Just a quick word!!

I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that my Hubby is doing really good!! Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts!! The "rash" on his leg is almost completely gone!! We will have our follow up appt with the Infectious Disease Specialist on Tuesday where they will recheck his blood and then we should be good!! Now we just need to pray that it doesn't come back!!! Apparently it is very common for it to attack a second time!

I hope everyone has had a great weekend!!!

Nikon Man Say What?!?!

I bought my beloved Nikon D90 back in February and I was so excited!! I had waited a year to buy this camera and had researched fiercely what I wanted...And there it sat like gold before my eyes....The Nikon D90!!!! But that fire in my eyes fizzled out quickly after I realized my D90 was not working with its full capabilities!!

So I continued on because I honestly thought it was my lens that was causing me grief...Only to be told by an Authorized Service shop that it was in deed the camera...

So here I posted my journey of the battle that then ensued with Nikon...I was so shocked and thoroughly upset that they would not help me!!

So after much debating and my refusal to send the camera back to them when they didn't fix it the first time. I was in constant contact with some head honcho from Nikon Corporation and one day about a week ago I got an email with words I soooo wanted to hear!!!

And I quote "Dear Mrs. D, we have decided as a customer courtesy we will be replacing your Nikon D90"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt like the angels were singing!!! Then it stopped....I had to check this out....I mean he did say "replace" did he mean replace with a refurbed or a new D90?!?! So I anxiously awaited the answer to my question and he finally said "yes, your camera will be a brand new D90!!!!!!! WHAA HOO!!!!!! And by golly they even sent me a shipping label for next day air UPS!!

So I got notice tonight that they did indeed get my old camera on his desk today and they will be shipping my new one Monday or Tuesday!!! I'm so excited it feels like I'm going to be waiting a year LOL!!

Ain't she a beauty!!! I'm so EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday Night Football is BACK!!!!!!!!!!!

As a mom of a high school young man I am soooo excited for another fantastic season of Friday Night Football games!!! Our High School has been working on the football program trying to get it on track and doing well.. Last year they did pretty good, my J was a freshmen then and he played JV and the JV team won most of their games!! The Varsity team had some great games and some really close games but their record for last year was better than years past I believe, they really played with heart and that's what I love to see. This is part of the advantage of living in these small communities, we have the ability to watch these kids and know them all and just be so stinkin proud of them!!!

J has worked his butt of to play football!! It is his #1 passion when it comes to playing sports!! He is very good at it, in spite of being one of the "smaller" guys on the team... Not small small just shorter and not as big around!! My J spent 4 days a week during the summer getting up at 4:45 am to go to conditioning and weight lifting from 6 - 8 am...He has literally doubled every starting point in weights and looks great!! He was also picked to play on a special 7 on 7 passing league team that the high school coach picked and we traveled every Sunday to another town so they could play they won every game except 1 going into the tournament then at tourny they won 1 and lost the 2nd ;( But the kids gained so much knowledge and formed such a great bond as a team I can't wait for this season!!

Team Huddle Break..



On the line..



Ready to go!!



Running for the pass!!



Playing some good Defense here!!



J is still not sure which team he will play on...He is a sophomore but has been practicing 1st string Varsity!!! But it is purely possible that he could end up on JV and also play Varsity...We don't know and won't get to find out till next week...The game they are playing tonight will be just a scrimmage game to kick off the season and the boys will be divided evenly!!

So in this fight that my J has been having to show that he is rough and tough because he wants that V playing, and along the way let me tell you he has banged and pulled and hyper-extended and strained just about everything you could possibly imagine!! Literally everyday when he gets home it's like OK what's hurt tonight?!?!

This night was a Hyper-Extended Knee....



So it's time to put on my Football loving Mom face and get out there and support these kids!!!!!

He was dressed for success in what he called "Operation Pearl Falcon"!! He and one of his best buds decided what they were wearing; pearl snap shirt, wrangler jeans and boots...and named it "operation pearl falcon" LOL!!! I love kids!!!



J driving up on his first "official" day as a Sophomore ;(

Storm Clouds and an Update on Hubby

Hubby had a Dr's appointment yesterday morning so we went and had high hopes that this Dr could figure out Hubby's mystery...So we get all checked in and then they take us back to a room, surprisingly we didn't have to wait but a few short minutes!! So we are sitting in the room waiting to see Dr O who we met at the hospital 2 days prior, and in walks this lady who happens to be wearing a lab jacket that says OB-GYN....NO seriously I am NOT kidding!!! Last time I checked my Hubby was a male and didn't need to see an OB Dr?!?! So she talks to him for a minute and then he shows her his leg and she literally went "eww, uh...well I'm not sure what that is let me go get another Dr"...OMGosh!!! So in she comes with Dr O this time and I thought "Oh good, now we have a good Dr", well he talks with Hubby and looks at his leg and says well it's worse that's for sure but I'm not really sure what is going on here...So we'll be back....So in they come with ANOTHER Dr and she looks at it and of course we get the question "did you get bit by anything? Any spiders, ticks, anything"? We have only answered this question 5,000 times in the last 4 days!!! So she says "HUM, well let me think and we'll be back", by this point Hubby and I are like this is crazy!!! So I start researching on my phone while we are waiting for Bone Infection, because Hubby has some family members who are afraid that's what this is. I actually found that the symptoms really all match Hubby's...From the "rash" on his leg to the crazy lab results to the pain and sickness, just everything really....So a few minutes go by and they all come back in with....YES ANOTHER Dr!!! He asks the same repetitive questions and of course we answered the same as every other time!! So he looks at it and says "well let me make some phone calls and we'll be back" OMGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So finally the OB-GYN Dr comes back in and says "well we are going to change his antibiotic and try this other one Dr M (the last one in) has talked to Dr P who is an Infectious Disease Dr and they have decided that it's some type of reaction to a bite and its inflamed the tissue"...So I said to her "how can we be sure this is not a bone infection"? And I asked her why we couldn't just do the simple MRI that would give us that answer and she basically told me no. So I told her we would not be taking their prescription because I do not believe in just throwing more meds at him and not actually know what your trying to treat! She didn't like that very well so she quickly left the room and comes back with Dr M and he sits in the chair and says "well what is the issue"?? I said "well the issue is that we have now been consulted by 4 Dr's and 1 more over the phone plus then 5 we've seen before you and not a single one of you has had the same answer here"!! Then I continued to tell him that I think it's ridiculous that they think its ok to give someone medicine and not know exactly what they are dealing with and I didn't understand why we couldn't just rule out the bone infection...Then I said it's not your life your messing with it's his, my Husband, Father to my children and he lives and he works and his life is valuable to me so I am not just going to go by the way side on this issue!!! He went on to tell me that he redness on his leg is not an indicator of bone infection and I responded with UM actually it is, along with his blood counts being off the chart!! They tried to tell me about certain blood test being that way for a reason so I promptly informed them that I worked in Hematology for some time and I know what the tests mean!! Well they didn't care for that much so they left the room and sent Dr O back in. He proceeds to tell us that "their job is to treat Hubby as cost efficient as they could" UMM well cost isn't an issue when we have 2 insurance companies LOL!! Then he rambles on about how they act as a filter and catch the hospital patients and then send them to the appropriate Dr that they need to see..So because of the nature of whats going on we feel that it would be best to send you on the the Infectious Disease Dr and let them see everything, they are used to dealing with these kinds of medical issues so that will be the best option so we can rule out bone infection...WHAT?!?! Hello that's what WE told you what to do and now you want to act like "Oh your so smart and all" HA LOL!! And they made it a point to tell us it IS NOT Celluitis aka Staph Infection...

Recent storm moving in...



So later in the afternoon we went to see the specialist, actually his PA but she was very nice and very thorough. She looked over all of the labs, and listened to the whole saga and only briefly asked about any type of bite, she did not carry on expecting him to suddenly remember a bite LOL!! So her diagnosis was that it MOST DEFINITELY IS Celluitis aka Staph Infection LOL!! We told them that the earlier Drs said it was DEFINITELY NOT!! She got a good chuckle out of that! She basically told us that since Hubby does have occasions at work where his boots get all wet and then he walks around like that until they dry that the dry skin between his toes has cracked and she had us look and see how it was. Then she said what happens is somewhere he picked up a bacteria and then it got into that crack and it could have happened a long time ago! Then what happened next was he must have hit or bumped his leg and he may never have known that he did it but what happens is that bruises the soft tissue and then the bacteria attacks because the system is weak...Very interesting and made so much sense!! So his blood work being all over the map is due to that infection and she expects when they redo blood next Tuesday it will be balanced back out. So he is on a high powered antibiotic that is actually dangerous to take and they only give it if they have too...So we are watching for many things right now!

Just beautiful views!!



And to top it all off we spent some time with my wonderful family on Sunday before Hubby went back to the hospital and unfortunately one of my cousins was feeling tired that day, and into the night he started feeling worse so they decided on Monday evening to take him to the ER because originally they thought he had a concussion from a hard hit in football but the ER Dr's confirmed that he has Influenza...And quite possibly the H1N1 aka swine flu, we should know tomorrow...As much as I was glad he was OK, I was of course worried about the H1N1 for everybody!! I mean our whole family was there!! But the next issue came that our Dr is very worried about Hubby getting this, she basically said it could be dangerous for him to acquire that right now...So we were all put on Tamiflu, Me, Hubby, J, & DD...Taking it as a preventative, which I didn't know you could do, but sure enough it says you can!! Oh and did I mention that this drug isn't cheap....$240.00 for the 4 of us!!! I think it's a bit ridiculous, but the other price we could pay would be much higher...SO we are all on day 2 of it, everyone but me is doing well. The drug actually makes me ill :( I'm hoping my body will be adjusted for tomorrow's dose!

My Absolute Favorite!!! This SOOC :)



Love it!!

Day at the Creek with DD

My DD is in the 5th grade this year!!! Part of the joy of being in 5th grade at her school is they have their own "wildlife/waterlife" area..So her first project was catching some critters out of the creek to take to school to add to their "pet" collection!!

DD checking out her favorite mini waterfall LOL!



Catching some snails



Looking for her next spot to go :)



She was so excited as we gathered her strainer and bucket and headed down the road to the creek!! Well much to our surprise the majority of the creek beds were dry!! But yet the sides of the road were flooded!! We had had lots of rain so I expected there to be some water LOL!! SO we went through some mud holes for a while and most of what she was catching were snails...So we decided to move on to another creek down the road!

Still looking!!



"Look MOM I got Snails"!!!!



Side of the road puddle LOL!!



Down at this other creek it was beautiful!!! We just loved it! Crystal clear water flowing. Pink and green and corral rock in the bed of the creek!! Oh it was so awesome, we're very excited to go back again! So there we caught 1 bull frog, the only one that's been caught in the 5th grade thus far :) We caught 5 minnows, 1 baby fish, 3 baby crawdads, and a bunch of snails!! So we had a blast and found lots of neat critters!!

Seriously this is the creek!! Where in the heck is all of the water?!?!



She's loving the new spot we found!



Such a beautiful creek!


LOL!! I thought this was pretty cool!!




My friend, he kept flying around me :)


Going deep!!








Carrying a bucket full!!



Bucket fishing LOL!!



HMMM.....



Catching a Minnow



Oh I loved all of this rock bed!! So pretty through the crystal clear water!!



Flowing of the river.....



Almost done for the day!!! She was so proud!!

Another Update...

OK so finally home from the hospital AGAIN!!! Took Hubby back as the rash was spreading and the pain was moving up his leg and the Lymph Nodes were hurting again...So once at the hospital the Dr came into see him and reviewed his results from last night (ok Saturday night LOL) then he came in and reported that his Platelets were low Saturday so he ordered another round of blood..After the lab being down for a good few HOURS and the Dr finally figuring out they were having a malfunction, he proceeded to get on their case a little (oh yeah I guess I should mention that this Dr is an old friend) so they had to redraw Hubby's blood and put him at the top of the stack so we then waited for at least another hour and a half!!! But he was checking the platelets and PT INR (blood clotting factor) finally the results were done and the platelets were at 149 and their normal scale runs 150-450 so that was OK, the night before it was 117...So then we had also discussed the fact that his WBC were so high Friday and then Saturday was OK. Dr was a bit worried if they would get low so today's reading was 4.8 and their scale runs 5.0-10.00 so not considered technically "low"...But Dr helped us find a Dr for Andy to follow up with, so he is supposed to see him Tuesday. Of course if anything changes he is to report back ASAP!! We currently have a pen outline where the rash is so that we can see if it spreads out more..

As he layed down to sleep tonight (this morning) he said his leg is throbbing!! Hoping for a better day tomorrow...

Thanking God for Good Doctor's!!

So last night I sent out a Prayer Request for my Hubby, and I must say we are so blessed to be in touch with so many wonderful people!! Thank you all for the prayers, and what we found out today was much different then what the local Dr was saying...

This morning Hubby had to make his repeat visit with the local hospital and have his blood redrawn, so that we did. Well a girl came in with the results and said they were at 6,700 which is great compared to yesterday and right inline with where they want them. Now the funny thing was she just said that and then said "OK drink lots of water and you should be good"?!?! WHAT?!?! That's it!! I mean NOBODY came in to see him at all, nope no Doctor!! So I took Hubby home, stopped and got him a sandwich on the way home but by the time we got home he was exhausted and getting a fever again so he just went back to sleep...So I started facebooking with some friends and family about what was going on and we were all in agreement that this needed to be looked into further! So I went in and woke the Hubby and said "I'm taking you to the hospital" he argued with me a bit...I think he did want to go but he did not want someone to think he was just being over reactive or something...So he reluctantly said yes he would go. So my mom met us at the hospital and took the kids while we were in there.

Finally in a room he was evaluated by a resident DR and she was asking questions of what had been going on, how long, etc...Then he showed her the area that the pain in his leg was (he had originally said groin area but when he thought about it he figured out it was just the top inside of his leg) so then she asked if he had any rashes anywhere and we were like no nothing...So she gave him a "gown" to put on so they could examine his leg area. So when I went to take off his socks I seen like the brightest red on his leg and I was like "what the heck"?!?! So we got his jeans off and upon looking at his right leg we found the lower half below the knee was a huge rash?!?! I was shocked!! I put his socks on before we left the house and I didn't notice it but I guess it wasn't real bright in my bedroom...So the Doc's come back in and we show them and they both go "OH WOW, Umm OK"...They looked at the rash really good and they both said it looks as though you (Hubby of course LOL) have an infection in your leg!! So they ordered complete blood work up with markers to tell them if this was any Lymphoma or Hodgkins or something...They also took a urine sample then when they were doing the physical examination of that area they found that he had enlarged lymph nodes and that's where the pain was coming from. So he was taken for an Ultrasound of the area and it was found that he has several inflamed lymph nodes in that region. So they were definite in saying that it is an infection in his leg and the lymph nodes were swelled and hurting from trying to keep the infection from spreading.

So they ordered additional testing on his blood. Testing for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme Disease, but we won't have the results for that until maybe tomorrow or Monday...So he is currently home and on antibiotics and if we see any more rash, increased fever, or increased pain then he is to go back to the hospital ASAP. Otherwise we shall follow up with his regular Dr on Monday..Which doesn't sound like such a great idea since they didn't put much thought into his issues in the first place...

He took his antibiotics tonight and I think he was already feeling a bit better when he went to bed..So I'll keep praying!!!

His leg while still at the hospital



Right before he went to bed..

Prayer Request for my Hubby

Do you ever just have times where you feel helpless?? Well this last 24 hrs has been that time for me...My Hubby is an awesome man and super strong and definitely always very healthy. Usually if he gets sick it has to be a big deal to keep him down, well this is one of those times where there is something big wrong because he is down and staying down :(

Last night when I went to bed I thought he was sound asleep so imagine my surprise when he started talking to me! I kind of wondered at first if he was talking in his sleep, he does do that LOL!! But he kind of mumbled something and I said "what are you doing awake" (remember I'm a night owl, so he should have been long asleep LOL) he says "I don't know, but is it cold in here"? I said no it wasn't cold and he responded that he was very cold. Mind you the man sleeps with a heavy comforter on him so I went and got his double fleece blanket and covered him up then took his temperature and he had a fever. So I got him some Motrin and then layed down and asked him what was going on with him because at that point I realized he was shaking horribly. He said he was having bad pain in the top of his leg and his chest. He also was having pain in his back but he thinks that's a pulled muscle from a couple of days ago. I asked him to describe the pain and he couldn't, he was just hurting everywhere and was cold and shaking and had chills. So I just figured he must be getting a flu bug or something but the pain in his leg and chest threw me off...I wanted to get up and google for information but my internet was down yesterday, again...So when he got up this morning (which he didn't ever really sleep) he decided he wasn't going to work. So finally my internet was up so I started googling his symptoms and I ended up calling the Dr's office, so they of course said to bring him down they didn't think it was a flu bug.

So we went to the Dr and he told him everything that had gone on (with some help from me of course). The Dr decided that he thought Hubby had passed a Kidney Stone into his bladder, but to be extra cautious they had him do a full blood work up. When they got that back the Dr was a bit shocked to find that Hubby's WBC was at 15,000 and by their scale they like them to be 5,000 - 8,000 so then he ordered a urine sample and they found that his urine was 99% bile. So then he tells us that means his Kidney's are backed up and that the stone is probably blocking something and preventing them to work right. So he was told they wouldn't make him check into the hospital if he promised to take it easy and drink at least 12 oz of water an hour so he said he would..I am to take him back in the morning and they will redraw his CBC to check the WBC count, if it is better then that's good if it's not better then they will probably be sending us on to the hospital in the city...

He has had a rough night so far. He has kind of cycled through all of the symptoms a few times and will feel OK for a little while and then crashes again...He's asleep now, he was starting another fever as he layed down..He was chilled feeling and cold again..So hopefully tomorrow will be a brighter day...

Old Rodeo Friends

As you already know DD barrel raced at a rodeo about an hour away last Saturday night...And in case you missed that post feel free to read it here!! So for many years we lived around this area, we "grew" up with all of the local cowboys! I can remember spending my Friday & Saturday nights with 2 of my best friends who's boyfriends (one now husband) were bull riders. Man those were fun times, just being young and enjoying the things we loved to do!!!

So this past weekend we were meeting one of my best friends and her husband who was one of the former bull riders we used to hoot and holler for!! He is retired from this after he had a pretty bad injury...No not riding, but at work! Well while we were there we crossed paths with another old friend who rode the circuits during our time. He is actually the best friend of my best friends husband LOL, can you get that!! Well not to my surprise B was there to ride that night...You know he was just one of those cowboys who never "really" settled down and planted roots so he has over the years continued to ride and I think now he is just trying to rekindle his love for bull riding?!?! I'm seriously not sure.. Well beings that JH my best friends husband knew that my J had gotten into a little bull riding he decided to take J with him behind the chutes to pull B's rope. J was so excited!! He stood there and watched as B pulled off 1 of only 2 or 3 qualifying rides!! His score was a 76 which put him the winner for the night..Now of course he did not make it out of there all peachy keen cause when he untied his rope and went down the bull somehow managed to get him in the face....So J said that the whole side of his face was swollen and he had blood coming out of his mouth, and of course wouldn't except a peek from the paramedic...Cowboys!!

Getting his rope pulled


Comes out in a blaze of glory!!



Counting on 8



Just a little kick to the face.....

Wordless Wednesday