Hey There!

sorry to have not written for such a long time but SO much has gone on! Ben has come and gone to the Arizona hospital ("The Center") for his reconstructive and tumor removal surgeries. Those happened in August '09. But right after (really, like 5 days after) he came home from a first of many recon surgeries he contracted necrotizing fasciitis aka flesh-eating bacteria. He literally almost died two times! He was in the hospital close to home for 8 weeks. I was lucky enough to get him home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. He has a lot of scar tissue (thankfully) where the bacteria ate away his original tissue. He's been wearing a WoundVAC for these past few months while he's been home and we think that has done a lot to help heal him quickly. He lost A LOT of weight and continues to do so with his health not quite up to par. We are now awaiting a schedule for Ben to go down to Arizona again to redo the recon surgeries (hopefully). He'll have an initial appointment at the end of this month (January) and we hope to start surgeries in late February/early March. We are fighting to save our home and pretty much stay alive because we have absolutly no funds coming in! Ben's job only allowed disability payments for the first 6 months but now he doesn't have anything. It takes 6 weeks to get the process of Disability from the state and that only started at the beginning of December! We get food help and other minor assistance from our church which has helped stay afloat this long, but I don't know how much more we can take! I think I am suffering from a bit of PTSD from all of this since last year's milestones were all plagued with something awful! We didn't get to enjoy the euphoria of having a baby finally because just a couple weeks later Ben was diagnosed! Easter, my very beloved and very close grandpa passed away...from CANCER! Then we were off to AZ for two months and my first Mother's Day and Ben's first Father's Day were spent in the cancer center where he was trying to stay alive while they slowly poisoned and microwaved him (aka chemo and radiation). Fourth of July he was back in the hospital with a fever of 104! He barely made it home for my birthday in August but was in such bad shape for my birthday I was running around town with a cranky baby trying to find medical supplies for my husband! For our anniversary Ben was getting his recon surgery. For October he was in the hospital trying not to die! For Thanksgiving and Christmas we get the news that his job is not secured for him and our medical insurance had been denied! For the New Year we get to try it all over again! woopee! :p Other than that, our wonderful son is nearly perfect and almost a whole year old! He is the only light in my life and the thing that keeps me going. If I didn't have him I don't know what I would do...no pressure baby! :D