What a super  funny start to a far-too-early morning!

Not only are the fur kids enjoying their HUGE indoor feline jungle gym... but so did this morning's group of Jehovah witnesses that woke us up as they stood outside the dining room picture window smiling and laughing away... hehehehehehe! Even so much as to call the others in the van that they were driving, preaching the good word from house to house so they could also get a few smiles, a whole lot of laughs and quite a few pictures from their cell phones... hahahahahaha!

We honestly had no idea what was going on with all the commotion while getting ready to head out the door for my scheduled testing at the hospital. As we s-l-o-w-l-y peeked out the kitchen window... all we saw were the faces of five delighted folks truly enjoying the larger-than-life feline jungle gym as Mittens and Big LOVE showed off for the entire group... hehehehehehehe!

You know... it's always the little things in life that bring so much joy not just to ourselves, but as well to others~

Speaking of the little things in life that bring so much joy...

By the looks of this photo taken of our visitors just a few days ago. It appears that Mother Nature might be bringing us one last round of early spring snowfall here in the country. YAYYYY! 3-6 inches or more of B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L SNOW!

LOVE~LOVE~LOVE

Here's wishing everyone

Today folks... TODAY was a GOOD day!

They say that fear can really get the best of you. That is... if you let it.

Last night I decided to face one of my biggest fears as I began the next course of treatments in hopes of beginning to reach up and grasp the top of this Mammoth size Mountain that I still must successfully climb! One hand slowly grasping the peak as I begin attempting to manage my way back over to the other side. The safe side.

I fear the really strong stuff as far as prescription drugs. The medications that have brought me nothing but really bad side effects in the past. I do not do well with steroids. I never did well with Prednisone. But after getting to this point of nothing else that has yet to work... it is a fear that I needed to conquer as I began my first dose late last night. 

Fear really only exists in the mind. Some would even say... it's really all about mind over matter. 

This afternoon, I had already began to experience the first of many not-so-great side effects that come with a high dose course of Prednisone. I feel jumpy, edgy, sweaty and WIDE AWAKE! This should make for a perfect evening to be one with the owls! Hahahahaha! God help me when it comes to the upcoming cravings of all sorts of foods! Yep... been there one other time in my lifetime with this drug. Who knows if it will hit me the same way?. But one thing is for certain... the only cravings I will be able to consume are still solely the liquid kind. 

BRING ON THE HOT CHOCOLATE WITH LOTS OF PEPPERMINT!

Since yesterday was one of my worst days yet... the hospital had to reschedule me for testing tomorrow and finally have the cardiology team put my monitor on. This will allow my Critical Care specialists to keep a 24-hour, close eye on how my heart is responding to everything. Tomorrow will be the first round of nuclear tests for my lungs and to see how much pressure the largest ovarian tumor is placing on my organs. If it weren't for already maxing out our out-of-pocket insurance deductible for this new year. I most likely would not be able to move forward with such extensive and quite costly testing. But God willing... when there is a will... he will provide a way. 

Life is just far too short to take yourself so seriously.

Life is far too short not to always find a reason to laugh and smile each and every day!

This... I know.

Yep... I am that kinda person who gets all giddy at the mere thought of snow... hehehehehehe!

Imagine my surprise when opening up the door in the wee early morning hours to see such a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L sight!

Sings:

SNOW... BEAUTIFUL SNOW... WONDERFUL SNOW... GLORIOUS SNOW...

I L-O-V-E SNOW...

All I could do was just stand there with the door open smiling from ear to ear while watching the most beautiful snowflakes fall from the heavens.

For me... it doesn't get any more peaceful.

I am still stuck homebound as the most recent rounds of at home treatments and various respiratory medications have yet to help me get stabilized...they have yet to help me catch my breath. But it's always when least expect that the good Lord gives one a break to forget about everything and instead focus on the far happier moments.

The ones that are meant to take your breath away... a most beautiful magical gift from heaven~

Remember when you took pictures and carefully placed them in one of many photo albums collected over a lifetime?

What happened to those days? Now it seems as we are nothing but mere lazy as to let photo after photo after photo pile up on our electronic devices such as our cell phone. You know what? As I sit here sifting through almost a thousand photos on my own personal cell phone. I am as guilty as the next person for not taking the time to print them off and place them in appropriate photo albums. I'm guilty as the next person assuming that my photos will be well preserved on a mere cell phone device. 

What happened to preserving so many moments in time? Clearly the answer to that question is that we need to make time... find that time. Memories... Bittersweet Memories... some even sad memories to hand down to the Next Generation. Surely... we have the time.

I've always adored watching those who have taken their photographic memories and placed them on video. What I didn't realize is how challenging it is to create that perfect video. But I ask myself... what is perfect... because life isn't perfect, memories aren't even perfect and neither are photo videos. Moments caught in time of some sad, some happy and some of the most exciting moments of a lifetime. 

We all have the time and can take the time to preserve time. 

A true priceless gift to hand down from generation to generation. 

Enjoy~

If music truly helps soothe the soul then today's Podcast~Blogcast video and song pretty much describes how my soul feels.

  This afternoon... I began transitioning my very first steps into the care of the critical care specialists. The final puzzle pieces have been carefully fitted into a larger puzzle that is no longer. My body is not responding to various medications and at home treatments due to the progression of ovarian cancer that has now affected my lungs... the inability to breathe normally.

Myself and Eric went into an appointment believing either my heart and lung issues were related to asthma, COPD or due to my Gastroparesis or a combination of both on top of a poor immune system. We could have never predicted such a turn of events 3 weeks ago that started due to the largest ovarian tumor now becoming infected as it began infecting my blood and causing me to become toxic. 

Guess you can say that sometimes things don't always go as planned... not with your health and in general... not with life. I have to quickly wrap my brain around all of this information as I go into further testing at the hospital starting tomorrow morning. I am now being quickly transitioning off of one round of various medications and at home treatments to go onto the next and final round in hopes of getting me somewhat stabilized.

As for now... being admitted is solely up to the patient... me.

Life... never take anything for granted.

Life... it's a beautiful thing.

Talkin' about feelin' ALL  JAZZED UP!

All JAZZED UP in my comfy clothes with 2 hours of relief in between treatments.

Nothing in the world feels better while not feeling your best as being snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug in your old comfy clothes!

Who cares what anyone thinks because in all actuality... all that matters is that I'm comfy and I'm rocking my thrift shop looking attire on this glorious Sunday!

All this while celebrating my 14th year living a unique life with Gastroparesis.

That diagnosis 14 years ago is how the Gastroparesis Awareness Campaign website came to life. A little idea in a really BIG way to help other patients know that they are not alone. That little idea that has now become this massive awareness campaign soon to reach 12 million around the world educating others about Gastroparesis... One Person At A Time.

www.gastroparesisawareness.com

14 years later and who says you can't survive living on a very limited diet? HA... I sure showed them!

You know... this kind of reminds me of a little song that goes a little something like this on this beautiful Sunday celebrating a most b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l life~

It's time to get ALL JAZZED UP!
Hahahahaha...

Did you make sure to wear your green today for good luck! You know this gal did! All the way to meeting with the realtor early this afternoon! It felt amazing to finally get out of the house for a bit of fresh air! 

YAYYYYYY!!

I am finally catching a bit of a break with all the treatments. I still have a very long ways to go before getting back to some sort of normalcy but I'll take all I can take! It was an interesting meeting with the realtor after we both have already realized this is going to be another repeat year with a very declining real estate market. The inventory in and out of state is extremely low... a record second year in a row! We will have no problem selling our home however we are having a huge problem trying to find another house out of state. It is bizarre how quickly things have turned around with the housing market in the area where Eric will be working in Nevada. Our final and permanent destination. Even with health matters and health issues... life still Must Go On.

That most definitely includes our life! 

We were advised to wait until late summer before proceeding ahead as there is very little inventory as far as homes currently on the market and the expectations are extremely low when it comes to the peak season this summer. We both had a strange feeling that come early fall this year might be our best bet in order to finally complete our final move. We may have an easy time when it comes to selling our home that we have literally flipped upside down and inside out. But when it comes to landing a contract on a new property out west... it has been extremely slim pickings. We will not settle this final and last time around when it comes to a permanent place of residency. I guess this means we will now have additional time to complete the remaining smaller projects that still remain on our to-do list. 

Our luck may not have been with us as far as a good meeting with the realtor this afternoon. But at least medically I was able to take a small step today in the right direction when it comes to getting over this Mammoth Mountain I must climb. Thank goodness for growing older and far wiser because we will not be missing out on the crazy drunken St Patty's Day crowds this evening! Regardless of my health... we still would have stayed home taking it easy and spending far more quality time with our little family.

The Saint Patrick's Day inquiring-minds-want-to-know as I have come to deliver with today's video! Your long overdue question has finally been answered!

So have I... You Are Not Alone along with the other almost 2 million permalink readers. 

This time it wasn't the Gastroparesis Awareness Campaign website that crashed, but once again this blog due to really old poorly managed software that has once again crashed. I believe I am on the 4th or 5th day with Engineers trying to resolve the issue which could go into early next week.  

Yayyyyyyy for no longer having to endure monthly and even most recently weekly crashes like on this old original blog site. Please be warned that it will only be on a temporary basis before all blog posts will only be able to be viewed on the new website.

Onward and Upward!

Today marks 48-hours with continued at home treatments. I am scheduled back to the hospital Monday morning with my pulmonologist and cardiologist. I was given a little bit of their game plan via phone this afternoon. Their new goal is to get me through this weekend so they can do a bit more extensive testing next week, Monday. They have already scheduled me for a 24-hour heart monitor so they can keep a close eye on my heart while my pulmonologist tries to figure out a way to help stabilize my lungs. Eric is fearful they're going to end up having to admit me regardless Monday morning. What he doesn't realize is that no one can force anyone to be admitted to the hospital. This situation it truly is up to the patient... me.

I plan on continuing to fight in order to stay away from being admitted to the hospital. I am in a 24-hour stress free zone and I plan to permanently keep it that way. That means zero stress. Anyone who cannot respect the demands from my doctors will be talking to my hand because I won't be listening. I like to call it some serious self-respect. I don't consider this Mammoth Mountain to climb a burden... but instead a Mammoth size life lesson. The greatest lessons in life are learned during the greatest struggles. 

So... I am on my first 24-hours of at home treatments. When my Pulmonologist said I'd be feeling a little crappy, a little light-headed and quite a lot of shaky... she wasn't joking. 

Today I have been doing my best in keeping my mind off of far scarier things while still getting up throughout the day for a little exercise. Keeping up with the constant and various methods of at home treatments has been quite a task! I vow to do my absolute best to stay out of being admitted to the hospital. In my mind... being admitted to the hospital is a death sentence for me.

Sure... to some the above may sound silly, but going in for heart and respiratory issues does not seem very promising as far as being able to make it back home. Trust me by saying... I fought my doctors... both of my doctors for a matter of 3-hours during yesterday's appointment. If I don't get any better after the next 24-hours. Then clearly I have done all I can and the cards just aren't stacked in my favor. 

You can expect this girl to go in fighting all the way!

Emotionally... everything finally came to a head as we were given 48-hours for the final and last round of treatments to start working before my specialists will have to admit me to the hospital.

Today... I got lucky.

Tomorrow... I am not so sure... but I live for the day. I live in the present. I live for the moment. 

What I can't predict... is the future... tomorrow. 

I do know what I am. I am human. I have emotions, sometimes like today, really raw emotions. Hospitals scare the hell out of me. Especially if being admitted. I have been fighting like hell to get better and somehow make my way over this Mammoth Mountain. But for some reason.. my body is just not following my brain.

So... as I sit here and look at over $2,500 worth of medications, at home treatments, nebulizer machine and other information from my specialists... I am lost for words. I am completely dumbfounded. I would not be human if I didn't say that I am also starting to get pretty scared and very concerned for my life.

I am very fortunate to have a new team of specialists who haven't given up on me. They have desperately continued trying over the past week to get me stabilized. When other doctors have given up on me back across state lines. These doctors in our new home state have yet to give up on me.

As I was sitting here sifting through my phone. I found this video of our beloved Oreo bravely taking his very first steps after suffering a stroke that paralyzed him from the neck down. I remember as if it was just yesterday taking him to the emergency veterinarian hospital and being told Time After Time by each veterinarian that he would not make it and that we should let him go. You know what we did? We didn't listen to the veterinarians. We listened to our heart. We did what any decent human being and great fur parents would do... we took our beloved Oreo home and fought alongside him each and every day. We made sure Oreo had our undivided attention, daily physical therapy provided by both of us along with a customized wheelchair. 

We never gave up on Oreo being able to walk again and Oreo never gave up on us as he bravely took his first steps six months after a major stroke. What a remarkable gift to be able to say that together... we defied the odds with our beloved, brave and remarkable fur child, Oreo. 

Never give up never give in.

I will always love you... For A Thousand Years...