The Last Year

Good morning.

It was the best of times; It was the worst of times.  Here's as quick a recapitulation as I could do:

In April, my supervisor had some personal and very domestic issues, the occurrence of which prompted her resignation on May 15th, 2015.  From that date to August 17th I had the responsibility of two full-time jobs and the pay of the lesser.  I had interviewed for the position and missed out on the promotion by only a tiny margin.  However, through the demonstration of miraculous favor, the original candidate backed out, and I had officially been promoted!  It took another 2.5 months to hire my replacement, who started to work on October 16th.  My work life took the best turn I could ever have dreamed possible.  This was the best of times!

In June, Riley started having seizures.  They were short and of the 'absent' sort; thankfully not grand or prolonged.  The official diagnosis was Complex Partial Seizure disorder.  Along with the seizures came a significant deterioration of behavior. All his caregivers were at their wit's end.  We finally saw the neurologist on September 30th.  Medication has helped, and he has not had a true 'episode' since beginning treatment.  

In August, Riley began 4th grade. Within the first week he had been suspended, paddled (without permission due to a misunderstanding), and removed from the school bus indefinitely.  We were a wreck.  His behavior therapist was recommending he be placed in a long-term behavior treatment facility.  Depression was creeping all around my existence. We made it through the first half of the school year but by the Grace of God. We were on a long waiting list for admission into the behavior facility-5 hours away from home.  Finally, we received a call from our first choice, which was a program at UAMS called PRI (Psych Research Institute) CDU (Child Diagnostic Unit)  This is the single best thing that could have happened.  Riley spent 28 days as an inpatient in this facility with minute-to-minute supervision, gobs of evaluations of all kinds, and answers galore to all our questions.  We know our son better now.  We discontinued medications that weren't working.  We added medicines that are.  Riley is a complicated little fella, but at least we know better how to help him.  Riley started 5th grade three weeks ago.  We've had NO disciplinary issues.  We've had NO suspensions.  We've got a little boy who has a pretty good day at school and then comes home and actually DOES HIS HOMEWORK, and READS to his MAMA AND DADDY!  The first book brought tears of utter joy.

In December, I was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Mountain Home, Again, for upper right abdominal pain.  They say it is 'functional pain' that I will have to simply live with forever.  I am not really satisfied with this prognosis, but since we always seem to have bigger fish to fry, I let it go.

In January, Michael went with his mother on his first real vacation as an adult.  They had a great opportunity to take a Jamaican cruise, and they took it!  He had the time of his life, and I expect, the food of his life, too!

In March, while Riley was safe and sound at UAMS, I took the advice of EVERYONE I know and took the very unique and amazing opportunity to fly to Mexico with my friend Fredericka and spend 8 days at a gorgeous 5 star resort.  I flew on airplanes.  I took a catamaran across the ocean to Cozumel where I bought jewelery and swam with the fishes.  The water was clear and amazing.  The fish were vibrant and gorgeous.  I ate world class meals, drank lovely beverages, played with pretty pink flamingos, spied giant iguanas from mere inches away.  Talked to some incredibly lazy gators sunning themselves in the mud, and many other fun and interesting things like a tequila foot massage with a delightfully STRONG margarita finisher!  While I was there and thoroughly enjoying myself, my husband had the terrible job of taking Hunter the Super Cat to his final vet visit and saying goodbye.  He was almost 20 years old.  He had an amazing life, and an incredible personality that I dearly miss.

April 1st, I had some minor scar revision surgery to try and eliminate more abdominal pain that I have been fighting for the nearly three years since my major surgery ordeal.  It definitely fixed the ugly scarring, but I am sorry to say that it did not help the pain deep down in my lower left pelvic area.  During this time I followed my husband's lead and QUIT SMOKING.  I opted instead to start vaping.  This is obviously not the same as quitting completely, but my house is fresh and clean, and my lungs are clear and happy, and I very nearly never vape.  I haven't touched a cigarette since early April and have had many opportunities to falter.  I could never before now say that I abstained from actual smoking for this long since I started smoking at 18.  I truly believe it'll stick this time!

May came along and brought me a....Brand....NEW....CAR!!!  Well, no. Not really.  I traded my 2006 Hyundai Sonata for a very pretty 2013 Kia Optima Loaded.  I love it, but for the payment and the less than stellar backroading capability.  Meba and Papa don't exactly live in a well-appointed subdivision, you see.  May 15th marked ONE YEAR in the best job EVER!

June brought a funny thing. I started having a very sharp pain in my left heel constantly.  This pain felt as if someone had heated an ice pick red hot and pressed it firmly into the bone in my heel.  I assumed it was Plantar Fascitis and treated it as such. I was also having some pretty constant and serious back pain. The pain got steadily worse. Finally, in 

August I went in with symptoms of what I thought was bladder infection.  The urinalysis was clear.  Then I had an MRI.  This sucker kinda punched me in the gut.  I have two bulging discs, one of which is degenerated and 'dried up' to about half its normal thickness with a tiny herniation of the central portion of the disc.  I have stenosis (narrowing) in the spinal canal and the nerve root canals on both sides (mostly left) causing weakness in my hip and left leg, numbness in the toes of my left foot, and that confounded burning heel pain, which is now trying to occur on the right side, too.  And that is the least of my worries, it appears.  The MRI also showed a 5cm mass in the lower left pelvic area.  A pelvic ultrasound was ordered.  This was not too conclusive and only served to scare me worse, as they were starting to fear that I had a small bowel obstruction.  A cat scan was ordered.  This was two weeks from the initial MRI.  It showed the mass had doubled in size to 10.3cm.  The pain is increasing daily.  I am waiting to see a surgeon.  I am not very good at waiting in pain.

Last Tuesday my mom called me up to tell me that her biopsy, which I knew of but promptly forgot about because I had complete faith that it would be benign, WASN'T.  My mom has breast cancer.  She had surgery to remove it last Friday.  She is doing okay, but I am sure she is worried.

I am TIRED. Myself and several of my friends and family members are hurting.  Prayers would be super.

As I bring this recap to a close it is 11:28 p.m. and way past my bedtime.  It's a shame I can't sleep.