What a pain!

Well, it has not been a good time for me. I am still having so much pain. I am on 5 new medications, 3 of them pain killers and I seem to get no relief...on a positive note, I do sleep well now=) The doctors have not figured out what is causing me so much pain in my leg but I am going to have an MRI in the near future...yet again. I think I have been on more medications this year than I have in my whole life. I guess I should be thankful that until recently none of my problems have involved pain. My heart truly goes out to all of those chronic pain patients who never seem to get a handle on their pain.

At least the kids are doing better. Elijah is all healed from his surgery and most of them are over their illnesses...of course just in time for a new batch of the cold virus. Just as one thing seems to clear up another always seems to fill in the gap. Now William is getting ready to go through all of his testing for autism. He scored in the mildly autistic range on the test so onto bigger and better things...right! Nathaniel is going to have his lymphnode checked out by a surgeon and Caity is being evaluated for a trial of medication for her ADD...not to mention Isabella constantly being in the category of "well she may need that feeding tube, but lets wait another 3 months." Otherwise the kids are great!! Active as ever and keeping mommy busy.

We are going to have a DVD system installed in the van so that I can keep the kids occupied since they are having to spend increasingly numerous hours in the van with Jonathan now at work most of the day and evening. Between soccer, cheerleading, baseball, dance, music class and church...we are in the van ALOT!

I have also finally decided on my homeschool carriculum-well almost all of it. We are going to do My Father's World for care and then Math-U-See, sign language and Spanish. English will be me...some reading and grammer for Caity and some phonics for William and Nathaniel. Until I find something better I think the reading is the most important thing. Next year is quickly approaching as I begin organizing my supplies. I am probably going to start in the summer, just to ease the transition and gradually build up to full time by the fall.

I am soooo ready for spring...the kids are driving me mad not being able to go outside. I want to go to the zoo and the park and all that great stuff. Of course with warmer weather also comes more frequent relapses and that I am not looking forward to.

WOW, what a week!!

This has been a very difficult week for the Lewis clan. Jonathan has started his new job full time now, he is gone most of the day and does not get home until after the children are in bed. I hate that he misses that time with them. It is also the busiest time of the day for me. All the kids are cranky and I am trying to get dinner done, baths etc.. It usually becomes chaos around 4:30 and is downhill from there. He is also working Saturdays for at least the next few weeks so he is only home 1 day a week. The kids really miss him.

Elijah had surgery on Wednesday on his hand and although it went well, he had the stitches pulled out by Friday...fortunately he has not had to have the stitches replaced, yet. He had to go in the SAME day and have his follow up appointment from his last surgery 3 weeks ago. That was a bad day. We also have several children sick with the stomach virus (it goes through the house quick when you have 6 kids around spreading their germs everywhere=(). Most of them have recovered by now but I spent most of the week cleaning up poop and vomit and doing lots of laundary-it always happens in bed, right after a fresh bath an da new pair of clothes!! Elijah, as usual, is suffering the greatest. Everytime we have a family virus like this everyone gets over it in a couple of days, but for some reason Elijah always seems to be 10 times worse than everyone else. He threw up about 10 times on thursday alone and now can not get rid of the diarhea. He now has a raging yeast infection and can barely walk because he so raw. He is just pitiful=(.

In the midst of all of this Nathaniel has had some swollen lymph nodes in his neck for over 6 months. I finally took him to the doctor this week and they did some blood work which came back abnormal. They want to see him for a recheck on friday and if his blood work is still whacky they are going to send him to the surgeon to have a biopsy done to make sure it is not cancer!!

Caity has been complaining about having urinary problems and I had to take her in today to check it out. The doctor ended up swabbing her throat. She does not have a UTI, like I thought, she has STREP...STREP, she was not even complaining of a sore throat.


In addition to all the problems with the kids being sick, I was in the ER last night due to a flair up of my "unknown illness" and have been having spasms in my hip and thigh that are so bad I can not sleep and sitting is very painful. At least I got some more pain meds to help manage that.

WHEW...I am so glad weeks like this are not commonplace around here...I think I would go insane. I know God will see us through this mini health crisis just like he always does! I think there is a reason why so many large families are followers of Christ. I think without total surrender to him...parents would go INSANE>

Here is to a better week!!!

Who has time to exercise?

Well, I have been very afraid to exercise ever since I started having all of these neurological problems. My weakness, numbness and lightheadedness seems to come out of the blue. Recently I have been having lots of problems with muscle spasms. I have severe twitching constantly, but sometimes I have certain muscles (recently my right hip and thigh) that will tighten in spams for hours. I have been afraid that exercise will make them worse. Well, being a firm believer that eating well and exercise is good for EVERYONE and has always been good to me before...well when I am actually doing it...I bought an eliptical machine. I have to have something I can do at home with the kids. I am going to try and see if I can do and keep up with it. I am obviously not getting any better by getting fatter. Maybe exercise will help me spend more of my day able to stand and actually get stuff done...here's to exercise!!!

Potty time

As this wonderful new year is unfolding, I am trying to institute many new habits. One of them was keeping up with this blog...basically my online journal. So far I am not doing that hot. I am just so tired by the time I get any kind of a break that I just can not seem to do it. I know things will get better as I fall into my new routines. I did want to share (or rather write down for posterity) that Elsie (21 months) just pooped and peed in the potty!!! I know this is not a big deal to most, but she hates diapers and she begged me to take her diaper off tonight. After I did I told her she had to go sit on the potty if she was not going to put a diaper on. She DID. I went around the corner and she was sitting there, going to the bathroom...Isabella (almost 3) wont even do that. I just thought it was a great achievment for her. Well I am sure it will be short lived but I take joy in the good things when they happen.

Starting a new year

Well, 2008 is underway and I feel it is going to be a good year. I have decided to try and do this blog thing since everyone else seems to do it, plus it is a great way to keep family and friends up to date on our super size family.

I have officially decided that I am going to stay home for good and be a mommy, the only other thing I dreamed about as a child next to being a physician. I do not see it as quitting medical school...I have chosen to do something even more important. Quitting is giving up which I have not done. I very easily could finish, but what is the benefit if I do not want to work...just another year or so of debt?? I am such a different person now than the person I was when I started med school that it has lost its priority standing in my life. I have seven higher priorities now...of eternal consequence. I beleive God wants me home for many reasons, not all of which I understand yet. Sometimes I look back and think about how many obstacles I overcame while in school and wonder if God was telling me all along that he had changed my path...maybe I just was not listening. Having 4 operations, adopting 4 children, going through extensive infertility treatments and finally getting pregnant and having my beautiful twins and then to top it off with my brother being killed and my health taking a nose dive...whew!! What do you think...are these signs that I missed...was I following my own desires instead of God's?? I do not know, but I know I am following his plan now. The feelings of greif (I am actually greiving the loss of a dream) will subside as time goes by and I already realize how much joy I was missing before...I am relishing my moments now and watching my kids grow up has been so amazing.

My troubles with my health continue and since I do not have an official diagnosis YET (some have included possible MS, encephalopathy, Rheumatoid arthritis, peripheral neuromuscular hyperexcitability), and none of my treatments seem to have helped, I am just dealing with my symptoms as they come. We will see what the next year brings. God has been so good to us over the year that I really can not complain about some pain and discomfort.

I am currently working on trying to declutter and organize the house for the new year...we have so much JUNK!! Jonathan is going to be starting a job...oooh...he has been a stay at home dad now for a few years and has not worked outside the home since his injury in 1998. Since I will be home alone most of the day now I have to get organized or I will go insane...its alot easier to be disorganized when there are 2 people home most of the time. When you are alone you need all help you can get.

I have also decided to start homeschooling. I have been researching the option for about a year now and have decided to try it for a year. William will be starting kindegarten in the fall and Caity will be in third grade (well, she should be if she passes second-she is having some problems). It is going to be a difficult task with the other 4 running around the house.

Well, unfortunately I am exhausted from the meds I just took for the painful spasms I am having in my hip. I think I am going to have to hit the sac.