Christmas Pictures in MS

Well Glenn and I ran over to the Krystal's to get on their Wi-fi...since my parents is too slow. I thought I'd put up a few pictures so you can see what we've been up to while in MS. We've been traveling alot, we got back from Glenn's parents yesterday and are going to my mamaw and papaw's again in Newton before we leave. This picture below is of my daddy with Emily going for a walk up the pasture. They snook off and walked all the way down to the big barn without telling us. It was cute watching them come up the pasture. We are going on an old timie horse wagon later this afternoon. A man in daddy's church has a covered wagon like in Little House on the Prairie and we've set it up to go take Emily to ride this afternoon. I'm sure she'll love it. Anyway, I hope you've all had a great Christmas and will enjoy these few pictures.

My daddy's Moma in the nursing home.

Emily with her babies that "Santa" brought her.

My moma and I with her daddy

My moma and I with her moma

My moma's side of the family on Christmas day.

My brother and his family, at my parents house.

Glenn's family at their house in Columbus, MS

It's Beginning to FEEL alot like Christmas

We woke up to 40 degree weather this morning...which was a shock after all the mid 70 degree weather we've been enjoying. I say enjoying because I do not like the freezing cold weather anymore. I guess it is good to be cold, so we can start to feel like it is Christmas time. We went to my daddy's church this morning and it was an experience. After the prayer before the sermon when daddy said "Amen", Emily thought she'd echo it and yelled "Amen" too. It was really cute, everyone else thought so because they all died laughing. But what wasn't cute was around 12:00 when Emily decided she was ready to go and she yelled out, "I gotta go potty". While we were in the bathroom she politely told me, "I ready to go now". Kids, you gotta love them and their honesty.

Emily and & sang "Away in the Manger" for a special music, except Emily didn't sing too many of the words. Moma and daddy always want me to sing when I'm there, so it helped having Emily with me. Maybe it won't be too long before she starts to sing in church. I know she's going to love being in front of people one day.

Well we're just waiting now for Glenn to get here hopefully Tuesday evening. We miss him alot! I hope you all had a great weekend and will stay warm and have a great few days before Christmas.

Fun in Philly

Well Emily and I came on to MS with my moma yesterday. It wasn't a fun trip. We didn't leave until 10:00 and got here at 7:00pm eastern time. Emily was ill and didn't sleep ALL day. She doesn't like to sleep in the car. I guess she likes to be stretched out to sleep or something. Usually she sleeps for maybe 30 minutes or an hour on the whole trip, but not this time...so it made for a VERY irritable trip for all 3 of us.

Anyway, we made it safe and have had fun so far. Today we ran "errands" with my daddy, and went to the park. It was 77 degrees this today and the wind was blowing pretty good so it felt great. At 2:00 Emily came and told me, "I ready to go to sleep", so she went and took a 2 and half hour nap. I guess all that yesterday wore her out. Tonight we went to my old home churches live nativity scene. Emily got to be a little angel while I stood as Mary and my daddy was Joseph. It was SO cute, I wish I could put the pictures up, but with their slow internet that's not possible. We enjoyed catching up with old friends fellowshiping with everyone.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and don't spend all weekend shopping. Happy Christmas.

Dr. appointment

I went to the electro cardiologist this morning, Dr. Oddis, and really liked him. As with any appointment he asked what's been going on...so I filled him in and told him they said I have mitral valve prolapse. He then said, "well that's good, but these symptoms you're having don't go along with prolapse." So, he came to the conclusion that he thinks I may have neurocardiogenic syncope, or "Autonomic Dysfunction", when the vessels in the heart don't constrict properly causing not enough blood to flow from the feet to the head when you stand up, or get up from laying down. He says this is fairly common, but I can't find too much online about it. He's going to do a tilt table test in January to make sure it's this and not something more serious with the electrodes of the heart. I've still been having my pulse race in the mornings when i get up. He said to keep taking the Paxil for a week and if it doesn't help he's switching me to another medicine to help my body hold sodium better. Until then he said to increase my salt and drink alot. It's funny because I've read over the information he gave me and it describes exactly what I've been experiencing.

Anyway, with all this, Emily and I are attempting to leave in the morning with my moma to go to MS a few days early before Glenn. Glenn's going to be working alot till Christmas so he told us to go on with her. I hope you all have a great rest of the week and Christmas.

Gingerbread House & Christmas Lights

On Saturday we went and bought a gingerbread house kit. I always have loved doing these since i was in the 4th grade. I usually bake the gingerbread pieces myself, but with all that has been going on lately I wasn't up to all that baking. They have the neatest kit at Wal-mart for $9.00 and it's already put together, all you do it decorate it. Emily had the most fun putting the candies on the house, and eating them too. She's just like her daddy with candy, she was loving the little gumdrops (yuck in my opinion). I hope to bake cookies with her soon, but am not sure if I'm up for the challenge quite yet. Later that night we all went riding around looking at Christmas lights. We had to drive 20 minutes to find many but it was worth it. Glenn also put a few up on our house. He didn't do many this year, but enough for Emily to enjoy.

We tried to make pictures after church yesterday but Emily was too busy playing and running around. This is the last dress I finished for her while I was in the hospital. Hope you all have a great week.

Home from the Hospital

Well I am home from the hospital as of yesterday at 1:30pm. The Dr. "discharged" me at 10:00 but it took the nurses forever to get it all ready for me to leave. I can't really say I'm doing better, because the medicine, Paxil, they have me on is having some BAD side-effects. I've put a call into my Dr. and am waiting to hear back from her. Last night before bed my arms got cold and numb all to my fingers, and I felt severely anxious. After i drank a gatorade and ate a snack though I got ok. The same thing happened this morning except worse. I almost passed out. Once I drank a gatorade and ate a banana I was better. What hasn't stopped is my vision is blurred really bad and I feel sort of "out in space".

Please pray that the Dr. will know what to do. I think she increase my doseage of the medicine and I pray that she can reduce it. Pray that i will have a calm spirit and these "attacks/episodes" will STOP. I'm still Orthostatic pretty bad (meaning my blood pressure drops tremendously and pulse races when i stand up) so pray that will stop too.

Thanks for all your prayers. I hope you all have a great rest of the week. Some places may be seeing a white day tomorrow (not for us I'm sure, we never get snow).

Emily at the birthday party for Jesus last week. I may have already put this up but just wanted to make you smile.

Day 4 at the hospital

Well it's Tuesday evening and I'm still in room 567 but doing much better. The test came back that I do not have an adrenal gland insufficency, and the heart ECKO came back that i do have Mitral Valve Prolapse. Meaning the valves into my heart are weak and don't close properly. Dehydration can make it alot worse, and well I have been dehyrated a lot lately so that explains the heart palpitations and chest pains etc. They have me on Paxil to "slow" me down and so far it's helping, but I do not like to think I will always have to take it. Since coming to the hospital I started having panic attacks. That is why they gave that medicine, but it was mainly caused b/c I didn't know what was wrong and having all these monitors etc. on me. SO hopefully now that I know the panicking will slow up.

I will go to an electric cardiologist next Wednesday for him to evaluate why my heart has been racing when i stand sometimes. There's been some confusion about this so pray they get it all worked out. Thanks for all your prayers. I'll keep you posted on everything and let you know when i go home.

Day 2 at the hospital

Well day 2 (1/2 really) hasn't been a piece of cake. I've felt really bad today. Last night or 3 a.m. I had a bad attack, blood pressure dropped but came back up and my pulse was fast. So I went into a panic attack. They got me some phenagryn and Adavan to help calm me down but the Adavan (spelling?) just made it worse. I was still shaking and uneasy until 7:00. They came in and did an ECKO sonogram of the heart and that lady told me to drink a coke to help counteract the Adavan. Believe it or not, I did and i stopped shaking!!!! I've been sleepy most all day and am still sorta panicky but mostly when i lay down. I haven't been able to eat much, but am doing the best I can. Mainly drinking fluids and eating bananas and applesauce.

I did hear back from the Adrenal gland test and it came back normal. It showed that my body is producing cortisol so NOW all this is pointing to my heart. No exactly what I wanted, but I'm somewhat relieved that it's not the Addison's. I wasn't excited about being on steriods for the rest of my life. The cardiologist came in this afternoon before they read the ECko (?) but when he listened to my heart he asked if I've ever been told I have mitral valve prolapse. I will hear from that in the morning and also may have to have another stress test run, to see if the electric system of the heart is working properly. I had a mild attack or episode earlier, but my stats were normal. It happens alot when I'm hungry, BUT all my blood work has been normals as far as glucose etc.
Please pray i sleep tonight...without anymore panic attacks. I hope you all will have a great week. Thanks for your prayers.

Back at the ER

I'm back at the ER again today...hoping they'll admit me for observation. I had some spells today at home, almost passing out, blood pressure dropping etc. I ate some salt, off crackers, the salt shaker and some beef jerky and I "came to" a little. With that we decided it was best to come on back down and see what they can do until we hear from the test next week.

The ER Dr. doesn't think it's adrenal gland (but he doesn't know much about it he said too). They are checking stuff with the heart to rule that out. I'll post more when I know...just pray something gets done soon.

Thanks!!!

The Test this morning

Well I had my ACTH Stim test this morning to test for Addison's disease or other adrenal gland insufficencies. I had NO idea that what would happen would happen. The test is "suppose" to go like this...they draw 2 viles of blood (to get a 'base' of what my body's Cortisol level is), then they give a shot of the stimulus Tetracosactide, after that they wait 30 minutes then come draw more blood to see what my body is "doing" with it, then they come back in another 30 to draw more blood to see what my body's Cortisol level is. WELL...after they gave me the shot of Tetracosactide, 3 minutes later I almost "coded"...no my blood pressure dropped to 60/32 and I went into shock...I was soaking wet when i "came to". They rushed and got an IV in and fluids and I was coming to several minutes later. They then sent me to the ER where I got Hmm...what OH more fluids because I was dehydrated. I still got my blood drawn for the test 30 min. and an hour later, and I'll hear next week about that.

I still don't know what's up, but will hopefully find out next week. Just pray this test will show something!!! Addison's is a life-threatening condition as well as extremely low blood pressure, so I just want to find out what's up!!!! I am just SO thankful and grateful for God watching over me today. Thanks to you all who prayed for me...and are praying for me. Whew!!! God is good, and obviously doesn't want me to come home to Him in heaven just right now. :)

Christmas Family Photos

As usual we made our "family Christmas picture" for our card while we were in MS. It was on a wet COLD Sunday we did it so I'm surprised any of the pictures caught us smiling :) We took them up at the Philadelphia library (where I'm from) and had fun. We also got our tree up once we got back home and pulled everything out on Monday. It turned out really pretty if you ask me. I didn't even make a fuss about anything. I usually like things decorated just "so" but Emily and Glenn helped and we had a fun evening. I can't believe it's already Christmas...it just seems like we celebrated the 4th of July :) I know the COLD COLD weather should tell me it's almost here, but nonetheless I still can't believe another year is about to come to a close.

Well i won't write too much today, just put up some pictures. I have however been busy making dresses. If anyone who has a little girl or knows someone with a girl and would like a dress for Christmas please let me know soon. Ribbon dresses are $20, and jumpers are $25. It's been so much fun doing this, and I hope to continue on (more organized) in the 'new year'.

Hope you have a great Wednesday, and stay warm.

Pictures from Thanksgiving Week

We went to see my Mamaw and Papaw on Monday. Emily had SO much fun

Some of the men at the molasses cooking that were playing for us. It was SO much fun. Emily's favorite song is still "Boil Them Cabbage Down"

Doug Johnson's mill where daddy cooked his cane this year. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold.

Glenn and Harry pulling the shuck from the mill as is was being ground

My daddy pouring up the molasses into jars...it's VERY hot. I poured my own jar up...too fun.

Thanksgiving at Glenn's parents. This is all the grandkids on his side. They all ate at the "kids" table.

Kendall, Megan, Emily & Angela

Emily Deaton, Me, and Emily Rebekah

My moma, my mamaw, Me, Emily and my aunt Gail. They came up to my parents on Friday to see us since we weren't there on Thanksgiving day.

Us at our bonfire on Saturday night. We had SO much fun. We're a crazy bunch when we all get together.

Brandy, Rhonda, Jason(mybrother), and my daddy all amazed at the fire. Isn't this a cool picture.

My family before we left on Sunday.

My brother, his wife Rhonda, and her daughter Brandy.

Emily with all my cabbage patch babies I use to have when I was little. Thelma Ann is on the right end...it's the one she got in the GA mountains.

Fun Thanksgiving in MS

We're still in MS, but I thought I'd try to blog from my moma's computer. They have dial-up so it's extremely SLOW. We got here in Saturday and have been enjoying our time with family as usual. It rained on Monday and is raining today, but we've still had a blast. We have done SO much while here, not much resting, but at least I've got alot of "babysitters" to help with Emily so for that I'm grateful. Sunday we enjoyed going to daddy's church for morning worship. Glenn and I played our dulcimers for a special music. It was neat. That night we went to my old home church's Thanksgiving supper and that was fun too, seeing all the "old" people. Emily had fun playing with Katie Ruth and other kids (of my friends).



Monday, it rained and we traveled down to Newton, MS to my Mamaw and Papaw's. He is home from the hospital, but not doing good. He told me Monday that he's tired of it and is ready to quit trying. Please pray for all of our family during this time. This will probably be the last Thanksgiving with him here. I pray he'll make it till Christmas so we can be with him then.



Tuesday, we stayed around Philadelphia and Glenn helped my daddy get things ready for the molasses making on Wednesday. They had to change the date of it because it was scheduled to rain today (which it is) so I'm glad we moved the date. SO we had the BEST time on Wednesday out at the mill. They ground daddy's sugar cane, and cooked it. They finished cooking around 3:30 or 4:00. We also had a bluegrass band that played...it was SO FUN. Hey, I'm a country girl, don't laugh.



After that finished we left for Glenn's parents in Columbus, MS and had Thanksgiving with them. We came back down here to Philly last night and are enjoying time with my brother and his family. I hope you've all had a great Thanksgiving. We'll be coming back to GA on Sunday so I'll be able to post pictures then.

Results from the Dr.

Well I had my appointment today with the new internist (Dr. Munna) and I am very impressed with her. She was super nice, and took time to talk to me and didn't rush to hurry it up. (Thanks Amy for the recommendation). She said that it definitely sounds like fybromialgia (spelling??), because of the pressure points and where I'm hurting. With my dizziness she said it sounds like my blood pressure is dropping when I move, stand up, and sit down. She then had the nurse come do my blood pressure lying down and then standing up. When she came back in the room she was like, "Um yeah that's it". Orthostatic Hypotension is what it's called, and I'm going to have another test run to see if it's something more serious. They'll do a "Stim" test and insert something into my body to see if it's producing enough cortisol. She said it could just be a simple thing like this and would go on medicines to help my body make more of that. She also mentioned Addison's disease, which the body also doesn't produce enough of this cortisol...I don't know much about any of it yet so we'll see what happens.

She's giving me medicine for the fybromialgia, and I'm going to try it and see if it helps. She did say that I could be hurting all over too just because I'm always forcing myself to stay balance due to the dizziness etc. We'll see. Thanks for your prayers, maybe now people won't think I'm "crazy". Hope you all have a great weekend/Thanksgiving next week. We'll be leaving for MS on Saturday and as you know I don't get to blog much while there because my parents have dial-up. Thanks again!!!


****Update Friday morning...I took the medicine last night for the Fybro and don't like it at all. I'm even more dizzy this morning and my hands have been falling asleep. I'm going to wait until all the tests are over before trying to treat this I think. We're about to leave for MS tomorrow and don't want these side effects while we're away. I'll post more soon.

Prayer Request

My Papaw was admitting in the hospital in Jackson, MS yesterday. They really don't know what's wrong but that he has an infection, possibly a UTI, and some problems with his intestines. My moma said they did a chest X-ray this morning but haven't heard from it yet. The social worker is trying to see about moving him to a swing bed or nursing home. My mom and Mamaw have been his sole caregivers for a while now, and this is something that is much needed in my opinion. Please pray they make the right decision. Pray that my poor mom gets some rest. We leave for MS on Saturday unless something changes. Emily is ready to go see her Mamaw and Papaw for sure. I'm also ready for a break!!

I go to a new internist tomorrow, Dr. Rana Munna (Amy I think this is the one you see). Please pray she will come to a conclusion about what's up with my body. I'm still hurting all over and dizzy. I'm exhausted and don't sleep good at nights. There's alot more, but that's the most of it.

A praise, I asked for you to pray for my friend's mom, Debbie, and they got the results back from the bone marrow biopsy and she is in remission...no cancer cells are in the bone marrow and blood. She's still got a long road to recovery but PRAISE the LORD for this. Keep praying for her health and that she will regain strength fast. Thanks for your prayer and I hope you all have a great rest of the week.

Fun in the Cold

It was the coldest day to me so far (well not really with the sun out), but it was still cold. We managed to get outside and get some sunshine this morning before lunch. Emily was so cute in her little hat and coat. We took a walk up the street and crunched in the leaves along the curbs. She did pretty good today and didn't get but 1 spanking. If you've read previous posts you'd know she's in that "Wonderful" stage of 2 right now. She's learning that if I tell her she's going to get a spanking and go to time-out if she doesn't stop doing something, or if she tells me "no" when I ask her to do something. At least she's learning she has a choice, to obey, or disobey. Parenting is definitely NOT for sissy's. God is definitely leading Glenn and I both and we continue to pray and ask for prayers for our help. (don't know why I got off on that tangent?)

A quick update on a prayer request I'd mentioned last week. My friend Jared's mom, Debbie, who has been on chemo for leukemia had a bone marrow biopsy this morning to see if there is any more cancer cells. She will find out in 2 days if she's in remission or not. PLEASE be in prayer for them as they wait. Pray for her body to be completely healed of this horrible cancer. Pray for rest and peace for all of them during this wait. She's been really tired and fighting some kind of infection over the weekend, so pray she feels good physically as her body recovers from the chemo.

I hope you have great week. Stay warm.

Wet Day

Well it's rained here the past 2 days. We had a bad storm last night and the tornado sirens went off. Thank goodness the tornado was spotted down south of us in Byron. After the tornado in May when we hear those sirens we get a little alarmed. After a restless night we had to get up to take Emily to go get her flu shot. She didn't get a shot, but got the FluMist. I was glad for that, and hope she handles it well. So far she has. Our good friend Hannah came over to play today. I got one good picture of them.

Anyway, I've got to go change a diaper so I won't write much. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing

WOW, all I feel i do lately is sew dresses. I'm having SOOO much fun too. I'm actually going to sell 3 dresses. I've already made them (haven't delivered them and gotten paid), but I finished the last of 3 today. I think these little ribbon pillowcase dresses are the cutest thing ever. Obviously everyone else does too. I hope to make and sell some more before Christmas. I've got 2 "orders" coming I know for a newborn so that will be fun. Anyway, if your reading this and know of someone you'd like to get a little dress for, for Christmas just let me know. The cost varies on how much the fabric runs but around $20 is what I'm "charging". I'll put some pictures up of the ones I just recently did.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I pulled my back out this afternoon playing with Emily so I'm sitting on my "hot pad" right now. Hope it gets better by in the morning. Gotta love trying to run, kick a ball, and lift a 30 pound kid, all at the same time, when your not a kid anymore.

It's COLD here!!!

I don't know where you all are, but it is VERY cold here. Last night we made a run to Wal-mart and when we were coming inside around 7:15, I was freezing...then I looked at the themometer and it said 48 degrees! WOW it's freezing this morning and all the houses have frost on the roofs. I love to look at it, just not be outside in it. I use to LOVE cold weather until last year, I don't know what's happened to me. My body is like a 75 year old woman. Glenn tells me I'm going to have to go to the nursing home by next year at the rate I'm going. NO seriously, pray that I find a Dr. to help diagnose me. It's so complicated, but I'm tired of hurting all over and being dizzy, and exhausted all the time. I know GOD is in control and pray I find the right Dr. to help.

On a lighter note. I did make the dress like I saw at the Christmas show on Saturday, and let me say I can't believe but it turned out exactly like the ones they were selling for $35-$40. I'm impressed that I actually did it. I'm ready now to start selling myself. If you know anyone who needs a little girls dress or jumper just let me know. I'm going to have to start doing this for profit soon or else Glenn isn't going to let me sew anymore :) I hope you all have a great day.

It's Sunday

I finally got Emily to put on the turkey dress I made her today for church. It's a little shorter than I wanted, but I experimented with the hemming on it (didn't work) SO it's too short. She can still wear it and when she gets taller maybe next year she can squeeze in it to be a shirt.

Sunday school was CRAZY this morning. I didn't prepare like I should've and was out of it. The boys were rowdy (as usual), but I think they were listening. For the first time they actually could answer the review questions. They are all learning to read and it's neat to see how excited they get to read off a memory verse. Oh the excitment of being in the first grade and learning tor read...I still remember myself.

I hope you all have a great week. We had lots of fun yesterday at Christmas Made in the South. I saw a dress that I'm going to attempt to make for Emily. It's SO easy looking, 2 pieces of fabric with a gap left at the top to thread ribbon through and each side ties at the shoulder to piece the dress together. You'd have to see it, BUT it looks easy, and they were charging $35 for it, and I bought her some fabric for $3.97 so we'll see what I can do this week.

Some prayer requests:

Debbie Yates, (friend of mine from high school's mom), was diagnosed with leukemia last week and is on extreme chemo. Pray she continues to feel well and that it will kill all the cancer.

Little girl, Mattie Jo, (really good friend of mind from TX) who has cystic fybrosis and is again in the hospital. She's been in the hospital SO much lately and is back again with complications. Jacque is the mom and she has another little boy named Sammie Jo who is also having to stay up at the hospital with them. Pray for strength and healing for them all.

Beautiful Fall day

The weather here is absolutely gorgeous today. Emily and I went on a power walk this morning (of course she was in the stroller). Then we came back and got the camera and walked around the neighborhood making pictures and finding leaves, and looking a God's nature. If you haven't gotten out to enjoy fall you'd better do it soon. It's suppose to be raining soon, and the leaves are starting to fall off already. Despite what our world looks like and the trouble we may have in our country, God's beauty still still proclaimed all around us. We've got the most beautiful orange, red, and yellow trees in our neighborhood. We also packed our Operation Christmas Shoeboxes this morning. Emily doesn't quite understand the aspect of giving yet...but this is where she starts learning. I hope you all have a great weekend. We hope to make it to "Christmas Made in the South" tomorrow. I've never been and am looking forward to something different than our usual schedule on Saturdays.