Happy New Year!

Feeling a little more chipper today but I am still not myself. Sarah came today for awhile this afternoon and tonight I am getting together with our family.

Wishing each and every one of you a wonderful New Year here's to health and happiness!

Love,
Victoria

Today wasn't as good of a day...
I was feeling pretty crummy upon waking up and decided I had better stay home from church if I knew what was best for me. I laid back down and was feeling semi- okay by the mid day afternoon hours.

As the hours passed I lost feeling good and started feeling worse and worse. My head has been pounding my body is throbbing and I am not so sure what is going on. I am not feeling great and please keep the prayers up. I feel horrid.
Love,

Victoria

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

So, I guess if I am going to have a blog to inform people... Maybe I should update it a little more frequently than I do. I apologize for that. It takes so long for me to actually focus on the blog I find little time to actually do it. Ah well, here I am to update.

The hustle and bustle of Christmas and the holiday season is coming to a close alas. I found myself with one of the most rewarding and exciting Christmas' in my whole life. I am truly blessed with the love and compassion that over fills this household and I am so glad that I have such a great support system.

Well, I will go on chronological order thanks to my trusty cellular device I have the exact events that occurred each day since the 19th.

On the 19th, I visited the school playing my part as Santa Claus although I did not come decked out in a red suit or a burly white beard I did however bring gifts. Delivering them to the nurses office and my Art teacher and getting to see my Art class was extremely exciting. I stayed for about 45 minutes and then made my way home, we got a little worried after seeing the nurse run down the hall with a wheelchair and the bright orange bag. Things are never good when you see the nurse running! That night was pretty uneventful...

The next day the 20th, I got to go see the little boy I babysit in his school concert. What a laugh! It was quite humorous and I couldn't help but giggle at all of the children up there singing and well being goofy with the over dressed little girls and the ADHD little boys it was completely hysterical. Then I was caught with two unplanned surprises after the holiday concert! I was hobbling my way to the front door as a caravan of cars approached my house... Now I thought to myself this can't be for me because Ashley only said she had a and I quote small surprise. But yes her and her church came to sing me Christmas carols and delivered me a plate of delicious Christmas cookies. That was a first having carolers come to my door. Then Sarah brought me a beautiful necklace, by far my favorite Christmas gift of all! It was absolutely heartwarming to receive such a thoughtful gift and knowing it came from my whole lunch table back at school I was very grateful and I feel truly blessed as I have said before to have such a wonderful group of friends. Then I went to bed knowing the true meaning of utter exhaustion. (the necklace says "Lyme Fighter")

The 22nd is the next day of which I have news to report where I got to go to spend time with the kids I babysit for and we exchanged presents! It was quite a full day and I was extra tired upon my arrival home.

The 23rd I went to church and felt the overwhelming love of my church family as they encouraged me and noted my progress out of the wheelchair and onto my feet in the walker. It was so nice to have a tad bit of enthusiasm as I walked instead of wheeled around the church. Although with walking comes a little bit more exhaustion and I returned home to nap before... Our family got together and we spent time together for our holiday dinner. We say we partook in a Verizon commercial of which we phoned my grandfather in FL to say the Christmas prayer. If only we could have pulled the blinds on the windows up revealing a Verizon network that never stopped working for us, our commercial would've been complete.

Christmas Eve, the 24th was spent going to church, and going to my Aunt Diane and Uncle Eddie's house for the Wilcox dinner and then went to our family friend Cheryl's house for a little while as well.

Christmas day was ever so exciting and I was overwhelmed with the gifts. Our day was complete with a large and filling ham dinner and we got home so that I could settle in for a night of R&R.

The 27th ground breaking news was made! I took my first few steps and then declared I was "ditching the walker!" I decided there was only one way to get better and that was to get walking and show my strength. Despite pain in my various joints in my legs and not quite having total feeling back in my legs I am ready to take on walking about without the walker although I haven't really left the house yet... It was pretty big.

Today more news came from the medical prospective and Dr. L from Armonk called with our follow up appointment and was able to save us gas mileage by calling us and hosting a phone appointment. It sure was interesting being at my Doctors appointment in the comfort of my home. He suggested that I see two other neurologists and helped us come to some more decisions about the seizures stating that my mother should make her best maternal decision on what action steps should be taken upon me having a seizure. Due to our great concern of what the people in Rochester said saying we should not call 911. He also explained each of the tests that he did and the results which was nice because we hadn't had that done ever before. With the conclusion of that phone call we have two more doctors to consult with and no bad news to report which pretty much in my book means good news! No bad news! So with the slow but progressing good news I am very relieved to say I am happy that I can walk again even if it's a little more unsteady and unbalanced and I can't really feel much all of this will come with time. My appetite is still one to be desired and I don't really enjoy eating or find food to be anything great most of the time that too will come with time. So for now I say good night and I hope to write a bit more frequently than I have been lately. Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

Love,

Victoria

We went to the Dr.s appointment with Dr.C. We mostly discussed what went on while at Strong. Vic has been seeing her therapist hopefully this will be helping with everything.
I borrowed a walker from Vic's dads cousin. This seems to be the ticket. she couldn't balance and walk. But now she can. She stands up straight and looks great. I was going to ask about physical therapy at the Dr.s apt. but we talked about so much more I forgot and so did everyone else. I gave Dr. C Dr. L's phone # so tomorrow we should know what the answer is.
This has been extremely hard for all of us to understand. With lots of prayers, for Vic, the Dr.'s , Paul and I, hopefully we will have some understanding or answers as what this next step should be in regards to Victoria's health.
Vic's Mom, Denise

The doctors appointment is to be updated by my mom when she gets a chance, due to the fact that I am not really sure where to go with it.

I haven't been feeling well these last few days, of exhausted and weak and laying around... I am making slow progress but slow is just that. Anyhow it's neither here nor there and I am noticing little bits and pieces of me getting put back together it all is just going to take time and lots of it.

I am full of excitement these days and I am pushing a little harder as Christmas draws near. This holiday is among my favorite, spending the season close with those of which we love. I am excited like a small child would be on Christmas eve. I receive Christmas cards from people back at school and teachers alike enclosed their wishes of me to be healthy and returning to school. I can't wait for the day when I can tell them my health has returned and I will be back at school soon, spending life like a teenager should. Excitement for a miracle or something special to happen this holiday season hasn't faded in my mind and just being together with my family on Christmas day will be the best gift I can receive. I guess as I grow older my wishes become simpler and my hopes for health are more real. I know that someday hopefully sooner than later, I will be well again or have a better quality of life at least than I do now.

Until then I thrive in the love, encouragement, and guidance of my friends and family and I hope for better days ahead.

Love,

Victoria

An old friend's IM reminded me my blogging community had not been updated in the latest of the days. So here's how the story unfolds:

Thursday's appointment was cancelled by the doctor! Due to the weather they were closing up shop early which was disappointing because I was all geared to go see him. Well kinda anyways. So we re scheduled the appointment for Monday at 4:15 so now my mother and father and I can all be in attendance. We're all looking forward to hearing Dr. Cillip's side of things tomorrow.

Friday I got to go to Wal*Mart with my Aunt and that was an adventure in itself getting into the car out of the car through the parking lot dodging puddle after puddle and into the store. Passing those glorious bell ringers on the way in made me remember my noise sensitivity loud and clear. I got the basics done and on our way out we happened to run into a friends mother and chatted a bit. It's always nice hearing from people due to my constant isolation the doctor has me in lately. I got home and laid in bed and realized lots of my Lyme symptoms were coming around and I felt awful. I was aching and my body was in a great amount of pain I feared my party the next day and went to bed praying things would clear up.

Positive things do happen to positive people!! An e-mail to lift my spirits from Mr. Daly rang true on Saturday morning I was back to my typical sickness and I could help clean and prepare with everyone else. Although my mood was a little less than desirable. Everyone came and everything ran smoothly! A few extra people were brought a long as well. All is well that ends well the party was a great success and I had a blast seeing everyone from school was absolutely wonderful and I couldn't ask for a more caring and loving group of friends.

Today has been going well power of prayer does pay off! I am standing on my own now which is such a mood booster I think for all of us. My balance is to be desired so walking is very very difficult on me but is becoming more and more possible. I am so grateful that I am getting the use of my legs back and I am getting back on my feet. It's amazing how much better I feel but, there is still a long road yet to travel. I am very thankful for everything everyone has helped with and once and awhile I still receive a card from someone and it's so nice to know so many people care and are praying for me and following my story. The love behind us and the positive comments and caring thoughts definitely cushion the bumps along the way.

Tonight's end wouldn't be complete without including the biggest part of the day. We received a phone call from an infectious disease doctor this evening. (A pastor at our church's father) Now to most Lymie's this would be a complete shock and scare but by the grace of God this man was put into our path. He spoke with my mother for some time on the phone and was able to calm her about a lot. He also discussed going back on IV and everything and sounds like that's the ticket. At this point it will probably take 2 years of me on IV to get completely Lyme free. Ah yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Hearing the IV stuff is very exciting, frustrating, nerve racking, confusing, ahhh it's so much! :) I am just not sure what to think but I will probably be getting a picc line in at some point this week and as most of you know this will be number 3. I am ready for it and if this is the ticket to the road to recovery I am on board.

I want to take just one last moment, I know this is a long blog for me but after reading the message from my friend I want to say thank you to each and every one of you reading this right now. I may not know you, or know you well or you could be very close to me but for some reason you have been drawn to my story and you have read my blog. With this I want you and everyone to know that it's truly inspiring to have such a strong support system like I have right now. Each day that it is tough there is always always always someone there to catch me and each day that I reach a new victory and overcome one small hurdle there is someone there to be excited and rejoice with me. It really makes a difference having people be supportive of me in my battle to recovery and I am so deeply and sincerely thankful for each and every person this horrible disease has brought into my life. Thank you again for your support and continued prayer. I hope to continue bringing you good news and keep the positive thoughts coming!

With Love,

Victoria

Today I go to the doctors, first time since the foot thing. With hopes of answers and a good cheer. I am so grateful that I have one doctor at least that I am confident in and that I can go to in hopes of being taken good care of.

The days have been frustrating and long and the nights even longer these past few days... Kinda dragged out and boring. I just want to push that fast forward button to the better days ahead. We've discussed many different treatment options and we have lots of questions for this appointment today. I don't know what it'll take but I am willing to do just about anything to get back on my feet. Soon I hope to be back in school and back with my friends getting back to my life.

Until then- I write here and I re learn to walk. Hopefully I will be up on crutches soon! I have been working hard and the feeling is slowly coming back to my feet. Which is definitely a positive.

With Love,
Victoria

No news is pretty much good news!

The weekend brought a good day and a semi-decent day. Saturday was full of rest and relaxation and a little bit of frustration. I couldn't feel more of my legs and I was pretty beat and slept in kind of late.

Sunday was wonderful in the chance that I got to be out of the house ALL day! It wasn't planned that way but it was really nice and pretty much wiped me out but, I had a blast. I went to church first and everyone was really happy to see me. Then my mom said I could pick one place to go to because she wasn't going to get me in and out of the car again and again. (It's a lot of work). So I chose the mall since I figured it would be the most stores I could go to all in one shot and I wanted to get some Christmas shopping done. So we hit all of the major stores and I got pretty much everyone bought for and I was content. So I texted my friend Jess who was supposed to come over to my house and she happened to be at the mall too. So she asked me if I wanted to see a movie, and we went to see a golden compass. Although it stressed my parents out so much to leave me at the theater and or mall by myself with just my friend so, they came and sat just outside of the movie theater in the food court and waited for me.

After, I was beat! So we dropped Jess off at her house and ventured home. Now following the very hectic and busy day I am very exhausted still and really sore even though I did no walking whatsoever. Probably will hang low today and get some little things done around the house now all of my focus is on getting better because, I feel pretty crummy today and getting ready for my Christmas party this weekend. I am extremely excited to be having everyone over at the house and I think it will be nice to see all of their faces!

Glad I have no terribly bad news to report. Hope everyone had a good weekend as well.

Love,

Victoria

December 7, 2007

Well, over the night I only lost more feeling in my feet. A little frustrating yes. Although after many other seizures I had a hard time getting up and going after them so it is just a waiting game. I've also noticed my stomach can't handle much of the food stuff yet. That's yet to come. :) So after calling Dr. Cilip he said that I should just stay off my feet for the next few days and see how I am doing after then and we would go with the information from that point. Darn! He just can't wave his magic wand.

We're all a little frustrated with things and things have been a bit hostile but, we're planning a family night tonight to hopefully feel a little better about things.

Life is a little different when you're in a wheelchair even at home and for every task you have to do... Keeping my hopes up for the better. Keep praying

Love,

Victoria