The misadventures of the Hadlocks!

Tonight was such a fun family night out and really helped me to chill out and forget about things for a while! Chris's awesome boss got his employees tickets to the PG carnival. The girls had so much fun riding rides together it just melted my heart to see them have so much fun together! I just love them so much and just LOVE seeing them grow up and experience thing TOGETHER.

Chris went back to work after so he would have a silent place to study for his Biology test tomorrow and I cam home to put the kiddos to bed and start the two pork roasts for my mom-in-laws retirement/birthday party. It was quite interesting making the roast. I have this issue with handling meat. I am on the verge of becoming a vegetarian because I HATE DISLIKE DESPISE touching raw meat and picturing this cute little animal! I have come along way and can barely touch chicken without cringing and making meat loaf doesn't make me dry heave anymore. But tonight was rough.....Two HUGE pork roasts.....And two somewhat easy directions. 1-Rub the roast with salt. 2- rub with roast with liquid smoke...WHAT! rub the roast!!!! I held my breath and barely made it! I about lost it when i touched the bone(which I didn't know was still there!!) My stomach feels a little week but hopefully tomorrow our house will be filled with a yummy aroma and I will get the guts to try the sweet little pigs I just put in the crock pot.

On another note. My surgeons office called today and set up another ultra sound to check and see if my aneurysm has grown at all. This will give me a HUGE feeling of relief. Its been about nine months since the last and everyday I just worry. I know I shouldn't and I really try not to but thats kinda hard to do all the time. So Tuesday is the day and we will see! Wish me luck!

Amazing people at IHC

Yesterday I had an appointment with my surgeon to ask our last question before I schedule my surgery. It confirmed how much I LOVE my surgeon. She is just amazing! We decided to walk over to the hospital where I will be having the surgery done to meet some people and figure out all the financial stuff. We talked to several people that were all some what confused on IHC "charitable" department. Which doesn't really exist I guess but IHC does do charitable surgeries and things. Anyways we ended up in the solid transplant center office. Once again they were somewhat confused on why I was there since I didn't need a donor. We had a name though and luckily this man was kind enough to speak with us. He then brought out the head transplant financial aid person. And she was amazing! We told them my situation and gave me some paperwork to fill out and bring back. A HUGE weight was lifted off my shoulders as I walked away. I know everything will work out. I don't know exactly how; but I just have a lot of peace.

Dr. Time

Had quite the scare yesterday. Starting having sharp pain where my kidney is. Pretty much thought my aneurysm was rupturing. Went and checked my blood pressure and it was elevated but not super high. Still way scary day for me. Luckily the pain dyed down after several hours. Maybe indigestion? lol! I am going to meet with my surgeon again to finalize any questions I have for her before I schedule my surgery. I also have an appointment with another vascular doctor and surgeon next week for two more opinions. Going to be a long next couple of weeks. I have been trying so hard not to really focus on the scariness of my aneurysm. Its hard not to think about it though. Its hard to forget you have a ticking time bomb that could go off any minute. Today I took the girls to the water park to try to distract me. It worked rather well until June almost drowned. I went straight to Target and bought her some floaties. Freaked me out! Well until next time!

This is so interesting

This article is so interesting and it shows how far medicine has come. I am going to take to my surgeon about this I believe this is not going to be an options since I need blood flow to work still through my vessel. Check out this ARTICLE!

The beginning of a long journey...

My name is Crystal. I am 27 years old and a mom to two beautiful girls and a wife to an amazing husband. I am an artist and love to express myself through photography. I have a love for life and love living it.

In August of 2010 my life was turned upside down. My mom, my kids and I were in a car accident. Ever since the accident i had been struggling with excruciating pain in my lower back, hip, and down my right leg. It was unbearable. I tried everything from chiropractic care, physical therapy, and cortisone shots. Little did I know all the pain I was having was a blessing in disguise.

My doctor ordered an MRI of my lower back because of all the pain nI was in and discovered by mistake, what looked like an aneurysm. I was told very little about what an aneurysm was and was assured it was probably a misreading and no matter what, not to look it up on the internet. Of course i looked it up, and realized if what they had seen was indeed an aneurysm, my life would become very different.

Next on my list was a CT scan. I nervously make it through another test and awaited another phone call from the doctor. The day came and sure enough they had not misread my MRI. I did have an aneurysm. I had the most rare type of aneurysm. (.01% chance of every getting this type of aneurysm) A renal artery aneurysm; and to top it off, it was on a vessel to the only kidney I was born with. This created a very unique and difficult problem.

There are several options I have to choose from. First is watch and wait; and monitor. To me this is a gamble with my life. At any moment no matter if I am exercising or sitting on the couch relaxing, my aneurysm could rupture and I would have 5-30 minutes to get to the hospital before I would internally bleed to death. If I was lucky and made it to the hospital I would have my only kidney removed and be put on dialysis and a kidney transplant waiting list. I fear everyday that this may happen while im alone or with my kids.

The next option we were told was to do embolization. I later found out this was not an option because my solitary kidney and the surgery would risk me loosing part of my kidney tissue and I would end up needing a kidney transplant down the road. Once again I want to preserve my life and lice until Im old and grey. I want to be there for my family and my children. And live life to the fullest. This was not the right option.

My last option is an auto transplant. This is where the surgeon wil take my kidney out, remove the aneurysm, and transplant my kidney back into my body. More evasive, more recovery, more scars... yet this option gives me the best long-term quality of life. This was the right decision.

Sounds like this story has a happy ending. But there is a twist...Last year my husband was laid off from his job. Good insurance, retirement, and a steady reliable income. My husband found a job relatively fast. Such a blessing; but his new job didn't have any benefits and it was half the income that we made before. We have made it work. Time are tough but we had each other and that's really all that matters. We are lucky because our kids have health coverage and my husband and I have preventative coverage. Now to a healthy family this would be perfect; but to a rare out of the ordinary family this does not cut it. My bills will estimate around 170,000.00. I have looked into buying individual insurance; but don't qualify because of my pre-exiting condition. I have looked into government help but we have been responsible and have to many assits. Even if we were to sell everything it still would not cover the cost. That leaves one option,save and hope for help. I firmly believe things happen for a reason. Either to teach use or others and to grow as a person. Life is about learning and growing and this is definitely once of those times I have to remember this.