I was Tagged!

Here are the rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts about themselves that nobody knows.

B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then go to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I had my 20th birthday party at a mortuary. My cousin and her hubby were actually living in an apartment above the mortuary and they threw me a surprise party for my birthday. It's fun to tell people though.

2. Ok, here is one I very rarely admit to anyone! When I was three I used to take Cheetos and dip them in the toilet and then eat them. Yuck! I know...I was a very confused child!

3. When I was 6 months old my parents took me to zoo in South Dakota. While we were in the reptile area a guy was walking around with a 7ft Python around his shoulders allowing people to get an up close look at it, pet it..etc. Well, when I saw it I didn't quite "pet" it...I grabbed it's neck with both hands and squeezed as hard as I could. My mom started freaking out thinking the snake was going to bite me, and the zoo keeper dude started freaking out thinking I was going to choke his snake. As I said...I was kind of a confused child..either that or it's proof that I've NEVER liked snakes!

4. In second grade I won first place in a Literature Reflections Contest. I wrote a story about my sister and how I was proud to be the sister of a Down Syndrome child.

5. I'm very obsessive-compulsive.

6. I'm 26 years old and I'm still afraid of the dark!

Now...I don't think I know 6 people I could tag that haven't already been tagged...Let's see...I'll tag: Rob and Kristen, and then make sure SunnyPants knows she is tagged cuz I'd love to see her list!

Basketball and Football

I am in such a sports mood today! I think it is because of the two recent wins for my teams. Last night the Utah Jazz had an awesome win over the Hornets with a final score of 99-71. This made 6 consecutive home wins for the Jazz. My boys had some great plays last night too! It was so much fun to watch!! It made me want to go to a game SO bad!! Now, let's just hope that we can keep it up and come away with a win when we play Detroit tomorrow. I've got my cheering voice ready! Then today was the infamous BYU vs Utah game. I am proud to report that BYU won again!! Wahoo!! It was a close one, but I knew my boys could do it! Once again there were some great plays and I had a good time watching the game. All in all it's been a great sports weekend thus far!

Best Thanksgiving Ever!!

I have to say that this year was the best Thanksgiving I have ever had. A good friend of our family has been really sick for the past several months. She is now confined to a chair in her home. She has two kids a 17 year old and a 30 year old who has down syndrome. Anyway...we went over to thier house and cooked Thanksgiving for them. It was great! After we called them and asked if we could do this for them they were so excited. They said they were not even looking forward to the holiday. It wasn't going to be any different for them than any other day of the year. The day went perfectly! We arrived at thier home about ten and my mom and I started on the cooking. We then played a game while we waited for things to cook. Afterward we had a fabulous meal (and I'm not saying that just cuz I cooked it). We visited and talked about all the things we had to be thankful for. Following dinner my mom, brother, and I cleaned everything up. Then we played more games, watched the movie "The Ultimate Gift" (if you haven't seen that movie I HIGHLY reccommend it...one of my all-time favorites!!), and visited more. At one point my mom pulled our friends husband aside and asked if we were staying too long and wearing her out to let us know and we would leave. His response was that we were fine to stay, and that he had not seen his wife this happy in a long time. Later, as we were leaving she stopped us and with tears in her eyes said, "If we were to list what we are thankful for now, I would say I am thankful for this day" It was tender!! Oh yeah, and we sneakily, left them all of the leftovers!! On the way home my family and I discussed how much fun we had and how warm and fuzzy we all felt inside. We thanked each other for sacrificing a little bit of their "normal" holiday traditions to spend time with this other family. Yet, none of us felt as though it was a sacrifice at all, we all agreed it was the best Thanksgiving we had ever had!

Musicals

Ok, I LOVE musicals!! I can't get enough of them. Someone once asked me what my favorite musical was and I really couldn't name one. I like them all! Here is a list of some of my favorites though: (in no particular order)

1. Suessical the Musical
2. Aida
3. Wicked
4. Titanic the Musical
5. Beauty and the Beast
6. You're A Good Man Charlie Brown
7. Les Miserables
8. Hairspray

I think the thing I really like about them is that most of them are about people going about thier daily activities and then...all of a sudden...they break into song!! I wish my life were a musical, so I could be walking down the street and suddenly break out into a spiffy little song and dance routine and not have people wondering where I hid the straight-jacket!

Right now, I'm listening to the soundtrack to Wicked. It's a fun one! Here is a clip from the musical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dPuKNECBmQ&feature=related

Enjoy!!

Non-Epileptic Spells

Ever since coming back from Mayo Clinic, I've spent some time researching my diagnosis on the internet. I found this to be some interesting info and thought I would share it for any of you who may be interested as well.

This is a link to a website that lists frequently asked questions about the diagnosis. I found it to be very helpful. http://health.ucsd.edu/specialties/epilepsy/nonepileptic/ Alright even though, I just gave you the link I wanted to talk about one of my favorite parts on that site. It is the section where it discusses the question, "Is is all just in my head?" I loved the response to this question. Basically it says that this disease is "just in my head" just like heart disease is "just in your chest" or an appendicitis is "just in your stomach". True this disease might "just be in my head" but it is a real and serious disease. Looking at it in this context has truly helped me!

The following information is from a training form I found online by Dr. Cascino from Mayo Clinic. He is one of the doctors that was on the Nuerological team I saw when I was there. I love it because it really shows that I am not alone in this disorder, a lot of people out there suffer from it as well.

"A previous study performed at Mayo Clinic Rochester indicated that a significant number of adult patients evaluated for spells, query epilepsy, are experiencing non-epileptic spells. A consecutive series of 274 patients were admitted to the inpatient epilepsy-monitoring unit between 1993 and 1997 for unprovoked and stereotypic spells. The pathophysiology underlying the clinical episodes in these individuals could not be determined based on an outpatient evaluation that included a neurological history-examination, MRI head, and routine EEG recording. Most patients referred for recurrent spells were receiving or had received antiepileptic drug therapy. The electroclinical correlation during the video-EEG monitoring was required for appropriate diagnostic classification. Fifty-five percent of patients were experiencing non-epileptic spells. Approximately 36% of patients were determined to have seizure disorders. A combination of seizures and non-epileptic spells occurred in 5.5% patients."

Anyway, just a bit of the information I found during my research...sorry if you found it too boring!

Home Sweet Home

Well, after 10 long days at Mayo Clinic I am finally home. It feels good to be back, however, my time spent at Mayo was well worth it! After 8 long years I finally have a diagnosis. I have what is called Non-Epileptic Spells. It is a disease of the sub-conscience. It is caused by some type of trauma to my sub-conscience, and is cured by cognitive therapy on the sub-conscience level which includes things such as hypnosis.

I know this sounds quite strange. It took me days to wrap my head around what all this means. The doctors at the clinic were excellent and more than willing to spend quite a bit of time explaining this diagnosis to me. At first I thought they were telling me I was crazy and that it was all in my head, but they were very adamant to point out that this is a real disease and something completely beyond my control. They said it is actually quite common but very hard to diagnose, they see a lot of it because most people end up at Mayo in order to get the correct diagnosis. In fact while I was there another lady was discharged who received the same diagnosis...her symptoms were almost identical to mine. Basically my sub-conscience is making my body sick. Doctors I spoke with said that this is a very powerful and serious disease, they have seen it cause a variety of other diseases including cancer and even death. In my case it is sending me into mini coma's.

The good news is that the doctors are very hopeful that I can fully recover from this and go on to live a happy, healthy, life. It is not going to be easy, and it's not going to happen overnight, but I can do it and I will get better. I have an appointment on Monday to talk with my insurance company to find the best person on my insurance plan that specializes in this kind of cognitive therapy.

Thank you again for all of your prayers, love, and support. I don't know if I could have made it this far without you!

Tiff