Last couple of months

Well as you can probably tell I've disabled parts of my blog and I will re-enable them soon but there has been a lot going on. I think the stress of too many events are what have led to health issues becoming compounded and I have suffered my 3rd stroke. To recap  in a very short time period we lost my father in law, my oldest moved out on not so great terms, my mother went in to the hospital with serious health issues (almost lost her...again) ...later we've found out she had a TIA (ministroke) herself as well as confusion leading to taking some medications wrong and her kidneys are now showing a lot of damage. I believe they said her liver is too. All of which (well the kidneys, liver, and stroke) can be complications of the immune diseases we both have. Anyway so we were putting a lot of time into taking care of her (and trying to get more help in for her so that she has the help she needs and doesn't have to go to a home and we still have our hands free when we need it) ...oh and she also had a second incident but thankfully that was under the watchful eye of her home health nurse... and someone (lets just say due to the nature of complaints they sort of told on themselves...might not have been them directly but possibly things they were saying to other people....) anyway we had DHS called so had an investigation which is always fun. House needed some cleaning due to too much going on to keep things up so did that and we have been cleared as the other allegations were unsubstantial. Then the same time the city starts to harass us again and we had to give up our chickens though they could not specify what the actual complaint was and we were compliant with the ordinances. Just were told it is higher ups complaining. Soooooo to sate them they are gone and we took care of some other stuff around here. We've decided we want to move as soon as we can. Which this house gets paid off in about a year from now and we can start thinking more about it then. As for myself after all of this I'd been over doing things anyway and then I was having some stomach pain and thought it was due to over exertion and then later one night it become quite a lot like labor contractions. It was several minutes apart and very painful. (and no I am not....I had a tubal after my last one) anyway...so I went to bed anyway and woke up around 4am and didn't feel good so I went into the bathroom and wound up throwing up. Just once but it stopped the cramping pain and then I felt better and I decided to stay there long enough to make sure I was really okay and then suddenly everything started tingling and went numb, I had no muscle control, and everything went white. I thought it was one of those weird moments I get every now and then and that it would go away in a few seconds. It didn't and I realized something was very wrong and I stumbled out feeling my way through the house to the bedroom. (My second oldest was asleep and never heard me trying to call for help...also apparently I was very quiet. I thought I was yelling but I couldn't really speak.) I managed to make my way to the bedroom and get my husband to call 911 and I have no idea how but I found myself back in the bathroom. After about 10 min. or so my vision began to return though it took a bit longer for muscle movement (or control of rather I could move but it was like trying to move a limb that had been asleep and was floppy) Took forever for ambulance to get there but they finally did and then went to hospital while he tried to get my youngest ready and get up there. Hospital service sucked by the way. They were mainly focused on me throwing up which I was trying to tell them that part didn't worry me so much as the blindness and numbness etc. They handed me 5 pills that were to dissolve under my tongue for nausea, cramping and all and sent me out of the room on my own even though I could barely walk and hadn't stuck the pills under my tongue yet. They told me because I have lupus they weren't going to test me for anything and that it was likely related to my lupus. My dr. is not impressed as I had a follow up appointment with her. Though she is having me referred to an RA dr. (Rheumatologist for autoimmune diseases) which most drs are surprised that I haven't been going to any way and a GI dr (Gastrointestional for the Crohn's that runs so heavily through the family as I am very likely to have it and it needs to be monitored) and she also says if I have another that I am going to need MRI's. I really hate it. Though thankfully this one did not leave me using a cane as my last one did. I had to use the cane for about 2 years or so.  Right now my abdomen is absolutely numb.Yet I still have pain on my sides and such and have a bit of infection going so I'm on antibiotics for that. Apparently it may take a short while for those symptoms to go away as well as some others I am having. I hate being down. Things need to slow down. I am anxious to feel like myself again. I am also tired a lot right now. More so than I should be and I think also wanting to sleep so I don't feel the discomfort. Other things seem to be falling in line but then some feel off or out of place. Kids are doing online schooling which they so far love. It gives us flexibility with appts too. You have to check in daily and you have to keep your grades up and also they will show you in percentages how much work you have done and how much they'd like to see you have done each week. Both are learning different languages too which is kinda cool. (Part of college bound courses) Anyway that is why I've not been blogging lately. Also on a completely unrelated note my birthday is this month. Another year older. Might go the county fair but I don't know yet. I think that would be the most we do if anything. Give me some peace and quiet (well okay peace and my music) and some time to draw and I will be happy. 

So hot we're on fire

 View of the smoke from the fires SW of Tecumseh 

Unfortunately we still are having a lot of hot spots and such. Over the last few days Oklahoma has had more than it's share of wildfires  and several were out of control. They couldn't receive help from outside states because they have their own emergencies going on and are unable to help. One thing I think a lot of people discovered during this was that the news channels just aren't covering it. I've heard a LOT of frustration coming from people who wanted to know what was going on currently, families that are displaced and don't know if their homes are okay or if they can go to check on them, etc. One thing I did find though was a good place to keep up with it a bit better than what the media offered. Online scanner Just follow the link and click on the county that you want to listen to. I've found a lot of times the media portrays it as the fires are out or the area is safe to go back to but the scanner says otherwise. Firemen are still battling hot spots and flare ups and are exhausted. The families posting in the comments on facebook are saying the same thing that the media may report an area as being safe to return to but when they try to go in to check on their homes etc it is actually not safe to go to or you can't even get to it because of road closings. The night before last the smell of smoke was so thick it was difficult to breathe and we are actually not that close to the Cleveland Co. fire. Smoke could be smelled by my friends who live a lot farther away as well. It has now set off my allergies pretty severe and I am having trouble today. Can't breathe, runny nose, coughing, sneezing. (Soon to go pick up some medicine) The fire fighters are in need of gatoraid and water still as well as nutritious snacks that are quick/easy to eat and yet the news channels aren't saying much except on facebook it seems though there are plenty of pages and people who are keeping the support going strong thankfully. (Contact your local red cross or community action centers to see where you can donate money, water, gatoraide, food, and other supplies I may try and post a list of needed supplies and some donation spots in my next blog) We will continually be in danger of fire until the drought is relieved some by rain. That is another thing something a lot of people don't think about is some of the local lakes are so low that people can't even put their boats in or get to them. There is water rationing in several communities including my own. We are on level 2 so far. (Watering on Mon or Tues depending on house number..odd or even...and only for 4 hours on those days.) We may soon hit level 3 which decreases it to two hours. I think after that there is no outdoor watering. The lake levels are dropping rapidly and usage is going up. OG&E has also put the request out that people try to keep their electric usage to more of a minimum and has stated that they are likely to break megawatt usage soon. Conserve electric There aren't many chances for rain coming up and the ones that are in the future are very small. We topped several records for heat and have been running between 105-110 (with a few 111 to 113 days in there) When we had a cool front come through and it got down to 85 one night I was surprised to find I actually got cold. I am curious what our winter holds for us. Some are forecasting a colder wetter than normal winter...I still kind of think it will be like last winter. Warmer than usual and very dry. Hoping I am wrong. While warm winters feel nice they don't make for good summers. Don't want dry either. We need the moisture as does most of the US. drought monitor.
On a brighter note I thought watching NASA land the Curiosity on Mars was actually pretty interesting. Seeing the scientists broke a lot of ideals of what a scientist looks like which I also thought was cool. :) I think it brought back an interest in NASA a bit too which was kinda cool as well. I know I've never seen so much excitement packed into one room. :) Anyway off for now but may continue this later.