Christmas 2009 and Lots of Updates (Long Post)

I do warn you, this blog will be long and it's going to jump around a bit. We have so much to share: Our Christmas, my IC theory, and a sad K9 current event that happened here in Houston. There are pictures in this post though. :) :) :) Happy reading!

CHRISTMAS 2009

This Christmas, Tyson and I stayed home and celebrated with my family. This was the first time the Manger family was all together in a LONG time on Christmas. To tell you the truth, the last time we were all together was back when I was senior in high school. SIX years ago! It was my sister and her husband, my brother Brandon, my cousin (who I consider a brother), Kellie, my dad, Tyson and me. The only difference was that husbands (Rebeccas and mine) were involved in this Manger family Christmas. Last night, my dad told me that this was the best Christmas he's had in a long time because it felt so good to have us all there together. It really warmed my heart to see my dad that happy.

It ended up being an overall good day. We ALL were in the kitchen cooking and laughing, and I LOVE that. Occassionally, Shane (my sis's hubby), Tyson, Brandon, and Cody were downstairs playing video games, but for the most part, they were in the kitchen. I think this is the first Christmas I've seen Tyson not glued to the T.V. He was actually in the kitchen eating, helping, and conversing. Which, by the way, my parents totally remodeled their kitchen and it's GORGEOUS! I wish I got a picture of it. Anyways, I helped my dad in the kitchen a little bit. I did my traditional deviled eggs that I always do for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I helped my dad make some shrimp appetizers. We rolled jumbo shrimp in Montery Jack cheese in crescent rolls with jalapeno slices inside. I obviously couldn't eat these, but it seemed like the family liked them. Overall, my dad did the cooking. I've always told my dad that he should have been a chef.

Typically, Tyson and I are in San Antonio during Christmas with his family, but because of the IC pain driving causes me, we stayed home. There's a Christmas tradition his family does and that is Christmas crackers. It's this cardboard wrapped tube thing where one person holds one end, and the other person holds the other end. You pull it apart together, and it makes a popping noise. Out will fly a toy (or a gadget type of thing) and a paper crown. We wear the crowns on our heads while we eat. Tyson's mom and dad came into town last Wednesday and brought some for us to share the tradition with my family. Unfortunately, Tyson and I totally forgot to have them do it before we ate, but we still did it after we ate. Below is a picture of my family with the crowns on. I'm not in it because I was taking the picture. :)

Going from left to right: Tyson, Cody, Brandon, Harley (Brandon's dog), Kellie, Daddy, Shane, and Rebecca.

My family got a kick out of these things. I'm happy that Tyson and I could bring a little piece of his familys' tradition into mine.

IC THEORY

Overall, this holiday season was extremely hard on me mentally and emotionally because I'm in discomfort, and I couldn't really enjoy the holiday foods, but I made through it. I'm hoping that by this time next year, I will be feeling and living normally. Who knows. HOWEVER!!!!! I think I've finally come to a conclusion about my IC situation that will hopefully fix my issue. I think what caused my IC was a diuretic I took back in July. Today, it just hit me, and I was compelled to do my research, and now I'm fully convinced it was a stupid diuretic that has caused me all of my problems. Tyson and I have always had this thought back in our minds, but we weren't really sure. Well, today, I'm pretty sure. This is how I've come to my theory:

For the past few months, I've discovered that I'm having a lot of nerve issues around my pelvic floor that seems to be shooting down my leg to my feet sometimes. It's so random. The pain I was experiencing was nerve pain that was causing me to tighten my pelvic muscles (which causes more pain), and ever since I've been prescribed Elavil, that pain goes from being very mild to almost gone. BUT! The pain does spike when I drive in the car. The vibrations of the car vibrate on my pelvic floor nerves and stimulates the pain (I can feel the stimulation) which then sends my bladder into that feeling like I've got to go. Also, when I press all around my pelvic floor and thighs, I feel stinging or soreness like I've ran a marathon. ALSO! I've noticed, and have been noticing for several months, that I have an uncomfy ticking/prickling sensation in my bladder that gives me that constant sensation like I still have a little bit of urine left in the bladder...VERY UNCOMFORTABLE!!! I've attributed this to nerve sensitivity.

Well, back in July the day before we left to visit Tyson's parents in Austin, I remember going for my normal workout because I felt very bloated and wanted to sweat it out. When I got finished with my workout, I went and bought DIUREX to try and get all of my water retention to ease up. This was the first time I had ever taken this. That night, I was having to use the bathroom constantly, which is what happens when you take a diuretic obviously. However, I had only taken two pills throughout the day, but well into the night, I couldn't sleep because I had that constant tickling/prickling sensation in my bladder to have to go. I was thinking this was abnormal because I would have thought the medicine would have worn off by then.

For the following week while we were in Austin, I was frequently going with barely anything to go. The following Friday, I drank a TON of water (probably stirring up my nerves even more), then WHAMMO.....from that point on, urges and the tickling sensation were nonstop and unrelenting. It only got worse from there which I think had to do with the food I was ingesting because I now had very hypersensitive nerves and anything was going to irritate my bladder. For about a month, I never knew about the "special diet" so I was probably eating very bad foods that only made my bladder worse. Well, a side effect from DIUREX is hypersensitivity. I did my research and hypersensitivity included allergies to autoimmune diseases. IC is thought to be an autoimmune disease and has an allergic component to it which creates hystimines in the bladder thus causing a cycle of inflammation. I have put myself in a cycle of inflammation which led me to this IC issue. When the nerves are effected, it causes inflammation. The inflammation causes mast cell release of histamines (the bodies natural reaction to inflammation) and the histamines cause inflammation, and the inflammation irritates the nerves more, which then sends the EXACT same inflammation cycle over and over again. Basically, my body is attacking itself (autoimmune disease).

Now, I know many people in this world take diruetics (especially for cardiovascular related issues), and never have this reaction like I did. I do believe that I was predisposed to IC from some possible abnormal gene that creates a protein called APF which restricts cell growth in the bladder to maintain its lining, and it needed just the perfect trigger to set this all off. In MY case, it was the DIUREX. I do remember having more freqency issues for about a year or 2, but it was never bad enough to send me to the doctors with concern. I think my lining was slowly withering away. With this thought, I DO believe my bladder lining is pretty thin (now more due to the inflammation) which exposes all of the irritants to my bladder nerves, so I'm going to have to take my Elmiron (bladder coating) to restore my bladder lining to protect my nerves. I am a full believer that my issue is more nerve related because the VERY first night I took my first pill of my nerve med., A LOT of my pain settled down, and it's only gotten better since, BUT I think I've leveled off. Tomorrow, I'm going to call my doctor to schedule and appt. to share this theory and ask to either increase my dosage of my nerve med, or put me on something possibly stronger (what ever he thinks will be the safest). I am SO convinced I need to settle down these nerves even more, and that this will do the trick. I have so much research to back my DIUREX and nerve theory up that I want to show him.

DEATH OF A K9 OFFICER

Next topic....whew....are you tired of reading yet???? Last week, on Tuesday, an officer from Pct. 4 (who will remain unnamed) was called out to bring his K9 dog, Bleck, to track down two guys who burglarized a home. While tracking, this officer tripped in the woods and lost the long line that Bleck was on. Of course, the way Bleck is supposed to do, Bleck kept tracking and ran off to continue to do his job he was trained to do. Of course, the officer lost sight of the dog. Well, this officer and others finally found the dog unfortunately dead. This was so unexpected and no one had a clue how this dog could have died. They took the dog up to A&M for an autopsy (which Pct. 4 was told that they wouldn't have the results for a couple of weeks), but they all had speculated that he was killed by the two guys that broke into the home. They were thinking Bleck had found the guys, attacked like he was supposed to, but the guys teamed up and probably choked him to death from his long line. He had blood in his mouth, so that is what lead to this conclusion. Well, sure enough, the two guys were caught a couple of days later and they admitted to killing Bleck. We know that Bleck didn't go without a fight though because the guys were REALLY banged up.

Pct. 4 officers and Blecks owner were really torn up about this when they found out that Bleck had randomly passed during a track. Tyson and I were even torn up even though this wasn't our dog. All we can think about is this dog just doing his job, struggling to fight, all while being choked to death. It's been a very emotional week, and I can only imagine how the K9 officer felt about his dog's death. This has really been a touchy situation. The news showed video footage of the night that Bleck and this officer were tracking, and all I could think about while I watched the video footage was that this dog and officer had no idea what they were about to run into. Well, I just about lost it and burst into tears while watching this footage and Tyson's just about ALMOST lost it himself for a couple of days last week once we discovered what had happened. I've maybe met the dog and officer once at a K9 training, but it is Tyson that knows this dog and officer better than me. I know some of you are probably laughing or saying, "Good grief, it wasn't even your dog," but what you don't understand is that this leaves a lasting impression when you actually own a dog who is like a Bleck. These dogs put themselves out there in harms way so that the police officers can be more safe. This made us think about Rosco and if we were ever to lose him in a situation like that.

All of last week, Tyson and I have cuddled and given SO much attention to Rosco. It's made us extra sensitive. I think Rosco is noticing the extra attention so now he's pretty much acting like a big baby and demanding it. He's been putting his head in our laps and looking up at us with the "please pet me" look on his face that you can't resist. When we're sitting on the floor, he tries to be a lap dog by trying to get his entire body up on our laps. He's been cuddling with us, etc. etc. etc. He's basically acting like a big weenie. Here are some pictures of Rosco doing things to demand our attention.

Tyson immitating Rosco's "happy boy" smile.

Rosco trying to get ALL of himself up into Tyson's lap.





Rosco had come down and lied next to me. He then put his head in my lap and closed his eyes. Tyson got up to take a picture, but, of course, Rosco was more interested in the camera.

Well, I think that's about it. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I can't believe we're about to welcome a new year already! 2010!!!!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Hello friends and family! Sorry for a lapse in time since I've blogged. Just wanted to stop by and update everyone once again.

Nothing too new down here in The Woodlands, Texas. Both Tyson and I have still been working away putting money into savings for a house, and just to have your typical back up money. Now that we have a double income going, we're doing REALLY well. We feel successful and happy, especially me because this is the first time I've every been able to buy something REALLY nice for Tyson for Christmas. I've always been the broke college student paying my way through school. Now that I'm not broke, I decided to go all out for Tyson. My intentions were to give him his gift on Christmas day.....you know.....the way you're supposed to do it. I have been trying to "hide" his gift for a few weeks now. I kept the gift in the trunk of the car because I'm always at work when he's home, and I'll usually have the car. He rarely even drives it even though it's HIS car, so I thought it would be a safe enough spot until I could get his gift inside a moving box. I'll tell you why I wanted to put his gift in a moving box in just a second.

Here was my "gift hiding" plan. I decided not to hide his gift in the apartment because Tyson is too impatient, and I knew he would cheat and search the apartment for his darn gift, so I kept it in the car knowing Tyson wouldn't be driving it for a while. I knew this would buy me enough time until I could get a moving box to put his gift in. Then I would wrap the moving box and put it under the tree. The reason why I wanted to put it in a moving box and then wrap it is because I knew he would unwrap a little corner of the wrapping paper to try and get a peek at what it was. He's such a little cheater!

Well, weeks and weeks went on and I never got the opportunity to grab a moving box. I knew one of my co-workers would have a moving box in one of his extra classrooms, but I kept forgetting to ask him due to the hustle and bustle of getting all of my work completed before we left for Christmas break. Yesterday, I thought that now that I'm on break, I'll have the opportunity to grab one while Tyson is at work. It just so happens that Tyson has been taking the car A LOT lately to run errands when I get home from work. It was driving me bonkers, because I was afraid he would find the gift. Sure enough.....he did. UGH! He came in the door last night with this look on his face that told me he was up to no good. I asked him what was up, and he tried to play it off by saying, "Nothing." I told him not to lie to me because he knows I can read people like a book, and by the way he's looking right now tells me that I know EXACTLY what he's thinking. He told me that I might be right and gives me a little grin. I told him to fess up, so he gives in and tells me that he found what he thinks is his Christmas gift. My heart weeped with sadness, but I knew it was my fault for not getting it in a moving box and wrapped up earlier.

So, I told Tyson to go ahead and get it out of the car since it was no longer a surprise. He did, and he looked like the happiest little schoolboy in the 3rd grade. I got him an XBox 360 with the ever so popular Modern Warfare game........very geeky. Good GOD that whole thing was expensive, but I knew he has wanted it for a couple years now, so I got it for him. Also, it was sort of a treat to me because I felt good knowing I could afford it and get it for him. You should have seen me walking through Best Buy aimlessly because I had NO CLUE what I was looking for. I kind of got treated like I was a ditzy airhead by one of the workers when I asked him questions, but I wouldn't blame him because here I was prancing through Best Buy in my heels and with my Louis inquiring about a video game console, and asking questions that I knew made me look like an airhead. I don't think this employee could take me seriously....ha!

Tyson told me that he would give me my gift now, but I told him that I still wanted to wait for Christmas. Besides, I already know what part of my gift is because he came straight out and said, "How much money do you want so you can go shopping?" I also knew this was going to be one of his gifts, becuse both him and my family give me money and gift cards every Christmas to go shopping.....and Lord knows I LOVE SHOPPING! But, I DO know Tyson got me something else. I don't know what it is, and I intend it to be that way until Christmas.

Now on to other updates! I'm currently on Christmas Break. TWO WEEKS! YAY! I'm still loving my job, not just for the vacation reasons, but because I love my kiddos, and I love the positive influence I have on them. Tyson is thinking about going back to school so he can make more of himself than just being a street cop for the rest of his life. He loves law enforcement, but he wants to go further in his career with it. I say more power to him!

Tyson has a five day Christmas vacation this upcoming week, and I'm excited. We will be staying in town this Christmas because it is very difficult for me to travel in a car with my IC. The vibrations of the car cause me to have very uncomfortable pelvic pain. I am actually very excited to stay in town for Christmas. This will be the first year in a LONG time I've spent Christmas with my family. Hugh and Nancy (Tyson's parents) are making a one day trip this upcoming Wednesday to visit with us for a little while since we can't go up to San Antonio for Christmas, so that is nice.

As for the update on my Interstitial Cystitis, I'm still making progress. The day before Thanksgiving, I added another med to my treatment, and that has seemed to take my symptoms down another notch. I'm still not symptom free, but I'm remaining optimistic that we will knock this disease, condition, illness, syndrome (whatever you'd like to call it) off of its tracks really soon. This thing is such a pain in the a**, and it still leaves me dumbfounded, wondering what happened to my poor body to cause me this much discomfort, pain , and grief. I would never wish this on anybody. It's horrible. But, Tyson and I are happy that I'm making progress. I can now lie on the couch and watch T.V. for a little while, and it makes me so happy that I can finally do that without discomfort or pain! I also discovered that I can eat white chocolate and peppermints, so I'm again very happy. It's sad when being able to lie down comfortably and eat peppermints without pain is the highlight of my life!

I hope this Christmas finds everyone happy and healthy. Merry Christmas everyone!

Favorite Time of the Year

This has got to be my most favorite time of the year. I love the holidays because you have family....food...fun.....you get the jist. I'm so excited that this time of the year has come, that I have officially replaced my scented plug-in in my classroom to the scent of apple cinnamon. It just makes the room feel warm and smell like the holidays..........at least that's how I associate the smell of an apple cinnamon plug-in. I just LOVE walking into to my classroom in the mornings and getting a whif of that scent. It makes me happy. Tyson's parents come into town next week for Thanksgiving, and both Tyson and I are excited. Tyson always gets REALLY excited when he gets to see his mom and dad since it's so infrequent. The three hour drive and Tyson's schedule get a little bit in the way.

Speaking of happy....TYSON GOT CHRISTMAS DAY OFF! That just THRILLS me! I like it when he has more time off for the holidays. Police schedules are no fun! Tyson is still working his butt off trying to get the chief of Humble to see how beneficial a K9 program would be, and that he's the perfect candidate to be the K9 officer. He is still faithfully taking Rosco to K9 training, and Rosco is just doing awesome! I'm so proud of my baby boy! I just want to put it out there that it completely shocks me that my dog is trained to bite the crap out of a person, and yet, I can roll around on the floor with him and put my face right up to his mouth giving him kisses, and yet he's the most loving dog in the world!...........as well as Precious of course! But, Tyson, as usual, is continuing to work his butt off so we can save for a house. I'm trying to tell him to take a break, that now we're not just living off of his income anymore; but, I think he has trouble seeing that sometimes since he's so used to working. He did go and play golf with a buddy of his yesterday. I'm glad he took that time for himself.

I'm still LOVING my job and having so much fun with it. I was talking to Tyson on the phone yesterday while on my way home, and I realized that I put in well OVER 50+ hours at my job, yet, I don't feel it! My days just fly, and I'm always so busy that I'm not one of those workers that is looking at the time saying, "Ugh....when is it time to get off?!" I'm actually looking at the time and saying, "SHOOT! I wish I had more time with these kids because there's still so much I need to cover!" I also have a great group of supportive parents, and feel so blessed to have great parents in my first year of teaching. Again, teaching is really a great gig if you have the passion for it.

As far as my bladder health goes, I am finding that I'm continuing to GRADUALLY improve some more. The pain I've had has pretty much been almost non-existent to mild. You do not know how grateful I am! I had ONE MONTH of NON STOP pelvic pain that caused me so much agony that I wanted to crawl under a rock and just die. Now, the pain is so much more tolerable (still uncomfortable at times) that I'm a little happier.........now if I can only get rid of this sensation to have to pee all of the time, and lose the awareness of my bladder...
I have three goals in mind with the first one being my most important one and that is to become symptom free "remission," then number two would be to get heavily back in the gym like I used to be able to do, and then number three would be to be able to eat and drink what ever I want. The gym is more important than the food to me right now, because I'm eating relatively healthy due to this strict IC and gluten free diet I'm on, and I want to keep my body fit. Once I get heavily back into the gym, THEN I will worry about how long it will take me to be able to eat a Papa John's small pepperoni pizza......and yes......before IC I would be able to eat a small ALL BY MYSELF. Just ask Tyson! :) Now some of you see why I was in the gym so much! I LOVED to eat! Plus...I wanted muscles! :) :) :)

Overall, I'm feeling a little bit better now, so I've been trying to experiment with foods. I say trying because I'm still so psychologically scarred from what this bladder condition has put me through, that I don't want to to fall back and have my beginning symptoms return. Good God that was horrible! I don't think ANYONE deserves to suffer like that. As I've said before, I experiemented with a sugar cookie and did fine. By the way....that cookie wasn't gluten free.............................and then, today, we had "Donuts for Dad" at school this morning, and I tried a glazed donut. So far....no symptoms, but we will see how I feel tomorrow. Again, that was another food item that wasn't gluten free....but OH how could I NOT resist the donut. I sound like Tyson................HA! I have my 2 month follow up appt. with my Uro. this upcoming Wed. We'll just see how he assesses my current situation, and what route we need to keep following. I can't believe it's been 2 months since I saw him. I never thought I would make it a full 2 months without wanting to call him, begging him to give me pain medication. But, I didn't, so that is good.

Anyways! Tyson and I hope everyone is happy and healthy, and that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. Eat lots and lots of turkey! :)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope every gets.....or got (if you're reading this later) a lot of candy! I know I did at school yesterday! JEEEEEEEZ......the kiddos LOVE to bring me candy. I wish I could eat it, but, of course, I don't have the bladder health right now to even try a piece, so I brought my large bag full of candy home for Tyson to enjoy. I think he could get used to my career choice. Lots of gifts and food that I can bring home. I told him to just wait until Christmas!

School is going SO well. I'm having so much fun and I just absolutely LOVE my job. It's SO different from any other job, and I don't think anyone could understand it unless they were or are a teacher for themselves......who have or had the passion to teach of course. Now, if you don't have the passion.....you will not like the job. But I do! And I LOVE going to work every day. I love my kids, I love my school, and my principal is AWESOME!

Onto health for both Tyson and me. I'm still happy to report that things are SLLLLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLYYYY getting better..........HOWEVER.......I STILL feel uncomfortable, and I still don't feel normal. It's still having a negative effect on me. But, I say I'm better because the pain has gone from severe to mild now, and my urgency and frequency has tapered off a bit. I'm still on my VERY RESTRICTED diet which is KILLING ME right now because I would give anything to have a piece of chocolate, a piece of pizza.....or just to be able to go on dinner dates with my husband for goodness sake!!!! Also, go out to eat with friends......MEXICAN FOOD!!!! Ughhh!!!! And fruit...............OH HOW I LOVED FRUIT before this STUPID disease decided to haunt me. Now I can't have a bite of ANYTHING. I am so young, and I feel so robbed of enjoying all of life's simple pleasures. The one thing that this has taught me is to NEVER take my health for granted EVER again. Again......I will not settle for less! My goal is to feel COMPLETELY asymptomatic, get back into my full workout routines again (oh how I miss my gym time!), and be able to eat and drink anything and everything with absolutely no problems. Basically, my goal is to get my pre-IC life back where I was feeling great and living carefree. And I will have alllllllllll of this sooner than later! This is what I look forward to.

As far as Tyson, I don't know what's been up with him lately, but he's starting to get back into taking his Irritable Bowel Syndrome a little more seriously. He's started to really focus on his diet, and take supplements to help him. When he first got this, he tried to figure out what to do. When medicines weren't working, he gave up on treating his IBS and decided to live with it. A year later, he's back to taking it a little more seriously because he's finally realized what a damper it puts on his lifestyle. I don't know what' gotten into him, but I'm VERY happy he's trying to get this under more control. I was VERY unhappy when he just decided to give up a year ago. Now, since he's on this roll...I think he needs to find himself a new physician (Something I told him to do a year ago). He needs a second opinion on his treatment options. His physician reminds me of my old Uro.......Barely took the time to listen and showed a lack of concern or interest. I'm SO glad I found my new Uro....Dr. Corey. Him and his nurse practitioner have been a BLESSING....and they show SO much interest in my health, and it's obvious because I'm now on a treatment plan that is SLLLLOOOOOWWWWWWLY getting me to normal health. Now, if we can find Tyson a Dr. Corey of IBS, and get Tyson to have some patience with his treatment.......I think Tyson would be golden!

Anyways, I hope everyone else is in good health and enjoying this fall weather! Again, I will continue to keep everyone posted on my health......and now it seems Tyson's as well. Also, I will keep you posted on any other tid bits of anything exciting that is occurring in our lives.

IC, Teaching, and K9

It seems like this combo of meds that I'm on seems to be helping me. My IC symptoms are still very apparent, and I'm obviously still aware of my bladder, but my symptoms still continue to subside slowly but surely. I'm hoping that this trend continues, and I'm back to my old life and old body (pre-IC) in no time! I'm still remaining postive that I will go into remission rather quickly. I'm trying to make sure I do EVERYTHING right to allow my bladder to heal up really fast.

As SOME of you know, I frequent an Interstitial Cystitis online support forum, and this support forum has educated me SO MUCH. I also frequent the "I'm in Remission!" page.......VERY OFTEN. I've found that I'd rather read positive things than negative things. I've noticed that a lot of people do go into remission....whether it be medicated or not. I WILL say this....When Elmiron starts working for me, I DO plan on staying on it for maintenance. My goal is to eventually get off all medications and only have to take maintenance doses of Elmiron. I just don't have the psychological stamina to allow this disease to haunt me again. I don't even want a TWINGE of symptoms. I want to be feeling good and free and able to eat ANYTHING I want without fear in the back of my mind. A lot of people have told me that I'll see more negative things posted thank positives. Some people are feeling so normal, they forget they ever had IC to begin with and they are usually not posting. Most people talk about the negatives more than the positives. Today, I read a remission post on the IC forum where some women were talking about their remission and how they easily go into denial that they ever had IC to begin with. They are feeling THAT good. One woman said that she even knows a woman locally whos IC went in remission and she REFUSES to ever talk about what her life was like living with IC before remission.......EVER! I have a feeling I'll be one of those people. This thing is SO TERRIBLE that when I do go into remission, I NEVER want to have to think or talk about it EVER again. For now, I will talk about it because I'm in that terrible phase, and it's only theraputic for me to talk about. Think about how you would feel if you CONSTANTLY had the sensatation of a urinary tract infection with chronic pelvic pain on top of it and you could only eat a select few foods, and you would FEAR FOR YOUR LIFE of taking in something as simple as a sip of plain water or a bite of an every day food that will send you in a flare so debilitating that you would think death would be better than this. Yeah....not so much fun......and it's definitely not life.

Now, on to some different news. Tyson and I are still doing well. Tyson has lessened up on the extra jobs. Probably because I've been so "ill" and he wants to be at home as much as possible to help me out with everything. I've always known this in the back of my mind, but it is now really confirmed that I have such a wonderful, loving, and understanding husband. Even though he doesn't have IC, he has been put through so much hell from me having this disease, I was for sure scared I'd run him off by now. Another reason why I think he's eased up on the extra working is because now we have a second income from my job and it for sure helps a lot in putting money into savings for a house this coming summer.

By the way....I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my job!!!!!!!! I think being a teacher is what I've always meant to be, and nothing else. Not to sound cheesy, but it's TRULY TRULY TRULY a rewarding job. It's pretty much a great gig. It's HARD work though! The teaching children and managing a classroom isn't the hard part......it's the paperwork and all of the things I'm required to do to meet each individual childs' needs that is hard. You basically have to be skilled in multitasking and staying organized, or you can easily get off track. Anyways, I'm really enjoying it. I love my kiddos!

Lately, in Tyson's K9 world, this K9 thing with Humble PD has started to stir up again, but in a good way. From what I gather from Tyson, Humble seems to be in the thought process of possibly adding K9 back to their department. So, this now has Tyson salivating and trying to figure out any way he can to get Chief to notice that he's a great candidate with a dog ready to go. There's one problem though. One guy at his department also wants to do K9 all of the sudden. There's some drama with that, but I'm not going to go into it. Basically, Tyson is just going to have to keep putting his name out there with the Chief to ensure that he can become K9 if Humble officially decides that they want it back. I think the Chief would be CRAZY to not allow Tyson to be K9. I don't think the Chief has a clue what a great candidate Tyson is....and that is sad. I wish Chief could see in his heart how badly he wants this and how HARD he's worked and how much money he's invested in getting himself started because he has such a passion for it. Now, I'm not being biased because I'm Tyson's wife, but I certainly know that I'm being honest because I get to see all of the blood, sweat, and tears he puts into trying to persue K9.

So, that's what's happening overall in the Sutton world. I'll continue to keep you all posted on my progress, and any new life news Tyson and I have to share.

Kicking IC to the Curb

I know, I know. It's all I've been blogging about lately, but this has been the center of Tyson and my life right now. I promise I have something different to add at the end of this blog. Grab yourself a cold one, because this is going to be long. I have A LOT to catch everyone up on.

Anyways, I just wanted to give everyone an update. Since my procedure, I've been SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWLY, getting slightly better each day. It's REALLY gradual. Actually, after my hydro/cysto procedure, I accumulated one extra symptom and that was a very tender and distended lower abdomen. I basically will look like I'm 3 months pregnant, and I CAN'T suck in. It's TOO TOO TOO painful. It's just too painful, period. My belly is so distended that I feel like I'm going to burst and it hurts. From what I researched and what my doctor has told me, it's part of an inflammation process. My bladder is inflammed, so fluid fills my tissues to protect my bladder; therefore, I have a distended tummy....ta dah! I think the procedure irritated my bladder a little bit more, and just like any procedure, you're going to be a little sore or out of whack for a little while. That's my theory. This is my very first procedure ever in my life.

Well, last week Tyson and I went for my follow up appointment with Dr. Corey (my new and wonderful urologist). Tyson and I were sitting in the room, and a woman walks in. My heart dropped because she definitely didn't look like any Dr. Corey. I wanted MY doctor. I guess she saw the disappointment in my face so she quickly said, "Hi, I'm Kim, and I'm Dr. Corey's nurse practitioner. He'll be right in in just a sec." I was relieved, and also relieved that she was a woman. I was thinking to myself, "A woman in this practice??? THANK GOD!!!!" She then told me that Dr. Corey looked in my bladder, and it's officially Interstitial Cystitis. She then asked me if I knew what it was. I told her I do, but I wanted a doctor's version on it. Little did she know that I have done TONS AND TONS of THOROUGH research for 2 straight months that even I could possibly diagnose someone with IC (not really, but you know what I mean) and I was sort of testing her to see how well versed she was in the disease (since it's not widely known about). So, the Nurse Practitioner went into detailed information about IC and blew me away. She mentioned everything I already knew AND even elaborated more on it. She spent a good 20-30 minutes with Tyson and I and answered ALL of our questions. She DID NOT act like she was in a rush (like all doctors do), and was even trying to make sure I didn't have any other questions. I was on cloud nine. This was too good to be true to have a doctor spend THIS much time with us. If I started crying, she was there comforting me and handing me tissues. Again, she's a woman! Thank goodness!

As I described all of my current symptoms still existing, and what new symptoms I've occurred over the past 2 months, she then said, "You're on 200mg of Elmiron twice daily, right?" I exclaimed, "Noooo....I'm only on 100mg twice daily, and my old Uro refused to up my dosage to the recommended starting dosage by the FDA (100mg 3 times daily) after I had asked him to put me on the recommended dosage." She looked puzzled, and said, "Well, since you've not had any side effects, I want you to start taking 200mg twice daily." I said, "THANK GOD! I was going to ask you if we can up it so we can kick this healing process into high gear." Not only was I happy she upped my dosage, I was also happy she upped it 100mg over the recommended starting dosage. Some people have to take 900mg. They are obviously more severe cases. I don't know how those people even live! My moderate case is excrutiating enough, and I'm not being a drama queen either! The reason why I wanted my dosage to be high is because this medicine takes up to 6 months to a year to even work.....if it works. Only about 2-5% of each pill makes it to the bladder to coat it, so the normal bladder lining cells can piece back my bladder lining that has been damaged. So much of the med gets lost in digestion. That's why I wanted to take more. She was then going to prescribe me Atarax because it is thought that IC creates histamines in the bladder, where the bladder is basically attacking itself (on accident) because it's trying to protect me. Well, thank goodness for Tyson because he mentioned how all in my pelvic region I'm experiencing debilitating pain almost to the point where I can't walk at all, and I can barely live day to day. She then said that my IC must be causing me more of a nerve issue so she prescribed me Elavil instead. What I've researched on the nerve issue is that my bladder lining is basically worn down, has holes, and is damaged. Urine is already acidic no matter what. When my bladder starts to fill with urine, the acidity of it is touching my bladder nerves because my protective bladder lining is almost non-existent. This is what is causing me so much pain in my pelvic region because all of the nerves are linked. In a normal bladder, you have a thick, protective bladder lining (GAG layer/epithelium) that blocks the acidic urine from touching your bladder nerves. She then took me off the Enablex (overactive bladder med) because I told her it has only made a dent in relieving any symptoms. Now I'm on Urelle which is a cocktail of an antispasmodic (keeping my bladder from going into spasms), something for pain, etc. etc. etc. After all of these newly prescribed meds, that leads me to the final piece of this blog......Oh..and by the way, Dr. Corey did come in to finalize any question I may have had. I barely had any because the nurse practitioner was SO incredible. He even boasted about her. Anyways, back to how the new meds are working for me.............

The first night I took my Elavil, I noticed a decrease in my pain to where my pain was more mild-moderate instead of severe. It even zonks me out so I sleep like a baby and feel really rested. I have to take this at night for this reason. It caused me to be in a fog the next day, but after a week on it, my body has adjusted. All I can say is that I usually can't wait for 7-7:30 to roll around because that's when I get to take my Elavil, and I'm feeling almost pain free. It's a non addicting drug by the way if you're worried. I inquired about Vicodin to the nurse practitioner, but she said even though that will help, it's not the best med to take care of my issue. Plus, it's an addicting drug. Thank goodness she prescribed Elavil.....mmmmm...I love me some Elavil! I think the Urelle is even working better than the Enablex, plus, it's an extra added bonus to pain management. Also, I don't know if it's the Elavil, Urelle, or me healing up from the procedure, or a combo of ALL of this, but ever since I've upped my Elmiron, I've noticed a significant difference in my symtoms, and it's only been a month since I've even started Elmiron. Even when I was on that lowest dosage, I noticed a SLIGHT SLIGHT SLIGHT difference, but not enough. I think since I was put on it one month after my symptoms had started, it has been more effective for me. For others, I think that low percentage of it working is from people who don't get diagnosed or put on it about 6 months AFTER their symptoms have started. Yes! People live like this for 6 months going from doctor to doctor until finally one diagnoses them! That's CRAZY to me for someone to live like this for 6 months until they can get diagnosed!!!! Some doctors need to be ashamed of themselves. Just because we don't look sick on the outside, doesn't mean our bodies are screaming on the inside. I will tell you the pain and discomfort is SO bad that I think, after dealing with this, I will be able to give birth without an epidural. NOT KIDDING EITHER!!!!!!! Thank goodness I was so persistent and probably the biggest pain in all of my doctor's rear ends, but, hey! I got put on the Elmiron quickly so I have a better chance of it working, and quickly too!

I am sitting here today, typing this blog after being on Elmiron for only 1 month and then all of my new meds for only a week, and I can tell you that today was the first day I felt 85% better since IC attacked me two months ago. I can only pray pray pray it just keeps getting better from here, and I don't take a nose dive.....KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!! I forgot to mention that the Nurse Practitioner told me to have a gluten free diet for now because there's now research that says gluten irritates an IC bladder. So, not only am I on the already restricted IC diet, I also have to be gluten free which basically cuts the already complicated IC diet in half. It stinks, but I have heard and read success stories that once someone has gotten their bladder to heal up, they've been able to add more foods to their diet. I've changed mine up a tiny bit. I am now eating gluten free brown rice tortillas which are actually pretty good. I'm still eating chicken, and I've added zucchini to my diet. I've taken out potatoes because about 4 days ago, I thought I figure out that potatoes might be a problem food for me (even though it says it's IC safe on the diet). Potatoes have potassium in it, and our IC bladders are sensitive to potassium. So I've cut that and replaced it with organic brown jasmine rice which is actually delicious. I've added romain lettuce and some organic eggs. And....READ THIS.....did you know even your water can be acidic!!!!??? I JUST figured out today that I think the water I was drinking was hurting me. I switched up my water (to another IC safe water-Fiji) and that's when my difference started yesterday. I decided to give my other water I've been drinking a test trial after school today. I don't know if it was me looking for it, but I felt sort of a twinge of my symptoms start to flare, so goodbye to that water. And, they even said this water I've been drinking was safe! But, I have been told and read that the IC diet is only a guideline, and I still can still flare from eating and IC safe food. It kind of stinks. It's all a guessing game.

So this is what's happening with me right now. I think I'm improving, and I'm PRAYING that this is me improving and it will only get better from here. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery and I can return to the life I lived pre IC. I have full faith that I will. In my heart, I know I will return to the life I lived pre IC. Again, thank you EVERYONE for all of the love and support. I can only hope that I'm educating everyone about this debilitating disease since it's not widely known like cancer. Why, I don't know because MILLIONS of people have this disease. But, some are suffering silently, or doctors can't seem to diagnose them quick enough. Please continue to pray for Tyson and me. I feel that all of your prayers are working.

Overall, Tyson and I are EXTREMELY happy with Dr. Corey, and especially his nurse practitioner....WOOHOO!!!! A two man team that is treating me, and one is a woman! I'm so happy. We both walked out of there feeling SO RELIEVED, and Tyson even admitted and apologized to me for not listening to me when I told him I felt iffy about my old Urologist. Dr. Corey and his nurse practitioner Kim have been my saving grace. They make me feel SO positive that I will be an IC success story and be completely asymptomatic.

Officially Diagnosed

I warn anyone who is going to read this. This blog will contain some personal information, and possibly some gross information. At this point, I have no shame and want to educate everyone on this debilitating disease. So, if you're not too comfortable, I suggest not reading this blog. But, it won't be THAT bad.

Well, as many of you already know, I went in on Friday for a procedure where the my Urologist went to take a look up inside my bladder to look for signs of Interstitial Cystitis (IC). He found a sign. I apparently have hemmorages inside my bladder. Apparently, this is a sign of IC. My poor bladder walls are damaged/injured. For what ever cause, I have no clue. No one knows what causes IC. We did not discuss much information or treatments to start since I was considered "a little out of it," and I wouldn't remember. He wants to see me for a follow up appointment in 2 weeks. I guess that is when we will talk about all of this.

I've always had a feeling in the back of my mind when all of this first began back in July that it could be IC. I just had this gut feeling. Well, when I was officially diagnosed on Friday, my whole world came crumbling down even some more (even though I knew this was coming). Nothing is more devasting to hear that you're diagnosed with a disease that is incurable, no one knows what causes it, but there are treatments, but not all of them work. It's like a trial and error thing, and all treatments take a LONG TIME to see if they work. Basically, when I heard the words, "You have Interstitial Cystitis," all I heard in my head was, "Be prepared to feel constant discomfort and pain for a while until we can figure things out." I've already been in SO much discomfort for 2 months now. I don't know how much more I can take. I'm frightened and scared to death, and I'm always questioning, "What am I going to do?"

I can say that after 2 months of this, I am pretty much psychologically scarred. I mean, you would be if you were in CONSTANT chronic pain and discomfort and it's altering your life. I try not to let it, but unfortunately, this thing has such physical control over me, that even a push to try to get through it only makes it worse. I force myself out of bed and go to work, but by the end of the day, I'm squeezing my legs together so tightly while hurled over a piece of furniture crying in pain/discomfort and begging to God to take my illness away from me. It's quite depressing. I'm tired of crying in pain, discomfort, and the fact that I'm DESPERATE to get my body back to feeling normal so I can physically function (pain and discomfort free) again. Don't get me wrong. I'm not negative ALL of the time, but I do have many ups and downs. I TRY TRY TRY to remain positive and tell myself it will all go away, but it's so hard to when you wake up feeling the same way every day and there's no decrease in your symptoms. It's kind of hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you see absolutely no improvement for 2 months straight.

Which leads me to my next thing. It has been 3 weeks now since I've started the Elmiron and been on my strict diet. So far, I don't think I can tell much of a difference. Friday, I was so nauseated from the anesthesia that I threw up my first dose of the day. There's one pill down the toilet....literally. Post procedure, I was fine overall. Kind of sleepy, nauseated, but I didn't have that instant urge that some people were saying I would have when I woke up. Peeing for the first time after surgery hurt SO BAD. I felt like I was peeing shards of glass. Luckily, they gave me a little pill that eases it. It's been two days, and it doesn't hurt to pee as much. My symptoms are pretty much still the same....go figure. My current symptoms are:
Urgency
Frequency
Tightening/painful ache "down there," around urethra area, underside of buttocks, and in the crease of my left inner thigh. *This all hurts worse with walking and standing.*

There is a possibility that I have developed some pelvic floor dysfunction from this IC thing. My doctor told me that all of that painful/tightening ache I feel occurs in most IC patients. Great......another thing to worry about and treat. He said we can start treating this if this continues to be an issue. Well, it's been an issue for a month now, and I'm going to bring that up to him at my follow up.

Tyson has been as much of a trooper as he can be. This is NOT how I pictured our first year of marriage to be like. He tries to comfort me, but often gets frustrated when I seem negative about the situation. Like I said, I try to be positive, but no one will understand why I can easily fall into a negative state until they have experienced this for themselves. I WOULD NEVER wish this upon ANYONE.....EVER! Doctors/scientists/researchers...WHATEVER....have related the symptoms of IC to the pain and discomfort of end stage cancer. Fabulous..... Not....

Anyways, I'll continue to keep everyone posted. I'm sorry there has been no positive blogs or any blogs that have some variety. When it boils down to it, nothing new is going on. Again, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and any help they can give me.

I pray that they find a cure for this thing REALLY soon. I wish I knew how to create more awareness of this very confusing bladder disease. More and more doctors, researchers, and scientists are becoming more familiar with the disease, so hopefully, the end to this pain is near.

Trying Our Best

Sorry for the no post in a long time. Life has been REALLY busy and hectic for both Tyson and me. School is going okay for me. It would be a better experience if I wasn't so miserable. My students are great! The teaching part is fun! But......the OTHER things that a teacher's job entails......paperwork, testing students, basically doing 50 other jobs on TOP of trying to make sure your students are getting the necessary knowledge to pass the standardized test at the end of the school year is wearing me out, but more so because I'm trying to do it all while I'm so extrememly uncomfortable. I'm a VERY organized person, and all of this is causing me to get disorganized. I'M SO BUSY!!!!! I can't stay caught up, so I have to bring work home. :( I never wanted to be one of those teachers, but, unfortunately, I have to do it in order to keep up. What's really holding me back is my possible Interstitial Cystitis. Since I'm so uncomfortable, and can't move very fast right now, I'm getting behind. Some days I just want to crawl into a corner because I'm "hurting" (if that's what you want to call it) and I can barely teach. I get behind in my teaching. I don't know what to do. This is NOT the way I pictured my first year of teaching.

Tyson has been such a trooper at trying his best to take care of things that I can't take care of right now, while working his tail off as well. I feel so helpless, and I can barely do half of the things I used to because, at times, I can barely move without flaring something up. I feel so HORRIBLE to have to put everything on him right now. He's been helping me cook the only 4 things I can eat right now (yeah...you heard me right....that's a whole other long story in itself), helping me with the dogs, helping me around the apartment, etc., etc. This situation I'm in has really put a hold on our lives right now, and we're trying our best to get through this. We're both staying as positive as we can with this in knowing I WILL be normal again.

It's been two weeks since I've been on the Elmiron and I have noticed a decrease in the severity of my symptoms. However, I have also gone on a REALLY strict diet, so I don't know if it's the diet or the medicine or BOTH! I feel 50% better, but I still have another 50% to go. Unfortunately, last month, I accumulated new symptoms that deals with my pelvic region, and they've gotten worse. They're worse when I stand or just stand for a long period of time. So, who knows what will happen with this. Maybe it'll go away on its own as my bladder/urethra urgency, frequency, and tightening/pressure symptoms go away. I've read up that IC affects your bladder nerves, and those nerves are connected to the pelvic nerves, so I'm probably feeling something in connection with my possible IC. Overall, this is ridiculous. It's just one pain after the other and it doesn't stop. I'm so grateful that my urologist put my on Elmiron one month after my symptoms started. Usually, people with IC, don't get a diagnosis until 6 months AFTER their symptoms started, and THEN they start treatment. By then, the disease has progressed, and the patient will have to do a multitude of treatments and it could possibly take longer for them to feel results.

That leads me to my other update. I'm going to see a new urologist. Tyson has a k9 buddy who's wife has Interstitial Cystitis and sees this doctor. I spoke with her, and she says he's knowledgable in IC. It would just make me feel more comfortable to go to a urologist that has knowledge in the subject matter, PLUS, I know someone who goes to him, and who's sister (who has IC) goes to him. I'm trying to be as proactive as I can with this because I want to feel and be normal again within this month. I have a great feeling in my gut about this doctor. I have a feeling he will be the one that will know EXACTLY what to do, and I WILL return to a normal state and get back into my normal routines again within this month. I will give an update on the doctor's appointment when I go on Tuesday.

Anyways, I want to give a big thank you to those that are giving so much love and support right now. It's exactly what Tyson and I need through this difficult time.

Not the Best News

Hello friends and family. I wish I could say the Sutton household is doing great, but unfortunately, this blog will contain some bad news. A couple of blogs ago, I had mentioned that there was a possibility that I had a bad urinary tract infection that left me with a "whacked out" bladder. My urologist had put me on an overactive bladder medication thinking that my bladder infection had left me with an inflammed bladder, and I needed the medicine to calm down my bladder spasms while my bladder healed. My symptoms got slightly better, but I still was not feeling normal. I still had a constant uncomfortable urge to have to go (like every hour), and I wanted to go frequently. The urges would hit me really hard (a lot of bladder pressure) and it wouldn't slowly come about like a normal person's bladder would.

Well, I went for my one month follow up this past Friday, and I had received some news that I was fearing to ever hear. I told my urologist the scoop on what symptoms I still had. After I tell him this, he sat in deep thought and he tells me that he is going to prescribe me Elmiron. When he said this word, I about broke down in tears. It's a medicine for people with Interstitial Cystitis (IC). I knew EXACTLY what this medicine was for before he told me, because, about a month ago, I had suspected I had this bladder disease due to my symptoms and I had done a lot of research on it. In the middle of all of my thoughts, he finally came out and said that this medication is prescribed for people with Interstitial Cystitis, but he never came out and told me that this is what he thinks I have. At the end of his talk, I looked at him with tears filled in my eyes and said, "So you're saying that I have Interstitial Cystitis?" He looked down at his paper, then looked up, siged, and said, "Let's just see how you do with this medication." My urologist wouldn't formally tell me, and I don't know why, and it's still so frustrating to me. So, it was like an informal diagnosis.

As I walked out of the office to make a follow up appointment that I will need to go to in 6 months, I started crying. The whole office was concerned for me,and I was embarrassed. Tyson and I got in the elevator to get back to the car, and I just hysterically broke down and cried, "Why me?" as he held me so tightly. We both feared that my condition would come to this (more so me.) Now, as you're reading this, some of you are wondering why I am crying and so frightened over this Interstitial Cystitis thing. Let me explain.

Interstitial Cystitis or Painful Bladder Syndrome (PBS) is a disease of the bladder where the bladder is chronically inflammed. There is NO known cause, and there is NO cure. It can only be treated. In people with IC, the protective mucous layering of the bladder has been damaged from inflammation (creating holes in the bladder) and any acid from urine seeps through these holes, irritating the bladder, and creating more inflammation. The body reacts by the bladder contracting and spasming (because the bladder thinks there's a foreign substance in my bladder and it's trying to get rid of it) causing a constant, strong, uncomfortable urge to go, and the need to go very frequently. Some people have bladder pain or pressure with this. I have urgency, frequency, and pressure (at times). The only way I can explain this miserable feeling is to tell you to go to the bathroom, then right when you're about to finish, stop and try to hold in that little bit of urine left in your urethra. It's uncomfortable, right? And you want to release the rest of it, right? Well, that's the way I feel ALL day EVERY day of my life. I empty my bladder completely, but I have the feeling like I didn't. It's SO VERY uncomfortable. Also, not only does it feel like that, but it also feels like you just drank a ton of water and you have to go VERY bad. I would go, and then INSTANTLY I would get strong feeling like I drank a bunch of water even after I had only drank a couple sips of water. This disease disrupts people's way of life. Because I am so extremely uncomfortable, I have trouble going places and doing things because I'm just so miserable the whole time, and I can't enjoy myself or just physically do it. It's like when you have the flu, you don't want to go out and party it up. You want to stay home and sleep.

The Elmiron coats the bladder so that it can "cover up the holes," while it gives the bladder a chance to try and heal and repair itself. I also have to remain on a special diet. There are many foods that irritate the bladder, and if I eat these foods, all I'm doing is re-irritating my bladder while it's trying to heal. Let me give you an example. You scrape your knee, and you put a bandaid over it and leave it alone so it can heal. If I were to eat the bad foods, I would basically be scrapping my knee, putting a bandaid over it, THEN taking the bandaid off in one day, and re-scraping my knee. Basically, it won't heal and just constantly be re-irritated.

I will have to be on this medication for the rest of my life, and I will have to stick to a pretty strict diet for quite a while. The really upsetting part in all of this is that I will have Interstitial Cystitis for the rest of my life (thus resulting in me taking Elmiron for the rest of my life) and Elmiron only works for 50-60% of its patients who take it, and it takes a good 3-6 months OR EVEN A YEAR for it to really work. It works better when taken for a longer period of time. So, basically, I have a 50-60% chance of this working, and I really should wait 6 months to a year to see if my symptoms subside (knowing that there's only a 50-60% chance the medicine is even doing its job.) It's all a waiting game. I can tell you that I've been dealing with my discomfort for only a month now, and I feel like death. I don't know how I'm doing to do this for another year-ish. I'd rather be put out of my misery.

So, this is why I broke down in tears so hard and cried, "Why me?" I have been completely devasted ever since I was "informally" told the bad news. I thought 2009 was going to be a GREAT year for me....get married, graduate college, get my first teaching job..........but now, everything has been washed out due to this illness and I am a puddle. I start my first day of school tomorrow, and I don't know if I'm mentally ready because of this illness. It's been really hard to make it through these days, and I fear it will affect my work performance because I'm in so much misery. This disease is both emotionally and physically taxing.

Anyways, I thought this was important to share with all of Tyson and my family and friends. All I can ask from everyone is your understanding, support, and prayers through this rough time. This is a really big deal, and it is not minor. I have been so blessed to have Tyson's constant love and support, and that's all I can ask for. I am SO extremely devasted and frightened to death. I don't want to live like this for a long period of time. Let's hope and pray that this medication I'm on will do the trick and I can feel like I have a normal bladder again.......and it won't take as long. I'm having wishful thinking, thinking that the reason it takes so long for other people to feel the effects of the medicine is because it took them a while to get diagnosed. I've been diagnosed early, so I'm trying to remain positive that this medicine will kick in pretty quick. I will try and keep everyone updated on my progress. Below are a couple of links about Interstitial Cystitis if you're interested or want to understand it more.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/interstitial-cystitis/DS00497

http://www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/interstitialcystitis/

I apologize if this blog comes off as, "please feel sorry for me." This is not my intention. I only want to everyone on my condition so you can better understand why I feel so bad all of the time. Also, it is very therapeutic for me (especially right now) to talk about it and get it off my chest.

9 Years Together!

I just wanted to post that Tyson and I have officially been together for NINE YEARS!!! August 8th marked our 9 year anniversary together. We can't believe it has already been that long. It seems like yesterday we started dating. And we were SO young.....YIKES! I'm glad I married my high school sweetheart. We have SO many memories together, and we plan on making many many more! Even though our new official anniversary date is March 28th, we will forever aknowledge August 8 as the day we started dating! Here are some pictures from over the years. Enjoy! *There are some gaps in age, but that is because I don't have all of the pictures saved to my computer.*

15 Years Old

15 Years Old

16 Years Old

16 Years Old

18 Years Old

18 Years Old

18 Years Old

20 Years Old (Tyson's 21st Bday)

21 Years Old

22 Years Old

22 Years Old

23 Years Old

23 Years Old

23 Years Old

24 Years Old

24 Years Old

Month of July

Sorry for no blogging almost the entire month of July. I was stricken with a weird case of a POSSIBLE urinary tract infection for 3 weeks straight. No doctors could really figure it out, and no medications would cure me. To this day, I can't confirm that it WAS a UTI because it only came with extreme urgencies. I didn't have any of the the other symptoms that comes with a UTI. This was the weirdest, mystery illness I have ever gotten, and I've been miserable. So, as you can see, I haven't been in the mood to blog much. This past week, I was given antibiotics that I seem to think is finally the right medication that will cure me of this chronic so-called urinary tract infection. I don't think I will ever know what happened to me. I'm still not 100%......but, slowly every day, there seems to be some improvement. I am praying that this "infection" will be cured and it will never come back.

ANYWAYS!!!! I finally was able to get into my new school, and I've started setting it up! I'm so excited. I'm alreay attending new teacher workshops, and getting ready for the beginning of the school year. I hope to be COMPLETELY healed within the next couple of days so I can fully enjoy all of this new beginning stuff. I hope to have pictures of my room posted. I want to post kind of a before and after picture. Well see if I can get the before picture before I go crazy getting my room set up. I'm being kind of antsy right now.

Tyson is still working away, and that's pretty much it. Nothing new with him. He's still K9 dog training, and doing it as a hobby until one day he can become a K9 officer. Rosco is getting better and better as he matures. He's still a VERY well balanced dog.

Tyson and I hope everyone is doing well, and if you're in Texas, you're keeping cool from this heat. Hopefully it won't be almost a month before I blog again.

Austin Vacation

We had a great four days in Austin this past week. Tyson got some much needed time off from work and stresses, and I got some much needed time away from the monotony of home. We got to see both of our families and spent some quality time with them. The four days consisted of nothing but food, fun, laughter, tennis, and golf!

Thursday, Tyson got to spend quality time with his dad, as I spent quality time with just my mom. Later that day, I had a home cooked dinner with my mom, stepdad, my two sisters, and my brother-in-law. IT WAS SUCH A FUN NIGHT! It brought back old times when I used to have visitations in Austin with my mom. Definitely A LOT of laughter, joking, and serious/intellectual conversations............the way it always used to be. I miss it.Overall, Tyson and I had a lot of fun and didn't want to leave.

Here are a few pictures from our little trip to Austin. I wish I could have gotten more action shots of everything (ie: playing tennis and golf), but silly me always forgot my camera!

THIS IS BOSS, MY SISTER'S BOXER.

TYSON AND BOSS
BOSS JUST FINISHED LICKING TYSON'S FACE!
MY MOMMA AND ME! ♥
MY BROTHER-IN-LAW WHIPPING UP SOME YUMMY TURKEY BURGERS!
MY SISTER AND HER HUSBAND.
MY STEPDAD, JAY AND MY LITTLEST SISTER, RYLEE! ♥
TYSON HELPING TO GET DINNER READY! THAT'S ONE OF THE MANY THINGS I LOVE ABOUT HIM! HE'S A MAN THAT ACTUALLY ASKS IF SOMEONE NEEDS HELP IN THE KITCHEN!
TYSON COOKING...........AND SQUATING WHILE MAKING A GOOFY GRIN. NICE COOKING TECHNIQUE HUNNY...
AWWW....MOMMA AND SON! ♥
AND TIGGER!......JUST WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO FALL ON THE FLOOR.

Austin

Tyson and I are heading off on a week long trip to Austin......sort of......more like a Monday through Friday trip. We can't wait!!! We both SO desperately need a change of scenery. With every day life stresses, it's good that we're just leaving town and getting away for a bit. I know Tyson's definitely looking forward to it. We both want to see our families. I know I'm going a little nutty and just want to GET OUT!

Austin has always been a second home to me. As a lot of you know, my parents are divorced, so I had visitations with my mom. I would go to Austin almost once a month, spend every other holiday there, and spend half a summer there. It's a BEAUTIFUL city and it's so healthy and active....JUST LIKE ME! I miss jet skiing and taking boat rides on the lake, eating out in downtown Austin, the Austin city nights, the geography! Tyson and I both wish SO badly that we could move there , but our lives right now don't give us that option. I just started a new job, and Tyson really can't up and leave Humble PD.

Anyways! I just wanted everyone to know that we're headed off to Austin and hopefully I will be able to have a nice blog about our trip.

Austin, here we come!

Time Off? REALLY?!

I thought I was going to fall off my chair when I heard the words, "I have Saturday AND Sunday off," from Tyson.

I was like "WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAT????!!!!"

Apparently, he told me this, but I must have forgotten. But, then I was thinking, "Why would I forget something like that???" And not only will he have his regular Wednesday, Thursday off along with his requested Saturday and Sunday off, we will be heading to Austin to visit family not next week, but the week after that!

I am so excited! Let me break it down to you.....

Tyson is off....

This week: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.........

and then the week of July 6th through the 12th!

I think I'm more excited for him because he actually will have some time away from work. But, then again, I'm thrilled that I get to spend some quality time off with my husband.

Tyson has expressed to me that he is SO excited to go see his parents and to go play some golf.

Well, I have ants in my pants! I can't wait to see his parents, my mom, and my sisters! Time to go do a happy dance! ♥

Wedding Photos....FINALLY!

I know! I know! I'm sorry I'm JUST now getting them posted. There's lots of reasons why this is so three months late, but I'm not going to get into it because I know you're ready to see wedding pictures!

I warn you, I don't know what it is, but Picasa wouldn't let me get the pictures bigger. So, they look kind of small and I hope you can see them clearly.

Here is the link to our wedding pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/reannins/OurWedding?feat=directlink


JUST AN FYI! At the top of this blog, we will have a permanent link, IN BLUE LABLED "OUR PICASA PHOTO ALBUMS, that links to our Picasa web album. This will be used for future pictures. Our blog will let you know if there's any updates! Other than that! ENJOY! Leave us comments and let us know what you think!

New Hair Pictures

Hello friends and family! If you don't have facebook, then you obviously haven't seen the pictures of me with my new hair, as I posted some on there.

Here they are on Tyson and my blog...finally!

DO NOT laugh at these pictures. I HATE taking pictures of myself because they turn out so ugly and cheesy. But, I HAD to smile because it felt awkward....

HERE'S KIND OF AN ANGLED VIEW

BACK VIEW

SIDE VIEW

CLOSE UP FRONT VIEW

OVERALL PICTURE OF THE HAIR

TYSON AND PRECIOUS SAY HI!

SO DOES ROSCO!

Anyways! The hair feels great in this hot hot heat. I think next time I'm taking it more layered in the back. I'm getting braver. Sorry for those who loved me with long hair. You should have had my hair in this Texas heat. You, too, would have been BEGGIN' to chop it off!

Tyson is doing great! Working hard as ever. He requested a few Sundays off for the next few months so we could have an extra day together. He did this because he's sometimes working overtime, comp time, or an extra job on one of his days off and training on the other day. Technically....NOT A DAY OFF! So after my whinning, he requested a few Sundays......

EXCELLENT!!!

Nothing Too New....

........................except my hair.

Yes. I completely chopped it off. It's got that angled bob thing going. You know....the hairstyle that is MAJOR right now. I've got a mix between the Victoria Beckham and Kelly Clarkson look going, but with side swept bangs. For those who are visual, here are some pictures to give an example......







I hope to post pictures of me with the hairstyle on MY head so everyone can see. Anyways, I LOVE it! It fits me and it's SO much more comfortable in this Houston, Texas heat with a mix of UNCOMFORTABLE humididty. The long hair on my head caused me to want to faint from heat exhaustion every time I stepped outside. Now, I can feel a breeze on my neck and it's WONDERFUL!

Otherwise, not much is new. Tyson is working his patootie off lately. He's been stressing (typical for him) about saving up for our house. He seems to have forgotten that I got my teaching job, and we can basically just throw all of my checks into savings and just live off of his salary. But....THAT'S TYSON!!! My always stressing husband. It's good that he looks into the future, and wants us to have the best, but sometimes you just need to take things one step AND one day at a time, or you will go insane. That's the way I try to live life. I think every day I tell him to relax, and a couple of days ago, I sat down with him for about an hour telling him that he needs to relax on life. Let his hair down. You know.

Besides Tyson working like crazy, I've been cooking more (you may now proceed to fall over in shock) since I have more time to figure out what I can and want to make. I've been going to a few team meetings here and there for my new school I will be working at. I'm already overwhelmed with information that has been handed to me, and this is only the beginning. Our school should be read for move in in the middle of July. Once that happens, our principal told us that, "We will be hitting the deck running." Not just with setting up our rooms, but setting up the school. Here goes!!!! Below is the link to my school's website if you have ANY interest to look at it.

http://wilkinson.conroeisd.net/

Otherwise, Tyson and I will keep you all posted on how our summer is going! I am going to try and make a weekend trip to Austin to see my mom (Hi mommy!) and sisters. Rebecca moved back to Austin with her husband. :( I'm sad about that. Then, Tyson and I are going to make a week trip up to Austin together to visit anyone and everyone that we can! Then a wedding we're going to, then me setting up for my new school....etc. etc. etc.!

Other than that, I'll be working out, working on my tan, learning to cook a little more, and just enjoying my summer while I have it. Oh........and I'll be working on getting Tyson to stress a little less.......

All while Tyson is still going to force himself to work to death this summer....blah!

I'll also be working on him actually TAKING the days off he has.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

WOW! What a year Tyson and I have had so far....

As of yesterday, I became a college graduate! It feels sooooooo good. It also feels so good that I have so much family support, and so many people who are proud of me. I feel it was quite an accomplishment, especially since I was the one who put myself through college. There were many times I wanted to give up because I was tired of working full time and going to school full time. I didn't think I could do it anymore........working hours and hours pinching pennies just to save up for one semester of college. I forced myself to keep going because I couldn't settle. After almost 6 years of exhaustion, tears, and stress, I made it!

It felt so good to have my in-laws come into town to watch me graduate. It has always made me feel good to know I have always had their support, and continue to have their support. It felt so good to hear Tyson, my sweet husband, consistently tell me that he was so proud of me. It felt so good to almost see my dad in tears as he told me he was so proud of me. It felt good to get a great big kiss from both of my moms as they hugged and held me, while telling me they were proud. It felt so good to get phone calls and texts from great friends telling me they were proud. I definitely feel so proud of myself.

This morning, Tyson and I went out to brunch with my mother and father-in-law. Tyson and I sat around discussing our "life plan" to the both of them to let them know where we planned on heading in our lives together. As always, the both of them always give us great advice. The best comment Tyson's dad made (that we both took to heart) was that, "It doesn't get any better than this." I agree, and it all makes sense. We need to enjoy ourselves, and enjoy our time with just the two of us. We're young and carefree! The world is our oyster now. I have graduated college and I have my job and Tyson has his job. Now we can relax and enjoy ourselves. With now a double income, we are saving for our house that we will hopefully be getting next summer. We already have a month to month budget made. We plan on taking vacations and enjoying married life to the fullest before settling down and making a family. Like my father-in-law said, "It doesn't get any better than this." (Great comment Dad!) This is why I didn't quit college when I was hanging on by a thread. Now Tyson and I can enjoy ourselves. It was all worth it. Tyson and I are so happy. ♥

Here are some pictures from my graduation...

THERE'S THE VIEW OF EVERYTHING!

ME, MY SISTERS, AND MY BROTHER. YES! I'M THE OLDEST AND SHORTEST OUT OF ALL OF THEM. RYLEE WILL DEFINITELY BE TALLER THAN ME IN THE FUTURE! MY CAP COMPENSATES FOR MY SHORTNESS.

♥ THE HAPPY HUSBY AND WIFEY! ♥

I Feel So Pretty...Picture Perfect Beautiful...

Well...we're doing a few things backwards. Due to the time and daylight issue on our wedding day, our photographer, Lauren, and Tyson and I decided to take some more of the artistic shots I wanted on another day. Well, we WERE going to include Tyson, but, unfortunately, Tyson's schedule doesn't permit; therefore, I will be taking some bridal shots:

1) To get in those "artsy fartsy" shots I love so much of brides and such, and

2) To build Lauren's photography portfolio up. I'm more than happy to model for her!

So, we'll be taking the "artsy fartsy" shots in downtown Houston at Herman Memorial Park in the garden areas. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait!!!! I can't wait to take them, and see how they turn out. I'm doing my own hair, so we'll see how this turns out. I'm not doing anything fancy schmancy with it. Just trying the hair down thing with my wedding dress. Oh.....and the exciting thing is that I get to wear my wedding dress and my oh so wonderful veil (that was my favorite part of my whole look) all over again! Exciting! Hopefully we'll really play up the veil and get some artsy veil shots. I'm really looking forward to it. It's just so disappointing that Tyson will not be able to join. Darn cop schedule........