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Since I made a page for everyone else, I could not exclude my wife Angel. This is her page. She didn't want me to make this page, but I am anyway. She probably won't even find it for while anyway and then I'll hear about it. Angel is her real name and she lives up to her name. Besides being the sweetest, most kind hearted, ethical, trustworthy person and my best friend, Angel is the best mother to our children and wife to me. A man could not ask for a better wife. I am blessed and thankful to be her husband. She is also the favorite Aunt of all the nieces and nephews. She is an original Dr. Mom. She knows when there is a problem and takes care it. She stays at home, raises our kids and she's the teacher to our kids. My daughter is already at almost a 2nd grade level in learning and she just turned 4 in September. Angel is creative and can write poetry, draw freehand, paint with many mediums and is a remarkably strong spirited & gifted woman. The picture at the top of this page shows a painting she did for me when we first fell in love. The paper is of an actual poem she wrote that is published on www.poetry.com winning a spot in their latest printing. The Doll Cake is a cake she made for Hannah's 4th birthday a couple months ago. if you click the photo I made, it will take you to a few cakes she recently made from scratch. yes, she's very talented. As I'm allowed more time, I'll add to the pages more of her cakes, artwork, digital art and drawings. A few years ago she sold one of them on ebay (just to see what would happen) for a decent amount that was drawn in pencil. Now of course she regrets not having it in her collection.
This is a very short version of a long story about her physical and mental strength. I have never known anyone else (personally) who endured so much and keeps on going. This is one of the many things I love about her. About 2-3 years before I met her, she was involved in a very bad auto accident. She was driving her previous boyfriend home and was on her way to work when an oncoming vehicle was passing and ran her off the road going 45 mph. She overcorrected when she tried to get back on the road and the vehicle fishtailed and flipped over 5 times according to a witness and the police report. Her passenger was thrown out the back glass and hit his head on a tree. He was not expected to live through the night. While the truck was flipping, her leg was stabbed by the gear shift and then her foot got stuck in the steering wheel preventing her from going all the way out the drivers side. She was half in and half out the window of the door getting flopped with the vehicle. That's the only thing that kept her from being thrown out herself. After it stopped, she somehow managed to crawl to her boyfriend and sit by him until medical helped arrived. He was flown via helicopter to the hospital. She was taken by ambulance but had a severely shattered pelvis, broken leg and was shoulder, cut up very badly except on her face. Her arm was almost cut completely off just below the shoulder. The doctors told her she would never walk again or be able to bear children. While in the hospital, she would go to her boyfriend's room and stay next to him in a wheelchair while he was in a coma for weeks in a vegetative state. She prayed and talked to him and kept telling him to come back. The doctors continually told her and his family that it highly unlikely that he would live and if he did, would be brain dead for the rest of his life. She ignored their negative words and kept praying and telling him that she was there for him. In about a month he woke up and was back to his normal self within a few weeks. She was still being told that she would never walk again but persisted to get out of the wheelchair against the doctors orders and within a few months was actually back to work. She should NOT have gone back to work as head cook for a local restaurant and in the pain she was in, lifting heavy objects such as the grease vat to carry and empty as one example. But she did anyway. She is stubborn that way, kind of a good way to be stubborn if you're going to be stubborn I suppose.
She is a walking miracle. Just the fact that she even lived for one thing, and at least according to the staff of doctors at Halifax who all told her she'd never walk again or bare children. She does walk and did give me two children. She paid a price for going back to work too soon and no boss (or person for that matter) can understand about someone else's pain unless they feel it. Since we can't really feel or experience someone else's pain (as former president Clinton claimed a few times that he can), they used and worked her as if she had never been in the accident (knowing and even helping her during her time recovering), but she let them. I said all this to give a little peek into her determination. She has overcome many other things that would have probably destroyed some people. I'll say a little more about her current situation below. Everyone does have a breaking point though and I don't want to ever see hers. I'm not just saying this because I'm blessed to be her husband, but Angel could have her own television show on Food Network on how to cook and bake. For her, it is a natural, God given talent and gift. So far, there isn't anything she hasn't been able to accomplish when it comes to food preparation and cooking. I mean anything! Yep, I lucked out there! Being a southern guy I love biscuits and gravy and no one ever made them as good my grandmother (mom's mom) or my mom until I met my wife. One of our favorite places to go out to eat (doesn't happen often) is Carrabba's in Daytona Beach. She really surprised me one night when I got home from work and found my favorite dish from there sitting on the table (made from scratch), still steaming hot, just waiting for my taste buds to party. It's the dish called Spiedino Di Mare. It consists of shrimp and scallops that are so mouthwatering that every bite makes amazes me until it is gone. I try to make it last as long as possible, but it never seems to last as long as I want. She's amazing! She was able to re-create it just from tasting it at the restaurant and thankfully, it was over a double portion. My taste buds are picky and I could not tell a difference at all. Everything she makes is good enough to be sold in a restaurant. All her recipes are kept in her beautiful mind. She's able to make anything from gourmet meals to anyone's favorite baked desserts. She made these cakes for our daughter and our nephew a couple months ago and made a cake for my parents last wedding anniversary just for fun. (Click here to view these cakes: Hannah's "Barbie Doll" cake & Ashton's Castle Cake). Cookies? oh yeah, any type, any time, if the supplies are on hand. And they usually don't last very long either. I'm only good at making hamburgers, fries, spaghetti and occasionally broiled or fried fish when I am able to go fishing (which has not been for a few years now). To me she easily ranks with Paula Dean and Rachael Ray in the cooking department. I did buy her a Rachael Ray book since she likes her show and I'm sure that a few of those dishes get placed on the table every now and then. Maybe it's her Italian background from her father's side, I don't know. What ever it is, we are very blessed to have a wife and mother who can cook as well as she does and actually loves to do it. So, if anyone wants to talk food or whatever, you can email her at angel@centralfloridafarms.com. When I wrote on Corban's page, Corban the trouble maker, "the final edition", I was still hopeful (in the back of my mind) that we would be able to have kids again since it was only tubes that had been tied that prevented us from having more children. Now it is a permanent thing. Besides all the problems during the pregnancy with Corban, sharp abdominal pains that never went away and doctors who would not address this problem at all because she was pregnant, having gestational diabetes, hyper-tension/high blood pressure since the 13th or 14th week into it until the 'c' section (having to take the highest allowed doses of both meds and still wasn't able to keep it under control), finally being hospitalized for the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy for the pre-eclampsia. Then about 2 weeks after Corban was born, my wife had her gallbladder removed (that's what the sharp pain in her abdomen was and that was a 15 day stay until they finally figured out what it was), then went back in less than a week and a half later for about 8 days to remove a stone the size of a quarter they left in )again , having to diagnose the problem). Don't really see how they could miss that but they did. Then she went back in about a month later for about 12 days for chest/abdominal pains that they never diagnosed. They ended up saying that she had 'Fibromyalgia' because they decided to stop looking for the cause of the pain (they could not find out what was causing it). This year, she had a hysterectomy after two previous invasive procedures to try and diagnose the problems. Her doctor for this one is an excellent OB-GYN and is the same one who delivered Hannah. The first operation was a common procedure (dilation and curettage) to see if that would help since she had other symptoms as well. After she still had pain, they performed a "something-scopy" found ovarian cysts that he said needed to come out, so they came out. Less than a month later when more pain was still there, they did another laparoscoptic procedure and found endometriosis (runs in her family). This is why they performed the hysterectomy. So no more kids. She had her tubes tied during the 'c' section with Corban, but the hysterectomy certainly makes things permanent. Maybe there is good reason for this, but it really hit me like a ton of bricks dropped from a 2 story building since we wanted more kids.
Three or four days after the removal of the cysts, she had the third laparoscopy and then within a week a hysterectomy. This was around April/May 2007 I think (the last surgery she's had to date), the day after the operation she noticed a rash around her ribcage. She went to the doctors (again), but they told her it was nothing. Later that night, it became so painful she couldn't sleep. So she went to the ER. They diagnosed her with shingles, but only gave her pain medicine and instructions to see her doctor. She was only 25 then, she's now 26 since her birthday was after this all happened. Her PCP (not the same MD as her gyn) did not believe that someone her age would be able to get shingles since it is extremely rare for this to happen to anyone under 50. They think it was due to the constant stress and pain that she had been enduring over the last year or more. And because the doctors' didn't treat her for it immediately as is common practice, (even her PCP) she now has the lasting pain from it and they all say it can last for either weeks, months, years or never go away. Strangely, her PCP would not treat the pain condition even while the rash was present so she had to find another primary care physician. This happened 2 more times throughout a 6-8 week period believe it or not. She still had the rash when she finally found a doctor who actually cared and referred her to pain management clinic. The condition after shingles is called post-herpetic neuralgia. It is brought on by stress and/or a low immune system. It's basically the adult form of chicken pox. The same virus lays dormant in the nerve endings for years and some people get it at much older ages and for some, it never re-occurs. All they had to have done originally was to treat her with a shot of a steroid of some sort and some other medicine (I cant remember now what it was called) and manage the pain as best as possible. It is a simple solution and a common practice that they did not follow. So far it has not let up and on top of everything else, she has this to deal with. The nerve pain wraps from the front of her belly around to the back of the ribs on her left side and thankfully is not on her face. I placed the words a couple weeks ago on Corban's page that my wife's problems had 'leveled off'. I wish I was able to leave that up. Saturday 12-2-07 - Yesterday she told me that she had been having more sharp pains for the last 3-4 weeks. I don't know why she didn't tell me sooner. So she went back to the hospital for yet more problems. After over 9 hours in the ER (it was Saturday), they think it is her appendix. The CT revealed nothing. They told us that its common for a CT to not show up a problem and she will have an ultrasound done this coming week. I don't know how she can be so strong with everything going on all at the same time. We're doing our best is all I can say and trusting The Lord for the outcome. Wednesday, 12-5-07 - She finally got an appointment and had an ultrasound to find out more. Not sure why the ER or hospital didn't do this, they have the equipment. So in the middle of the test, they stopped twice to send the reports directly to her PCP and then once again when it was finished. We wont know until Friday what they diagnosed. Wednesday 12-12-07 - They said that they couldn't find anything so they didn't do anything. back to square one. This has happened so many times over the last 2+ years. After another week goes by she called the doctor to tell her that she cant bare the pain flares anymore. The Dr. asked why she didn't mention it sooner (like somehow the symptoms went away just because the tests showed nothing). after that visit her doctor said that she saw a kidney stone in the left side but it should pass without any known issues, BUT that doesn't explain the pain is on the other side. So now she needs to be referred to another specialists and see what comes from that. we wont know until after Christmas. At least this doctor continues to follow up. We have gone through at least 12 doctors over the last 3 years. Many give up soon when they can't find it clearly written on the first page of their medical books. Seems like anyway.
My wife Angel is someone who does not deserve all this (I don't know anyone who does), but it is happening and things like this have been happening for almost 3 years straight now. Between her and our son, we have been to the doctors or hospital literally almost every week. They know our names and faces. I hope you don't find this page as a whiner-pity party page, I don't mean it as that. I just want to let you all know a little of what were going through and I am hoping that if this is happening to someone else, maybe they can get help faster and sooner and don't take no for an answer. Also, if anyone is a praying person, we would be happy for your prayers. Good thoughts and well wishes are appreciated, but I don't believe they are powerful like good old fashioned prayer. Seems like caring doctors these days are rare and hard to find. If you have one, stick with them and do all you can to keep them. If you don't, you can find them, but it will take some searching. We've been to over a dozen doctors in less than a 24 month period and only 3 seem to care. Time will tell about this new one. Most of them acted like they cared at first, but when the diagnosis wasn't easy to find, they were quick to give up and blame it on the statement that "its all in your mind". If you knew Angel, you'd know she doesn't play games like that. She never complains as one might imagine someone going through this might. No one in our family would even know if I didn't speak up, that's just who she is. As I mentioned at the start of this page my wife is one of the most warm, caring, creative, intelligent and honest women I have ever met. It was an easy decision to marry her and its difficult to see her keep going through this. She is my loving wife and I am very thankful to be able to say this and to know her.
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Updated December 2nd 2007 |
