Further Update

Sorry to all for the delayed update. I was released from the hospital on Saturday and have been home recovering since.

Here's how things played out:

For two and a half months I've been dealing with an ongoing headache and weird visual episodes where my vision would be blurry or double. I finally went to see a neurologist last week, had a brain MRI done, and when the results came in, my doctor had me come to her office to talk. Boy was that frightening. My hubby took off work to join me and when we got there my doctor told me that there were small pin sized regions in my brain of dead brain tissue. Essentially those areas did not receive blood supply for a significant time and died. Essentially I had been having multiple mini strokes for the last few months. My doctor's concern was that I would have a bigger stroke that would be more damaging so she wanted me to go immediately to the hospital to be admitted, observed, and further tested to find a cause and solution to the problem.

So that's what we did. We went to the hospital and for the next few days I was put through a number of grueling, and even somewhat risky tests to determine what was going on. The good news is that I do not have vasculitis which is inflammation of the blood vessels in the brain. Also good news is that my heart is completely normal and there's no holes in it. What doctors finally decided is that my lupus (autoimmune condition I have had since age 14) combined with some medicine I was taking was causing small blood clots to form in my blood stream, and these clots had made there way all the way up to the capillaries in my brain where they lodged and cut off blood supply to some small areas in my brain. (When I say small, I mean the tip of a pencil small).

After loading me with all sorts of medications to thin my blood and get my massive headache under control, we were told a second piece of information.

I have a tumor on my pituitary gland. In case you're not familiar with the pituitary gland, it is the master regulator for all the hormones in the body. It is about the size of a bean and dangles from the brain in a space behind the eyes. The tumor itself is quite small, but we've essentially found it early, thanks to the brain MRI performed for my other condition/symptoms. Currently it is slightly touching my optic nerves which may be accounting for the visual episodes I've been having. We are now in the process of meeting with doctors to decide what to do about it.

Thank you so much to everyone for all your love and support during this time. Both my mom and sister (and baby niece) all flew out to be with us and take care of me during this time. Their presence has been invaluable and I am so thankful especially for my mom for being with me in the hospital and tag teaming with Daniel. Daniel of course has been my constant rock and without him and my family I don't think I could have made it those few days in the hospital.

Hopefully in another week I will have more information on when and if there's a surgery date and will keep you all posted. The good news at this time is that I am on more powerful drugs to keep my headache at bay. I predict that I should be able to carry on with life as normal (for the most part) during this waiting period.

Update...

Hello everyone!

For those of you who haven't heard, I am sitting in the hospital at the moment. Without going into a lot of details, I have had an abnormal brain MRI which has lead to many more tests. So far, most things are coming back normal, but it seems that more tests will need to be done. The main thing I'm dealing with is a massive headache. I will keep you all posted as to my condition but I may be out of commission for photography for the next few weeks, possible months. It's unclear right now. Sorry for the vagueness.

Thank you for all the support! I will keep you posted when I know more details.

Sarah

When the Owners are Away, the Cats will Play....

We went for a brief hike/excursion yesterday:


And our cats stayed home and played Set Cubed:

I think O'Malley is cheating:

House Paint, and Gardens, and Lilies, Oh My!

The house painting is finished! Yah! We are so happy with the results!

My vegetable garden is thriving! Look at the what's growing:

(above: Little snap peas sprouting out to say hello. There are a dozen of these little guys popping up. Aren't they cute? Zucchini sprouts are also coming up. How exciting!)

(above: Look at those luscious strawberries! But don't be fooled, they are much smaller in real life)


And finally my lilies! There's no flowers yet but they are taking over my backyard. Here is a row against my fence and there is another row wrapping around the deck!

Painting has Commenced!

These are actual before and after photos of the paint job on our house:


Thanks to Capex Construction! Trim will be painted tomorrow and Saturday. So exciting!!!

Lazy Cats

This is the view from a second story window looking down on our cat, O'Malley, and his good friend, Roger, lounging on the patio deck. Aren't they cute?

Going brown!

This is our newest candidate for a house color. See the before and after: