Good news or bad news?

It feels like a lot has happened since last Tuesday.

I went to the Chiropractor again on Wednesday because I HURT! I couldn't walk, stand up straight, sit, lay... There was no comfortable position. So I went to the chiropractor with high hopes that I would walk out of there feeling so much better. I did not. I felt the same, maybe slightly better. I remember going home, sitting down in a chair and crying. Nothing was making me feel better and I was starting to feel helpless and desperate for something to change. Later that day I noticed a small rash on my leg. I didn't think much into it (because I was in agony and my brain wasn't working). But later when my mom came over it struck me that when I had described my tingling feeling in my leg to the chiropractor earlier that week he had asked me if I had a rash. And I thought, how unusual that he would ask me that. So I called him up to see why it was that he had asked me about a rash and he asked if I could pop in before they closed. I did, and he said he was almost positive that I had shingles. He said they can cause a good amount of pain and that it just might be what was making my back and hip joint hurt so badly. Went to quick care that night and sure enough, I had shingles.

I remember people kept saying to me that they heard it hurt a lot and they were so sorry. I completely agree now. By Saturday, a full 8 days after my initial symptoms, I was pretty well covered from lower middle back to knee on my right side. They say the rash follows a main nerve from your back. That's why it hurts so badly. Its on your nerve. Your pain receptors.

I felt a big rush of relief to know that I had shingles. Weird, I know. But I was having pain without reason, which is scary for the brain. Knowing that there was a reason and that it would end has made the process easier. Not easy, just easier. Like I said, I cried. I didn't even cry giving birth to my 2 children without pain meds... Shingles hurt. Now here I am 11 days into this and I am finally starting to see improvement. It's a little depressing to wake up each morning with things looking worse. I was very relieved that the pain in my lower back subsided!! Soo happy! Now if the pins and needles feeling would stop spreading to other parts of my body... So far the "pins and needles" feeling covers my lower back down to my ankle on my right side, my ankle and foot on the left side(my toes feel so weird), just above my elbow down to my pinky on the right side, between my shoulder blades on the right side, and one of my ribs. The rash feels like a giant sunburn. My pain medication doesn't even touch the pain. I would have to get a prescription for that... nursing prevents me from doing so. So, I live with it as best I can. By the end of the day I am drained. I cry almost every night just from the exhaustion of trying to maintain normalcy. I'm not proud to admit that.

Joel has been great. He takes over a lot when he gets home from work and during the weekend. Poor guy painted the kitchen by himself. (My sister Megan came over and helped prime the whole thing. Thanks Meg!) We were getting new kitchen cabinets and wanted the kitchen painted before they were put up. Poor guy hates painting and ended up doing it all without my help. Cabinets look great by the way!

Tender mercies have been my life saver! Little things to get me through the day. I couldn't ask for more. Heavenly Father was watching out for me and those around me. Thank you to everyone who has been able to offer help. I'm truly grateful! Maybe in a week I will be close to normal.

Fail

Exercising was going well. We were motivated to keep going, eat right, and getting excited to get in shape. But sadly both Joel and I were injured. Thursday night I pulled something in my back/buttocks area. I took Friday off with hopes of an easy day helping the healing process. Saturday morning, Joel was helping a family from church move and put his back out. Ouch! He was out of commission all weekend. I found motivation to do half a workout with as much enthusiasm as my body would allow. (Good workout too!) But, Sunday came and we were both out of commission. My body ached and throbbed and complained. Monday came and Joel and I made a chiropractor appt. Joel felt wonderful all Monday while at work. I on the other hand counted down the hours and minutes until our appointment in the late afternoon. Doc worked his magic and I left feeling SO much better. Maybe not 100%, but had high hopes that rest and relaxation would heal me quickly. 1.5 hours later I got an exciting delivery from UPS (the stroller I was waiting for! yay!) and with a little too much self confidence, picked the box up 1 handed and POP.... I put my back/pelvis out again. It hurt. And I regretted and kicked myself immediately. Today I am a big ball of hurt. I am doing my very best to not complain but my face says ouch, owie, groan, grimace. I had hopes of being able to pick up the work out again starting Wednesday... now I'm just crossing my fingers that I can get another chiropractor appointment for Wednesday and be healed enough to start monday. A whole week of break... boo.

On a brighter note, Jetta is getting close to crawling! She is leaning into a half crawling, half sitting position. You can tell she wants to do it but is frustrated and a bit scared what will happen. I'm excited for her and also thinking, crap, I'm going to have to put things up high again.

Jetta in her new slippers that mama made her. She's always happy. And maybe getting some teeth soon!

 Bentley is at a fun stage. Fun in honest and fun in sarcasm. At the same time. :) He is stringing sentences together and picking up our word usage. My favorite is hearing him say "I'm excited for ____." Today he was excited to have egg sandwiches for lunch and to go to Home Depot. Very exciting stuff. :) Apparently I have been saying 'excited' a little too much lately.

Oh and Bentley is currently obsessed with trains. And he has given favorite movies nicknames. "Cars" is called Mater McQueen (yes, 2 characters combined) and "Cars 2" is called Pink Racecars... ahh and Lion King is apparently being understood as Lyin' King... he said something to me today about the Lying movie. Can't remember exactly what he said but the gist was that it was untruthful. haha

Love my kids. Hope I heal soon. I hurt.

4 days down... 26 to go

Joel and I started 'Insanity' on Monday, February 25th. Our only free time when we are both home is either before the kids get up or after dinner. And lets face it, this mama isn't wasting precious sleep time exercising. So at night we exercise.

Yesterday was day 4 and the workout was called "Cardio Recovery"... What they meant to say is instead of doing everything as fast as we can (which is my interpretation of all other workouts thus far) we are going to do them moderately slow. And at first Joel and I were thinking, oh ya I can do this one! But then they want you to hold hard positions and "pulse". Pulse is like saying move oh so very slightly so that your legs BURN and yearn to stand or sit and not be BURNING. Needless to say, I think I got a better exercise from this "recovery" CD than I have from any other.

Oh and we bought a blender. Much much better! And we bought protein powder. (I never thought I would ever buy this in my life) We bought 2. One was from Walmart and was a vanilla flavor. YUCK! We couldn't add enough ingredients to hide that oh so awful after-taste. The second we purchased from Costco. Good 'ol Costco. It's chocolate flavor and of course double the size of our previous purchase. We had our fingers crossed we would like it because there was a lot of it. And success!! We both like it! We made a very simple shake last night after our recovery workout. (I still scoff at the 'recovery' part. ha... recovery) It was milk, blueberries, banana, chocolate protein powder and ice. Sounds a little weird but it was actually yummy.

Tonight will be my last workout until next monday. I'm shooting for 5 days a week, and Joel 6. Yesterday my calves were killer and I couldn't walk normally for the majority of the day. Today I feel much better. Except one of the muscles in my thigh. I think I pinched a nerve or something because it tingles in a not comfy kind of way. Oh well, more stretching I guess.

Still going strong.... Hopefully Monday finds me ready and willing to start again!