Well Hello There, Stranger
Four years seems a little long to go without any posts or updates, but with so many other social media outlets it's easy to forget about my first ever blog. Time to show it some love I think.
Scott and I got married on November 9th, 2013. We honeymooned in Disney World for a week, then lived with his parents until we bought our first home together. We closed on, and moved into our condo September 25th, 2015. We're loving and living in Galloway - Atlantic County, NJ. I am still working at the Allstate agency 5+ years and still going strong. Scott got his big break of a lifetime when he started his new job and career with HORC - Historic Organ Restoration Committee, on July 1st, 2015. Currently he serves in the Membership and Events Coordinator capacity. He gets to work on the worlds largest pipe organ, the Midmer-Losh Pipe Organ as well as the Kimball Theater Organ, both located within Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
We adopted our "babies", our three beloved guinea pigs around the end of October and beginning of November 2015. Miss Piggie is our white/black/tan Abyssinian: a bit of a diva and drama queen. The breed is known to be mischievous and she most certainly is but she's very cute and wins everyone over. Bear is our all-black American Short Hair. She is my cuddle buddy and likes to do what we call "loafing". She's a tad overweight and hates being picked up, but once she's resting on you she doesn't want to move. Bear has the loudest purr and has no issues wheeking loudly at you when she wants food. Squiggles is our dark brown/black and tan American Short Hair. She's the skinny one of the bunch and truly lives up to her name, because that's the sound she makes when you pick her up. She's also the most timid and has the cutest little paw stretch when she wakes up from a nap.
With all the joy unfortunately comes some sorrow. I guess I'll start with the most serious: My Daddy.
Daddy had a dry cough for over a year. All xrays came back completely clear. I noticed he had a kind of smell coming off him, almost like sour milk. We assumed it was just because he was eating a lot of crap. We were VERY wrong. Mom was pushing for a CT scan and none of his doctors felt it was necessary. Finally, the time came for his prostate cancer follow up CT scan, as he had been in remission for years but his number kept climbing. This scan, in September of 2016, is what revealed what would eventually be called Stage 4 Non-Small Cell LUNG CANCER. Oh and his prostate cancer was back too...without a prostate...so he went through several horrible chemo sessions. First Alimta and Cisplatin, but after two sessions it was changed to Alimta and Carboplatin. In the midst of this, Scott and I surprised my parents with a 35th anniversary trip to Disney World. We made the best of the situation and I know Daddy pushed himself, because he was so tired from the chemo. Disney really went above and beyond with little surprises and gifts through the whole trip. After all was said and done with chemo, it was like magic - the large tumor was gone, the other smaller tumor was gone, he was basically clear! He started maintenance chemo, but unfortunately only after the first one he had to stop because the chemo became toxic that fast. Things were going well and he felt great. Then he started dry coughing again. Initially the pulmonologist figured it was allergy related and after treating with allergy meds he seemed to be doing better. Then once again the cough started. He had his follow up PET scan in August but it was completely botched by the hospital. See, he wasn't able to have his PET scan at Hackensack where he's being treated because the machine was down. He had to go to St. Joe's, and that radiologist really screwed things up. Read the wrong report, made statements about things we know are not true etc. Eventually the report was magically revised and there was another mass found. His doctor said we could schedule the redo in November - prior to this scan, because Daddy was feeling good, we decided to plan a last minute 4 day getaway to Disney World again. This time, Mom's treat. We planned it out and got very excited. Daddy would be feeling really good and would have his redo PET scan after we got back. Except now that the scan was revised, his redo PET scan had to be rescheduled to two days after his birthday, a full month before our trip. There is a very likely possibility that we're not going, and that's crushing in my opinion, because it's a fact that having something to look forward to helps the outlook in a cancer patient's health. We shall see after his scans what the next steps are.
Now for Mommy. In the midst of being a full-time caretaker for Daddy, and working full-time, her blood sugars had been high. Really high. We're talking in the 400's high. Scott and I begged her to get checked out but she was too busy. She said she was eating like crap and that's why her sugar was so bad. No...that's not normal even if she was eating straight up sugar for a week. Dad's Type 2 Diabetic. His father was Type 2 Diabetic. My mom was diagnosed Hypoglycemic years ago, and recently became Borderline Type 2 Diabetic. I was diagnosed Type 2 Diabetic. But Mom's numbers were just not acceptable. She finally went to an endo who ran several antibody tests and guess what? Mommy was diagnosed TYPE 1 DIABETIC. She went on insulin and is currently on the Medtronic 670G pump. While this was going on, her vision was getting bad. For a short period of time, she actually saw better without her glasses. Then it got worse. Now, she has double vision and is waiting to have an MRI to figure out if her double vision and droopy eye are due to a palsy or something else. Mix that with the arthritis in her back, her ear problems and her depression and it's just a mess. It's awful.
Lastly, me. I've had a host of my own medical maladies over the years, from stints in the hospital for migraines, to a botched appendectomy, to a mesh implant. That all apparently wasn't enough. In February of this year, I had a bad cold. Ever time I get a simple cold it always turns into bronchitis or pneumonia. I never mess around with that and always go for medical treatment. Due to the fact that we just got a new insurance plan that past November, I had not found a primary doctor so I went to Urgent Care. I told that doctor I needed a ZPak, because that's what I always take and it always works. She determined that since I had asthma, I needed to take Prednisone instead. I reminded her of my Type 2 Diabetes situation, and she said "just monitor your blood sugar". I didn't feel right about this, but she's the doctor, right? After a few days I felt worse. Worse fever, worse cough, worse chills. I checked my sugar and it was holding stead in the low to mid 400's. I just got done telling my mother that wasn't right and here I was. At the urging of my Mom and Scott, I found an endo in my plan. She of course took one look at me and automatically assumed I was just an out of control Type 2, but as soon as I mentioned what happened to my mother, her tone changed and she sent me for massive blood work. On Cinco de Mayo of 2017 I was officially diagnosed TYPE 1 DIABETIC. I have been on insulin since, and just started on my Medtronic 670G pump 15 days ago. I tested positive for the GAD65 antibody, and 4 times the limit of the ZnT8 antibody. Great.
Life is just one day at a time. We take what we're given and we either deal with it or fail. None of us have failed yet and we don't plan to going forward. Keeping positive and looking forward to what the future has to hold!
Scott and I got married on November 9th, 2013. We honeymooned in Disney World for a week, then lived with his parents until we bought our first home together. We closed on, and moved into our condo September 25th, 2015. We're loving and living in Galloway - Atlantic County, NJ. I am still working at the Allstate agency 5+ years and still going strong. Scott got his big break of a lifetime when he started his new job and career with HORC - Historic Organ Restoration Committee, on July 1st, 2015. Currently he serves in the Membership and Events Coordinator capacity. He gets to work on the worlds largest pipe organ, the Midmer-Losh Pipe Organ as well as the Kimball Theater Organ, both located within Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
We adopted our "babies", our three beloved guinea pigs around the end of October and beginning of November 2015. Miss Piggie is our white/black/tan Abyssinian: a bit of a diva and drama queen. The breed is known to be mischievous and she most certainly is but she's very cute and wins everyone over. Bear is our all-black American Short Hair. She is my cuddle buddy and likes to do what we call "loafing". She's a tad overweight and hates being picked up, but once she's resting on you she doesn't want to move. Bear has the loudest purr and has no issues wheeking loudly at you when she wants food. Squiggles is our dark brown/black and tan American Short Hair. She's the skinny one of the bunch and truly lives up to her name, because that's the sound she makes when you pick her up. She's also the most timid and has the cutest little paw stretch when she wakes up from a nap.
With all the joy unfortunately comes some sorrow. I guess I'll start with the most serious: My Daddy.
Daddy had a dry cough for over a year. All xrays came back completely clear. I noticed he had a kind of smell coming off him, almost like sour milk. We assumed it was just because he was eating a lot of crap. We were VERY wrong. Mom was pushing for a CT scan and none of his doctors felt it was necessary. Finally, the time came for his prostate cancer follow up CT scan, as he had been in remission for years but his number kept climbing. This scan, in September of 2016, is what revealed what would eventually be called Stage 4 Non-Small Cell LUNG CANCER. Oh and his prostate cancer was back too...without a prostate...so he went through several horrible chemo sessions. First Alimta and Cisplatin, but after two sessions it was changed to Alimta and Carboplatin. In the midst of this, Scott and I surprised my parents with a 35th anniversary trip to Disney World. We made the best of the situation and I know Daddy pushed himself, because he was so tired from the chemo. Disney really went above and beyond with little surprises and gifts through the whole trip. After all was said and done with chemo, it was like magic - the large tumor was gone, the other smaller tumor was gone, he was basically clear! He started maintenance chemo, but unfortunately only after the first one he had to stop because the chemo became toxic that fast. Things were going well and he felt great. Then he started dry coughing again. Initially the pulmonologist figured it was allergy related and after treating with allergy meds he seemed to be doing better. Then once again the cough started. He had his follow up PET scan in August but it was completely botched by the hospital. See, he wasn't able to have his PET scan at Hackensack where he's being treated because the machine was down. He had to go to St. Joe's, and that radiologist really screwed things up. Read the wrong report, made statements about things we know are not true etc. Eventually the report was magically revised and there was another mass found. His doctor said we could schedule the redo in November - prior to this scan, because Daddy was feeling good, we decided to plan a last minute 4 day getaway to Disney World again. This time, Mom's treat. We planned it out and got very excited. Daddy would be feeling really good and would have his redo PET scan after we got back. Except now that the scan was revised, his redo PET scan had to be rescheduled to two days after his birthday, a full month before our trip. There is a very likely possibility that we're not going, and that's crushing in my opinion, because it's a fact that having something to look forward to helps the outlook in a cancer patient's health. We shall see after his scans what the next steps are.
Now for Mommy. In the midst of being a full-time caretaker for Daddy, and working full-time, her blood sugars had been high. Really high. We're talking in the 400's high. Scott and I begged her to get checked out but she was too busy. She said she was eating like crap and that's why her sugar was so bad. No...that's not normal even if she was eating straight up sugar for a week. Dad's Type 2 Diabetic. His father was Type 2 Diabetic. My mom was diagnosed Hypoglycemic years ago, and recently became Borderline Type 2 Diabetic. I was diagnosed Type 2 Diabetic. But Mom's numbers were just not acceptable. She finally went to an endo who ran several antibody tests and guess what? Mommy was diagnosed TYPE 1 DIABETIC. She went on insulin and is currently on the Medtronic 670G pump. While this was going on, her vision was getting bad. For a short period of time, she actually saw better without her glasses. Then it got worse. Now, she has double vision and is waiting to have an MRI to figure out if her double vision and droopy eye are due to a palsy or something else. Mix that with the arthritis in her back, her ear problems and her depression and it's just a mess. It's awful.
Lastly, me. I've had a host of my own medical maladies over the years, from stints in the hospital for migraines, to a botched appendectomy, to a mesh implant. That all apparently wasn't enough. In February of this year, I had a bad cold. Ever time I get a simple cold it always turns into bronchitis or pneumonia. I never mess around with that and always go for medical treatment. Due to the fact that we just got a new insurance plan that past November, I had not found a primary doctor so I went to Urgent Care. I told that doctor I needed a ZPak, because that's what I always take and it always works. She determined that since I had asthma, I needed to take Prednisone instead. I reminded her of my Type 2 Diabetes situation, and she said "just monitor your blood sugar". I didn't feel right about this, but she's the doctor, right? After a few days I felt worse. Worse fever, worse cough, worse chills. I checked my sugar and it was holding stead in the low to mid 400's. I just got done telling my mother that wasn't right and here I was. At the urging of my Mom and Scott, I found an endo in my plan. She of course took one look at me and automatically assumed I was just an out of control Type 2, but as soon as I mentioned what happened to my mother, her tone changed and she sent me for massive blood work. On Cinco de Mayo of 2017 I was officially diagnosed TYPE 1 DIABETIC. I have been on insulin since, and just started on my Medtronic 670G pump 15 days ago. I tested positive for the GAD65 antibody, and 4 times the limit of the ZnT8 antibody. Great.
Life is just one day at a time. We take what we're given and we either deal with it or fail. None of us have failed yet and we don't plan to going forward. Keeping positive and looking forward to what the future has to hold!