Kristin Williams Balla

Like the title of this post says, apparently a Balla can’t allow too much time to pass between writing the annual Christmas letter and getting it mailed! If we do, lots of stuff will happen. Just to annoy us. Just to keep us on our toes. Just so life won’t get dull. Just because we are the Balla family and that is what we do – dodge bullets, tap dance through pesky ordeals and get refined in the fire of relational, medical, emotional, physical and financial chaos.  The prize? – A finely polished, golden crown of faith. I’ll take it. Thank you Lord!

I was blessed with an incredible 50th birthday party thrown for me on January 19th - one day before the actual national holiday. :-} My daughter Lyryn was the main facilitator. Using her God-given organizational skills, she got Attila to copy my address book, created original invitations, called people who had not RSVP’d as of the day before the party, planned food for the masses and enlisted my other daughters (Katie, Susie and Tara - okay, they aren’t all exactly related) to help decorate, cook and hostess this magnificent event. Attila made potato salad for about 300 (he used to own a restaurant so he has a tendency to think big). My sister Kathi got me to the church on time.  I was very, very honored and blessed. I have decided that everyone should have their Memorial Service while they are still alive so they can enjoy it!

The week before the party I had been very sick with that nasty virus that has been plaguing everyone this winter. I was experiencing increasing bouts of atrial fibrillation. A-fib is the most common heart arrhythmia. It occurs when rapid, disorganized electrical signals in the heart’s two upper chambers (the atria) cause them to contract very fast and irregularly. As a result, blood pools in the atria and isn’t pumped completely into the heart’s two lower chambers. When this happens, the heart’s upper and lower chambers don’t work together as they should. Which begs the question; can’t we all just get along?

Now if you know me at all, you know that there is one thing I am not - I am not disorganized! But apparently my heart was, and it became increasingly difficult to ignore. I started to feel like I would faint when climbing a single flight of stairs. Before I got sick I had worked out at Curves for three nights in a row and could sprint up two flights of stairs without hyper-ventilating. While in a-fib my heart was going about 150 beats per minute. I can only manage 120 when I am working out!

Attila took me to the Paoli Hospital Emergency room on January 25th (dejavu). I was admitted and spent the next eleven days getting a stress test, an echo-cardiogram, and trying two different medicines to get my a-fib under control. I went through four roomates. Even the 87-year-old stroke victim went home in three days! I was not in any pain but my heart would not stay in sinus rythmn for any length of time -even when I slept. The people who watch the heart monitors told me that I was the most unusual case they had ever seen (why are we not surprised?). The highlight of my incarceration was the two showers I was allowed to take in the bathroom down the hall. We really do take the little things in life for granted. Those showers rocked my world!

While I was lounging in my hospital bed, my Mom went to the ER with extremely elevated blood pressure. She was tested thoroughly and her heart is fine. They adjusted her blood pressure meds and sent her home after one day.

While still in the hospital, Lyryn brought Attila, Ashley and Jayden to the ER. Attila had been throwing up all day while trying to babysit Jayden. Lyryn came home from work to find Jayden surrounded by pillows and blankets on the dining room floor, and Attila laying on the powder room floor hugging the toilet. She wasn’t taking any chances so she calmly brought everyone to the hospital.

Attila had a cat-scan which revealed kidney stones and a slight blockage in Susie (his transplanted kidney). Lyryn was a champ. She took Jayden home to his daddy and came back to get Ashley and Attila and take them home once Attila was discharged. He had been given an anti-nauseau medicine and felt fine. When he had a renal ultrasound the following week there was no longer any sign of kidney stones or blockage in Susie. God is good!

My medicine has totally kicked in now and I have not had one episode of a-fib in about five days. I plan to return to Curves this week, but also plan to be cautious and sensitive to what my body is telling me. It usually tells me it wants chocolate but I am trying to focus on the more serious matter at hand.

I am currently working on Fridays in order to get caught up at my job. My Christmas decorations are still up and I think that makes a new record for our family. I might just wait and put up the spring decorations for Easter in about a month. Good thing Easter comes early this year!