing great! Then BAM!- 4 days before surgery, swollen throat. This feels like dejavu. 

It was quite an emotional day for multiple reasons and tears were shed- tears bring mucus, congestion, soreness and sinus headaches to say the least.. let's just say I am a HOT MESS when I cry. I snot all over the place and it aint pretty! So with that being said, congestion is back! Worrying that surgery will again be postponed is back! Ay yi yi, did I mention this feels like dejavu?

Today we made it past hurdle one! Can I get a whoop whoop?! My appointment today was with the oral surgeon. He needed to check me and make sure everything was good and healthy for surgery. Then he needed to do A BUNCH of measurements.

 We are thinking that my swollen throat is due to allergies because there is no sickness associated with it. At least that we know of. No fever, no shakes, no body aches, no soreness when I swallow- NOTHING. I feel completely normal. My throat was swollen for about a day and a half. It is back to normal now. 

Tomorrow I do my pre-admittance to the hospital then hop, skip and jump next door for a physical exam (hurdle #2) and more blood draws and tests to make sure I am not sick and I am good for surgery. We are praying that all goes well with that appointment. This will be the doctor to tell if I have a virus/bacteria in my body without symptoms. If so, no surgery on Wednesday. If all clear, then great, but we still have to test my blood platelets to make sure it's not too thin for surgery. Normally they wouldn't be worried about this, but when I woke up with a swollen throat, naturally, I took precautions to fight off any infection that might be coming by taking a lot of garlic in two different forms.. anti-plague and garlic pills. Garlic is a natural infection fighter and immune booster. Anti-plague is, well, the most heinous, fowl, awful, potent, concentrated, disgustingly disturbing liquid that makes you want to puke your brains out and punch a hole in the wall all at the same time. GREAT for you. But your tastebuds will beg to differ. Garlic thins the blood and puts you at a higher risk of bleeding too much during surgery. (Disclaimer- I did not know this prior to taking garlic!) So thats why they will test my blood platelets- to see if they are well enough for surgery or not <- Hurdle #3.

Today Dr Arnett and his assistant Rene went over every tiny thing in detail. The post-op hospital care and night stay, the post-op home care and the surgery. I am not about to type out everything that all that entails. I'll put it to you this way.. We were at the Dr office from 8am to 230pm.. doing nothing but measuring my face, taking pictures and xrays and going over the details of home care and the surgery. It is quite an extensive surgery- 6 hours! Yikes. We heard some good news and some bad news, some comforting news and some frightening news. Good news- they don't think I am sick. Bad news- our payments are no where near the end. No. Where. Near. :( Comforting news- Dr has done about 4,000 reconstructive jaw surgeries. He is a perfectionist. He does not allow talking in the operating room and is very focused. Frightening news- there is no room for Dr to cut along the nerve and because it is so thin the stretching of the new placement could tear the nerve completely in half. If so, I will lose all feeling in my chin and bottom lip. There is a possibility SOME feeling could come back years later. Terrifying.

But ya know what? It's okay. If that were to happen, it would suck big time, but I'll take that over what I've got now any day! And I'll deal with it. If there is one thing I've learned from all this, it's to close my eyes and leap! Trust in the Lord 100% and jump into whatever lies ahead blindly. Not a fun ride if you ask me- I'd rather be at Six Flagg's roller coaster park for sure, but how do we become a better person and progress spiritually if we don't let ourselves learn from the bad in life? If I didn't have the Lord to turn to in times like these I may have been dead by now! I know that He sees the bigger picture and is shaping me and my life into something greater. If I do not trust Him and let Him shape me and my life, then I will never reach my full potential. I firmly believe that this physical trial I am going through is actually a mental and spiritual test. And as odd as that sounds, if I let the Lord into my life and help me through this I know it will all be all right. I will feel better. Be a better person. And I will have grown and learned so much. Don't we all want to progress in our life? Become a better person? Learn and have more knowledge and clearer understanding of things?

I can't wait until I can put all this behind me!!! That's the understatement of the century! In the meantime, here are some pictures to keep you entertained: 

it begins

had to do molds twice. couldn't find a piece small enough for my mouth. pink mold ALL OVER my face hah!

chillin' and paper work 

measuring

measuring

aaand measuring

still measuring

oh! what do ya know.. measuring!

equating..

and waiting..

waiting..

and waiting!

break down of details during surgery

Allergies Continued..

I had an appointment with Dr Hershey yesterday. This is the Dr that uses NAET (said like nate). NAET is an Allergy Elimination Technique. What the heck is this and how does it work? Well, let me enlighten you..

In some ways the body works much like a computer. It is programmed to respond in certain ways. NAET treatments reprogram the nervous system so that the immune system stops attacking food, irritants, chemicals, or anything else a person is allergic to. Once the body accepts reprogramming, it heals itself. BAM! Done and done.

So much better than pricking needles all over my back and getting weekly shots of who knows what if you ask me. Drugs? No thanks! Hate them. I'll go the pure and natural route thank you. I still have an appointment with the allergist in a few weeks though. Not quite sure what to expect. Just get this stupid nose of mine clear!! It has always been such a HUGE bother to me, I have always just wanted to cut off my nose! Still feel the same, I mean, it's totally not needed anyway right? Who needs the sense of smell. Forget the fact that I am weirdly obsessed with smelling randomly weird things.. just cut it off! 

Well here's what Dr Hershey found out. Along with all the trees, grass, nuts and animals I am allergic to, I am also allergic to:

• Grains=MAYBE (this was the only uncertain one)
• Onions
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Melons
• Dust
• Smoke
• Weed
• Pollen
• Flowers
• Wood

Such is my life. One doc after the next. Well, you learn something new everyday right.. think I've heard that somewhere..

Don't know what else to say.. I'm out!

Battle Continued..

I got my allergy test results back and it's a bit of a shocker. It appears to me that I am allergic to every tree ever grown in history.. that's odd. Along with grass, peanuts, almonds, cats and wouldn't ya know it.. dogs! But at least my allergy number for dogs is one of the lowest. So friends and family, here it is!:

• Cat hair
• Dog hair
• Bermuda Grass
• Red Top
• Rye Grass
• Maple/Box Elder
• White Oak
• American White Elm
• Olive Tree
• Cottonwood Tree
• White Ash
• Mesquite
• Russian Thistle
• Rough Pigweed 
• Wormwood/Sagebrush
• Peanuts
• Almonds

There you have it! They each rank by number and class, the higher number or class, the more allergic I am. All trees are ranked 3-5 out of 6 classes. Dogs and cats- class 3. Peanuts class 2 and almonds class 1. Who knew? This certainly explains why I am CONSTANTLY congested and can't breath out of my nose in Utah. In Vegas, I get a serious case of the itchy nose and occasional itchy/watery eyes. If I touch a cat, then touch my face, my face blows up and my eye swells shut! Just one eye. I still have one to see out of and man let me tell you, I sure am thankful for two working eyes! The whole one eye swollen completely shut thing, it's such a beautiful sight to behold. Pretty funny if you ask Tyson or I. Occasionally, maybe once or twice a year, that will happen to me with the dogs. I'll wake up with a swollen eye and it will keep swelling until it is 100% closed. Literally I can not see out of it, haha. Thank Heavens it's only happened on days off when I don't need to go anywhere. Little children would be running and screaming in every direction but mine. Parents would think they have just encountered Sloth from the Goonies.

I know you're all dying to hear my plan so I guess I can hang around for another minute to tell you! I am waiting to hear back from the E.N.T. Dr with recommendations for an allergist up here in Utah to go to. In the mean time, I'll be seeing Dr Hershey. No, that is not my way of saying I'll be eating chocolate until they call. Dr Hershey is a Homeopath Dr who does muscle testing. By doing so, he can find what you are allergic to and what makes your body weak and cure it. Not everything is curable, but you'd be surprised how much it actually does work. I've never been one that is all for witch Drs, nor have I been one that is against them. I believe in whatever works for you, or me. When my sister in law took her baby to Dr Hershey to be tested she told me about it and I was intrigued. She showed me a little bit at home how it works. It was so weird, I could actually feel it. We took Ty in to Dr Hershey awhile back and I saw how it was done. Pretty cool and interesting if you ask me. I am a bit excited to try it myself and see what/how many of these allergies the doc can rid me of. There are just too many outside elements that even if I could be cured of them, would just be too expensive, so in the long run I'll still have many of these allergies right up to the day of surgery. Obviously we don't want to run into the same problem of being congested as before so I plan to fill my prescription of the nasal spray my E.N.T. Dr prescribed me and use it the few weeks prior to surgery to keep me nice and clear! 

I am so sick of Dr after Dr, blood draws, PILLS, pains, braces, and hospitals controlling my life, I pray that come surgery time there is not yet another "something" to get checked out and cleared. This is becoming old..so old. No, I lied.. this got old about 3 years ago! I just want to live my life please? That would be joyous. :) I have a close friend that has been going through many years of hardship right alongside the timeline of mine. I'm thinking that after the years of following God's plan and living on His timeline, we deserve a few good years of peaceful, trial free living!! It seems that her hard times has just ended as her miracle baby was just born. And I pray that for her this is the beginning of peace, bliss and nothing but care free living ahead for many years!

It's on!

We've got a date!!

March 20th! Not too shabby eh? At least it's not June! So, a couple more months and the journey begins again!

Had an appointment with my E.N.T. doctor today.. Dr. Schroeder- he is just the greatest! He removed my tonsils almost 6 years ago to the day. He looked in my ears, said they were spectacular and clear, looked up my nose and said "whoa! I can't see a thing but mucus". So he sprayed each nostril with an 'anti-allergen something'. Cleared it RIGHT up! He then looked up my nose again and said there was nothing there and he could see all the way through me. Nice and clear! He also said my passage is nice and straight. Phew! That means no deviated septum or anything blocking my passage and nothing to take care of there. Dr is pretty certain the reason why I am always a little congested is due to allergies. So we did a blood draw to test allergies to food, animals and atmosphere. We are thinking I may be allergic to my dogs, haha hopefully not but we will see. Dr. Schroeder said if that is the case he will set me up with something to take so it's not a problem.. because we all know the dogs aren't going anywhere! They are family.. they are my children! Yes indeed. We are just waiting for the results so we can then cure the problem! And hopefully, between now and March 20th, NOTHING will get in the way of me and my surgery!!! 

Another couple of months to enjoy my food! Mmm, mmm! I'm pretty sure my spirit was a fat spirit in Heaven because I sure LOVE LOVE to eat. I think I stretch my stomach because sometimes I eat so much I'll look at the portion I just ate and think my body only needs half of that. But if it is so yummy (which is almost everything I eat) I just want to keep eating it. Ay yi yi! 

So back to Utah it is. I FINALLY get to see my boy!! I have missed him so much! We were away from each other for a week when I came down for my ortho appointment and to drive to Santa Barbara. He flew in to SB at midnight, found out at 8am surgery was canceled and flew back to Utah at 5pm that same day. He needed to get back to work. So all in all, we will have only seen each other for less than 24 hours in 2 weeks! :( But once I get back I might go insane because I have no plans. None whatsoever. I was supposed to be healing and hibernating for the next 3 months so I cleared the calendar! My life at the moment is vacant! What am I going to do?! 

I know.... EAT :)

aand waiting...

Still no word from the Dr's office. :( Makes me a little nervous because if it's taking this long than they must be having a hard time pinning down a date for me. 

Today was a little sad. I kept thinking I could have had surgery and been in recovery now. Bummer! Obviously it wasn't my time. A blessing in disguise. Dang blessings! ;) I've always thought it would be so nice to know what that blessing/reason is. Wouldn't that be fun?! But then where would the life lesson be? These are the times that test our faith. It would be so easy to just float through life with no trials to test our faith.. oh what a dream! But it's those tests/trials of faith that build and shape us into a better person. Helping us to become stronger each time. Even though it's hateful. And what I've been going through is just that- hateful! I've never understood when people say they are grateful for their trials. I've always thought "are you crazy?!". Clearly they must be mental. But over time, as I have grown, learned and accepted, I realize what they mean..just kind of! I still HATE trials. But it's not necessarily the 'trial' they are grateful for, but rather the opportunity to become a better person. They are grateful for the blessings that come with not giving up and riding out the toughest situations. Because to each, whatever they are going through is just the worst thing possible. Sadly, it can always be worse. I look at others and the things they are going through and think "yep, that sucks, but I'd much rather take your trial than mine" haha..Then there are still others I know, who are going through something so unbearably awful to me, I have no clue how they are keeping their head up, and I would choose my trial over theirs in a heart beat! I know some people that are truly amazing. 

At the end of the day, I have MANY blessings to count! A caring husband who loves me, a nice roof over my head, a heater in the winter and AC in the summer! 2 dogs who I adore and bring me joy, a king size bed!!! The greatest family anyone could ever image, jobs when I need them, freedom when I don't :) the most patient and caring parents who will do anything at anytime for me, cute clothes on my back and food on my table. I have 2 eyes, 2 bionic ears and a nose that loves to smell odd things just to name a few. It's safe to say- My life is pretty great!

The Trip From Hell

Well..here it is.. surgery has once again been pushed back. My luck with this surgery is like that of my luck with windshields. For those of you unfamiliar with how awful that is I'll give you the short story. I have had my car for almost 4 years. I have had 3 windshields. First chip spread to a crack more than halfway across my windshield. Got it replaced and within the month a new chip arrived! Went to get it fixed so it wouldn't spread, kid didn't know what he was doing, spread a half inch crack to 5 inches. That too spread from right to left right across the middle of the windshield. I kid you not, right to left, the entire windshield. Needless to say I failed my safety and emissions test. Who knew a 3 foot crack obstructing your view is not considered safe? Got that replaced, 6 DAYS LATER, a rock came flying up and cracked a half inch "x" mark dead in the middle of my windshield. You may think it ends there, oh no, I am not so fortunate. 2 days after that, a random wood block was just chillin' on the freeway. Didn't see it until it was too late, right in front of my face flying who knows how fast at me. It hit that "x" mark dead on like it was calling its name. A moth to a flame. Half inch instantly spread to a foot.. which has now spread to 2 feet. I don't even follow semi's or tailgate! Windshields and I are so not friends. Such is life!

So, recap of our trip to Santa Barbara. 

• Dad's Mac laptop fell out of the car and broke
• On the way home from picking Ty up at the airport, the car broke! Serpentine belt (or something of the sort, that was just replaced 2 weeks ago, mind you). Not on warrantee. Dealer doesn't have the part to fix it. Estimated fix time = 1 week. Had to have it towed to dealer. After half an hour dad walked out to the street to meet the tow truck. Half an hour later the driver still had not arrived. The tow company proceeded to call every 10 minutes and tell him the driver was 2 blocks away...for the next hour. Rented a car.. I mean shoe. All four of us squished in this little toy car (Fiat) that is the size of my shoe. We all had a good laugh at that! It's a strange feeling when you first get in and take a turn, waiting for the rest of the car to turn with you and it never does, because it's not there hah. The thing is so tiny mom even had a small claustrophobic break down.. we all laughed.
• We have paid for a 3 week stay at the condo and will def not be here for 3 weeks
• I was thinking Six Flagg's (roller coaster theme park) would be a great idea on the way home after hearing the bad news. It's closed. For the week we are here. Then it opens again when we leave.

Oh joyous times!! :) Let's talk about the good things of the day now:

• Got to see Tyson :)
• Spent the day with my parents and Ty
• Laughed.. a lot. Because when you have a day as bad as this what else can you do??
• Shopped
• Got a new maxi skirt
• Had a delicious breakfast
• 70 degree weather (can you believe it!)
• No tears
• No Dr's with black eyes

All in all I'd say it looks like the positives outweigh the negatives! 

Oh. I bet you're all wondering why the surgery is post-poned. Well, as I posted yesterday I got sick. I felt 100% fine this morning going in to the Dr's office. Dr even said my throat was fine! However, I am congested and that is where we run into big problems. During surgery they put tubes through my nose that go down into my lungs. So whatever is in my nose will be pushed into my lungs. If I am congested during surgery that is a whole lot of mucus being pushed into my lungs, which will then cause pneumonia. Along side with that, the Dr uses a steroid to reduce swelling which just blows up any type of virus, making it way worse. He said in the past 35 years he has done 5 or so surgeries where the patient has a small virus or was congested and without fail, every single time, they got pneumonia. And he says it is scaaary! So we are not even taking our chances. Doc won't even touch me until the congestion is 100% cleared. Which now leads me to an E.N.T doctor. I do not feel congested at all. This is how I always am. Each morning, I HAVE to blow my nose, which leads the Dr to think there is something in the way or and allergic reaction. More doctors- yay me! I am nervous they will find something and say "you have to have surgery to fix that". Oh please, oh please, oh pleeeease don't let that be the case!!!!!!

Next post will be on word of when we can reschedule the surgery. After then, this blog may be on hold. I may update periodically when I hear from the Dr's office or have other check ups and any word progressing toward jaw surgery. 

I know so many of you have been concerned with this surgery for me. You have prayed and fasted, kept me in your thoughts, encouraged and crossed your fingers for me. THANK YOU. Thank you a million times for your care, love and support. I am truly shocked at how many calls and texts and other means of socializing I have gotten. Sure makes me feel loved...or at least liked, maybe even tolerated? :) 

Hope that they can squeeze me in for surgery sooner than summer! Stay tuned for an estimate..

The Battle Continues

So the journey may be on hold. I woke up yesterday with the beginnings of a sore throat. I started taking Zinc right away, every 4 hours. It helps to wade off an oncoming sickness or cut the severity and length of sickness. Got worse as the night went on. In the evening my body started feeling weak and I was getting a little cold.. and a lot nervous. I can not have surgery if I am sick. Last night was one of the worst nights of my life. Couldn't sleep, had a throbbing headache the entire night, I was extremely hot and in pain and I had to take those nasty Zinc lozenges every 4 hours. Ew, ew, ew.

Today I feel MUCH better. Exhausted from last night and slightly queasy every now and then, but we drove to Santa Barbara today so I'm still not sure if it was from traveling or not?Throat was swollen this morning but has reduced as the day went on. Started taking Zinc every 3 hours. If I just had to worry about how I was feeling then I would think surgery was still very likely. But any redness in the throat indicates a virus and there is definitely redness in my throat. We pray that it's cleared by tomorrow mornings appointment.. or the Dr will say no can do. My mom asked me what I would do if that were the case. I told her I'd punch the Dr. Then, I plan to go to Six Flags on the way home! But let's be honest, I'll most likely just bawl my eyes out. I didn't come this far to get only 3 days out from surgery and get sick and sent home! I've been trying to stay on top of anything we can think of to help this sickness go away PRONTO- lemon/honey tea, Zinc, oils, gargle with oils/water, gargle with pepto-bismal/hydrogen peroxide, drinking lots of water- so not a good idea while traveling. I had to pee like every hour. Annoying! Any other tips/ideas to get rid of sickness from anyone would be appreciated! :)

Tyson flies in late tonight. Can't wait to see him! Hopefully I get a good rest to shake the rest of this sickness.. whatever it is! As my dad says: "We are going forward in faith". We hate going forward in faith. :) There is a high possibility that tomorrow the Dr will say, you are sick, we can not operate, go home. Next opening isn't until June, by the way. That will just crush my world. This stupid jaw situation has defined my life! I am MORE than ready to be rid of it!!! And all along Ty has had to put up with aaaaalllll the side effects.. for 4 1/2 years.. our entire marriage. Poor guy, I feel so bad for him. Yet, we are blindly going forward, doing our part and asking that the Lord does his. If I don't get surgery on Thursday, then obviously we'll know that wasn't the Lord's will. However, I reeeally hope that He won't let me get so so close, days away, just to be told no. So, we shall see tomorrow AM. Cross your fingers!! Oor better yet- just pray! :)