So... ducks and doctors!! I'm laughing just thinking of all the directions I can go with this! But I will stick with the honest to goodness truth! Those who know us know that our reality is often far fetched enough... why make anything up!! Anyone who knows us also know that CJ is an AVID hunter. In the past 3 years he hasn't hunted much so we have taken on a few trophies of others. At one point we had an elk, but he sold it... then a couple of weeks ago we got a moose.
He is pretty cute, and I get the moose, he didn't take too much getting used to.
Then the other night I got in the car to run down the street to borrow some books from a friend (just as a sidenote: Kailey is reading the SPIDERWICK series!! 3 weeks into first grade and she's reading SPIDERWICK... crazy!!!). I will just say that I think our street is the darkest street in our whole neighborhood, and our porch light wasn't working... so it was really dark! I have always been the kind of person who never looks in the back seat... just in case somebody is hiding in there (we all have or issues don't we?). As I am backing out of our driveway I hear something rustle in the back seat... it kind of sounded like paper. My first thought was "what the heck?", my second thought was "I have to figure out what is back there before I get too far away from the house"... so a few houses down from ours is a streetlamp. I could see before I got to the streetlamp that there was something in the seat behind mine (thankfully not a person).. and CJ borrowed my car that day so... what the heck was in my car?? Mind you, this WHOLE thought process lasts about 10 seconds... not enough time to really let any rational thought soak into my head. When I get under the streetlamp... "HOLY CRAP THERE ARE DUCKS IN MY BACKSEAT!!!" No, they weren't live ducks, they were stuffed ducks... stuffed trophy ducks. Somebody else's stuffed trophy ducks! So, in the minute that it takes me to get down to my friends house I am already reeling as to what my dear darling husband is planning to do with these stuffed ducks... stuffed trophy ducks. Somebody else's stuffed trophy ducks!
In the 5 minutes I'm gone I have come to terms with the fact that CJ wouldn't possibly think of keeping... stuffed ducks... stuffed trophy ducks. Somebody else's stuffed trophy ducks! Ya... you see where I am going with this... don't like the ducks much. When I do get home I ask CJ about the ducks and he reassures me that he did, in fact, like the ducks... but that he was planning on selling them... PHEW!!! Crisis averted! Riiiiiiight!!!! CJ goes to basketball, I go to bed, CJ comes home, maybe goes and plays a game of chess with a friend... heck, I don't know I'M ASLEEP! The next morning I wake up and there are DUCKS ON MY WALL!!! Stuffed ducks... stuffed trophy ducks. Somebody else's stuffed trophy ducks! ON SKEWERS... ON! MY! WALL!!! Have I mentioned I DO NOT LIKE THE DUCKS???!! Here are the lovely ducks....
(on skewers)
SO.. the next day I had a hair appointment... and I picked myself up some "ducks"!!
Yep... this was my "ducks"! I had been wanting to do it for a long time, but CJ had always asked me to keep my long hair. I was tired of my long hair... MY long hair... not somebody else's long hair MY long hair!! Now I LOVE my short hair!! MY short hair! (OK, JoJo... it wasn't all about the ducks... and I wasn't THAT mad.. but I still don't like the ducks !!) And I do realize its a matter of loving nature.. so that's what I am thinking of these particular trophies of CJ's as... trophies of nature.
NOW... onto doctors!! YAY!!! CJ had been waiting for close to a year to see a headache specialist at the U of U (University of Utah).. and the day finally came! I was really trying to stay positive. Things hadn't been so great in our home (seriously.. you know that! We have ducks...stuffed ducks... stuffed trophy ducks. Somebody else's stuffed trophy ducks!).
CJ had been really miserable lately.. .bad headache... dizzy most of the time. We all had a bout with a severe flu which caused lots of throwing up... by each of us. The problem with that is when CJ gets sick like that he passes out. So on Labor day he passed out at least a half a dozen times. In addition to that he always takes way longer than anybody else to fully recover (as you can probably imagine), so we had really been looking forward to this appointment. It didn't take too long to realize that CJ was the only appointment the doctor had scheduled. Not for 15 or 30 minutes.. but for 2 HOURS!!! This doctor was awesome. Not once did she shake her head or seem to doubt what CJ was telling her his symptoms were. She had plenty of time to look over his MRI's and make ... A HYPOTHESIS!!! Her hypothesis is this:
CJ has a "condition" called low pressure headaches. When your brain doesn't have enough pressure lots of crazy things can happen including the brain descending down into the spinal column appearing to be the condition he had brain surgery for!!! Also, it can (and usually does) affect the pituitary gland... which can affect the adrenal gland (which he is currently taking supplements to try to heal)... it can cause dizzy spells and passing out... it can cause narcolepsy symptoms and it can cause dementia (yep... that explains a lot doesn't it!! haha!). SO basically CJ may have (possibly) never needed brain surgery... his adrenal gland may end up being ok, and this condition is probably treatable.
One of the first things the doctor asked for is his MRI's from before his surgery. She is hoping to be able to come up with a full diagnosis through these. What she will be looking for is a "leaky valve". When he first started getting headaches he was lifting weights and heard and felt a pop in the back of his head... so it could have been something bursting and he may have had a "leak" all along. If she can locate it on the MRI's she can fix it. If she can't find in on the MRI's he will have to try a few more tests to see if she can find what she is looking for!!
CJ took the MRI's to her the day we went in, and he is also supposed to get an abdominal binder... basically a girdle (don't tell him I said that) to force pressure up into his brain. If that works we'll know that her hypothesis is more probably correct (is more probably even a term... I don't know.. but you get my drift).
So we have more hope... again (hope + faith). This also explains why last September he had that month of feeling so good.. .and now he doesn't anymore. So if you could keep sending prayers his way (I know, I really don't have to even ask). I know that prayers have carried us both through many of our difficult times!
I'll keep everyone updated the best I can!
