So..I know I haven't posted anything in a couple days but hopefully everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the Thanksgiving time. I had a great weekend spending time with family and friends, and of course..the USC victory over Clemson. Ever since I was little I have been a die hard Carolina fan and anyone that walks into our house can definitely tell that. It is literally COVERED in USC stuff..And growing up I had a Cocky that you could squeeze and he would sing the fight song. I was the only 5 year old in kindergarten that was able to recite the entire USC fight song word for word! So obviously attending USC was the obvious choice and after spending 5 years there, my commitment to the University of South Carolina is stronger than ever..not to mention alllll the money that they've received from me and my parents, hah! So Finally we have a successful football season, beat Clemson, and are headed to our first ever SEC Championship and I can't wait!
I must say its Monday, mid day and I'm quite bored. I only work Tuesday-Friday so Monday's I don't have much to do besides the typical laundry, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, errands, and all that stuff.. But later in the week should be fun. I get to see Telissa on Wednesday for dinner-we usually try to get together at least once a month and I really look forward to is. She's so sweet and I love her to death!
Also, on Thursday I go back to the doctor for my final set of blood work and tests to see if everything is going okay with CSS. This will be the first month that I have gone without treatment so hopefully after all the treatment sessions, things will be good to go and I'll only get good news from Dr. Turner. I've been praying about it alot and I know everything happens for their own reasons, but I am just really hoping and I know everything is going to come back positive. Everyone I talk to tells me the same thing and it really does help to have a positive attitude about the whole situation. The first couple weeks when I came home from the hospital I was a basket case-completely depressed, not wanting to get out the bed, and just didn't know how to deal with things. But after long talks with my Dr and my mom, and the support of family and friends, I feel like I've completely changed my outlook on this whole thing-and honestly..I can't wait to get back to teaching. This year off has really made me realize how much I miss being in the classroom and even though I would complain and fuss about the late nights of lesson planning and waking up early..I'm ready to get back into it. And I've even applied to work on some more hours above my masters. I haven't quite decided if I wanna tackle a PhD, but..I'm definitely considering and it's a big possibility. I just can't seem to get away from school..whether it be teaching it, or actually being in it myself. After my masters I thought I was done for good, but for some reason..I wanna keep going, so we'll see how everything works out.
So, I concluded my weekend yesterday with a little shopping, lunch with Sarah, and then spending the rest of the day with Chad. He's the best! He'd been hunting in Virginia since Thursday and didn't get back until yesterday, so needless to say I was super ready to see him! He's so sweet and I really enjoy spending time with him. Seeing as everything that has happened this year, it feels wonderful to have someone that truly brings a smile to my face! :) Anyways, hope everyone has a wonderful Monday and I'll make sure to try to update more regularly!
Sutton
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
Soo...it's Turkey day. I hope everyone had a wonderful day and was able to enjoy time with family and friends. Today has been a pretty good holiday for our family, even considering a few minor set backs. Usually my mom, my aunt & uncle cook for Thanksgiving, however this year was a little different. Mom had surgery earlier in the week on her hand and wrist and she can't use her left had at all for atleast 10 days. So, guess who was in charge of cooking and preparing our selection of foods for Thanksgiving dinner, that's right-me. I spent allllll morning literally in the kitchen cooking. It actually turned out pretty good I think, or atleast everyone still ate it anyways, haha!
Also, uncle roe wasn't released from the hospital until 2 today because he had to have 3 stents put in after a heart cath yesterday. The Dr was actually off today, but came in to release him so that he could make it home in time for Thanksgiving dinner. And did I mention that his heart doctor is the same one that I saw while I was in the hospital, as well as my dad seems him too. With as much as our family sees Dr. Om, i think we should all get a family discount!! :)
On a side note, we got to see Dennis and Ann Hadley today! She is getting so big and it's hard to believe that she will be 1 next week! She is precious as ever! Cameren took some pictures so I'll try and post them as soon as I can get ahold to her camera!
As for myself, the past several days have been great-for a variety of reasons actually! :))) For one, I've felt alot better and have even gotten out the house a bit more than normal, and stayed pretty busy. My cold is almost gone completley and I'm def glad about that! I go back to see Dr. Turner next week for another set of tests. I'm hoping everything turns out okay because this will be the first month that I have gone without having a round of treatments. I've been keeping a close eye to check for any kind of systems that may indicate a flare up, and so far I haven't been able to notice anything, so i'm thinking that my tests are going to come back with super good news, atleast that's what I'm going to keep telling myself! I would hate to think that the last 6 months of treatments and stuff haven't been as effective as we though and that I would have to continue with more treatments, but I'm just gonna go ahead and rule that whole possiblity out. Always better to look at the glass as half full instead of half empty right?
SO now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to start on Christmas! I absolutley LOVE Christmas time. I love the colors(prob b/c red IS my fav color!), the smells of Christmas trees and cinnamon smells, decorating, the cold weather, Christmas music, and just being able to spend time with family and friends. Of course the most important reason: to celebrate Jesus' Birthday! But it's just such a great time of the year and sometimes it just seems that people get all caught up in the hustle bustle of what kind of presents to get or what not that they forget the true meaning of Christmas in the first place. Tomorrow is black friday and I promise you will not catch me anywhere near any retail place, haha! I can't stand having to fight with people over things, the enormous crowds, and there is nothing I want bad enough to go shopping at 5am! However, I think me and my sister are gonna spend the day putting up Christmas decorations and the Christmas Tree. I'll make sure to take some pictures and post them once we get everything up. Well, that's about all I have for now. I think i'm gonna go snuggle up in my bed and watch the George Lopez marathon on nick @ nite, hah! Nite everyone!
ps-i can't wait til sunday.. :))
Sutton
Also, uncle roe wasn't released from the hospital until 2 today because he had to have 3 stents put in after a heart cath yesterday. The Dr was actually off today, but came in to release him so that he could make it home in time for Thanksgiving dinner. And did I mention that his heart doctor is the same one that I saw while I was in the hospital, as well as my dad seems him too. With as much as our family sees Dr. Om, i think we should all get a family discount!! :)
On a side note, we got to see Dennis and Ann Hadley today! She is getting so big and it's hard to believe that she will be 1 next week! She is precious as ever! Cameren took some pictures so I'll try and post them as soon as I can get ahold to her camera!
As for myself, the past several days have been great-for a variety of reasons actually! :))) For one, I've felt alot better and have even gotten out the house a bit more than normal, and stayed pretty busy. My cold is almost gone completley and I'm def glad about that! I go back to see Dr. Turner next week for another set of tests. I'm hoping everything turns out okay because this will be the first month that I have gone without having a round of treatments. I've been keeping a close eye to check for any kind of systems that may indicate a flare up, and so far I haven't been able to notice anything, so i'm thinking that my tests are going to come back with super good news, atleast that's what I'm going to keep telling myself! I would hate to think that the last 6 months of treatments and stuff haven't been as effective as we though and that I would have to continue with more treatments, but I'm just gonna go ahead and rule that whole possiblity out. Always better to look at the glass as half full instead of half empty right?
SO now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to start on Christmas! I absolutley LOVE Christmas time. I love the colors(prob b/c red IS my fav color!), the smells of Christmas trees and cinnamon smells, decorating, the cold weather, Christmas music, and just being able to spend time with family and friends. Of course the most important reason: to celebrate Jesus' Birthday! But it's just such a great time of the year and sometimes it just seems that people get all caught up in the hustle bustle of what kind of presents to get or what not that they forget the true meaning of Christmas in the first place. Tomorrow is black friday and I promise you will not catch me anywhere near any retail place, haha! I can't stand having to fight with people over things, the enormous crowds, and there is nothing I want bad enough to go shopping at 5am! However, I think me and my sister are gonna spend the day putting up Christmas decorations and the Christmas Tree. I'll make sure to take some pictures and post them once we get everything up. Well, that's about all I have for now. I think i'm gonna go snuggle up in my bed and watch the George Lopez marathon on nick @ nite, hah! Nite everyone!
ps-i can't wait til sunday.. :))
Sutton
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday, Saturday, Saturday!
So, it's relatively early on a Saturday morning, about 7am actually and i've been up about 2 hours already. I just have not been sleeping well latley and I have no clue why. I've been trying to do different things before I go to bed to see if it will help me sleep through the night but so far, no beuno. Also, I think the fact that I've caught some kinda cold and that I have another sinus infection again (booooo) aren't exaclty helping things.
I have to be really careful whenever I get sick, because the normal everday cold that everyone gets, can turn into something alot worse if I catch it, simply because right now my immune system can't fight off much. This is the first time that I've gotten "sick" with a cold and stuff since treatments so i'm a little hesitant as to how long it will last. I'm already on a constant anti-biotic due to treatments and the weekly shots surpressing my immune system so i've been on Bactrim every other day since I literally came home from the hospital. I'm really hoping I can kick this cold though before it gets any worse. A simple cough and sore throat for a normal person may not be a big deal, but for me-it's almost like a gateway for pneumonia or some crazy stuff like that, but hopefully I will start feeling better soon. My nose is stopped up and runny at the same time.
On a brighter note, we had a surprise birthday party for the Dana boys last night. Tamara and Brittni did a great job of getting everything together and making sure that Brenton and Radisson had no clue what was going on. I think they were really surprised when they walked in because Radisson had a blank look on his face while people are screaming surprise, his first comment-"Whattttt?' Although I think my favorite comment of the night came from Dwight as he was hugging the boys-Brenton in particular, and Dwights saying "Happy Birthday Asshole!" I think there truley were surprised and it was definatley a good time. It's been a while since everyone had all gotten together, and I'd seen people that I haven't seen in forever.. (And Kat-if you happen to read this soon, send me the link you were telling me about for the blog stuff if you get a chance please!) There are also 2 other birthdays to celebrate. My best friend Kristin Lancaster Sumner is 26 today. Wow, 26 seems so old..we will all be 30 before we know it, and that seems a little scary. As a sweet little gesture for KK's birthday, I decded to get her a sterling silver key chain with her NEW initials engraved on it. I have one as well, so now we match, except that obviously my initials are different than hers. The other birthday is for my sweet sweet sister who will be turning 20 tomorrow. I still can't believe my baby sister will no longer be a teenager after tomorrow! Some other exciting news is that Cameren decided she wanted to come home this weekend for her birthday so not only is it a little treat for her, but for us as well!
So..seeing as how it's saturday, that means that the Gamecocks will be playing Troy at Williams Brice at 12:00. Hopefully this should be a semi easy game and we can continue the season with another win before we play our rival Clemson next week. I'm also really excited about the fact that we are going to be playing against Auburn in the SEC Championship Game. It was be absolutley wonderful if we could pull out a win and claim the title of SEC Champions!
The last thing that I want to mention is about my facial from Harmony yesterday. It was absolutley wonderful and Harmony did such a great job. I got the chemical peel and it's amazing how wonderfully smooth my face feels and all the dead layers of skin that were removed. With all my treatments latley, it has really done a number on my skin and really caused it to become extremely dry and flaky. Hoewever, it feels wonderful at the moment!
Well thats about all that I have for right now, but whenever I think of something else to write about, I'll make sure to make a post and blog about it. And yes, I'm still trying to figure out eactly how to post pictures, so if anyone happens to know, could you please fill me in! But I hope everyone has a fabulous Saturday!
Sutton
I have to be really careful whenever I get sick, because the normal everday cold that everyone gets, can turn into something alot worse if I catch it, simply because right now my immune system can't fight off much. This is the first time that I've gotten "sick" with a cold and stuff since treatments so i'm a little hesitant as to how long it will last. I'm already on a constant anti-biotic due to treatments and the weekly shots surpressing my immune system so i've been on Bactrim every other day since I literally came home from the hospital. I'm really hoping I can kick this cold though before it gets any worse. A simple cough and sore throat for a normal person may not be a big deal, but for me-it's almost like a gateway for pneumonia or some crazy stuff like that, but hopefully I will start feeling better soon. My nose is stopped up and runny at the same time.
On a brighter note, we had a surprise birthday party for the Dana boys last night. Tamara and Brittni did a great job of getting everything together and making sure that Brenton and Radisson had no clue what was going on. I think they were really surprised when they walked in because Radisson had a blank look on his face while people are screaming surprise, his first comment-"Whattttt?' Although I think my favorite comment of the night came from Dwight as he was hugging the boys-Brenton in particular, and Dwights saying "Happy Birthday Asshole!" I think there truley were surprised and it was definatley a good time. It's been a while since everyone had all gotten together, and I'd seen people that I haven't seen in forever.. (And Kat-if you happen to read this soon, send me the link you were telling me about for the blog stuff if you get a chance please!) There are also 2 other birthdays to celebrate. My best friend Kristin Lancaster Sumner is 26 today. Wow, 26 seems so old..we will all be 30 before we know it, and that seems a little scary. As a sweet little gesture for KK's birthday, I decded to get her a sterling silver key chain with her NEW initials engraved on it. I have one as well, so now we match, except that obviously my initials are different than hers. The other birthday is for my sweet sweet sister who will be turning 20 tomorrow. I still can't believe my baby sister will no longer be a teenager after tomorrow! Some other exciting news is that Cameren decided she wanted to come home this weekend for her birthday so not only is it a little treat for her, but for us as well!
So..seeing as how it's saturday, that means that the Gamecocks will be playing Troy at Williams Brice at 12:00. Hopefully this should be a semi easy game and we can continue the season with another win before we play our rival Clemson next week. I'm also really excited about the fact that we are going to be playing against Auburn in the SEC Championship Game. It was be absolutley wonderful if we could pull out a win and claim the title of SEC Champions!
The last thing that I want to mention is about my facial from Harmony yesterday. It was absolutley wonderful and Harmony did such a great job. I got the chemical peel and it's amazing how wonderfully smooth my face feels and all the dead layers of skin that were removed. With all my treatments latley, it has really done a number on my skin and really caused it to become extremely dry and flaky. Hoewever, it feels wonderful at the moment!
Well thats about all that I have for right now, but whenever I think of something else to write about, I'll make sure to make a post and blog about it. And yes, I'm still trying to figure out eactly how to post pictures, so if anyone happens to know, could you please fill me in! But I hope everyone has a fabulous Saturday!
Sutton
Friday, November 19, 2010
And It's FRIDAY!
SO, It's Friday, the end of the week, the beginning of the weekend, and that means tomorrow it's GAMECOCK football! I'm super excited about our performance last week and hope that they can continue to play well tomorrow. Also, being able to say that we are the SEC East Champs is pretty cool! The whole time I attended USC we went to several bowl games, but never a SEC Championship game, so this is really exciting. I have so friends that are going to Atlanta for the game and already have their hotel booked, tickets, etc and I must say that I am super jealous. I would love love love to go cheet on the gamecocks in atlanta, but I would even know where to begin to find a ticket, so....I guess cheering them on from home and watching it on tv will have to do!
Well, last night was the Open House for all the local shops downtown. Let me just start by saying there were so many people, and even Santa Clause, Ms Clause, and 2 elves were able to drop by. We had alot of good fun at the Haven. Everyone looked really nice and we had lots of great finger foods, a chocolate fountain (yum!) and even a cranapple/vodka cocktail! We gave out lots of our new menus for the Haven as well as flyers with great holiday gift/spa packages. We plan on having the drawing today so those that are lucky enough to win, will be getting a phone call soon! I'll try to post some pictures of last nights events, once I can figure out exactly how to put up pictures on here!!
SO, I'm super excited to say that in just a little bit, I'll be getting a chemical peel and facial from Harmony! I haven't had one in about a year and I am so excited. Her facials are wonderful and hopefullly we can get rid of some of the flaky skin. But, that's all that I have to write about right now. Maybe throughout the weekend I'll have something a little more exciting to post about so hopefully everyone enjoys their Friday!
Sutton
Well, last night was the Open House for all the local shops downtown. Let me just start by saying there were so many people, and even Santa Clause, Ms Clause, and 2 elves were able to drop by. We had alot of good fun at the Haven. Everyone looked really nice and we had lots of great finger foods, a chocolate fountain (yum!) and even a cranapple/vodka cocktail! We gave out lots of our new menus for the Haven as well as flyers with great holiday gift/spa packages. We plan on having the drawing today so those that are lucky enough to win, will be getting a phone call soon! I'll try to post some pictures of last nights events, once I can figure out exactly how to put up pictures on here!!
SO, I'm super excited to say that in just a little bit, I'll be getting a chemical peel and facial from Harmony! I haven't had one in about a year and I am so excited. Her facials are wonderful and hopefullly we can get rid of some of the flaky skin. But, that's all that I have to write about right now. Maybe throughout the weekend I'll have something a little more exciting to post about so hopefully everyone enjoys their Friday!
Sutton
Monday, November 15, 2010
A little about me!
Well, I've noticed that everyone has started blogging so I thought I might jump on the blogging train as kind of a way to keep everyone updated as to what I'm doing (because my life is just sooo interesting! ha) But, I thought it might kind of be a cool way to keep everyone informed on all the changes and things that I've had going on in the last year, because in all honesty, this year has probably been the hardest year of my short 25 years of life.
Well, if your reading this, then you probably already know about me but there's alot that's been happening to me latley and I think this may be a good way to keep people informed and also answer any questions that people may have.
Well..to start of with, many of you know that I have been pretty sick this year. Well, technically for the last 2 years, but it all came to a roaring head this summer when I was hospitalized in the Cardiac Care Unit in McLeods for 2 weeks. I'd been sick for months and months with chronic bonchitis and sinus infection after sinus infection for literally over a year and I stayed at the doctors office several times a month. After seeing my family doctor half a dozen times, I was refered to an Allergy, Asthma, & Sinus doctor who I saw for about another 6 months. They did allergy tests, which all came back negative, confirmed that I do infact have Asthma and chornic sinusitus. He then referrred me to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr who decided that I needed sinus surgery to help try and alleviate the problems. Sooo..last December I went through the painful, PAINFUL, sinus surgery. It helped, for about 2 months, and then I was right back in the doctors office with the same symptoms, and still feeling horrible. No one knew what was wrong, so it was back to anti-biotics and prednisone for me. I continued to battle with the sick feeling until the end of the school year when i started having sharp pains in my left arm. I kept asking my mom what she thought it was but she wasn't sure and she said it should be okay. After about 2 weeks of constant pain and agony, I finally decided I would go to the doctor. Little did I know what I was in for that day.
The morning I was suppose to go to the doctor, I had been up the night before throwing up and having a horrific pain in my chest. It was so bad, my mom had to come home from work to take me to the doctor because I physically couldn't even sit up, my dad literally had to pick me up out of the bed and I was at the point of tears and hurled over the entire time I was at the doctors office. Finally the doctor came in, I told him everything that was wrong and he thought that maybe I should be admitted for observation overnight because of the tenderness in my abdomen and the pain in my arm. Well..I was admitted to Carolina Pines and was ordered CT Scans and a MRI. It wasn't 15 minutes that I had been back into my room when the Dr called with the results of my tests. I literally broke down in tears as he began talking and I tried to speak but nothing would come out. So my mom took the phone and I could hear the concern and tremble in her voice as she was talking with the dr. He informed me that I had what was called a pericardial effusion (fluid around my heart) and spots on both of my lungs. He said that I needed to be immediatley transferred to McLeod and that he had already spoken with the cardiologist there and that they were expecting me, and would be waiting as soon as I arrived. In a matter of literally 5 minutes my entire life seemed to change. I had no idea what any of this meant except that I was rushed into an ambulance and rolled into McLeod before I even knew what was going on. Scary?..absolutley..
The cardiologist came in and they immediatley started hooking me up to machine after machine and all I could do was watch and literally just cry because I was still in shock as I had no idea what any of this meant, and my parents were still trying to figure out what exactly was going on as well. SO.. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital having test after test after test done to the point I felt like a lab rat because I had been poked and proded so many times, yet no one could tell us what was wrong or what we could do to fix the problems. Alot of my stay in the hospital is still a blur due to all the drugs and medication I was on. Although I do remember all my family and friends that would come by and see me each and everyday and just sit with me to keep me company. I'd never been in a hospital before so I was very thankful that I had someone with me at the hospital literally the entire time I was there those 2 weeks. After days and days of monitoring my heart and even being on the operation table getting prepped for surgery-then the thoracic surgeon deciding at the last minute he didn't feel comfortable performing the heart tap(are you kidding me..is he serious right now? Not only was I even more concerned now, but Debbie-my mom was all but beside herself. Those of you that know my mom know that isn't necessarily a good thing!) Finally, I ended up having to have surgery on my heart and a biopsy on my lungs to remove the fluid (500 mL of fluid!) and test the spots to see if they were cancer, luckily they werent!
Finally..to make a long story short, the doctors finally figured out what was wrong, with the help of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, that I have a very rare and uncommon auto-immune disease known as Churg-Strauss Syndrome. Great! They have a diagnosis-but what exactly is CSS? None of us knew. Apparently it's a vasculitous disease that causes your body to fight against itself. No one at McLeod had ever seen a patient with this disease, let alone treat a patient for it. However, Dr. Turner (my AMAZING rhumatologist) was being guided by a specialist in Cleveland who HAS treated patients with this disease. It's not contagious, they have no idea how I got it, or where it came from, it's not gentic, and the chances of getting it are literally 1 in a million, so how did I get so lucky?!
Now that we have a diagnosis, the next question obviously is how do we fix it? Well, we can treat the symptoms and put the disease in remission, but I'll have it the rest of my life. In order to control the disease and put it into remission, I have underwent 6 months of treatment sessions at the chemotherapy center in Florence. I was the youngest person at the place recieving teatment by about 30 years-not exactly something I looked forward to, or an exciting place to be :(. Each month for 3 days I would go, be hooked up to an IV and sit for hours while they pumped medicines into my body in HOPES that it would help to control this monster. It's now November and I finished up my last round of treatments 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it will be for good. Dr. Turner says that unless I have a flare up, hopefully I won't have to do anymore treatments anytime soon. However, I still have to take my weekly injection of methotrexate (which is a chemo drug) that helps to keep the disease at bay. I have a follow up appointment the beginning of December where I will have more blood work and test done to see if everything checks out okay, hopefully it will, because I desperatley am looking forward to some good news after everything that has happened in the last 7 months.
To be honest, this whole ordeal has really changed my entire perspective on life. My life literally has changed overnight and I'm still learning how to live with CSS. Not only has it effected my body physically, but mentally and emotionally its been a rollercoaster ride for me. I have my good days and my bad days and at first I had lots of questions as to why me, what did I do to deserve this, and just accepting the fact that I have a condition that I'll never be able to get rid of completley. But after a while, lots of research, talks with my Dr and parents, and many prayers to God, I have realized that everything happens for a reason and even though I don't know why this has all happened to me, there is some reason God has put this before me, and who am I to question Him? So for now, all I can do is what the doctors tell me, and pray to God to give me the strength to make it through all of this with a positive attitude and accept that He is in control, because I know that He never gives us more than we can handle and apparently this is an obstacle that is suppose to be in my path. Don't get me wrong though, there has been many many times where I've just cried and wondered, "what's next" because I simply don't know, but I just keep on with my day to day and I'm trying to do things to keep me occupied and busy so I don't worry about CSS.
Through this whole process I'm so thankful for all the love and support that I've received from family and friends, especially for them just listening to me when I needed someone to talk to, or going with me to my treatment sessions. I know I wouldn't be able to handle all of this on my own, so without them, I don't know what I would do! And my poor parents-they have seen me at my absolute worst due to all the steroids that I'm on, yet they still are there for me every single day. I can't tell you how many times I've just sat and cried to my mom and she's teared up several times too, but it helps to know that I can talk to her and my dad whenever i'm having one of my down days. They've been so supportive and my sister as well. When I first started with the treatments, they said there was a chance I could loose my hair-which really really worried me, so my sister decided she would let hers grow out long in the chance that I would loose my hair and need it, she would cut hers and donate it, just for me. How sweet is that?
Now, I've been spending my days working up at the Haven with Harmony, Kristin, Danielle, and Amber and I'm really enjoying it. It gives me a chance to get out the house and actually do something until I can get back to teaching and the girls are so nice to me! With my immune system being so weak right now, the Drs don't want me to be around lots of children so teaching obviously wouldn't be something that I can do right now. I'm suppose to go see a specialist in Cleveland hopefully the first of the year at the Cleveland Clinic who will hopefully give me some more answes to my many questions. I'm excited to see him and hear what he has to say, but at the same time I'm a little apprehensive because I'm not sure exactly what he will tell me. All I can do though is pray that everything works out the way that it is suppose to.
If your interested in learning more about CSS, here is a link sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic that gives you lots of information about it.
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Vasculitis_Churg_Strauss/hic_Churg-Strauss_Syndrome.aspx
Wow..I feel like I have just summed up the last 6 months in just 1 blog post! I'll try to keep everyone updated as often as possible, but that's all for now!
Sutton
Well, if your reading this, then you probably already know about me but there's alot that's been happening to me latley and I think this may be a good way to keep people informed and also answer any questions that people may have.
Well..to start of with, many of you know that I have been pretty sick this year. Well, technically for the last 2 years, but it all came to a roaring head this summer when I was hospitalized in the Cardiac Care Unit in McLeods for 2 weeks. I'd been sick for months and months with chronic bonchitis and sinus infection after sinus infection for literally over a year and I stayed at the doctors office several times a month. After seeing my family doctor half a dozen times, I was refered to an Allergy, Asthma, & Sinus doctor who I saw for about another 6 months. They did allergy tests, which all came back negative, confirmed that I do infact have Asthma and chornic sinusitus. He then referrred me to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr who decided that I needed sinus surgery to help try and alleviate the problems. Sooo..last December I went through the painful, PAINFUL, sinus surgery. It helped, for about 2 months, and then I was right back in the doctors office with the same symptoms, and still feeling horrible. No one knew what was wrong, so it was back to anti-biotics and prednisone for me. I continued to battle with the sick feeling until the end of the school year when i started having sharp pains in my left arm. I kept asking my mom what she thought it was but she wasn't sure and she said it should be okay. After about 2 weeks of constant pain and agony, I finally decided I would go to the doctor. Little did I know what I was in for that day.
The morning I was suppose to go to the doctor, I had been up the night before throwing up and having a horrific pain in my chest. It was so bad, my mom had to come home from work to take me to the doctor because I physically couldn't even sit up, my dad literally had to pick me up out of the bed and I was at the point of tears and hurled over the entire time I was at the doctors office. Finally the doctor came in, I told him everything that was wrong and he thought that maybe I should be admitted for observation overnight because of the tenderness in my abdomen and the pain in my arm. Well..I was admitted to Carolina Pines and was ordered CT Scans and a MRI. It wasn't 15 minutes that I had been back into my room when the Dr called with the results of my tests. I literally broke down in tears as he began talking and I tried to speak but nothing would come out. So my mom took the phone and I could hear the concern and tremble in her voice as she was talking with the dr. He informed me that I had what was called a pericardial effusion (fluid around my heart) and spots on both of my lungs. He said that I needed to be immediatley transferred to McLeod and that he had already spoken with the cardiologist there and that they were expecting me, and would be waiting as soon as I arrived. In a matter of literally 5 minutes my entire life seemed to change. I had no idea what any of this meant except that I was rushed into an ambulance and rolled into McLeod before I even knew what was going on. Scary?..absolutley..
The cardiologist came in and they immediatley started hooking me up to machine after machine and all I could do was watch and literally just cry because I was still in shock as I had no idea what any of this meant, and my parents were still trying to figure out what exactly was going on as well. SO.. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital having test after test after test done to the point I felt like a lab rat because I had been poked and proded so many times, yet no one could tell us what was wrong or what we could do to fix the problems. Alot of my stay in the hospital is still a blur due to all the drugs and medication I was on. Although I do remember all my family and friends that would come by and see me each and everyday and just sit with me to keep me company. I'd never been in a hospital before so I was very thankful that I had someone with me at the hospital literally the entire time I was there those 2 weeks. After days and days of monitoring my heart and even being on the operation table getting prepped for surgery-then the thoracic surgeon deciding at the last minute he didn't feel comfortable performing the heart tap(are you kidding me..is he serious right now? Not only was I even more concerned now, but Debbie-my mom was all but beside herself. Those of you that know my mom know that isn't necessarily a good thing!) Finally, I ended up having to have surgery on my heart and a biopsy on my lungs to remove the fluid (500 mL of fluid!) and test the spots to see if they were cancer, luckily they werent!
Finally..to make a long story short, the doctors finally figured out what was wrong, with the help of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, that I have a very rare and uncommon auto-immune disease known as Churg-Strauss Syndrome. Great! They have a diagnosis-but what exactly is CSS? None of us knew. Apparently it's a vasculitous disease that causes your body to fight against itself. No one at McLeod had ever seen a patient with this disease, let alone treat a patient for it. However, Dr. Turner (my AMAZING rhumatologist) was being guided by a specialist in Cleveland who HAS treated patients with this disease. It's not contagious, they have no idea how I got it, or where it came from, it's not gentic, and the chances of getting it are literally 1 in a million, so how did I get so lucky?!
Now that we have a diagnosis, the next question obviously is how do we fix it? Well, we can treat the symptoms and put the disease in remission, but I'll have it the rest of my life. In order to control the disease and put it into remission, I have underwent 6 months of treatment sessions at the chemotherapy center in Florence. I was the youngest person at the place recieving teatment by about 30 years-not exactly something I looked forward to, or an exciting place to be :(. Each month for 3 days I would go, be hooked up to an IV and sit for hours while they pumped medicines into my body in HOPES that it would help to control this monster. It's now November and I finished up my last round of treatments 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it will be for good. Dr. Turner says that unless I have a flare up, hopefully I won't have to do anymore treatments anytime soon. However, I still have to take my weekly injection of methotrexate (which is a chemo drug) that helps to keep the disease at bay. I have a follow up appointment the beginning of December where I will have more blood work and test done to see if everything checks out okay, hopefully it will, because I desperatley am looking forward to some good news after everything that has happened in the last 7 months.
To be honest, this whole ordeal has really changed my entire perspective on life. My life literally has changed overnight and I'm still learning how to live with CSS. Not only has it effected my body physically, but mentally and emotionally its been a rollercoaster ride for me. I have my good days and my bad days and at first I had lots of questions as to why me, what did I do to deserve this, and just accepting the fact that I have a condition that I'll never be able to get rid of completley. But after a while, lots of research, talks with my Dr and parents, and many prayers to God, I have realized that everything happens for a reason and even though I don't know why this has all happened to me, there is some reason God has put this before me, and who am I to question Him? So for now, all I can do is what the doctors tell me, and pray to God to give me the strength to make it through all of this with a positive attitude and accept that He is in control, because I know that He never gives us more than we can handle and apparently this is an obstacle that is suppose to be in my path. Don't get me wrong though, there has been many many times where I've just cried and wondered, "what's next" because I simply don't know, but I just keep on with my day to day and I'm trying to do things to keep me occupied and busy so I don't worry about CSS.
Through this whole process I'm so thankful for all the love and support that I've received from family and friends, especially for them just listening to me when I needed someone to talk to, or going with me to my treatment sessions. I know I wouldn't be able to handle all of this on my own, so without them, I don't know what I would do! And my poor parents-they have seen me at my absolute worst due to all the steroids that I'm on, yet they still are there for me every single day. I can't tell you how many times I've just sat and cried to my mom and she's teared up several times too, but it helps to know that I can talk to her and my dad whenever i'm having one of my down days. They've been so supportive and my sister as well. When I first started with the treatments, they said there was a chance I could loose my hair-which really really worried me, so my sister decided she would let hers grow out long in the chance that I would loose my hair and need it, she would cut hers and donate it, just for me. How sweet is that?
Now, I've been spending my days working up at the Haven with Harmony, Kristin, Danielle, and Amber and I'm really enjoying it. It gives me a chance to get out the house and actually do something until I can get back to teaching and the girls are so nice to me! With my immune system being so weak right now, the Drs don't want me to be around lots of children so teaching obviously wouldn't be something that I can do right now. I'm suppose to go see a specialist in Cleveland hopefully the first of the year at the Cleveland Clinic who will hopefully give me some more answes to my many questions. I'm excited to see him and hear what he has to say, but at the same time I'm a little apprehensive because I'm not sure exactly what he will tell me. All I can do though is pray that everything works out the way that it is suppose to.
If your interested in learning more about CSS, here is a link sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic that gives you lots of information about it.
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/Vasculitis_Churg_Strauss/hic_Churg-Strauss_Syndrome.aspx
Wow..I feel like I have just summed up the last 6 months in just 1 blog post! I'll try to keep everyone updated as often as possible, but that's all for now!
Sutton
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