Real Life

I love that I have kept up with this blog.  For the most part, it is me capturing lots of pictures of the memories that my sweet family makes.  But I would be doing myself a disfavor if I didn't also include some of the tough days.  The end of October has been a little challenging this year. On Sunday night, October 20, our area was hit by a F2 tornado.  While our neighborhood and town (Cave Springs) had a lot of damage, our house did not.  We lost our gate and our outdoor light fixtures, but the house next to us lost half of their roof; which quickly puts things into perspective.  We were so thankful that all of our neighbors were safe.  What's so crazy about this tornado is that it was on the ground for over 30 miles.  It hit our neighborhood, but also hit my brother's neighborhood out by the lake.  While they lost a huge tree that smashed their playhouse, it thankfully did no damage to Landon's or Mamaw's house.  

 Landon and Brandi have been in China adopting sweet Jude and have been gone for 16 days.  The tough part is not that they have been gone.  Their kiddos are precious and Grammy/Grumpy and Mimi/Pawpaw have done a fantastic job keeping up with their schedules and taking care of everybody.  Dad had to take care of the tree out at their house because the road was impassable.  

Again, I am feeling so blessed that everyone was safe and damage was minimal. 

This brings me to yesterday.  I got home after trick-or-treating on Halloween night and was having crazy chills and horrible body aches.  I was determined that I had the flu.  I was planning to work yesterday but truly had no energy to even get up and get ready.  I made an appointment to see an APN at Mercy and my flu test came back negative.  I had told her that I felt a lot of tightness in my chest and was having trouble taking deep breaths, even though she said my lungs sounded good.  She was very proactive and ordered at D-dimer blood test.  She said if it came back elevated, I could have blood clots in my lungs.  

Hearing that scared me to death!  I know of two people who have died instantly because of pulmonary embolisms that have dislodged.  Well...my blood work came back elevated.  She immediately ordered a CT Angio scan.  Matt had picked both kids up early and had them to my mom so that he could be with me.  We did the Cat Scan and praise the Lord that I had no blood clots, but a severe case of pneumonia.  

In the midst of all this going on, my precious sister was on the road and had gotten all the way to Ft. Smith before I received the news that there were no blood clots.  My sweet Mom was just trying to hold it together with 5 grands in tow, and I couldn't quit crying.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude when the APN gave me the news.  

I was able to leave the hospital about 2 hours before Landon and Brandi landed at the airport with Jude.  Emotions were very high yesterday, but when I hugged my babies necks and snuggled them extra last night, I felt so very grateful.


God is FAITHFUL, all the time!