Final Surgery (hopefully)!!!

I talked with my plastic surgeon today, filled her in on the goings-on, and expressed my desire to move forward with my surgery before the end of November. I have thought long and hard over the past several months and I just don't want to mess with my left side any more. I don't want to risk it. I had to deal with open wounds, packing, and dressing changes for months because my left side didn't heal well. And, after being lopp-sided for 7 months now, I just want to be "even" again. So she said it would be no problem to reduce my right side and try to match it up with the left. She may do some liposuction (Oh DARN!!) and use that fat to fill in my indention on the left side. I'm meeting with her tomorrow afternoon so that she can figure out what she wants to do. I'm really excited to get this final surgery done which is scheduled for the afternoon of November 12th!!

Change Is In the Air

Big changes are coming for our family. Although we haven't "officially" been notified, we are pretty sure Curt is going to be laid off either this week or next. This doesn't come as a surprise to us as we have been preparing for months, just in case. For the past several months, we have been praying specifically for guidance if we were put in this position. We have a plan and we feel strongly that this is what direction our family needs to go. Curt and I both are at peace with this, although at times I do get nervous and scared of the unknown. We have been through some difficult trials in our almost 9 years of marriage and know that this new trial will only make us stronger. As soon as the lay off is made official, I will fill everyone in on our plans. For the time being, know that we are doing well and are actually excited for our new adventure!

Race For the Cure. Oct 11, 2009.

I had a great time walking in my first Race For the Cure on Sunday! Monda and I left early on Sunday morning and met up with Elizabeth and her family when it was time to line up at the start line.

In Memory of: my sister Carrie.....I miss her...a lot
In honor of: myself, Elizabeth, Amy, and my aunt Barb

Elizabeth, Monda, and I

Survivors!!

(Doesn't Elizabeth look so cute?!)

Lining up for the "Survivor's Parade"

Starting Line

Finish Line

Thank you to those who donated to this cause. There were about 30,000 people who attended and over 2 million dollars was raised!! Awesome. Also, thanks to Monda and Elizabeth for sharing this special day with me :)

Reminiscing...

Today is my baby's 3rd birthday and what an exciting time it is! As challenging as Jake can be sometimes, he brings a lot of joy into my life. Jake crawled into our bed around 4am this morning, and after putting him back into his bed at 4:45, I could not go back to sleep. So I plunked in front of my laptop and popped in the cd's of photos I have of Jake's birth...first pics of the 3 brothers...first bites of rice cereal...learning to crawl....first birthday...etc. I have really been longing for another baby lately. All of our boys are around 2 1/2 years apart, so I would have had another baby by now if I hadn't been diagnosed with cancer. At times it makes me a little sad, but at the same time, I have learned so much and grown immensely over the past 2 years. I wouldn't trade it. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for me and my family. I just have to be patient and put my complete trust in Him.

SMILE!

I am starting to feel a little better today, although I still have the body aches and pains. I am ready to live life again and to not let these things keep me down.... especially after watching Nie Nie on Oprah today. If she can endure constant excruciating physical pain, on top of being severely disfigured, and still say how lovely her life is.....then I know I can too. I am reminded, once again, of how blessed I am. We will be celebrating Jake's 3rd birthday this week!! He was 14 months old when I was diagnosed. How grateful I am to be alive to celebrate another birthday with him and the rest of our family! I certainly have SO MUCH to smile about and I plan on doing more of just that :-D

I'm "Normal"

I loaded up the kids and headed to my appt with Dr Obenchain today. Luckily, Curt was able to meet me there and stayed with the boys in the waiting room while I met with the dr. I was not surprised to see with my very eyes that all of my bloodwork came back normal. Normal is a good thing! I was just convinced that I had all the symptoms of Hypothyroidism and was hoping for an "easy fix" with a Rx of Synthroid or something like that. My pelvic ultrasound was also good. It showed some possible cysts, but we are not worried about that and will not pursue any more scans for a while. I asked her if depression could cause my body to feel the way it has been. She said "Absolutely! But it could also be the Tamoxifen.". I really am starting to resent this stupid Tamoxifen. The pill that is supposed to be helping my cancer not come back...it's really REALLY not fun living with the side effects. Dr Obenchain gave me a prescription of Celexa to try and I am sooooo hoping it helps me to feel better. And soon. One has to start thinking about quality of life....and right now....I can't keep going on feeling like this. So either the Celexa better work, or the Tamoxifen has got to go. Of course I wouldn't do anything without consulting with my dr. first. I will follow up with her again in December, and probably do more bloodwork then.