Let me start out by saying that I know everyone struggles. My struggles and what my family and I have been through, is no worse than what anyone else is or has gone through. I am hoping that someone might be encouraged by knowing what I have struggled with and conquered.
As a 31 year old woman, I have always had fairly normal expectations for my life. I always knew that I wanted to get married, have children and live happily ever after; in that order. I knew I was born to be a mother when my brother was brought home from the hospital on my third birthday! No where in my plans was there room for heartbreak, war, death or catastrophic injury. Life had other plans. I know those are all part of the growing process of life, at least, my life. All of these things have made me stronger, the woman I am today.
The year 2010 started off awesome! I married the love of my life, Daniel. The wedding was beautiful, even if things didn't go quite as planned. Such as, two of Daniel's friends showing up in Dumb & Dumber prom tuxes, and the ice cream man coming down the street while I walked down the aisle. But it was a wonderful day!We were in the honeymoon phase for months!We had lived together before the wedding so there was no moving or adjusting, just settling into marriage. In September, I caught a bug from the children I was the nanny for; it turned into bronchitis. I had this nasty cough that just would not go away! And I was afraid of giving it back to the boys. The last thing I wanted was to get them sick again! I went to urgent care, ER numerous times and finally got in to see the nurse practitioner. Nobody would give me antibiotics! Urgent care gave me a breathing treatment and cough syrup. ER did nothing but make me wait 30 hours. I was so relieved to get into the clinic! And then I was SO upset when she told me I simply had an irritated throat. I could barely breath without coughing so hard I would puke! So she gave me steroids and told me to come back in a week. And we went through that song and dance for a month before I got to see an actual doctor. And all I got were steroids. When I finally, FINALLY, got in to see the heaven sent Dr. Hadley, she was concerned about my cough since it had gone on so long and I asked her if it was normal for your right foot to go numb and blue for several days. Her eyes got to be huge and she asked to see my foot, which was almost the color of a blueberry and very cold. She could not find a pulse and her voice went up half an octave as she told me calmly that I needed to go straight to the emergency department, someone would wheel me over and she would be calling over to check on me. That told me she was very worried and I was VERY scared.
