The Happy Blog

Well, they have started working on the interior of our home. Last week, our style of garage doors were put in (without the hardware design that we chose. Those will probably be added last.), and when Tyson and I walked into the garage, we saw our doors and trim. Yesterday, I went back and they had all of the doors put in, started the trimming, and even have started on the cabinents and shelves of the house! It all seems so surreal. Our brick is STILL not on our house after it has been sitting on the lot for a couple of weeks. I'm starting to pull a Tyson, and I'm getting impatient. I just want to see the brick on our house. :( However, I know I need to savor each moment and step of our first home being built.

Of course, we all know that I'm going picture and video happy, so here is a look at more of the progress being made:

CABINENTS!!!

SHELVES AND TRIM

MASTER BATHROOM AND WALK-IN!

Last week, the garage doors were put on....

....and our trimming and doors were delivered.

April 5th, I walk in to find our cabinents are installed!

Starting on the trimming. They aren't finished.

Bathroom cabinents are installed. This is in the master bath.

Shelving has been put in all closets. Shown below is part of the master walk-in. I had to showcase those wonderful shelves! Tyson and I LOVE this!......epecially me......ladies......shoes......ya know?!

We will be signing the contract at the end of this month,we will get the keys to our new home, and we'll be officially homeowners!

Now off to some random blabber. As the majority of you know, we have two dogs .............A bichon named Precious (she lives up to that name) and then a crazy, hyper malinois named Rosco. You've all seen pictures of the both of them, and you would never expect Rosco, our police dog, to be such the BABY compared to Precious. Well, Rosco puts on this goofy grin every time we either baby talk him, give him kisses, or rub his belly. He never fails to give this funny looking smile. I've been wanting SO BADLY to capture this funny looking grin he gives when he's being loved. Welp! I got got the opportunity the other day! Click on the video below.

Sometimes he smiles with just his bottom teeth, but on this day, he decided to show ALL of his teeth. Oh! And he was SO relaxed and content that he let his tongue just hang limp and lifeless on the outside of his mouth. How can you not love this face???

Next topic! I mentioned that I have a new diagnosis, but I didn't remember what it was called. Well, I remember! I have what they call SPONDYLOSTHESIS. Below is an article that explains what it is, what causes is, treatments, etc. It mentions how it happens with dancers and gymnasts. The style of dance we did was a mix of gymnastics and ballet. I was trained to arch, arch, ARCH and lift my chest to hold my center, and we did A TON of choreography that involved movements where I had to be in constant arch (layouts, arabesques, stunts that had me bending backwards, etc). The small box off to the right mentions bladder and bowel changes to be a big red flag! Now I understand why my PT said that if I had came to her when this all started, she would have had me rushed to the neurosurgeon. She wasn't kidding, I AM a very lucky girl for not losing my bladder function after 9 months of this thing not getting sorted out. But, this is my exact story. I've always had lower back pain for years, and never knew that those days were the beginning stages to a disc in my spine to give out.

http://www.thenaturalback.com/articles/spondylolisthesis.php

I have continued to make more progress. I am actually sitting here right now symptom free, but, it goes in and out. My lower back is just achy, but that comes with the territory of having a really weak lower back that I never knew about. I had a sort of set back yesterday that made me walk into my appointment telling my PT how discouraged I was that I felt I had taken a step backwards. My entire back was aching like crazy and my bladder sensations were pretty uncomfy. She asked me what activities I did on Sunday, and I told her that I did all of the exercises all day long that she has me doing, and I was on the ball all day. Right away she knew what was wrong.

Number one: I got over-enthusiastic, and I pretty much overexercised my core, and it is now "sore." She said I basically got my muscles overworked which caused them to re-inflame that nerve that controls my bladder....joy! Number two: This just solidified that fact that my lower back is WAY out of shape. More so than we thought. That's why my upper back was killing me. It was trying to compensate for the lack of strength in my lower back just to hold me upright. She said it would probably take a year and a half to two years for my lower back to get to full strength because it has been under SO much trauma. Yuck! The good news is that she is VERY PLEASED at how well my body is responding to the treatment. The one thing I'm grateful for is the fact that I can tell her each symptom that I have, and she can respond with WHY I'm having that symptom, then she'll give me an exercise or perform therapy on me that takes those symptoms away. I have SO MUCH MORE CLOSURE with this woman than I have EVER had with any other physician on this horrific journey, and I don't ever walk out of her office unhappy.

I called this the Happy Blog, because that's where Tyson and I are right now. We're happy we're so close to being moved into our home, we're happy that we have such a well balanced police dog, and we're happy (and blessed) to have found this wonderful woman who has given me an accurate diagnosis, the reason for all of my problems, and my life back. We're getting back some sense of normalcy these days. She has me getting more normal and normal each day. I have been eating chocolate, strawberries, hamburgers, and I even went to the gym this entire weekend! I'm able to take car trips with less pain, and go do the things Tyson and I used to LOVE to do together. I can sense how much more relieved Tyson seems to be to have his wife back. I just feel relieved to have found the problem, and I'm no longer left with any questions.