Listen to your heart

What's going on people? It's been awhile, I know. Wendy Fent, here's your updated post.

This story goes like this...Back in Oct. I applied for the Dept. of Corrections again. Some of you think I'm crazy, perhaps I am. So I've been waiting patiently for the past couple of months to hear back from them. If you haven't heard the state is bankrupt and not hiring hardly anyone at this point. Bad mistake for them to take money from the Dept. of Corrections because people get hurt if they are not well staffed, but that's a gripe for another time.
Well I had my physical in February, I failed. Not because I can't do push-ups or sit-ups, but because I couldn't get my heart rate below 100 beats per minute to continue on with the next portion of testing. I was so frustrated, they left me alone in this room for an hour and it wouldn't go down. They gave me more time than they should have to help me "calm down." The Dr. even came in and asked me if I meditated, I told him no, but if you would like me to think about calming sea sounds and birds chirping, I'd be willing to give that a try. Didn't work. So he ended up telling me that I should probably go have my heart checked out. So I took his advice and went to the Dr. My Dr. did a full blood work-up and even an EKG and everything was absolutely perfect. The only thing that concerned him was when I went from sitting in my chair to getting on the examine table, my heart rate went from 85 to 130. He's like, I think you better wear a Holter monitor (a portable EKG machine) for 24 hours just to make sure there isn't something more serious going on. Well I am thankful for his cautiousness. The machine caught my heart doing all kinds of crazy things throughout that 24 hours. My heart would go from 80 to 160+ in a matter of seconds. This was happening throughout the day and night. So he, referred me to a cardiologist who diagnosed me with supra ventricular tachycardia...fancy word for abnormally rapid heart rate. Fairly normal nothing to be to concerned about. So my Dr. put me on some heart medication that is supposed to slow my heart down. The problem is that it's a medication they use for people with high blood pressure so it makes me very light-headed at times. I went back to the Dr. on Thursday, told him about the side-effects, and he told me every kind of heart medicine that they could give me is going to have these kinds of side-effects. I wasn't happy with that answer. He also told me that it's probably not a good idea for me to be on these medicines for an extended amount of time. Well, I'm 30. So we're looking at another 30 years or so being on medication. (I say this knowing I could die tomorrow, just a side note, didn't want you to think I was getting all cocky on you or something!) He said it would be best to do a heart procedure called catheter ablation. They go in with a catheter through an artery in your groin and basically "zap" the bad heart tissue that's making the heart beat so fast and irregular. He said doing this would permanently fix the problem. So I said lets do it. So that should be happening in the next month or so. Scary but well worth it. It would be nice to be able to run and not be exhausted within a couple of minutes. This makes me feel so much better because now I know that all those years in high school b-ball when I would be exhausted within the first 20 minutes of practice, wasn't my laziness it was a bad heart.
The other thing that I learned which is really the more serious of my heart problems, is that I have a sack of fluid on my heart, I have an enlarged right ventricle, and an enlarged mitral valve. What all this means...I don't really know yet. He couldn't tell me what would be causing these issues from the echo cardiogram, he wants me to come back in 3 months to do another echo cardiogram to see if the sack containing the fluid takes on more fluid or drains. I imagine if it were life threatening he would treat it a little more aggressively. I felt so dumb because he asked me if I had any questions and I said, no, I think I got it. Dumb Jill. I left with so many questions, I think I was just kind of shocked to hear all that news my mind went blank. Oh well, I'll get them answered. So that's my bag of fun to share with you. I do want to add, that I know that God is right here with me, Matt, and Jacob. While I was in shock when I first heard all of this, I know, I know that my God is with me.

New Year not resolutions but hopes to accomplish.

#1- Love God with all my heart, soul, and strength.

#2- Be a better wife and mom.

#3- Have a positive attitude regardless of circumstances. This is possibles if I master my #1.

#4- Stop eating so much pizza.

#5- Get back into shape, but not become obsessed with it that it becomes all I think about.

#6- Discover something new that I like to do.

#7- Go skydiving again.

#8- Give more of myself to other people.

#9- Out with the bad, in with the good...

#10- Make people wander what #9 means.

#11- Get the house fixed up.

#12- Go on a cruise.

#13- Golf more. I love to golf but hardly ever go.

#14- Make sure that people know that I love them.

#15- Jacob needs a baby brother or baby sister.

Matt informed that he has some resolutions for me but I prefer to make my own, call me crazy.
I know I don't have great aspirations to go and learn 20 different languages or climb mt everest but I think mine fit me just fine.

I can see clearly now the rain is gone....

When I picked Jacob up from school today he had an envelope in his hand that he said was very important. He told me that I couldn't read it until I got home. So of course I opened it as we were walking back to the car. It went something like this...This letter is to inform you that Jacob failed his vision test in both eyes and that we should consider taking him to a dr. to get his eyes checked...A couple of problems with this.

#1- Jacob can spot a piece of candy from across the room w/o hesitation.

#2- Jacob has the best observation skills that I've seen from any 6 year old . He tells me when the light is green, he tells me that lady driving next to me is old and I better be careful because old ladies can't see. The list goes on in that area.

#3- Jacob has been known to wear my glasses around the house because he thinks he looks "cool."

So I asked him if he really has a hard time seeing things. He said, well no, but I look good wearing glasses so I think I should get some...

Thank you please

It's been awhile. Life has been happening! Update on the dentist thing....It was hilarious. I wish I had a video camera to capture Jacob in his nitrous induced state. He took one big sniff of that stuff and he got a huge smile on his face. I guess it smelled like vanilla cake. He said, "whoa I feel like I'm laying on pillows and clouds!" He was also overly polite which made all the dental assistants crack up. He kept saying thank you to everything they said to him. It went like this...Jacob are feeling okay? Thank you. Jacob do you feel any pain? Thank you. Jacob if you feel any pain raise your hand ok. Please thank you. He was cracking me up. It all went much smoother than I was anticipating.
I've also been realizing more and more how much control I don't have over situations in my life. It's the whole question why do bad things happen to good people thought. If your reading this and you don't believe in God and don't have a relationship with Him I would think this question is very tough for you to figure out. The way I look at it is everything that I have and has happened in my life is given to me or allowed to have happened by God. I know I am a sinner. Every aspect of my life is tainted by sin. My motivations, my thoughts, my deeds, everything. So the whole I'm a good person theory doesn't quite sit well with me. So when I hear people say I should go to heaven because I'm a good person, well your right you haven't killed anybody or no you don't steal from old ladies but you are a sinner. It's all about the relationship you have with God. It's all about understanding who you are and who God is. It's realizing that He sent His son to die on the cross for you so that you can be with Him for eternity in heaven and you did not deserve it. Amazing Grace! We don't know the whole picture. God does. If you believe that and trust that nothing in your life is happening that God doesn't know about or care about it's such a comfort.

Hodge Podge

First and foremost I have to give a shout to my Jacob. He made student of the week this week and we are very proud of him. We celebrated by taking a trip to the local dairy queen and having a delicious vanilla cone and a sprite! Good stuff.

We had a great time at my mom's cabin. It's a very relaxing way to spend a weekend. We were able to play with slingshots and Jacob's little play bow and arrow. We played a friendly little game of horseshoes it was fun. Our trip to Rocky Point was very relaxing as well. There's nothing like sitting in the ocean watching the sunset with your hot husband! It's a rare treat when Matt and I get to go away together so it was very much appreciated! Jacob spent the weekend with his nana and papa Porter. He had a blast as always. It's been a bit of an adjustment for him not seeing his Nana 3 days a week. He really misses her. So it was nice that he got to spend some time her.

Jacob starts the first of his dental appts next week. He has to get a lot of work done. I'll let you know how that turns out. I told his dentist that if he even gets a glimpse of a needle that she would have a big problem. When he went to get his immunizations for school I had to put him in a full body "hold" just to make that happen. It wasn't a pleasant experience!
I hope all my readers...dad...have a great weekend. Until we meet again...

Sidekicks

Well hello! I'm back. We started a new chapter in the Porter family 2 weeks ago, kindergarten. I know for all of you who have children already past the kindergarten stage, school probably isn't that big of a deal for your kids. But it's been really fun for us. I had butterflies in my stomach for Jacob because I knew how big of a deal it was for him. He did great the first day. No tears, happy as can be. I was more nervous than he was. So anyway, he's still doing great and making friends. I asked him if he made any friends yet and he said "well, I have a sidekick his name is Daniel." I said, what's a sidekick? He said, " you know an assistant." Apparently he has a little girl in his class that tells him that he has spiders on his head throughout the day and his sidekick Daniel checks his head just to make sure there isn't any! Sounds like sidekicks are good to have! I love hearing all the stories he comes home with. They are hilarious. Well, they are very serious to him but I laugh when he walks away. Who knew there could be drama in Kindergarten?
Things are going alright we're looking forward to going up to my mom's cabin this weekend and then we are off to rocky point for labor day! We could use some relaxation. Hope everyone has a good labor day be safe, I'll update after the trip!

crazy life

Hello avid readers of my terribly interesting blog. Good to write to you again.
Where do I start? It has been a very trying month. I really have no desire to go into details but just trust me when I say it's been a rough one. For me it's hard to separate personal life from business life because our lives are so intertwined with our business. I don't know how to make that stop. I think it just is what is.
Jacob started swimming lessons last week. That has been going very well. He has a male instructor which is just what he needs. He seems to respond better to males than females. Go figure. Kindergarten starts in a few weeks and he is very excited about that. Since he doesn't think I know what I'm talking about when I try to teach him things, school should be an interesting challenge for him. I asked him what he would say to his teacher when he thinks he's right about something and he said, " I will tell her I'm sorry that's just how I roll." I see parent-teacher conferences in our future! Jacob lost his first tooth about 3 weeks ago and the tooth fairy gave him a dollar. Well apparently now when Jacob looks at his teeth he sees dollar signs. He pulled out another tooth about 2 weeks ago that wasn't ready to come out. It was a bleeder. We've been trying to convince him that his teeth will come out when they are ready but he says he really wants a remote control helicopter and if he's pulls out all his teeth he'll get it faster... We're working on patience.
Well that's all for now.