Celebrate Life

After Monday’s issues we took the day off yesterday to celebrate life and celebrate my husband’s birthday.  We took the kids to the National Zoo for around 2 hours and just relaxed and enjoyed being a family.  Allowing the kids to play hooky from school is completely out of character for me; however I felt that it was necessary for me.  I just wanted a little family time and to get away from the stress of life. 

I took some great pictures, which I will add to soon, I hope, and we only made it to see the Lions, Reptiles, and Prairie Dogs.   I know it is not a lot, but that zoo is big, and my kids love to look at everything!  The coolest part is that there is a monkey exhibit that allows the orangutan to travel across the sky on what looks like a zip line.  They actually come out of their habitats and go into another one.  Way COOL!  Until the smell hits you!  UGH!!

Ryan’s test on Wednesday revealed nothing out of the ordinary.  So now we have to have a CT scan.  UGH, what in the world is going on?  We have to wait 3-5 days for the biopsy results so now more waiting and more missed days from school…

As for me, I am doing ok, just very, very tired.  I have regained my leg and arm use, my speech is still a little difficult to me, but when I talk to someone else, they say they can’t notice it.  I will say I am so grateful to my friends and family.  I am getting calls from my students at the college and am so grateful for all the thought and prayers from everyone, our Welcome FBC family, the students at the college, my Facebook friends and blog followers.  

It is a little funny that hubby and I were having lunch with one of my students that had a stroke 5 years ago, and has come so far in the water aerobics class.  Larry and his wife Mandy are such a wonderful couple and I hope we can become great friends.  On the way home I was using the the text function on my Cozi calendar app, and was saying to research more about stroke recovery, therapy and how to become a physical therapist.

Weird huh?  I didn’t remember that until I was looking at my To Do list on my Cozi app, and it snapped in my mind when the time showed up.  Wow, will wonders never ceased, research on the internet was my intent, not in first person…  Oh well, I have more information that I could have ever had from the internet.   LOL :)

My sister and I had to realize yesterday that I have to keep my sense of humor about this, or it could go completely in a different direction.  I hope that my experience can help others realize the early signs of a possible stroke and get help within the first three hours of symptoms can make all the difference in the recovery process.  That came from all the nurses and doctors that took care of me at two different hospitals so I think it is pretty good advice.  :)

 

If you think someone may be having a stroke, act F.A.S.T. and do this simple test:

F—FACE: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A—ARMS: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

S—SPEECH: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange?

T—TIME: If you observe any of these signs, call 9-1-1 immediately.

**Information from:  National Stroke Association

It takes seconds to do these tests and those few seconds can make a dramatic difference.  Take a moment to remember these few FACTs please.

Ok enough about this for the moment, I am going to work on my blog and see about moving it to Wordpress, so hopefully we will have new information, more pages, and more research on Fibromyalgia for my readers.  I want to add more savings information and tips for living with chronic conditions.  

Gotta work on laundry, so I will let you go today. 

Butterfly hugs and lilac dreams to all.