A look back: 2014

Looking back at 2014 it was a decent year. Not a super fantastic year, but we survived.

At the beginning of the year I was having some serious medical issues, issues that were starting to point to surgery, and not just any surgery, brain surgery. I was dizzy constantly, lightheaded, I was losing the vision in my left eye periodically, fatigue, headaches/migraines and nausea were commonplace. I was diagnosed with an Arnold Chiari Malformation - basically, my cerebellum (the part of the brain responsible for balance) has herniated 7mm into my spinal column.

I was under a tremendous amount of stress, on top of the waiting game to see if surgery was necessary, I was working full-time and I've always been the primary care-giver for the twins, who have significant needs.

My work load increased with the increasing number of open positions within my company - more and more was asked of those of us who remained. It was a bit overwhelming. My Family and Medical Leave request went through to Human Resources to cut my hours to part-time - no response. HR is located in another state, with a crazy automated system to wade through, and when I did make it through I got sent to voicemail; email went unanswered - this was in May. A verbal reprimand for my attendance in June - but what about my FMLA request? Well, why should my supervisor know about that? Please, give me the run-around some more, I really enjoy it.

By August I'd had enough. I just couldn't keep up with everything, and my job was the one thing I could easily change. I gave 3-weeks notice, rounding out my 2.5 years with an in-person interview with Scotty McCreery, whom I adore.

We figured I'd take a couple of months off work and look for something part-time. That turned into Pricklypants finding full-time work and me staying home, looking for freelance opportunities, or a work-from-home opportunity.

The twins started pre-school, receiving speech therapy. We took some time getting into our routine, but by the end of September they were having fewer issues getting into the classroom.

By the end of September my depression hit full force, by October I knew I needed to get some help for it and talked to my doctor about a specific anti-depressant I'd read about, aimed at multiple issues, rather than just the depression and anxiety. After 3 weeks of medication, right around Thanksgiving Day, it was like a switch flipped in my brain and the noise was reduced a hundred-fold.

That wasn't the end of it, though. I was manic - so keyed up that I wasn't sleeping or eating. I went back to my doctor, the sense of urgency I was feeling was overwhelming. We decided to add a mood stabilizer, as bi-polar runs pretty heavily in my family. World of difference there. Not only that, over the course of 2014, I lost 35 pounds!

The twins continued to make progress. By the end of October they were starting to understand the routine. By the time we got to Christmas break in the middle of December, they were walking themselves from the car to their classroom and starting to participate in circle time with fewer incidents. Steady progress. They've started showing signs of understanding what we were saying to them, Gage was following my pointed finger to what I wanted him to see - sometimes from across the room - not only that, he was coming to me, grabbing my hand and trying to get me to follow him to where he wanted me. Gamble is mimicking sounds of words after we say some things.

If we keep up our momentum, 2015 is bound to be an au-some year!