And hiatus over...

So I bet you didn't know this, but it turns out that being a parent of three extremely active children while juggling a chronic disease and daily life is chaotic.  I'm dismayed at the length of my absence from writing and, quite honestly, I feel rusty even attempting to start up again.  I hope it is somewhat like a running hiatus where the first few times back at it are horrible, no good, demeaning experiences but then one day you tie your shoes, hit the pavement and you're back in the swing of things like no gap ever happened... that being said, let's hope these first few posts are more painful for me to get through than they are for you.

Having left off in November of 2015, there are thousands of anecdotes I could write about to fill the lacuna -  first steps, doctors appointments, school days, recipes and whatever other general highs and lows of every day life exist in a large-family household - but I think I'll spare you most of the details to catch up and get us to where we can just go from here.  Here's the twenty-thousand foot summary:

• HB graduated from his master's program in May leaving what feels like a vacuum of free time in the wake of his former studies.  We've remedied that problem already with house projects, day trips and schemes about moving. 
• Grandmama spent much of the past year experiencing the worst MS relapse she's ever had following an unfortunate reaction to an unnecessary medication change.  Fortunately, she's working with a new, much better doctor and she's feeling much more like her old self again -- thanks be to God!
• GW (7.5) is just two days away from finishing first grade... he's currently got an ear infection, but otherwise he's fit as a fiddle and ready to take on the world.  He spends most of his time designing military vehicles for his Dad and scheming how he can help Park Rangers defend the environment with a backyard fort he has planned. 
• GV (4.5) recently finished her first year of pre-school and just two days ago she acquired her very own bedroom with pink, flowery sheets and two pillows.  Initially she was not a fan of the idea of sleeping away from her brothers, but when offered the opportunity to have Mama's old doll house brought upstairs for her use she practically announced that "it's been fun boys" and packed her things... and so far so good! 
• After all FG (28 months) has been through, he is as solid as they come.  Health wise, his lungs still needs some extra help when it comes to conquering colds, but he's finally big enough that we can use an inhaler with a spacer in the amount of time it takes to count to twelve rather than 5 to 15 minutes to do a full nebulizer treatment.   He's exceedingly eager to do everything his older siblings can do and, remarkably so, he's actually doing a pretty good job of keeping up with them... Lord help me. 

As for me, well, that is what this whole returning to blogging venture is all about.  Since the Chiari diagnosis and the discovery of my complex migraines, I've been in and out of doctors offices across two states trying new medications and coping with the ramifications of the longest, most irresponsible, self-gratifying bout of diabetes-hating self-pity that I've gone through yet.  Fortunately, I finally found a GP that gets me, my neurologist found the right combination of medications to control most of my auras and my endocrinologist is sympathetic enough to appease my suspension of give-a-dang in favor of my overall well being knowing that I'd run out of apathy at some point.

So, where does that leave us now?  I'm apathy-free with an HgA1C of 6.1 (a little higher than I'd like, but on the good end for a diabetic); I've reduced my migraines to predominantly smoke hallucinations rather than painful or cognition impacting ones; my Chiari is more or less a non-issue and I'm still running four to five days a week no problem; and the rest is white noise.  I'm not sure what the future holds for me, but I'm glad to be back at the key board and we'll see where this goes from here.