Phew!!!

January is quickly becoming the scary month of every year. Specifically the second half of January. The new year starts off well, but by that 3rd week we are preparing ourselves. Last year Kyler was so sick he almost didn't make it, but got better. Major allergic reaction to medication. Well, this year Aubree started complaining weeks ago that she was having "migraines". Being the drama queen she is and thinking she was just wanting attention, I ignored her pleas. Her complaints were exactly the same as mine. It just didn't sound sincere.....Well, she wasn't wrong. I finally took her to the doctor last week and the doctor informed me that she either had a possible reaction to meds called Psuedo Tumor Cerebri, or an actual brain tumor. Extreme swelling behind her eyes, especially her right eye. Having hearing problems with her right ear, and having some pretty major mood swings. Talk about feeling the guilt!!! Well, after 8 days of wondering, she had an MRI and it was clarified that she does not have a tumor. She does however have this pseudo thing and it is quite scary alone. It exactly mimics a tumor. There is severe swelling, etc. They are currently treating her for it and the expectation is that she will be fine in a few weeks. It is very rare (There seems to be no other kind of sickness in this family) and they aren't sure but suspect the medication she was on for causing it. (Also seems to be the thing in this family).

I have tried very hard to stay in perspective and not freak out about all of this. I did pretty well until last night and today. Just couldn't take it anymore. In a 24 hour period, Jake came down with Croup and was gasping for air all night, Dan needed to see a doc for the lingering horrible cough he has, I have an infection, and Kyler was complaining of feeling under the weather. That with the Aubree stuff, well lets just say I was not thinking really straight. I am sooooooooo glad to know that there is not anything foreign growing inside her head. I have had 8 days to ponder what I would or wouldn't do if the answer was different. I truly believe that we were all spared for a couple of reasons. First- I really don't think I could have handled it (So God didn't give it) and Second - there was an immense amount of thoughts and prayers sent out for Aubree and our family over the last few days. I am very grateful for the knowledge I have of the power of prayer and for the power of many, especially in prayer.

Thanks so much to the Talbert family for bringing us dinner when I was in no place to think of it and to all of you who thought of us and prayed for us. We felt an outpouring of love from many.

Hopefully, next post will be a happy uplifting post. It's about time for us to have one of these experiences.

~Christy

It's 2010 !

Well, 2009 was an interesting year for our family. It brought happiness, sorrow, hardship, surprises, questions, you name it, I think it happened in 2009. I can't say that I am not happy it's over, it was almost too much at times, but there were some good things that happened, but I am looking forward and hoping for 2010 to be our year. Whatever that means.

2008 left me without the use of my right arm. Just like the preceding years, the day after Christmas left me this way again. It was not an easy thing to deal with. Wondering why it was always that day. It was at that point that many of the docs had decided that I probably had MS. I started taking a steroid like they wanted me to, but ended up in horrific pain and it didn't help much. Then there was a long time of many docs that were supposed to be "EXPERTS" that turned out to do nothing for me. Then on January 23rd, about 3 weeks after Kyler was diagnosed with Tourettes, he got really sick. Like I had never seen before. He was running a high fever (106 degrees) couldn't eat, drink, or sleep. Had this weird rash from his head down to his knees and his eyes were so weirdly colored I can't describe. I took him to the doc that had prescribed the new meds because I was pretty sure it had to be a reaction of some kind. She said he had some kind of infection and to take him to the pediatrician. That reactions to meds didn't cause fever. Being very upset at this point, I took him directly to the pediatrician who did a bunch of blood work and such. Long story short, after fighting with the ped's nurse for 3 days, he was admitted to the hospital. He was having what I think was a seizure when we arrived there. His temp was still hanging out at 106 because he couldn't keep anything down to work on it. After spending several days in the hospital, they informed us that he had had a very serious reaction to the meds called Steven's Johnson Syndrome and that he probably only had 12 hours or less to live. After a week in there, he came home and has seemed to be OK in that way. During this time as well, Dan had applied for a job in St. George and we were looking at moving.

Fast forward to March. Dan and I took a trip to St. George and down to Vegas. We had a good time, but as we came home, m leg decided that it didn't want to work anymore. Dan had made arrangements so that I was up and moving around a lot so this didn't happened, but it did anyway. My leg has never returned to normal. Everyone was doing OK at this point of the year except me.

Fast forward to May. I had my first Social Security Hearing. It was not a good experience. Lost A LOT of hope there. Kids got out of school and there was the summer. Kyler spent most of the summer in football training. Tore his hamstring 1 week before the season started. Had a rough season. In August I had another SS hearing. This one was much better. We had a good experience and on September 4th I received the approval letter. This was a good thing as I was then finally able to have some security and validation for the pain and suffering of me and my family over the past few years. The plan had been to move too St. George by August first, but things changed and we didn't go. We're still here for the duration I guess.

September brought Volleyball for Megan and Football for Jake as well. We were some busy people for a while. Both of there teams went to the playoffs and far into them. We were able to receive some back pay from SS during this time of the year and were finally able to pay off some things. We still owe a few people, but things have seemed to level out somewhat. We had a good Thanksgiving and a great Christmas.

We have started 2010 in true Hansen fashion. Kyler has a shoulder separation from wrestling and I have been having severe migraines and pain over much of my body, but we are moving along and hoping for a very good 2010.

I hope that everyone has a good year. Things have to look up right?

~Christy