Cabin Week 4: Highs and Lows

 It's hard to believe this is our fourth and final week at the cabin.  The month here with my kiddos has been better then I can explain.  There is something about being away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, with just your kids.  It's refreshing to have them all to yourself and watch them have endless hours of fun day after day. This week we started back with the golf and tennis clinics at White Mountain Country Club. The kids enjoy this week and with ONLY 120 kids in golf, it seemed a little less crazy then the first week we did the clinic.  

 This little lady can hardly wait to play next year. She wants pink clubs and pink golf balls which sounds perfect to me!

 Ledger and Brooklyn had fun playing in the 4-5 age group together.

I spy Brody in the 9 year old group.  He's in the red hat, navy blue shirt on the back right.

 After golf each day, we headed over to the courts for some tennis.  Ledger is doing fantastic at this sport....so is Brody and Case.  Poor Case though, all the kid wants to do up here is play Dodge Ball and Capture The Flag with the kids and the rec hall staff.  For some crazy reason, the sports were scheduled right at the same time as his tennis lesson.  Two out of the five days his lessons were at a different time and still the sports were scheduled during tennis.  He had a hard time concentrating on tennis because he kept looking back at what he was missing at the rec hall.  Lucky for him, the games lasted for hours and he was able to play. 

Miss B...this girl loved it at the rec hall.  She would swing on the swings for hours and zip line for as long as she could before someone would push her off.  I love that her brothers loved pulling her up to the top of the line and watching her laugh all the way down.  One day Ash and I were eating lunch on the porch and Brody comes over to join us and tells us that "some old man" at the rec hall chewed him out for letting "the little girl" go so fast down the zip line.  Little does "the old man" know, "the little girl" is tough as nails and has been doing it for weeks.

 Brody must have made a hundred crafts this month at the rec hall.  He loves painting, crafting and designing stuff.  

 Each evening after we would get home from the rec hall, we would head out front for some bike riding and roller blading. The weather is so beautiful here that you just want to be outside all day and night.  You can tell from the expression on Brody's face that the boy is in heaven!

 Case loved being able to ride his blades out front.

 So here is when the fun began.  Tuesday night, we had just finished dinner.  The kids were playing out front having a great time.  We decided that we should go on a walk and bike ride.  

 We go up the street and down a couple times.  I'm pulling Berkley and Brooklyn in the bike trailer for a while and then they get out and want to be pushed in the stroller.  Ledger hops in the bike trailer and off we go headed back to the cabin. Out of know where, I get this HORRIBLE pain in my stomach and have to make a mad dash to the bathroom.  I won't go into the gory details but lets just say the next hour is spent sick as a dog in the bathroom.  My stomach is making noises I've never heard before and I am in serious pain.  I get the kids bathed and throw them in bed.  I am still horribly sick so I jump in the shower and head to bed myself.  All night I am in EXCRUCIATING pain in my lower abdomen.  Other horrific things start happening and I decide it's time to go wake up my mom.  We jump in the car at 1:15 am and head to Summit Hospital in Show Low.  They quickly check me in and start me on Morphine for the pain.  

Long story short, I spend the rest of the night and half of Wednesday in the hospital having CT scans and blood drawn so they can figure out what the heck is wrong with me.  I thought my appendix had ruptured in which case I warned my mom that, "I will not have my appendix removed at Summit Hospital in Show Low, Arizona."  Come to find out, I had Infectious Colitis in my large intestine.  It is similar to Giarrdia  or Salmonilla.  I have no idea where I got it, but it hurt like a son of a gun and at one point I thought about hanging myself from the fan in the bathroom at the cabin! From what the doctor explained it is contracted from poor hand washing, someone who has prepared food without washing their hands, utensils that have not been properly cleaned or contaminated food.  It can lie dorment for a week and then something triggers it and all you know what breaks loose!  It's gross and disgusting when I stop and think about it. I'm guessing I got it from the Club since we didn't eat out anywhere else.  So they let me out of the hospital Wednesday afternoon and I go back to the cabin and head for bed.  I start on the THREE medications they gave me and I start throwing up...and can't stop. The pain won't go away and I think I am bleeding internally.  I call Jeremy at 4:00 am Thursday morning and tell him I can't take the pain any longer.  He drives up to Pinetop, we say good-bye to our kids, and head back down to the valley so we can go to Banner Gateway Hospital for a second opinion. Thursday night I stay at Banner Gateway for more testing.  They agree...Infectious Colitis.  They give me more Morphine and send me home with the same medications plus and anti nausea.  All the while, I am throwing up and bawling my eyes out because I had to leave my kiddos in Pinetop.  It was awful and still is.  I am home now from the cabin, sick and miserable.  My month away did not end the way I had hoped.  My kids are scared and can't figure out why I left.  They need me...I need them.  I hate that they had their last golf tournament today and I wans't there.  It kills me. I hope they will forgive me. I hope my Mom and Sister will still have all their limbs... and eyelashes when they come home on Sunday. I owe them big time.  They have taken care my kiddos since Tuesday night.  It is not an easy task.  I am grateful for them and hope I can find a way to re pay them for all their help.