Really busy times

Well, we moved into the house last month on May 5th. Before moving in, it had to be totally cleaned and we also painted the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom. I really love this house and the neighborhood is very nice and quiet. We're also loving the pool and I have a great tan going. It's been raining the past couple days, but I'm planning on being back out there tomorrow. The pugs are doing great and love the freedom of a fenced-in yard. The only problem we're having is the damn toads invading the pool every night. I'd like to go for a midnight swim at times, but I'm not going to swim with toads in the pool. It's pretty nasty when I go to clean out the skimmer in the morning and find dead, bloated toads in it. I've been letting Dennis clean the skimmer for that very reason ... it's so gross!! Not much else is happening. Dennis and I are celebrating one year together this weekend. Time has gone by so fast. Our one year wedding anniversary is only 5 months away. It's been a great year, we've come so far and I love him so much.

So excited!!

So much has been hapening. Dennis and I were talking of buying a house, just toying with the idea, and we found the perfect home for us. It is 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and in Auburndale, Florida. It is really cute and has a lot of potential. We put an offer on it and it was accepted. We're just waiting on some money to be transferred to us for the down payment. We should be moving in the first of May. It has a huge backyard for the pugs to run and play in, and an inground pool. I'm so excited and can't wait to go shopping. The pool will be great cardio exercise for me, so I'm really looking forward to that. The neighborhood is very quiet too. It has a privacy fence all around the backyard. The house is kind of small, but will be fine for us. We will be able to have an "office" and a guest room. Our nephew, Daimon, thought the spare room was going to be his bedroom. I told him we would consider it his as long as he paid 1/2 the bills there, otherwise it would just be a guest room, lol. He decided that calling it a guest room would be fine. I knew he would.

Anyway, here is a picture of the outside of the house:

April is Organ Donation Awareness Month

April is Organ Donation Awareness Month. I thought I'd share a few facts on organ donation, the people waiting for transplants and some of the numbers.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing , there are 95,814 people awaiting a transplant as of today at 4:24 am. Every 12 minutes, another name is added to the waiting list. An average of 18 people die each day waiting for their life-saving gift. There are about 1,000 children (under the age of 10) waiting for a transplant today. Half of those children are waiting for a liver; a quarter for kidney. The rest comprise heart, lung, heart/lung, pancreas, kidney/pancreas, and intestine.

In 2005, there were 21,215 deceased organ donors and 6,895 living organ donors. With these generous gifts, 28,110 transplants were made possible.

Did you know that even though you may have "Organ Donor" checked on your driver's license, your family has the final say in whether you are a donor or not? If you want to be an organ donor, talk to your family and tell them about your wishes. In the face of tragedy, many families will say "No" to organ donation because they weren't aware of their loved one's wishes. If that decision were already made for them, by you, their decision might be made more easy.

Please talk to your family about organ donation. And be aware that organ donation isn't just for those who have abused their livers or kidneys with alcohol. There are babies, innocent children, who need transplants. There are people who have diabetes that need a kidney or a kidney and a pancreas. There are babies that are born whose intestines begin to die shortly after birth...with no rhyme or reason to why. There are so many reasons someone might need a transplant. Eight lives can be saved with ONE donor. ONE.

It's been a really, really long time

So much has happened since I last posted. I got divorced and re-married. I married Dennis, my first husband, again on November 13, 2006. We're so happy together and I've never felt better. We're in the process of buying our first home together. Dennis totally understands my health issues and doesn't get pissed at me when I'm tired, unlike my ex-husband. He's very caring and considerate. I'm so happy that we're back together and hope we have many years left together.

My nephew, Justin, is now almost a year old and he's grown so much. He was Christened on December 20, 2006, my mom's birthday. He then spent the next two weeks in the hospital and missed out on his first Christmas. I felt so bad for him. He recovered wonderfully and is very healthy now.

Mack and Mattie are doing great. We've been to a couple pug rescue events and they had a blast. I fostered a couple pugs for the rescue too and my sister-in-law adopted one of them, Caesar. He's doing great with them.

As far as my health is concerned, I haven't been back to the doctor in a while. I know that's bad, but I haven't had insurance. Now that I have insurance, I need to find new doctors because I'm too far from my old doctors. The hard part for me is finding doctors that really seem to care. I loved my old PCP, she was awesome and very understanding. I need to get my butt in gear and find another one.

That's about all for now!!

It's been a long time

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted. My husband decided that he couldn't handle dealing with my illness and requested a divorce. I packed my things and moved out to my own place. I rekindled an old flame with an ex-boyfriend of mine after the separation from my ex-husband and the ex-boyfriend and I are now happily living together. Things are going great with us and he is committed to battling my health issues with me.

My ex-husband kept our miniature pinscher, Dudley, and I kept the pug, Mack. I am adopting another pug, Mattie, from pug rescue this weekend. She is a doll and I can't wait to bring her home.

My health is about the same. I get tired after a while and have to stop what I'm doing and rest or take a nap. I cannot get any health benefits (Medicaid, disability, etc) until my divorce is final so I'm hoping that will be soon.

I just want to move on with my life and try to enjoy it as much as I can while I'm still here. As a result of not having insurance, I'm unable to get the lap band surgery. I can also no longer afford NutriSystem. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to get back on board and losing weight. It's been hard with all of the stress that I've gone through recently.

That's about all that is happening right now. I'll try to update more regularly.

Followup cardiologist appointment ...

I went for my followup appointment with the cardiologist yesterday. It's really the first appointment I've had with him since I was diagnosed with the cardiomyopathy. He said the results of my heart catheter showed that I didn't have any blockages, which is good, and that my heart function is better than the echocardiogram showed, but not by much. He is recommending that I go on disability because most likely I will need a heart transplant in the future. He is maximizing my medications for now and we're in a wait-and-see mode. I go back in September.

I talked to him about weight loss since I seem to be at a stand still with NutriSystem. He recommended lap-band surgery. I'm going to give him a call when we get back from vacation for a referral. Hopefully weight loss will improve my heart function so the transplant will be something in the far-off future. I know what my mom went through with hers and I just don't know if I'm strong enough mentally for that challenge. My grandmother still has no clue about all of this and I know I'm going to have to tell her soon. My sister is in Boston and won't be back until next Tuesday so I'll probably just wait until after my vacation and we can all be together to tell her. I know it's going to break her heart since she lost her only child (my mom) from the same thing I'm battling now.

All I can do is ask for prayers now. I'm 32 years old and hope to at least live to see my nephews grow up. I suppose all hopes and dreams of having my own kids are shattered now so I can only pray that God allows me the time to see my nephews grow up.

Ugh, the pain!!

I ended up at the ER Monday afternoon. I had a bit of chest pain Sunday night or early Monday morning that woke me up. I didn't think anything about it because it went away instantly. I woke up Monday morning very dizzy, lightheaded, and my vision was very blurry. I showered, shaved my legs, did my hair and makeup, and went to the ER. I also packed a bag because I figured they would keep me to do the heart catheterization. They did admit me after I sat in the ER for 8 hours. They did the heart catheterization yesterday and I got to come home yesterday afternoon. I love my cardiologist!! The heart cath wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I only felt the needle to numb my groin area and a bit of pressure from the catheter. When he removed the catheter, my whole body got hot, it was really weird, but normal according to him. I have a small incision and was able to get up and move around after only two hours thanks to a new closure they use on the vein. There is no way I could have laid there for 8 hours like my dad had to because my back was killing me and I was having back spasms. I now have to stay reclined or in bed for two days so I'll be up and around again on Friday. I'm still a bit sore at the incision site, but not too bad. I look like a junkie because they had a hard time getting a vein in my arms for the IV lines. I think they stuck me about 9 times between both arms. I asked if they were going to start between my toes next. That's about it for now.