This year has been a tough year. We started with all of us recovering from Covid. Kirk had it the worst with pneumonia and blood clots in his lungs. But my prayer has always been that if one of us had cancer or something, that God would make us sick enough to get checked out. So Covid revealed cancer on his kidney just by chance on the corner of the CT scan for his lungs. While he was in the hospital to remove half his kidney, I saw a blackened spot on the side of his knee. More cancer. This time melanoma on the side of his knee and basal on his shoulder.
Just one week after Kirk had his kidney surgery, Victoria was in the ER for extreme abdominal pain and was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease loud and clear. She has had the same gut issues as Daphne her whole life. This was the very thing we were trying to prevent all year. One week later, she made it through the 4H State Ambassador interviews that she had been preparing for the last 6 months. It is pretty rigorous but she made it in! She was one of 8 chosen out of 13 kids. The down side is that she is dealing with Dysautonomia that is caused by the Chiari Malformation and the concussion, and now Crohn's Disease. Not to mention her super power. Whenever a storm blows in, she can predict it days in advance and can barely function. We had no idea she would end up with three medical conditions that effect her horribly.
In May, after 24 years of Homeschooling the kids, I have officially retired from teaching and started a new adventure working for myself. I'm using my RN license again and became certified in NAET, an allergy elimination technique using accupuncture principles. I love it. Not only is it helping people heal from all kinds of illnesses and diseases but it has saved both Victoria and Daphne from numerous food and environmental allergies. That's how it all happened. Daphne started treatment with Dr. Lindsey. We could easily see that she was going to need many, many, many treatments to get the Ulcerative Colitis under control. So rather than replacing the front porch and steps, we invested in me being certified in NAET. Best thing I have ever done. I've even used it on our dogs and pony. What a blessing.
Back to Homeschooling. We graduated Victoria a year early so she could focus on her position of 4H State Ambassador and possibly get this Crohn's into remission. Her Highschool years have already been robbed from her due to these medical conditions. None of it is fair but what do you do? You just keep going. I have researched so much in order to help these girls have a normal life. What is normal? It makes my head spin.
Summer was chaotic with very little down time. It was very frustrating that we can't just jump up and go hiking, kayaking, camping etc. Both the girls just don't feel good. Constant gut issues. Victoria barely made it through all of her events for Ambassador, BUT she made it through. Rather than just dropping her off, I would get a hotel room wherever the event was and would stay in town. We couldn't chance it that she would need a trip to the ER and I would have to drive back down to wherever she was. In July, Kirk had his surgery for the skin cancer. He had a harder time recovering from that than his kidney surgery. We are just happy that it is gone, and no cancer was found in his lymph nodes.
We brought home Douglas to his permanent family. We were his fourth home in 4 weeks. The poor guy was very thin and a little stressed. It took 6 days for MerkTavitch to be able to look at him without freaking out but now they absolutely love eachother. They are partners in crime! And since he has been with us, he has grown about two inches! It must be the 1 1/3 acre that he has to run in.
In the Fall we thought we were getting a grip on life making plans to return to skiing and snowboarding, return to ice skating, hiking for the fall, all the outdoor things that we love to do, until Victoria was hospitalized for one side of her abdomen swelling up. So, on Halloween just after going to bed for an hour, she wakes me up to show me her abdomen. I know from being a nurse that this is not good. Off to the ER we go. I was afraid that she had a ruptured bowel but it was a double abcess with a fistula coming from her small intestine. A complication of Crohn's Disease. She was hospitalized to prevent losing her bowel. All these things that we never thought would be in her future. One week later, Jared was pinned by a bull returning a buddy's concrete trailer and broke and dislocated his wrist. This is all just too much! Praise God he wasn't mauled! And of course, due to the stress of Victoria and then Jared, Daphne started an Ulcerative Colitis flare up. Can we just get a break? How both the girls ended up with autoimmune disease, I have no idea. We've gotten new GI doctors for both the girls and now Daphne is getting an injection for UC and Victoria is getting an infusion for Crohn's. It's been a long road. Victoria has had this drain since November 8 and will probably have this drain until the middle of January. The GI Surgeon, who is amazing and gave us his cell phone number for communicating with us directly is trying to prevent Victoria from getting a temporary ileostomy for 6 months to a year. It was bad enough that she went on an Ambassador Congress trip to Georgia with the drain in place. She is amazing that she did it. We had lots of video calls to help her problem solve issues with it.
Thanksgiving and Christmas has come and gone with almost no celebration other than being forever grateful for Baby Jesus. We down scaled everything. The tree did get put up but there were no decorations on the tree nor were there any presents under the tree. After what we have been through as a family, all of that stuff just didn't matter. Through this all, we have been planting a church called Cache Cowboy Church with wonderful people in Hooper at Wasatch Cowboy Church. We would have never made it this year without our Cowboy Church family. We've had such hard times in our life but the amazing thing is that our family is unique. Yeah, we have 6 adults living in the same house but it isn't like what people would think. The boys are hardworking building their Construction business. Yeah, Jared can't work with a broken arm but we can see that God had the plan for him to get a handle on the business side of things and hire someone to work alongside Kaleb while his arm heals. That is a blessing. We can see God working. Douglas has been a blessing. We have all just loved him. I am working on him getting his Therapy dog certification so I can take him into retirement homes to lean on people. He's a good leaner and people just love this guy. Cache Cowboy Church is moving from 4pm to 10 am because we have a pastor now. Good things are happening which is why we are always under enemy attack. That's how it works. When something is good happening for Jesus, the enemy will do it's best to shut it down. It's not happening, so back off Satan!
Sometimes, I'm afraid to ask what the year 2023 will bring us. Victoria isn't out of the woods with avoiding surgery. I think it's better to just let it unfold and trust God to keep us on the right path. Through this all, our family is stronger than ever. We are resilent people. We are loving doing God's work. There are so many hurting people out there that need Jesus in their life. We know what it's like to go through hard times which makes it easier to relate to people to do God's work. There are blessings at every turn. Okay.....BRING IT ON 2023!!
