The History Of Us

APRIL, 1993

Me and Jeremy started dating.  I had just gotten off work at Ponderosa (yep, that's right.  Haters gonna hate).  After work me and some friends headed over to Green River Rd. to do some cruising because, well, that's what all the cool kids did.  As I stood in the parking lot of Noble Roman's talking to a car full of hot men from Tecumseh (OK.  They weren't hot men.  They were not even cute boys.  But it's my blog and my story so that's how I will tell it!)  I hear someone yell, "Hey!  Stop jumping up and down like an idiot!"  I look over and there is a car of boys I knew from my high school.  So I walk over.  Just so happens this guy named Jeremy Fortune was the one yelling at me.  I said, "I'm jumping up and down because it's cold."  So, being the sensitive, kind, friendly, caring guy that he was, he took off his baseball jacket and gave it to me to wear.  The next day he called me.  The day after that we went on our first date.  We went to pick out his tux for prom (we both went to prom with different people that year).  And, the best part, he sang this song to me over and over and over Informer.

 

 

AUGUST, 1994

Carolyn, Jeremy's mother, passed away.  She had fought cancer for nine years.  I still remember the first time I met her.  Jeremy hadn't told her that he was bringing me over.  She sort of panicked when we walked in because she didn't want me to see her without anything covering her head.  It was the first of many times I heard her yell "JEREMY!"  She was an amazing woman.  I wish our girls could have met her.  We agree that she would have spoiled them rotten.  And she would have laughed and laughed at Reagan because she would have said that was Jeremy's payback :)

 

 

 

JULY, 1999

We got married!!!  It was a beautiful day.  The wedding went great.  We had a live singer instead of just music playing.  And a piano player.  One of the songs was Because You Loved Me.  Another was

The Rose.  It was pretty amazing.  And the reception?  Well, our entrance music was pretty special.  I mean, who wouldn't want to be introduced for the first time walking in to this ?????.  Awesome, right??  Then there was the first dance to this beautiful song To Make You Feel My Love.  I've been told by many that our reception was epic.  Yes, epic.  When you go thru 10 kegs of beer, the night is bound to be pretty, well, epic.

 

 

FEBRUARY, 2002

Emily was born.  That was an experience.  Just imagine being 42 weeks pregnant and giving birth  naturally to a 10lb baby.  Yeah.  Let that sink in for a minute. 

 

 

JULY, 2004

Jeremy's stepdad, "Doc" passed away.  Not sure I have words to describe this incredible man.  So I won't even try because I won't do him justice.  His death was not expected, so this was a really rough time for Jeremy.  There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't think of Doc or his mom.  We talk about both of them all the time.  We have made sure the girls know who they were and what role they played in Jeremy's life.  We talk about them so much in fact that the girls refer to them as Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Doc. 

 

 

NOVEMBER, 2006

Right about now is when things start getting interesting.  For a lot of reasons.  Reagan was born.  I was only pregnant 38 weeks this time.  I made my doctor promise me we wouldn't have a repeat performance.  She felt bad for me and agreed.  So I was induced two weeks early.  It was nice giving birth to a baby and not a toddler. 

 

 

NOW THIS IS WHERE EVERYTHING STARTS GETTING INTERESTING. 

 

JANUARY 4, 2007

I'm at home with Emily and Reagan (who is five weeks old now).  It's 9pm.  Jeremy is working evenings.  He was still a road Deputy.  He calls and says not to be alarmed but that the ambulance is bringing him home.  He said he doubled over with stomach pain at the jail and couldn't drive.  Ok I said.  About 10 minutes later he calls back.  He says that they are not bringing him home but instead taking him to the ER.  He tells me I need to leave now and meet them there.  Thank goodness my dad lives close because I needed to leave in a hurry.  I get to the hospital and he is already there.  The nurses are rushing around him.  They were already taking him down for CT scan and xray.  Everything happened really fast and they ended up admitting him quickly.  I remember holding the bed pan so he could vomit over and over and over.  He couldn't stop throwing up so as I'm holding this pan the nurse is asking me all kinds of questions because he couldn't answer them.  She was nervous.  I was scared.  He couldn't stop vomiting.  It was bad.  Really, really bad. 

 

For the first three days he was pretty much asleep the whole time.  So many people visited but he doesn't remember any of it.  I stayed with him and never left for those first few days.  The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong.  Not a clue.  So many tests were run with no answers.  He was literally near death.  His potassium level was 0.  He weighed 154lbs and he is 6ft 3in.  He was pale white.  Couldn't eat.  After about five or six days they put him on TPN (feeding tube).  Don't forget that we have a now six week old baby at home.  And that's what I need to talk about next.

 

JANUARY 11, 2007

My dad and stepmom had been watching the girls.  Marcille is a respiratory therapist and tells me that she is concerned about Reagan's breathing (such as her chest sinking in, struggling to breathe, lips turning blue) and that I need to take her in to get checked out.  So I did.  My mom went with me to the after hours clinic.  The doctor wasted no time in telling me that she had RSV and that I needed to get her to the hospital ASAP.  OMG!!!!  This is the point where I lost it.  And this is also the point that I started just going thru the motions.  I honestly don't remember feeling any emotions really.  I cried.  But that was because I didn't know what else to do.  I remember driving out the entrance taking her from the Dr. to the hospital and my mom saying to let her drive and I refused.  But I managed to get her to the hospital.  And she stayed there for six days.  All the while her father was still in the hospital across town on a feeding tube. 

 

THE REST OF JANUARY, 2007

At some point the doctors finally figured out what was going on with Jeremy.  He had Crohn's Disease.  This was just the beginning of the rest of his life dealing with so many issues I won't list them all.  And the medications.  Good grief.  I think we already own CVS and just don't know it.  Such a nasty awful disease.  He was in the hospital for 14 days total.  Reagan was discharged a day before he was.  I can't even explain how great it was to have them both home.  I almost lost him and thought I was going to lose her.  Going thru all of that definitely did one thing.  It made me stronger.  So many people have asked me how I did that.  How I made it through and could still smile. Well, you just do.  And pray a lot. 

 

APRIL, 2007

Jeremy had his first resection surgery.  This was supposed to be a four day hospital stay.  Turned into NINE!!!  On day three or four I walk in to his room bright and early in the morning and he looks like death.  No joke.  Long story short he was allergic to a medicine they gave him and no one knew it.  Took them forever to figure out what was wrong.  So nine days it was. 

 

ARE YOU STILL PAYING ATTENTION?  WE AREN'T DONE YET

 

JULY, 2010

Jeremy has a second resection surgery.  This one goes much better.  He recovered a lot quicker and no one gave him medication that would almost kill him.  This was a success!!!

 

A MONTH OR SO LATER

We are having a nice family afternoon in the pool.  The girls had been going down the slide.  No different than any other day in the pool.  Jeremy was in the water and I was walking towards the steps to get out.  Emily went down the slide and I heard her splash into the water and laugh.  Next thing I hear is Jeremy saying "OH $%#@" and then I hear a smacking sound.  Reagan had fallen off the steps to the slide.  When I turned around she was lying on the concrete, face down, motionless.  I thought she was dead.  I ran over to her and was yelling her name and she was not responding.  Jeremy had seen her hit her head on the way down.  I can't describe what it feels like when you think your baby has just died.  Under your watch.  I picked her up and she didn't move.  After what seemed like an eternity she finally started saying "Oweee, oweee."  Then she started vomiting.  The drive to the ER was gut wrenching.  I couldn't let her fall asleep and she kept dozing off.  Once we got to the hospital they quickly got her in.  She had a skull fracture and was admitted to pediatric Intensive Care.  We were there for three days.  Luckily there was not any abnormal bleeding or swelling on her brain.  The break was clean and would heal itself eventually. 

 

NOVEMBER, 2012

When you have Crohn's Disease you have to take steroids.  The steroids are great, but they also cause bad things to happen.  And of course Jeremy was the recipient of a bad thing...Osteonecrosis in his knees.  Basically his bones were dying.  So, when your bones die they can't function properly, requiring them to be replaced.  And that's just what happened.  A total knee replacement at the age of 37.  Awesome. 

 

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

I was diagnosed with cancer.

 

Why am I writing all of this for all of you to read?  I don't really know.  Maybe it's because I just needed to see a timeline of all the craziness that has happened in my life.  Or maybe it's so that I can try and make sense of it all.  Or maybe it's because I want you all to know that everything you are going thru, no matter what it is, will be ok.  It will.  God uses bad for good.  There is good in everything.  Every experience, no matter how bad it is, can be used for good.  It may take years for God to expose the good or it may take hours.  How can Crohn's disease be used for good?  Well, I can tell you this.  It has made our marriage stronger.  When your spouse has to go thru something as humbling as when Jeremy was in the hospital for two weeks and I had to help him do EVERYTHING, that changes something in you and your relationship.  What good comes from almost dying from being given a medication your allergic too?  You are once again reminded that life is fragile and you should embrace it.  What good comes from having your three year old suffer from a skull fracture?  You realize that your children aren't really yours.  They are God's children.  And you are just the one he chose to take care of them.  And you are reminded that that little girl can be taken away from you just as fast as she was given to you so you better enjoy every single minute you have with her.  What good comes from being diagnosed with cancer when you are 36 and have a husband and two children that need you?  I don't know yet.  I am still trying to accept the fact that I have cancer.  But someday I will be able to blog about what good has come of this.  And when that day comes, you better believe I will let you all know :)