One Month!!!

Well, it's been a month, and a crazy one at that. One month ago today, I walked into the hospital Clinica Biblica in San Jose, Costa Rica, anxious and nervous and excited. One month ago today, they found narrowing in two veins and opened them with angioplasty. One month ago today, I could balance on one foot for the first time in years.
Here are a few pictures of the past month. I am horrible at this blogging thing so bear with me. The text isn't quite lined up with the pictures but hopefully you can figure it out:

Here we are at the Fourth of July Parade. I know, I know, the shirts are totally corny, but it was fun:) Chandler REALLY wanted to tie dye shirts. They were supposed to be red, white, and blue, but when we washed them, they turned pink and purple. Haha

Here is Chandler's birthday pizza party in the park. Anna and I at Lagoon.

Anna's surgery to have her adenoids out. She's doing great.

Rock climbing on a HOT DAY at the family reunion in Altamont. I don't think I would have even attempted this before my Liberation, and I was really excited about how strong I felt doing it. Boating at the family reunion in Altamont, Utah.
Bushmans with Grandma and Grandpa Blake
Mommy giving Jonah a haircut. Look at that farmer's tan! haha
After a long day at Lagoon. We had such a blast. I was absolutely FLOORED that I had NO neck pain after going on rides. I kept getting off of roller coasters expecting my neck to be shooting pain down my spine and up the left side of my head, and it didn't happen, at all. This is very new, and very exciting!!

As you can see it's been a very busy and exciting month, a month full of ENJOYING the heat of the Summer, rather than hiding in the shade, and a month full of gratitude for this gift, given to me by so many. Jonah was up in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago, so I got up to go and check on him. I stood up out of bed and immediately braced myself, with my feet spread apart and my arms spread out for balance. And then I realized that I wasn't dizzy! Unbelievable. The room is always, always, always spinning when I get up in the middle of the night. Getting up with my newborns was always interesting because I would have to follow the wall very carefully to the baby's room and was always so afraid of falling with the baby. But I've had to get up in the middle of the night several times in the past month, and I haven't been dizzy once! I get all choked up even writing about this. To not deal with dizziness alone has made such an incredible difference for me.

In addition to the dizziness being gone, I can think so much more clearly, my neck pain is literally gone, my balance is, for the most part, restored, the fatigue is gone, my left leg is much stronger and more coordinated, and it has been so nice to be able to enjoy the heat of Summer again. My legs are shaky when I go in the heat, but my energy is not completely sucked out of me. I feel so very blessed!!!

I don't know if this is the one and only answer. I sure hope it is. But no matter what happens in the future, I will never give up. And no matter what happens, I know that God has a plan, and that He is very aware of the needs of me and my family, and as long as we rely on Him, we'll be okay.

Home Again!

(A picture of Kathy and I. I love this woman. Miss her already.)
First of all, I feel really dumb because so many of you have left such kind, thoughtful, encouraging comments, and I have no idea how to respond to them. Is there a way to respond and ensure that the person who wrote the comment receives the reply? If anyone knows, please help because I am totally clueless to the whole blogging thing.
I cannot even begin to tell you how HAPPY I am to be home!!!!!! As beautiful as paradise is, and as wonderful as our friends are there, being with my babies is better, hands down. I missed them so much and am so happy to be back to my job. Brynn had her hands full with 3 of my children and her two, I'm sure. And it turns out that Jonah had the flu when he was at my Aunt Callie's house. And he gave it to almost everyone in the house! I was so mortified when Callie told me. I felt horrible. Poor little man, and poor everyone else! I am thankful that she didn't tell me when I was there though because I would have been freaking out and unable to do anything about it. She knows me so well. Jake's Aunt Bonnie also came and helped with the kids for a couple of nights, which was so incredibly sweet of her, and my Dad and Jodi took them for the last night. I don't know what I would do without all of the love and support and help from so many of you. I am so truly blessed to have such a loving, and genuinely caring and supportive family. What a gift from my Heavenly Father. No matter what trial we face, we have unconditional love and support from an incredible family. And that makes all the difference.
I am feeling great. It's almost 11PM and I feel tired physically, but mentally, I have so much clarity and I could keep going and going and going! It's a weird feeling to feel the normal kind of tired. Tired for me is being drained completely by the end of the day...having my mind just fog out and be worthless, and my body just shut down. When I got tired before, it meant that my body would stop working, I'd get seriously dizzy (usually Jake had to help me get my meds and get to bed), and a lot of the time I wouldn't even be able to get out intelligible sentences. It's WEIRD to simply feel physically tired. I wonder how long it will be until this energy is normal. I hope I never, ever take my energy for granted again. It is precious.

Here is an interesting article from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/health/29vein.html?hpw