So long 2011...

It’s New Year’s Eve, and I’m getting ready to go watch my Auburn Tigers take on the University of Virginia at the Chick-fil-a Bowl in Atlanta. I’m hoping that 2011 will end on a high note. For me personally, this year started off as a year filled with extreme highs, but unfortunately it ended with extreme lows.

Lets start with the good stuff – a glass half full mentality.

The year started off with a trip to Arizona to watch Auburn win a National Championship. As a life long Auburn fan, it was a special moment to be part off – especially since we flew out to Arizona without tickets yet got face value club level seats from will-call right at the game started. Thank you January snowstorm that forced many Auburn fans to stay stuck in the south!

The next big highlight was a trip to Hawaii with my best friend Elise in April. We hung out with her cousin, visited Pearl Harbor and sat on the beach for hours ready books. It was probably the most relaxing vacation I’ve ever been on in my life.

A countless highlight of my year was watching my friends get married. I’m not quite sure how many weddings I went to this year – but it was awesome to watch my guy friends stand at the end of the aisle and watch their lovely wife walk down the aisle, or see the huge smile on my girl friends faces as they walked down the aisle in their beautiful dresses toward their husbands. Congrats to all of them!

And probably the biggest highlight of the year was the birth of my nephew – Clark Franklin Hungerford III, known as Tripp. His life started on a low note as he was born 6 weeks pre-mature and spent about 2 weeks in the NICU. But now he’s doing great, and is loved so much by his “Auntie.” Just writing about him makes me smile.

Now to the extreme low of my year – the biggest fight of my life. Better said – a fight to stay alive.

After a brief stay in the hospital due to a Crohn’s flare-up in early September, I quickly returned to the hospital after having a stroke. Why I had a stroke - no one knows. I spent almost a month in the hospital, and at one point had emergency brain surgery to remove a part of my skull (don’t worry – I still have it in save keeping in my stomach!).  The physical recovery has been slow but impressive. The emotional recovery has not – I still fall asleep asking God why or reliving everything I’ve been through. None of it makes sense, and my old life feels like it has slipped away forever.

But as I struggle every day because of this low – I know that I am surrounded by countless family, friends and strangers who are interceding on my behalf. They are the reason I’m fighting every day to keep improving!

So my goal is to end 2011 on a high note – an Auburn victory. And hopefully I’ll begin 2012 on a high note too. I meet with all three of my doctors the first week, and fingers crossed; we’ll be talking about a surgery date to but my skull on my head.

I’ll keep everyone posted on that. But until then, Happy New Year and War Eagle!!!!

My version of Grey's Anatomy

Many of you know that one of my favorite TV shows right now is Grey's Anatomy. Even with all the stuff I've been through recently, I still love the show. So I figured I would introduce all my doctors based on the Grey's Anatomy they're most like:

Let's start with my version of Dr. Izzie Stevens - that would be PA. Kim. She's the one that does my weekly finger prick to check my blood level. Despite the fact that my blood level has rarely stayed between 2-3 like they want it to, she always has a positive attitude. She's also extremely committed to making sure I'm taking the right level of blood thinner.

The second is Dr. George O'Malley  - that is Dr. Gould, who is the doctor that leads my blood thinner treatment (basically PA Kim's boss). Like George, Dr. Gould is pretty quite and calm when meeting with patients. His passion for medicine is revealed in his own way which he is honest with the patient. He shows a great commitment and respect to his patient. This is really comforting when much of what you're hearing may be overwhelming or confusing.

And then you have Dr. Miranda Bailey - this is Dr. M. Andrews. He technically not my doctor, but is a close family friend and is one of the hire-ups at Wellstar. On Grey's, when something needed to be done for a patient and doctors need to do their job, Dr. Bailey gets called in. And she makes things happen. Dr. Andrews was that person for me. He would check on me regularly and continues to follow up to make sure I'm on the right path.

And then we have a Dr. Christina Yang - who is my Chrons Dr. Ballard. Just as Christina is extremely committed to her specialty of cardiac on Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Ballard is committed to GI issues like Crohns. He is soooo smart, and he is also very open and honest about my Chrons disease and options to treat it. And while Christina is sometimes considered a robot, she does have a soft spot and is open to what the patient wants. So is Dr. Ballard.

The next one is Chief Richard Webber - that would be the lead doctor in all of this Dr. Hormes, a neurologist. He is the one that brings the team of doctors together to figure out the best treatment plan for me. He's also committed to figure out exactly what happened to me. When I was in the hospital, he would stop by my room almost every day, even days he wasn't working. He's discussed my case (not reveling my name though) at national conventions, and is interested in doing a case study on my ordeal to hopefully prevent this from happen to another young, healthy adult. Dr. Hormes is also so wise, and is willing to sit and answer any and all of my questions (even if they're silly, like when I asked if I could attend a friends wedding in St. Simons shortly after I was released from the hospital).

I also have a Dr. Lexie Grey - my general practitioner, Dr. K. Andrews. I've been seeing her for many years, and just like Lexie is, I'm pretty sure Dr. Andrews has a photographic memory. No matter what I come into her office with - fever, cold symptoms, stomach ache - she can almost diagnose you immediately with the symptoms you present.

And finally, I have a McDreamy (aka Derek Shepherd). Dr Hill, my neuro-surgeon (surprise, surprise), is quite an attractive doctor. And I really enjoy when I go see him. We kind of have a love/hate relationship, so we joke back and forth every time I have to go see him. In addition to his appearance connection with McDreamy, he is also medically like him too. He is committed to making the best decisions about when and how to do surgeries to benefit the patient. And he is willing to hold off or say no to surgery dates because he believes its the best for the patient. The only difference between the two is hair. Derek Shepherd has really attractive hair on the show - Dr. Hill on the other had gave me a horrible hair cut when he had to shave part of my hair for my emergency surgery. I've yet to let him live that down ;)

Hope you guys enjoyed this blog - and hopefully my doctors won't be upset with who I compared them too.