Oy...

This will go down as one of the worst years, with the exception of Ben being born ofcourse.

At the beggining of October I had a relapse of my Mulitple Sclerosis and it continued to get worse. I tried to see a Neurologist, any Neurologist, here in town and no one would see me without an MRI and alot of dough. So we went to the ER with paperwork stating my diagnosis from years ago that I had faxed over from my Neurologist in VA and they gave me the steroid medication I needed to stop the progression of my symptoms. I am still numb from my toes to my upper chest with my left hand not working all that great. I stumble and fall into things all the time and have too many bruises to count from it all. It scares me, but I just live with it and hope that it will go into remission, and soon.

Dale on the 29th of November went up to the mountains to get our Christmas tree with his uncle and was in a car accident. His uncle slid off the dirt road into a boulder and Dale suffered a broken L1 vertebrae. They called in Life Flight to get him but there was too much fog. Then they sent an abulance whom when half way broke the oil pan and couldn't reach him either. They finally sent some EMT's up in a snowmobile trailer and got him off the mountain and to EIRMC. While in the hospital his blood oxygen levels were extreamily low and he was taken to get a cat scan of his lungs. Come to find out that he had two large pulmonary embolisms, one in each lung, and they transfered him to the ICU for a 2 and half day stay to get those disolved and under control. He was on major pain killers and a medication called Cumadin (later to find out is rat poison) to thin his blood to stop the clots from traveling to his heart or worse. I didnt stop crying until he left the hospital a week and a day after he was admitted. Needless to say my face was quite sore. He has to wear a turtle shell for the next 3 to 4 months with no lifting. He missed his finals as this was all during the week he had to take them so he will have to make them up in the next 2 weeks and he will not be able to work until healed as he cannot lift more than 10lbs and no twisting, bending or turning.


And if this is not enough stress, hey, lets add on a selfish, deceitful 14 year old who kicked and screamed and made us all miserable until she got her way and is now leaving our home to go up to Alaska to live with her biological mother who abandoned her and her brother 3 and half years ago so that she could go be single and resposibility free thousands of miles away from her children. There is not one person close to the situation at home that has not said to her, "Chelsea this is a bad idea on so many levels." Time will tell I suppose. Chelsea has a borderline personality disorder and is Oppositional Deffiant and her mom hasnt been a very responsible parent thus far either. Who will end up being the parent?

Ok, enough of my rant over that...

Here are some pictures of Ben, Laura and my poor lovey in the hospital.