Saturday, April 14, 2012

An update....




















All the tests are in and while we would have liked a big fat "normal" on everything, and gotten better news, but there was nothing horrible. In a nut shell, Mike is having episodes of Afib his body is correcting without him knowing even with the Dig. He has a pulmonary vein abnormality that he was likely born with that just shows itself as we 'age'. He has to stay on the icky digoxin for now...his doc says nothing controls AF from the Pulmonary Vein issues like Dig....so we are going to be hopeful and prayerful he feels better on it soon....He also have HORRID! cholesterol and his BP was higher than it should be for someone with a 'heart condition'...kinda crazy for a guy who is in pretty good shape and eats pretty well!!! Darn Genetics!! So we have some work to do...more meaningful excersize and an even better diet....
Nothing new to report on the housing issue....both our internal med Doc and his Cardiologist wrote letter outlining the lifestyle recommendation...specifically decreasing stress...one even came right out and said buying and selling a new home was too much for now and it was NOT recommended....HOPEFULLY...with the prayers and these specific recommendations they will rethink their stance. I can't imagine legally a judge would give them much and I've got some pretty ticked off and sympathetic neighbors...not sure they will get much 'love' if they move in after forcing us out...We've lived in the hood for 11yrs now!
On a better note...we are still trying to be positive and enjoy the most out of things...here are some cute Easter, Spring Break and puppy pics....Sadly, my sweet Nelli's pups died...but her mamma had a litter @3m ago and we went to check them out for some folks who were interested in my sweet babies pups. We were fortuate enough to be invited by Jesse's family (Jessa's boyfriend) to visit them at their cabin at the Gorge...it was fabulously relaxing and TON's of outdoor fun for all!!! Mike and I did NOT rock climb..but boy did the girls love it. We made 2 trips to the cabin for climbing adventures!!
Keep the prayers coming...they have REALLY helped. We are both feeling more peaceful that this situation is out of our control and we've just turned it over to the Lord. THANK YOU all for the overwhelming response with emails, calls, prayers...it was JUST what we needed.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Calling all PRAYER WARRIORS!!

Oh, where to start.......many of you know the DeLuca family has had their fair share of trials the last year and a half...we are pretty hardy souls...but there are lines in the sand when you just have to throw up your hands ...for us, it's our health. Despite the stresses life may throw at you...we've always stayed true to one thought..."as long as everyone we love was healthy and on this planet, things will be ok". Lately, Mike has had some health challenges that has lead us to a very difficult situation that we desperately need prayers for.... andI'm going to try not to make this post an hour long!!!

Mike was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation about a month ago. We spent a LONGLONG day in the hospital getting his heart rhythm normal. It involved a lot of 'unpleasant' medications. He was started on a prevention medication, and the cardiologist was hopeful this was a 'flukee'. Many men in their 40's and 50's will deal with a-fib, and most don't have reoccurance. He was hopeful after a month, he'd come off his meds and we'd carry on as usual. The medication has had some side effects...nausea, fatigue ect...but we were hopeful this would just be for a month and they would lessen with time.

For my non-medical friends, A-fib is an electrical condition disorder of the heart when the top part does not pump...it 'vibrates' as opposed to contracting like it usually does to pump blood. If not treated and dealt with there is a risk of blood clots/strokes ect... Fortunately these are fairly rare occurances, most are controlled with medication...but it deserves serious attention to say the least.

We had already placed our home on the market to sell with this occured....it's no secret we were feeling a bit cramped here with our big'o family and small zoo. Also, our oldest had a "HORRIBLE" experience at high school that lead to having to a withdrawl and change schools mid-year. She's not been happy despite doing very well socially, and we were hoping the move would get her into a different school district. When Mike had his first heart arrthymia, we considered pulling the house off the market, but after the cardiologists mostly optimistic prognoisis and hearing the stories of many who had also dealt with this situation with very few reoccurance....we we hopeful it would be a one time thing .

AND THEN APRIL 3rd HAPPENED.

It started off as a fabulous day! After a great open house....we received 2 offers on our home resulting in a full asking price offer with a end of May closing - which was EXACTLY when we wanted to move.... We were very excited and a bit nervous as it was time to SERIOUSLY house hunt again! Unfortunatly we had a complete dejavu experince that night with Mike waking up from sleep with his heart out of rhythmn...he had 2 runs of Afib but they both 'converted' on their own and we were able to avoid the ER. We went right to the doctor the next morning...a bunch of tests are being ordered and a medication adjustment is planned once the results are in...Sadly, it didn't look like this was going to be a one time fluke as we'd hoped and this would be more complicated than we thought...and just as last time, the afib left Mike feeling drained and very fatigued for a few days.

We made the decision to not sell our home. While the exact cause of Afib is unknown, there were specific lifestyle modications the docs recommended including decreasing stress, caffeine and alcohol! (does anyone else find that recommendation as funny as I do!!!!!!!) Moving IS stressful, it demands a lot physically and emotionally especially when dealing with our 'atypical' group of kids who don't always respond to situations like most. Mike is NOT a 100% right now and when your health is uncertain it doesn't take long to forget about all your motivations for moving! Home size, property values and school district don't mean a thing if you don't feel your best!

In my heart I felt certain with our motivation for withdrawling most individuals would be understanding. Our realestate agent felt this way, and we heard stories of individual 'changing their minds' for alot less legit reason than ours without incidence. After all, they did not even have the contract 18 HOURS! when we notified them of our situation, and the housing market offers alot right now.

Sadly, they are feeling motivated to push us to withhold our end of the contract. At first I felt certain when they got over the shock and disappointment, they would realize our decision was not made to cause them harm...we strictly are protecting my husband's health. They are suing us.... their intent is to force us to sell our home to them reguardless of our reasons for withdrawling. From the first time I approached my agent, I expressed how we regretted the inconvience and emotions it caused the buyer, and even joked about sending a note once everything was finalized...but lets be real...it wasn't even 24hours! We of course have also sought legal counsel and while contractual law is complicated, EVERY attorney I've spoke with has reinforced how noone but the attorney's win (via a paycheck) in these types of suits - and how they are hopeful time and more information will make them see this.

Despite this hopefully good news from our attorney's, our intent to de-stress has done just the opposite! So here's where the prayers come in

PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS FAMILY TO HAVE A CHRISTIAN HEART AND SEE BEYOND 'LEGAL RIGHTS'. PRAY THEY REALIZE WE INTENDED NO HARM OR MALISE TO THEM AND THIS CAN BE RESOLVED WITHOUT UNDO STRESS AND EXPENSE TO BOTH OF US. PRAY FOR GOD'S WILL IN THE OUTCOME OF THIS SITUATION, AND MOST OF ALL PLEASE PRAY FOR MY HUSBANDS HEALTH AND WELL BEING

I will keep everyone current on Mike's health. We are still hopeful he will soon be his best again without long term ill effects - But it's MOST important we do everything we can to keep him healthy and get off medications as soon as possible; and this involves time and destressing.

Thanks to all!!! PLEASE pray, I am a strong believer in the power of prayer!!!!!!

Bless your heart for getting to the end of this post!!!!!!