The good with the bad.

There are many good things to be thankful for. Spring is here and warmer weather is pretty much here to stay. All of the signs of spring are budding to life. The kids are healthy for the most part, aside from Sonja having a bout of gastroenteritis this past weekend. Unfortunately, sometimes we all have bad things happen in our lives. I have recently received some bad news but first with the good.

Last year, we had a fairly frequent visitor to our back yard. At first, I would only hear the characteristic "pecking" of our woodpecker, who I named "Big Red", after a certain someone I know.

One day, I was standing at our kitchen sink when I saw him. This woodpecker was HUGE! I tried to hurry and get my camera to take his picture as no one would believe the size of this guy if I told them, so I wanted proof. Needless to say, by the time I retrieved the camera, he was gone. I told Dan and he just said "Hmmm....that's nice".

One day, Dan was home, when he suddenly says "Tina, look at the size of this woodpecker!" I quickly went to where he was standing and saw our woodpecker Big Red. This time Dan was able to take a picture of him.

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The other day, we were all in our backyard and as we played a large bird flew overhead coming very close to us. He perched in the trees nearby and that's when we saw him. I don't think this is the same one because he is smaller than "Big Red" but he's still a large bird nonetheless.

For the past couple of weekends (minus last weekend), we've been sleeping in the camper. The kids just love it! We gather our snacks, p.j.'s, drinks, movies etc and head on out the camper. We brought out Sonja's little "Winnie the Pooh" couch and chair so the kids can watch their videos on the floor. To them it's an adventure, even though we are just steps from the front door of our house.

They also love having their own bunk beds but also being in the same room together. They giggle and squirm with excitement as they slip between the sheets of their bunks. Max gets out of bed several times and goes into the living/dining area to peek at us, just because he can. Dan quickly shoo's him back into bed.

Max finally fell asleep after much squirming and giggling.
Sonja's sleepy little head barely visible from under her covers.

The puppy is almost fully house trained and rarely messes in the house, even when he's left alone. I think that's pretty good for such a young pup. His 4 month birthday is coming on May 14th.

Now for the bad news.....

As some of you may have read here, I was having some medical problems, E.R. visits and medical testing done. My echo cardiogram was virtually unchanged from my last one a few years back so that too is good news. My pain specialist decided she would order some MRI's for my cervical and thoracic spine as she thought my symptoms could be related to more spinal problems, which I agreed

This Monday I had an appointment with her (my pain specialist) and she gave me the results of my MRI's.

The MRI's showed I have a few new things going on with me, three that I remember, some I expected, some I'm still kind of reeling from. I think I missed part of the explanation she gave as I was processing the news and kind of tuned out and went into my own little world for a moment.

She told me I have 3 more herniated discs in my thoracic spine, which to me is no surprise. The herniations are at the T10/T11 and T 12 area of my spine. I was expecting that.

The second thing is I have a large tumor on my spine that is located at the T3 area of my thoracic spine. She said it's a large spinal hemangioma that is non cancerous but can invade the tissues and bone much like a cancerous tumor. She said that many times they are small and don't really cause much, if any problems. Other times they are painful and problematic as they can rupture and cause spinal collapse, internal bleeding and paralysis.

The third thing is I have a problem with my brainstem. It's called Arnold-Chiari malformation, or cerebellar ectopia. What is that? It's when the cerebellar portion of your brain drops down into the spinal canal. Some refer to it as herniation of the brainstem. The cerebellar portion of the brain is responsible for the automatic things our body does such as breathing, heart rate, temperature control etc.

The last two things (hemangioma and Arnold-Chiari) are probably what is causing my chest pain and shortness of breath, along with the pain increase I've been experiencing.

I'm scheduled to see a neurosurgeon on June 3rd to find out more details. My pain Dr. explained some of it to me but since she is not a neurologist, she doesn't want to speculate and give me any info she's not absolutely positive about. It's going to be a loooonnnggggg wait until that appointment.

As you may imagine, we've been pretty upset here at home and Dan and I have been discussing things in the event I have to undergo surgery and other possible scenarios. Dan is such a rock. We have been through many tough times. Many marriages don't survive some of the problems we've faced, but going through them has made us much stronger. We'll get through this one too.

The treatment options for the hemangioma are nothing if it's non problematic, to radiation and lastly surgery. Surgery for a large hemangioma is very risky because the risk of hemorrhaging is high. They recommend you donate your own blood prior to surgery (at least 4 pints) due to the expected blood loss, transfusion is common during this type of surgery, especially for large tumors.

For the Arnold-Chiari, the options again are nothing if no symptoms and "tonsils" or herniation of the cerebellum is small, to surgery. My "tonsils" are 5mm in size which is, from my research, considered a size they operate on due to the tendency to obstruct spinal fluid and also cause significant problems and pain. I'm not sure what I may face but I do know the pain and discomfort is very bad.

Unfortunate for my mother in law, but kind of fortunate in a way for me, is that my mother in law has Arnold-Chiari and had the surgery a few years ago. She has briefly discussed with me her experience with surgery and recovery(she's a very private person) which she said is very difficult. She has returned to work but she didn't have any other spinal problems whatsoever. I would never disclose her age but lets just say she, like I, is "mature" and she is pretty active...... more active than people half her age!

Right now my main concern is for the kids and Dan. Dan is a wonderful father and they love him very much. The children depend mostly on me for much of their care, not that Dan won't, it's because they come to me. As you mother's out there know, your children depend mostly on you as most mother's are the primary caregivers. Sonja being a precocious child, knows about my back and is very in tune with what is going on around her. She can tell that I'm in pain even though I think I'm hiding it from her. Her fix? "I'll make you some hot chocolate. That'll do it!" How sweet is that! I'm trying to figure out what would be the best time to have the surgery if I need it and I have the choice. Dan thinks if I need it I should get it done right away. I think that if surgery is a must and I can wait, I would rather wait until Sonja starts Pre-K and I can also enroll Max in Nursery school. That way they can focus on better things and it would be more manageable for Dan and me at home during the post op recovery. My mother in law did say though that if I had it during the summer, she's off and she can help out (which I know Sonja wouldn't have a bit of problem with that!) I guess, I'll cross that brige when I get to it.

Well, I guess I'll sign off for now.

If you would, please say a couple of prayers for the kids and keep them in your thoughts. I wouldn't mind a couple of prayers myself.

Take care

Until next time......