Busy Month!

It has been such a busy time. Christmas time is always busy with parties, shopping and decorating. It seems like we wait all year for Christmas to come (at least I do) and in the blink of an eye its over. But I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts. Tonight we are going to pick out our tree, then after we set it up we're gonna watch White Christmas, , I love Christmas movies.

On Saturday RJ and I are going to Coronado. I'm excited, I've never been down there before so it will be nice to see all the lights and to walk around the hotel. But I have a feeling it's going to be really cold, so we'll have to dress warm.

I went to the Christmas coffee last Saturday, it was really nice. The speaker was amazing. There was so much to glean from her message, but one thing is that Christmas is never over for Jesus. It didn't end with the baby in the manger, He gave us the most precious gift, His life. And every day we are blessed with His presents in our lives.

Merry Christmas every one!

Carrie Underwood

Tonight my mom and I are going to a Carrie Underwood concert!! I'm soooo excited!! I saw her in concert a couple of years ago and it was a lot of fun!! I bought these tickets about 3 months ago and I thought it would take forever to get here, but finally we get to go!! My moms birthday is the 22nd so this is an early b-day gift!!

We ordered boots on-line, because you have to have boots to go to a country western concert!! And we just wanted to find some cheap boots!! Of course the boots we ordered were not in stock and they had to be shipped from the manufacturer. We ordered them at the end of September thinking that would be plenty of time to ship to us before the concert!! But NOOOOO!!!! After many emails and phone calls we finally got a confirmation email that my boots had been shipped out! At last!!! We got them on the 31st of October (over a month later!!) and when we opened the box, they turned out to be my moms boots and they looked nothing like the picture of what we ordered!!! Ok, at least we got one pair!! So my mom called and told them about the mix up and asked them to check on the other pair of boots to make sure they would be my size!! They said "Oh, I'm sure they'll be the correct size." But my mom asked them to check just in case and they said they would.

So the next day we got another confirmation email that the boots have been shipped. But of course in the wrong size!!!! Ugh!! So we called again and they were very rude to us, like we had done something wrong!! Hello, we just want the right size boots, is that wrong?? Now they tell us my boots aren't going to ship out until the 28th of November!!! Thats a little to late don't you think?

So, needless to say we canceled my boot order and my mom got 25% off her boots! Thank goodness for Boot Barn where I got a very cute pair of boots the same day!!

Carrie Underwood, here we come!!!

Back to work

Well, tomorrow I go back to work!! I'm glad to go back, but I'm a little sad too! It has been a nice time of relaxation and recuperation for me. But now it's time to get back to reality! So I'm going to try to get some good sleep tonight to be rested for tomorrow. This time went by so fast!

I don't know how much sleep I'm going to get with this election looming over my head! I'm glad I'll be at work tomorrow so I don't have to think about it all day! Although I'll probably be looking online at Fox. I know that the Lord is in control, but I still want my candidate to win! And that of course would be John McCain! His ideas are the closest to what I stand for.

Lord please let your will be done, but let McCain have the victory!!!

Pumpkins

As we were carving our pumpkins today, the Food network was airing their pumpkin carving challenge. It was amazing, it put our pumpkins to shame! But anyways, we had fun trying to be creative!! And I think they turned out pretty well!!

RJ's Pumpkin Paradise :

Melissa's Tropical Pumpkin:

Hospital Time

My time in the hospital wasn't too bad! Here are some pictures of the waiting room before the surgery:

Thanks again every one for praying!! I am healing nicely and still resting! In a week and a half I go back to work!! This time has gone by so fast, the Lord has been faithful to us!!

Recovery

Well, it's almost been a week since my surgery, I can't believe it's been that long!! I think the word to describe how I am feeling would be........BLAH. I'm feeling better than right after the surgery, but not good enough to say I am feeling great.

The pain medication does funny things to you!! I'll be feeling good, then all of the sudden I'm dizzy and nauseated. So I'm trying to ease off the the pain meds!! I still have lots of bruises and soreness. But thankfully I'm not in constant pain.

Yesterday I had to go to my doctor to have my blood tested just to make sure there was nothing wrong. Everything came back fine, I need to start taking iron pill because of my blood transfusion. I hope they will make me feel stronger!!

Once again thank you all for your encouraging words and prayers they really brighten my day!!!!!

Surgery........DONE!!!

I can't believe that the surgery is over. Wednesday was a loooong day!!! We checked in at 7 am and I got all ready to go. They put in my IV and I was sitting and waiting. Then the Doctor came in and said there was a problem with the pipes in the OR. Some how the air conditioning went out and there was condensation on the pipes of the Davinchi machine. The water had run onto the ceiling tiles and they were worried about mold growing. They told us there was a possibility that they wouldn't be able to do any surgeries that day!!

But the Doctor said he had every reason to believe that we would be able to do surgery, but it might take a couple of more hours!! Then he prayed a wonderful prayer over us!! He said this had never happened before, of course!! So at 11:30 they came and took me away to the OR, they had fixed everything! Praise the Lord! I can remember going into the room, it was very cold and bright!! Then they gave me more "happy juice" and I was out!! The next thing I remember I was waking up in the recovery room and looking at the clock and it said 10pm!! I couldn't believe it was so late!! The Lupron medicine made the fibroid soft, so it was hard to get out! I lost 2oo cc's of blood and had to have a blood transfusion.

Once I got to the room, I felt relived. I Got to see everyone and talk to them! The next day on Thursday they sent me home!! It is so nice to be home. Now I am just recovering and trying to rest and relax!!

Thank you for all your prayers and support, I know that the Lord was with me!!

Pre-op.........uncheck!

Well, the good news is that the Fibroid has gone down. The Doctor is pleased with the size and the Laporoscopic surgery is on!! He said it was still a pretty good size, but it's down enough! I love our Doctor, he is awesome! He went over every detail with us, it will be a 3 hour surgery and 2 hours in recovery. Probably a 1 night stay in the hospital.

Then it all fell apart!! We were suppose to go across the street to the hospital for the rest of my pre-op. But for some reason my appointment was canceled. They made it seem like I never had an appointment. We tried to tell them that I did, we even got a confirmation call about it! We also told them I had taken off today for my pre-op, but they wouldn't even fit me in!! So we have to go back the day before my surgery at 7:45am to get my blood work done.

After 2 hours we finally got a straight answer, our nurse called them to cancel my paperwork because my Doctor went over it with me, but not the whole appointment. So even after that they still wouldn't see me!! Some times I think insurance and some workers have no idea what they are doing!!!

But after all that I'm very thankful to the Lord for working everything out for the surgery!! Again thank you all for your prayers!!!

P.S. I got another amen on my "To God be the glory" shirt!

MRI...............Check

Well the first hurdle is over, the MRI is done.

This time I had to go all the way into the machine, it wasn't too bad, I just kept my eyes closed. It was really loud with buzzing and humming, every picture or angle is a different sound. The contrast IV was weird, it didn't hurt but my arm got cold and it was tingling! Afterward the nurse let me see the picture of the MRI, it was so cool! I saw a big mass, the Fibroid is a lot bigger then I thought it would be. It takes up all the room in my uterus, about the size of a grapefruit. I know that it has shrunk a little bit, but not as much as I had hoped. My appointment with the Doctor is tomorrow at 9:20, so he will tell me whats going on. Thank you for all your prayers, I know they have helped. The Lord had given me a lot of peace. I will give an update tomorrow after my Pre-op appointment. Love you guys!!!

P.S. I wore my "To God be the glory" shirt, to remind myself what my life is all about. A lady stopped me and said she loved my shirt and asked me where I got it. So I was able to tell her all about it. Now that's cool!!

MRI

On October 1st I have to have an MRI, Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The Doctor wants to have a better picture of the Fibroid for the surgery. This will be my second MRI, the first time wasn't that bad. The only thing was the noise. The clicking and banging is so loud!!! They tell you to relax and stay still, but it's hard when you jump from the noise. It will be all quiet, then all of the sudden you hear this loud racket!! They gave me head phones to listen to music, but I couldn't hear anything because of the noise of the machine! I also have to have contrast material in my system through an IV so the tumor will be even more visible.

At least my head gets to stay out of the machine so I don't get claustrophobic. The bed slides in all the way up to my neck and then it stops. It takes about 45 min to get all the pictures.




This is what WebMD says:

"During the test you will lie on your back on a table that is part of the MRI scanner. Your head, chest, and arms may be held with straps to help you remain still. The table will slide into the space that contains the magnet. A device called a coil may be placed over or wrapped around the area to be scanned. A special belt strap may be used to sense your breathing or heartbeat. This triggers the machine to take the scan at the right time. Inside the scanner you will hear a fan and feel air moving. You may also hear tapping or snapping noises as the MRI scans are taken. You may be given earplugs or headphones with music to reduce the noise. It is very important to hold completely still while the scan is being done. You may be asked to hold your breath for short periods of time."

Tapping is an understatement. They make it sound so scary, but like I said, the first time wasn't so bad, we'll see how the second time goes!!

Once again your prayers are appreciated!

My Life!

This last year of my life has been very challenging. It started with my mom having a hysterectomy, she was very nervous about it. But she made it through with flying colors, with the help of the Lord!! In November my dad had an accident at work and his leg was cut with a piece of glass all the way down to the bone. He had to have emergency surgery to replace the tendons and nerves. It was a hard couple of months, he couldn't work and had to just sit and let his leg heal. It's much better now but two of his toes are still numb, so he'll need more surgery. Then in January my mom caught pneumonia. She was very ill for weeks. Even today her lungs still bother her!

And now to me, I have a fibroid tumor in my uterus. This is a non-cancerous tumor. We tried everything natural to heal it, but it didn't work. I had 2 shots of a medicine called Lupron to shrink it and I am having surgery on October 8 to remove it.

Even though this has been a very tough year the Lord has been so amazing to us!! He led us to a Doctor who will do my surgery by a robotic arm. This is a less invasive surgery and we are so thankful for him!! Although I am not thrilled to have surgery, I know the Lord is in control and He will work everything out for His glory!! Who knows, maybe I will be able to encourage someone in the hospital who needs it!!

I think we are on the up side of everything now (I hope), but whatever the Lord has planned for me is better than what I could have planned for myself!!

To God be the glory!!

If you think about it please pray for us, we need all the prayers we can get!!