Blehch.

Hi there Blogger-land, how are you all doing? Ari is feeling much better, his tummy is still a little touchy with heavy meals, but he has improved vastly...thank you all for your prayers, unfortunately, I am the one who really needs them now. As much as I hate to admit it, I am really sick. Most of the time I don't say anything because I feel embarrased that I am sick "again", or "still" and I am afraid that people will just blow me off as a whiner.

(If you want to know a little bit more of what's going on with me physically, keep on reading after the Ari story.)

Ari had a very exciting night at work this last week. There was a call with a drunk man getting on the gondola with a shot gun who, when questioned about it, he told the gondola operator that the gun was to "blow some one's head off." So, the police all converged on the center plaza where the gondola was headed. They stopped the gondola, (it's like a large ski lift all enclosed) so that the police could get into position and get ready for the guy. Ari had a shot gun, there was a police officer at the gondola controls with a hand gun, two more to the side of the gondola with hand guns, behind a wall, and then Ari out front, behind a large concrete column with the shot gun set up like a sniper. When they were all in place, they started the gondola up again, it was very dark and they were not able to see much, and were completely unable to see inside of the gondola car, so it was pretty intense. When the bucket containing the gun guy came into the gondola station, they were able to dissarm the guy fairly easily. He was VERY drunk and he had figured out that there was a problem when the gondola had been stopped for a few minutes and he had removed the ammo from the gun. I know that it sounds pretty tame in the telling, but it isn't very often that the police around here have to pull their weapons, and even more rare that they have to set up an ambush and be ready to shoot someone. Ari said that he was telling himself that he was going to have to do whatever it took to come home that night, and that it was really strange to be that close to having to actually shoot someone. Thank God that everything worked out the best way that it could have. No one was shot or hurt and everyone got to go home that night, well, everyone but the idiot drunk guy who thought it was a good idea to carry a loaded gun into a very public place! He later tried to say that he had said that the gun was to "blow the head off of an elk" not a person...nice try! What a moron!

Now for more on me...

I have been very sick with menengitis for the past three months or so, somedays I feel better, but for the most part I have a temp at about 100/101, no energy and I almost always have a headache, sometimes it's just a little "advil" headache, somedays I have to go into the doctor for an I.V. of pain meds to get rid of it. The problem is that I have an infection inside of my spinal column in the fluid that floats my brain. The spinal cord/brain cavety are completely sealed off so there is no where for the infection to go, (it will always be in there) but for some reason, my body cannot fight it off. I am really tired of being sick and tired! Please pray that the new specialist doctors will know what to do for me. Most cases of aseptic menengitis clear up with time, usually ten to fourteen days, but for a rare few it lasts for a life-time because it is always present in the spinal cord... lucky me! I am now at the point where I am ready to plead with my doctors to check me into a hospital and run tests on me until they can find a cure. I am definately at my wit's-end with this, I know that there is grace for me, but it feels like it's running very thin.

Ari is and has been wonderfully amazing...I don't know how he does it sometimes, he is always so understanding and helpful, he never complains and he is always very kind when I know it has to be so frustrating for him as well. He really ment it when he said his vows " in sickness and in health". I am so very blessed to have someone who is so understanding and willing to do little things to make my days more bearable. This has been very hard on me, especially this last week. I have finally run out of patience with everything all at once. It seems like my doctors have just been treating symptoms and not looking for ways to make me better, I can only handle so many days living on our couch before I go crazy, and to top it all off, my back isn't doing so well. I think our couch is hard on my back, it's a little too squishy. Blah, blah, blah...sorry to have such unpleasant things to talk about. : ( I really need your prayers right now, I am really have a hard time emotionally. I trust God, I know that He never gives me more than I can handle, but sometimes it feels like He has. This just gets really heavy to carry by my self, and poor Ari can't do everything. He is so unbelievable understanding and patient with me...some days it's all I can do to take a shower. Tonight he had to finish cooking dinner on his one hour lunch break, the poor guy, I just couldn't stand up any more, I had to rest. This is NOT how life should be! I feel like I just can't keep going like this, it's exhausting and depressing. I try, and most of the time succeed, to keep a good attitude and not focus on it, but sometimes it's hard not to, and when it gets this bad, it's impossible. I am sorry about all of this, I really don't want to complain or be tiresome to my friends, but because you are my friends I am asking for your support...I can't do this alone. Please keep me in your prayers, I can really use them right now.

Much love, Kristen