My story is this.....

I am a woman who has finally looked in the mirror long enough to begin down a road towards wellness and health.

I married the man of my dreams in 2000 and within six months we were told we probably wouldn't conceive children naturally, shortly after that the headaches I had suffered all of my natural life were becoming increasingly worse. I went to my internist, had a C-scan and within weeks was sent to a neurosurgeon. Life seemed to be spinning out of control. Newly married and scared, all I knew to do was pray and pray I did. The surgeon suggested more testing, MRIs, MRAs, X-rays, EKGs, all within a window of a couple of months. "don't worry", he said, I don't think it's a tumor, you probably have had it since birth." I clung to those words, hoping he was right. Alas, he was wrong. It was a tumor, a menigiomia, common among women my age. (I was just 27 at the time) We would wait, watch and hope it wouldn't become "active" meaning producing seizures.....

To our dismay......it did.....

On Nov. 21, 2001, I had my first grand mal seizure, it would be my last of that type, but seizures would presist. Shortly after this seizure, I found out I was pregnant with our first child. Later, I would be told I was carrying a girl. This child inside me suffered along with me as my body was racked with seizures through the pregnancy. I would be put on bedrest with high blood pressur and seizures. I felt like I was living in a dream state for most of this pregnancy. The only thing that kept me sane and in touch with reality was the small pokes and prodes I would receive from my daughter as she would roll over. I knew she was special, she was a gift from my God. She is our first miracle child and so she was to be named accordingly, her name means, "God is my refuge" She was born 6 weeks early and only 5 short months later, I was taken in to have brain surgery to remove this tumor that was causing so much grief. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days and gained 80lbs. before I stepped back outside of the hospital doors. The steriods didn't like my body and I didn't care for them either. I spent the next year and a half of my life just learning to walk, talk, care for myself and our family. I had to relearn how to use fine and gross motor skills, things I had taken for granted for like tying my shoes had become one of my most difficult tasks. I don't remember much from this time period, all I know is that by the grace of God I was able to regain and move forward in the process of healing. He had led me to my neurosurgeon (who is absolutely one of my heros) My surgeon thought the surgery would be routine, nothing out of the ordinary, but we later learned that time was of the essence and the tumor was squeezing my optical and other arteries and in fact, I only had a short time left to live had it not been removed. So those who can't understand my NON-anger towards my God, this is why I can not be angry....He ordained my days and led me to where I needed to be and have the surgery before it was too late.

Since those days back in 2002, I have had another child, a son and I am working towards shedding the pounds that I had gained through a couple of years of inactivity and steriod medication. My incredible husband is still by my side. He is my earthly example of Christ's love for me and I am thankful. I am thankful to be alive each day!!

There are two things I know beyond certainity.......

There is a God of the universe who loves us, individually.

Our health is our most important asset on this earth, without it we are just an empty version of ourselves.

I am currently in the process of journaling about my ups and downs toward total weight loss. If you are interested in that information, send me a message..