On my own again

My mom and dad left this morning and Tim goes back to work tomorrow. I am so not excited about this. Granted, it'll be nice having the house to myself after having guests for almost 2 weeks, but I am not supposed to be driving just yet and I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle the household stuff on my own. Tim has been awesome today though. He did the dishwasher and is even running a load of wash right now. I'm still having alot of pain from the bruising (I assume) and am probably doing far more than I should. I can't help it though. I get so bored just laying around doing nothing. Poor Alex is going to be the death of me. He keeps jumping on my stomach and that has to be the worst feeling in the world. When I scream out in pain he says "Sorry Mommy" and then kisses my head. It's so sweet, but doesn't make me want to kick his little butt any less ;)

Max has his preschool Christmas play on Wednesday and poor Tim has a huge function at work that he can't miss. I'm hoping to be able to video the whole thing so he can at least watch it on the computer. I'll have to call Alli tomorrow to see if she can watch Alex because there is no way I can video with him there, especially since it starts at bedtime. He's going to be very difficult if I have to take him along.

In other news, we are getting a hedgehog! Tim finally agreed, mostly to shut me up, but also because they are non-smelly. I have to be the one to take care of it, but I've been wanting some sort of pet for the kids, and from what I've researched they are pretty good with kids. Not saying it'll be easy, but not as hard as a dog, or as smelly as a cat. I've been looking for one for a few weeks now. Usually you can only get them from breeders, but there was an add in the Grand Rapids Craigslist where someone wants to get rid of theirs because their kids aren't taking care of it. YAY!!! Cheaper than buying it from a dealer for sure and the cage comes with him. It's going to be a 2 hour drive, but without the kids it shouldn't be too bad. I'll be sure to post pictures when he gets here and let you know what we decide to name him. I haven't told Max yet. I want it to be a surprise.

Yesterday Krystle and I put up the Christmas tree with a bit of help from Max and Tim. Krystle also decorated the living room and wrapped all of my presents. I swear she is the best woman in the world for my brother. I hope he smartens up and marries her soon!!

Here is the tree

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Max and his tower

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Alex watching TV

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And a video of Alex cooking for Krystle and Bill (just like daddy)
Watch Video Here
I can't get the video to post so you'll have to click the link.

Also, since I know some of you are curious, here is my bruise and incision about 5 days after the surgery. The bruise goes down quite a bit further, but I'll spare you a picture of that whole area ;)

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My initials are there because I had to mark the site since they were only taking one ovary. I used permanent marker and it wouldn't wash off. It's almost gone now though.

So, there you have it. A nice little update on us. Not much else to tell from now, but I'm sure there will be lots more in December. So much going on!!

Another Update on my Recovery

I'm doing pretty good. They did end up sending me home on Friday morning because there was no point in keeping me since I was doing so well. I have been doing good since being home too. I'm very sore and coughing is a complete pain in the ass, but otherwise I feel ok. I'm not sleeping very good, but I think that's because I get shooting pains if I turn, and in my sleep I move alot.

Tim and I took Alex to Med Express yesterday because he has not been acting himself. Not sleeping either and I feared an ear infection. I was right (love it when that happens) so he's on antibiotics now. I'm wondering if him not sleeping had something to do with me not sleeping well too. Anyway, he's been having a hard time with me not being able to pick me up, but he is soooo cute about my belly. He keeps lifting my shirt and pulling down the top of my pants to kiss my bruise. He has pushed on me by accident a few times and that sends more shooting pains, but I'll take it over not being able to cuddle with him at all.

Max is handling it a little differently. He pretty much stays away from it. I think he's so afraid of hurting me, and to him it definitely looks scary. He said he doesn't want to see it anymore. We showed him once just so he would know it was there and be a little more conscious of jumping around me. He has been fairly well behaved lately, but somewhat whiny when we ask him to do something he doesn't want to do. I'm thinking that's pretty normal for his age so we just deal as it comes. I'm so proud of how smart he is though. Although he doesn't read yet, he can point out tons of words that he recognizes and there are always a few we had no idea he knew. He is amazing at the new computer game we got him. I wish I could track his progress better because I think he is playing games far past his age level.

Not much else to report I guess. I have pictures of my cyst and the bruise but I won't scare you with the bruise. However, I know there are people who wanted to see the cyst so I'll post it here. If you don't want to look, hurry and click away, although I'm guessing it's probably already too late ;)

Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts during this time!!

This ruler is 6" long to give you an idea of what you are looking at!

Surgery Update

I should have done this yesterday because I'm sure you were all waiting for it, but I was either too tired, or just not in the mood for typing.

My surgery went very well and my doctor is 99% sure that it is not cancerous. I was quite happy to hear there. They also found a small cyst on my left ovary that didn't seem to be there on my ultrasound so he removed that too, but was able to save the left ovary with no problems.

By noon I was up walking in the halls. By 3 my catheter was out and by 9pm last night I had my IV saline locked. Since my doctor was on call last night and I was a walking fool I saw him several times. He said I was acting more like I was 2 or 3 days post op instead of less than 24 hours. Good, that's how I wanted to be. I hate patients who take forever to heal because they don't do the things they are supposed to do. I started out right away taking oral pain pills instead of the heavy duty stuff in a PCA and that was the right way to go in my opinion.

I'll probably be able to go home today since there really isn't much reason to keep me. However, I guess he had somewhere to be because my doc bolted already this morning. I think he forgot about me. Hopefully he comes back, but it not, I'll just have someone page him to ask. All he really needs to know is how my lab work looks and he can hear that over the phone.

I have a gigantic bruise all across my incision and last night he tried to tell me I was overdoing it a little and probably popping out the stitches just under the skin. Then I realized I'm getting Lovenox (a blood thinner) to ward off blood clots. That causes some serious bruising issues so I'm guessing that the bruise is probably from that and them pulling so much on the skin during surgery. I'm hoping so anyway. He seems to think either way that the bruise will be there for a good long time. I'm going to take pictures so if you don't want to see, either don't check back here for awhile, or post me a comment!! If I get enough comments from people who would be grossed out, I may not post it here. I also have a picture of the cyst they removed. It was as big as a softball or better. I was going to post a picture of that too because it's not all that gross, but again, if you don't want to see it, leave a comment. Otherwise, protect your eyes! I'm morbid and love stuff like that!

So, I'm getting kinda tired. I've been up since 6 because of lab coming in to draw blood and I stayed up way too late last night so I'm thinking I'll probably take a little nap until Tim and my parents get here to visit. I promise to update again soon!!

4 days and counting

Til my surgery that is. My mom and dad will be here Wednesday night because they want to be here to help me out. My mom of course would like to be at the hospital and I'm sure it's killing her that she can't be in the OR. I know everything will go well, I just hope I'm healthy afterwards so my doctor lets me go ASAP. I do NOT like being a patient!! I am figuring it will be Saturday morning before they release me though.

Tim and I totally purged the house today! It was awesome. I started on the main level yesterday and we continued with the basement today. I threw out 3 bags of garbage yesterday alone and I know Tim did at least one more when he hit the computer desks last night.

Today it was the toys. We tossed several more garbage bags and loaded up the back of my van with stuff I plan to try to sell to Once Upon A Child. Whatever they won't take is going to Goodwill. I just want it out of the house. The basement looks so much better now, and it will be much easier to clean up when the boys make a mess. Not to mention there isn't nearly as much for them to make a mess with! I'm hoping to hit the bedrooms tomorrow, but that'll depend because we have some errands to run. Dropping off the junk and over to the bank. We are finally putting all of our money into one account. It's been in the works for a long time, but Tim had to do some paperwork to cancel his checking before his checks would deposit into OUR account. Now we'd like to open a second savings so we can each have a little of our own play money, and maybe an account for each of the kids. We'll have to see on that one though. I need my credit card to get changed over to my new last name and he needs to get an ATM card. Should be loads of fun.

As for updates on the boys, Alex is a crazy man! He has not been sleeping well lately which means I don't sleep well either. So not fair!! Tonight he and Tim had a wrestling match. I wish the camera would have been nearby so I could video it for you all. He seriously acted possessed. How he did not break a bone with all the jumping and flipping he was doing I will never know. He got a huge red mark on his neck when Tim accidentally close lined him with his hand and even that didn't stop him. At one point he started screaming (with a smile on his face) just for fun which was pretty funny, yet annoying at the same time.

Max is Max. He has been begging to play Tim's computer game all the time for weeks now. Tim finally got smart and found a kids game to replace it. For anyone with computer savvy kids, I highly recommend it. It's from Jump Start and it's 3D World or something like that. He creates his own character and then gets to roam his "world." That's the part he likes best about Tim's character. Along the way they give you "quests" and as you accomplish them you get gems and can buy cool things with the gems. The "quests" are learning games so it's great from every angle. He is soooo smart it makes me ill sometimes. He plays the Kindergarten level and I have no doubt that he could probably do at least the 1st grade level. K is pretty easy for him but it does help him acquire gems much faster that way and I know he likes that.

Well, True Blood is about to start so I have to run. Date night with Timmy! Sundays are my favorite!!

Ooopsie!

It just occurred to me that I never really mentioned what was going on with Tim and his interview. Probably because nothing is going on. They haven't called one way or the other and I'm getting really frustrated. I've come to the conclusion that he probably did not get the job (lots of politics with the company) but they could at least call and tell him that. All is well since my surgery is next week anyway. The last thing I need to be doing right now is dealing with that stress.

Alex had a 45 minute meltdown this morning stemming from wanting to brush his teeth for about as long. I am not letting him run the water forever, but I guess if I don't I have to watch him kick and scream. Fortunately I didn't work last night and was able to see him through it. He spent some time screaming in his room and that appeared to do the trick. He snapped right out of it when I opened the door after a minute and was ready to go to school. Max used to have tantrums like this too. All the time in fact, but for whatever reason I think we thought we avoided it with Alex. Guess not ;)

I don't have much else right now. We have been bumming around the house lately, but hopefully something exciting will come along soon!

Lots to tell

First off, my cancer blood test came back negative. Woohoo!! Secondly, my surgery is officially scheduled for November 20th. I'm guessing I'll be in the hospital for 2 days and not looking forward to it at all. I don't "do" patient, but we shall see. My mom is coming down to stay with us to make sure that I have everything I need and Tim can be there for the boys, or vice versa. Hopefully Tim will be able to take a few weeks off too, but he hasn't been able to let me know yet.

Secondly, I had Max's parent/teacher conference yesterday. He is doing GREAT in school. She said he is a joy to have in the classroom, he has lots of friends, and he is very very bright. He keeps her on her toes by pointing out when she forgot something or says something wrong. Poor woman, we go through that at home too. He doesn't forget anything. He has a hard time keeping quiet during listening time, and while he raises his hand, he also starts to answer before he is called on. All things she said she is working on with him and he is getting better. I'm so proud of my little man.

Alex continues to surprise us everyday. I had to lay with Max for a few years until he fell asleep at night. I just assumed it was the same with Alex. However, I started kissing him goodnight and telling him to stay in bed and go to sleep, leaving before he was completely out. Do you know, he hasn't followed me out the door once. HUH?? Also, when we tell him it's time to go night-night, he races upstairs into the bedroom to get his jammies on. Sooooo not what we are used to. Max has always been and still is difficult to get upstairs at bedtime. Alex is a little monster at times, but when you correct him, he's like "ok" and then does what you ask. He is definitely headstrong, but for some reason so much easier to control....most of the time.

Last night was a proud moment for me as a mommy. Tim came home from work and decided to take Max outside to light off some fireworks in honor of democracy. While outside they talked about voting, the president, and stuff like that. When Max came back in he didn't want to go to bed until we knew who the president was. He ended up going. I asked him questions regarding the "talk" from last night and he came up with all the right answers. I was impressed. Hopefully with the next election he can become a little more involved since he'll be that much older. I was also proud of Tim for thinking about explaining this country and the way it runs to a 4 year old. The thought never even crossed my mind.

Hmm, what else. My dad had another heart cath last week because he has been having chest pains. His main artery on the bottom side of his heart was 95% blocked and he never would have survived a heart attack. Silly man for keeping quiet for so long. Hopefully now he understands the importance of speaking up sooner when he doesn't feel right. Fortunately they were able to get in and place a stent before anything bad happened. We love you dad!! Please take care of yourself.

I guess that's about all I've got. I feel like there was more, but now my mind is drawing a blank. I'm sure I'll be back if I can think of some more!

Update on my medical drama

So, we had planned to schedule my surgery for the 13th, but the OR was booked full so we are going ahead on the 20th of November instead. My doctor said there isn't a need to worry so much about this type of cyst rupturing and that made me feel better. They are doing testing ahead of time to see if there is a likelyhood that it is malignant. Since I smoke that test could come back with a false positive, but it'll let us know ahead what we might be looking at. The doctor also said he'd probably be able to tell once I'm opened up if it looked cancerous or not and would do testing immediately to find out. Not that it would change the outcome much, but it would let us know to do further testing afterwards. Basically, he's pretty sure it's benign, but because of my family history we are covering all of the bases.

So, I'll be off from work for about 6 weeks starting on November 20th. Nice because I'll be home for the holidays, but stinky because it means I'm not going to be making much money. Short Term Disability doesn't pay well and I don't have much of it. In the end, I know I'll be happier being home with my family at the holidays though!! I should start feeling better after a week or two so maybe he'll let me go back to work early. We shall see.

There is my update. Not much excitement or anything.

Last night was a bust. Max started throwing a tantrum two houses out when we went Trick-or-Treating so we came home. He watched TV while Alex and I hung out with the neighbors who awesomely got a little buze into me! Haha! I needed it. It was an enjoyable couple of hours and Alex was pretty well behaved, especially considering the amount of candy he consumed.

Today we were supposed to take Max to a birthday party, but another meltdown this morning got that taken away from him. I talked to his friend's mom and she said would could come by tomorrow. I want to make sure she gets her gift and there is a goodie bag for Max.

He has been really out of control lately and I'm torn between wondering if he's being a normal almost 5 year old or if he needs more med adjustments. We just started Vyvanse a few weeks ago and I'm convinced this one is NOT working because he has definitely gotten worse since being on it. I seriously think we need to start counseling back up to see what's up with us and to know if Tim and I are handling things correctly. I guess only time will tell.

That's about all I have for now. Hope everyone that celebrates had a good Halloween!