Playing Catch Up

I seem to have started dozens of blogs since the last time I wrote and for some reason haven't finished any of them. Perhaps it was because I had gotten to the point that I wasn't writing about my health or I just couldn't finish them because I'd been interrupted by work or Baby Chang. Who knows...

So I'll start by catching you up on life in the Chang household. We have been blessed to have Prairie Dad home most of the last four months. Unfortunately (and fortunately because it means employment) that streak may be coming to an end soon. Once the ink is dry I'll let you know what projects are in the works.

Baby Chang just went in for her 18 month check-up and couldn't be healthier. She is tipping the scales at 27 lbs 4 oz and she is a towering 35 inches tall. Yes, she is almost three feet tall, her arms however stretch to infinity and beyond, nothing is out of reach these days.

All of us took a trip a couple weeks ago to surprise Grandma and Grandpa Chang. Sadly it was because Grandpa was having surgery but that has all worked out in the best of all possible ways. Nothing could quite describe the look on Grandma Chang's face when we showed up on her doorstep. The fact that my sister kept it a secret may have been the biggest surprise of all.

As for me I got to spend another holiday in the hospital. I spent the week of Thanksgiving being poked and prodded. About five weeks ago I was diagnosed with pneumonia. After two courses of oral antibiotics I still wasn't getting better. My general doctor sent me to see a Pulmonary Disease specialist who ordered a CT scan. Before the results were in I was in so much pain they sent me to the ER. After a biopsy of the unidentified mass in my lung and draining the fluid outside my lung I was making a turn for the better. It turns out it is a strain of strep that has built a home in my right lung. On Monday I was able to go home but I have a PICC line in my left arm and give myself daily IV antibiotics. I'm happy to report I'm feeling much better. I have about a week left before the next x-ray and hopefully the removal of the PICC.

I'll admit laying in a hospital bed over Thanksgiving was emotionally one of the hardest moments of the last year. Finding things to be thankful for was virtually impossible. Today that is a little easier but I think I'll save that for a later post.