Toby

Yesterday was a tough day. Our sweet Toby had to be put down after 15.5 years with us. Mom and dad surprised us with Toby on Christmas morning 15 years ago. He was our first family dog and was an answer to my sister's prayers. She had been begging for a dog for a while so she was completely surprised. I can still remember the look on her face when she realized she got to keep him. He was such a good dog and very protective over his family. He would get super excited when we would get home and would jump up and down...we called it the "stupid dance". We will greatly miss him but I'm so thankful he no longer has to suffer. He had lost his hearing and had recently started having seizures which were terrible to watch.

We love you Toby and will never forget you, sweet boy.



27 Things About Me

The traffic on the blog has increased some over the last few weeks so I thought it would be fun to reintroduce myself today. Here are 27 things about me and my life. Let's see how well you already know me!

1. My name is Audrey and I have lived in North Carolina my entire life.
2. I am 27 years old- hence the reason for 27 things about me.
3. I am saved by the grace of Jesus and believe that God loves me with all His heart.
4. I married my love on November 8, 2014 and it was the perfect day.
5. We have a sweet fur baby named Hank and we are quite smitten with him.
6. Craw and I met in college and he told his friend he was going to marry me the first night he saw me. This was prior to him ever speaking to me.
7. I love to sing and have been singing my whole life. Harmony is definitely my preference and I do not consider myself a soloist by any means.
8. Family is EXTREMELY important to me. I love my family with all my heart and I have some pretty sweet in-laws as well.
9. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease eight months after we got married.
10. I had 4 hospital stays within a 15 month period, all related to my Crohns.
11. I have attended the same church my whole life. I love my church family and I am so thankful that Craw loves them too.
12. I started working for a bank after college and absolutely love my job. My coworkers are a blessing to me and I'm so thankful to love what I do.
13. My favorite food is pizza- lame, I know! I could seriously eat it all day, every day.
14. I hate sweets- even lamer! I didn't eat my own wedding cake. #itwasfortheguests
15. I'm an adrenaline junky. My husband is always paranoid I'm going to hurt myself...which leads me to my next point...
16. I get hurt a lot. Thankfully, I have never had a broken bone but I do seem to get hurt a lot. #knockonwood
17. I love to travel. I have been to Mexico, Ecuador, Ireland, Slovenia, Croatia, St. Lucia, Bahamas, and have traveled to many different states. My husband loves to travel too so extra bonus!
18. I love my Panthers. Growing up, I hated football because I didn't understand it. When I started dating Craw, I quickly realized I better figure it out or life would be very boring for me. He taught me the sport and I have become pretty obsessed with both college and NFL but the Panthers are our team. Craw and I try to go to at least one game a year.
19. I love being busy. Craw and I do not stay home long and we are always hanging out with friends. My dad tells me all the time that he doesn't understand us because we are NEVER home.
20. I hate cooking. My mom hates this about me. I CAN cook, I just don't like to but I try to cook a few nights a week. Key word: TRY.
21. I have anxiety and used to have really bad panic attacks. I have not had a panic attack in a very long time but anxiety is definitely something I still struggle with regularly.
22. I love Netflix and binge watching TV shows. I am currently watching Bloodline and I am almost finished with it.
23. I used to be very outgoing and people would still probably consider me outgoing from an outside perspective but on the inside, I'm usually freaking out. Craw is about the only person that knows this but thankfully, he is SUPER outgoing so he usually makes up for it.
24. Craw and I teach 2nd-5th grade Sunday School. We love our little kiddos and enjoy doing this together.
25. I am NOT an outdoors person. My husband dislikes this fact but it is the truth. If I'm having to be outdoors for an extended period of time, I better be in the water. Otherwise, you will find me complaining.
26. Mosquitos absolutely LOVE me. Another reason why I hate being outdoors. You could put me outside with 100 other people and I would be the only one with great big whelps due to mosquitoes.
27. Last but not least, Craw and I are in the process of adopting our first baby. I'm sure you've already read all about that but I would be remiss not to include that in my 27 facts about me.

Thanks for stopping by today and learning a little more about me and my life.

{Happy New Year}

My prayer for the new year is to embrace every single moment. One thing I have learned over the past two years is that time is precious and every moment counts. I feel as if time is flying by in the blink of an eye. 2014 was almost a blur for me but it was by far the best year of my life. Marrying Crawford on November 8th changed my life for the better. Life was no longer about me but about us. To do life with your BESTFRIEND is by far the greatest journey of all. So here is to 2015. A year full of unknowns that I am sure will bring about many new adventures full of new bliss. Tomorrow I will post some of my goals for 2015 but for now, Happy New Year! May the start of the year give you a renewed hope in the things to come.

Merry Christmas

The most anticipated day of the year is finally upon us. In all of the hustle and bustle, it is important to remember the reason we celebrate. Sure, the presents and time with family is nice, but the birth of our Savior is truly the greatest gift of all. On this day, God sent his only son to be born of a virgin so that one day, His SON would die on a cross and save us of our sins.  He is the reason we celebrate and oh what a reason! I hope you all have a wonderful Merry Christmas!!

Health Update

I am going to keep this post short, sweet, and to the point and provide an update on my health from my post in October.  I DONT HAVE CROHNS!!! Praise God! My DNA tests revealed that my dna doesn't have the normal signs of a person with crohns. They have diagnosed my "condition" as Non-IBD Colitis. I am on the same medication as a person with crohns since my symptoms are the same. My doctor basically explained it as I have the same symptoms, mine are not chronic. All I know is that the medicine has done WONDERS for me and I can't go a single day without it. If I forget to take it, I feel the effects immediately and I get extremely sick.  While the idea of being dependent on medication is not the best, it's nice to finally feel normal and have some energy back in my life. Thanks so much for all of your prayers. I felt perfect for the wedding and didn't have any issues the week of the honeymoon. To God be the glory!

Highs and Lows

It has been a little over a week since I last posted.  To be honest, life has been pretty chaotic in the last two weeks.  I debated on whether or not to even type this post but figured the whole point in me starting this blog was to write about my feelings before the wedding as well as my life as a Bolton.

For the last 2 years of my life, I feel like I have been constantly sick.  Crawford actually tells people that I have been sick for the last 4 years because when we first met, he thought I was just making up a random sickness just so we didn't have to hang out.  After a colonoscopy, endoscopy, gall bladder surgery, appendix surgery, and diagnosis of a peanut allergy and wheat intolerance, I just figured the wheat was the culprit for making me feel bad and I should be in the clear for no more surgeries.  The only thing that did not make sense to me was that not all wheat products hurt me but I just went with it and assumed that every time I felt sick was because I was not eating the right foods.

Fast forward to August of this year.  I randomly developed an extremely excruciating abdominal pain that eventually hurt me every time I used the bathroom (TMI, sorry).  After seeing my regular doctor, she referred me back to my GI doctor.  I went and saw him and his NP and after an examination, we figured out what was wrong and they gave me some medicine and about 2 weeks later, the pain was gone. 

Then, one day about 3 weeks ago, the pain returned.  Except much MUCH worse. I knew something was not right.  I made another appointment with my GI and after that appointment, he stated he wanted me to come in next week for a colonoscopy.  Not going to lie, being 3 weeks away from the wedding and having to deal with a health issue is tough.  I remember breaking down that day because 1. I didn't feel good 2. I knew I would have to meet my deductible for the procedure and I already had so many wedding expenses 3. I had way to much on my plate to have to worry about this and 4. I just needed a major cry.

I immediately texted my prayer warriors to pray for me and they gave me the calm and reassurance I needed.  I went in for my colonoscopy last Thursday which was 2 weeks and 2 days from the wedding.  After waking up from the colonoscopy, the doctor told me that my colon and small intestine was extremely inflamed and were covered in ulcers.  I also had an extremely high white blood count.  He stated that he could not confirm anything until the pathology results came back but from the looks of it, he was pretty sure it is Crohn's disease.  My mind immediately went in to overdrive and I was flooded with so many questions. 

What does this mean? How long will it take to find out? What is Crohn's? What types of treatment will I need? Can I still have children one day?

(because I am about to get married and kind of need to know that)

He told me that he did not want to answer any of my questions until we confirmed whether or not it was Crohns and he scheduled my follow-up appointment for 1 week later.

My mom went with me to my appointment yesterday. I felt very prepared because I had done a lot of research and I really just wanted to get treatment so I could start feeling better.  Let's just say that appointment did not really go how I expected it.  He basically told me the test results were very generic and he still did not know 100% whether or not I had Crohns.  The results showed that the inflammation was caused from either Crohns or taking too many NSAIDS (ibuprofen, BC powder, motrin, etc).  I don't take NSAIDS so I told him it couldn't be that.  He then told me that the only way to confirm that it is Crohn's is to have a DNA blood sample sent off to the lab.  That will take about 3 weeks to get the results so he said he wanted to go ahead and start my treatment because he is pretty sure it is Crohns.

So here I am.  Still don't know 100% what is wrong with me but I am getting closer to some answers.  Today was my first day of taking my steroid treatment and I can already tell a major difference.  I have been pain free all day. 

In the last two weeks, I have felt so many emotions that have at times overwhelmed me.  Regardless of what the tests show, I know that I am loved and I have the biggest support system imaginable.  If it turns out to be Crohn's, while it is a chronic disease, it is treatable and for that, I am grateful and know that the medicine that I am on will help me feel better. 

I debated on whether I wanted to type this since we still don't know for sure but I want to be able to look back and remember this time in my life.  I would also like to give a major shout out to Crawford and my parents.  Without their love and support, I would be a mess.  We are now 1 week and 2 days away from the wedding so I am asking for your prayers.  Please pray that the medicine will continue to work and that I will be feeling my best for the day that I have anticipated since I was a little girl.

-AAO