Wow... a lot can happen in a week! Doug and I had a very up and down week. We started with his diagnose and spent the rest of the week trying to make sense of it all and not be too afraid. I'm not sure we accomplished either, but we are both feeling better about things. There has been a lot of adjustments and changes made already, but there is still so much to do. My DH does NOT like change and he's had his share of it this past year... selling his place, buying a new place, getting married, moving, etc., etc and now this. While it is all part of life, it is still hard and it takes him a while to put his head around things. It's happening... slowing, but it is happening.
We met with the MD on Saturday morning. It was great! We were his only appointment and he was on call and that's why he was available for Saturday appointments. He spent 2 hours with us discussing everything and answering all of our questions. He is a great MD... I've seen him for years. Doug's blood.sugar readings were still very very high, so he added another medication. His A1C (blood.sugar average for three months) was OFF THE CHART. I don't think he'd ever seen one so high in a relatively healthy man. He did say that luckily, things can only get better from here if we following the program and be committed to getting better. We are totally on board, so that is good. We left the appointment feeling a bit more informed and more confident that we will get a handle on things. Since starting the new meds, his blood.sugar readings are down significantly -- still over two times the normal limit.... be we are getting there! We have been eating super healthy, which has been great for both of us.
Through all of this, I'm really learning what it means to be a supportive wife. I think I need a few more lessons in this. For example... Doug had a really hard time with his first blood draw. He could not do it. It is one drop of blood. And immediately after he tried to get ONE drop of blood, he felt lightheaded and all out of sorts. I had no idea he could not handle the sight of blood! I ended up having to do the draw. And several draws thereafter. Instead of being the most supportive wife ever, I said, jokingly of course, "It's a good thing you don't have a period each month!" That maybe wasn't the best choice right then... but seriously... it was ONE DROP!! We have moved on from this and he is now doing his own blood draws. It took about a week, but he can now stand to see one drop of his own blood. I'm not sure if he could stand two drops... but still, whoo hoo!
We took the weekend and just had some down time and fun. We went to a movie and did some shopping. This week is crazy busy, so it was nice to have some time together before the busy week began! Thanks again for all your prayers!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Lent, Changes and Prayers
LENT:
I am sooooo excited about Lent. I LOVE lent! I love the focus of it and how disciplined I am during Lent. The rest of the year I challenge myself to pray more, eat better, give more, etc., but I always find myself giving into temptation or making excusing for doing what I know I need to do. During Lent, it doesn't matter what I say I will do... I do it. No excuses, no lack of commitment. I just do it. I always feel such a spiritual renewal during this time. I am hoping that with a little faith and lots of prayers (thanks Prayer Buddy!) that I can have a successful, spiritual Lent and carry my actions through the rest of the year as well. This is also Doug's first year doing any Lenten sacrifice. He's not Catholic (yet! keep praying), but he is determined to offer it up this Lent as well. I am glad we are in this together!
For Lent 2010 (thanks Always Giving Thanks for the format!) we will:
Give: Doug and I will be cleaning out our pantry and donating as much food as possible to our parish's food bank. We have also made a donation to CRS/Haiti Relief.
Fast: I am pretty much giving up every food item I crave, including going out to eat with my lunch bunch friends, all sweets and all fried food. This is my biggest challenge. I have major food issues. I am planning to pray when I am craving something and offer up the sacrifice to an intention of the day and my prayer buddy. I am also going to use my phone less in the car. I am addicted to my phone and it is NOT GOOD!
Pray: Doug and I will be doing a holy hour together and going to our adoration chapel weekly to pray. This is an area we struggle with as a couple. Our prayer life needs some help. We both pray and obviously attend Mass each week, but find it difficult to pray together. I'm not sure why... but we are determined to work on this. We are also going to be praying for my prayer buddy! I LOVE prayer buddies!!
CHANGES:
On Monday night we got some shocking news about Doug's health. I had long suspected that Doug had some underlying blood-su.gar issues. He's always thirsty and eats sugar likes it is going out of style. Yet, he remains very active and relatively fit. I set up a physical with my doctor for him... and I knew when the phone rang Monday night and it was my doctor, that it was not good. His blood-sug.ar was THROUGH THE ROOF!!! The doctor said to go to the pharmacy immediately and start him on meds. He was in the range that some people have strokes and slip into coma's. It was/is very scary. So meds have been started and we are TOTALLY changing the way we eat. My dad has diabe.tes and so I've been around it for years. I know the drill. But now, it's in my house and I hate it. I'm so scared for him and I can tell he is too. He has a huge family history of dia.betes -- multiple people in his family have it -- but NONE OF THEM do anything about it. They do not take their meds or alter their diet or anything. They basically ignore it, which drives me up the wall. Luckily, I married a real rule follower, so I hope that will help the situation. We were going to change our eating habits anyway... due to some fertility issues (a whole other blog post!), so this gives us both extra motivation. I've had diabete.s cookbooks for months now (thanks to my mother) and now I will put them to use. But if anyone has any great ideas, please let me know!
PRAYERS: Obviously, we are in in need of some prayers. Please pray his blood sugar levels go down quickly. They are still in the 'extreme danger' range! We go back to the doctor on Saturday and will learn more then. Both our nerves are shot and we are super stressed. I know that there is nothing we cannot handle, but if you have any prayers in you, we would greatly appreciate them!
I am sooooo excited about Lent. I LOVE lent! I love the focus of it and how disciplined I am during Lent. The rest of the year I challenge myself to pray more, eat better, give more, etc., but I always find myself giving into temptation or making excusing for doing what I know I need to do. During Lent, it doesn't matter what I say I will do... I do it. No excuses, no lack of commitment. I just do it. I always feel such a spiritual renewal during this time. I am hoping that with a little faith and lots of prayers (thanks Prayer Buddy!) that I can have a successful, spiritual Lent and carry my actions through the rest of the year as well. This is also Doug's first year doing any Lenten sacrifice. He's not Catholic (yet! keep praying), but he is determined to offer it up this Lent as well. I am glad we are in this together!
For Lent 2010 (thanks Always Giving Thanks for the format!) we will:
Give: Doug and I will be cleaning out our pantry and donating as much food as possible to our parish's food bank. We have also made a donation to CRS/Haiti Relief.
Fast: I am pretty much giving up every food item I crave, including going out to eat with my lunch bunch friends, all sweets and all fried food. This is my biggest challenge. I have major food issues. I am planning to pray when I am craving something and offer up the sacrifice to an intention of the day and my prayer buddy. I am also going to use my phone less in the car. I am addicted to my phone and it is NOT GOOD!
Pray: Doug and I will be doing a holy hour together and going to our adoration chapel weekly to pray. This is an area we struggle with as a couple. Our prayer life needs some help. We both pray and obviously attend Mass each week, but find it difficult to pray together. I'm not sure why... but we are determined to work on this. We are also going to be praying for my prayer buddy! I LOVE prayer buddies!!
CHANGES:
On Monday night we got some shocking news about Doug's health. I had long suspected that Doug had some underlying blood-su.gar issues. He's always thirsty and eats sugar likes it is going out of style. Yet, he remains very active and relatively fit. I set up a physical with my doctor for him... and I knew when the phone rang Monday night and it was my doctor, that it was not good. His blood-sug.ar was THROUGH THE ROOF!!! The doctor said to go to the pharmacy immediately and start him on meds. He was in the range that some people have strokes and slip into coma's. It was/is very scary. So meds have been started and we are TOTALLY changing the way we eat. My dad has diabe.tes and so I've been around it for years. I know the drill. But now, it's in my house and I hate it. I'm so scared for him and I can tell he is too. He has a huge family history of dia.betes -- multiple people in his family have it -- but NONE OF THEM do anything about it. They do not take their meds or alter their diet or anything. They basically ignore it, which drives me up the wall. Luckily, I married a real rule follower, so I hope that will help the situation. We were going to change our eating habits anyway... due to some fertility issues (a whole other blog post!), so this gives us both extra motivation. I've had diabete.s cookbooks for months now (thanks to my mother) and now I will put them to use. But if anyone has any great ideas, please let me know!
PRAYERS: Obviously, we are in in need of some prayers. Please pray his blood sugar levels go down quickly. They are still in the 'extreme danger' range! We go back to the doctor on Saturday and will learn more then. Both our nerves are shot and we are super stressed. I know that there is nothing we cannot handle, but if you have any prayers in you, we would greatly appreciate them!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Our Love Story
It's Valentine's Day and I'm feeling very mushy this year. It could be from the high fever I've had all weekend from my sinus, cold, flu combo... but either way, sappiness surrounds me. It was wonderful to wake up next to my HUSBAND this year. It still seems crazy to me that I have a husband! He rolled over and told me he loved me. Which, considering I woke him up about 10 times last night with all my sneezing and coughing, is pretty amazing. I'm surprised he didn't go sleep elsewhere! Oh well. Doug and I were talking to day about how everything had to line up for us to meet. And how after years and years of searching, we FINALLY found each other, in the place we least expected!
Doug and I met in July 2008 after both signing up for e.har.m.ony on the same day early in July. I was so against signing up for any on-line dating anything. I had tried it a few years before and was not into it at all. I went on one date and said... forget this! I would occasionally receive "Sign back up" emails from EH and I would just delete them instantly. But that summer there was an offer for three months for the price of one... only $30! I'm always up for a bargain. I kept the email for a bit and talked to a few friends about it. I told them that I thought that I was ready to start dating again... to just test the waters out a bit. Nothing serious or anything, but felt that I should sign up for three months and see what happens. After all, I couldn't complain about not being married if I was doing nothing to get me there! I prayed about it long and hard and then just did it.
Doug was one of my first 'matches'. I sent him a request for communication and we started from there. There was just something about him. We emailed each other and answered question after question after question. I kept thinking that I could not possibly really LIKE a guy I had not even met. We started talking on the phone for hours and hours and it was like we had known each other for years. The conversation flowed easily, no uneasy moments of silence and always an anticipation for the next time we would speak. We decided to meet at a book store in his town (he lives about 45-50 minutes from me). We met after I had finished running a Catholic young adult conference -- literally right after. The conference was a few minutes from the book store and where Doug lived, so it was perfect. I could not find my way through the parking lot and drove in the wrong direction and almost ran over a few pedestrians. Not my best moment. I was just hoping he would be inside and not see my not so great driving. After all, I had told him about my countless car accidents -- but none have been my fault! I park and I saw a tall handsome red head walking with flowers in the parking lot and I knew he's been watching the whole time! I got out and the first thing he said to me: "Are you sure none of those car accidents were your fault!?" I laughed, he gave me a hug and I was instantly at ease. We went into the bookstore and talked for an hour or so. Then decided to go on our 1.5 date (yep, we were super cheesy) at a restaurant right around the corner. We had a great dinner and then said goodbye. It was the best first 1 1/2 dates I had ever had.
Driving home that day I did not think, "Wow, I just met my future husband." Instead, I thanked God for allowing me to have a great date. For allowing us to meet. I thought Doug would be around for a little bit... just did not know it would be for the rest of my life. We started seeing each other a few times a week and I easily fell in love. It was gradual, but steady and very unexpected. I really NEVER imagined that when I signed up for EH and then went on a date, that it would actually work out and we would fall in love. NEVER! But it happened! I quickly found myself imaging our future together and realizing that everything that I had been thinking would happen someday 'when I met the one', was actually happening! We met in July and were engaged in January! Married the following November. Yep, crazy! But wonderful all at the same time! I'm so glad I got that EH email -- best $30 I ever spent!!
Happy Valentine's Day Honey! I love you!!
Doug and I met in July 2008 after both signing up for e.har.m.ony on the same day early in July. I was so against signing up for any on-line dating anything. I had tried it a few years before and was not into it at all. I went on one date and said... forget this! I would occasionally receive "Sign back up" emails from EH and I would just delete them instantly. But that summer there was an offer for three months for the price of one... only $30! I'm always up for a bargain. I kept the email for a bit and talked to a few friends about it. I told them that I thought that I was ready to start dating again... to just test the waters out a bit. Nothing serious or anything, but felt that I should sign up for three months and see what happens. After all, I couldn't complain about not being married if I was doing nothing to get me there! I prayed about it long and hard and then just did it.
Doug was one of my first 'matches'. I sent him a request for communication and we started from there. There was just something about him. We emailed each other and answered question after question after question. I kept thinking that I could not possibly really LIKE a guy I had not even met. We started talking on the phone for hours and hours and it was like we had known each other for years. The conversation flowed easily, no uneasy moments of silence and always an anticipation for the next time we would speak. We decided to meet at a book store in his town (he lives about 45-50 minutes from me). We met after I had finished running a Catholic young adult conference -- literally right after. The conference was a few minutes from the book store and where Doug lived, so it was perfect. I could not find my way through the parking lot and drove in the wrong direction and almost ran over a few pedestrians. Not my best moment. I was just hoping he would be inside and not see my not so great driving. After all, I had told him about my countless car accidents -- but none have been my fault! I park and I saw a tall handsome red head walking with flowers in the parking lot and I knew he's been watching the whole time! I got out and the first thing he said to me: "Are you sure none of those car accidents were your fault!?" I laughed, he gave me a hug and I was instantly at ease. We went into the bookstore and talked for an hour or so. Then decided to go on our 1.5 date (yep, we were super cheesy) at a restaurant right around the corner. We had a great dinner and then said goodbye. It was the best first 1 1/2 dates I had ever had.
Driving home that day I did not think, "Wow, I just met my future husband." Instead, I thanked God for allowing me to have a great date. For allowing us to meet. I thought Doug would be around for a little bit... just did not know it would be for the rest of my life. We started seeing each other a few times a week and I easily fell in love. It was gradual, but steady and very unexpected. I really NEVER imagined that when I signed up for EH and then went on a date, that it would actually work out and we would fall in love. NEVER! But it happened! I quickly found myself imaging our future together and realizing that everything that I had been thinking would happen someday 'when I met the one', was actually happening! We met in July and were engaged in January! Married the following November. Yep, crazy! But wonderful all at the same time! I'm so glad I got that EH email -- best $30 I ever spent!!
Happy Valentine's Day Honey! I love you!!
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