It's Been Too Long...

I know.  It's February.  I haven't stopped in to write much as of late.  In my mind every night when I crawl into bed, I think, "Tomorrow, I'll at least get the kids Christmas Concerts posted and then it'll get the ball rolling."  Well, "tomorrow" consisted of a trip to Easter Island, a wonderful Christmas, another trip back to Easter Island for Joe, and while we are at it, let's throw in one more MEGA road trip for our family into Argentina and back, and then way too many doctors visits for me and little something called Parvovirus that I picked up down here in good ol' South America.  

I had a tough December and January when it came to recovering from losing our baby.  Emotionally I felt an abundance of love and support.  Physically, my body didn't exactly want to heal.  Plenty of doctor visits and feeling worn out, didn't help me on my quest for endorphins that I so desperately need.  Then one morning I woke up and wondered why I was so stiff.  I had only gone walking the day before.  It wasn't even a fast walk.  In horror I thought, "Oh!!!  Am I really that out of shape where a simple walk will leave me feeling like I'm 80 years old?"  The following day, my feet were so swollen that I couldn't put my church shoes on.  And every joint in my body killed.  Even my elbows.  What was wrong with me?!  My hands had gotten so puffy that my wedding ring was causing a laceration on my finger.  THIS WAS NOT NORMAL. 

Joe was back in Easter Island on his business trip and Sandra had taken 2 weeks off to go see her family.  I was alone with the kids and could barely move my head, let alone take care of everyone.  So, I went against my rational self and secretly crept into the office and looked up, "causes of stiff, swollen joints."  I didn't even get on the computer to research like crazy when I had thyroid cancer. I didn't feel the need, and I knew that I would only freak myself out.  Well, this time, I couldn't help myself.  And... I did, in fact, scare myself silly.  I called my dad at work and casually slid into our conversation, "So, does anyone in our family history have rheumatoid arthritis?"  

Then I had to explain of course.  

After way too many doctors visits and blood tests, I found that I was severely anemic, my thyroid meds had gone off kilter, and I didn't have an autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis. PHEW.  But what I had picked up, was a lovely little bug that exhibits rheumatoid arthritic symptoms for 2-6 weeks.  When children pick up the virus, it's a rash that appears on their bodies but doesn't bother them at all.  When an adult gets the virus, WATCH OUT.  It sucks.  The rheumatologist asked me like 5 times if my kids had any rashes.  And 5 times, I told her no.  I'm pretty sure I picked it up from one of the cute little kiddos in Primary at church, and my body was so run down that I brought it home.  Because 3 days after we finally figured out what was wrong with me... Luke got the rash.  He was totally fine.  Just looked a little red for while. Sigh...

And so, with that, I've made my excuses and I'm off to bed. But I'm finally feeling like I'm almost back to my little old self. So this is a kick off for some major updates from the last 2 months.  

It's gonna be great :)