Mystery Solved

So after playing phone tag with my doctor for 2 days, she finally was able to tell me what was wrong. I have mono. That would explain my feeling like crap for so long and it would explain the lovely rash that I am still being asked about at school. Evidently if you treat mono with amoxicillin (antibiotic) you break out in a rash. This afternoon when I came home I was looking on the internet about mono. I found it said "antibiotics should NOT be given without a positive strep test." But then what can an after-hours doctor do when you have a fever and sore throat? So I asked her what I do? "Rest." I have heard that a lot from my husband and mother. What else? "Avoid contact sports." Not a problem. With mono your spleen swells and can have a chance of rupturing when you get tackled. So at least my major symptoms are pretty much gone, but I will likely feel fatigued for a while. Lovely. My poor kids need me to take a break. How many days until Spring Break?

With such an evident symptom like a rash (I don't mean to talk about it so much, but it was pretty traumatic) I have gotten all kinds of diagnoses. The most popular reason they say is that all this has been caused by my marriage. They go on to explain as I look at them like they are crazy that even though it has been a good change, any change can cause stress to the body and my rash is a stress rash. Hmmmm. I think that my marriage has been the best thing that has happened to me. If anything, it has eliminated stress in that I now have someone that is there all the time to be such a great help. Who knows how I got it or where it came from, but at least I know what is wrong. And thank goodness Raymond hasn't gotten anything.

So now I'm off to learn how to rest...

I'm Falling Apart!

Or at least that is how I feel. Currently I feel like my face is sunburned, but no, no, I have a lovely rash. It is ALL over my body, and thankfully in the winter I can wear pants and a turtleneck. However I can't hide my face, which leads to all kinds of questions and comments. “What’s wrong with your face?” was how I was greeted by one of my students. (We then had a small talk about tactfulness and being polite). I discovered this itchy nuisance when I was changing to get ready for bed. I started to panic because I’m so tired of something being wrong with me! I did make my Raymond laugh, because I didn’t know what to do and that was all I kept saying over and over.

So I had another trip to the doctor. She immediately insisted that my antibiotic caused my rash. I wasn’t convinced. Why would I have a reaction like this after being on an antibiotic for 7 days? So I explained to her all of my symptoms of me still having a sore (not as nasty) throat, a daily low-grade fever, and daily pains in my stomach. She then decided to look into my throat and see that there still is some infection and changed her tune to say that it could still be strep (because my previous test could have come back negative) or it could even be mono, yada, yada, yada. She ordered another swab, and more blood work. I’m becoming a pro at this doctor thing. I do feel better because hopefully we can rule out something.

To sum it up:
3 needles in my arms, 1 shot in my rear, 2 gagging swabs in my throat, 5 paper cuts, 2 substitutes for my class, 2 antibiotics, 4 co-pays, a million itchy red bumps, 1 ultra sound, 1 gall bladder scan and 1 incredible husband who actually puts up with me and this mess!

Canceled Dates

My poor husband has been so great to think of and plan dates for us the past two Fridays. But because I have been feeling so bad, I've become the party pooper and we haven't done anything. So rather than going to the movies and me probably falling asleep, I went to bed and he worked in the kitchen fixing our faucet. (I love that he is handy around the house!) But last week he did plan something all on his own that I couldn't ruin! It had been a stressful week and I came home to a candlelight dinner. He's so thoughtful and great on the grill!

Our First Christmas

I always enjoy Christmas. The whole time of year is so much fun with decorations and I love the chance to celebrate Christ coming to be "God with us". Plus it was great to have Jamie home. But it was the best to be able to share all of it with Raymond. A few people asked if we had anything special planned because it was our first Christmas and I don't think we did, but I think it was pretty special just to be together for the whole thing.

It made me nervous for him to be on the roof, but I loved the outcome!

We bought a tree and good thing someone else could put it together besides me! I just enjoyed putting on the ornaments.

Enjoying Bricktown

Typical picture with Jamie!

Our fam!

A blog

I love reading blogs. I love reading blogs of people I know and even of those who I don't. I figure I'm a pretty nosey person and I love knowing what people are up to and about. I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time after reading someone's blog and thinking that it was so neat that she was able to document all of the exciting things that happened. So now as a newlywed, I think that it would be so fun to jot about day's events and write about life as it happens. I don't have any deep or interesting thoughts, so this will likely be boring to most. (Although this could be in part for the one person who is excited that I would have one of these!) So here's to having something to look back on.