Getting Older

I just celebrated (mourned) the passing of another year in my life. This year was particularly hard for me. Usually I don't mind getting a year older, usually I am truly celebrating it. This year, I just wanted to sit down and cry, something I have done many times the last few months. With no medical insurance, I am not able to go to the doctor to confirm my suspicions, I believe I am going through menopause.

I have many of the symptoms that others have mentioned they experience. Night sweats, sleepless nights, hot flashes, severe mood swings, and extremely irritable, just for starters. On the recommendation of my Mom through her questions to her doctor, I have started taking Black Cohosh Extract. I know it will take time to work but I am struggling with to have the patience to wait. I hate the hot flashes and night sweats, but I love the thought of never having a period again. I only wish I could blink my eyes and it would all be over with tomorrow. I don't know if I can hold out for the years it may take and worst of all, I don't think my family can hang on that long. I know there are days I am a complete Bitch (for lack of a better word) but I can't control this. There are days I want to jump out of my skin and days I want to sit and cry all day long.

If anyone reading this has a better suggestion for helping with the symptoms, please email me at zehrfamily@msn.com. I welcome all suggestions, just put in the subject line something about this blog. I wish all of you the very best and if we come in contact and I am a Bitch, please remember what you have read.

God Bless Everyone!!

H1N1 or Swine Flu

This wretched virus has hit our family! It all began with our nephew Chance last week showing signs of a simple cold. My sister Michelle, his Mom, had to leave town for business and my parents were out of state for my Aunt's funeral, so we volunteered to let him come stay with us. Since he and Ben attend the same school it seemed the best solution for all and it allowed David the opportunity to help tend the dogs at Mom's when he took the boy's to school and picked them up. Little did we know then what we know now.

Seems Chance has a friend that was exhibiting flu symptoms but did not miss any school, so he spread his germs all over. Chance on the other hand, was only showing signs of a cough and a slight fever, something that we thought was a slight cold. We kept him home from school at Michelle's insistence and called the doctor to see him. His doctor could not get him in until Thursday of last week, so we just kept him home as things got worse. In the meantime, Ben started coughing and having a sore throat, so home he stayed. Since Mom and Dad came home late Wednesday, she agreed to take Chance to the doctor which was a good thing for us as David had become sick on Wednesday and was not going to be able to take him. James and I were feeling great.

Friday rolled around and I was having a nagging cough in the morning but thought nothing of it, so I went to work leaving my sick child and hubby at home. As the day wore on, the body aches, fever and chills started. About 4 pm, Mom called me at work to say they got the results on Chance, "he has swine flu" is all I heard. I knew that this was not good and that what was happening at home and to me was probably the same thing. I left work as fast as I could finish up and get out of there to prevent infecting anyone else. I got home, told James to take David to the VA to get him some help and went inside to work on helping Ben and myself to feel better. You see there isn't much you can do except rest, drink lots of fluids and rest more! But with David's health condition so unstable from the lymphoma it is important that he be seen quickly. He spent over 10 hours there getting IV's and anti-viral meds for swine flu. On Saturday, Ben and I went to University Hospital to confirm if we had it also, which they did.

Since that time, the three of us have been resting, reading, watching tv, playing on the computer, or sleeping. We have been drinking lots of tea, water, grape and orange juice and enjoying the pots of chicken and hamburger soups my mom and sister made for us. Take it from the 3 of us, follow the doctor's orders, rest, rest, drink, drink, rest, rest, and don't go back to work until your fever has been gone without medication control for 24 hours. I hope none of you get this but we already know several of our family members in other states have gotten it. We love you and hope you are well soon. God Bless everyone!!!

August!

Wow this year is just flying by! It has been a year of major changes for us. Beginning in December 2008 with the move to Aurora, through hard times with Elizabeth, the death of my Uncle Wallace, the death of David's Uncle Leonard, the death of David's Aunt Anna, Elizabeth's graduation, Ben's surgeries, Ben changing schools, living in a camper for 6 months and the move to a new home of our own.

The move to Aurora was tough, afterall, after 14 years in Trinidad we had a solid foundation of friends and "family". The hardest part of moving was leaving our daughter there. She wanted to finish high school, afterall, it was only 5 months until graduation. During the last months of her high school life, things got pretty bad between all of us and her. She turned 18 in January and she wanted to live life on her own. She was living with her boyfriend and his family, they had some major health issues, she was missing her family especially Ben and trying to deal with preparing for graduation. Of course the minute she turned 18, she didn't want anymore comments from us on how she should do anything in her life. She is now an adult and we have to face that reality. Life goes on.....

Ben had the first of two operations to fix a problem with his hips in March. He says it was a great relief to get rid of the pain the excess cartilidge was causing and looked forward to the 2nd surgery in June. He was enjoying the home bound teaching he received while recuperating. He now says school is such a drag. I think some of that is due to the fact he had no summer per sey. He was on crutches most of the summer thereby limiting his mobility to go do things with his friends. I have advised him to get more involved in school activities, it truly helps make the year go by faster.

James has been working most of the time since the move. He decided to take a semester off from college to allow himself time to adjust to the new surroundings and to get his financial aid in place. He began working at Elitch Gardens in April and has continued with good reviews since then. He applied for entrance to Pickens Technical College but was unable to get things moving for the fall semester. Now he says he is going to see about CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) to get the ball rolling towards nursing school. If he gets his CNA, he can work and go to school to get his degree.

I have been working since June for a Liquor store near our home. It is good to have the extra income to help with all the expenses. I have not stopped applying for others positions as being a liquor store clerk is not my career goal...LOL! David is still trying to find work of some kind but with all the health problems with his back and lymphoma it is very hard. He is now going to see about getting his VA status set to unemployable, that should help as it will increase his monthly payment. He has been seeing the orthopedic doctors about his back pain and now they have determined he needs cervical steriod injections. They will give a series of 3, if they do not help then he will need to have fusion surgery on his back. Time will tell.

As I posted earlier we have been dealing with the loss of severl family members. We are also praying for my Aunt Fran who has been so very sick for the longest time. We are thankful for the good health of the rest of the family.

I guess this is all the news for now, God Bless each of you who follow my blog and Bless your families.

Ben Surgery Number 2

Ben is recovering very well from the first surgery. He will be going back to school next week when Spring Break is over.

His surgery on the left hip is scheduled of June 2nd. This will hopefully allow him enough time to recuperate in time to march in the marching season at Hinkley and possibly time to be ready to play soccer. Playing soccer is a bit doubtful as the doctor needs to see how well he recovers from this operation, but Lacrosse in the spring is a go.

Will keep you all posted on things go as they come up, until then, May God Bless you all each and everyday.

Right Hip done...

Ben had the surgery to correct the problem with his right hip on March 3 as scheduled. He was released from the hospital on March 4. It is now post op day 2 (March 5) and he seems to be doing well. He is having some pain, it didn't help that the pharmacy neglected to give me his pain meds when I picked up his prescription yesterday. They only gave me the refills for his inhalers and stomach meds, no pain meds for the first night home. Luckily, I have tylenol with codiene for my migraines. I called the doctor on call and asked if it would be okay to give him one since the meds he should have had were still at the pharmacy. Luckily, the doctor on call was the surgeon who assisted Ben's primary doctor and had written the prescriptions so I didn't have to give an entire history just for a few pills.

Today, Ben feels he may have overdone it with physical therapy yesterday and is taking it a bit easier today. He is sleeping and using the CPM (Constant Passive Motion) machine to keep his joints and muscles from stiffing up. The machine gently moves the leg from straight to 90 degrees bent for as long as Ben feels comfortable with it. He says he loves this machine because it keeps his knee from hurting being in one position so much. He still is not able to sit in a regular chair for longer than a few minutes. He must recline so that his body is not at the 90 degree angle most of us are supposed to sit at.

When he begins classes here at home next week, he will be sitting in a reclining wheelchair for the two hour session each day. He will also use the wheelchair when he returns to school in a few weeks since he will still be on crutches and limited on how much weight he can place on the leg. We have discussed this in great length, we all feel it is much safer for him to return to school in the chair since the floors are tile, there are over 1500 students in the halls for passing periods and too many chances for him to get knocked down.

The last few days have been such a blur, I had to check my computer today to know what day of the week it was. We were in Trinidad over the weekend to say our goodbyes to a very dear young man. Christian was only 9 years old when he passed away in February but this child knew that the Lord was with him. The family had such a loving and uplifting service for him, I don't think I have ever been to a more powerful service. I will never forget Christian and the love and smiles he brought to this world.

Will keep all of you posted when the next surgery for Ben is scheduled. Until there is more to report on anything going on in our lives...May God Bless each and everyone!!

Not Much Happening Lately

I realized I have not posted anything to my blog in a few weeks. There has not been much happening with our family. Ben continues to have increasing pain in his legs and hips, so he's on more Tylenol for now. The surgery to correct the problem with his hips is still scheduled for March 3 only now it will be at 11:30 am not 7:30 am. He will have the MRI of his back and his hips on February 26th, this will take several hours as they also want to do a complete bone scan. They are looking for any other problems in the hips and for a stress fracture to the back that the hip problem may have caused. If they find a stress fracture in the back then we will be seeing Neurosurgeon to determine what they will have to do to fix this.

My job hunt is temporarily on hold so that I can care for Ben. David is still looking but still nothing good to report. James is also looking for a job until this summer when he will be taking a few classes at Aurora Community College and then back to full-time in the fall. We visited with Elizabeth last week and she is doing very well. She is talking to us again but on her own terms. She has a cell phone but will not give us the number for now. We either leave a message at school for her to call us or one with Derek's Dad. We only call when there is something really important like her brother's surgery. She seems happy and our conversations are much more calm, I really like this, although I really miss talking to her everyday or seeing her.

Mom is doing well, she will be having another MRI this week to check the status of the Chiari malformation, then she will see the Neurosurgeon again for an update on what they must do. We continue to pray that surgery will not be necessary. Dad is still waiting on the doctors to determine when he must have surgery on his knee, he has had problems for years, but nothing serious. The rest of the family, Michelle and her kids, Jenni and family, and Tanya & Emma seem to be doing well also. We don't see them much but more than we ever did while living in Trinidad.

God Bless Everyone and drop us a line sometime at zehrfamily@msn.com.

Ben is having surgery

Ben will be having surgery to correct a problem with his hips. He has Femoral Acetbular Impingement (FAI) also know as Athlete's Hip. This is a condition of too much friction in the hip joint, basically the ball and socket rub abnormally creating damage to the hip joint. There are three types of conditions with FAI, he has the cam form which is articular cartilage which forms on the surface of the femur creating a buldge. This buldge is interfering with the normal movement of his hips and causing pain.

The doctors will have to go in much like doing hip replacement surgery, that is they will have to go in, remove the bone from the socket, check the socket for damage, shave off the extra cartilage and then put everything back together. It will take 2-3 hours for the entire process, he will be on crutches for 6-8 weeks, but should be back to top form in time to play soccer in the fall.

They will be doing the right hip first then about 8 weeks later they will do the left one. They can't do both at once due to not being able to walk with any weight on the one leg for 6-8 weeks. Ben is looking forward to getting rid of the pain from the hips but not the pain or recovery from the surgery. He will be home for about 2-3 weeks then we will send him back to school in a wheelchair as it is too dangerous to attend high school on crutches with not much weight bearing on the one leg.

Surgery is scheduled for March 3 at 7:30 am at The Children's Hospital in Aurora. He will be in the hospital about a week. Since we have been through most of the surgery procedures and recovery with David, we should have an easy time helping Ben with his.

Please keep all of us but especially Ben in your thoughts and prayers. God Bless Everyone!