Jacob,
Over the years we have had our differences, arguments and on a few occasions (a very long time ago before you got stronger than me) we've even thrown a few punches. I'll never forget the time you guilted me into making you macaroni and cheese. You were about seven, when I was done, you insisted that something wasn't right. It wasn't until you asked for a spoon that I realized that I didn't drain the macaroni and essentially made you eat mac and cheese soup. I was 10, I hadn't quite perfected my culinary skills yet!
You were there for me when I was stuck in Texas and when Wayne was diagnosed last year and today I get the honor of serving as a bridesmaid in your wedding.....to one of the best women I've ever met.
I have to tell you, before you met Anna I wasn't sure I would ever type that last sentence. I certainly never thought you would be with a woman with two small children.
But I can hardly remember a time when Anna, Kayden and Ethan weren't a part of our family and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Today I am filled with pride and joy for the man you are, the father you have become and the husband you will be.
I love you, Anna, Ethan and Kayden so much and I couldn't be happier that the four of you are officially becoming a family today.
Love,
Missy
**My younger brother is getting married today. I am ridiculously emotional. I knew I would cry at the wedding, but I didn't think it would start this soon. Every time I looked at him at the rehearsal dinner, I started crying. I am ending this post here because I'm crying so hard that I can barely see. I'm just so happy for them!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
A Different Kind of Summer
For the second year in a row, we have spent the summer going to Dr. appointments and recovering from surgery.
I don't lie very well so when I have something that I should tell someone but don't want to, I just end up avoiding them. Which is exactly why I haven't updated in the last two months.
A few days after my last update, Wayne and I were walking around a home improvement store when he started having chest pains with pain in his left shoulder and arm, then he got dizzy and sweaty. We immediately started walking toward the door. We happened to be in Iowa City and just 10 minutes away from one of the best hospitals in the area. So after a brief discussion, we decided to get some aspirin and go to the Emergency Room.
Have you ever wondered what the magic words are to get you to the front of the line in a packed E.R. waiting room? Apparently "my 38 year old husband who had kidney cancer last year is having chest pains going into his left arm", works really well...or maybe it was the tears...not sure.
The nitro seemed to work to relieve the pain, then it came back, then went away again. The blood tests came back fine, but it was determined that he would stay overnight and have some further tests in the morning. They finally admitted him at about 3:30a, this post is going to be pretty long so I won't even get into his crazy roommate who called his daughter at 3a so he could talk to his dog...his.dog.at.three.in.the.morning.
We decided that we wouldn't tell anyone until we knew what was going on. We would later take a lot of heat for that decision, but it was the right one for us and we stand by it.
Did I mention that I was sick? At one point the E.R. nurse looked at me and said "Are you okay? You don't look so good." I told her that I was just sick and went to the Dr. that day but didn't have time to fill the prescription yet.
At about 8:30a, my Dr. called and told me that they had made the appt. with the ear, nose, throat specialist at 12:45 that day. I about cried, I'd had a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes for 6 weeks. The antibiotics worked for a while then it got worse again, but that day was just not a good day. I talked to Wayne he was doing very well, but really needed some rest. So we decided that I would leave to let the dogs out, get cleaned up and go to the E.N.T.
Wayne texted me at 12:35 to tell me that they were taking him for the stress test and we would know in a few hours if there was a blockage or if he'd had a heart attack.
Twenty minutes later, the Dr. was examining me when he found something while pressing at the base of my neck. I said "that's sore, that's really sore actually." He told me that it was my thyroid and that there was a nodule on it. He said that a lot of people have thyroid nodules and the vast majority of them are benign, but we should do some tests just to make sure. He also said that it appears that I have chronic tonsilitis and that my tonsils will probably need to be removed at some point but the nodule takes priority at this point.
I literally walked out of the office looked up at the sky and said aloud "Seriously? We haven't been through enough?"
I scheduled the Fine Needle Aspiration (a.k.a. biopsy) and ultrasound for two days later. I made a decision at that point that I would not tell anyone about the nodule, but I would try not to lie either. I told everyone that I had the F.N.A., but the only ones who knew it was a biopsy were the people who had been through it. I didn't even tell Wayne about the nodule. My thinking was that if it was benign he won't ever have to know, and if it was malignant then I'd have cancer, how mad could he be at me?
When I got to the hospital, we found out that he did not have a heart attack or a blockage. The pain was most likely caused by the left ventricle being slightly enlarged. He was released and we went home.
A week after the F.N.A. I went back to get the results. I had done a lot of research over the week and had a list of questions ready for if it had been benign or malignant. I felt I was prepared for anything he told me. I however was not prepared for him to say that it was still inconclusive. It was a follicular neoplasm, which basically means that they could biopsy it 100 times and it would still be inconclusive. It was either a follicular adenoma or follicular thyroid cancer. The only way to know for sure would be to remove it. He suggested that the best course of treatment would be to remove the right lobe of my thyroid. If it was cancer, he would go back a couple weeks later and remove the whole thyroid. Then 6 weeks after that I would have to have radioactive iodine treatment. And oh yeah, I would still need to have a tonsillectomy at some point. I scheduled the lobectomy for August 9th (about 2 1/2 weeks later).
My first thought when he told me was "Oh crap, now I have to tell Wayne". Let's just say, he was not happy. That's an understatement, he was angry. I told him that I found out about the nodule at the very minute that he was undergoing a test to find out if he had a heart attack. I apologized for excluding him, but I stand by my decision. He eventually got over his anger.
Wayne tried to convince me to tell my parents, but I insisted on not worrying them unless I had to. Actually he told me that I would go to Hell if I didn't tell my Mom. I took my chances.
It is five weeks after surgery and I'm doing really well. There has not been a lot of pain, but I was surprised how it affected everything I did. I didn't expect to not be able to lift anything or push a shopping cart or walk Lola on a leash. He was able to remove just the lump, so I am not on thyroid meds.
We found out a few weeks ago that it is benign...Thank God. I just told my parents last week about the lump, they were not mad and understood why we kept it to ourselves.
I still have a sore throat and a fever at least once a week. I've opted to wait to have the tonsillectomy until after my brother's wedding in October. I'm not looking forward to it, I've heard that the recovery is pretty rough for adults.
Hopefully, I'll be able to write about fun vacations and other fun things next summer!
I have so much to tell you, so please check back.
I don't lie very well so when I have something that I should tell someone but don't want to, I just end up avoiding them. Which is exactly why I haven't updated in the last two months.
A few days after my last update, Wayne and I were walking around a home improvement store when he started having chest pains with pain in his left shoulder and arm, then he got dizzy and sweaty. We immediately started walking toward the door. We happened to be in Iowa City and just 10 minutes away from one of the best hospitals in the area. So after a brief discussion, we decided to get some aspirin and go to the Emergency Room.
Have you ever wondered what the magic words are to get you to the front of the line in a packed E.R. waiting room? Apparently "my 38 year old husband who had kidney cancer last year is having chest pains going into his left arm", works really well...or maybe it was the tears...not sure.
The nitro seemed to work to relieve the pain, then it came back, then went away again. The blood tests came back fine, but it was determined that he would stay overnight and have some further tests in the morning. They finally admitted him at about 3:30a, this post is going to be pretty long so I won't even get into his crazy roommate who called his daughter at 3a so he could talk to his dog...his.dog.at.three.in.the.morning.
We decided that we wouldn't tell anyone until we knew what was going on. We would later take a lot of heat for that decision, but it was the right one for us and we stand by it.
Did I mention that I was sick? At one point the E.R. nurse looked at me and said "Are you okay? You don't look so good." I told her that I was just sick and went to the Dr. that day but didn't have time to fill the prescription yet.
At about 8:30a, my Dr. called and told me that they had made the appt. with the ear, nose, throat specialist at 12:45 that day. I about cried, I'd had a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes for 6 weeks. The antibiotics worked for a while then it got worse again, but that day was just not a good day. I talked to Wayne he was doing very well, but really needed some rest. So we decided that I would leave to let the dogs out, get cleaned up and go to the E.N.T.
Wayne texted me at 12:35 to tell me that they were taking him for the stress test and we would know in a few hours if there was a blockage or if he'd had a heart attack.
Twenty minutes later, the Dr. was examining me when he found something while pressing at the base of my neck. I said "that's sore, that's really sore actually." He told me that it was my thyroid and that there was a nodule on it. He said that a lot of people have thyroid nodules and the vast majority of them are benign, but we should do some tests just to make sure. He also said that it appears that I have chronic tonsilitis and that my tonsils will probably need to be removed at some point but the nodule takes priority at this point.
I literally walked out of the office looked up at the sky and said aloud "Seriously? We haven't been through enough?"
I scheduled the Fine Needle Aspiration (a.k.a. biopsy) and ultrasound for two days later. I made a decision at that point that I would not tell anyone about the nodule, but I would try not to lie either. I told everyone that I had the F.N.A., but the only ones who knew it was a biopsy were the people who had been through it. I didn't even tell Wayne about the nodule. My thinking was that if it was benign he won't ever have to know, and if it was malignant then I'd have cancer, how mad could he be at me?
When I got to the hospital, we found out that he did not have a heart attack or a blockage. The pain was most likely caused by the left ventricle being slightly enlarged. He was released and we went home.
A week after the F.N.A. I went back to get the results. I had done a lot of research over the week and had a list of questions ready for if it had been benign or malignant. I felt I was prepared for anything he told me. I however was not prepared for him to say that it was still inconclusive. It was a follicular neoplasm, which basically means that they could biopsy it 100 times and it would still be inconclusive. It was either a follicular adenoma or follicular thyroid cancer. The only way to know for sure would be to remove it. He suggested that the best course of treatment would be to remove the right lobe of my thyroid. If it was cancer, he would go back a couple weeks later and remove the whole thyroid. Then 6 weeks after that I would have to have radioactive iodine treatment. And oh yeah, I would still need to have a tonsillectomy at some point. I scheduled the lobectomy for August 9th (about 2 1/2 weeks later).
My first thought when he told me was "Oh crap, now I have to tell Wayne". Let's just say, he was not happy. That's an understatement, he was angry. I told him that I found out about the nodule at the very minute that he was undergoing a test to find out if he had a heart attack. I apologized for excluding him, but I stand by my decision. He eventually got over his anger.
Wayne tried to convince me to tell my parents, but I insisted on not worrying them unless I had to. Actually he told me that I would go to Hell if I didn't tell my Mom. I took my chances.
It is five weeks after surgery and I'm doing really well. There has not been a lot of pain, but I was surprised how it affected everything I did. I didn't expect to not be able to lift anything or push a shopping cart or walk Lola on a leash. He was able to remove just the lump, so I am not on thyroid meds.
We found out a few weeks ago that it is benign...Thank God. I just told my parents last week about the lump, they were not mad and understood why we kept it to ourselves.
I still have a sore throat and a fever at least once a week. I've opted to wait to have the tonsillectomy until after my brother's wedding in October. I'm not looking forward to it, I've heard that the recovery is pretty rough for adults.
Hopefully, I'll be able to write about fun vacations and other fun things next summer!
I have so much to tell you, so please check back.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
No Good Excuse
That's right, besides the laptop becoming terminally ill, I have no good excuse for my nearly month long absence. So, I'll just jump in and tell you what I've been up to lately.
- I celebrated my 30ish birthday...
It also happened to be Donut Appreciation Day. I celebrated with the best donut EVER.
Wayne bought a bike....for himself...on my birthday.
The bridge over the Mississippi River in Muscatine
Not the cleanest picture, but the best I could do without my tripod
- Then we went to the Cancer Survivor's Day celebration at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. We had fun, won a prize, ate some food, played some games and of course, no celebration in Iowa City is complete without Herky the Hawk (the University of Iowa's mascot).
A reluctant Wayne with Herky
- We've had to spend a few evenings in the basement waiting out tornado warnings.
- Lola was asked to leave obedience class when she went into heat on the very first night.
Doesn't Daddy know I'm a girl? Why did he get me this red camo diaper?
- I had pink hair.
- Now I have blue hair.
It's no secret that I like pink, but I must say that the blue is my favorite. But for some reason, it's also the messiest. You know how when you dye your hair red it looks like you're bleeding when you wash your hair.
Well, it looked like I murdered a smurf in my shower. I could probably claim self defense because I have blue dye under my fingernails. Every morning I wake up with blue streaks on my cheeks and at least twice a day I have to wipe the blue dye off my ears. It literally looks like I'm morphing into a smurf.
I've had red, purple, green, blue and pink and I've never had the problems that I have with the blue dye.
By the way, Wayne HATES the different colors.
- We've had at least 15, um, discussions about the hand soap in the upstairs bathroom. Wayne thinks it leaves his hands sticky. I think he's crazy.
- I ended up with several bruises, scratches and scrapes all over my arms after helping Wayne load some fencing in the car.
I may or may not have sent the pictures to a few friends with the message "The next time Wayne asks for pancakes, I'm just gonna make them."
Then Wayne was trying to convince me to buy something at the local farm supply store. I may or may not have very loudly said "Fine, Fine, buy whatever you want just no more bruises".
Not a single person believed me...not even for a second...I guess that's a good thing.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
You Capture--Fun
Last week I had such a hard time narrowing it down to just one photo for You Capture. This week, I really had to look to find these three that fit this weeks theme of fun.
I generally don't shoot with the theme in mind, I just take pictures all week long then hope to find ones that will fit once I upload them.
These first two are of Lola with the sprinkler. Lola loves water. I've never had a dog that likes water as much as she does. We literally have to push Toby out of the house when it's raining, Lincoln will go but won't stay out long, but Lola will stay out for hours and be completely soaked when she comes in.
It was pretty warm around here last week so we set this sprinkler up for Lola. We just knew she would love it.
My husband took this next one. I can't remember why, but I laid down on the floor and approximately 1.2 seconds later all three dogs were right in my face.
At least someone was having fun....
I generally don't shoot with the theme in mind, I just take pictures all week long then hope to find ones that will fit once I upload them.
These first two are of Lola with the sprinkler. Lola loves water. I've never had a dog that likes water as much as she does. We literally have to push Toby out of the house when it's raining, Lincoln will go but won't stay out long, but Lola will stay out for hours and be completely soaked when she comes in.
It was pretty warm around here last week so we set this sprinkler up for Lola. We just knew she would love it.
I think we were right. What do you think?
At least someone was having fun....
Head on over to Beth's to check out more fun.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
National Cancer Survivor's Day
Tomorrow is National Cancer Survivor's Day.
If you or someone you love is a survivor (you're a survivor the day you received diagnosis), please take some time to celebrate.
If you are so inclined, please say a prayer for those fighting and for those who have lost their battle.
We're headed to a celebration at the hospital, expect a full report soon.
If you or someone you love is a survivor (you're a survivor the day you received diagnosis), please take some time to celebrate.
I will be celebrating this guy today.
We're headed to a celebration at the hospital, expect a full report soon.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Contenders
I got some pretty cool shots this week and it was really difficult to narrow it down to just one for You Capture so I decided to post the outtakes.
These first few pictures were taken Tuesday. Wayne was really tired and I well, didn't care. The dogs were just happy to have him home and I let them crawl all over him.
I really like this one in black and white and since it's Memorial Day week, I added the color on the flag. In case you're new here, Lola is the one with her tongue hanging out, Toby is the little guy and Wayne is the one wearing clothes.
I took this same shot from the opposite angle and couldn't even see Toby.
Apparently, Toby thought Wayne's forehead was dirty.
She sleeps just like her Mama, on her belly with her arms stretched out in front of her. Only, I rarely sleep on the bathroom floor.
This was after she played in the new sprinkler we bought her. She's trying to eat the plants in the garden through the fence. I just love the way the plants are in her face.
This one was after the sprinkler also. This is probably one of my favorite pics of Lola.
So there you have it, my You Capture outtakes for this week.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Butt, Of Course
The other day I told you that I've sustained an injury that makes it difficult to sit for long periods of time. That's pretty much a nicer way of saying I fell down the stairs and may have broken my tailbone. Yep, I may have a broken butt.
The morning of Wayne's cancer check up (over two weeks ago on a Monday) I put Lola in her kennel and headed downstairs.
Our house was built in the 1960's, when apparently everyone had smaller feet, because our steps are very narrow. So when my ginormous feet landed wrong on the stairs, they basically acted as skis and I just slid all the way to the bottom before landing directly on my butt.
Unfortunately, Wayne and our friend Jackie were downstairs and watched the whole thing. Through laughter they asked if I was okay. If my slippers hadn't flown 15 feet in the air, I would have thrown them at their heads. The first thing I said was "I'm fine, I have plenty of padding." Um, I was wrong.
It was sore all that week, but mostly when I sat down just right. But by last Wednesday, I was convinced I had broken my butt. The pain was so much worse, it hurt all the time and I could not sit at all without pain. I went to the Chiropractor on Friday, she adjusted me and told me to take it easy until I go back to her tomorrow. I've basically spent all week lying on my side on the sofa.
You know when you have abdominal surgery and you can't believe how your stomach muscles control everything you do. Well, everything hurts. Everything. My primary goal every day is to avoid sneezing. The other day I sneezed three times in a row and I literally thought I was going to die.
Laughing hurts. The following conversation had me laughing so hard, I was crying from the pain.
Wayne: You need to just get X-Rays to see if it's broken.
Me: It won't change the treatment, there's not a sling in the world big enough for my ass.
Wayne: But at least they'll give you some pain pills.
Me: Yeah, but I probably won't take them.
Wayne: They're not for you, the whining is killing me.
The morning of Wayne's cancer check up (over two weeks ago on a Monday) I put Lola in her kennel and headed downstairs.
Our house was built in the 1960's, when apparently everyone had smaller feet, because our steps are very narrow. So when my ginormous feet landed wrong on the stairs, they basically acted as skis and I just slid all the way to the bottom before landing directly on my butt.
Unfortunately, Wayne and our friend Jackie were downstairs and watched the whole thing. Through laughter they asked if I was okay. If my slippers hadn't flown 15 feet in the air, I would have thrown them at their heads. The first thing I said was "I'm fine, I have plenty of padding." Um, I was wrong.
It was sore all that week, but mostly when I sat down just right. But by last Wednesday, I was convinced I had broken my butt. The pain was so much worse, it hurt all the time and I could not sit at all without pain. I went to the Chiropractor on Friday, she adjusted me and told me to take it easy until I go back to her tomorrow. I've basically spent all week lying on my side on the sofa.
You know when you have abdominal surgery and you can't believe how your stomach muscles control everything you do. Well, everything hurts. Everything. My primary goal every day is to avoid sneezing. The other day I sneezed three times in a row and I literally thought I was going to die.
Laughing hurts. The following conversation had me laughing so hard, I was crying from the pain.
Wayne: You need to just get X-Rays to see if it's broken.
Me: It won't change the treatment, there's not a sling in the world big enough for my ass.
Wayne: But at least they'll give you some pain pills.
Me: Yeah, but I probably won't take them.
Wayne: They're not for you, the whining is killing me.
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