Dearest friends and family,
It has been one heck of a year this year. But that which does not kill us, only makes us stronger. We always say that everything happens for a reason and we will not falter from this. Even with these trials that we have had to endure this year, we are so very thankful for our family and friends. We apologize that we do not write as often as we wish as time has not been our friend. It seems the older we get, the shorter time is. So, here is our annual catch up for everyone.
The beginning of the year should have been an indication of how the rest of the year was going to be. First, we had to take GoofyKat, our oldest cat, in to the vet. Three years ago he had been diagnosed with diabetes and we have given him insulin shots daily to keep that under control. We heard that they were no longer going to make his insulin and so needed to take him in to change it. Well, before the blood work came back, the vet offered us a new insulin along with a diet of prescription food (much like the Atkins diet). We would have to make the transition over the next couple of months. After the blood work came back, however, things didn't look so good. His blood sugar levels were actually quite good (212). But there were about 5 or 6 different things that came back very wrong in his blood. He had kidney failure. The vet gave us some options, but had little hope. Because he's diabetic most of the treatment for kidney failure would actually end up hurting his sugar levels. And, if we continued with the new insulin and diet, it could aggravated and speed up his kidney failure. We could also do dialysis and clean out his kidneys. Nothing is guaranteed and the added diabetes complicates things even more. The vet also said we could just take him home, change nothing, and spoil the heck out of him these next few months. He was 16. He was our first baby. We got him a few days after we got married. On April 19, 2006, GoofyKat succumbed to his illness and crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. It’s still hard to deal with sometimes. We miss him so very much!
Also in January, Jamie was traveling to work one morning when she was involved in a car accident. She was going straight on the main road when a car in the opposite direction decided to make a left turn in front of her. She was traveling about the speed limit and had no time to stop. She T-boned the car. All she remembers is seeing white (That was the color of the other car). She went to the ER and was released within a few hours. But a few days went by and she was still in pain. The doctor repeated the x-rays and found what he thought were fractures and bone loss. He ordered a bone density scan and an MRI. With the bone density scan, they found out that Jamie has Osteoporosis, which is odd for a women of her age. So now she takes calcium supplements because the other medications for the condition are not recommended for women of child bearing years, especially if they want to get pregnant again.
Now, the MRI that they took of Jamie’s neck found that there were some herniation of a couple of vertebrae. A specialist was lined up for the pain along with more medications. They also noticed something on her pituitary gland that needed a more detailed look. So, another MRI was scheduled for the pituitary gland. That’s when they found a small tumor on it. That was in March. Because it was under a certain size, the doctor decided to let it be and do a follow up MRI in 4 months.
In May, Jamie found out she was pregnant with our second child. We were thrilled and scared at the same time. She had been on some serious medications because of the accident and quit as soon as she found out, but it still worried us. She had her first OB visit at 8 weeks. Because of her age and the medication she had been on, she was considered a high risk. Her next appointment would include an ultrasound. A week before her next visit, she started bleeding. When she contacted her doctor’s office, they told her to keep an eye on it. Sometimes this happens and nothing is wrong. She was informed what to look for. By the time of her ultrasound, she had been bleeding a week, but the signs of something wrong were not present. It wasn’t until the ultrasound did we find out that we had conceived, everything was present (the sac, the placenta) everything, but the baby. A D&C was scheduled for Monday, July 24, 2006. This was another very hard thing for us to deal with. But we remain positive. Everything happens for a reason.
Since the miscarriage, Jamie has not reset back to normal, so we have been unable to try again. She has been to her GYN on several occasions in hopes to get this taken care of. However, nothing he has able to do has helped. All her blood work, hormones, thyroid and such has come back normal. All of these are controlled by the pituitary gland. And, so is the hormone for reproduction and menstruation. Everything has come back normal for her, yet she still has not had menstruation since before she got pregnant. Her GYN has called her “interesting” and told her that’s really not something you want to be in the medical world. He has done everything he can for her at the moment. Now, she goes on to even more specialists. Her follow up MRI showed that the tumor had not grown in 4 months. So that’s something. In the new year, she will be seeing an endocrinologist and a neuro-ophthalmologist and we shall see what they have to say. Hopefully they can fix her.
As for Jamie’s accident, we have now hired a lawyer. In the state of Florida, your medical comes out of your own insurance. We had $10,000 in what they call PIP (Personal Injury Payment, we believe), which only covers 80% of the medical. However, you can elect to purchase MedPay on your car insurance as well which will cover the additional 20% and max is $5,000. She has since exhausted the medical payments and we felt it was time to hire a lawyer. It’s interesting how we came about him as well. We were considering getting a pure bred cat, a Scottish Fold. And we found a local breeder in Jacksonville. After visiting her a few times and seeing her kittens, we happened to ask what her husband did. Funny enough, he was a lawyer and he recommended his colleague. He’s not one of those ambulance chasers that advertise on the back of the phone book. He actually doesn’t advertise. He gets all his cases by referrals. We met with him and felt really comfortable with him and decided to hire him. So, now we just have to play the waiting game. Now that Jamie’s PIP has run out, we have to jump through hoops in order to get our medical coverage to pay for it. We are so thankful that our lawyer is there to help us, and not rush us.
As you all know, Anthony has been a long time sufferer of chronic migraines and neck pain. He got his settlement from VA for his disability. At first it was only 20%, which was diddly. So we put in an appeal and managed to get it raised to 40% disability. This now entitled him to more benefits, not just monetary. He was now eligible for vocational rehab. This program allows him to go to school to change his career field. It is similar to the GI Bill in that it pays for your school. However, it differs since we do not have to pay anything out of pocket AND the VA gives him a living allowance while he’s in school. So, he has been in school now since last September. His course of study is Elementary Education. He would like to teach science. But the longer he is on this path, the more he doubts himself and the fact that his ideals may conflict with the ideals of academia. He is considering switching his major to Political Science. So far, he’s doing very well in school. Hopefully, he will be able to finish and decide what he wants to be when he grows up within the next few years.
His medical situation has changed. The first half of this year was extremely bad. The types of medications and the amounts of medications had him so doped up it was starting to worry all of us. He would not get out of bed most days. And he lived in the bedroom for months at a time. Then he would have bouts of insomnia. This posed a major problem with his ability to take care of Joshua. He went back to the doctor several times to see about treating the insomnia and depression but nothing seemed to help. Finally, Anthony made the choice to quit and start over with all his medication. When you look at our cupboards, you would think we were our own small pharmacy. It was time to rethink his medicine. So, he quit, cold turkey, everything, and cleaned himself out. The worst was coming off the morphine. But, with the help of Jamie, we managed. Once he quit everything. He went back to his doctor and discussed his next steps and what maybe he should be taking rather than taking it all. He felt so over medicated. And, come to find out a few months later, the FDA released a memo about something called serotonin poisoning. This could happen between a couple of the medications Anthony was taking and after discussing it with his doctor, they concluded it was possible he was suffering from this. The good thing is, they caught it before it got worse (worse, could have been heart failure). So, after all this, he went back on only a few of his medications, taking morphine and other pain medicine only as needed now, rather than constantly. He was beginning to look and act better. However, the depression and the insomnia never went away.
When he went to see his VA Psychologist, the one who diagnosed him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) last year, he told him of his other problems. He gave him a little test, and then asked Jamie to come in and take the same test as it pertained to Anthony. When we were done, he then diagnosed Anthony with bi-polar disorder. What a blow to Anthony. But, it really did make sense. After reading more about it, Anthony has a good majority of the signs. And we also found out that something stressful in life can aggravate it or bring it to the front. Maybe the PTSD helped bring it to the front in order to be diagnosed. So, now another drug has been introduced to Anthony’s medication, one for bi-polar disorder. He has been on it now for nearly two months. And, you know what, he actually seems better—a whole lot better. And the amount of pain medications he takes is less than it has ever been. He’s starting to sleep again. And he’s starting to WANT to do things again. It’s a slow process, but it’s a start.
Let’s just hope that Joshua lives a wonderful life, or at least uneventful when it comes to health. So far so good. He turned 4 years old on November 26, 2006. Can you believe it?! He is growing up so fast. He’s already asked us to drive the car and go to college. I think he wants to by-pass elementary, middle and high school altogether. He’s a great kid. He does have his moments, but they are far and few between. I am so thankful he is not like those children you see in the stores throwing tantrums when they don’t get their way. He is very articulate and we try to keep him interested in learning. I think Jamie will try to start teaching him how to read soon. She’s actually started, a little. But she is afraid she is not that good at teaching. Joshua can sound out words, and can spell some three letter words. But, she is so unsure how to keep his attention, or keep working at it. When she wants to help him learn, he doesn’t want to try. And, they both get frustrated. We probably will be going to the teacher’s store for a Christmas present again this year.
We now have three cats. Jamie has always wanted a Scottish Fold. And we found a breeder here in Jacksonville. She actually had planned on breeding one of her girls in April. May 10, 2006 she had a litter. Now, in Scottish Folds, you have to wait until the 12th week in order to find out if the ears will fold. So, it wasn’t until August before we found out that all the litter were straight eared folds. Jamie was disappointed because she wanted a folded Fold. But, when we went to see the kittens in the latter part of August, one of the girls—who Lizz said had no personality—chose us. She started playing with Joshua and crawling up in my lap. So, Sofie had chosen her family. She was going to be ours. Lizz was not going to let her kittens go until late September, early October. But we got to visit a few more times. She decided in September she wasn’t going to show or breed anymore and she offered one of Sofie’s brothers in the deal as well. How could we pass this up?! So, As of October 2006, we now have MikeyKat, Sofie and Theodore. Sofie and Theo are registered with the CFA and their names are Sofius Katus Ear-Nonfoldus and TheoKatus Ear-Nonfoldus. They can never take the place of GoofyKat, and it’s still very sad at times, but we learn to love new kittens. We are one big happy family!
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. Please be safe and may all your dreams come true. Keep in touch and remember that even though we may not write as often as we want, we still keep you in our hearts.
Love forever,
Anthony, Jamie and Joshua