We need a break!

For a little over a year, it's felt like we've had targets on our backs. It's just been one thing after another.
 
Don't get me wrong, I realize how lucky we are to have each other, family, friends, a house, jobs, food, clothes and other stuff. But I feel like we just need a decent stretch of time where nothing really happens. Or at least nothing bad.
 
You already know some of this stuff, but I think listing it will give you an idea of how overwhelmed we've felt for the past year.
 
Last year from February to September, Biscuit got sick every 18 to 21 days. It always started with a fever. Then the diagnosis varied from tonsilitis to flu (A and B), strep throat to a virus. A couple of times, when we got a doctor other than Biscuit's normal guy, we were told it was nothing we should worry about. And, of course, there was the trip to the ER when his temperature was 106!

We had blood tests done, but ultimately, nobody could ever tell us why it was happening. And then in September, it went away just as mysteriously as it came. And of course we were looking at the calendar constantly, counting down the days until he'd be sick again. And the one or two fevers he's had since then completely freaked out Jeff and me.

So we were dealing that when in June, Jeff's Dad died suddenly and completely unexpectedly. It was crazy, and in some ways, since we live so far away from Jeff's parents, it still seems unreal.

I can't tell you how many times I've been walking around the house, and I think, "I should ask Jim about that next time they're here."

And speaking of the house, I see him all over the place. He built the cabinets in my laundry room. He built the shed out back. He completely redid my kitchen floor. He swapped out a sliding-glass door for French doors. He turned a big blank wall in the kitchen into built-in bookcases (for my WAY too many cookbooks) and a bench that serves as seating for the table. And there are many more things I could list.

Then in September, Jeff got a bad cough. By early October, I guilted him into going to the doctor, and they said he had pneumonia.

The chest x-ray that showed he had pneumonia also showed that he had a bigger-than-a-lemon mass on his thyroid.

He had bloodwork, an ultrasound, a CT scan and more to get all lined up for surgery. And the whole time, we're wondering ... is it cancer?

By the time all the testing was done, the calendar had changed to 2017. Then he had surgery in early February. Thankfully, the pathology report came back as benign. We were so relieved. And he's still recovering, really. They said his stitches would be in for at least two months. They will dissolve on their own, so he won't have to have them taken out.
He had a blood test last week and goes back for a followup next week. He'll have to be on medicine to regulate all the stuff his thyroid would've done - body temperature, metabolism, etc. We're hoping the blood test results will say that his medicine is just right. If not, he'll have to have his medicine adjusted, then three weeks after that, he'll have another blood test, then another followup. This lovely pattern would repeat itself until everything is regulated.

In February, Jeff, Biscuit and I all got sick. Biscuit said he and I had the flu, but he said, "Dad just wasn't sick enough to say he had the flu." I don't know if we actually had the flu or not, but there were cold symptoms, belly problems, head and body aches and more. So whatever it was, I hope it doesn't ever come back!

In early March, Jeff had to go out of town for four days to cover a basketball tournament. And I was reassured (as I had been before during his trips) that I do not want to be a single parent! It's too hard. I like that Jeff and I share the Biscuit duties. And it's just not the same when we're not all three together.

In mid-March, someone who played a prominent role in my childhood died unexpectedly. I hadn't seen him in a while, but he still lived in the community where my parents live. So I had continued to hear stories about him. And of course I saw him when I went home for visits.

I know if goes without saying, but it's really hard to lose people who mean a lot to you.

So I think this catches us up.

Biscuit will have his first baseball game of the season this Saturday. And Jeff and I just booked a weekend trip to the beach in April (no Biscuit allowed!). And Biscuit will spend spring break with my parents, so Jeff and I are planning to go to the movies to see anything rated PG-13 or worse!

We have had so much support from our family and friends as we've gone through the craziness of the past year. We are truly lucky!