Everything but the kitchen sink

This post really doesn't have anything to do with a kitchen sink.  I just saw this camping version of a kitchen sink today and found it funny for some reason!

Anyway, I've recently been reminded how much I enjoyed blogging and having my deep thoughts, fun times, and memorable moments adequately documented.  So, here's a quick recap of where I've been...

I have officially completed my Master's of Educational Administration Degree from Lamar University.  This isn't something I ever saw myself doing but I'm really glad that I took the opportunity to do it!  With my new degree came a new job.  I am now an Assistant Principal at a middle school in West Fort Worth and so far, I'm really enjoying all of the new experiences and responsibilities.

I just spent the weekend in my favorite place in the world with some of my favorite people.  There is just something about Broken Bow, Oklahoma that makes my soul feel at rest.  I loved introducing some friends to the greatness of Broken Bow.  Like nature, these friends constantly point me to Jesus, so putting the two together made for a great weekend!

Just keep moving

I knew training for a Triathlon would be difficult, but I was not anticipating the ups and downs of the process.  One day you're breaking personal records and have no doubts that you'll be able to actually finish the triathlon.  Then, the next day you fall off your bike and can't run 100 yards without excruciating pain.  And, you certainly have all the doubts that you won't be able to finish the triathlon.

I guess if you think about it, it's a lot like life.  Some days you are having a great day and everything is going well, then all of a sudden you have a terrible day and nothing goes right.  Either way, you just keep going and trust that God's going to pull you through to the next good day.

I'm four weeks into my official training and four weeks away from the big race.  I'm feeling pretty good about the swim portion of the race and the running part of the race.  But, riding a bike for 10 miles has turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated.  Who knew?

I'm still excited about the race but there's definitely still some doubts hanging around.  Hopefully over the next four weeks I'll have more good workouts than "fall of your bike workouts" and be able to have a great race day.  Just gotta keep moving!

a disciplined life

Well, it's been quite a while since my last blog post and I thought I'd dust off the ol' blog and get back in action.

Like most people, I'm thankful for a New Year and excited about all the resolutions that are going to mark my 2015.  Rather than make a long list of resolutions that we all know I won't keep, I decided to focus my efforts on just one thing.  In 2015, I want to live a disciplined life.  Nothing like a broad resolution to keep the accountability level low!  But, here's how I would define a disciplined life for me...

Spiritually.  I want to have a disciplined spiritual life where I spend time with God and really grow in my relationship with him.  I want to memorize scripture so that when my mind is bored it will go to the words of the Bible.  My home group at church is taking on this task together as we work to memorize James 1.  So far, I've got through verse 6!

Physically.  Several years ago I decided I would become a runner and somehow it actually happened.  I can't even remember why I stopped running, but several times a year I try to begin again only to give up on the process.  So, this year, in the spirit of "go big or go home," I'm going to be a triathlete.  I have mentally committed to participating in the 2015 TriWaco Sprint Triathlon on July 26th.  A triathlon.  In July.  In Texas.  Can we please take a collective moment of silence for my sanity?  I haven't put any money down on it yet, but that is the goal.  I will swim 400 meters in the Brazos River, then bike 12 miles, then run a 5k!

Financially.  I'm working hard to be wise and disciplined with my money.  I have saved more money in the last month than I probably ever have in my life.  I'm trying to reduce the amount of "stuff" I have and instead live on only what I need.

Scholastically.  I am officially 6 months away from completing my Master's Degree in Educational Administration.  The work is manageable but there are a lot of pieces that all come together in August and at times I get overwhelmed.  I also an expert procrastinator, so I need to be disciplined to work hard and get tasks accomplished.

I plan to use my blog to document my progress in all phases of my disciplined life.  Here's to an exciting 2015!!

Heart wide open...and my eyes too!

I'm not sure where I've been for the last 8 months, but apparently, I haven't really felt like writing about it! Not much has changed with the health issues, but I'm still alive and kickin'. In fact, I'm still so alive that my mind keeps running 100mph even when I wish it would go to sleep.

Last night, I was so tired of tossing and turning that I decided to open up my iPad and do a little reading. On my way to the Kindle App I managed to take a quick peek at Facebook. A friend of mine from high school had posted something intriguing so I followed her Facebook to her Instagram and finally to her blog. After reading just a few minutes I was almost overwhelmed by her story and more profoundly by her purposeful pursuit of joy. She had over a thousand acknowledgements of daily "gifts" from God in her life. She was living with her heart wide open to what God was doing in her, around her, and through her.

I knew that this hashtag, #1000gifts, was in reference to the book, One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to LIVE FULLY Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp, because it was a book I had partialy read a couple years ago. But, it wasn't until I read my friend's story that I really "got it." I spent the next hour, at least, reading lots of random people's gifts and I felt the tug to start my own journey towards recognizing all the ways God is blessing me in my everyday life.

So, I'm choosing to live with my heart wide open to the goodness that God is giving me and to purposely pursue JOY! Let the gifts begin...

1. encouraged by an old friend's story and inspired by their joy, all via social media...thanks Katie @cardiganway #1000gifts #joydare

2. working for a school that embraces/encourages outside the box thinking & teaching #1000gifts 

3. loving the people I work with and their sweet families #1000gifts

4. being a part of an authentic, Jesus-loving home group at the village church #1000gifts

5. wireless printers - AMAZING! #1000gifts

It's gonna take awhile to get to a 1000, but it's gonna be an amazing journey!

Argh...

Well, I went to the doctor on January 8th to discuss my options. We made a plan to do another Venogram and remove the IVC Filter immediately if the blood clot was gone, which the doctor was convinced it would be.

I went to the hospital last Thursday (the 17th) afternoon ready to be finally finished with all of this business. The thought of the clot still being there and not being able to remove the filter absolutely never crossed my mind.

They rolled me into the operating room and got everything ready...cleaned and sterilized my neck area and my leg. I was laying there under all the surgical drapes for an awkward amount of time while we waited for some last minute blood work to come back. When it finally came back they got busy! I'm convinced they were so eager that they didn't give the Lidocaine enough time to take effect before they cut my leg open!!

Within just a few minutes they were taking the first pictures and then they were done. The clot was still there...this time bigger and more solid than it looked last time. It was also no longer attached to the filter. The filter is actually completely clear!! So apparently my blood clots are super clots that are not deterred by a titanium claw!!

Another interesting thing...my filter has tilted and is now sticking out of the vein!! Awesome!! Here's my attempt at a picture....

Just another exciting day in the life of me!! It looks like we'll be doing that experimental procedure after all sometime in the next few weeks! My friends and family say I keep downplaying the seriousness of this, but I'm choosing to take every moment as it comes and live every day to its fullest. I try not to take anything or myself too seriously. I know that God is in control and every tomorrow is a gift. In the end, my hope is in Him and if I meet Him sooner rather than later, that really is OK!! Blood clot or not, that's a good way to live!

So close, yet still so far away

Well, I believe when I left off we were just days away from having a brand new procedure performed that would rid me of both my blood clots and my filter.  It is kind of twisted I guess, but I was pumped! I was so ready to be done with all of this and try to get some sense of normalcy back in my life.

So, the doctor called on Monday of the week after Thanksgiving and said the surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning at 8.  I needed to be admitted to the hospital the day before and would probably have to stay in the hospital through Friday.  I was going to be missing three days of school but it was worth it to finally be done with all of this.  That Tuesday night I stayed at school way too late trying to get everything organized so I could have a sub for the next three days.  Having a sub in middle school is ten times easier than elementary school, but it's still work.

Late Tuesday afternoon the doctor called and told me he wanted me to go to Harris at 7am to have a venogram so he could get a good look at the clot before they did the surgery.  After that we would head over to Plaza and be admitted.  My Mom and I got up early and took care of the venogram and then headed over to the other hospital.  Through several strange and disconcerting moments we soon realized that things weren't going as planned.  And really, why would they??  Absolutely nothing has really gone as planned in this whole process.

Anyway, the doctor eventually let us know that I didn't need to be admitted a day early and I needed to come back the next morning at 6am.  I was home from that little adventure at about 8:45.  I totally could have gone to work!!  Argh!  About 4 o'clock that afternoon the doctor called and said that the venogram showed that the clot was less than half the size it was.  Apparently my body was dissolving it on it's own.  He also felt like we could wait about a month and check on the clot again.  Hopefully it would all be gone and then we could remove the filter and be done with all of this.  He didn't feel like the surgery would be in my best interest at this time.

While I was thankful to not have to have a potentially risky procedure, and even more thankful that the clot seemed to be taking care of itself, I was bummed.  Waiting another month meant three very important things.  One, I was going to have to keep giving myself Lovenox injections twice a day for 30 days (again, I hate them).  Two, my next venogram and possible filter removal wouldn't be until January...just in time for all of my deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums to start over.  These procedures that wouldn't have cost anything will now likely cost thousands of dollars.  Swell!  Thirdly, this whole ordeal is not over yet!  And that is where we stand today!

So close, yet still so far away!!

The end...we thought.

I had my IVC Filter placed on September 14th, and I had to wear the pink cast for one more week after that.  I don't think I've ever looked forward to anything like I did getting that cast off.  It was probably the most unpleasant experience of my life!

Anyway, I went from the cast to a walking boot for two weeks (which included a trip to Disney World - more on that later).  After two weeks of that, I was set free!  I was getting around pretty well but didn't quite trust myself.  I would find myself trying to walk without bending my ankle, so afraid that I would do something to it and damage it again.  In reality, my ankle is probably stronger now that than it's ever been...amazing what a little hardware will do.

Since I was back on my feet and moving around quite a bit, and enough time had passed that it was likely the blood clot in my leg had time to dissolve we went ahead and scheduled the IVC Filter removal.  I had planned to have it done while I was out of school for Thanksgiving Break.  I was strangely excited to have it removed because it would mark the end of a crazy 6 months and hopefully end the even crazier medical bills!

So, the morning of November 20th, I went in to have my filter removed.  I was a little more nervous this time because they were going to have to go in through my neck, through my heart and then down to grab hold of the filter and pull it back out.  C-razy!  Just didn't seem right.  I was relieved when they put a little something in my IV and I passed out.  I woke up thinking it was all over.  I was wrong.  I was still laying on the table in Interventional Radiology when I woke up.  The super nice nurse, who had been with me during the filter placement, had a pretty concerned look on her face.  They had also turned off the fun music I had fallen asleep to.  When I asked if they got it out, she told me they had to stop the procedure.

What now???  They showed me on the gigantic screen that the IVC filter had done it's job and "caught" several pieces of blood clot.  Unfortunately, there was a also a large piece of clot above the filter.  As in, I was at serious risk of pulmonary embolism again and I didn't even know it.  They admitted me to the hospital right away and it looked like I was going to be having hospital turkey for Thanksgiving.  By Tuesday night they had 3 different doctors on the case as well as my doctor in Dallas.  They decided since the clot posed the biggest threat at the moment I needed to go ahead and begin Lovenox injections again.  Yay!!  There was some talk about placing a second filter above the first one but nobody seemed too confident that was the best option.  Since it was the Holiday it didn't look like anything was going to happen that week so the doctors released me to go home on Wednesday, as long as I did the injections and promised to follow up with the surgeon.  I was so, so, so thankful to get to spend Thanksgiving at home with my family.  We had a great day, including an epic Nerf gun fight...Mom, I still don't know how that dart ended up in the mashed potatoes! ;)

We got an appointment with the surgeon this past Tuesday morning and he felt like our best option was a brand new procedure that had been developed at Harvard and only done one time in Fort Worth. He went on to say that this was originally designed to be done on clots in the lung, but he did it on a heart, and feels pretty confident it will work for me.  So, he's going to perform a procedure on me that's really never been done before.  Awesome!  I can't wait!

He called me yesterday morning (Saturday) to let me know that the surgery would be performed at Plaza Hospital instead of Harris because there would be too much red tape there, being a brand-new procedure and all.  Awesome!  He's supposed to call tomorrow to finalize the details!

So, hopefully, sometime this week it really will be the end of this crazy story!