Remebering the good ol' days........

My Dad just sent me a little slideshow he made of pictures of when my siblings and I were younger. It's not all of my fam, just us three older kids. For those of you who may not know my family, my parents are Reed and Peggy; the kids are as follows: Jayme, Jessica, Jackie (duh, me folks), and Josh. My Dad is a geologist, which explains all the pictures of us by rocks :-) Josh, sadly, you will not be making an appearance in this video! Don't worry, we still love you.

As for us, our lives have been a little topsy-turvy the past week or so. I finally got around to making some appointments with a cardiologist to check out my excessively speedy heart. It's not really a big deal, nothing new, I've been on a blood-pressure medication for the past 5 years or so. Not because I have high blood pressure, but because my heart beats pretty darn fast all the time. My resting heart rate is usually 90-100 bpm, and any time I do.....well, anything, it goes uppity-up-up! Just tends to make me tired. But like I said, it's nothing new, so don't worry. I've been on meds for a while, I just had never gotten around to going to the specialists to do all the tests to find out exactly why it was like this. Well, my prescription ran out, and I finally had to bite the bullet and make the appointment. Long story short, the Docs did some tests, I had an EKG (a type of ultrasound of the heart), and they have established that it is not my heart that is the problem, but my lungs. That's right, take a deep breath....... Right now I am hearing a song from Sesame Street in my head "Ahh breathe in, Haaah, breathe out!" The cardiologist referred me to a pulmonologist (a big name for a lung doc) and I have currently been diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH). It's primary because at the moment, they don't know what is causing it. Some causes that they are checking for are: blood clots in the lungs, lung disease, rheumatoid arthritis (if I have that, I am blaming it all on my mother) :-), scleroderma, etc etc. So, I have been the subject of many pokes and have been required to huff and puff and try to blow my house down. Not really, but I did have to huff and puff a lot, and it made me really dizzy!!! They took lots of blood, I had a CT scan (used to be called a CAT scan), and the huffing and puffing was a lung function test. It has been a fairly stressful week for me, but I am so thankful for the many friends who have so willingly watched my kids so I could make it to these appointments, for Amy, who brought me dinner tonight (even though I tried to tell her I was completely capable), and for everyone who has given me hugs and made me cry because I feel so loved! I am also incredibly thankful for my fabulous Zachary, who gave me a great blessing Monday night when I was upset and depressed. I have to admit, I feel kind of dumb because it isn't anything new. I've apparently had this for many years and survived just fine. It's just the fact that now they have an idea of what it is, and I have the great joy of WORRYING until they find out what is causing it. It's not severe, it is mild, so basically I have just felt out of shape for years. Oh wait! I am out of shape. But honestly, it is kind of nice to finally have a reason for feeling exhausted and lightheaded and like I can never take a big enough breath all the time.
Tomorrow I get to call my doc and hopefully hear the results of some of the bloodwork and my CT scan. I can't say if I am hoping that they will find something or nothing! I don't know which will be better for me. On the bright side, I am glad that I did wait so long to find this out....I've been informed that "pregnancy should be avoided" because it stresses the lungs too much. I am SO thankful for my two sweet boys and that I was able to have healthy pregnancies with both of them! I am sure once they get everything figured out I will be able to have more kids (when that time comes, don't get carried away, folks!), but I am really grateful that I was able to have my boys without any serious problems.
Other than that, the boys are great, Kayden recently had his six month checkup (a little late, oops) and weighed in at 17lbs! Bigger than Keegan weighed at 1 year old. He is currently trying his hardest to crawl, but hasn't accomplished it quite yet. I have no doubt it is just around the corner! Keegan and I started a little "school" in the mornings when Kayden goes down for a nap. We are using a book from Aunt Virginia that teaches him how to read. He loves it so far, and I'm excited to see how it works! Zach is surviving the school scene. They recently had an interesting turn of events at OHSU that has impacted them a little. A lawsuit was upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court, they overturned a tort cap on how much you can sue the school for, and OHSU is being sued for an outrageous amount of money.
The link explains a little bit about it. Basically, the school has to do away with most of the graduate programs that aren't the basic medical, dental, nursing. Zach's biomedical engineering program is being absorbed into the medical school. Thankfully his department is self-sustaining, meaning they get their own funding through grants and what not. He should be safe from any backlash, and we are crossing our fingers that he won't lose his stipend or have it cut at all.
Sorry that this has been an endless post. I guess that is what happens when I don't post for weeks..... We love you all and are so thankful for everyone's love and prayers!