Headache free for Abby and good things happening with Britt and Brock!!!

Just a quick update on a few things:

First, and most important, Abby has gone 2 nights in a row without having any migraines!!   For the past couple of weeks, last week being the worst, Abby had a migraine headache every night!  She would come in my room and tell me it had started, once this happened, nothing helped to make it better.  They were so bad that she couldn't lay down or even sit down without it being too painful.  Because of all of her other meds, we could only give her Tylenol and this wouldn't even touch them!  Sunday morning was the worst.  Abby came in at 3:00 AM, crying and saying that this was the worst one ever!  She said her eyes kept blacking out and they felt really swollen and that her hands and arms felt numb.  I immediately took her blood pressure and it was a whopping 165/125.  I decided it was time to call the transplant team.  They had me give her one of blood pressure meds that we had switched from a couple of weeks ago.  Right after Abby swallowed it, she started throwing up, but I was just hoping that she kept at least a little bit down.  We continued to watch her blood pressure, gave her another dose of Tylenol, and just prayed that it would get better.  Abby did not want to go into the emergency room to get some IV pain,meds, she said she'd rather suffer through it then go to the hospital.  So, as her mom, I felt completely helpless.  There was nothing I could do to make her feel better and this was hard....really hard.  Trying to help her through these migraines was one of the hardest things I've gone through so far because I couldn't do anything to ease her pain.  Not only that, but we were also living on only about 4 hours of sleep each night, and one thing I've learned through the past 5 months is that everything appears so much worse when you're tired.  Thankfully, Abby's migraine turned into just a headache, but it lasted through the entire day.  The poor kid couldn't even sit down and relax the whole day, but she still wouldn't go into the emergency room.  By about 7:00 Sunday night, I had just about reached my breaking point.  I was thinking that this was the thing that was finally going to put me over the edge.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to go teach school Monday without getting some sleep......it had just been too many nights in a row.  I knew that Abby couldn't continue to live with this nightly pain and no sleep, it was too hard.  At this point, Abby said that maybe it was time she got a priesthood blessing.  I don't know why I hadn't thought about this sooner, my brain has just been to messed up to think clearly.  One of my good friends suggested a neighbor right down the street and luckily he was willing and able to come and give Abby a blessing.  That night was the first night in 2 weeks that Abby hadn't been awake with a headache.  She slept 13 hours without waking up once!  This means that I also got a good night sleep.  Monday night, the same thing, no headaches!  We've now made some medication changes which hopefully have helped to stop these migraines forever!!  There have been so many times through all of this that I've thought that I just can't take anymore, that I've really reached my max......but every single time, right when I'm teetering on that edge, things start to turn around and we get through it.  The thing that I wish I could understand is why do I  keep getting pushed right to that edge??  It just seems like maybe it's our turn to have things settle down a little bit, and for longer than just a day or two.  Why did this have to happen last week when it was also my first week back to teaching??   Why couldn't it have happened before I had to go back?   Why should Abby have to deal with any more pain?  Hasn't her poor body been through enough already?  It just seems to me like it's our turn to catch a break and to just have it easy for while.  I hate to complain, and I do know that there is a purpose for everything,  there is a  reason that we are going through these things, and some day I will know what that purpose is, but is it ever okay to just say, "Enough already!"  I hope so, because right now that's how I feel.

Whew.......now on a lighter, more positive note, there are some good things happening around the Doman house.  I'm so proud of Britt.  After spending so much time in the hospital this summer, she made the decision that she's going to be a nurse.  This past week, she started volunteering in the emergency room!  She also signed up to get her CNA next semester so that after she graduates in May, she can get a "real" job while she's going to college to get her nursing degree.  It's exciting for me to see Britt finding the direction she wants her life to go in.  She will make a good nurse, I've already seen her nursing skills firsthand, she always takes perfect care of Abby.  I'm also proud of Brock!  As a sophmore, he's playing in a state championship football game this week at Rice Eccles Stadium.  Brock knows how to work hard and to be dedicated, this is really starting to pay off.  I can't wait to watch him run out of the tunnel at the University of Utah...I know that this is something that he's dreamed of his whole life!  I have the greatest kids in the world, I am grateful every day that they are who they are!!

I'll finish up with something that's a little scary for me.  Abby is going back to school on Friday.  This makes me nervous enough, not just because of all of the germs and sicknesses around, but remember what happened the last time she went to school on May 18th????  Here's something else that's a little freaky, the date on Friday is November 18th......hmmmmm, exactly 6 months since the last time she went to school, May 18th, when this whole ordeal began.  No matter how rational I try to be- trying to tell myself that I know that she will be okay, and that the date doesn't matter, and that she's just going to school and that I will be there too, and that it doesn't make sense to worry about it.....I still get really nervous even thinking about it.  Friday could be a tough day.  My head is telling me one thing, but my heart is telling me another.  But, it's just another thing that we will get through, another step we will take.  It might appear that we're just going over these little hurdles along the way, but when we step back a little, it's obvious to see that we've really come a long way.  Thanks for sticking with us and continuing to read our story!