We had a good 2010 at our house. There were not a lot of changes this year but that's usually the way mama likes it;) After a winter of never-ending snow we ventured to South Dakota and the Black Hills in June with John's parents. We had a fantastic time and hopefully the kids learned a lot about history. The most fun we had the whole summer were the times when we went to the lake and just let life "happen and be." The kids love playing in the water, catching minnows, and laying in the sand. We also got a season pass to the pool and spent almost every afternoon soaking up the sun. I don't think I've been that tan since elementary school.
The end of July I found myself having an emergency gall bladder removal. After 3 days in the hospital I felt much better. With all my medical issues it did take a good 6 weeks for me to fully recover though.
The kids are in 1st, 3rd and 7th grade now. I really don't know where the time has gone. I wish for just one day I could turn them all into babies again and just hold them and smell their sweet baby smells.
The beginning of October started a vicious cycle for me with my illness. I have been on family medical leave from my job ever since. I spend 18-20 hours of my day sleeping and I have lost a lot of strength and motility in my leg muscles. I use a cane outside of the house. Fortunately I was referred to a fantastic doctor in Iowa City who seems to be really on top of things. She has already done some blood work that hasn't been done on me in the entire 12 years of my illness and we have found some very interesting things. We originally thought I had lupus as some of the lupus markers came back positive. She's pretty convinced now that's not the case and I am set to see an immunologist on January 18th and a neurologist the beginning of February. We know I have a natural killer cell deficiency but to what extent we're not sure. This is especially scarey to me as NK cells are the cells that fight cancer and viruses. A lot of immune disfunctions can be treated with immunoglobulin or bone marrow transplants. Hopefully the next year will finally bring answers for me as well as treatment.
We are recovering well from Christmas and today is the last day of winter break for the kids. Tomorrow they return to school. They keep telling me not to remind them.
