Dear Diary Friday...

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

This week has been great other than a few major lows that occured....but life carries on and you learn from those lessons and rejoice in the fact that you still woke up with breath in your body!!! Gotta love that which does not kill us, right??

Well, the weather has screwed up my plans of working in the yard, however, Dylan and I are still going to go and buy plants....I need some foliage and color in the yard, dammit!! I will at least have everything I need to work in the yard when the weather decides to clear up and behave itself.

Really looking forward to going to the Super Pet Adoption this weekend and lending my support to the cause. I think I will see if they will allow us to maybe walk a few of the dogs around to stretch their legs. The rest of the weekend I think I am going to play it by ear and see what comes to pass. I do know that I need to clean a few things and vacuum, but other than that, just going to enjoy.

Oh, and I just about forgot the most exciting news....MY DADDY CAN HEAR! Yes, he was actually able to call me on the phone last night and I didn't have to scream at him AND he could hear everything I was saying. It got me very choked up, and I heard my Daddy get a little choked up himself. It will be so great for him to be able to speak to his kids that are out of state and his nieces and nephews. Thank Gawd for modern technology!!!!

Dear Diary Thursday...

If you know me, then you know that in the last year and few months, I have been seeing a physician off and on for battling anxiety and depression. Well, I learned a valuable lesson on it....do not just decide to stop a medication without first talking to your physician about it!

I have been on Welbutrin now for over a year.....one pill in the morning, one in the afternoon. Since starting it, I had discovered that I really could control my temper, I really could have less anxiety, I could really stop my suicidal thoughts, I really could be happy. Well, as the doctor thought....that started to plateau for me so we started on an additional medication, Lexapro, 7 weeks ago, to take with my Welbutrin. It was absolutely AMAZING! All of my issues that I had begun to have completely went away....I was back to being able to function like a normal human being all over again. I could see the sun, I could find the silver lining, it was all back to being an enjoyable life. And then I decided to stop the Lexapro due to a side effect I was not enjoying. OH GAWD what a horrible mnistake! Thankfully I was able to "man up" and call my physician and tell her what had been going on and what I did. I also explained that my medical insurance will not pay for two medications at the same time and I really did not want to have to pay a huge amount of money. She was GREAT! I am still on my Welbutrin and I pick up a different medicaiton (a generic) at another pharmacy without going through my insurance....for $4.00! WOOOHOO!! The moral of the story is this.....I know I am an extremely strong person but I also know I have a chemical imbalance that I have no control over. You may not have the choice to be in pain, but you do have the choice on whether you suffer and I decided to stop suffering and get help. It was honestly the smartest thing I have ever done in my life and I am sure it saved not only my life, but many relationships that I cherish every day.

Deciding to make a difference in my life was hard, but I figure that now if I speak about the subject with someone, I have the experience to base it off of. I find it irritating when somebody begins to impart "wisdom" based upon no experience, no knowledge of the situation, nothing. Do not get me wrong, we all have opinions on just about everything....including ME....but now I can speak about this situations with other people coming from somebody who lives with it.

YAY for living better through pharmaceuticals!!!!!

Dear Diary Tuesday....

Good news from two doctors yesterday. The first is that my Mom is healing very well and the doctor no longer wants her doing Physical Therapy...YAY! She still has a very restrictions, but nothing she can't handle. I could not be more happy!!!

Second great news is that my Dad went to see a specialist yesterday and is getting a new set of hearing aids....ones that he actually like and WORK! We tested them out by standing behind him and talking....being in a different room and talking....and he could hear everything PERFECTLY! He even went home yesterday and watched t.v. at NORMAL VOLUME and enjoyed it. We go back on Thursday to get his real ones, as he is using some temporary ones currently. It will just be so nice to be able to speak with him instead of yelling at him!

Dear Diary Monday...

The past couple of months have been INSANELY busy for Dylan and I....and taking care of the folks.

Mom is still in PT for her shoulder and has another doctor appointment today....which we are hoping releases her from PT but I am not holding my breath. She is getting stronger and stronger every day and her mobility with that arm is fantastic. She has even got to the point that she put up a quilt and has started quilting again, which was impossible due to the paint before the surgery....so things are looking up there. My Daddy totally stepped up after the surgery and has done all the cooking, the cleaning, and taking fantastic care of my Mom...which was a great ego boost for him.

Now that the weather has started to change, Dylan and I have been doing a lot of projects around the house. We both took a week off and took down the wallpaper in his bathroom, spackled and painted it...and it looks fantastic. At the same time, we moved his office upstairs and made the office upstairs BOTH of ours with a huge desk. The "office" downstairs has now become an extra bedroom with a beautiful tan futton in it and Dylan can sleep down there in the summer when it is too hot and too bright.....it is gorgeous.

The week after that, we went and bought a whole bunch of new art to put on the walls and blinds for his bathroom. We have not got to the point of putting them up yet, but I have inspiration and I believe it will be this weekend.

We also managed to get our frontroom and hall painted and new curtains up. We will also be hanging up some art in the hall and the front room. Everything is finally starting to come together and I could not be more pleased because with all of these renovations, it finally feels like MY house....not just a house.

This weekend, weather permitting, we will be putting some new rocks in our front flower beds, cleaning out the lava rocks that are currently in them, and trimming some bushes in the backyard,.....and if all works out we will also get some plants in the ground! Our yard just looks horrible because we really have not had a chance to spend time in it, so I am looking forward to some outdoorsy time!!!