2011 - The first half of the year...

Here we are in June and my last post was on little Pressers birthday in January.  Anyone want to vote for me for Blogger of the year?! 

This year has been a full one so far for us indeed.   Just for memories sake I want to write the highlights of whats been going on....

~Baby Presley is a baby no more.  She is walking around like she owns the place these days and we are just more delighted with her than ever. She is simply delish!

~On Feb 28 I got a great big surprise of an appendix that ruptured and had to rush to the hospital.  After 6 hours in the ER, I was taken to the OR for an emergency appendectomy. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life.  It was a pretty awful experience and I ended up in the hospital for a week. Yuck!  But I made it thru to the other side and after about a month and a half I was feeling back to my old self. 

~ In March we decided to roll up our sleeves and do some home improvements. We tore up the floor in our kitchen and living room and laid hardwood floors.  I am so proud of my hubby and what a fantastic job he did! They look beautiful!  He is getting handier with every year that passes!



~In April one of my dearest friends moved back home to Minnesota. And even though I am nothing but happy for her to be home with her family, I miss her dearly.  My life has been so enriched by her friendship and I'm so thankful that not even hundreds of miles has changed our friendship.  Love you Betty-boop!


~ Kobe has just finished up another season of baseball.  He has grown so much in his skill this year and was awesome out their on the field.  This was his first year pitching and he just improved more and more every week.  He had the world's best coach this year.  Such a great guy. I have learned that coaches really do make all the difference.

~And Miss Maddie Paddie had another great soccer season this spring! She was up and down those fields and hung with all the rest of those kids.  You would never know she had anything going on with her heart.  She did tell me that she thinks she is done with soccer though and wants to try Dance in the fall. :)

~May brought lots of doctor appointments for us.  Kobe had his ear rechecked at UVA.  They gave us great news that it looks like his eardrum is trying to heal itself and so they want to keep waiting instead of surgery!  What great news!   Maddie had her appointment with the pediatric cardiologist on May 24.  They did an EKG and echocardiogram and found that everything still looks the same as it did in September, so we will need to proceed as planned with surgery.  This has definitely been a very difficult thing for me.  I'm just taking it a day at a time. 

~June brought many great things.  Kobe and Maddie finished up school and are officially a 6th & 4th grader! My babies. How can that be?! 

~On June 11 my brother Shane got married to the lovely Angela. I have a new sissy!  The wedding was so beautiful and I'm so happy for my big brother that he has finally found the one he was meant to be with!

                     (Check out those awesome red shoes! Angie baby was simply gorg!)

~On June 13 Miss Kensi turned 4.  We had a great day celebrating our wonderful Goose doing whatever she wanted all day .  The number one thing she wanted to do was go to Martin's and fill her own bag of candy from the bulk candy aisle. ha! We fit in some swimming, riding her new bike and a cookout with family and friends.  It was the perfect day! 

~ And that brings us to yesterday, June 15th.  We went back to UVA for Maddie's pre-op appointment. She will be having open heart surgery on Monday morning.  Even though I know this surgery is necessary and what is best for her, there is a part of me (a big part!) that wants to take her far away and just hide from all this.  The doctors went over everything with me. I heard lots of things I hope to forget and am trying not to let stay in my mind.  Maddie listened as they told her what would happen.  She seems very nonchalant about the whole thing. I suppose thats just as well.  I really want to just make all this go away. But I know the only way to do that is to just walk this out. Day by day.  I know that God has us all in his hands. I know it, I do. But man is it hard to think of just turning her over to them knowing what will happen and then just waiting 6 hours.  I feel absolutely horrible about the pain she will wake up and feel. I would do anything to take that from her. But I can't. And it feels pretty helpless.  So I find myself having to choose every day, every hour and yes, sometimes every minute to place my little girl in God's hands and trust.  Sounds so simple, but something I am finding is quite difficult right now. I know His plans for her life are good.   So that is what I am clinging to right now.  He loves her more than I do. And He will never leave us.  I'm just wishing it was this time next week. :)

So that catches up to where we are now.  I hope I am better at blogging the last half of this year than I was the first half. 

100th Post & A Thyroidectomy

It has only taken me two and a half years to get to this monumental post....my 100th! Ha! I started this blog in November 2007. Kensi was 5 months old, Kobe was 7yrs and Maddie was 5yrs. Clearly I am not on top of my game with this blogging thing. ;) I am thankful for the (little) time I have taken to document our journey. I have had a great time reading back over it and remembering. Funny how quickly details fade and its all brought back as I read thru.

So happy 100th to me! Any guesses on how many years it'll take me to get to my 200th? Kobe's graduation? :)

Onto current events.....

I made it thru and am on the other side....without a thyroid!!! Wooooohoooooo! I never thought I would be so happy to have lost a bodily organ. But overjoyed I am!

Thursday morning at 4am we made the trek to Charlottsville. I was thrilled when I got the news the day before that I would be the first case of the day. No time to think. Anylize. Worry. Think some more. Just get there and get it done. I had some dear friends who had prayed with me and over me. Although I had a few jitters, overall I was very, very calm. Aaron was able to stay with me until right before they took me into the OR which was wonderful for me. The last thing I remember is the residents talking to me about where I live. I said Harrisonburg and one of them said "Oh where JMU is....thats a party school, huh?!" And I was gone. Don't remember another thing until my Mom and Aaron were there with me waking up in recovery. General anesthesia is a beautiful thing. :)

The doctor said my surgery went perfectly. He was able to get the thyroid out, leave the parathyroid glands in tact (they control all the calcium in your body and if damaged during surgery would result in taking a ton of calcium pills every day for the rest of my life), and didn't even touch my vocal cords or cut thru any neck muscles. He also told me he would be shocked if it was cancerous, said it looks completely benign. A perfect surgery. A complete answer to prayer. God has been so good to me.

The recovery took me by surprise. I think I have worried and thought thru this surgery so much that I didn't spend much time thinking about the recovery. The first two days were way more painful than I could have ever imagined even with the morphine and percocet. On Saturday when I woke up, I noticed I was in a little less pain and yesterday I noticed a huge improvement. Yesterday was the first day I was really able to talk normally.

One of the most painful things for me the first two days was the soreness from where they had put the breathing tube down my throat. Holy Moly. They said 'you may be a little scratchy or have some soreness from the tube for a few hours after surgery.' Uh, not for me. It felt as though an elphant had kicked me in the throat and then decided to sit there for a day or so. SO incredibly difficult to swallow and so painful when I did. It also hurt when I talked. It felt like a super bad case of strep throat. Wowser.

The other thing I didn't anticipate was how incredibly stiff and sore my muscles in the back of my head and neck were. My mom and Aaron , bless their hearts, have been massaging my neck non-stop. Evidently after they 'put you out', they tilt your head all the way back, almost till the back of your head touches the back of your shoulders. And thats how I stayed for two and a half hours! Ouchie! Its still hurts so much and I don't have much movement yet. I guess the most important thing is that the doctor can see clearly, but man I wasn't expecting this kind of stiffness. Icy hot has been my best friend!

And my Mom and Sister have been our heros. They have totally taken care of the kids and house while we were gone. Our little Peach put on a show for them. Oh man. I knew it would be a rough 24 hours, and she proved me right! She has a stubborn streak and just wouldn't take a bottle and was just 'off' '. She was so aware that something was going on and could sense it. Precious girl. I don't know who was more excited, me or her, when I got home. I have never left any of my kids overnight being so young, so I definitely just wanted to get home as quick as possible. But man I am so thankful for a mom and sister who are so willing to help, even with a screaming baby!

So here it is Monday. I am feeling so much better than even a day ago. I have pretty much been curled up on the couch watching life happen around me and watching HGTV. Its been fun, but I'm ready to get back to normal!!! I'm still stiff and aware that my neck feels really 'tight' due to being taped up with steri-stips. I'm ready to get to this time, next week! I think I will feel a little closer to normal.

I am so thankful to Jesus for carrying me thru this. He is faithful. He cares. He comforts. He has been in the details. I am more aware of all these things about Him having gone through this experience. His ways are better than mine.

I am extremely thanful for my precious husband. He has been my rock. Completely unwaivering through all of this. He stayed by my side and has taken care of me 24/7. He is such an example of how to love like Jesus loves even when its not the most, um, pretty of jobs. He does it with such grace.

And my Mom has once again been amazing. She took her whole week of vacation from her job just to stay with us and help as I recover. I can't even begin to explain how incredible she is. She is so wonderful and keeping up with all the house work, kids, cooking and everything while I am recovering. Her and Aaron have been an amazing tag team. They are the best.

So thats the story of the Thyroid That Is No Mo! Not quite as fun as writing a birth story, but its part of our journey all the same!