Hi everyone! My name is Molly Dixon, the wife of the Jarrod. I’ve wrote a post before but have now become an official “author” of the page! I’m excited to able to write about our lives. From me, you will hear everything from my health, life, my Pinterest ideas coming true, and failing, and about our new home that we are building, oh and A LOT about my dog, Cash. I’m usually an open book so you will probably find out a lot about me on here that you might have no known.
A little bit about me, if you don’t know me already, I grew up in the little town in Dunlap, Tennessee. The most beautiful little valley in the world!
No, I’m not a huge TN Vols fan! I’m more a NFL girl thanks to my husband. Go Baltimore Ravens! I lived in Dunlap for 17 years then moved to Memphis, TN for my Dads job. I was less than thrilled to be moving my Junior year of high school so I made them promise to not send me to public school in Memphis. So, I homeschooled (online) myself my last 2 years of high school. I regretted this in some ways, I missed out on the fun of being a Senior. But it was just as nice to stay home surrounded my passion in life (animals) and stay in my PJ’s most days. I’m definitely a home-body so this was right up my alley. When I graduated, I moved back close to Dunlap to Chattanooga, TN to attend college and be with my sister. She’s older than I, so we got an apartment together. She already her Lhasa Apso, Mack, then we acquired what is now my obsession, Cash. What kind of dog is he you ask? Well…he’s a mutt, but the best/cutest one to ever walk the planet that’s for sure. He’s been with me through it all and loved me unconditionally ever since. My angel!
After attending college for a couple of years, I decided that it wasn’t for me. I moved back to Memphis to attend Cosmetology school and completed that with honors. I moved back, yet again, to Chattanooga to spend the rest of my life with the man I’m lucky enough to call my husband! I only do hair for friends and family now, and am working in a employment recruiting office. Go figure, I’m doing something now that I wouldn’t have to be in debt for. Anyway, I’ve been in Chattanooga ever since and love it here. It’s truly a great city to live in!
Another important piece that you will read about, is my health. Back in…2013 I believe, I was diagnosed with a kidney disease. I’m not going to try and type out the name, because there’s not much data on it for you to read about. Basically, my kidneys release too much protein and eventually over time, that will cause damage if it’s not stopped. What causes this disease? There’s no research on that. Why/how does is spill protein? Honestly I have no idea. This is such a confusing road to be on, I’m not sure how to explain it to you. All I know is that I wake up each day to fight not knowing what will happen, and I don’t fight everyday. A lot of the time I just throw the towel in. It began with reoccurring UTI’s. I kept going to my regular doctor who eventually sent me to a urologist, who found the high protein, who then sent me to a nephrologist to treat me. Protein count in your urine should be 0. Mine has topped at around 3,000 that we know of. Right now it holds steady around 1,300. I’m on an injection 3 times a week called Acthar, as well as 1 pill which I take 8 of a day. I just went back for my check-up and didn’t receive the news we were hoping for. A man that I met earlier this year who has the same disease and was treated how I’m being treated, when into remission for about 4 years and unfortunately received bad news as well that his protein is back up. My doctor, based on my condition, decided to change the course to a chemo-like drug called Rituximab. I’ve read good things about it as far as side-effects go which is enlightening, but it’s completely discouraging that the man I met earlier this year is no longer in remission. This hit me in the face like a brick wall. I’m having to come to terms with the fact that this is something I may be dealing with for the rest of my life. Me being only 23, is very troubling. I want to live a life of health, and have a family. I don’t want to see my doctor more than I see my Mom and Dad, who now live in Ohio. But I have to realize this may not be the case for me. Am I sick or bound to bed? No, absolutely not. I have a full time job and love to do other activities. But is it easy? Definitely not. I’m tired, I feel weaker than I used to, and some days I have pain. I’m bruised from injections, I’ve gained weight from the medication, my skin and hair has changed. My life has changed. Some days are better than others but that happens even for healthy people. I’m thankful I’m not bound to a hospital bed. A lot of people say to me “it could be worse.” But keep in mind, this is “my worse.” I know no worse so this is hard as it gets for me. Keep that in mind when you tell someone that who is dealing with something that you may not think is bad, because I guarantee you, that person would love to smack you in the face. 🙂 Some days finding the silver lining is too hard, and those days we need to just be able to rant without someone trying to be overly positive. Let’s just be honest.
So, all that being said, we will now start the war with insurance to cover the Rituximab, because we have the initial thought that they wont. It will probably be later this year before I start the new medication. Until then I will continue with the injections and pills. If you’ve known I was on this journey, I would like to thank you for your prayers and thoughts. My family has been everything to me during this time. They are the best family in the world and without my mom, dad, sister, and husband I would be lost. And it extends beyond just immediate family.
Well when did Jarrod come into this story you ask? Well, we met online via Plenty of Fish back in 2011! We both just were looking for a friend at first (but then why would be on dating site?). Right. Anyway, we a met a few months after talking online and haven’t been separated since! Married on May 4, 2013 and love him more and more each day. He’s been the most supportive man through all of my trials and never giving up on me. He deserves all the best in this life and I will do my best to give him that.
So through it all, here we are neck deep in making choices for our new dream home, living in the basement apartment of a gracious Aunt and Uncle (Cash loves having his “Lissa” – Melissa watch him during the day) and there’s nothing better than Uncle Marvin’s hamburgers! We sure will miss them when our new home is completed!
Jarrod and I both have passion for design. He loves to build things, and I love to finish them with paints, stains, distressing, etc. We also both love to decorate! We love making our Pinterest Pins a reality. But sometimes they fail and of course you will have the opportunity to get a laugh out of that!
I hope you all will love reading about our ups and downs, and our accomplishments and failures. I hope you will get inspired to get out and do something and live life to the fullest while you can! We will also post tutorials on things we build from now on! Don’t want to build something? That’s okay, its not for everyone so let us know and we can take care of it for you!
Thanks for reading!
-M
the urbane farmhouse 