Boise, and Moving!

 
  Another blog post from Haley?  I know, I know, I'll try to space them out farther next time: )  Haha, I really do think about blogging, but then life happens and I just don't get to it.  I have been wanting to write about the new house and to get before and after pictures up here for about a month since we finished the renovations.  We have unfortunately had some computer issues which have been tying up the pictures.

  For now I will write about Boise.  The good and the weird things about Boise, and moving to a different place.  It's not that Boise is that weird but that every time you leave a place you've been for a while, where you have gotten used to the culture in that place, it is strange trying to get used to a change no matter where you go.

I guess I will list Pros and Cons, alternating so that I won't seem biased...

Pro: Having Family near.  Need I say more?  Cory's parents and brother are less than 2 miles away and my Sister Angie and her family are about 20minutes away.  We are also a short 5 hour drive from a lot of other family, my parent's, both brothers and their families, and a lot of extended family on both sides.  We have had so much fun with them so far and we are really looking forward to the holidays with family around.  We have never lived near family in our entire marriage so this is a really big PRO!

Con: We miss our Texas family.  We had so many great friends and neighbors in Texas and we were so sad to leave them. 

Pro: We moved into a very welcoming neighborhood.  The houses in our neighborhood were built in 1990 and a lot of the people on our street are original owners.  Having a new family move in doesn't happen everyday and was especially exciting to the younger families that aren't original owners who have young kids.  We had several neighbors at our door bringing goodies and welcoming us the first couple of days that we were here.  After we had been here just a few days they sent around a flier inviting everyone to a block party (just our street) to welcome the new neighbors, which was referring to our family.  They barbequed and everyone hung out and chatted the next Saturday afternoon.  We felt so welcomed!

Con: Idaho is big on Dairy.  As I walked through the schools for the first time I noticed Dairy advertisements everywhere.  I have since found that they push Milk on kids and even serve it in the kindergarten classroom at snack time.  The schools are obviously receiving money from the Idaho Dairymens association or another association affiliated with dairy.  My reason for concern is my allergy child, Audelia.  I'm not looking forward to explaining that my child cannot sit in a classroom where a bunch of kindergarteners are or have been drinking Milk, knowing how easily she could come in contact with it.  I have 2 more years until she goes to school to decide how to address this.

Pro: The weather!  The summer was such a relief.  We went outside without having to be submerged in water.  It made for some fun days of playing outside while our house was being torn apart.  The fall has been nice so far.  It's chilly in the morning when I walk Darion to school but it's been warming up during the day.  Boise is a lot warmer that the rest of Idaho, so we are told we will get snow but that it doesn't stick around long.

Con: The speed limits.  A question on the DL exam was "what is the speed limit on main roads if not otherwise stated?"  The devastating answer is 35MPH.  My best guess is that it's because Boise is so bike friendly which should probably be on the Pro side of this list, but I can't get past the 35MPH enough to consider it a true Pro.  It's painful people, just painful!  The worst part is that people actually drive going that slow.  P.A.I.N.F.U.L.L.

Pro: Our new ward is pretty great.  The Ladies have regular girls nights which helps me get to know them much faster than I would have.  I'm in primary teaching adorable 6 year olds, and Cory teaches the 17 year old Sunday school class. 

Con: New place=new schools, doctors, dentists, optometrists, etc.  This is just part of moving and is one of the things I dreaded.  I'm still working on finding all of our necessary professionals that we will have to see at some point. 

Pro: Wyatt is working with some great Special Education staff.  Moving a special needs child and getting them placed in a new school let alone a new district is quite the task.  We have been so blessed with his education so far but Idaho is not disappointing like we thought it might.  Wyatt was placed in a school that could best facilitate his needs as opposed to just placing him in the nearest school like a lot of districts do.  It means having 3 kids at 3 different schools but it is worth it.

Con: Moving in general is dumb!  We had movers come pack and move us and it was still a difficult, taxing, horrible experience.  I know that is in part because everything that could go wrong did, but I'm grateful that moving is no where in our future as far as we can tell.

Pro: I love my house!  I didn't see it until we had already closed, crazy I know!  But, I was so thrilled with it.  It needed updating but I knew all of that ahead of time.  I knew it had potential and we are so happy with how things have turned out.  We really could stay here forever and never outgrow it.  It's unique, fun, and has a ton of character.

  We are settling in nicely and we feel like we are at home.  I still dream sometimes about our Texas house, in fact I did last night.  When all is said and done we are glad we made the move and are really loving it here.

We got engaged here in Boise.  In fact we got engaged on the bridge in this picture.  Technically, the bridge has been replaced but this bridge stands in place of the old bridge where Cory asked me to be his wife.  We recently took family pictures there.  This was just after Cory had dipped me back as if to drop me in the water.  I thought it was a fun pic.

Us Hunters are on the move

Texas has everything!  And... everything is better in Texas!  Also, think twice before you mess with this great state because the people here have state pride like I've never experienced anywhere else.  We thought we would stay in Texas for a long, long time, we thought maybe even forever.  The Lord has a different plan for us though.  In a few weeks Cory will be starting a new job in Boise Idaho and I will follow with the kids soon after school lets out in June.

It's kind of funny in hind sight to think about how this all came about.  When I think about how we came to move to Texas and end up in this house and area I can see that it was all truly inspired as this experience with moving Boise has been.  Last Summer after my brain surgery my Mom (who badgers me incessantly to move closer to family) had the gaul to leave and go back to CA.  My MIL came soon after and turned around and did the same dang thing, she left and went home.  This was the first time in my life that I ached to be closer to our extended family.  It wasn't that I didn't miss our families before, but until that moment I felt like we had a purpose as a family for being here, but now something about that was ending.  I can't really describe the shift but I felt like it was time to consider moving closer to home, which is really anywhere out West since I'm a CA girl and Cory is a UT boy.  I brought it up to Cory and he threw a wall up right away.  I can't blame him, he has a great job and we really love it here.  I asked him to consider looking at jobs and to keep an open mind.  I was in no rush by any means but wanted to keep a dialogue about it.  He looked into a few jobs but staying with Raytheon wasn't a possibility in any of the areas our family live.  So, like a trooper Cory put his resume out there and waited.  Every couple of months we would talk briefly about it but the conversation usually concluded with Cory insisting that we stay here, and me being thankful that he had a job and not wanting to rock that boat. 

In February Cory started to get excited about a a promotion he was getting and a project he was going to get to take charge of at work.  He was really pumped and told me that leaving Dallas was not an option and that we were staying forever!  Two days after this statement he got a call.  It was the kind of call that in that moment I knew something was happening by the look in Cory's eyes.  He asked me just like he had when the job here came up "Want to move to Dallas?"  But this time it was "Want to move to Boise?"  I didn't even know that he had put in an application for a job in Boise.  He then told me that the project he had been working on that he was supposed to be taking charge of was now (as of that day) moving to Forest, MS where we used to live.  That was a shock since the "never moving away" conversation had occurred only two days before.  He still had a job and was still being promoted, but things at work had suddenly gone from exciting to boring, and Cory doesn't handle being bored well at all. 

The call was from a contract Circuit card Manufacturer called Plexus for a Engineering Supervisor.  So he interviewed, and then interviewed, and interviewed, again.  In total he interviewed 4 times over the phone and through Skype until they finally, after two months, told him they wanted to make him an offer and asked him to come out to Boise to meet in person.  They also brought me out to check out the area.  We were grateful for the trip especially since it was the first time we had ever been away from our kids for more than 18 hours our entire marriage.  They didn't make the offer while we were there but Cory really liked the Plant and everyone he met.  He was super excited and assured me he would never be bored there.  After negotiations and some very heart felt prayers we received an answer to those prayers.  We needed to move to Boise!  Along the way Cory had slowly admitted that he was inspired to apply for this very job and was inspired all along the way with the interviewing process and negotiations. 

We are so excited to get to live near family!!!  We will be living minutes from My Sister Angie (who feels indifferent about this whole situation; )  and her family, as well as Cory's parents and brothers.  Boise is so beautiful!  We got engaged in Boise and when we were first married we planned on moving to Boise after Cory was finished with his Masters.  Then Raytheon put him through school and all our plans changed. 

We just made our final decision a few days ago and have been busily readying our house to sell it.  We put our blood, sweat, and tears into this house and will be sad to leave it.  I get a pit in my stomach every time I think about leaving our friends and ward and the kids schools.  Like I keep telling Alyssa, we may not know why exactly this is the plan or us but Cory and I have received such clear answers and promptings that I don't doubt for a moment that this is what we need to do.

For now we deal with logistic's and pray that this goes as smoothly as possible.  Then hopefully we will be able to enjoy our last days in TX and this new adventure.

I took this Picture at Angie's house when Cory and I visited a few weeks ago.

Young Women's

 

I got released from my calling as Young Women's president a couple weeks ago after almost 6 years of working with the awesome Young Women and Young Women's leaders in my ward.  I can't even begin to explain how much I love these girls and Women!  I'm sad to go but it is necessary and I'm glad that the girls have a President that can give them 100% which I'm not able to do right now because of some health issues I'm having, but that's another post for later.

 

These are just a few of the Bazillion photos I have of them.  Aren't they the cutest?!

 

These girls helped strengthen my testimony in the Gospel of Jesus Christ constantly.  I'm confident that I benefited more from serving them than they did from having me as a leader.  These girls give me hope for their generation.  Being a teenager is hard enough but I can't imagine dealing with all the things that the youth have to deal with these days, yet these girls do it with grace and seem to be having a blast along the way.

 

I'm getting old but every time I'm with them I feel like a teenager again... they keep me young. 

 

For now I'm finding out what it's like to... be home on Wednesday Nights, not have extra meetings on Sundays, not have basketball/volleyball to coach, dances on Saturdays, Firesides on Sundays, Fundraisers, etc.  It's nice to be able to focus on my health and family but I'm definitely going through withdraws from these ladies.

 

 They have an amazing new president who I know is, and will do a great job!

 

 

This fall has been busy so far

 

We bought a new car, or should I say "new to us" car.  It's an Excursion that seats 8 along with fitting just about anything our hearts desire to transport.  We took it camping in September and it was so nice to not have to worry about fitting all the things we needed to take with us.  It's a Deisel so it gets tons of miles to the gallon and fortunately our garage is about 2 feet deeper than most so it just barely fits lengwise in there along with Cory's Mazda.  Cory built this awesome shelf so we have storage while being able to park in the garage.  Yay!!!

 

The kids are back in school of course.  This year Alyssa is in Fifth grade, Wyatt in 4th, and Darion started Kindergarden.  Audelia will be staying home with me for another 3 years since she has a September birthday.  I told Cory the other day that if I had to pick someone to hang out with everyday for 3 years she's at the top of the list.

 

 

 

On the first day of school Audelia and I rushed to get to her allergist for an appointment at 9A.M. to do a Soy challenge.  They gave her a Tablespoon of Soy milk with 20minutes between doses.  They proceeded to watch her to make sure she didn't have any allergice reactions and Luckily she didn't.  After her last allergy testing her Doctor thought that she would be able to reintroduce atleast a few things.  So, we originally did a challenge in June with Milk but despite her levels being as low as they were she failed the test miserably and started to go into anaphalaxis.  After seeing her reaction the Doctor only proceeded with the Soy challenge because she never had an anaphalaxis reaction with Soy, she just had gastrointestinal reactions.  Her blood levels that show the likelyhood of a reaction never were very high where as the levels of her other allergens had been high but dropped dramatically.  For now we are going back to our old plan and testing her blood every year but as it is the doctor isn't willing to take anymore chances with challenges based on the results of the Milk challenge.

 

We had a lot of fun camping and boating with Brandt and Sarah Litton for my birthday weekend.  It was so relaxing and just what we all need.  Because of my surgery we didn't get to take any vacations this Summer so this little 4 day weekend in September

was our belated Summer trip.

 

We got there a day before the Litton's and played in the water most of the day after got set up.  I layed like this for hours.

 

Cory and the kids playing in the water. 

This is the view from our camp site.

 

The view of our camp site from the water.  We were right next the boat dock which turned out to be really convenient.

 

This was our first trip in the Excursion.  The kids and all our stuff is ready to go camping.

 

 Cory and I had a little smooch and the kids went crazy begging us to stop.  This is us having a good laugh at their reaction before getting up on the knee boards.

 

Audelia turned 3 on September 29th. She is getting so big and she knows it.

 

 This was the first cake Audelia had since her 1st birthday when we didn't know about all of her allergies and she reacted because of it.  Now that she can have Soy I was able to make her a cake using Betty Crockers Gluten Free cake mix which is also free of everything else she is allergic to.  I added Sprite as a substitute for all the other ingredients and

it turned out great!

 

 

 

 

MVD Recovery, 8 weeks

 I've been surprised at how many people want to see pictures primarily of my head and scar since my surgery.  So here's some pics along with an overdue blog post. 

The above pictures are the before and after pictures of my hair.  I had started growing it out this year and was enjoying it but when I told my hair dresser about how much they were shaving she felt like it would look funny and thin on that side and the fact that the other side would look normal would make the shaved side look even weirder.  I told her to cut it how she thought it would look best considering, and this is what she came up with.  I thought it was really cute and she did a great job.

Above- May 25, 2012, I'm ready as I'll ever be for surgery so I made Cory take a picture to start the collection of terrible pictures that will someday be distant but important memories.

Above-A few hours after surgery and as you can see, I'm all dolled up and ready for my geriatric bedtime of 3P.M.  I was truly a mess and just starting to realize how painful and difficult this was going to be.  The Band aid on my forehead is from where one of the nails was in my head from the Vice they had me in during surgery.  I have a lovely scar from that spot now.  The big bandage on my neck/head is obviously covering the big incision which they didn't even peak at until I went home. 

At this point and for the next few days I was hooked up to the following- Oxygen, 2 IV's, a Catheter, a Blood Pressure cuff, a finger pulse monitor, sticker things all over my chest with tubes coming out of them, and leg wraps that were constantly inflating to prevent blood clots.

Above-Cory briefly brought the kids to see me the day after surgery.  They didn't stay long since hospital rooms aren't that fun, I wasn't much either, and for the most part they were afraid to even be around me since I looked a little scary to them.

Below-The car ride home was painful every time we hit a bump mostly because they had cut into my neck muscle which turned out to be the most painful part of recovery.  It was nice to be back home and away from nurses waking me up all the time.  Cory was way better at managing my pain and taking care of me anyway.

Above-This is the first look that either I or Cory got of the incision.  This is day 3 just after I got home.  I counted about 18 staples in all.  Undernieth the incision there are screws and plates holding the piece of skull in place that they cut out to get to the Nerve and Arteries.

The doctor had taken the bandage off just before he discharged me which was very painful.  A nurse bandaged it again to send me home.  Apparently the nurse didn't see the entire area around that had been shaved for the sole purpose of bandaging because she managed to get plenty of the longer hair that was inches away stuck in the adhesive.  That was another thing Cory did better.  From that point on Cory did the bandaging and there was no hair getting caught in it.

 Right-One of my kids took this of me as I looked most of the time for a few weeks after surgery.  I layed in bed while switching between being bored, watching episodes of "Medium" and "Flash point", and trying to sleep.  I don't usually watch TV much so it took really finding shows that kept my interest.  Cory kept walking in the room and begging me to watch some TV.  He enjoys it way more than I do and I think it pained him to not see me take advantage of my down time the way he thought I should.



 


Right- This was kind of the second phase of
 recovery.  I had about enough energy to sit on
 the couch to eat and then would resume laying down.  I didn't leave my bedroom until about 9days post-op other than a couple of times.  My energy was so low and I was so nauseous that walking myself anywhere, let alone bathing my self was a huge task and enough to wipe me out for the rest of the day.  My food had to be made, brought to me, and cleaned up by someone other than myself.  I not only couldn't help with the kids or the house but I required an amount of assistance for myself that I didn't expect.  This lasted for about 5 weeks.

11 days post-op-I went to the doctor for a check up and to get the staples out.  I was nervous that it would hurt but it didn't since most of the right side of my head was and still is numb from nerve damage  which is a normal result from the surgery.  Some of the nerve sensation has started to come back and might fully at some point but either way it's not bad it just takes getting used to.  I do feel like I have a little fuzzy on my upper and lower lip mainly when I talk and eat that started coming about 5 weeks post-op.  It's more annoying than anything and I'm getting used to it.

Upper Right- This is my girl Haley.  She's one of my Young Women in my ward and on top of coming to visit me at the hospital she came and hung our with me twice at home.  She's a Super sweet gem and tons of fun!  We even did a craft with my Mom.

It's been a little over 8 weeks since my surgery and aside from some minor things I'm pretty much back to normal.  I even started riding my bike and have made it through my work out video twice.  There will always be things that I can't do or have to modify because of this like... anything that could cause a jolt to my body such as very physical sports because it could knock the Teflon pillow in my brain out of place, I'll always have to be put to sleep for dental work, I have to try to keep my breathing steady and more.  I'll say it again, it's worth it!!!  I'll live with the few restrictions so that I can be out of pain.

This whole process including the surgery has been one of the most difficult things I've ever gone through.  They say with some things that it gets worse before it gets better, I think that whoever said that was going through exactly what I was.  I was amazed at how bad it was and I'm so grateful that it's over. 

So many people did so many things to help me and my family.  We feel truly blessed to have such great friends and family.  Our Moms especially saved our lives!  We really wouldn't have made it without them!!!

I have to give a shout out to my Heavenly Father: )  He knows me and loves me and I don't doubt for a second that this was a necessary trial for my progression on this Earth.  I have learned more while struggling with this over this short time than in any other phase of life and I'm better for it.  I have a renewed appreciation for what I have, the Priesthood on the Earth, my amazing family, my health, and so much more!  I don't know how I would have gone through this and so many other trials in my life without my faith, and I'm grateful for it.

(June 4, 2012) 10 days Post-op-At this point I think I'm going backwards.  Instead of feeling better I'm feeling worse.  There are so many factors in my recovery when considering the medication, detoxing off of the Lyrica, and just the healing itself that it's hard to tell why but I definitely don't feel any better than I did a few days ago.  My doctor stressed over and over to do nonstrenuous walking during my recovery.  I don't think he meant to and from the restroom, but that's about all I'm doing.  I'm dealing with lack of sleep because of coming off the Lyrica so that can't help but there isn't much I can do to change that other than to take the sleep aid every night that the doctor sent me home with.  I feel the way I always did when I had pregnancy morning sickness, like I would never feel normal again.  I'm sure just like it was with that that I will feel better again, it's just a vision I can't see at the moment.  I don't regret the surgery at all.  I'd take this recovery over the pain if TN for sure but it's just not fun. 


Cory is doing an amazing job of taking care of me!  For a minute I thought that he would make a good nurse but then I realized that it's just that he loves me to pieces and that as far as everyone else is concerned he should probably stick with Engineering.

(Written June 17, 2012) 3 weeks 1 day Post-op-The last couple of weeks have been a struggle to say the least. There were a few times that I attempted to get on the computer and blog but simply didn't have the strength or energy it took to sit partly upright while typing long enough to complete a post. Not to mention that until a few days ago I had nothing nice to say. For the first 2 weeks I didn't improve much at all. I could hardly stay out of bed for long and when I did get up I ended up on the couch very quickly. I have never felt so drained of energy in my life. My doctor says that's normal and not to expect the energy to come back for 6-8weeks post-op. It's difficult to sit back and watch everyone work and take care of me and my kids but it's been necessary. My Mom has been here for almost 2 weeks and leaves in a few days. She has been extrememly helpfull and we have loved having her here. My house is clean and we have all been fed thanks to her and Cory.


My innability to even take care of myself has been a major shock to me. I guess when I envisioned myself and the need for help after surgery the help was mostly for the kids and so the house wouldn't fall apart. I didn't expect to feel horribly nauseas for 2 full weeks preventing me from even being able to get out of bed for long. That combined with the lack of energy and horrible headaches has been a huge shock and very difficult.

Microvascular Decompression, the good, the bad, the first few days.

I have to preface this with the fact that I am on pain killers and Muscle relaxers so please forgive any typos, or ramblings, I'll do my best. 

Day 1-I checked into the hospital at 5:15A.M.  After changing into my flattering hospital gown I laid in a bed a Cory and I proceeded to talk to a nurse about Trigeminal Neuralgia for about an hour while waiting for surgery.  You could tell by her questions that they don't see a lot of it in the hospital.  Then everyone that would be assisting in the surgery came, introduced themselves, and explained what they would be doing in the OR.  A few things I wasn't expecting... There was a woman in the OR just to monitor my nerves.  I guess during the surgery she would check them throughout to make sure they continued to function.  The Anesthesiologist also surprised me with the fact that he would be adding a second IV to more accurately monitor my vitals.  After a few panicy wonderings of what I was about to let these people do to me, and visions of my head in the vice that I knew it would shortly be in it was time to go.  The Anesthesiologist gave me something in my IV that seemed to have me out before we even got to the OR.

Waking up-As I had predicted they woke me up sober.  No pain meds until I answered a series of questions which took me a while because I didn't wake up enough to speak for over an hour.  I would come in and out, in pain of course.  At some point during this I asked how it went.  Before I knew it, the doctor was standing over me saying that they found a whole bunch of arteries pushing on the nerve (a slight exageration but a welcome one).  This was such a big deal because until getting into the surgery he didn't know for sure what he would find and ofcourse that makes anyone nervous because the worst would have been waking to find out that I had A-tpical Trigeminal Neuralgia where in the problem lies within the actual nerve itself and they can't fix that.  Finally I answered the questions, What's your full name?  Where are you and why?  What year is it?  How bad is the pain?  As soon as I was done answering, Pain management began and I was off for the ICU.  I don't remember when Cory got there but we were both elated about the results of the surgery.  We did have something going into the surgery that the Neuroseurgeon didn't, the promise that I had recieved in two priesthood blessings.  The first came before I had even been diagnosed 2 days after I had my tooth pulled in March, and we realized that we were dealing with something more than a difficult tooth problem.  Our Home Teacher and Elders Quorum president came over and our home teacher gave me a great blessing.  The blessing said that doctors would accurately diagnose me and be able to cure me.  Within 11 days a big part of that happened.  I found my neurologist who diagnosed me and then my Neuroseurgeon who confirmed the diagnosis and offered the hope of having the surgery.  From there it was a matter of faith on our part.  The night before the surgery our elders quarum president came over to help Cory give me a blessing that said very straight forwardly that the surgery would be a success and that my recovery would go well.  From that moment on We both felt much more relaxed and comfortable with less anxiety that I would wake up with bad news. 

The doctor gave Cory pictures of the before and after as he had hoped to be able to.  I had not just one artery running alongside and pushing on the nerve but another wrapped around it as well.  The doctor was able to pull the arteries away and pad in between them to keep them off of the nerve.  Those pictures were a sight to see after all that grief and pain.  It was proof and it was fixed, done and done! 

That first day I felt alright and after keeping ice chips and water down the ICU nurses let me eat.  Luckily since it was past luch time at the hospital Cory was able to get me Gluten Free Subway at the Subway in the hospital.  I scarfed that down with a GF brownie, a fruit leather, and some chips.  I managed to eat all that without any nausea and took a little nap.  Our bishopp stopped by for a visit then after Cory and he had gone I took one bite of something that the hospital called dinner that I'm sure came from a can and got nausious for the first time.  Long story short is that the hospital food a was terrible!  Every hour for the first night the nurses were in doing neurological tests on me.  Push with your feet, pull with your feet, squeeze my hand, smile, stick your tongue out, what's your name, who's the president?  They also woke me up at 3A.M. to draw blood, at 4A.M for a sponge bath, and wheeled me off for a CT scan at 4:30A.M.  This is not my idea of a relaxing and restfull night condusive to recovery from surgery.

The 2nd day-After making it through the CT They took me back to my room.  At that point I hadn't even sat up straight but the nurses insisted that I sit in a chair to eat my powdered eggs, fake bacon, and rolled up corn tortilla.  I ate a strip of bacon a bite of eggs and almost threw up.  The combination of sitting up and eating fake disgusting food was to much.  I called the nurse and went back to bed.  That afternoon I got to go to a regular room on the Neurosurgical ward.  They took out my cathedar and several other things I was hooked up to and wheeled me off.  I was greeted when I arrived by two great friends/Yougn Women's leaders Joy and Sarah and 4 Young Women, Katie, Hannah, Haley and Isabelle and some beautiful flowers, lets not forget the Angel bear with wings: )  It was great to see them!  Cory and the kids came shortly afterward for a bit and then 2 friends from the ward Valerie, and Jen stopped by as well.  Having visitors was a nice distraction and wore me out enough to get some good sleep.  At 3A.M. I called the nurse to help me to the restroom and for the first time realized that even though the white board in my room said that the goal for the day was to manage my pain it really meant "Haley needs to ask for meds on her own."  Why they were letting the meds lapse I don't know but I din't get them until I asked.  Once they pain meds lapse it is harder to control the pain which I learned form going through the TN pain and am now being reminded of. 

The 3rd and final day at the hospital- Going home 3 days after brain surgery seems drastic but as the doctor said while discharging me "we don't want to keep your here and get you sick now, do we."  Very good point!  Plus, they only thing they had that I don't at home that is to be missed is the up and down bed.  Since they cut into my neck muscle it is very hard to move my body period without aggrevating that muscle especially while trying to sit up and lay down.  Other than that home is better than being in the hospital by far.  Cory and Darion came to pick me up at about 12:30P.M. and we were off.  The car ride wasn't fun since the bumps hurt my head/neck and walking into the house felt close to a marathon after only standing a few times in the past few days but once in bed it felt great!  My first night home our friends Lexi and Troy came by to bring dinner, flowers and visit for a bit.  Not only was the meal amazing but it was so nice to see them.  Later our friends Jeff and Kelly came by for a visit with flowers and a balloon. 

Night 3, my first night home- The doctor now has me cutting down on my Lyrica which I will hopefully be off of soon.  I'm supposed to take it at night since it makes me drowsy but the nurses gave it to me in the morning before I left the hopital so I didn't want to take it again in the same day.  Thanks to that little mess up I spent my first night home in cold sweats and shakes from detoxing off the Lyrica.  I experienced this before while experimenting with the doses so I knew it would be like this but the hope was that the pain meds would help, I don't think they are.  Cory broke a pill open this morning to give me a small dose after he woke up to help with the detoxing symptoms.

Day 4- I don't know what I thought I would feel like but I know I didn't predict this.  Until you go through it I guess you can't really understand.  I'm tired, sore, and it hurts to move.  I know it's all worth it and is getting a little better everyday.  I'm not used to staying in bed.  As a Mom usually no matter how sick you feel something pulls you out, but not with this.  Cory is here to take care of me and the kids, then my Mom, then his Mom, take turns flying in to help out.  I now understand how necessary that will be.  I can't even take care of myself let alone 4 kids.  It's hard to sleep with the kids in the house but I'm going to have to try harder to do that.  I'm like an old lady that doses off when I'm not busy talking or doing something but I need to try harder to get real sleep since I know it will help with recovery.