An update of sorts

I can't post pictures because I have exceeded my limit (sad day!), so this one will be without my sweet girl's face. She has gotten so big and it is amazing to see how much she has changed. Being with her everyday I don't think I always appreciate all the changes, but we were looking back at old pictures and videos and the difference is night and day.

Overall our family is doing fairly well. We bought a house in June and absolutely love our neighbors. It finally feels like we have connections here which is always a hard thing for me when we move. We are in the process of joining our church (it is more involved than what I'm used to, but that's not necessarily a bad thing) and I'm hoping we can be more involved. Brian still loves his job and enjoys having a research group and teaching. I am still working from home for the same company, though I'm working more full time hours lately. Knoxville is a great little city and we are happy to call it home.

Health-wise we've struggled. Brian's mom had brain surgery in March, his grandmother had a stroke this summer and his grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. My mom was diagnosed with ALS in May and has been through more than her fair share. It was a very rough summer. We seemed to have a few decent months with no new issues and then I started having breathing/energy issues in September. I chalked it up to needing to lose weight (which I was trying to do but that's hard when you get winded really easily), but by the end of September I couldn't walk up the stairs without having to sit down because I was so winded. I started having episodes where I felt like I was going to pass out trying to cross a room and I had enough. Brian took me to the ER and luckily I got a doctor who listened to me since things occurred in sporatic episodes. He did a CT looking for a blood clot and admitted me overnight for observation. That night I went into first degree heart block and by the morning I was in complete heart block and they decided to put me in the ICU with a temporary pacemaker. I stayed on the pacemaker until Monday morning (two days) until they decided that my heart was not going to start doing things on it's own and I had surgery for a permanent one. I was discharged that week but spent the next month having all kinds of tests (blood work, CT guided lung biopsy, surgery to remove a lymph node, and a cardiac PET scan). In the end they decided I had cardiac sarcoidosis and I started a the medication to treat it and hopefully get it in remission. I may go back and do a detailed post for our memories, but that is the gist of things.

Next Tuesday (12th), I have another CT scan to decide if I am in remission and if I can stop taking the medications I am on. It has been six months and while I'm grateful for what the meds have (hopefully) done, the side effects are very strong and I'm ready to be done with them. I also love my pulmonologist, but I'd like to see him less often ;). We would like to move forward with some other areas in our life and they depend on a good result (I may explain more later if we are able to pursue it). Please pray with us that I get good results and can stop taking the medications!