When my husband and I found out we were expecting it was the best Christmas gift ever. We found out on December 20, 2004, and waited to tell everyone on Christmas. It was the longest five days in the history of mankind, or so it felt!

I had an uneventful pregnancy except for 25 weeks of all-the-time sickness. Our son Robert was born two weeks early by Cesarean section after 15 hours of Pitocin and nothing! He was 6 pounds, 8.25 ounces and 19 inches long. We joked that he wanted to stay in until it was time to leave for college!

In July of 2003, when my husband was serving a tour in Iraq, I had gastric bypass surgery and lost over 100 pounds. I never had reconstructive surgery because we planned on having a child and it seemed like the right thing not to do.

During the C-section should have been a clue of things to come when the OB bit my bowel during closing because all my insides were rearranged.

Because of the weight of the remaining abdominal skin my incision wouldn't heal. I was hospitalized when Robert was 3 weeks old because of an abdominal ceroma. The hospitalizations continued until November of 2005 until we could get approval for the plastic surgery from the insurance.

By Christmas of 2005 things started to get weird. I was tired all the time and having constant headaches. I just chalked it up to the new baby, holidays and getting ready to go back to work. But I headed to the doctor just to be sure. She set me up for routine tests, but she said not to worry and wished me a Merry Christmas. Boy, was I wrong!

Christmas passed and we celebrated Robert's first Christmas. Two days later I got a call from my PCP telling me to get the hospital because they were afraid that I was going to have a stroke!

I was rushed to the hospital that I had worked at prior to giving birth and was seen by the doctor that I had worked for for five years.

It turned out that I developed an autoimmune disease from my pregnancy. It is called Takayasu's Arteritis. There were only five cases in the United States in 2005 and I was the fifth.

This disease causes your arteries to harden and collapse, decreasing blood flow to your body. The arteries affected in my case are the carotid and subclavian on the left side. I only have 50 percent blood flow to my brain. I joke that we always knew I was dizzy, now we have the documentation to prove it.

Since this started I have had two stent placement attempts in the subclavian. The first resulted in a stroke and the second only worked for two weeks. I have been on high doses of steroid and chemotherapy to try to control the inflammation. A visit to the Cleveland Clinic informed me that I am not a candidate for arterial bypass or grafting.

I have lost the use of my left arm, my legs are numb and I don't have the mental or physical abilities that I did. I walk with a cane and no longer drive – not much fun for someone who used to be called the female Intimidator by her friends!

The prognosis I was given in the beginning was three to five years. That was two and a half years ago! I don't think so!

The best part of this whole ordeal – yes, there is one – is that I have been able to be a stay-at-home mom to my little man. Robert is absolutely perfect. He's a small almost 3-year-old. I get a lot of use out of his clothes. But he is very advanced, counts to 20 in English, knows the alphabet, etc. You can't pull over anything on him.

I can't do a lot of physical things with him but we still do a lot. It's hard to explain to him why Mommy is sick, and I am trying to figure out what to tell him as he gets older, but for now we're OK. A quick answer works for most questions.

I have learned to go with your gut and if something doesn't feel right get to the doctor. If I hadn't I don't want to think of the outcome.