Perfect Timing.

When you hear the phrase... "Everything happens for a reason", most of us take it with a grain of salt and don't think another thing about it.
I know I do.


But, really wrap your brain around that...
Everything that is happening in your life is happening for *some* reason.

Good or bad. Perfect or imperfect. Happy or sad.

It's HAPPENING. Whether we like it or not. It is happening.



(terrible) Examples:



Today, I wore some flip-flops that I don't usually wear and while I was walking in the rain, I stepped in a huge puddle of water. If I would have been wearing my $50 Rainbow flip-flops, I would have been upset. But for some reason I decided not to wear them. They were right there next to the door. But, instead I put something else on. I didn't have any reason to wear different flip-flops. I just did.



I am really learning to love MUW. At first, I was definitely skeptical about being in Columbus, alone with no family or best friend, but God knew exactly what he was doing when He put me here. It feels....right. I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be in this phase of my life.



I have had some pretty amazing people come into my life recently. They have helped me, encouraged me, made me happy when I was having a rough go of it, made me smile after a long day, and have been listening ears when I needed to vent. I am oh-so thankful for these people.




These, I know, are ridiculous but it's the best I could think of.
I've just come to the revelation of what ever burden or happy thing that is going on in life, it is happening to me for some reason. I can learn some "life-lesson" from it and can/will become a better person from it.



This was on my heart tonight.



love.

ck.

Amen.

Do you hate me?

I'm sorry, I'm just not very good at this "blog" thing...

I apologize.

Welllllllll, since it's been a while since I've updated, I guess I should fill you in on life from my end.

I've started "Big Girl" school.

I'm at MUW studying Speech Pathology.

It's only made me cry once so far.

But, seriously. It's hard. I'm not even gonna lie.

I miss ICC like crazy. Not only the people, but the ridiculously easy classes...

ICC people, prepare. "Big" school is hard!

I pray I make it though the next 4 years.

I have my first test this Thursday. It is in Anatomy and Physiology of Speech and Hearing. I'm not ashamed to ask for prayers. Because I will need it. It's one of the hardest classes in the program. (supposedly)

Let's see...

What else has been happening...

-I've moved into my new apartment with my two new roommates. So far, it's going swell. Nothing too terrible has happened... :)

-I'm slowly exploring Columbus... It's definitely not Pontotoc. Or Fulton.

-I've made new friends who have the exact same emotions towards the SLP program as I do. And I am so thankful I have people to vent to. Oh so thankful.

-I recently turned 21! That's right. I'm legal now. ;)

-Adele is my favorite artist right now. Don't ask me why, but I'm obsessed with her. When I've had a really stressful day at school, you can find me in my room, blaring some Adele.

-As some of you already know, in the last few weeks, a lot of "firsts" have happened. And I am so so SO excited about it. That's all I want to say right now. Maybe there will be a blog about it soon. :)

-And saving the best for last, I received an excellent Dr.'s report on my pseudo tumor issues! PTL!

Well, I really need to get back to studying.

love.

ck.

Today.

Today.

Today, I leave my best friend. Oh, how I've enjoyed visiting with her these past 2 days...

Today, I am stressed about my future. I look around and things aren't happening like I would like.

Today, my heart jumps at the thought of moving to Columbus. Away from my family, away from my friends, away from everything I've always known.

Today, I'm feeling bittersweet towards the future. Scared, nervous but excited and ready.

Today, I do not understand somethings in my life. But, am I supposed to understand everything?

Today, Facebook has gotten the better of me and essentially, I have "stalked" too much.

Today, I am realizing the "newness" that is about to overcome me. And, I'm scared.

Oh, today... Please be nice to me.

caitlyn.

Pseu-Pseu-Pseudo-Tumor.

Hello everyone.

So, I know alot is circulating out there about me and I just want to clarify. So, here is just whats going on...

If you don't know me too well, you didn't know that this past semester in school was the hardest for me. I was taking 24 semester hours, working 2 jobs and babysitting 3 days a week. I was stretched thinnnn. So, of course, all of my health problems I just gave up to stress and sleep deprivation. Looking back, I wish those would have been my only problems.

In April, I began to lose my vision. I was very very dizzy. I had ridiculous headaches. But, of course, I chocked up all up to stress.

Until the day I had my wreck....

Scariest experience of my life.

I wasn't sure if I had blacked out when it happened- I couldn't remember.

This is when my sweet mama began to worry...

Within the next few days, my health went from bad to worse. It was Easter weekend and I couldn't even go to church on Easter. So, Good Monday rolls around, and I am first one in the doctors office. He immediately sent me for an MRI and ran alot of tests on me.

As I look back on that day, I remember seeing the distress in my mama and daddy's faces as I was taken back. It was rough.

MRI=done.

Result=nothing. nada. nado. ziltch.

We were in a state of relief. Maybe the tests will reveal something? Hopefully.

I am sent home with a bag full of medicine and ordered to sleep.

The next few days after this are a blur of things...

Things really were not adding up and were not getting better so, my mother researched and researched until she found some answers.

She made me an appointment to see an Ophthalmologist who referred me to a Neurologist. She wouldn't tell me exactly what was going on, but she knew already what was wrong with me.

I was diagnosed on April 27, 2011 with a neurological disease called Pseudotumor Cerebri. Or, Benign Intercranial Hypertension. To explain, I have an excess of spinal fluid on/around my optic nerve(causing my loss of vision) putting pressure on the nerve and causing me all of these problems. My body thinks I have a brain tumor, but I really don't. Make sense?

To treat this, I am on several medicines to help the fluid to drain.

If the pressure doesn't improve and go down, I will sustain permanent vision loss.

I had an MRI on Monday, I saw an Ophthalmologist on Wednesday, I had a Spinal Tap on Thursday, thought I was dying on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The LP(lumbar puncture) was to confirm the diagnosis and also to relieve some of the pressure. And it was as terrible as it sounds. I really, honestly thought I was dying.

It has been about 2 months since the diagnosis, and my pressure has gone from the worst it can possibly be to better, but still not good. I am now facing surgery to prevent me from losing my vision. We will know at the end of July for sure if I need surgery.

Please, if you are a praying person, please pray for me.

And for those of you already praying for me, thank you, so much.

I have a long road ahead...

caitlynk.

Let's play catch-up!

First off, I would just like to apologize for not blogging religiously like I promised...

I got very, very, life threatening sick. But, Thank the sweet, sweet Lord I am going to be just fine. I had to have a spinal tap, which almost killed me. NO, I'm not being dramatic. It really did.

this is my back, after the spinal tapI don't really want to spill all of everything that happened out, but I will say that I lost my vision, had an MRI, and was on the operating table within 4 days.(oh, and it was the week of the Smithville tornado, very scary). It all happened very fast, and it was very scary. Especially for my sweet Mama. She had the worst time of all.(although, I SURE didn't think so at the time). She sat, and nursed me and did everything for me because I just simply couldn't. I am so very thankful for her. But, Im okay now, working on getting better, and I have a positive outlook on my new life.

I am so thankful and grateful for everyone who prayed for me during this awful time.
I am so thankful to be well.

OKAY! On a lighter note.....

I graduated from ICC! OH, it was glorious! And it just so happened that my Best, Elle-Pea, graduated from Ole Miss that same day... What a dilema! :)

It all worked out, though. I surprised her at hers, and she ended up coming to mine. I'm so glad we got to share that special day!

At Ole Miss graduation!

And this little lady just got a job! I am such a proud friend! She is the new 1st grade teacher at Horn Lake Elementary in Horn Lake, MS. She will be farrrrrrrrr away from me this fall. I'll be in Columbus and she will be up near Memphis. Sad stuff. Soaking in alot of time this summer with her. God has big plans for her. Gosh, I'm just so stinkin' proud for her!

Let's see...

What else has been goin' on?

Well, lots and LOTS of weddings. Sweet, precious weddings. And also, LOTS of engagements! My roomie from my freshman year at ICC, Ashley McGee got engaged! Precious. Her ring is bling blingin'.

Aren't they sweet?So happy for this sweet girl. She deserves all of the happiness in the world.

I gave in a got a feather.... I cannot believe I caved to this trend...

To end my catch up Blog, I am going to share something very sweet to me

My baby sister is IN LOVE with Justin Bieber. Like, IN LOVE, WE ARE GETTING MARRIED, OUR KIDS NAMES ARE CHLOE AND RYAN, IN LOVE. My house revolves around Justin Bieber and everything Justin Bieber. We live, eat, sleep, dream Justin Bieber around here. Get the jist? Okay, so, my precious baby sister wrote Justin Bieber a letter proclaiming her love for him, and she wants him to come on vacation with us, and all of this stuff that I SO wrote to NSYNC when I was her age. She sent the letter to his record company in New York City and insisted that he respond.

WELL. "Justin Bieber" responded. We got the letter today.

I know you can't read it well, but please try! It's worth it! The letter was post-marked New York and everything. And yes, we know who mailed it. ;)
Can't a little girl dream!?!

Love y'all.

Caitlyn

My extravagant adventures.

I have this desire to be completely random and talk about things that aren't relevant to anything. I think I shall.

-I love to blog. I really, really do. I just do not have time and it makes my heart sad.

-I was supposed to receive a scholarship letter Friday. It has yet to come.

-I have this crazy bad obsession with shoes of any sort, especially sandals, and I really need a new pair of sandals. And these made my heart fly away....

-I love my iPhone, don't get me wrong, she's just about had it.... And I need a new phone.... I would LOVE this one...

This is *supposedly* the mock up of the iPhone 5.... Happy Birthday to me? :)

-I have these moments in my life where I get this urge to do something and plan and dream about it. These dreams have consisted of: moving to Hawaii so that I can go to church on the beach, spend a year in Italy just to "find myself", do relief work in a damage-stricken part of the world(Japan), live in New York City for one year, visit Greece- I want to touch the belly-button of the earth. And much, much more. But I won't bore you...

But first, I must finish with school. And make some money to fund these extravagant dreams of mine....

But, I have no doubt that I can't do it. And, one day, I will do it.

I hope you all have a great week.

-caitlyn

Oh, sweet heavens.

If I had a dollar for every time I have said "Oh, sweet heavens!" in the past 3 days, I could buy my favorite pair of Jimmy Choo's! It has been one of THOSE weeks....

Oh, yes.

I have a serious weakness for shoes.

I haven't been in the best of moods and I most defiantly have been a bitter, bitter person. And its sad that I just admitted that. I don't know why I've been bitter, I just have. I think sometimes when life is changing and things are new to me, sometimes I don't know how to respond and I become stressed and in return bitter. Oh, confessions....

On a lighter note, my roommate is currently on a luxurious cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. Without me. And I am so jealous. OOH wee.... Oh well.

I guess I can't finish this blog without saying that I graduate from ICC in one month.

whoo-hooo. Do you feel my excitement? Didn't think so.