Far From Home (Turkey, Color - August 2015 to August 2016

Three severe vertigo attacks in 4 days, two of which were less than 36 hours apart will take the spriteliness out of anyone. Ufda am I wiped! After hem hawing about it over facebook call last night, Josh and I figured I should head into the ER to rule out anything more serious - which is exactly what happened. I have Meneire's. My blood work was all normal, sodium levels were normal, blood pressure was normal.....you name it. I'm normal by all accounts. (Josh would tell you I'm far from normal, and any of those that know me well know this to be true, but aren't we all?! haha!)

I do think, however frustrating a 4 hour ER visit can be for simple blood work only to hear what you figured you'd hear, it could have been an answer to prayer. I've had eustachian tube dysfunction since I was a tiny tot, and when the doc looked in both ears she said they were both a mess. Retracted eardrums make for balance issues by themselves, and they effect inner ear function as well. She suggested an idea that Josh and I have been throwing back and forth for, literally, years. I think we'll pursue finding a doc in Omaha that will put tubes in both ears. She said it only helps about 50% of Meneire's patients, but if it could help it would be a relatively simple fix. Her shift ended and in came the new night doc and he mentioned a celebrity that had very aggressive Meneire's who had a proceedure done in Germany that was only expected to alleviate it but it ended up curing it - it's a new procedure involving stem cells. I'm not sure what the stem cells are from, and typically that word makes me bristle, but we fully plan on looking seriously at that option. How wonderful it would be to not resort to taking the surgical route that would completely destroy my hearing and balance in my left ear. If these continue like this and there's no other option, that would be better than keeping this pace with these attacks, but it makes me so sad to think about going that route. Anyhow, that's the sum up of last night.

I'm slow moving getting out of bed this morning. Slept like a coma patient last night with all the valium and benadryl I was hopped up on. Apparently benadryl works the same during vertigo attack as Valium, so I may give it a whirl considering it's not a controlled substance and isn't a narcotic.

The plan is to keeping moving forward today. I'm a bit behind on packing up the car as I was useless yesterday afternoon, but that can be done this morning and we will just be leaving a bit later than expected. Shane has been messaging me throughout the week and did last night reassuring me that she is doing everything she can to make the week at her place just as stress free as possible.

So, out of bed I go, to pack and get a move on. It's one step closer to Omaha, which is one step closer to being with Josh again, which is one step closer to moving to ND and being all under one roof - hopefully for good.

Thank you to all who prayed us through last night and who've been diligent in keeping up with us and praying us through these past several months. I'm often struck by the reality of the mass number of dependents that were evacuated out of Turkey and wonder what their stories are. Do they have support like I do? Are they hurting? Are they sick? Are they being provided for by a village to help raise their precious babies like I am?
I am utterly thankful for my sweet Savior in all this. HE is the only thing that keeps me sane.

Here are the rest of the pictures from our time in Cheyenne. It was a blessed time, indeed, and I am so grateful for my Dad and Mel's generous hospitality and their eagerness to love on me and my boys and we exhaustedly (is that a word?) plod our way along this trip.