In late February my oldest son turned 4. I wanted to have a nice birthday party for him since he was having a really hard time with my OMS. I had promised him that I would be better soon, and he got really upset whenever I would vomit. Before this, we did everything together. Mike's parents were there and my parents came out, so we had a little get together with family and friends for Kaizen's birthday. I'm not sure he was very excited. I remember sitting outside for part of the party. I was right next to the cake that I was dying to eat, but I knew it would make me throw up. Instead I settled for black tea and some veggies.

My sister and brothers came up from California that weekend to see me and help out. Lisha plucked my wild eyebrows and gave me a pedicure. Caleb made some guacamole that felt so good to eat, and Galen helped with the house cleaning and we had some great talks at night when I couldn't sleep.

At this point, when I talked I sounded shaky and as if I was always about to cry. In fact, I would cry for the littlest reasons without being able to control it. As upsetting as it was for me to be so emotional, I think I would upset those around me more when I had these fits.

My cousin had brought over a plastic lawn chair and we put it in the shower and I was finally able to give myself a shower sitting in that. It was a huge milestone in my book. My night sleep was getting longer, and I didn't have to wake up and eat every two hours anymore. The trade-off was that I would have to vomit every morning in the shower, before breakfast. My sister-in-law was pregnant at the time and we noted how similar our symptoms were. It felt good to have someone else understand these feelings. Weird, but I just wanted to feel normal again I guess.

February 24. We dropped Mike off at the airport to go to Denver to work for a month. I was so sad to see him go, since he had been the only constant in this whole ordeal. My mom would then drive me and the boys to Moses Lake while Mike was gone. When we got there, my dad had bought a little cake for Kaizen's birthday. I think he enjoyed that quiet birthday celebration much better.

Being in a different place made a huge difference in my recovery. I think it confused my brain, which was relying on things that it was accustomed to doing. I think "tricking" the brain was really key in my recovery. Within the first week I was taking steps without any support.