Not such a good day for the Dooligans

This morning I finally went to the doctor for all of my wierd complaints. Over the past year or so, off and on, and in varying degrees, and not often all at the same time, I have had lots of visual disturbances, right-sided headaches with facial numbness, strange pain (like my skin will hurt really bad on my leg), lots of achiness and fatigue, dizziness, numbness in my feet and hands, and a feeling of not being able to use my hands as well as I used to. Folding a load of laundry makes me completely exerted, not like out of breath, but just like I have lifted weights. I can't sleep at night sometimes because I have really strange sensations in my legs. Having Anna sit on my lap causes me actual pain.
Who knows what you are thinking as you read this? Like either I am a complete hypochondriac, or maybe you are wondering why it took me an entire year to go to the doctor? I guess I kept chalking it up to being so sleep deprived, from nursing and being pregnant for sooooo long now. (the doctor basically told me to wean her today, which will be a whole nother blog! )
Everytime something would alarm me, it would go away before I was alarmed enough to actually call the doctor. Also, some of my symptoms have been really hard for me to articulate.
After making the appointment, I was half afraid that she would look at me like I was crazy, and completely brush me off. But then I was also afraid that she would take me seriously, which would make me feel like something is really wrong with me.
The appointment went well, my doctor was very kind and thorough. I left feeling validated but even more concerned than I was before my appointment. She spent an entire hour with me, which we all know is kind of odd for a doctor. She had a bunch of blood drawn, and said she was ordering several labs to rule out some stuff. Then she ordered an MRI of my brain with and without contrast, whatever that means. I think from everything she said, my best case scenario is fibromyalgia, which really wouldn't be that bad.
My worst case scenario is...??? I basically tested positive for the fibromyalgia from my physical exam, but in order to diagnose me she has to eliminate everything else first. Through the blood tests, she can rule our lots of things, like thyroid or a RA-like autoimmune disorder. As for the MRI, she just did not say. I think she was being intentionally vague to keep me from worrying, which I guess is smart. But now I have to wait a whole week for the MRI which, by the way, is making me claustrophobic just thinking about it. I checked that I was not claustrophobic on the form, but come on, who would not feel a little claustrophobic being in an MRI for 45 minutes?
The best part of the appointment was that I no longer feel like I am just really lazy, or like I am just really crazy. My doctor said something to me that made me feel better: You're not imagining this. It's not in your head.
I guess in retrospect that should make me feel worse, like if I were just a little nuts, I could just opt for sanity (through some good SSRIs) and stop feeling sick!
The rest of the Dooligans had bad days because:
1.) Dave is sick with a cold and worried about me.
2.) Anna has turned into a big bully and is constantly hitting and teasing her big brother.
3.) Jonathan has to deal with the rest of us.
4.) There was a whole bunch of other stuff, like my nephew puking everywhere, and my stepfather is not doing great right at the moment, and my Mom's shi tzu dragged 2 empty ground beef packages out of the trash and dragged them around the living room and I almost freaked out! because I am very concerned about germs at all times. If it had been chicken, I would have probably just had to pack up and leave!

Oh, and my fav. candidate (and the one Dave would have voted for if he weren't STILL a Republican) resigned today.

Going Boating!

Today Dave stayed home so we could go vote. We took the kids to breakfast, and on our way out, I told Jon that we were going to vote. He said, well, then where are we going? I said, well, then you're going home. He looks all concerned, and says, "You're going to leave me home by myself?" I say, no, Mama would never leave you home alone! Jonathan is getting frustrated at this point, and says, "Well then why are you going away on a boat???"Anna kept thinking we were going to a boat also, but she was even more confused because my Mom calls her minivan a boat. She always says, C'mon guys, let's get on a boat! So Anna thought we were going to get in Nona's van. Needless to say, they were both bummed out when we pulled up to our precinct to vote. I suddenly remembered the last time I took Jonathan to vote (on a very dark day back in 2004) and he also thought I was taking him to see a boat. Of course, he was only about one then, and he was very satisfied and delighted when he spotted a rowboat parked at the side of the "lake" in the 55 plus community we vote at. I think this time he was expecting more of a cruise ship type of boat. We told some of the elderly men greeting us about the confusion and they were still chuckling when we left.I did try to explain voting, but then I had to try and explain who the "president" is and what "United States of America" means.

Jonathan's Photography

The other night I let Jonathan use the camera. I was very suprised at the results. Here are a few of his best ones. He took pictures of me and Anna, and just Anna alone. She was loving the attention from him and really hamming it up for the camera. After taking the one of me and Anna together, he looked at it and said, "Oh, yuchhy, that's a girly picture." Just so you know, girly in his language isn't referring to the fact that it is a picture of two girls. He called it girly because it was gross, because we are all lovey and snuggly in the picture. I think he's pretty good, about as good as me, really! He also took several pictures of his toys and of a really fantastic race track he built with his Magneatos.

Christmas Morning Video, A Little Bit Late...

Jonathan and Anna opened their presents very quickly. It was very loud and chaotic and happy!


This video was taken at our house first thing Christmas morning. Jonathan could not bring himself to get up and look under the tree because he was so nervous there were not going to be any presents there. He said, "You go look Daddy, and check for me, ok?" I guess he has been naughty lately, but Santa still came through. Check out Jonathan's awesome bedhead mohawk! I love Anna's reaction to her bike. And her baby neigh-neigh, which she has been wanting for quite some time.