back to the doctor...

BRIGHT AND EARLY at 6:40 this morning so I could make it to Ft. Collins on time! Man, what a bummer way to spend a Saturday.

I went back today for a follow-up ultrasound. Dr. B has decided he doesn't think it's a cyst. Or an endometrioma. Or endometriosis. He now believes that it is a dermoid (a non-cancerous tumor; click on that if you don't know what it is- I didn't!). He said there are no rewards for hanging onto it, and it's best to get it out ASAP because it could grow so big it could kill my ovary. It's already causing my ovary to be 3x the size of normal. And sore. Especially tonight, after walking a lot today.

I woke up the other night with SEVERE pain in that area, and in my back too. I asked if that could be related and he said absolutely because my ovary is now so heavy that it's twisting on itself, causing severe quick onset of pain. As it twists back (he described it as like a hanging Christmas tree ornament twisting) the pain would go away. And it's true- mine did, after about 3 hours! (I almost made Josh take me to the ER- I'm glad I know what it is now!)

SO, I will be calling his surgery person on Monday to schedule surgery. He said it could be done as soon as next Monday (the 7th) but then we realized that was Labor Day. It sounded like he only does surgery on Monday, so it might be the following week. Which would be OK- I really, really don't want to miss Brecken's birthday. It will require an overnight stay in the hospital and then TWO WEEKS off work- yikes!! He said he'll go in laproscopically to make sure everything looks OK (and can take out any scar tissue and endo if he finds any), and then, if everything looks like it should (non-cancerous) he will stop laproscopy and cut me open- he prefers to do it that way so he's not yanking out good cells out of my ovary. My sister, a nurse, was with me today (Josh had a football game today) and I asked her what she thought of that approach, and she said it sounded VERY good to her, like he really cared what he took out and what he didn't, so that was nice to hear from a medical professional's point of view. :)

So anyway, there's the update. Dr. B said he'd rather me have this dermoid than endo, so I'll believe him! :)

Kristen and I were kid-less today and took the opportunity to go shopping! It was so nice to be able to do that without kids. And we were able to SIT and EAT lunch without having to rush or tell children to sit down and eat. :) It was like a mini-vacation and a lot of fun! Great sales down in Ft. Collins today...


edited to add: Dr. B did not think this was the cause of my infertility. We saw more immature eggs in that ovary, peeking out around the dermoid, than we saw in my healthy ovary! Most likely, this is just something we "came across". It's not causing it, but it's not helping the fertility issues, either. So we still don't have any answers!

preschool!

The day finally arrived! Brecken asked if he could go to bed EARLY last night so he could go to school in the morning. And when Josh brought him to Amy's first this morning, he said, "Dad. This is not preschool." HA! Here he is, the big day!

He will be going to school 4 days a week (Mon-Thurs) for 3 hours in the morning. (And no, he was not eating a popscicle so early in the morning- it was dark this morning so these pictures were taken this afternoon. :) )

helicopter

This helicopter flew in front of our house last night, so we hurried and loaded our plane and helicopter lover into the truck and went to the airport to watch. It would land, take off, circle around, and land again. It must have been practicing!

I did NOTHING to these photos to make the colors so beautiful- this was really how it looked last night!

football fan

back at it

Summer is officially over. :( Josh started football practice bright and early on Monday morning (6:00 a.m. early!!) followed by a work day. He had another work day yesterday and I had meetings. Today we both had a district-wide meeting. Tomorrow he starts actual school and I have work days for the rest of the week. My students come on Monday.

Brecken started back to daycare today. I was so proud of myself- I didn't cry this year! I almost did last night while thinking about it, but I didn't- and held it together this morning, too! :) It totally helps that we LOVE Amy, as does Brecken, and he feels totally comfortable at her house. I think that's why there were no tears from Mommy this morning. :) I picked him up from Amy's this afternoon and he hardly noticed I was there... he was busy picking out a popscicle to have. :) And when he was finished with his popscicle, he STILL didn't want to come home with me- he was too busy playing golf in the yard. So, the transition for him was easy. :)

smartie

We have a smart kid. I've always said that, but now we have proof. :) Brecken had his developmental screening today and BREEZED through it. Hooray! He scored the highest he could on everything. He flew through the puzzles, threaded beads through a pipe cleaner, stacked blocks, identified pictures, drew circles, drew a straight line, kicked and threw a ball, tapped the tip of a pencil on the table with just his finger, lots of things. Here's my favorite moment of the day: The lady gave him two mugs- one empty, one full of blocks. She asked him, "Which one is empty?" He took the full mug, emptied it out into the empty mug, held up the now-empty mug and replied, "THIS ONE!!" :) Gave us quite the chuckle.

She asked if he's speaking 4-5 word sentences, and I told her that he's actually saying 8-10 word sentences, and stringing 4 of those sentences together to form paragraphs. She said based on that, his verbal skills are WAY above normal 3-year old abilities. (and he's still 2, technically!) He has lots of practice- the kid doesn't quit talking. :) (And how many 2 year olds can tell you the difference between a putter and a pitching wedge??!!)

I noticed a HUGE difference in maturity between last year's screening and this year's screening. Last year, he wouldn't leave my lap to do anything, wouldn't let anyone touch him, etc. (Granted, last year, he had never been to the school and had never met the people, but still.) This year, he skipped right on into the preschool, went right on his way to doing everything, and hardly noticed Josh and I were there. I LOVE that. He really loves school and thrives on it. We got him all signed up for preschool for this year. He'll be going FOUR days a week, for 2.5 or 3 hours a morning (I forgot what she told me). He's so excited, he's even asked for a new backpack for preschool. (But don't buy him one- my sister did for his birthday!)

We even got a list of school supplies to bring to school, so after the screening, B and I headed to Rawlins to get those supplies. Brecken calls them "School Surprise"- supplies and surprise sound the same, so I can see where he would get confused. :) We had to get crayons, glue, a glue stick, paper towels, snacks, markers, and watercolors. He had a great time picking everything out!

Makes me a bit sad though... my baby is growing up. :(

scared me to death

We think Brecken went unconscious and had a tiny seizure yesterday. We were up at Josh's school and he was running up and down the ramp in the hallway. He tripped and bonked his head pretty hard. I went immediately to pick him up and thought he was holding his breath like he does when he cries hard, but he wasn't- he was kind of limp and rolled from my one arm to the other, then shook for a second and then came to. Scared the living daylights out of me and the 3 of us went immediately to the clinic to get him checked out. His eyes were OK and he was walking and talking OK (through his tears) so we came home and watched him closely. Nothing out of the ordinary last night, thank goodness. We did wake him up a couple times in the night to make sure though. SCARY! Josh thinks he may have had a teeny tiny concussion. Scared me to death though.

In other news....

Hogan got sprayed by a skunk again last night. About 2:00 am we heard him bark and yelp and then an AWFUL skunk stink in our bedroom- we think the skunk was under our window and Hogan scared it and got sprayed. UGH. Our bedroom smells but I've been doing the odor remover on the carpet and vacuuming it all day.... It's getting better. Gross. The dogs have been sleeping outside because it gets so hot in our house at night- same reason we had the bedroom window open last night. Now I never want to open the window again! :) (although it is right now with a fan going to air it out!!) I guess I should be glad it happened now, when I have time to get all my clothes deoderized... last time this skunk problem happened, I went to school smelling like a skunk for a week. YUCK.

In the infertility world...

I had an HSG test done on Monday in Ft. Collins. (click on the link to get a full explanation.) I can certainly live without ever having one of those done again!! :) The procedure itself didn't hurt, really, but was one of the most uncomfortable experiences ever. (OK, except for the numbing spray- that hurt. BAD. It stung. BAD.) I was quite sore afterwards and yesterday the soreness continued. Josh was able to be with me during pre-op and post-op, but not in the OR itself. My RE does his own HSG tests, so that he can see first-hand what is going on instead of relying on a radiologist's point of view. I like that about my RE- he's extremely hands-on and does all of his own stuff. It was really cool to see the dye move around- especially when it showed no blockages! Hooray!! (Even though that just means there's something else going on... But it's one test checked off the list.) I go in for bloodwork in a little over a week to make sure I am ovulating, and then about a week after that to check on the cyst. The bloodwork can be done in Rawlins, thank goodness; the ultrasound on the cyst will have to be in Ft. Collins again.

A great story this week from one of my fantastic infertile friends though- I don't want to be specific since it's not quite public knowledge yet, but know that a wonderful woman and her husband are well on their way to becoming parents because of great treatments and options for infertile women. I've been smiling all week about it!

a reproductive endocrinologist

If you haven't figured it out already, we struggle with infertility. Brecken took 17 months to get pregnant with, and there is a reason Brecken will be at LEAST 3 1/2 before he gets a sibling. We just didn't know exactly what that reason was until this past Tuesday, when we went to visit a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) in Fort Collins, CO.

The appointment was interesting. Josh was called a stud pretty much. :) So that ruled him out, even though a few years ago, we had been told it was his "fault" even though they never did tests on me because shortly after, we got pregnant. Apparently though, according to our RE, most doctors aren't specialized in infertility so their knowledge comes from how they were trained, and in this instance, that was a LONG LONG time ago for the doctor we had seen first! There are no REs in Wyoming. So it's worth the visit to CO to get a specialist, but too bad it's so dang far away! (3 hours one way.)

Then it was my turn. They did an internal ultrasound and found that I have a pretty large cyst inside my right ovary. Looking back, I've felt some aches there sometimes, but I couldn't tell you how long because I just assumed it was normal or gas or something! Apparently, it's not, it's the cyst. They then freaked me out by sending me to the hospital for a blood test to rule out ovarian cancer- I FREAKED all night long. I cried and cried. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for the results because they called the next morning at 9:00 and said they aren't worried about cancer anymore. Normal ranges are between 0-21, and mine was 74, but cancer ranges are between 200-300. Phew! The raised number is pretty consistent with someone who might have endometriosis, so that's what they'll be looking for next. (They are amazed I haven'tbeen in a ton of pain- usually it's pretty painful. Like I said, mine is just achy!)

SO, I have to go back to Ft. Collins in one month so they can do another ultrasound on me and see if it's going down on it's own- if not, I'll have to have surgery to remove it. If it IS endometriosis though, it's a disease I'll have until menopause- there's not a cure for it.

In addition, I have to go back on Monday next week for an HSG test, where they put dye into your uterus and watch it go up the fallopian tubes to see if there are any blockages there. Fun, fun! After that, we'll know a little more of what we'll do as far as a game plan. So there you go- that's the issue! We certainly had everything turned upside down on us since 3 1/2 years ago- we thought it was Josh's "fault"and not mine, and as it turns out, he's been fine all along and it's ME that has the issues!! Wonder how long I've had this.

We just got back today from Lingle. I now have TWO trips to get caught up with on here. I better get cracking! :)