Wow! The difference in life after surgery!!

Hello Everyone!

I'm so sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog. I know I must be one of the worst bloggers ever. I was sitting her thinking, I need to give everyone a little update.. hehehe Chances are if you know me well enough you will find that funny, seeing as if I hardly ever talk a little..Let's face it, I'm a very "wordy" girl.

Can you believe as I sit here tonight that in only eleven days, I will be 5 months pre-op. Wow! That seems unreal. Time is flying by, why is it the older you get, the faster life flies by us.

Okay so let me update you a little. I had my surgery to remove the pituitary tumor on June 13th, one day after my 41st birthday. "Happy Birthday to me, I'm gonna be tumor free.." Yes! That was what I kept singing to myself. And yes, I realize I'm a little weird, and a bit of a dork, so you don't have to worry about telling me.

Well the day I had the surgery, I had probably the worst headache I have ever experienced in my entire life, but I'm extremely happy to say it didn't hang around too long. I had a few rough days after surgery, but I thought it went pretty well over all. As someone that suffered from daily headaches since my teens, it is hard to believe those awful, mind boggling headaches are gone. Sure I have the occasional headache, but not the want to pull your head off and hide so that it can't find you headaches.. See I told I was a little weird (some might argue more that a little, but anywhoo).

The changes my body is going through is quite amazing. Since the day last September that I asked my Endocrinologist to test me for Cushing's until this past week I have lost 61 pounds. It seems a little crazy, I spent years trying to lose weight, not knowing I had Cushing's (which practically made that near impossible). Now thank the Lord, it just keeps coming off.. WooHoo!!! I have to say I want to go around to all the doctors that I constantly told, I really do not eat a lot and should be losing weight...See what did I tell ya!!! Because I heard more times than I can count, "Calories in Calories out", "Just cut back on what you eat", "Try to exercise" and "blah, blah, blah.." Look here, take out tiny pituitary tumor and BAM!! the weight come off...  See I tried telling ya!!

Okay not only have I lost a lot of weight (which I'm completely over the moon about, by the way). I can sleep!! Let me repeat that, I can SLEEP!!! I can not even tell you the last time I actually slept over a couple of hours at a time prior to surgery. I honestly believed I was never, ever going to sleep again. If you have never experienced not being able to sleep, let me tell you, it is HORRIBLE!! A person can not function on a couple of hours of sleep.. So let's all shout...WOOHOOO!! Tina can SLEEP!! Weight loss & sleeping!! Hold on I'm on a roll :)

Let's see what else, oh! I have begun reading again. If you remember I have a bit of a book addiction.. Love, love, love to read. For a long time before surgery, I was unable to read, due to the fact I would pick up a book start reading it, and if I laid it down and picked it up later I could not recall what I had previously read, so I would have to start over. Let's face it a person can only start a book over so many times. So yeah, to reading!!!

Oh, Oh!! I can drive again!! Okay, shhhh.. those of you who are saying, "Oh great, Tina is back on the road.." shhhh... hush!! Because oh yeah, I'm back on the road.. So beware!! LOL Just kidding, I can now drive, because my mind has gotten so much better. I had to stop driving around 3-4 years ago, so being able to drive again is great! Back behind the wheel!!

So as I told you above, my mind has gotten a lot better. I still occasionally have things to pop out of my mouth that make absolutely no sense, but it is becoming better as time goes by, I would say before long I'll be back to normal.. But let's face it I'm pretty sure I've never been considered normal!! Normal is so over-rated anyway!

One of the BEST things is being able to get out and enjoying things with my family. Being able to go to worship services, being able to be involved with things(like last weekend helping the Jr. Civitans scare small children at the Haunted Museum.. LOL), being able to have game night with my family again(we love games, but I haven't been able to play in so long, my brain just would not co-operate at all before surgery) But now.. Momma's back so watch out! Oh yeah, no mercy! Momma's gonna take you down!! Oh no, I'm not competitive at all, why? what makes you ask?? ;) Okay maybe, just a tiny bit.. Okay, yeah let's be honesty.. I like to WIN!! I bet you want to come play games with us, right?? My family, like it when I wasn't able to play and lost at everything, oops too bad for them.. Momma's winning again.. LOL bhahahahaha  In all seriousness, I'm a really nice person to play games with, I promise!

Oh and probably one of my husbands favorite things... No more ordering the same thing 3 times for Kaitlyn's Christmas.. If you've read some of the past post on my blog, you will understand... ;)

So as you can see life is a lot different after surgery. Yes! I still have a ways to go. But I'm getting there. My body still isn't making cortisol or ACTH on it's own yet, so I'm having to take cortisol replacement meds. I have to continually try to cut back on them to try to jump start my body to make it. No luck yet, but it's still early in the game. The worst thing now is hurting all over from lack of cortisol (my body is so accustomed to extremely high doses, so its a hard withdrawal.. sometimes worse that others. Especially when I get out and I'm really active. Like the haunted museum last week.. It put me under all week.. But I was out and about again today..) so the pain, and getting extremely tired (even with all that sleep I'm able to get now).. But that is just to be expected, it is part of the journey. I'm happy, really HAPPY, because in comparison to last year at this time, my life has made a HUGE change.. A very welcome change.

The Lord has brought me so far, I'm so very thankful. To have my life back is truly a BLESSING!! I want to thank each of you for all your prayers. You will never know how much each and everyone has meant to me.. ((HUGS)) to you all!! <3 p="">
Okay if you've made it through my latest book, I mean post. Thanks!!
Okay it is seriously cold around here, so everybody get all warm and snuggly and have a great night! Goodnight, sleep tight!!


Here is my before and after pic.. My journey so far after surgery.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

 Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families. Hard to believe the New Year is just around the corner.. Where has this year gone, it seems like it has flew by this year.




We got up Christmas morning & took turns opening gifts. Kaitlyn usually wants us to open our gifts from her first, while we are wanting her to open her gifts. So we all took turns. Then we headed to Momma's. We all always gather together there on Christmas. Greatest part is all the family just being together. I love my family so much. I was able to make it over to my mom's for Christmas, got to feeling bad while I was there, but I was still glad to be there. I missed out on Thanksgiving at her house(that was a sad, first.. So sad, because I love being with my family)


Anyway, my precious daughter was so happy on Christmas, Molly (American Girl doll) is being retired from the American Girl collection, so that was what she wanted for Christmas. She didn't think we were able to get her. So she was so excited when she saw her. (Since the other gift she asked Santa for, was for One Direction to be under the tree & let's face it Santa & I both told her "Sorry that's just not gonna happen..LOL.. Well besides their new CD which was under there)I'm so proud of the precious, young lady she has become. Unlike so many, when she gets money, she saves for things. There have been a few times she has saved up for something big she wanted. But most of the time, she saves her money to buy gifts for others. Once again that is what she did this year. She used the money she had saved to buy Christmas gifts for me, her dad, my mom, and most of it on my precious 3yr old niece (her cousin) whom she loves so very much. I am always so proud of her. She is truly an amazing child.

She bought me a beautiful red(my favorite color) shirt, she bought her daddy a Polo Pull over shirt, she got my mom (her Ma-Maw) a Hello Kitty music jewelry box(my mom fixed up the cutest Hello Kitty room for the girls at her house (partly for the girls anyway ..LOL... Cutest room) and she got my niece this this huge Barbie Set that had a Barbie house, a Barbie, pool & all sorts of accessories and she also bought her one more barbie doll so she could have two to play with in the house.. See I told you I have an amazing daughter.. (just a little mommy brag in there, I just can't help it.. God truly blessed her father and I when he gave us that precious girl of ours)

Most of all we were all together! We are so Blessed! 

Disney on Ice... Princesses & Heroes

I'm so thankful that I was able to go with momma to take my sweet girls to see Disney on Ice. It was a great show. It was Grace's 1st time to see a Disney on Ice show, she loved it. I'm so thankful I was able to be there to see her precious little face fill with excitement, and such amazement during the show. At times she sat there with her little eyes getting wider & wider, totally glued to watching the show. She was so cute to watch. I have always loved watching a child experience something for the 1st time. I love seeing their face when learning or seeing something new.
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It was a great show. We got to see Mickey, Minnie, Tinkerbell, Goofy, Ariel& Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid , Snow White, the Prince & the 7 dwarfs from Snow White, Aurora, Prince Philip, Maleficent, and the 3 fairy godmothers from Sleeping Beauty, Belle, her prince & Lumiere from Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, Jasmine, & the Genie from Aladdin, Tatiana from The Princess & the Frog, & so much more. We all loved it & really enjoyed it.

I did pretty good, until near the end. Near the end I had a pain shoot through my head that even frightened me it was so bad, dizziness, loss of balance & blurred vision also accompanied the pain. I'm so use to the severe headaches that normally they don't scare me. I have to admit this one caught me off guard it was so bad & it did scare me a little. But I was trying not to let it show too much, because I didn't want to scare everyone else. My sweet girl, knew something was wrong, and she was right there to help her momma get up when it got time to leave. God bless my sweet girl she helped me to the car & helped me try to keep from scaring momma & Grace. I do not know what I would do without my precious daughter. She told me yesterday while we were gone to the ER & when we went to get my MRI, "Mom, I know you better than anyone if  you need help filling out those papers or talking to the dr I can do it. Since we have pretty much been together 24/7 for the past 13 yrs.. ;) Love that sweet child.

Worse blogger EVER!!

I know I have to be one of the worse bloggers in history..LOL I go through stages of blogging. It is something I want to get better at, hmmm maybe I will do it this time.

It is so hard to believe that it is 2012, where has the time gone. My daughter will turn 12 in March. How is that even possible, it seems like only yesterday she was just a wee little baby. Time has flown by so fast. She is now a precious little lady. I feel so blessed to be her mother. It is such and honor to be able to stay at home with her everyday to home school her & watch her grow into a beautiful Christian young lady. I was so proud of her this Christmas. She saved up her money, from working (yard sales, helping her grandpa clean out an old storage building, washing cars & etc) and used her money to buy presents or the stuff to make presents for everyone(both side of the family & friends). It was great watching her spend her hard earned money unselfishly on others & she enjoyed every moment of it. She is already planning for next Christmas (she loves Christmas)..

Well a little about me. I finally bit the bullet so to speak and joined WW online. I was wanting to go to meetings with a friend, but she wasn't able to start yet (and I knew I needed to get started NOW!! I've already waited to long).. So I jumped in a did it. I'm now on week three. My first week I'm proud to say I lost 5lbs. My second week I was so nervous, my husband decided to throw a last minute vacation (which we used as a wonderful home schooling field trip) on me. I thought WHAT?? vacation, man I just joined WW and lost 5lbs now you want to go on VACATION. All I could think was GREAT!! Do you know what happens on vacations, you eat.. You GAIN, not LOSE.. But anyway off we went.. Thank heavens for WW phone apps. With my restraunt app and WW tracker, I'm proud to say I survived. I didn't gain, and lost 2.5 lbs. Whew!! What a relief. I was so scared to step on that scale Friday.. I thought if I gain, I may have to choke my husband j/k... well, maybe!! But thankfully I lost and we had a great time. Filled with lots of learning & fun.

We went to the McWane Science museum, the Titanic museum, Wonder Works, Ripley's Aquarium. It was great, so much fun & learning all wrapped together. Loved the Titanic museum. They give you a profile of a person that you become as you step aboard that really was a passenger on the Titanic. You go thru the tour, learning and seeing all sorts of amazing things. You even get to put your hand in the icy water to see what it felt like (my hand went numb pretty fast, it was horrible to think of the ppl who were in that water) At the end you learn whether the person you are lived or died. Katie & I both had ppl who survived. Katie's story of her person was an amazing story. I'll try to post more about it later. My poor hubby on the other hand, well his person didn't make it. We knew from the beginning his chances were pretty low when he got his card and he was a male 3rd class crew member. The only thing that could have made the museum better would have been if we could have taken pics while on the tour, but sadly it wasn't allowed. We did get some pics outside the museum and in the gift shop. Which I'll try to upload on another day.



Well now that we are back from our great trip, what happens. I wake up sick.. Seriously, we get back late Thursday night. I wake up Friday with a sore throat. Then this morning, I woke up even worse. My poor throat is on FIRE!! and my poor head has been killing me. I sadly spent most of the day in bed. Pretty sure I have strep. Praying no one else gets it, and it leaves me pretty quickly.

Well anyway, that is a quick recap of what has been going on lately with us. So much I need to update on since it's been so long since my last post.. But I'll have to save that for another time..

Ta Ta for now! :)

Meeting Valerie Tripp

Here is my sweet daughter Katie with her favorite author Valerie Tripp. She says this was the best day ever.

We had a great time. First that Friday we went to a wonderful local farm with our homeschooling group. Then we headed out to Indian Creek Youth Camp for a great lecturship from Apologetics Press on Christian Evidences. Then after lunch on Sat. we headed to Georgia. We had a great time as a family and great time with friends..

On Sunday afternoon we got to meet Valerie Tripp. She was wonderful. Before meeting her I was a little worried. She is Katie's favorite author and I didn't know what to expect (how would she act, would she live up to Katie's expectations, Would this meeting leave Katie upset or happy). I was blown away. She took so much time talking to Katie, telling her about her process of writing. Some of her stories from childhood that influenced her books. Telling about some of her family that influenced her books. She sat and let us take pictures, ask questions and even gave Katie her email address. And can you believe she even takes the time to email Katie back and answer her questions. Wow! What an amazing lady. I have a child who loves her favorite author even more and I'm a happy mom. Katie has always loved reading. I'm so proud all my concerns were unfounded and she left Katie with even a greater appreciation for books.

Decorating for Christmas & Seeing Santa & Mrs. Claus

Well after waiting way too long this year. We finally decorated for Christmas. I know, I know considering it's less that 2 weeks until Christmas, it is about time I got in gear. Friday night while Katie was at a friend's house. We rearranged some things. Then Sat. morning Katie and I were ready to get to work. Well after I came alive (I'm not a morning person, unlike my precious daughter). So after I was considered part of the living, we got to work. We put up the Christmas tree and decorated all around, while listening to Christmas music. Of course we had to wait until my hubby got home to put the tree topper on, since him and Katie do this together every year. And we had to get our traditional picture of them putting it on together :) Even though she informed me she is actually big enough to put it on by herself, but she said she still wanted to do it with her daddy anyway.

Then last night we went to see Santa & Mrs. Claus. So I could get a picture. At first Katie told me she didn't care if we went or not, since she now knows about Santa ;( But she later came and told me even though she knows she wanted to go anyway.. Yeah!! This made mommy very happy, because I really wanted a picture. The funny thing was we knew Santa (at the time Katie did not figure out who it was, until later in the car after we had left) Santa was actually my bestie's uncle. And our mailman :) So then it made a lot more sense to her how Santa & Mrs. Claus knew to tell us to look carefully at the candy to make sure everything in there was safe for her, due to her allergies. Boy, was she looking at Mrs. Claus strangely when she said this to us. Then when her daddy told Santa what he wanted (Santa was in our local furniture store and my dh saw a sectional he wanted and told Santa to bring it when he came by the house next week) So once we got in the car, going down the road, Katie had her "ah ha " moment and said "that was Mr. Tom" wasn't it!! LOL She said that explains a lot. LOL That's how Santa & Mrs. Claus knew about my severe peanut allergy!!

Today we had a wonderful day of worship. Two marvelous lessons on methods of Evangelism. How to reach others and bring them to Christ and his church. It was a great day. Do you know how Christ died for you so you could be saved through baptism, for the remission of sins. It's amazing each and every time you think about how, Jesus though he had no sins of his own. Died for all of ours sins. And yet so many turn away from his word. And never become a part of his church. It really saddens me to think of all those who are lost in the world. Do you know about Jesus, about his birth, life, death and resurrection. Do you know how God sent his only son to die on the cross so we could all be free from sin, through baptism. Read his word daily, meditate on it daily, hide it in your heart. Spend time learning about Jesus and all he did for you, for us all. It is beyond amazing. The love he has for us, us who are all sinners. Yet he had no sin, but still died for our sins. That is amazing LOVE!!

Katie decided to spend the night with her maw & paw (my mom & dad). So it was very odd around here tonight (too quite..LOL). Well it was until my dh fell asleep, since then I've had plenty of snoring to take away all the quiteness. :O

Well it's getting late, time for bed. Adios for now.