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!