7/26/04

Just wanted to send out a quick note to everyone letting you know what's been going on in our lives. As mentioned in our last email Dan and I have both been seeing the doctor to try and discover the possible causes of medical conditions. Dan for his diarrhea and headaches and me for my dizziness, tingling fingers, and irregular menstral cycle. Dan's pretty much gotten the diarrhea under control and the headaches will be an on-going investigation it seems. The migraines have almost stopped, but he's been having headaches almost constantly and they will get pretty bad at times. While determining the possible causes of the diarrhea we found that Dan's family has a genetic flaw that can lead to high triglyceride counts. At the initial testing 3 months ago his counts was at 668 (normal is below 150). The doctor prescribed a daily medication (a generic lipotor) as well as a change in diet. We chose the South Beach Diet over the Atkins diet which were the two options the doctor gave us. Three months later (although the tests were actually performed about 3 weeks ago) he came in for a check up. Dan's triglyceride count dropped over 500 and his weight has dropped a little over 30 lbs. There was one number the doctor read (though I can't remember which one it was) at 101 where normal was below 100, but the HDL levels were high enough to cancel that out. I'm so proud of him.

I on the other hand seem to be in good health dispite my problems. The doctor had me go for an ultrasound to see if there were any ovarian cysts that could be causing the female problems. The ultrasound did show something, but nothing of a life-threatening nature and nothing that truly worth treating. Whether it is the cause or not, it seems to be something to just live with. As for the dizziness and tingling fingers... that seems to be from mild dehydration causing imbalance with my blood pressure. From sitting on the examination table to standing my blood pressure dropped 10 points. The only thing I can do about it would be more fluids.

So there you have it. Good news all around on this end. On top of that, Daniel and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday by going out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant down the street and going to see a movie. If any of you are ever passing through we'll take you to the restaurant. I'd almost say it's as good as Gardunios, but then again I haven't eaten at Gardunios in a while so I can't really judge.

Love to you all, Karen

7/11/04

It's been a while since I've written. Nothing major has happened recently, but I'll fill you in on some of the smaller goings on.

Highlight of the week: Dan received a birthday card from Dad and Lucynthia in Czech (they translated it for us) and then received a phone call for them to sing to him. It was very special.

Downside of the week: We were planning on heading to Albuquerque this past weekend to attend Guen's wedding and see family, but Dan's work put him on call first Saturday and then Sunday preventing him from leaving the house. Sorry we couldn't be there Guen. We hope everything went well.

The most recent news for Dan was the appointment he had on Friday with the neurologist. He's been suffering from migraines more and more frequently and the doctor had ordered some tests to see if there were external causes. The appointment on Friday gave us good news and bad news. The good news was that the MRI and EEG both came back clean. The bad news was that this means we don't know exactly what causes or even triggers the migraines. The doctor has him trying out a couple prescriptions to see if he can find relief from the pain and possibly determine the trigger.

The most recent news for me has been that, as some of you know, I've been considering going back to school. In preparation for this I've turned in my notice at the bookstore. My last day will be somewhere near the 30th of this month. If you want me to pick up any books for you using my discount let me know before then ;). I still haven't decided what to study in school. I'm not even sure where I'll study yet. We have both the UofA and Pima Community College here as well as a few trade schools. I'll keep you up to date on that as things come along. My other news is that during my physical the doctor determined that I may have ovarian cysts. I've had an ultrasound and the technician didn't seem concerned with what she saw so I'm not worried. I'll learn more on the 20th during my follow-up appointment.

I'll leave you with our love and let you get back to you activities.

- Karen