Monday, March 22, 2010

Has It Been 3 Years Already?

My babies are 3 years-old tomorrow.  These past 2 months have been rough but my babies continued to grow up through it all.  In just the past 3 weeks Sophie and Macy have given up passy's, dropped their naps, and learned to use the potty.  3 years ago they were born 10 weeks early weighing 3 pounds 8 ounces and 2 pounds 15 ounces.  They now weigh 29 and 28 pounds and will start preschool this fall.  They LOVE to sing and dance, eat, help Mommy clean, make messes so they can help Mommy clean, fight with each other, fight with Jack and Molly, and giggle.  They make me smile 1000 times a day even when I want to strangle them :)  We love our Boo Boo and Peanut and know our lives would be incomplete without them.









Aunt Mary Jo On Dr. Oz

My sweet Aunt Mary Jo (Sister Geraldine) was talked about today on Dr. Oz.  She very recently died of lung cancer.  Check out the video.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/ask-dr-oz-anti-cancer-edition-pt-2


Exhale

We had Sophie's follow-up visit with the oncologist today.  They ran bloodwork right there in the office...seriously...test results were ready in like 10 minutes...why did it take 3 days to get the results from the hospital.  Anyway, SOPHIE IS FINE!!!  Her blood counts all looked good and her nodes have all decreased in size.  Dr. B said she thinks it was just reactive from some virus or another.  YEAH!!!  She did say that after we left last time she looked at a smear of Sophie's blood and noticed that her red blood cells are a little smaller than she would normally see them and she suspects that she may have hereditary spherocytosis.  It is characterzed by being of northern european descent (Irish/German we are), having prolonged jaundice as a baby (she did), anemia and gall stones (my mom had both of these).  It is absolutely no big deal if she does have it, but it would be good to know if she ever becomes anemic or starts having stomach pains that could be gallbladder related.  The test takes a month to come back and if she does have it Dr. B wants to see us back just to educate us on it and to test me and the other 3 kids to see if we carry it.  Again, it's not a big deal, but she just wants me to be aware of it and to know what to watch for. 

So other than the wierd hereditary thing...thanks mom...we are good!!  Hopefully there will be no more talk of cancer and oncologists in our future!!





Sunday, March 21, 2010

Spring Cleaning

All of the kids closets have been purged, reorganized, and cleaned!  Bring on the sundresses and flip flops!!


Sweetheart Time

Last night...babysitter...shopping...dinner...New Moon...all with my honey!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Friday, March 19, 2010

Lemons To Lemonade

He may be the only boy in the bunch, but Jack has his tricks to make the advantage his.  Check out the beginning of this video and you too will say "He's the man!"


Click here to view this video

Bits - N - Pieces

Molly's surgery went well yesterday. She had her tonsils, adenoids, and ear tubes removed. Dr. S said that while her tonsils were huge, her adenoids were even bigger. This was probably the main reason for the snoring, apnea, and ear infections. She slept great yesterday and last night with NO SNORING!!! I think the hardest pain days are 3-5 so pray that she continues do do well.

Macy started with a fever yesterday and she threw-up this morning (she calls it spit..."I spit!"). Hopefully this will pass soon. Sophie goes back to the oncologist on Monday and will hopefully get the a-ok.

All we have left is Jack and John...if you're gonna get sick do it now and get it over with...I'm ready for a fun-filled, healthy summer!

Oh...some exciting news for Jack...his tennis lessons have started a USTA league and he will get to play real matches on Sundays. There will be 2 singles and 2 doubles matches each week so he will get to play every week. He's SO excited...he's always getting matches started before practice begins and he's really good. He's working on his serve now and his backhand is getting stronger. I can't wait to watch...the first match is next Sunday the 28th!!! Wish him luck!

Monday, March 15, 2010

One Down...One To Go

Dr. W says I'm all healed up!!! YEAH!!!! Now let's get a clean bill of health for Sophie and then I'm done with the drama for now!!!! I think I'm owed a FANTASTIC summer!!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Sophie Update

The Oncologist appointment went well. The nodes are getting smaller. Sophie has a bit of a lingering cough so she will go back on the 22nd to have the nodes checked again and to have blood work done again (to get a good baseline). If all goes well then we will be in the clear. So overall good news but not the closure I was hoping for.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Enough Is Enough

So, just because I need one more thing to worry about Molly is having her tonsils and adenoids taken out next Thursday because they are HUMONGOUS and she's having some sleep apnea (scary!)!! She's excited that she gets to eat ice cream for a week and Jack doesn't!!

Sophie's appointment with the oncologist is tomorrow...I'll update then!

Monday, March 8, 2010

It's Not Mono

Test results for Sophie finally came back and she does not have Mono. So we continue to wait until Friday when we meet with the oncologist. All I can say is "What the &%$@ is it?"

Sunday, March 7, 2010

YAHOO!!!!

The passy's are gone...The passy's are gone...Thank God Almighty...The passy's are gone!!!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Molly Cate is 5!!

For Molly's 5th birthday she stated that she wanted to get her ears pierced. So, last Friday night M came and stayed with the twins, we dropped Jack off at a birthday party, and John and I took Molly to the mall to get it done. She was SUPER excited until we actually walked into the store. Once she saw all of the people standing around watching her and knew it was really happening she started freaking out in true Molly fashion. I was able to hold her on my lap and settle her down enough to stay still and she went through with it. She LOVES them!!

The series of pictures below is out of order( I was too tired to go back and change it) so follow the captions to see the big event!



All done!! There's my sweet baby's smile!


The big moment. Notice me flinching too! :)


Marking her ears...she was okay with this part because it was a purple marker!


Cleaning her ears


Anxiously waiting for it to start



Deep Breaths

So in early February, I decided to go and see my gynecologist because I was extremely tired all of the time and wanted his advice. We decided, after discovering that I was very anemic due to my period, that I should have an endometrial ablation. The week before the procedure I had an ultrasound and biopsy done just to make sure that there was "nothing else going on" as my Dr. phrased it. Two days before my scheduled procedure Dr. W called me while I was sitting at Jack's tennis lesson and told me that we had to cancel the ablation because my biopsy came back with complex endometrial hyperplasia with atypical cells with well defined margins of carcinoma. Dr. W explained that while he was not giving me a diagnosis of endometrial cancer that day...I was one step away. So, 6 days later I was in the surgery center having a D & C to get a better biopsy. 3 days later, they told me that I did indeed have endometrial cancer which appeared to be confined to the very inner lining of the uterus and did not appear to be invasive. After several tears and freak-outs, 10 days later I was admitted to the hospital for a hysterectomy. The surgery went well...Dr. W was able to leave my ovaries in...but it was much more painful that first night than I had anticipated. After a day and night on a never ending cycle of morphine and Percoset I was home and feeling better but sore and tired. Later that night Dr. W called on his way home from the hospital to tell me that my pathology had come back and that the cancer cells were confined to one little cluster near the original biopsy site and they were not invasive...so basically we got it all out and there was no need for further treatments or a visit to the oncologist.

I was off of work for the entire month of February, getting lots of rest, help from Mom and Mom-in-law, and so many yummy meals from friends. I was all set to go back to work on March 2nd. On March 1st, Sophie was running around naked because that's what she does, and I noticed 2 small lumps under her left armpit. I immediately thought "lymph nodes" so I made her an appointment with Dr. W (different W) for that evening. Dr. W said that she was feeling several pea-sized nodes that are normal to feel, but also several that were concerning (the ones on her chest wall). So when she said that she would be calling the oncologist in the morning I proceeded to have a complete breakdown and continue to do so every day although I am able to do it quietly now. Sophie had a chest x-ray and blood work done on the 2nd. She was such a brave little girl as her vein blew and others rolled and she had to be stuck several times. Her x-ray and blood work all came back normal, including the "cancer screens." That was a half-sigh of relief. Dr. W said that the oncologist said that his first gut reaction was that Sophie has Mono. The blood test for Mono takes 3-4 days to come back so we are still waiting. We do have an appointment with the oncologist next Friday which we will keep even if it's just an appointment to make us all feel better (if she does have Mono).

So if you are reading this, please say a prayer for my baby, or send her positive thoughts if you don't pray. It is such a totally different feeling when it is my baby rather than me. I would rather have it back than give it to her (notice I don't even want to say the word?) I do feel in my heart that she is fine and will be fine after all of the tests are in but I am in a place that no Mommy should ever have to be in and my heart breaks for those who are or ever have been. I'll keep you updated.

Hi There...I've Missed You

What can I say? I've been a slacker. So let's see how quickly I can get you caught up!

WAY back in December Grammy and Grampy came to visit and celebrate an early Christmas with us. We had a wonderful visit and the kids loved all of their presents!!


Macy and Jack snuggling


Molly, Grammy, Macy, Sophie, Jack, and Grampy