Update from Monday

I've been meaning to write this for about two days. Unfortunately, I'm slow. So, here's the update from Monday's medical prayer requests:

MadHat76's grandfather came through his surgery safely. The doctors removed a mass and are testing it for malignancy. They also took x-rays to see if it had metastasized. Her grandmother's procedure went well. Please keep them all in your prayers.

Aunt Margie stayed overnight at UVA and is back home. No one seem to know what was up, but there's a possibility of a UTI and some further blood sugar issues. Either way, she's doing fantastic and is back home. Yay!

Whirlwind

Wow. It's finally 2010. I am so happy to be done with 2009 I almost cannot express it. I just read back over my last post from December 7, when Aunt Margie was struggling for her life. So much has happened since then! If you had seen Aunt Margie on Christmas Day, at her rehab center, laughing and joking and sneaking the deer bologna we brought her when her nurse left, you'd swear I'd jumped the gun by posting that. She is doing great. Is she healed completely? No. Do her lungs work? Nope. Never will again, but that's not new. But she's survived and she's ready to bust right out of that rehab center. After my post on December 7, Aunt Margie suffered a heart attack. She had a fever so high she was packed in ice. There was an obvious infection, and she was diagnosed with sepsis. Finally, the doctors uncovered four different areas of infection in her body and said that if she was able to be stabilized, then surgery would be necessary as one of those places was a heart valve, according to the Hill Grapevine. A few days later, she was responding well to antibiotics, was moved from CICU, and was discharged about a week later to a rehab facility here in town to receive eight more weeks of IV antibiotics. She has good days and bad days, but she's doing so much better than anyone anticipated. At one point, she told us that she remembers waking up and seeing her whole family standing around her bed, crying. She said that she realized at that point that something was bad-wrong, and that she must be in a bad way, and that she better get better right away. She's strong, I'll give her that.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, 2009 continued. And continued to suck. The week before Christmas, my great-uncle Billy passed away. He was Mama's maternal uncle and the only remaining sibling of my grandma. We lost his sisters last year, three weeks apart. Uncle Billy had cancer and was recently admitted to the same rehab center where Aunt Margie is hanging out. His death came as a blessing to him, but a blow to us. While it was expected, we're sad to lose the last of an entire generation.

The following week, Uncle Billy's brother in law, Mama's uncle Ray died. He was Aunt Ruby's widower, and had suffered from dementia for a few years. He took such good care of Aunt Ruby during her struggle with Alzheimer's, and we think the strain eventually took its toll on him. He was a sweet man, always smiling, and dearly loved. At his funeral on the last Sunday in 09, we all remembered how much he loved life and his family. He will be sorely missed, but his family knows he is better now.

This has been a horrid year. We've seen Cousin Mike, The Bum, and The Godson move too far away, lost an uncle, two great uncles, nearly lost another uncle and an aunt, saw Mama through major surgery, a minor but scary surgery for Brian's sister, dire financial straits for us (and many others in our close circle of friends), a hospitalization for Brian, and so many little personal tragedies that I never even posted about because it was too depressing. I am so glad it's over. Already 2010 has a brighter gleam to it, and is full of so much promise.

I was actually getting on here to post pictures of Christmas and of some of the craftiness that occurred around here in preparation for the holiday. I'll set those up to publish later tonight or tomorrow, because later tonight I'll be watching the recorded version of the WVU Bowl Game with Brian tonight. Please do not tell us what happens, we prefer to watch it!!

Instead, here's a quick Thank God...It's Friday because I just realized it's Friday. I love holidays....

Praises

• Aunt Margie's doing well!
• 2010 is here!
• One of my little guys from daycare has become a big brother Wednesday. I don't post their names, so suffice it to say that Big P welcomed Little P and everyone is doing well.
• Mama may have found out why her legs have been swelling, causing her a lot of pain. The culprit? Country ham. Hopefully now she can continue to heal and run around like a crazy woman (seriously, she ran the other day) once she gets rid of all that salt-induced fluid.

Requests

• Brian needs a new job. I am so not kidding.
• I think I've pulled a muscle in my back. I'm used to my back hurting in the morning, but it hasn't stopped today and it's in a different place than usual. It hurts a bunch, so I'm taking it easy today in hopes that it heals up fast!
• We're hoping to go to West Virginia in a few weeks. We pray that trip will go off without a hitch, as we've had plenty of hitches in the last few times we planned to go. We miss Brian's family, The Bum/Godson/Cousin Mike, and all Brian's friends that we only see a few times a year.
• We're hoping to start IUI this month. I'm nervous and there are a million details to iron out, but we're praying it all goes smoothly. And is successful!!

Our Master Plan

Due to popular demand, I'll share our Get A Baby Plan 3.0.  You know, 1.0 was just get pregnant like everyone else.  2.0 was do a little Clomid. 2.5 was see the fertility gurus for a lot of Clomid. So, without further ado, 

Get A Baby Plan 3.0!

We're stopping everything for six months.  I know, a crazy way to get pregnant, you might think. We know that it's either going to take IUI or adoption for us to have children, so we individually took a week or so to think through our options, do some research, talk to the doctor, etc.  Brian said he continually came back to the feeling that we need six months off and then we'll be successful at something.  Since he kept coming back to this same conclusion, we decided to listen.  If God points you in a certain direction, the best plan is to listen to Him.  So, six months off.  No Clomid, only loosely monitoring anything, and just enjoying our Summer and Fall.  If I get pregnant, it's God's Will and rock on with it.  This gives us a chance to heal emotionally, rest me physically, and maybe even drop some of this big ol' butt.  Hopefully.  Gaining 25 pounds on Clomid sucked, in case I haven't mentioned it.  

After six months, we'll try six rounds of IUI.  Ideally, of course, we'll try far fewer and be successful.  If after six trys I'm not pregnant, then we're going straight to adoption.  We know that we want to adopt at some point.  Whether that's for all our children or for children in addition to a biological child remains to be seen.  First we'll try the IUI so we can have exhausted our options and can move on with no question.  

Don't think we'll be spending six months lounging on the beach and drinking mai tais, though. Nope.  Remember my post about preparing for rain?  That's what we'll be doing.  We've been so intent on asking the Lord to give us a child, but not so intent on preparing for that child. Sure, I've done a lot of reading and planning about home birth, cloth diapering, homemade baby foods, chemical-free living, homeschooling, and raising children to serve the Lord, but that's not preparing for the flesh and blood little person that we're asking for, is it?  Our eventual nursery currently houses a twin bed, full-length mirror, spare Pack n Plays for the daycare, all our yard sale accumulations, our china, a drying rack for clothes, and the second litter box.  That's not counting the closet!  Not exactly a nursery.  So, over the next six months, we'll be rearranging a few things in other rooms to accommodate the furniture and "stuff", and I'll purge most of it out of our house.  We'll return the bed to Mama and Daddy, since it's theirs, and start planning for baby furniture.  We've been buying things here and there that we know we want our kids to have, so that stuff will go into the room.  We're not painting or hanging window treatments, but we're getting ready. You know, preparing for rain.  In addition, I'll be low-carbing it, since that is a good way for women with PCOS to drop weight which leads to higher pregnancy rates.  It's worked for me before, and as important as grains are for a healthy lifestyle, it's only a temporary thing for me to do.  Bring on the steak!

The most important things we'll be doing will be gathering information for adoption, and saving money.  We'll be choosing an agency, and maybe doing agency interviews.  We'll be getting our home ready for a home study, too.  Since we'll be saving $135 each month by not going to the gurus, we'll put that aside to save.  And start cutting back dramatically in every area so as to start making a dent in the expense of IUI and/or adoption.  This six months is for preparing and planning, and that includes financial preparations.  So we won't be going many places, doing many things, or eating out much at all.  We're going frugal, ya'll.  After six months we should be able to afford six months of IUI and be better prepared financially for adoption.  

So, that's it.  I know, it's pretty simple and logical.  We have a great peace with the plan and believe that we're following God's will.  At this rate, we're looking at Baby 2010! Thoughts and prayers, and even advice are greatly appreciated. Have a great day!

Thoughts on links:  if you're here because you're dealing with infertility, some of those links might be helpful to you.  I link to things to better explain myself, not because it's the end all and be all of the information I've found.  Like the china link....it's our pattern, but not our registry. If you see a link about something you're interested in, follow it and be informed.  If you need an explanation or a link and I didn't make one, please feel free to comment or e-mail me for further information.  A handful of folks comment on my blog, and I appreciate each one.  But I see a lot of other people are here via Google Analytics, and I see the keywords that lead you here.  So know that I love you, Dear Lurker! Those links are for you!  Later, taters.

It's Thursday Already?

As promised, I did manage to feel better today.  A lot better, actually.  Isn't it funny how you don't realize how bad you feel until you start to feel better? 

It was a good thing I felt better, too, because the guys installing our new cable were here at 9:30. This was after I overslept and ran down to work in my pajamas with no shower.  They left around.....4 PM.  Seriously.  It took forever to get both the cable and the internet to work  at all, much less correctly.  Luckily, I felt better, remember?

I did manage to get dinner fixed tonight, had a brief shopping trip with the hubby when he got home, and am now enjoying Thursday night TV with same hubby. Maybe tomorrow I'll tackle all the laundry and cleaning that I haven't done all week.  But hey, I feel better!

I Had a Monday

Yesterday, quite against my will, I Had A Monday.  You know what I mean -- when things go wrong left and right, everything you touch ends up on the floor, you manage to be sick out of the blue, and a kid hoarfs in your living room.  You've never had a Monday?  Lucky you.  I did, just yesterday.  Here it is, in bullet form:  

Things That Just Made My Monday

• I woke up sick as a dog.  
  
• I contemplated calling the daycare parents to say stay at home, but it was 7:40 which is entirely too late to re-route anyone.
  
• My stomach spent the entire day rebelling, but I managed to keep it in its place for the most part.
  
• Child #1 arrived "with a cold".  
  
• Child #1 took two bites of breakfast and heaved all over herself and the high chair in which she sat.
  
• Child #1 spiked a fever and went on home.
  
• Our water bill came.  It tripled in the month of March.
  
• We got the bill for Brian's MRI.  We may need to sell his kidneys now, if you're interested in purchasing one.
  
• The next occurance proved beyond a shadow of doubt that I am indeed not pregnant.
  
• I worked 13 hours in this condition, and then crashed hard.
  

Longest Monday ever.  If you know me in real life, you know just how well I deal with vomit, and with bills, for that matter.  Luckily, Brian took care of dinner and I spent the rest of the day (all two hours of it) on the couch.  Today has been moderately better (less of other people's bodily fluids on me, for sure) and I'm really hopeful for tomorrow.  Maybe by Thursday, I won't feel like death.  Yay for Tuesday!

What's Goin' On, What's Goin' On

10 Baileys Points if you can identify the inspiration for the title for this post.

I know I said I'd try to update with what all has been going on around here lately, and then kept you all waiting. It's been a long couple of days, so bear with me. Nothing much terribly important has been going on in the grand scheme of things. Unless you are me, in which case it's been a seriously stressful two weeks. Here's the background....

I use the Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor to keep track of my cycle and find the two most fertile days to get pregnant. I highly recommend this little gadget to anyone trying to get pregnant, infertile or not. In fact, when the YaYa Princess decides to have herself a little tax deduction, I'll be happy to loan her my monitor, provided it's not in use at the time. And at something like $200, begging/borrowing/stealing is highly recommended. I bought mine secondhand and will gladly pass it along when we're done with our family. You know, in like 10 years when it's probably obsolete. But I digress. Every morning at 7:30 I push the button on this handy little computer. It records the time and cycle day, and if necessary prompts me to pee on a stick (POAS, if you're part of the infertile community). Then I put the stick in the monitor, it does some manner of magical divination (or scientific reading, whatever) and tells me my Fertility Status. Low days are like any other day, high fertility days may be a good day for ...um...yeah. And The Peak Day is the most awaited day in all of Infertilityland. That day and the next day are the best days to get all knocked up, or inseminated if you're going the full medical route. A fortuitous day, no doubt. The science of this works like so:

Your body uses hormones to control your cycle and fertility. You know that, I'm sure. I start out the month (we call it a "cycle", you know...) with Clomid on cycle days 5-9. Somewhere around CD 11 I start P'ingOAS. The level of estrogen in your body (and consequently in your bloodstream) begins to increase as you near ovulation. A follicle or two begins to form on your ovary, which contains the egg. At this point, viola: "High Fertility" is indicated on the monitor. This is a good day for extracurricular activities, but not mandated. Ha! Man-dated. ;) 24-36 hours before you actually ovulate, your body releases lutenizing hormone, called LH. This is the handy little chemical that makes your follicle rupture, releasing the egg. The follicle goes on to do other cool things, but they are not part of this story. So, this LH surge is picked up by the fertility monitor in your urine (actually, my urine, thanks) and the monitor goes to Peak Fertility. This means: Get Busy. Ovulation will be in the next 24-36 hours, so the following day is good, too. Since an egg has a lifespan of 12-24 hours, you need to have the other ingredient there prior to the egg. Cart before the horse sort of situation. After your Peak Day, the monitor stops asking for test sticks and you go back to waiting. This is called the Two Week Wait (TWW) in the happy infertility community. Basically the length of time between ovulation and either your period or a pregnancy test.

Sounds easy enough, right? Except for this month, when my life went like this:

CD 5-9 Clomid

CD 11 commence peeing on technology

CD 18 high fertility reading -- right on track for me to ovulate at day 20 like usual. That day 14 thing is bull, by the way

CD 19-26 still high fertility. No peak, no change, just ...................................high.

At this point, I worried. Actually, I commenced worrying around CD 22, but that's neither here nor there. By CD 26, I called Jan The Very Cool Nurse at my fertility clinic. She was equally puzzled, and concerned, and scheduled me for an emergency appointment Tuesday morning. This meant Brian had to change his schedule really quickly and we had to pay for an ultrasound....again. This is a monthly occurrence, so not too big a deal. But worrisome when you don't have a little window in your abdomen to see what's goin' on. The likely scenario was that I had not ovulated, and was going to need a little further chemical encouragement to pop that follicle. Or that I had ovulated and the monitor had missed it somehow. You know, because $200 technology isn't foolproof. But if Jan was worried, that worried me. That's where I was when I posted the other day, letting you all know that I was off to the doc's.

The ultrasound showed at least one, and possibly two follicles on my ovaries. It was impossible to tell if they were ready to pop, or if they already had ruptured and were now corpus luteum-s. Corpi lutei? Only a blood test would tell, checking for that ever-useful hormone, progesterone. I've posted about that before, so I'll spare you the link. An elevated progesterone level would indicate that I had ovulated, and a low level would indicate that I needed help to do so. Help in the form of a "trigger shot" of hCG. Since I was unable to stay in Charlottesville to get the shot if my blood work came back low, I got to learn how to give myself a shot, and was sent home with syringes and hCG to shoot myself up later that night. I was told to call back in an hour for my results.

This is where it gets a bit anti-climactic. My progesterone level was an 11, which indicates that I ovulated. The doctor estimated that it was around CD 20, based on my progesterone level. My monitor missed it. Two weeks of wondering and worrying, 2 hours of driving across the mountain, $130 of doctor's bills and hCG costs, and a 20 minute lesson in how to stab myself effectively in the stomach because of a minor technological malfunction. Fun, and totally typical in the infertility journey that tons of people travel. The good news is that I ovulated, and that our timing may have been good, and I'll know in a week or so if I'm in the family way. Praying, you know.

Here's what just popped into my mind: no one knew about this but the people in this house. That day was stressful and a bit scary (read this link to understand why: Ovarian Hyperstimulation), and no one knew. Because infertility isn't something you talk about, or put on your church's prayer list, or mention to your grandmother or cousin, or sometimes even your best friend. I've been amazed lately to find out the people that we know that struggled or still do struggle with infertility. All by ourselves, usually. I once mentioned to the YaYa Princess that no one makes eye contact in the fertility clinic waiting room. It's kind of weird, actually. So I would encourage you to make yourself open to your friends and family so that if they need to talk they feel comfortable. It can be a cold, lonely journey, and I really wish that everyone had as many outlets as we do. We're blessed with family and friends who are open to hearing about our weird experiences, too much information, and blogs about cervices. Not everyone is this lucky, so please be understanding and gentle to them. Maybe there's someone at work who is grouchy, or seems tired or irritable. They may be dealing with infertility quietly, and need someone to care. You may be able to help someone who is going through such a situation as we faced this cycle. Uncertainty, failure, and anxiety are not fun -- be a help to someone you know!

Now, I'm off to bed. Having spent an entire day dealing with vertigo for some reason, I'm exhausted. Smooches to you all, thanks for listening, and goodnight. Oh, and a shout out to The Bum - we heard about Cooper's little journey away from home, and we'll be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers. I hope he's home soon!! Night, ya'll.

New a-Comin'

Hey, ya'll.  Big things are a-foot and I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow.  I am NOT pregnant, so come down off the ceiling.  I was hoping to post about it tonight to keep you all in the loop, but have run out of time.  So I'll put it up tomorrow sometime.  In the meantime, we'd appreciate prayers and thoughts tomorrow.  My appointment is at 10:30.  Thanks!

Follow Me!

Hey, ya'll.  Follow me.  Click that button over there on the right and follow my every waking thought or bullet-post.  

Also, start a-prayin'.  This is the big ole ovulation week, and this has to be our month.  We need a frugal kid to go ahead and get his life kicked into gear this month, thereby saving us a bundle of cash.  So have yourself a conversation with the Big Guy or whomever you feel is listening to you in particular.  My knees are about worn flat, so other folks doing the same will be much appreciated.  I'm hoping this is it!!  We have a strange peace about this month, and are totally prepared for the month.  I think this is the first month that we haven't had second thoughts, fears, or some reason why this isn't the Perfect Month.  Which is weird, when you think about how hard we've been trying.  But this month just feels right.  I'm sure lots of people feel that way on lots of failed cycles, but I'm just going to ride that wave while I have it.  Since Brian said the very same think unprovoked and unsolicited, I think that says something.  Here's hoping and praying!!

Great News

I just wanted to let everyone know that Brian received notification that his MRI was clear!  That means no brain tumors, no lesions from MS, etc.  It does not mean that we have any definitive answers as to his issues. The migraines continue, as does the dizziness and other things.  It's been a rough week for him, working through migraines and being unable to read or count again.  But, he's very glad to have a clear MRI - and so am I! We'll know more once he has his next appointment with Dr. Perdue, but this is good so far.  Thanks for your prayers and concern!

Or Maybe Not....

Okay, scratch that bit about the IUI being scheduled for this month.  We decided to put it off for at least one more cycle.  Not only is it horridly expensive, and out-of-pocket since our insurance bites (and will no longer pay one penny toward our IF treatments!), but Brian wants to see what his neurologist has to say before we do this.  Neurologist,you say? Yep...

Some of you may know that Brian has degenerative disk disease in his cervical spine.  It's pretty bad, to the point that his chiropractor will no longer touch him and the last neurologist to see him said that any good blow to the head or fall from any height at all would either paralyze or kill him.  Such fun things to have hang over your head, really.  This seems to be a family issue -- one of his sisters has some back issues, I believe, and his mother had major surgery (two years ago?) on her spine.  MAJOR surgery.  So, we're not surprised.  When you add in the fact that Brian played football until he was about 19 (offense and defense, woo hoo!), you have one seriously injured back.  Unfortunately, that degenerative disk disease leads to pinched nerves and muscle spasms, shoulder pain, migraines, and numbness in his hands and feet.  Or occasionally arms and legs.  His migraines are nearly constant, and are atypical in presentation.  So he may not have the blinding pain that I deal with when I get a migraine, but he has horrible dizziness (he's been treated for vertigo for years), nausea, numbness, inability to see clearly, and something extra-fun called "brain fog", which is exactly what it sounds like.  

A lot of his symptoms seem to stem from his vestibular function; if you turn off the lights, Brian will fall over.  He has absolutely no balance when the lights are off or his eyes are closed, and it's not just a clumsy issue (that's me). Finally, all the symptoms that he's experiencing have just gotten out of control.  Yesterday at work he was unable to read.  This is a literate man, folks.  Who was completely unable to make sense of any words on a page.  Or numbers.  Have I mentioned he manages a retail store?  A few numbers are involved.  Apparently at night, the numbers on our clock jump, too.  Tons of fun, I'm sure.  He perpetually just feels off, and it's gotten old.

So, about a month ago, he went to see our family doctor(s).  He was given a referral to one of the best neurologists around, and finally had his appointment at the beginning of March.  Dr. Perdue said that he thinks the migraines are the first thing to address.  He gave Brian a beta blocker.  Brian then proceded to not sleep for four days.  Instead, he'd sit bolt-upright in bed and talk nonsense, scaring the crap out of me.  Just as fun as it sounds, really.  So, after four days of no sleep, Brian went off that particular pill, thank God.  And immediately got a migraine.  He had an MRI this week, and we're waiting for the results of that.  Unfortunately, his next neuro appointment is in early April.  At this point, the questions are these:

• Is his degenerative disk disease to blame for everything, or totally unrelated?
  
• Are his migraines atypical and causing all this, or is there something else?
  
• Is this an injury-related/disk issue, or is it a congenital problem?
  
• Is this a one-time thing, or can he pass these issues on to our children?
  
• Will this get worse, and is there any treatment that won't make him feel even worse?
  

Of course, we're both terrified of things like brain tumors and such, and we've definitely thought about MS.  Dr. Perdue doubts both of these things, though, so we're looking at either he has a really bad neck and is headed for surgery, or he has some manner of disorder/syndrome that is getting progressively worse.  And, being such tech-savvy people, we've of course turned to Google for all our answers.  Brian's best defense in such trying times is to be totally informed. This led to being tested extensively for Meniere's Disease earlier in 2008, which was ruled out. Which is strange, since several doctors thought that this was the exact answer we were looking for; he has all the symptoms, but not the necessary inner ear structure to diagnose Meniere's.  And the doctor he saw is considered an expert in Meniere's, so we're pretty confident in that lack of diagnosis. 

Unfortunately, if you rule out Meniere's, what we're looking at may be Vestibular Ataxia. He has failed his Romberg's Test, most recently last night while demonstrating it for Cousin Mike and myself.....and again just now when I asked him to do it again.  When you couple his symptoms with the fact that his mom has a few inherited things that can be scary (Alpha-1 Anti-Trypsin Deficiency and heterochromia being our main concerns), we afraid that a "sydrome" of some sort may be to blame.  If you follow the heterochromia links out, you'll find that there are a host of sydromes that can be indicated by this simple sign.  A simple sign that Brian's mom, his sister, my father, and my grandfather have.  We're not playing with this.  At this point, degenerative disk disease caused by a healthy highschool football career will be most preferable.  

Now we have to decide what to do about having children.  If it's not genetic, woo hoo and we go on with IUI as soon as we can.  If Brian has something genetic, we will have to decide if we want to risk taking a chance to pass this on to our kids.  We most likely will not, since we feel it's just irresponsible to pass on things that you know full well will comprise a child's quality of life or will shorten it drastically.  Please do not flame me if you have, will have, or have had a child that inherited a genetic condition that you knew you had. It's our personal choice, and it's been prayerfully made. That said, we're continuing with Clomid and The Old-Fashioned Way for this cycle.  If God wants us to conceive this month, we will, and we'll deal with the consequences.  If Dr. Perdue feels that Brian's issues are genetically linked, we'll both seek genetic testing.  We'll go from there.  We're both completely open to adoption, even though we so deeply want biological children.   

We're not worrying about much of anything at this point, and just praying that this week's MRI shows nothing life-threatening.  Chronic, degenerative, or genetic things we can deal with.  A brain tumor or such would be devastating.  We'll deal with it, but of course would prefer not to.  So a lot of time is being spent on our knees these days.  Brian is still dealing with all his symptoms and never knows what a day is going to bring.  If you see him and he looks positively exhausted, distracted, or downright foggy, you'll know what's going on.  He's been in chronic pain for a long, long time and things are progressing from bad to worse at a pretty fast clip.  Please pray as you feel led for knowledge, strength, guidance, and God's will.  Oh, yeah -- and a clean MRI and football-induced neck injury!!! :)

Progesterone Level Update

Guess whose progesterone level was up to 16 by Thursday?  

Mine, that's who.  

That's good news, if you're following along. The doctor said he wanted to see a progesterone level of at least 10, preferably 15...  I'll go ya one better, Doc.  So, we're possibly all set for IUI this coming cycle.  Which should arrive any day now.....  Start praying --- or donate via PayPal, cause it ain't cheap.

Also, Brian just returned from his contrast MRI.  He's having some neurological issues possibly tied to the degenerative disk disease he has.  Lots of pain, numbness, migraines, etc.  So we're hoping to get this all straightened out as soon as possible.  Of course we're praying that the MRI is clear, but we're also needing some answers!

Meanwhile, I have a little migraine action of my own.  Ugh.  Happy Hump Day, people!

Not dead

Contrary to popular belief, I am not dead. I wanted to make sure that my beloved readers know that. After Little Bro and Sweet's wedding, all has fallen into disrepair around here -- namely me!! I'll be sure to post soon about grilling yummy dinners, fun times and honeymoon adventures (LB and SL's honeymoon, not mine), YaYa Princess' bachelorette party (with pictures!), and how much I truly hate being hopped up on hormones. But for now, I'm dying of the plague, and can't even think straight. I'm on the couch, hurting all over. Have pity on me....
*sniffle sneeze hack cough sniffle sneeze*