Thursday, March 20, 2008

Athena Klinger Miller



Well, I can't believe it's been 10 years already since we graduated. So I suppose it's my turn to tell everyone what I've been up to the last 10 years. Shortly after graduating I attended a year of college at Idaho State University. I met my husband there in October of 1998, and in. seven months we were married. My husband had been going to school as an airplane mechanic and graduated with a 4.0. In July of '99 we moved to Boise Idaho for my husband's job. There I worked as a checker at Albertson's and he worked at Western Aircraft as a mechanic. About a year after moving there I started experiencing quite a bit of pain. I ached and hurt all the time to where it was disrupting my sleep. It got so bad at times I was taking pain pills left over from my husband's surgery just in order to sleep. Went to a few doctor's but they couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was probably three years later that I finally found out what it was. Shortly after 9/11 my husband was layed off with numerous other employees as there wasn't enough work. We then moved to Kalispell, Montana since his parents live here and we've lived here for 6 years now. My husband started work at Les Schwab as an Alignment Tech and I began teaching piano. Soon after moving to MT. I found out that I have Fibromyalgia. It is sort of like Rheumatoid Arthritis except it affects all the muscles instead of the joints. There is no cure for it and Doctor's are not sure what causes it. Typically they just give patients pain meds and muscle relaxants to help. Doctor's are thinking I have a bit of Arthritis as well.
Currently I'm teaching piano and have 8 students. All of them are doing really great and it's been a joy teaching them. My husband quit Les Schwab a year ago and started taking Helicopter lessons. Within that year he's gotten his Private, Commercial, Certified Flight Instructor and Instrument licenses . He will shortly become a Certified Flight Instructor for Instrument. (CFII) He's applied to teach at various flight schools and we are waiting to hear back from them. We have no kids as of yet due to other medical problems I have, but we have two very cute and very spoiled kittens. We are doing really well, love where we are living and are just waiting for whatever life has in store for us next.

6 comments:

Sandi said...

Hi Athena! I haven't heard from you in forever! I'm sorry to hear about your health problems, but it sounds like you guys are doing well in everything else. Hope to see you at the reunion!--Sandi VanderBeek

Jessica Haddox said...

Athena! I'm so glad to hear from you! Sorry to hear about your medical problems. I hope the doctors are able to give you something to help with the pain a bit. It's good to hear that you're doing well otherwise.

Ivy & Mae said...

Athena, I'm very sorry to hear you have Fibromyalgia, one of my past clients suffered from this as well--very difficult. It sounds like you keep yourself busy though. All the best-Jessica Keeler Ziel

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comments Sandi, Jessica, and Jessica ziel. It's so great hearing from you all!! Unfortunately I can't come to the Reunion. It would be so great though.

Mindy said...

Athena, I have a lot of sympathy for your fibromyalgia. Have you tried acupuncture? Theres been several studies lately showing that it is effective in relieving pain from fibromyalgia and arthritis. I have a rare form of arthritis and I'm going to try it. It's worth a try... I'm glad everything else is going well and congrats to your husband on becoming a flight instructor- how cool! And I have a spoiled kitten too- who needs kids when you have kittens to play with!?!?!

Unknown said...

Mindy I'm afraid I haven't had acupuncture. I am so not a needle person and tend to pass out once being stuck with a needle, lol. Thanks for the congrats on the flying situation. Sorry to hear about your health issues as well. Anyways, great hearing from you :D