home. and sore. and missing some pieces.

What a wild couple days.

While talking about surgery as it was getting closer, I had always told Josh that if an organ needed to come out, to tell the dr. to take it out. I told that to the PA during my pre-op appointment yesterday morning and she almost laughed at me and said that was not likely. I told that to Dr. B yesterday morning and he said, "It's been years and years since I've needed to do that, so no worries." And what do you know- I'm now missing organs. I must have a 6th sense about these things. :)

Yesterday morning started off with me starving and not being allwed to do anything about it. We went to my pre-op appointment at 9:30, got the low-down, and then found out my surgery, which was originally set for 1:00 that afternoon, got pushed up to noon because of a cancellation. So we had about 45 minutes to waste but was able to get our fabuloso daycare lady some gift cards to help out with their move. Then we checked into the surgery center. We found out how much this little adventure cost us and boy, am I ever grateful for health insurance. Holy moly.

I sat back in the pre-op room for FOREVER. I didn't get brought into an OR until a little after 1:00 despite there being a cancellation. The doctor using the OR at the time apologized to me but I told him I sure as heck wouldn't want anyone rushing surgery on me, so I didn't want them rushing on anyone else! Finally, the anestesiologist came for me and told me to give Josh hugs and kisses while he put stuff into my IV, because in about 30 seconds, I wasn't going to remember any of it. And man, was that true! I remember seeing the OR doors and that's the last I remember!!

I DO remember waking up- I was shaking so badly and they had to hurry to get me meds in my IV to stop that. And they kept asking me questions and I was moving my mouth but nothing would come out. I think that was due to the tube that was down my throat during the operation.

Anyway, the night wasn't bad. I had a pain med button I could push every 10 minutes, but I only pushed it about 6 times total in the night. My pain wasn't bad at all and I was very grateful for that. My night nurse was very nice, and there were only 4 of us in the surgery center last night. Me, Josh, the nurse and another nurse! That was kind of nice too. The only NOT nice thing was they didn't have a selection of things to eat- I had a choice of chicken broth, chicken noodle soup, oatmeal, Jell-o, and pudding. Big whoop. I had chicken noodle soup for breakfast. Dr. B was completely impressed. :)

They got me up and walking at 5 am this morning! I couldn't quite figure out why it had to be so early, but whatever. Dr. B came in around 9 and gave me the low-down- he said he told me yesterday but I have absolutely no recollection of him telling me anything yesterday. So here are the finer points of the conversation:

• He went in laproscopically first and found that my left fallopian tube was blocked with scar tissue, even though my HSG test in August showed no blockage. He said that test lied.
• In addition to being blocked, it was folded up on itself.
• He was able to get the scar tissue off and unfold the tube but isn't sure it's going to stay that way.
• He got in my right ovary and found that it wasn't a dermoid tumor after all, but a huge endometrioma.
• My right fallopian tube had a ton of endometriosis on it.
• He cut me open to take out the endometrioma, and it had completely taken over my ovary. He couldn't save it, so it came out.
• The fallopian tube also came out- it doesn't do much good to have a tube without an ovary, and with all the endometriosis on it, it would just cause me pain and problems. So out it came.
• My left ovary will now take over all functions- instead of it supposedly trading off with my right ovary every other month, it will now ovulate every month. (hopefully.)
• Dr. B said this will actually help my chances of conception because we aren't wasting time with a bad ovary and tube- only a good ovary and a hopefully good tube, if it can stay straightened out!!

So there you go- a "quick" summary. We are now home and I'm in bed relaxing. We met Craig and Lennie in Cheyenne again to get Brecken (who apparently, according to all this stuff, is a total miracle baby!!!!) and eat luch with them. Brecken was very glad to see us, though he cried really hard and doesn't want me to have owies anymore and had a hard time understanding that he couldn't sit on my lap. :( He said he had fun by himself at Grandma and Papa's house but next time, he wants us to come. :)

I'm sure I left stuff out- I'm trying to write through pain in my belly so I'm not the best at concentrating right now. If I think of anything, I'll add it later. :)

my bright spot

Check out the sneak peek of Brecken's GORGEOUS pictures!!!

http://staceyjphotog.blogspot.com/2009/09/bright-spot.html

off to the races

Well, here we go! Laundry is in the dryer, and as soon as it's done, it will be placed in suitcases. We're off to the races.

Tomorrow morning, we will be loading up the car and heading to Cheyenne. It's picture day! I love picture day. I never get tired of seeing my child through Stacey's eyes and cannot wait to see how his 3-year photos turn out! Hopefully he will cooperate and wear the super cute clothes we bought for the occasion- the shirt shouldn't be a problem since it has a dinosaur on it, but the shorts might be another issue.... my child lives in sweatpants.

After pictures, my sweet boy and I will be parting in different directions. Brecken will be going with his Grandma and Papa to Lingle to spend a few days, and Josh and I will be heading to Ft. Collins for my surgery on Monday morning. That's going to be hard on me. It's the longest he has ever been away from both of us. He stayed overnight by himself at my mom and dad's house last spring, but it wasn't even for 24 hours. This will be for two nights!! He adores his Grandma and Papa so hopefully it will be easy for everyone. I'm sorry in advance though, Lennie, if he cries the whole ride back to Lingle.

As I mentioned, my surgery is Monday. I'm starting to get a tad bit nervous, but will be so glad to have this stupid thing out of me. It's hurting again tonight. Not extremely painful like has happened before, but enough to be uncomfortable. So let's get the show on the road and get it out. I'll post again when I'm able to, and let y'all know how it went.

Until then...

daycare drama

So Brecken did NOT get to stay the rest of the week at Stacy's. She left this morning to go get married in Nebraska. We knew she was getting married, just didn't know when. We called everyone we could think of last night and still had no babysitter for today, tomorrow, and Friday. I was in tears when one of our friends who we had already called, called us back and said she called one of HER friends for us who gladly volunteered to take Brecken this week. We didn't know this lady at all- but she has a little girl in B's preschool class, she's a nurse, and her husband is a highway patrolman. Can't be all bad, right? So that's where B went today. Mary's house.

Josh brought Brecken to school first and then brought him to preschool at 8:15. Josh has 1st hour prep, so he was able to leave. He had a staff meeting first though, and told me through email that Brecken had read a book during the meeting. Wanna know what book? One by Hemingway! I laughed hard. Our 3 year old prodigy. :) Josh then took him to preschool and was shocked to see B walk right over to the table with a bunch of cows on it, find the one that said "BRECKEN", and put it on the barn on the wall to show they were there today. He still doesn't know how he found the right one. (I'm going to venture a guess that they lay them out in the same order each day....) B's teacher, Melody, told Josh that we have a very bright child and is always very smart. Keep those comments coming, Miss Melody! :)

Anyway, I picked Brecken up this afternoon from Mary's house and was relieved to find that Brecken had a great time. He did not want to go with her, which is OK with me since I don't really want him wanting to leave with strangers.... but the preschool knew Mary was going to take him home so they let Brecken know it was OK. In fact, one of the teachers carried my child the two blocks to Mary's house to show him that it was fine. What great teachers he has. :) It took him about a half hour to totally warm up, but then was fine. Mary also has a little boy that will be 3 in January, so not much younger than Brecken, and they played all afternoon. Mary took them on an hour long walk, played outside, watched cartoons, just a bunch of fabulous sounding things. I loved Mary as soon as I met her this afternoon. I'm very glad Brecken will be going there the rest of the week. Maybe by Friday Mary will tell me, "You know, I'd love to have him full-time!" :)

No news today on Amy's dad. As of yesterday, his heart was still not beating on it's own. They were able to put a balloon pump into him yesterday though, so they were at least able to close up his chest. Keep on prayin' for them.

the new lady

Brecken spent the day at the new daycare lady's house. Her name is Stacy. I was pretty positive it was going to be a disaster- B woke up in a horrible mood and it got worse after we forced him to wear socks under his Crocs (because he threw an even bigger fit when we got out the tennis-excuse me, GOLF- shoes...) due to the SNOW that was on the ground this morning! Combine that with being dropped off at a strange lady's house, I was sure we'd be getting called to come pick him up and take him home. But we didn't. And he survived. (and so did his Mommy.) His friend Riley (also from Amy's house) was there to play with today. And Stacy took Brecken to preschool which was familiar to him, so that made the transition easier too. I did get to Stacy's house to pick Brecken up this afternoon, to find Brecken in his heavy coat still. She said he refused to take it off all day long. It must have been his comfort blanket today. :) (Though I'm willing to bet he took it off at school, since that was something he felt comfortable with.)

Tomorrow, he'll go back, and this time his friend Cavin from Amy's house will be there too. I'm glad there are kids Brecken knows. It makes me feel better.

The reason Brecken was there today and will be for the rest of the week, is because Amy's dad had heart bypass surgery in Salt Lake City today. I never heard a final number but they were predicting 6-10 bypasses. Holy yikes. She planned on being back tomorrow night, but wrote to Josh tonight and said that her dad's heart would not start after the surgery. They left it open and hooked up to machines to pump it for him, and they are hoping his heart is just stunned right now and will start beating on it's own again soon. Of course, Amy and her family will be there at least the rest of this week. How very scary for Amy and her family. My heart totally goes out to them. If you have any prayers to spare, we sure would appreciate some for Amy and her family.

I took Dylan with me today when I picked up Brecken and the 3 of us went to the park. I took pictures of them playing and made a photobook for Brecken to give Dylan for a going away present. I ordered one for Brecken too, so they'll always have pictures of each other! Now, if I could just find something fabulous for Amy...

out of the mouth of "babes"

Heard from the back seat on our way home today, while talking about preschool:

"All the girls are my best friends, Mom."

3-year-old chick magnet. :)

a 3 year old

Sept. 11, 2006 Sept. 11, 2007
Sept. 11, 2008

Sept. 11, 2009

the "me tree"

Brecken comes home with the greatest things from preschool. Today is one that I will definitely be keeping for forever and ever. It's a "me tree", with his hand as the tree stump and his fingers as the branches, full of pictures of his favorite things.

The magazine pictures are an apple, some corn-on-the-cob, and a kitty. The pictures he drew are wonderful- the two red ones are hearts, one for Mommy and one for Daddy, he said. And the one on the right is him.

I LOVE this boy. :)

football, baptism, and a party

Busy weekend we just had! Josh's team was playing in Lingle, so we stayed the weekend. The game was very painful to watch. Not fun at all. We lost BIG. Darn it, because that means Josh lost to his old coach! :)

This picture of Brecken and his friend Avey (from Lingle!) was taken immediately before Brecken's fall through the bleachers, onto the cement underneath, resulting in LOTS AND LOTS of blood. I've never seen so much from one little mouth. I was sopping it up with a diaper to absorb it!



Saturday and Sunday Josh played in a golf tournament with his dad and Jeffrey. Brecken and I went into town with Grandma Saturday morning and spent Saturday afternoon taking a nap. It was fabulous! :) Saturday evening, after the tournament ended for the day, we all loaded up and went to Alliance, NE for Bryell's baptism. Beth's mom and dad were gracious enough to let us all invade their house for dinner- Carol made a FANTASTIC spread for us all to enjoy. Brecken had fun playing at their house- he had Bryell to love on (and he did plenty of loving on her!), a yard to play golf and football in, and lots of new people (Beth's dad Wayne, Grandpa, and Uncle Jeffrey!) to play with. He did GREAT during the baptism. I had told him he needed to be really quiet in the church and if he needed to talk, he needed to whisper. He took that very serious and as my camera clicked for the first time, I got a "SHHHH, Mommy! We have to be quiet!" :) He was very proud of himself for staying quiet for 30 minutes while the baptism took place. Bryell was a trouper too- she didn't cry at all!


Sunday was a busy day as well! I spent well over 5 hours baking basketball cakes and decorating them. Brecken was so excited to have his basketball birthday party, he could hardly stand it. We had it on Sunday since all the Sandlian siblings were home already. (We will have our friends over for a birthday BBQ after Josh's game on Friday night, B's actual birthday.) Brecken had a great time playing with ALL of his cousins (Kristen and David were able to come, too!!) and had a blast. He got great gifts from everyone- thank you! He got a Mickey Mouse sleeping bag, a Mickey Mouse coloring book, and a Mickey Mouse book from Grandma Pee-Wee (and his sleeping bag has been used many many times already!). A Lightening McQueen backpack for preschool, bathtub color tablets, and a water balloon game came from Kristen, David, and the kids. Grandma Lennie and Grandpa Craig got him a Bilibo, which we had given Brooke for her birthday and Brecken loved. It's a pure imagination toy to do whatever they want with it. (Teri- you should check into these for your preschool!) It has already been sat in, sat on, and jumped off of, as well as been worn on his head as a hat. Joel, Annie, and the kids got him a baby dinosaur that makes the cutest little dino sounds- it has to come everywhere with us now. Jeff, Beth, and Bryell got him football windpants (which he is SOOO excited about!) and a football shirt. Josh's Uncle Bryan and Aunt Anne got him some adorable jammies with a bear playing football on each pair. Josh and I got him a Panther sweatshirt. We also got him something else to open on his actual birthday. I hope I'm not forgetting anybody....

It was a great weekend! I love weekends like that, even if no rest was had. :)

so much to catch up on...

...but not tonight. Sorry. :) I have a bed to stretch out on calling my name, I'm actually in pain tonight. This stupid tumor thing hurts every once in a while and tonight is no exception.

I WILL be back soon though, to catch up on the weekend's events- lots to say! A football game, a weekend in Lingle, Bryell's baptism, and Brecken's birthday party since all the Sandlian siblings were home. Phew! It was a great weekend, but not a lot of relaxing was had. :)

So until then...