Everything will be okay, right?

There has been a lot of good going on in this life of mine. I have a lot of general anxiety, and sometimes writing it all out will help me realize that YES, everything is going to be okay. 1. My dad had a very scary thing happen to his heart recently. He has a condition called atrial fibrillation (aka "a-fib"). He has had it for many many years, but recently he has been having dizzy spells, fatigue, shortness of breath, and even had a fainting spell that resulted in him bumping his head. His cardiologist was at a loss, because it seemed that every single test he had on heart showed that it was perfectly fine (besides the a-fib). He went in for a routine cardioversion procedure to attempt to get his heart out of a-fib, and it didn't work. While he was there at the hospital, he very suddenly went into flash pulmonary edema, which is a very scary and life threatening heart condition that results in fluid leaking into your lungs. Luckily, the medical doctors rushed him into the ICU and were able to stop the edema and reverse the effects from it. He was then transferred via ambulance to a heart failure specialist in Pittsburgh.
I am only 28 years old. I realize that my mom and dad were older when they had me (my mom was 41 when she had me! Yeah!) but I was not prepared for something so sudden and life threatening to occur to my father. It didn't help that I was over 2,000 miles away from anyone in my family, and on the day that this happened, Chad was scheduled to leave for work related reasons for 2 days. I was completely and 100% alone, scared, and emotionally unstable. I did my very best to go to work and keep my mind off of it, but all I could think about was my poor dad sitting in that ambulance because his heart was failing and the doctors did not know why. I am very greatly for my sister Sarah, who was constantly texting and calling me and letting me act crazy on the phone.
After spending a few days in Pittsburgh, he had a team of cardiologists who put their heads together and did several more tests. They found that he has a condition called mitral regurgitation, which is where the hear valve does not function properly and can result in some of the blood regurgitating backwards into the heart everytime it pumps. What's even more interesting is that he could have had this condition for decades, and that there is a chance that it caused his a-fib. The doctors determined that the regurgitation fraction, while noticeable, was not severe enough to justify open-heart surgery so he will be treated with medication. He was sent home! He will be okay. I am so thankful for medicine and cardiology. Yes, Megan, dad will be OKAY.

2. My GI doctor put me on a medication called Nortriptyline in order to help take the edge off of the pain caused from my Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. It has HELPED SO MUCH. It took about 2 weeks to fully kick in. I seriously do not remember the last time I have felt this good. I even ate FRIED CHEESE STICKS and DEEP FRIED ARTICHOKE HEARTS and had no pain! YUM!!!!!!!!!! Amazing. I do still have some acid-related issues, probably a minor recurring ulcer or stomach erosion, but it comes and goes and doesn't really cause much of a disturbance on my life. Yes, Megan, you will be OKAY.

3. Chad and I started mandatory 1-day-a-week furloughs from our job because of the government-wide sequestration. No one in Congress seems to care, Chuck Hagel doesn't seem to care, and not even President Obama seems to care. It's almost as if they using DoD employees as pawn to further their own political careers. The House wants to say "OMG look how much of a terrible President he is! Everyone must vote Republican in 2016!". The Senate and Obama want to say "The Republicans are to blame because they block everything and refused to compromise!". The average American doesn't seem to believe that sequestration has done anything negative but that is because it is not in their face. They also hate federal employees and believe we are overpaid and lazy. Our household income has depleted 20%. However, because of the Dave Ramsey budgeting style, we know exactly how to handle this problem. We have eliminated all credit card debt, we have nothing financed, and we have paid off 5 of the 6 private student loans I took out. All we have left are student loans. We are so far ahead on the remaining student loans that the minimum payments are either extremely low or non-existant. We have entered into what Dave Ramsey calls "storm cloud mode" and we plan to live this way until the furlough is over. I look around at co-workers who do not know how they are going to make their car payments, mortgage payments, or how they are even going to have food on the table to support their families. Religious or not, the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace systems WORKS and because of that, we will be 100% okay during the furlough. The worst part about the entire furlough situation is that our student loans will now be paid 26 years and 3 months early, and not 26 years and 6 months early. HA! Yes, Megan, you will be OKAY.

4. I am going to my beloved Stone Harbor, New Jersey in 25 days. It is the only other place in this entire world I can go to and feel at home. My family and I went to this beach every summer for my whole life and we have so many wonderful memories. After my dad's health problems, I am so excited to go and spend time with him, my mom, my siblings, all of my nieces, my new nephew!, my cousins, and of course my husband. It is a much needed vacation and frankly, it will be the ONLY vacation Chad and I will get to have for the rest of the year. (see #3 - storm cloud mode means no travel at our own expense!) Chad's parents are coming to California to spend Christmas with us, so if I go anywhere else this year it might be for Thanksgiving or shortly after Christmas. And it won't be at my own expense. I am so excited and ready to go!!!

I WILL BE OKAY!!!!!!