One Year

On St. Patrick's Day Rick and I realized that we had made the move from Provo to Tucson exactly one year ago that day. When we made the move on St. Patrick's day 2011 our truck broke down, we were averaging 9 miles per gallon and it took us 2 days to get there. This year for St. Patrick's Day we spent the night with my nanny boys while Chad and Christy went on a weekend getaway. That night there was a horrible wind storm knocking over everything outside and keeping me awake until 2:30 am. At 3:00 am the 2 little boys came into the bedroom to wake us up for the day. I put them back to bed and at 3:30 we were all asleep again until 5:50 when they woke us up for good. Rick and I decided to take turns napping while the other stayed up with the boys but then Rick got called to work and had to leave right away. The only other things I remember about that day were bathing the boys after lunch because they had made a huge mess, the 2 year old crying and when I went to find him he had stepped in a fresh pile of dog crap that was on the carpet, giving him another bath, putting them down for a nap and then cleaning up the poop. I have never in my life had more respect for stay at home Moms/Dads.

I guess we don't have that "Irish Luck" that everybody talks about.

This year that we've been in Arizona has been full of changes. It seems we finally got into a regular routine of things and now we've got some more changes coming our way, but these ones are good.

Rick put in a bid for a borrow out in Little Rock, Arkansas. A borrow out is what happens when a place is desperate for workers and they bring them in from different areas of the country to work for them temporarily. They take you based off of seniority. Rick got the job and will leave on Saturday. They require you to be there for a minimum of 90 days, after that you have the option to leave but if you want to stay longer you can as long as they have work for you to do. Every 26 days they will fly you home for 4 days, so I'll at least get to see him once a month. We had taken time off of work and scheduled to go to Disneyland/Sea World for our anniversary in May but instead I will be going out to Arkansas for that week. We realized that so far we have been in a different state for each of our anniversaries - 1st was Utah, 2nd was Arizona, and now 3rd will be Arkansas. And thus, a tradition has been born.

I will stay in Arizona and work while he's in Arkansas. A few months ago I felt the urge to go back to school. So I did. I'm currently enrolled at University of Phoenix doing the online Associates Elementary Education program. Let me just take a minute to talk about how much I love technology. I take my laptop with me to work and when the boys are napping I can do my homework. I can also do it from my iPhone. I went to Utah 3 weeks ago and while I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight I was getting my participation points in for the week. It's hard and it's a lot of work, but it's convenient. So with working and school I think I'll be able to keep myself pretty busy while Rick is gone.

Lastly, I finally went to see a GI specialist after 7 years of nausea and vomiting that was getting worse, happening more frequently and lasting longer. Last year I had an abdominal ultrasound done and a HIDA scan done to make sure all my insides looked normal and to make sure my gallbladder was functioning properly. Everything looked good, which I know normally you would want to hear but I was getting sick of Doctors telling me I was fine and that "everything looks great!" or "sometimes we just throw up and we don't know why" because that didn't leave me with any answers. I had been leaving a bucket in my car so that I can throw up while I drive to work. That doesn't tell me that I'm fine. When I went to the ER last year the Doctor diagnosed me with Acid Reflux/GERD. When I went home and looked it up online the only symptom of GERD that I had was nausea and vomiting. She gave me an antacid but it didn't do anything for me. I've had a few Doctors give me prescriptions for Zofran which helps tremendously with the nausea, but again, it doesn't give me any answers it just covers up the symptoms. While we were sitting in the waiting room of the GI Doctor's office I was wondering if I would get any answers, or what if this was somehow all in my head? She called us back to the room and as I was telling her my symptoms she started asking me a lot of questions.

Does this have a pattern? It didn't used to but now it happens monthly. Like clockwork.
How do you feel in between cycles of nausea and vomiting? Completely fine.
Do you get headaches when you get these flare ups? I didn't used to but over the last few months I have been getting them.
How long does the nausea and vomiting last? 4-7 days.
Are you tired when this happens? Ex-freaking-hausted.
What is the pattern of your flare ups? Wake up, barf, barf throughout the day, feel better by night time, eat.
When did this start? When I was 16.
Have you been to the Hospital for this? Yes, I went to the ER once.
Did they do blood work? Yes. It all came back normal.


She sat in silence for a few minutes typing away at her computer before she turned to me and said -

"It sounds like you have Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. Technically there is no way to officially diagnose anyone with this disease, but enough people have all the same symptoms that we can call it a disease. There is no way to test for it. The diseases that kill people are the ones that get all the attention and research, so the good news is that this isn't going to kill you, but since we don't know exactly what it is or what causes it there is no cure for it. You can go home and do some research online but you won't find much."

I was relieved just to have some validation and someone to tell me it wasn't all in my head - this is a real thing. She then said that there are some treatment options that I could try if I liked. She gave me a prescription that other people with CVS have had success with and then, of course, gave me Zofran for when the cycle hits. I decided to try the medication just to see how I felt on it and if I noticed a difference I would keep taking it and if not then I would stop talking it and just be happy I had an answer. When we got home I looked up CVS and I had every single symptom. After that I started taking the medication and it has given me instant relief. The weird part is that now when I wake up, I'm hungry. I don't remember a time in my life when I woke up and wanted to eat. I never eat breakfast, and I never did as a kid. The thought of eating in the morning made me nauseous. I understand now why people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, because if I don't eat it, I'll probably kill you if you get in my way.

I have not thrown up or been nauseous one time in the last 44 days.

Miracle.