Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe our third and final Christmas in Japan is over. It's hard to believe the year is pretty much over too. It's crazy! For those that may have missed it, here's a look at our year plus some more recent things that have happened since I last updated.
The year started with Ben switching jobs in early February. He now works for the Commanding General and all the important people up there, setting up their transportation when they have places to go and when special visitors come here. The end of March we made another trip down to Okinawa to see the specialists again. We finally found the cause of the pain that Ben started having while deployed to Kuwait last year. It was a super rare thing called Epiploic Appendagitis. It's basically a fatty tumor that wasn't cancerous, just painful. The next few months were pretty quiet. The mid/end of July he started having pain again, in the same place. We went to one of the surgeons at the air base up here (instead of going down to Okinawa again), and they did surgery in mid August and found adhesions that had formed at the previous surgical site. So those were removed and we started the recovery process again. During that same time my brother came and stayed with us for about a month. That was wonderful! I had been feeling pretty home sick and having him here had helped ease that. Smokey and Misty loved having someone else here to give them attention too. I wish we could have done more while he was here, but it really was just nice having him visit. Not much happened the next couple months. About mid October Ben started having pain AGAIN. Now here's the part that I haven't updated everyone with: We've been back to the surgeon, and while he's pretty sure it's adhesions again, he won't do surgery again. While I can understand his reasoning not to (the adhesions will more than likely just form again), I hate seeing my husband in so much pain all the time. He was given a tens unit (an electo-shocker device) that helps take the edge off a little bit, but doesn't really help over all. The surgeon also put in a referral for him to go to the pain clinic at Tripler in Hawaii. He said there's basically nothing we can do about the adhesions except learn to live with the pain. He does not recommend surgery again or the use of narcotics for the pain. Honestly I think he's a retard and don't really agree. As much as I hate sending my husband off to the operating room, I think we need to try the surgery one more time. There are things that can be done during surgery to help deter the adhesions from developing the wrong way. We just need to find a surgeon who agrees. We've also got a referral to go see the specialized orthopedic surgeon in Hawaii. Apparently after his last shoulder surgery (the one in Sept '09), it didn't heal properly or something. So we're looking at another surgery for that too. That one was completely unexpected though. His shoulder still bothers him, but we weren't expecting to have to go to Hawaii for it. We're still waiting for dates as to when he'll (but hopefully we'll) be going. The referrals were put in over 3 weeks ago and we still haven't heard anything. Hopefully this next week we'll know, but I'm not holding my breath since it's the Holiday season. The sooner we know the better though. We are supposed to move the beginning of March, but we're not sure that will happen, or if it does where we'll be going. As of right now, we have orders to go to Fort Drum, New York, but those are to a brigade combat team set to deploy next year so he has to be deployment ready. And with all the medical problems he's having he's not. So we more than likely won't be going to Drum. In all honesty, it's looking more like we're headed for a med board and we'll be getting a medical discharge/retirement. I won't lie, I wouldn't be upset about that. As good as the army has been for us, things lately have just been ridiculous and I'm ready to be done with it. Not sure what we'll do when we get out, but I am ready to be out. So that's where we are with all of that right now. We really won't know more until we get to Hawaii and talk to the doctors there. I will try and be better about keeping this updated with everything that's going on though.
Now I guess I should add a few updates about myself. I forgot to add up above that I had surgery in July for endometriosis. Recovery was quick and easy. Probably could have used a little more recovery time, but that was about the same time that Ben started hurting bad again. So ready or not, it was time for me to feel better. I'm starting to feel some of the same pain again (which is expected because there really isn't a cure for endometriosis), but it's not nearly as bad as it was before the surgery. Hopefully it doesn't get that bad again. There's really not much else going on with me. I haven't been subbing at the school this year. Not because I don't want to, they just haven't called. Not that I mind. I stay home and try to be a good house wife. I've been in to some crafting lately. Particularly card making and a quilt I've been putting together. Every other week I have a day where I get together with a couple friends and we spend the day making cards and paper craft type things. One of these days I'll get around to posting some pictures of things I've made. So if anyone needs some cards for anything, let me know. I love making them, but then don't know what to do with them. I give some away, but not nearly as many as I make. I've also been kind of busy with my church calling. I was the primary music leader/secretary most of the year, but the end of October I was called to be the second counselor in the primary presidency. It's my first time in a primary presidency, and although it will be short it hasn't been too bad. It's pretty easy when you have a small primary like we do.
Anyway, it's time for bed. I'm going to try and be better about posting. I kind of got out of the habit there for a while. Hope every one has a happy and safe holiday season. Love and miss you all and we'll be home soon! :)

Kamakura

I said I would post this pictures a while ago, and just never got around to it. So here's a few of our trip to Kamakura. There are more posted on Facebook if you haven't seen them already.

The Hasadera Temple

One of the big Koi on the temple grounds saying hello

Daibutsu- aka The Big Buddha. He really is huge. And for 10 yen we got to go look inside him.

One might think they were actually brothers and not just brother-in-laws...

I love my brother! So glad he came to stay with us!

And a picture of us down on the beach.

It was a really neat place to visit. We stopped in some of the little shops, including a music box store and a little candy shop. As expensive as it can be, it's always fun to get out and experience a little bit of Japan.

And We're Headed To...

NEW YORK!!! We finally found out where we'll be headed once we leave Japan! We're headed to Fort Drum, NY. For those that don't know, it's more Northern NY up towards the Canadian border. My first thought was "COLD!!!" but I think it will be a nice change. We always talk about how much we miss the snow, and I don't think there will be a shortage of it here. One website I looked at said the average snowfall is 81" each year. That's a lot of snow! I can just see the dogs going out to go potty and just falling through the snow because it's so deep. Haha! Anyway, that's not the only thing we look forward to. There's lots we want to go see while there. The Church History Sites in Palmyra are only about 2-3 hours away, NYC is about 6 hrs or so, DC is about 8 hrs. Plus all the other National historical sites and stuff to go see. They're all close enough that we can make weekend trips out of them, so that will be fun. The town right outside post (Watertown) has pretty much everything we need too- Walmart, Old Navy, Sonic, Dairy Queen, a decent mall... And if it's not there, it's probably in Syracuse which is about an hour and a half away. I can't wait! I'm ready to be back in the states. Japan is nice and it's been a good experience, but I'm ready to be back home. Granted New York isn't the closest place to Idaho, but we'll be back in the states. And that's what matters! :)

Still Here

I know, it's only been a few weeks since my last post, but it feels much longer. I've got lots to blog about, but don't feel like doing it right this moment. I'll try to get it done by the end of the week though. My brother heads home Wednesday (he ended up staying an extra 2 weeks) and Ben will be back to work this week, so I'll have the house to myself again by the end of the week. :) We're doing alright here though. Ben is mostly recovered from his surgery. He ended up getting a hematoma under one of his incisions, and that's been a bit painful but there really isn't much we can do for it. So it's just a matter of waiting for it to go away on it's own (or so we're told). We've been able to go out and do a few things with my brother, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. Between Ben recovering from his surgery, the house repair guys coming over every other day, and the horrible yen rate, things haven't exactly worked out as planned. That's life though, right?! But anyway those are all stories for another day. Let's see, what else is new... We still don't know where we'll be moving to in about 6 months. We're having issues with Branch (the ones who give the assignments out), but I think we're going to push for Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The biggest reason for there is because of the hospital. With all the problems Ben's had, it would be nice to be somewhere with a decent hospital that has all the specialists we need. We'll keep you updated on that though. We're trying to find some time to sneak home for a couple weeks too. It may end up just being me, but we'll see. Ben could use a break from this place just as much as I can. Just gotta wait and see how things pan out first though. One last thought... I just started a new blog. Don't worry, I'm keeping this one too. The new one is strictly for my photography. My goal is to post a new photo every day. We'll see if it turns out how I want it to. The web address is: http://hulsephotography.blogspot.com. Feel free to check it out! :)

Not EA

Ben's surgery went great yesterday. The results are: it was adhesions in the same place as his last surgery and there was no sign of the epiploic appendagitis. So that is great news! He cleaned up the adhesions and did a thorough look around. Everything else looked normal. He said if this didn't fix the pain there was nothing else we could do, but Ben can already tell a difference in the pain. The pain he had before the surgery is gone and now it's just the normal after surgery pain. They kept him in the hospital last night just to make sure the pain was under control. My brother was awesome enough to stay home with the dogs so I was able to stay with Ben at the hospital. And it's a good thing I did. We are not impressed with the in-patient care there. By the time he left recovery and got to his room it was about 430 or so. We got him settled and everything and they went to call in his dinner order but the cafeteria people had already left. They knew Ben was staying the night, you would have thought they would have had something ordered for him. They didn't. So I ran to the commissary to grab some snacks and Burger King to grab some dinner. I was gone for like half an hour, and in that time no one came to check on him. He had been trying to get ahold of the nurses, but the call button on his bed wasn't working (and they hadn't bothered giving him the one that did), he tried waving to the camera but apparently no one was looking, and he tried yelling but after having the anesthesia tube down his throat for the surgery that didn't work too well. He was close to tears by the time I got back. So I grabbed the nurse and got him taken care of. The rest of the night wasn't much better. The only times they really came in was shift change and to do vitals every 4 hours. It was a bit frustrating. Not that it wasn't anything I couldn't handle, but I'm sure you get the idea. We couldn't have been happier to get out of there. Their discharge procedures aren't very good either. They basically told him what meds he's supposed to take, that his activity level should be as tolerated, his diet is as tolerated, and his follow up appt is in two weeks but they didn't give us a day or time. Then they had him just walk out. Seriously?! I was down at the pharmacy getting his meds and they tell him to just walk out?! No wheel chair, no escort, no nothing. He came out of the elevator just as I was getting ready to go up. So we were happy to get out of there. We left about 945 and were home about 11. But we're home now, he's resting, and things are alright. He's on convalescent leave for 2 weeks, we go back on Sept 2nd to get his staples out (he's got 15), and he probably won't have to go back to work until the Tuesday after Labor Day. So we're going to make sure he's all healed up this time. But yeah, that's the latest news from here. Surgery went well, and it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it was. I'm still very glad it's over though. It's so much easier to be the patient than the one sitting in the waiting room. :)

Here We Go Again

Just a heads up, Ben's having surgery again next week. After talking to his doc down in Oki, we were able to get it worked out to just see a surgeon here. We were going to go down to Yokosuka, but only one of the docs there was comfortable with taking the case and she's still in processing. Luckily there is a doc up at Yokota willing to take care of it. So Ben went up and talked to him today, and they decided on surgery for next Tuesday. With how much he's hurting and the narcotics he's on, the sooner we can get it done the better. We don't want to go another year without it being taken care of. It's not exactly the best time for another surgery, but oh well. My brother just flew in today and will be here for the next couple weeks. So I guess on the plus side, Ben will be off pretty much the whole time he's here. Granted I don't know that he'll feel like doing much, but he'll be off. Ok, I need a second to just rant... Seriously, this is all stressing me out. This will be his 3rd surgery in less than a year (one for his shoulder, two for his stomach). I love my husband, and I'm gonna stand by him no matter what, but is it really too much to ask for him to just be healthy for a while?! I really feel like the reason I haven't been able to get pregnant yet is because God knows I would go crazy trying to take care of a baby and my husband. Life just doesn't seem very fair sometimes. Anyway, I'm done now. On a happier note, we've got some fun stuff planned for while my brother is here. We're hoping to be able to go to Disneyland or Disneysea, to Kamakura to see the big Buddha, have to hit up the 100 yen store for sure, and of course we'll head to the sushi-go-round. I'm sure we can come up with some other things too. I made him dive head first into the culture when he got here and we took the train back from the airport instead of sitting around waiting for the bus. It was a long train ride, but still got back earlier than we would have on the bus. The dogs are excited to have another friend here too. I'm excited too! Our first (and probably only) guest while in Japan. YAY! I'll be sure to make updates with all our fun adventures. It's going to be a fun couple weeks. :)

It's Baaaaack!

Ben's abdominal pain that is. Silly me for thinking it would be taken care of the first time. He started having some discomfort about a month ago. Nothing too serious, just kinda annoying. It got a bit worse over the past week, and then over the weekend it got pretty bad. He was back to the point this morning that he couldn't stand up straight. We spent the afternoon in the ER down at Yokosuka. (People are probably starting to think we really like hanging out at that hospital....) We explained the whole diagnosis and surgery for his Epiploic Appendagitis back in April, and everyone looked at us like we were crazy. Like I said before, it's not a common diagnosis. The ER doc reminded us several times it wasn't something he'd heard of since med school back in '98. So they did blood and lab work and a CT Scan with contrast dye. Guess what they found... NOTHING! Were we surprised? Not really. After 5 1/2 hours in the ER they finally sent us home. They drugged Ben up, gave us enough pills to fill the medicine cabinet, directions to start a pain management program for chronic abdominal pain, and told us to follow up with our PCM here at Zama and the surgeon in Okinawa. Oh and quarters for 48 hours (ie a doctor's note saying he doesn't have to go to work for 2 days). I had already set up an appointment for him for Wednesday (because that was the next available one they had) before we decided to go down, so I guess it's a good thing I didn't cancel it. I'm sure we'll have to get another referral to go back down to Okinawa, but I already emailed his doc down there to let him know what's going on and see if he has any ideas as to what to do. But I guess until then, it's just a bit of a waiting game. As for me, I'm doing pretty good. Tummy is still a bit sore and tender, but I'm sure that's to be expected only a week after surgery. We went shopping and to a friend's house Friday and that wore me out. Tried going to church yesterday, but that was a bit much. I'm pretty exhausted tonight, but it was a long day. I know, I'm probably crazy for trying to do so much so soon afterwards. But I'm kinda feeling like "ready or not" it's time to be healthy again. Don't worry too much though. Ben still lets me know if he thinks I'm doing too much. It's just a matter of if I listen to him or not. :)