Hope Ya Know, We Had A Hard Time

When I say 'we', I mostly mean 'me'. Braden has definitely been my rock these past few months. It's taken me a while to want to update the blog, probably because I didn't want to remember a lot of what has been going on. But, I think I need to write some of it down so I can look back later and see how far we have come.

Starting off the new year, I was really hoping that my health would begin to improve - I had been on iron supplements for over a month. But it seemed like things were almost getting worse, and I couldn't figure out why. I went to the doctor again in February, hoping for some answers. She looked at my tonsils, and said they were extremely swollen (which they had been back in November as well). We discussed the possibility that my tonsils are so swollen that I can't get enough oxygen when I breathe, which could be causing some of the dizziness. She recommended I go see an ENT (ear nose and throat doctor), and they would probably want to take my tonsils out. They ran several more blood tests as well. The tests came back the following week, and my iron had gone up from a 5 to a 12. They want me at 30 bare minimum, but up towards 60 preferably. So, I've got a long way to go, but at least we are making progress! The results also showed that I am Vitamin D deficient. I started feeling hopeful that things would get better soon once I started taking Vitamin D.

The day after I received the test results, I got in a car accident. Our car was totaled, and I was a mess (more emotionally than anything). Thankfully, I wasn't severely hurt. My arm was burned and cut from the air bag, I had a bloody nose and fat lip, along with mild whiplash, but that was it. I missed a few days of work after the accident, and during that time, I got another call from the doctors office. They had run a mono panel blood test to see if I had really had mono recently (just because I didn't entirely trust the original doctor I had seen), and the results came back that not only did I have mono recently, but it was still active in my blood. So that was really the icing on the cake to the whole month. ha. No wonder I had been feeling so sick recently. They told me my tonsils could be swollen because of the mono, so to hold off on seeing the ENT for now. Vitamin D deficiency, anemia, and mono all cause insomnia. So, sleep has been hard to come by, which of course, makes everything seem worse. Through trial and error, and my dear mother's help, I found a pill that works to help me sleep most nights. It has all natural ingredients - including melatonin and chamomile, so hopefully now that I can sleep it will help my body recover faster!

Even though it felt like all these trials kind of came on at the same time, there have been many tender mercies through it all. Braden's parents were so kind, and let us borrow one of their cars so we would have a vehicle until we bought a new one. One of our friends drove Braden to pick up the car from his parents, since we had no way to get there. We had several meals brought in by friends over the next few days, when I would probably have been too prideful to admit we needed help. They just saw what needed to be done and took care of it. My boss at work was so kind, and she took care of finding subs for me so I didn't have to worry about it. They had flowers delivered to my apt, and I had countless people text, call, or stop by to check on me. This experience has definitely brought me closer to Braden, and to my Savior. There have been a lot of blessings that came from all of this that I don't think could have come any other way.

 In the General Young Women's Meeting, Elder Uchtdorf talked about how joy always comes after sorrow. I know my health still has a ways to go, but I feel like after that trying month, I am starting to finally glimpse that joy. I am learning to rely on the Savior more, and just trust him. In a recent Fast and Testimony meeting, one of the speakers talked about how we need to stop asking 'why', and just trust that the Lord knows best. That has been hard for me, but I know he won't give us more than we can bear.

A 'Box of Sunshine' one of my friends brought me

Cameron got home from his mission! Bet you can't tell
which one is cardboard Cameron, and which one is real.

This was at the Easter Egg Crack Off. You roll hard boiled eggs at
each other, and which ever egg cracks is out. Each person gets
two eggs. Neither Braden or I won.

But my eggs got first and second place in the
decorating contest! :)

 For a date night, Braden and I went eye bombing at the mall. You basically put googly eyes on random items. This was one of our favorites we did :) It was on the side of the photo booth.

These two videos definitely helped me during that difficult month. I watched them a lot!

You can make fun of me for that last one ^, but I love me some boy bands!