Diagnosed.

For all of you who have been waiting on pins and needles since "Thankful Thursday", I was given a diagnosis this morning!  You might remember I saw my doctor for what I thought were two separate problems on Thursday, plus my annual thyroid/cholesterol check.  Here's what little I now know:

• My TSH is high which means, if I'm reading it correctly, my thyroid function is low.  We're going to wait a couple of months, retest, and then see if we need to change my medication.  Because I do have bigger and better problems . . .
• I have polymyalgia rheumatica.  I passed the blood test, or failed it, depending on how you look at it! - which simply means my muscles ache throughout my hips and shoulders.  Like major pain!  Like difficulty getting in and out of bed, difficulty getting in and out of the car, difficulty getting in and out of chairs, difficulty walking . . . I looked it up on-line, but I'm going to wait until I hear back from my doctor tomorrow before I get too excited.  What mattered most to me is that it is treatable and maybe by the end of this week or sometime next week, my pain will be diminished.  Praise God!
• Lastly, the third area of concern involves the porcelain throne.  I was able to drop off four specimens at the lab today and hopefully those results will come in soon.     

To those of you who have been praying for me, thank you!  It means a lot!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our dear neighbor Paul died last Tuesday.  I texted his wife Sally yesterday afternoon saying Micah had just made chocolate chip cookies, could we drop some by for her grandsons and guests?  Seriously, Sally texted right back - her son Luke was coming in later that night and chocolate chip were his favorite cookies!  Because she was out and about (two airport runs yesterday!) she said she'd stop by to pick them up.  

When she came, she had one right away.  Then she said with a smile, "These won't last until morning."  

Banquet Meal

Sam and I left church last night and I said to him, "I feel like I've just been served a banquet meal."  Ever since we left Open Door in 2003 because 

• It moved to Maple Grove;
• Traveling an hour each way to church ceased to be fun with a two and a five year old in the car;
• We really felt God calling us to a church in our community - we just didn't know which one at that time;

we haven't found the type of sermons we like until now.  Not that we haven't had great sermons and met wonderful people, but it just wasn't what fed us best.  We want to hear the Word of God as God intended it to be.  We want to know the Greek and Hebrew because it helps us understand what God is saying.  We don't want to skip the controversial information because Jesus never did.  So we are thankful, at this time in our lives, to be at Berean where it feels like every weekend, we get a "real meal deal" that meets us right where we're at! 

Oh, Barf!

Literally.  On Tuesday.  My last class.  My five year old girl spewed.  Not once.  But twice.  Then began to cry.  Matt thought she threw up blood.  It was raspberries.  Matt closed the pool.  Matt got to clean up raspberries.  I went home.

Thankful Thursday!

Over the course of years as we've waited on adoption, job situations, serving on the Africa Mercy, whatever, Sam and I would turn to each other and say these lines from an old Steve Camp song, 

"You ask me for answers,

I only have one,

A man loses his darkness,

When he follows the Son."

I saw my internist today.  A lot of questions.  No answers.  Yet.  Five vials of blood taken.  One stool sample yet to be collected.  One colonoscopy to be scheduled.  One medication to be changed.  If I flunk this test, it's obvious I have that.  If I pass this test, then I don't have that.  We wait. We see.  Today, I am ever thankful that we have excellent health care coverage unlike other countries in the world.

BUT WHAT!?!

Ever since my car went through the garage door in February, I have not been feeling well/healthy/normal.  I attributed it stress/life/stress.  Two weeks ago, I contacted my internist and shared with him the symptoms I was having and mentioned that when I saw him on April 12, I wanted to know if I was getting age-d or if maybe there was something more wrong with me.  He tried to get me in sooner, but our schedules just did not connect.

Fast forward to Sunday night, I said to Sam, "I need to see my doctor.  I'm not feeling well.  I'm going to send him an e-mail."  (Note:  every e-mail I have sent him, he has personally responded to.)

Imagine my surprise when I got this e-mail from his office early Monday morning (Note:  I took out names to protect, shall I say, the stupid!):

"Hi Margo,

This is S the triage nurse looking at Dr. E's schedule and talking to his nurse L. Dr. E does not have absolutely any openings earlier than April 12th.
If you want to get in sooner, we could get you scheduled possibly with one of his partners.

We do not keep a cancellation log unfortunately.
Call our clinic if you want to see a partner 952-.
Have a great rest of today!"  

Say what?!?  I can be patient and patient I was.  After all, I KNEW Dr. E had NOT sent that message!  C'mon folks!  I had all three of his boys in swimming lessons and our sons played soccer against each other while we sat and chatted!  Our spouses have met!

At 4:39 p.m. Monday, I got a call back from S.  Miraculously, Dr. E had an opening for 7:30 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday) morning.  I'm guessing he started looking at his messages around 4:30 p.m. on Monday and made time for me!  Thank you, Dr. E!

No telling what is wrong with me, but this I know - one of my labs came back off (as in I need a medication adjustment) and as I read up on the info they sent me, I have a lot of the symptoms that come with that lab being off.  Stay tuned for "Thankful Thursday!"    

Happy Easter!

We had the most delightful Easter dinner with Sam's aunt and uncle, George and Lenore, along with his cousin David and his family - Jeanette, Bre, and Loren, at George and Lenore's in Farmington.

Just two sweet smiles - Lenore had us all sit down for dinner.  She said everything was ready and we should all dig in.  Jeanette just reminded her, "What about the ham?"  

As we were leaving, Jeanette said, "I thought we were going to have green beans."  Lenore said, "Didn't we?  I got them all ready!"  Sure enough, they were right on the counter where she got them ready!