Wisdom Teeth Removal and an Official Announcement

I have 2 major things to report!!!

First- I had the not-so-fun experience of having all four of my wisdom teeth removed at once. This happened at 10 am last Saturday. Phil went with me as my support and "driver." For the procedure, I was completely knocked out. I was very nervous about this. Going under wasn't so bad actually. But apparently when they were bringing me back in to concsiousness, I had some serious issues! I do remember feeling like I was drowning, and not able to do anything about it. My brain registered one word- "wheelchair" (I guess they were trying to lift me into a wheelchair)- and I FREAKED OUT. They say I started thrashing and hyperventilating. All I knew was that I was sure I was dying and I could feel terrible pain! Phil says it took at least 30 minutes before I was completely back to normal. Anyway, I am now doing fine, and I'm waiting for the last bit of swelling to go down on my left side. Its still pretty sore. In just these few days I've had to make myself eat soft stuff like yogurt, oatmeal, and soup, and I lost 3 pounds in 3 days. I can't WAIT to eat solid food again! I just managed to finish a small bowl of turkey chili, so I'm getting there...slowly but surely! And thank God for ibuprofen and Vicodin...

Secondly- my official announcement is that I will NOT be going on the May deployment with my unit. I have very mixed feelings about this, and definitely appreciate your prayers as I make the appropriate adjustments to my life as a result of this decision. My medical paperwork was reviewed by the State Surgeon General, and my medical flag was not lifted. So I'm not going anywhere- at least for now. At least I finally have a definitive answer!

Birthday fun

Ok, so to catch up, my brother Rob came and visited from February 27th through March 2nd. It was a lot of fun, and I wanted to do something for my birthday (which was on the 5th!) while he was here. So we had a "pre-celebration" at the Wild Animal Park! It was a great day with good hot weather, and all the animals were out and about.







It was a bummer that Rob couldn't make it to my actual birthday. But it turned out well enough! A bunch of friends went with me to the Jasmine Bistro, a cool little restaurant at the Parkway Plaza mall. Afterwards, the people that could make it also came by the apartment and had chocolate truffle cheesecake, baked by my chef-in-training roommate, Tammi! It was by far one of the best birthdays I've had yet!

Overdue Pics

Its been a while since I last posted! I've been really busy, and fairly stressed out. Ok...really stressed out. A lot of it has to do with my ongoing medical issues. For all of you who have been praying for me, THANK YOU, and please continue!!! :) You have no idea how much it means to me. As I'm sure you've all figured out if you've been around me long enough, the military is one huge "hurry up and wait" process. I am still waiting for a confident Yes or No on whether or not I'm deploying. Its looking like a No, but I know better than to accept that right away!

Anyways, on to the pics. These pics is from my most recent trip to Camp Roberts with my unit. The purpose of the trip was for our preliminary pre-deployment medical screening. (I failed, by the way, which has resulted in the stress I referred to above...). During our time there, platoon did what we could to make the process as painless as possible. This included group games and a BBQ!

And these are from on the bus, on the way back to San Diego:

We're a random, rowdy, but very cool bunch of people let me tell you!!!

Two exciting things

The first is a movie that just came out. Its called The Uninvited. I went and saw it Monday night, and was totally enthralled with it!!! If you like drama, suspense, pyschological themes, and not over-the-top horror, this is the perfect movie for you- which of course, made it the perfect movie for me! :) I'm not going to say ANYTHING in detail about it because you have to go see it for yourself. It was a very well-done, actually believable movie, with great acting. Go see it!!!

The second thing is that my brother Rob is planning on coming out to San Diego to visit again! He was here for Thanksgiving last year, and this time its just for a bit of fun and relaxation. He'll be here from the 27th through March 2nd. I'm always excited to see my brothers!

I made myself watch it

Tonight I watched Home of the Brave with Tammi. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or a bad one! Basically the movie is about 4 soldiers who come home from Iraq, and how they cope with everything. In other words, a movie about PTSD. Great. I'll admit, there were parts that made me tear up, and the only other movie that gets me like that is Blackhawk Down. So that's gotta mean something...

My life is crazy right now!

Ok, I'm finally back home from a week of military duty at Camp Roberts (up in Central CA). Whew, what a time. I have so much on my plate right now with unit responsibilities and my civilian job that I feel like I don't have time to breathe!!!

For those of you who are asking about my medical situation, I apologize for keeping everyone in the dark. The thing is, nothing is set in stone, and I don't want to announce things that might not actually happen or be the way I think it is going to be. Because of that, let me just say that I am doing all right, but I am back in treatment for certain things. As for my deployment status, that is still up in the air. All I can say is, I appreciate your prayers and concern very very much!

My time up in Camp Roberts was actually very productive, despite all the stress and lack of sleep. My days began at 4:45 am and didn't end till 10- 11 at night. My soldiers and I went through a bunch of medical and legal screenings, took web-based training, and participated in lots of PT. My platoon even put together a barbeque the last night!

I'll continue to post on here as often as I can, as long as I have solid updates. Thanks for reading, everybody!!!

My new eating schedule

Ok, so all the medical problems I've been experiencing have now affected even the way I eat! Before this, I have always been fairly blessed in the eating department- I could eat what I wanted, when I wanted. But now, with mysterious weight gain and severe pain after eating, I realized something was gonna have to give. I also got put on some prescription medication for the pain and bloating (pills to be exact- which I despise with all my heart).

Anyway, those pills are actually doing some good...however, the effect doesn't last as long as my day. On an average weekday I'm up by 6:15 and don't go to bed till around 10:30 or so. I started out taking the pills first thing in the morning before eating breakfast at work. But I soon realized that by late afternoon (when I want to be at the gym or going out with friends) the medication would wear off and I would be hurting big time! Also, it didn't seem to matter what I ate- the pain was always the same. So, I decided it was time to experiment.

After a bunch of random food combinations, different lengths of time between eating, and planning my day around the stupid pills, I've figured out that I need to take the medicine later on in the day. Now I don't really eat anything for breakfast, which- I know, I know, is supposed to be the biggest and healthiest meal of the day. BUT...my body is responding well to this. I'll have a cup of coffee and maybe a few bites of a bagel or something, but that's all. Then around 11:00, I take my medicine and eat lunch at 11:30. I don't eat anything again till around 6- 6:30 pm. Absolutely no snacking.

Now, just because it cuts down on the bloating and the pain, it does not mean that this is exactly fun for me! I hate the fact that I am scared to eat, and that I'd rather deal with hunger pangs and a growling stomach than the other kind of pain. I miss my morning veggie omelet at work! And anyways, I am praying that this is just a temporary solution and that some day, I'll be able to eat like a normal person again. I really do love food, and food fuels my workouts!!!

I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon after work. I'll keep you posted on the outcome. I'm curious to find out what (if anything) was seen on the CT scan. On the 30th, I'm leaving for 6 days with my unit to go through pre-deployment medical screening. Who knows what will happen with that.