We've had a crazy month. Greg enjoys his job and is getting some great experience, so we decided to stick around Utah for 3-5 years. We started house hunting in late January. There wasn't much on the market, and we had trouble getting our lender to give us a straight answer on how much we could borrow. When we finally nailed down what financing would look like in monthly payments, we got more serious. After taking about 5 trips to see houses, we were frustrated. In late April Greg decided to check KSL; just to see if there were any houses we were missing through our realtor's mls site. He found one that looked promising and forwarded it to our realtor. He informed us that it was a for-sale-by-owner, and that it might be best if we contacted the seller by ourselves. After one walk through we decided it was the house for us! The seller agreed; we were a great fit for the house and neighborhood. Our realtor told us he would step down, and let us represent ourselves so that our costs would be minimized. What a blessing that was! Things were looking great. I remember thinking to myself, "Man! Things are going so well for us right now. I wonder when the low will come."
Well, we didn't have to wait long. At work, Greg had been promised (verbally) a commission for some high-level positions he had recruited for thereby saving the company tens of thousands of dollars. The bonus was supposed to come in at the beginning of May and didn't. When he asked about it, the finance head said that was his job and he shouldn't be getting a bonus for doing his job. Totally heartbreaking.
Then Greg come home from work the first Tuesday in May throwing up. He threw up for about 18 hours straight. He was miserable. There was nothing left in him after a couple of times, and it was mostly acidic bile. I was really starting to worry. After a late night blessing from a friend, Greg actually got some sleep and started to feel better. Wednesday he didn't eat much of anything and was very weak, but no throwing up. Thursday he started to move around and ate a little more. Then Friday he attempted to go to work, only to come home again throwing up! It didn't make sense to me. If it was a stomach bug, it would have been out of his system. We took him to the instacare but they didn't have any answers for us.
By Friday evening I was exhausted. Saturday I had a bridal shower to go to with my mom, so I took Collin and went to get a little break. After the shower, back at my moms house, I noticed that Greg had called and left a message. He had gone to the instacare again, and they told him to just go the emergency room. I tried to call him for about an hour and couldn't get him, so I left Collin with my parents and headed back to the apartment to see if I could find him. He was asleep and hadn't gone to the ER. He had stopped throwing up that morning but was still feeling horrible. Sunday he started feeling better again and my parents brought Collin up to us, but that night before they left Greg felt sick again. He didn't throw up, but was pretty sure he was going to so my parents took Collin home with them. I told Greg if he threw up, we were going to the ER. I think that made him nervous to throw up and he held it in.
Monday I started calling doctors. We decided that this episode must be related to the other abdominal problems that he'd been having Oct 2012 and Feb 2013. I really wanted to see a Gastroenterologist because the doctors at the instacare had no idea what to do with Greg. First I called GI offices, and with no appointments til the end of May I changed my strategy. If we could get a general doctor to give us a referral we'd get in sooner. The instacare doctors don't give referrals, so Greg called the appendix surgeon he'd seen in Feb and got an appointment in two days, but that wasn't soon enough. So we headed to the ER with the hope that if we just saw a doctor, they could refer us to a GI doctor. At the ER, though, they were hesitant to admit Greg with next to no symptoms. The nice nurse told us that they weren't allowed to give advice without an admittance, but off the record she would recommend just getting a family practice doctor and getting a referral through him. So we headed back home to call family practice doctors as we didn't have one. The second doctor's office I called had an appointment that day in less than an hour. We excitedly took it.
At the doctor's office we gave the nurse the whole story and then the doctor came in. He asked about two questions and then said, "I'm pretty sure this is a duodenal (or peptic) ulcer. You've got all the textbook symptoms." He gave Greg a prescription for an over-the-counter omeprazole (prilosec). With a prescription, there is a better chance the insurance would pay for it. He told Greg to take it for at least 6 weeks daily, and recommended taking it for 6 months. He also recommended Greg cut out any energy drinks, drink less caffeinated sodas, and get more fiber. Greg has felt 110% better since then. We still need to work on increasing fiber, but he's been better on the drinks.
Later that week we closed on our house, and began painting and cleaning to be ready for move in. We moved in Tues the 21st, and still haven't gotten everything put away. I am amazed at how much stuff we have! Being pregnant meant that I couldn't do a whole lot. I helped with the cleaning and a little with packing, but mostly Greg and my parents got us ready to move. During the move I did next to nothing. We are so thankful for a few amazing, wonderful, strong friends and family that helped! The next day my mom, sister and I went back to our apartment to clean it. I did quite a bit that day, cleaning almost half the apartment myself. Thursday I was exhausted and super sore! Through all of this, Collin has been a champ! He hadn't napped for over a week, and besides being a little cranky in the evenings, was ok. He kept himself entertained while we cleaned and painted. He stayed out of the way while we moved and cleaned the apartment. And he has been super helpful around the new house while I've been recovering. I'm finally starting to feel like I've got energy again, except for the terrible allergies that just hit me!
So here we are. Enjoying our new house; not so much enjoying the lack of moo-lah to furnish it. But I feel like we hit the bottom and are finally starting to climb out of that pit.
Pictures of the new house to come!
