Anni Gets Shocking News From Her Optometrist

This past Tuesday I followed up with my optometrist. They did an extended field of vision test, then I saw the doctor. he showed me that I'd lost a significant amount of vision in my left eye. It's in the peripheral area so it doesn't affect my direct field of vision. I also have some slight loss in my right eye also in the peripheral area, He thought it must be due to some sort of damage to my eye, so he pulled up the optic pictures I had taken last visit and looked all around my eye for an explanation...the only thing he found was that my optic nerve in my left eye seemed compressed, which concerned him and led him to do tests to rule out what he was sure I was too young to have. Each test proved him wrong though. He checked my vision which was ok. He numbed my eyes and did a more precise test to determine the pressure on my eye balls....that reading was higher than it should have been. Then he tested the thickness of my corneas.....that showed they were thinner than they should be. The results were unbelievable yet undeniable.  He told me over and over how shocked he was and how shocking each result was, but in the end he had no choice but tell me his official diagnosis was Glaucoma. In both eyes, it being worse in my left eye. He said he feels confident that it's controllable, with simple eye drops. I go back next Monday for further testing to pinpoint the severity of my Glaucoma in each eye, and how much of  which drops in each eye will help the most.  To say I didn't share his shock would be a lie, I was dumbfounded, honestly I didn't think it could happen to someone who was only 31. My mom has it and was diagnosed in her 40's I do believe. At the time they just assumed hers was caused by her Graves Disease....but maybe not. Anyway I have it and there's absolutely nothing I can do about that, so I thank God that I live at this time, when it doesn't mean impending blindness sooner rather that much much later if ever. I simply have to put drops in my eyes faithfully for the rest of my life, but for my vision I can definitely do that!

The Rest Of March So Far!

The week after Devin's birthday was just a typical week, we tried to make it to parks as much as we could. Lizzy had a surprise playdate with her friend Phenley at a playground, her mom Anne and I had a nice long chat, and I got sunburnt to a crisp. :/ Tony had to spend that week up in Casper. That Friday my mom watched the kids while I went for my physical.  It wasn't too bad, my blood pressure was actually ok, but my oxygen level was a bit on the lower side. She listened to my lungs and didn't like what she heard so it was back off to x-ray, this time it came back as full blown pneumonia. She prescribed me more prednisone and a very strong antibiotic, and I continued to use my two inhalers. She ordered me to bed rest(which I'm really bad at) and told me seriously take it easy or you'll end up in the hospital. I have a lot of blood work I'm going to get done tomorrow too. Overall it wasn't too bad. Our likelihood of having anymore children went down greatly, as my ovulation is scarce and sporadic at best, and because I've had a stroke the medication used to easily correct it I can't take because of the risk of recurrent stroke. I think deep down I kinda knew already, but it still hurt to hear it come from my doctor. It isn't impossible....just not probable. We'd have better odds of becoming millionaires in Vegas. But I'm doing my best to be ok with this. We have two absolutely beautiful, amazing children. I'm oh so so grateful for them....especially now. Maybe when we end up back in a sticks and bricks house we'll foster or adopt....I really think we will as it's something we've talked a lot about. But for now it's just the four of us and we're going to have a grand adventure! The next week I had to go to the DMV Monday morning to bring the required proof for a change of address on my new licence, which thankfully went very smoothly! The rest of the week I started feeling weak and tired....like I had pneumonia or something..... The kids were pretty good about being good while I rested in bed. Thursday I was feeling particularly bad and the kids were not having a good day either so Tony came home after working half a day to let me rest. We didn't do anything for St. Patty's day this year. We've spent our weekends going through our storage unit and house and getting rid of all our excess stuff, and making room to store what we need to keep that won't be in the fifth wheel with us. We've done huge Kid to Kid sales which is a double bonus, we get rid of stuff we don't need AND we get some extra money too! Our baby girl stuff we're donating to our next door neighbor who's having a little girl any day now! They also needed our baby swing, some of our other baby stuff we've given to Russ and Alicia who are having a boy in May. It feels so good to get rid of stuff! I love it!! I'm so excited for our simplistic lifestyle in our fifth wheel!! Which should be here the beginning of April! Oh last Tuesday I took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 3 because it's only $5 on Tuesdays. We liked it, I especially loved that there were only like 6 other people in the theater so the fact that Devin wandered up and down the aisle the whole time and Lizzy danced to every song didn't bother anyone! Yesterday I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese, something I promised them we'd do before we went to Wyoming, and I needed a break! They had tons of fun and we stayed there for nearly 5 hours! The kids got some great prizes too! Devin got an Angry Birds Game(which is way cool) and LIzzy got some Chuck E Cheese glasses and a bracelet and a whistle and a tootsie roll! Lizzy loves their gluten free pizza! They both love that they get all they can drink fruit punch! Well that pretty much catches ya up for now! I'm hoping to stay on top of this blog from now on......but I've said that before! ;)

The kids had to have their picture taken after seeing Kung Fu Panda 3!

Pictures from Chuck E Cheese's!

One of the things Lizzy struggles the most with is drawing, so for "Art" I found this amazing step by step drawing book from Usborne that has been wonderful for her! She loves it and takes great pride in her pictures!

Here are a couple videos of Devin reading his Paw Patrol phonic readers he got from his Aunt Alicia and family for his birthday! I can't thank them enough!!!!

Devin's 5th Birthday Pictures!

Here are the pictures we got taken at JC Penny for Devin's 5th birthday. He chose a Paw Patrol theme! He wasn't very into it or excited about, so he didn't last as long as last year but we're happy we got the ones we did!

 Hey he'a actually looking AT the camera!!

Oh how we LOVE our handsome little man!! He's getting so big, far too fast!

Devin's 5th Birthday!!!!!

On March 3rd our handsome Devin boy turned FIVE years old!! Where did the time go?!! He is such a smart and funny little boy! He requested an Angry Birds birthday party this year, and it was a lot of fun! That evening as soon as everyone was home from work(dad, nana and papa) he insisted on opening his presents! All of which he loved! He had yummy chocolate donuts for dessert. The next day after dinner we took the kids to see Zootopia in the theater....they were super excited!! We all loved the movie, it was really cute and funny! On Saturday in the morning we went to JC Penny and got his birthday pictures done....it went real fast as he was done after just a few minutes, but we still got some great pics! That evening we had a party for him with Tony's side of the family, which was a lot of fun!! Sunday Jen and Daniel came up and had dinner with us, then my mom gave him a dry erase maze book, and Jen/Daniel gave him a fun Ninja Turtle set! I'd say it was a GREAT birthday!

Angry Bird party!!

 I'm 5!

 Pin the tail on the Angry Bird!

 They got pretty close!

 Coloring fun!

 Devin the blue Angry Bird fighting the Lizzy pig!

 The blue bird is his favorite!

 Angry Bird bingo!

 Eating the m&m's!

 He loved his Angry Bird balloons!

His birthday banner...the first thing he said after seeing it was, "The T should be black to match the bird." Then he said he loved it. OCD much?

Yummy chocolate donuts!

 Ready for presents!

 Lizzy got him some Dino trucks!

 My parents got him a police officer uniform, so he can dress up like Officer Hopps from Zootopia!

 He loved it!

 We got him a Good Dinosaur puzzle

 And some new bunny ears, also to use to dress up as Officer Hopps...she's rabbit ;)

 We got him a Zootopia toy with Officer Hopps and her police car and weasel thief.

 We also got him the Zootopia Golden Book

 Oh and this Paw Patrol play rug!

 And tinker toys!

 Playing with his new fun toys!

 Dressed up like a police officer!

 With his ears

 And his Zootopia officer badge

At the theater to see Zootopia!

 His grandpa made him this awesome cake!!

 Party with the Johnstons

An Amazon box?

 His grandparents gave him a Zootopia book with read along cd and cool Zootopia shirt!

 And what he's been so wanting....a stuffed Officer Hopps!

 His Aunt Ketty and family gave him a cool money holder....thanks Ket he REALLY needed this!

 And it had MONEY in it!! :)

 Uncle Matt and family gave him fun Legos of course...Tony says he did most of the building of this himself....yay for picture instructions!

 Uncle Russ and family gave him Dino Trucks! He did already have these ones, but we were able to take them back and with the money from his Aunt Ketty he was able to buy a big Dino Truck toy!

 His Aunt Alicia and family gave him this Paw Patrol phonics reader set. And it's really helped him start to learn to read!