In sickness and in health...

I just consumed an entire venti-sized travel mug full of COFFEE and thought, “What the hell, I should update the blogity-blog-blog. And I should do it…right NOW”. Oh boy do I feel sorry for those of you who actually read this thing.
***If you are looking for Luau Info...scroll to the blog post before this one***

For some reason the thing on my mind right now is, “in sickness and in health”. Who would have known within the first 6 months of marriage that we would both end up in our very first surgeries? I mean really. I’ll explain each for those of you who aren’t in contact with us often.
On March 4th(a day I will never forget), I received a call from TJ at an odd time (us Law Enforcement wives usually know something’s up when the phone rings out of the norm). It was him, in a very calm and normal voice stating, “Don’t freak out; I was hit by a motorcycle and I think my leg is broke. Go to the hospital and I’ll be there soon”. I was at the grocery store and rather than being the bad grocery shopper I despise I took a few minutes and put all my items back where they belonged, returned my cart as I walked to my car. As I opened the door of my car I can’t help but think about the what-if’s, how’s, whys, etc. Rather than “freaking out” (which TJ told me not to do and I do listen) I called up a dear friend and fellow law enforcement wife and told her it was her duty to talk me to the hospital. She gladly kept me on track as I drove myself to the hospital. I only had a slight breakdown but she got me there (Thanks Chels!). TJ arrived in the ER and long story short the outcome was a torn rotator cuff and a dislocated ankle. Boy was he lucky to be sparred of everything worse that very well could have happened. I am super thankful for that and most importantly thankful for the abundance of support we received from loved ones and those who didn’t even know us. TJ’s shoulder had to be fixed via surgery and they put him all back together into TJ 2.0 (that is what we call this newer repaired model). So thankful for the great specialists who have been there with getting him back out on the road (love my road-dog) as quickly and perfect as can be.

As for me, (MEN BEWARE, if you’re not interested in womanly issues skip ahead. I won’t be gruesome but you’ve been warned) I have had very painful cycles since I started them in 7th grade (okay, have to do this…in 1998). I’ve always packed a bottle of Aleeve or Tylenol with me wherever I go and I lived off of it during that wonderful week. As I got older the pain increased, spreading from my pelvis into my lower back, thighs, hips and sides. Not only did the intensity grow, the length of time the pain stayed grew to the point where it has consumed my entire month (yes that’s right…NO BREAKS…okay maybe one or two days without pain). I’ve known something has been wrong but I have avoided the Dr as much as I can. Well, I finally couldn’t deal with it and kept allowing myself to get to the point where “If it hurts much worse or longer I’m going to the ER”. TJ basically told me I had to get my butt into the Dr or my threats of the ER were going to be held accountable. I made the call and once I sat down with the OB and explained my issues he said, “It sounds like endometriosis to me” (Which is pretty much what I expected him to say). Since “endo” can only be diagnosed by surgery I scheduled a date and went under the knife. It was laparoscopic so I have an incision in my belly button and one lower and to the left. He did find and coagulate the present endo and I will find out more next week. The disease has NO cure so it’s all trial and error to give me some pain relief. So far the pain is still very present but I’m HOPEFUL that the next step, whatever it may be, helps me some. I’m so sick of living on pain meds and my ultimate goal is to not have to carry that bottle with me.

Soooooo, there you have it…”in sickness and in health”. We have definitely learned this and have stood by it. I took care of TJ and he is taking care of me. It’s great to have my best friend by my side throughout this.
Speaking of best friends; my best friend from childhood, Cerissa is expecting her first little baby. I am very blessed and honored that she has asked me to be his Godmother. Little Wyatt Colten Bell will be a great addition to my ‘kids I love to spoil’ and I’ve already taken strides to spoil the heck out of him. Congratulations Cerissa and Patrick. I can’t wait for him to be here.
Okay the caffeine is wearing off and I need to refill. :]
xoxo
Ashley