Background: In January I started to notice my arms getting that pins and needle feeling quite often. It would wake me up at night at least once every night, it happened during the day. My arms, hand, neck we're hurting. I was feeling really weak and super fatigued. Things like picking Fisher up, folding laundry, even squeezing my shampoo bottle or wringing out a was cloth were difficult. And my skin started being unbelievably itchy and would break out in hives if I scratched at all. I thought the skin thing was a reaction to a medication I had been put on for a weird rash I'd been dealing with around my eye for several months. But the numbness had started before I started that medication.
Anyhow, I talked to my pharmacist and he thought my skin sounded like an allergy so I went to the clinic just to tell them and to hopefully receive a different option if needed (I was supposed to be on it for 3 months, even though it had cleared up my rash in the two and a half weeks I'd been on it). Well, long story short, the clinic wanted me to go to the Urgent care but I didn't have time, happened to run into a the Internal Med doctor in the hall, who is a friend, and he took me to his office to talk about it.
After asking me questions and hearing about my other symptoms he ordered a bunch of labs for me, told me to quit the medication, and thought it sounded like the skin might be more like an inflammatory disease/disorder than an allergy.
I got the lab work done and one test came back elevated. So the doctor needed to send me to Hawaii for further testing. He actually reran the test and it came back normal, but the Hawaii trip was already scheduled and appointments made, so we continued on, even though he wasn't very hopeful that they would be able to diagnose anything.
We had to find places for our kids while we traveled (even though Ethan didn't have to come with me, it was a no-brainer to have him come). We made all the arrangements and got the details of travel from the hospital and were on our way. Or so we thought.
At some point between when they sent me my travel plans the first time-so we could make Ethan's reservation- and the final plan they changed my flight to Tokyo... We arrived at the Misawa airport hours after I was supposed to fly out. So we were on the phone and sitting and waiting and stressing until the very last minute before the flight we thought I was supposed to be on. Finally they got it all sorted out and Ethan and I made it through security and into the terminal! Whew!
Cutest little water cup.
The Haneda airport was pretty fun to explore with my hubby. Its a cool place.
These blossoms inside the little tower here are real. It was so cool.
Ethan's dinner.
We were pretty tired and sore at this point in the travel so these massage chairs were a big blessing. 200 Yen well spent.
Our flight left Tokyo at 9:20 pm Tuesday night and arrived in Honolulu at 9:20 am Tuesday. So weird being time travelers like that. Ha. We couldn't check in to our hotel until 3:00pm. So from the airport we went to get our rental car and decided to get the cell phone/wifi package they sold with it. Holy cow. That was a definite game changer. Having wifi with us made such a huge difference in our ability to get around. I will never travel internationally without doing something like that again.
Since we had time to kill, we drove out to see the Iolani palace and the King Kamehameha statue. When we visited Hawaii 4 years ago I started watching Hawaii Five-0. I watched some more recent episodes before this trip and thought it would be fun to see these in person. We just drove by, but it was still cool!
The next order of business was malasadas. Ethan had read about Leonard's bakery so it was serendipitous that we happened upon this food truck.
We got one of all six flavors. My favorite was the Li Hing Mui (powdered dry plum) covered one. We also got sugar covered, cinnamon sugar covered, chocolate filled, haupia cream filled (coconut), and vanilla filled.
A nice drive along the beautiful coastline. This picture is my current phone wallpaper and it fills me with "ahhhh" every time I look at it.
The last time we were here, we hiked out to above the lighthouse you can see in the distance. Seriously, so gorgeous.
My hottie rocking his tall socks. Ha.
We then drove to a beach. We were exhausted as neither of us slept on the plane, so we'd been up for a very long time. We crashed here for a couple hours and I was so thankful that I had long sleeve and pants on so I didn't end up a lobster after our nap. The sand is so luxurious here! We have black water beaches all around us here and I had forgotten how nice the sand could be.
Once we woke up we drove to the base where we were staying and checked in to our hotel. Ethan had reached out to a couple friends when we arrived and sadly, one of them was off island for the whole week... but the other was available to do dinner that night! So, we met up with him and his family at a restaurant on base. This was our view from our table. Not too shabby! Ethan got all excited when we started seeing F-35s taking off too. It was like a perfect dream come true.
Because of medical appointments we didn't have as much free time as we would have liked. I had appointment scheduled together 10 and 11 am and after finding a place to park, checking in with the AF liaison at the hospital and waiting in Neurology for a while, they told me that they cancelled my first appointment and I could come back at 11... Ha. Parking is CRAZY there, there was no way we were going to drive away for 30 minutes and then come back. So we waited. My other appointment got scheduled for the next day at 2:00. Bummer! We were hoping to have a day to do what we wanted, but oh well. The appointment that day was just a history and basic physical exam to test my strength. The appointment the next day was an EMG/nerve conduction study. Once we were free that first day, we hit the road. A later start than we'd have liked, but we were going to make the most of the time we had!
I'm always in awe of the beauty of the earth, but never more so than when I've been in the lush green rainforest parts of the world. It's incredible. And try as I might, taking a picture from the passenger seat while we drive just doesn't capture the magnificence.
First order of business...
After a wonderful time in the temple (the first time doing an endowment session in quite a long time!) we went and found some shrimp...
Oh my goodness, wow.
Then we went to find more shrimp... first we found a rooster who didn't want to pose for a photo...
And another wow. I love Misawa, but the variety of food options seems kind of limited, especially after almost 3 years. This trip kind of because all about food. Ha. This was a repeat restaurant from our first trip here, Kahuku Grill, worth the second visit, for sure!
Rainbow!
We spent time snorkeling here and it was so calm and peaceful. It was fabulous. My only issue I had was that the water was so shallow there were very few places to stop and stand up which caused me a little panic a few times. And I scraped my knees on rocks a bit. The fish weren't out in droves, but we saw some variety, even an eel or two. It was so fun! I snapped this picture as we left. Not much daylight left!
The next morning we had to get an early start so we could get some fun in before going back to the hospital. Ethan wanted to go snorkeling at Lahaina (I'm pretty sure...). The water was so beautiful!
Sadly, Ethan lost his goPro this winter snowboarding at Hakkoda, so we didn't have an underwater camera, but it was a really fun experience. I faced some major fears, too, with only a couple minor panics. We left feeling happy.
Since we were pretty close to one our favorite stops from last time, we decided to go again. Boots-n-Kimo did not disappoint! Amazing how Japan has made me appreciate fresh fruit! Seriously, you don't know how lucky you are people in America!
I may have licked my plate... their Macademia Nut sauce is the best I've had.
Ethan went with the Kalbi short rib breakfast special. Neither of us had any complaints.
Then we had to get to the hospital. Let me tell you that the EMG is not a fun test to have done. Lots of jolting and jumping muscles. It's not painful, but it's not comfortable. After that test, she ordered an MRI of my brain and they were able to get me in for it that same day which meant that the whole rest of the day was spent in the hospital.
That night we had to get some birthday shopping for Jonas done and we needed to find some good food. Somehow we ended up at Big Kahuna's Pizza and it was awesome!!! We loved that the menu included the haole pizza (one of my favorites, I won't lie).
But we decided on a kalua pork pizza instead and it was incredible!!! I would definitely go back to this place or recommend it to others visiting the island.
The next day was Friday and the day of our scheduled departure.We had to wait to hear from the doctor to make sure I was set to leave, but we didn't expect any delays, so we prepared to go. Sure enough I got the call from the doctor, none of the big stuff they were worried about was what the problem was. This is good, of course, but frustrating as well because of my symptoms. We don't know what is causing the pain, the numbness, the weakness... Ugh.
We did a little bit of shopping for the kids' souvenirs and then got some food on the way to the airport. Since we'd had so much luck using google maps to find the delicious pizza the night before we decided to press our luck one more time. We ended up at...
What a neat place!
Ethan ordered the macademia nut pancakes since he'd enjoyed mine so much, too bad these ones weren't as good... however, my food (a chorizo, egg scramble special) was amazing!
And we even got some chickens to pose for a photo on our way out. Ha.
Our last stop, because we didn't have much time, was this state park. We had time to walk out to the water and then back to the car, basically. We took a minute to remember the solemn, peaceful water as opposed to the battlefield it had been on the fateful day in December 1941.
Leaving Hawaii is always sad...but the time had come. Ethan decided to drop me off and then go drop off the car. I waited in a long line to check in. Then an even longer line (like really, really long) for security. Then walked for a long time to get to my gate... and waited for him to join me. I waited and waited and waited. They called me to the desk to assign our seats. I was surprised to see that we were in the 2nd boarding group, but didn't think anything of it. I was just worried he wasn't going to make it. They started boarding and just about finished boarding when he finally made it! Whew!
We got to our seats, sat down, and I thought, "it seems much more roomy than our flight to Hawaii." That's when I realized that they had put us in the comfort plus seats! We got fancy (to us) little gift bags too. We felt like we were living in the lap of luxury. The flight to Tokyo was uneventful, a good quality of any flight. Ha. Then we had to find our shuttle to our hotel which proved difficult and we ended up missing one and having to wait for 30 minutes until the next one came. But it came and we got to our hotel. At first we were afraid either we would be unable to stay together or have to stay in a smoking room... neither option appealed to us. But somehow it worked out and we got to stay in this teeny tiny room together. We took pictures to illustrate how tight it was. The width of Ethan on two sides of the bed.
But they provided robes, so that was fun. I got some great pictures of Ethan posing, but I don't think he wants me sharing them. It was after 10 by the time we got settled so we crashed right away. Then had a very early start to get the shuttle back to the airport for our flight to Misawa. Ethan took some pictures from the air. I think this is Tokyo.
And this is the coastline about 45 minutes from where we live.
Even though it didn't bring many answers, who complains about a mostly free trip to Hawaii? Not me! We had such a wonderful time. We made good memories together. Our kids were well taken care of. We got back on Jonas' birthday and met the kids at church. It was fun to have them join us in the chapel after being separated for 5 days.
For anyone interested, my doctor suggested a sleep study since Ethan is fairly sure I have sleep apnea. The thought it that maybe the poor sleep is causing me to be so exhausted that its causing the weakness and adding to my pain level. It doesn't explain the numbness. He also suggested that losing some weight might help.
