Falling apart at the seams

I'm not sure what to write about, to be honest. Life has been a bit overwhelming lately, mostly because I'm just. so. tired. I'll try to hit the highlights - or low-lights, as they may be.

-My dad's cancers - he met with the docs, and he is scheduled to have the kidney tumor removed on May 8. They are hoping that will completely take care of the kidney cancer, as any further treatment would be difficult in light of his Crohn's disease. Once he is healed from that surgery, they will remove his prostate because of the prostate cancer. According to my sister, the docs sounded very hopeful that the surgeries will provide complete remission.

-I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago regarding this unbelievable fatigue I've been having. It's NOT "you have 3 kids, 2 of which are 15 month old twins" fatigue. And thankfully, my new doc did NOT try to tell me it was - she took me seriously and ran lots of tests. Within 24 hours, she had diagnosed me with Hashimoto's Disease, which is an auto-immune disease resulting in hypothyroidism. So now I'm on thyroid medicine and will have my blood rechecked in 2 months. Additionally, she did another, ahem, less pleasant test, which was positive for blood, and I now have to have a colonoscopy. Good times ahead.

-On the 17th, we celebrated Anthony's 4th birthday! I cannot believe my baby is 4 years old already! Darrell took the day off work, and we spent it at Disneyland. It was more crowded than we'd hoped, being a weekday - due to spring break - but we still had fun. Pics will come, I promise.

-Mackenzie saw a geneticist last week, as a follow-up from last year. Due to her still having some hypertonia (she's too stiff) and gross motor delays, they went ahead and tested her for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. That's the hereditary neuromuscular disease that I have, and each child has a 50% chance of inheriting. Test results could take a month or more to come back.

-The pediatrician has referred Mackenzie to see a neurologist, as well, for the same reasons.

-Makayla has continued to have what appear to be allergic reactions - eczema on her cheeks, diaper rash, diahhrea, spitting up - to some foods other than milk. In addition, her nose will. not. stop. running. ever. The pediatrician is sending her back to the allergist - YAY!! And NOT to the same allergist who previously told me to "stop reading so much." Ahem.

-Darrell left this morning and is headed to Sacramento later today, not to return until Thursday night. He found out yesterday. I found out last night. Not really the kind of surprises I like so much.

-I do get to look forward to our church's women's retreat, coming up the first weekend in April - I'll be gone for a whole weekend! No children for an entire - or close to - 48 hours!! Just me and my friends...and my pump, of course, since I'm still breastfeeding...

Here's to hoping my new medicine kicks in fast, so that I have the energy to blog, and craft, and blog about my crafting, and take my kids out of the house more, and cook dinner again, and clean my house, and craft, and blog, and did I mention crafting?