Bent Out Of Shape

So, this week I had a nose job. 

It has not been fun. 

To clarify, it wasn't a nose job like you are probably thinking. 

Basically anything they could do to my nose besides changing the outer appearance is what they did. 

It has not been fun. 

When I was born my nose was "smooshed" to the left because I laid on my Moms pelvic bone those last few weeks. All of that smooshing wreaked havoc on the inside of my nose. Fast forward 30+ years and I was a mess. 

In August I got a sinus infection. I have had one, at least yearly, for a few years. No big deal, right? Get on some meds, take care of it, move on with life. Except this one didn't want to be taken care of. By the time I had my third round of antibiotics, used for Pneumonia by the way, and it wasn't touching the infection, my Doc told me it was time for a visit to an ENT (ear nose throat).

My ENT took one look at my nose, and ordered me more meds, this time stuff used for Anthrax and the Plague and ordered me a CAT scan. So, Halloween morning I headed in to get my scan done. Two days later I headed in to talk to my ENT. I knew I was in for it when he asked me if I was comfortable and if I could see his computer screen alright. 

I have no medical training and the moment I saw my scan of my nose I knew I was headed for surgery. It looked that jacked. No wonder I have always been a mouth breather, mystery solved! 

So, this last Monday, the 19th of November, I went in and had a Septoplasty and a double Turbinate Reduction. I also had both sinuses roto rootered out. I had a couple of other things done while he was in there but I don't remember what he said thanks to the fog I am in from the great pain meds I am on. 

So, now I am waiting til Monday to go back and get my splints removed from inside my nose. Cannot wait. I hear it isn't pleasant but that the pressure goes down significantly so, I cannot wait. The picture on the right shows you what splints look like. They are huge and sewn into the nose.

Then about the time Christmas rolls around I get to blow my nose. I think I am actually more excited about that than almost anything. 

When I feel frustrated with the whole recovery process I just tell myself that once I am up and running again I will probably knock a whole minute or more off of my mile pace due to finally being able to breath correctly. That helps. Big picture, right?   

I Hope They Know

My family is sick. We have Flu, fevers, ear aches, vomiting, you name it and we probably have it.

My family is wearing face masks this week. Because of the sickness. Because I had surgery yesterday. Because they love me. It has been a rough week. I hope they know I love them back. 

Great

Call me graceful.

Last night was not one of my most graceful of nights.

I had stopped by some of my Mia Maids houses after Evening of Excellence. I was visiting with one of the Mom's as I slowly made my way down their front steps. I thought I had made it to the driveway but I apparently had one last step. I took a step backwards, in heels no less, and stumbled to the driveway. I knew immediately I had hurt myself good. I hobbled to the car, drove around the corner and hobbled into the house. I had that foot up, on ice and ibuprofen in me in less than five minutes. It's a good thing too.  I went to the Doc this morning. Looks like a sprain and a torn tendon. Great. I swear to you, when a runner gets injured and isn't allowed to run, you hand them a mental illness. I am already going stir crazy. I am to be on the couch the first few days and use my crutches. I am looking at three weeks in the boot. The only time I get to take it off is in the shower. Super great. Should be able to run around Christmas. Great.

Four in 27

As you might have noticed there was no Flashback Friday this week. I was a little busy taking care of someone that needed taking care of.

A few weeks ago Nate's left foot started hurting, we thought maybe he got something stuck in his foot. He went to a podiatrist, Dr. Walker, and he couldn't fix it without getting inside of the foot. So, that brings us to today. We were gone most of the day to Ogden Regional. Once Dr Walker got inside he found that instead of something being stuck in Nate's foot he actually had a pinched nerve and an inflamed vein. He fixed it. Nate will have stitches for ten days and have to wear a boot for about three weeks. Something tells me more good times are ahead. :)
He is a bit of a stinker, isn't he? This is surgery number four in 27 months.

Unremarkable

We spent the day at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital today. It was one of those days that feels like a marathon. You are shuffled from labs to CT scan to Doctor. It is long, it is boring, it's a bit nerve wracking. Anyhow, I was very pleased to hear them, yet again, call Nate "unremarkable". In the medical world being "unremarkable" is a GOOD thing. That means that they didn't find anything that they shouldn't have. So, once again, he is still in remission. We go back for our next checkup in December and then again probably around April. It is such a relief to know that all is well with my "unremarkable" husband.

Broken Wings

Monday afternoon Ally broke her arm, again. This is her second broken arm in seven months. On this particular day I was babysitting my nieces Rebecca and Janet. All four of the girlies were downstairs dancing and twirling in various dress-ups to one of my Hilary Weeks cds. Well, graceful Ally tripped on one of the thousands of toys strewn about the "dance floor". As she was falling she put her arm out to break her fall. It definitely broke her fall all right. When Nate's sister Wendy and her hubby Brad (both work in emergency/medical services) showed up to get their girls they put Al in a homemade splint. An ice pack, a dish towel, an Ensign and two rubber bands did the trick. Off we went to the doc. She ended up with a buckle break above her left wrist.

Yesterday I took her in to get her actual cast put on. She chose purple with pink stripes. Isn't she too beautiful for words? I gotta tell ya, it scares me. She is growing into such a beautiful young lady. Last Sunday she came out of my bathroom with my rhinestone earrings and necklace on, with her hair perfect and smelling like a Bath and Body Works tester table. She was so pretty with her perfect tan and her coordinating outfit, not to mention the lip gloss she had slathered all over her lips. It was definitely a sign of things to come. Did I mention she had her purse too? Scary cute. I'm not ready for her to be a young woman, but I am afraid she is heading down that path. ((sigh))

Anyway, she will be in the cast for 3-4 weeks. Not exactly how you want to spend your last weeks of summer vacation. She's a little bummed. When she broke her arm last December she was at "Grandpa's Sledding Day". I wasn't there, I can't remember why, but I sent Nate with the kids. Al came home with a buckle break on her right arm. She apparently flew off the sled and again put her arm out to break her fall, and again it did. Last time she chose solid pink.

The happy day she got her cast removed. She didn't love the smell or the dry skin but she did love that she could itch her arm without sticking a foreign object down her cast.
Counting the Unbroken Broken Leg from last August this was Ally's third "break" in 12 months. Time to give it a rest sisser-pie.

Huntsman Excursion

We spent yesterday afternoon at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital down in Salt Lake City. It was time for Nate's check-up with his Oncologist. Usually when we go down we leave all of the kiddos with someone, however this time we took Evie along. She is a little energy pill, I tell ya. We started off by getting Nate checked over by the nurse. We just love her, she is always so positive and bubbly. Always with a giggle ready to erupt from her. She is also a Cancer survivor herself. Nate gets his blood drawn, his weight, blood pressure, oxygen level, and heart rate checked, among other things.


This day went a little out of order, normally after he gets checked in we head off to Radiology for an x-ray or CT scan, however because of the rain storm we arrived a wee bit late and headed right in to see Dr. Agarwal.

He came in, checked Nate over and told him he doesn't even want to call him a patient anymore, he is too healthy! Since we are heading into our third year with Cancer he wants to see Nate back in August for a CT scan. One of his last for quite a while, if it looks as good as we are all thinking it will. Since Nate is doing so well he doesn't want to expose him to anymore CT scans than he absolutely has to. He told us the radiation from a CT scan is like having well over 100 x-rays at once. Not something you want to continually be exposed to for sure.

Evie and I headed for a walk in the halls while Nate scheduled his next appointment. Along the way we found something new. It is a 24,ooo piece puzzle put together by Jon Huntsman's grandsons. It took them around 6 months to put together. They donated it to the hospital to display. Evie LOVED it! We spent about ten minutes looking at it, mostly counting the number of Nemo's in the picture. Isn't it amazing?

Once Nate was done it was off to Radiology to get an x-ray. Normally we walk right in and within 5 minutes he is pulled back. Today we had a bit of a wait. Fortunately Evie was very good this entire trip. You can see me in the background reading a magazine, I went through 3 magazines cover to cover this afternoon.



Once Nate got pulled back Evie and I headed upstairs to the Point Bistro. No trip to Huntsman is complete for Nate and I without stopping and getting a Carmelized Salmon entree. Usually we have time to eat it between his tests and his actual appointment, but today we got it to go.
While it was being cooked Evie enjoyed checking out the joint. She sat at almost every table, declaring each time that this was the one we would sit at. The closer she got to the windows with the amazing view, the closer she got to where Nate and I usually sit to partake of our salmon.

So glad to get through another Huntsman excursion with good news.

More On This Later

Today Nate and I will be spending the afternoon at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital.No worries, just his routine check-up with his Oncologist. So stay tuned for more info later on today. Wish us luck!

Fractured From Stress

The last few days I have had an annoying pain on the top of my left foot. As soon as I wake up and take a few steps, or sit for longer than fifteen minutes and get up to walk around it immediately presents itself. It's not excruciating, but it isn't a day at the park either. Usually after about 4 or 5 steps the pain lessens and then leaves. No big, right? WRONG! Apparently.

Last night I went for an amazing run. There was a a good breeze blowing, a bit of a sprinkling most of the time. Not too much, not too little, just right. I went sans ipod in case the rain picked up so it was just me and my thoughts. My pace felt good and strong, so I checked my watch to see how I was doing. What? I remembered hitting the button on my watch when I left, but there it was plain as day....00:00. GRRRR. Oh well, I know where I usually am at at this point in the run, it really feels like I am ahead of my usual pace, and I feel strong, so I will start it and set a goal to be back at a certain time. Now, go! So I did, with the strong breeze filled with rain droplets that kept me and my thoughts company. It was a great run. One for the books. I even got back eleven seconds under my goal. If I had actually turned the watch on at the beginning I am sure I would have been looking at a Personal Record. Fast forward to a half hour later. I was sitting on the couch reading story books to Evie. We got up to get her ready for bed, and OW! Starting to sense that I was playing with fire I decided to call Nate's "brother" but technically cousin, Chip. He has a degree in sports therapy and is also now a PA. I figured he was my go to guy on whether or not I was imagining this nonsense. Three minutes into the call he tells me I need new shoes. Whew! That's it? I can handle that. Then he goes on to tell me that I need to stop running for 3-4 weeks because it sounds like a stress fracture. What? Are you serious?


(this is not my x-ray. It is just an image off the internet of a stress fracture on a left foot in the general area of where I feel my pain.)


He said based on the fact that no trauma occured to the foot, I am consistently running, it only hurts after I have been resting and it is on the top of the foot, his over the phone diagnosis is that it is a stress fracture and to take it easy. If I don't it will only get worse and then I will be in a cast and won't even be really walking let alone running. I think he told me that because he could hear the "but I don't wanna stop running" and "it can't really be THAT bad" in my voice. So, he resorted to putting the fear of Chip in me. I am sad to say that it worked. Stress fracture are small cracks on the surface of the bones caused by consistent pounding, aka running. The reason it hurt after I was resting was because my body was working on healing it and I was essentially rebreaking it. Good times.

Now, I am not an idiot. I know there are worse things in life to have handed to you. A piddly little stress fracture that takes you out of the game for a month is nothing to cry over. My running career has been handed far worse before, but that is a story for another time. However, I would be lying if I didn't admit to being bummed just a bit. Okay, a lot. I have two, count them, two races on the books for the next three weeks. Let alone the fact that I LOVE running. Thus, the being thoroughly bummed. Heaven help my family, while I can't run. He did tell me it would be okay to take a bit of time off and try to stay race ready on my elliptical. I am hoping that the non-impact of the elliptical will let me heal but also keep me a little on my game. Oh and bet your booties I am off to the running store next week for some sweet new shoes that hopefully will help me prevent this crap down the road, the running road that is. Cross your fingers.

Huntsman Center Ramblings

It has been a week since Nate and I spent the day at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, and I just realized I have yet to update you on how it went. We always call these days our "marathon" day. They are usually quite long and they do. take. all. day. We left around 8:30 am, after the two older kids were off to school, leaving the two littler ones in Grandma Hales capable hands. The drive itself is usually about an hour, give or take, depending on the traffic. We usually rush in, (Thank you to the amazing valet parking!) and hurry upstairs to get Nate's lab work done and or put in a central line for his CT scan. This day is usually filled with a variety of emotions and moments. Both of us go back and forth with moments of calm, then angst, then quiet. Usually we just enjoy being next to each other, quietly reading some random newspaper left lying around. This particular day we ended up sitting next to two "Chatty Cathy's". At the same time. It made for an interesting wait to see Dr. Agarwal. Nate got to visit with an elderly WWII veteran who was obviously missing his wife. She died over a decade ago. Lost her within 2 weeks of being diagnosed with Cancer. I sat next to a very loud talking woman, probably in her early fifties who is currently in remission from her SECOND fight with a rare form of Breast Cancer. I am sure they were both chatty because, like us, they were worried about what they MIGHT hear from their oncologist today. Yet, unlike us, they were alone.....and scared. She was alone because she said her husband deals with her Cancer in a different way then her. He drops her off and then goes and wanders around a local salvage yard. She understands that that is how he "deals". I thought two things, how sad that he doesn't feel up to being there with her. What if she gets bad news? Who will comfort her? Who will hold her hand? I also thought, that is great that they have that level of commitment and understanding in their marriage. That they know each other well enough to know and understand how each of them "deals" and they are okay with it. Just to let you know....we saw them both later and they got great news. This day is usually a different day for Nate and I, even though we are both there together and seemingly going through it together. In a way, yes, we are. In another way, no, we aren't. For Nate I am sure the day is much worse. While we are both dealing with the "What are we gonna hear today?" What will our life be like tomorrow, and the next day?" stuff, he is also slowly drinking and digesting two bottles of Barium. Sometimes this day puts my stomach into knots as it is, let alone having to drink that nasty stuff on an empty stomach while stressed. Poor guy.
While we were grateful to have been told six months ago that he looked so good they didn't need to see him for six months, we were now on the flip side of the last six months. A lot more can happen in six months time. Thankfully, we didn't worry the whole six months. In fact for me it only crossed my mind a handful of times during that time. Then you come up to about 48 hours prior to the marathon day. Those of you who have seen me this week can see the evidence on my face of what that was like. The day before, I awoke to a new cold sore......tale tell sign that i've been stressin. It was all for nothing, which I will admit I knew deep down that it would be. Dr. Agarwal gave Nate a clean bill of health. STILL IN REMISSION! Love. That. He wants to see him again May 4th for labs and a chest x-ray. Then we get to start year three of living with Cancer and he moves to a different schedule of checkups. We are told once we hit five years Nate is considered Cancer free. We are looking forward to that. Of course, he will be checked yearly for life, and I am sure I will get atleast a yearly cold sore. :) Another bright side to this particular day was that Nate and I got to have our all-time favorite, Caramelized Salmon, at The Point Restaurant in the hospital. Have you had it? It is amazing! Whenever we are in Salt Lake we talk about going there just to eat. Although, truth be told, I don't think either one of us wants to spend any time there we don't have to. As amazing and nice as the people and the facility are, no thanks.

I am so grateful for how the day went. It is another reminder that we are constantly being looked after. Cared for. Last night we got another reminder of how easily things could have gone the other way. A co-worker of Nates just found out yesterday that his wife has Breast Cancer. She starts treatment today. That is how it is living with Cancer. Life changes dramatically from day to day. We talked last night about how quickly things change when you are diagnosed. We were remembering those first whirlwind days.

Day one: Doctors Appointment. Cat Scan. Ultrasound. Blood Work.

Day Two: Appointment with Surgeon.

Day Three: Surgery

Post-op: Feeling like your living at the Huntsman Center. Waiting for the verdict, Chemo, more Surgery, or both.

And on and on and on.

Camping at Grey's River

Every summer for the last 3-4 years some of my brothers and sisters with their families have gone camping together at Grey's River in Wyoming. We have never been able to go until now. We were either rushing to get into our house, had an infant who was on a breathing monitor because she liked to stop breathing in her sleep, or Nate was recovering from his Cancer surgery! We were so excited to finally go this year and had such a blast doing it! Here are a few highlights from our trip!

Uber-Scouter Tiny Man!

Tiny Man busted his tail working on Webelos requirements. He completed 14 total requirements for the: Outdoorsman, Traveler, Forester, Handyman, and Naturalist. He finsihed off everything he needs to earn the Handyman and Outdoorsman! It was a lot of work and he is really excited! He should be and we are excited about him seeing the results of his hard work. The funnest of all was the three mile hike to Barstow Lake. There he got to see a Trout and try casting a fishing line for the first time. He almost caught Daddy on the face with his fishing fly on the second try... soooo, we called it after that. Learning to safely use a pocket knife and how to set a one-match fire are also at the top of the list.

Is it Rocks Sand? or Roxanne?

A few of the nights we were hanging out around the campfire some of the kids would put on a little skit. On our last night at camp 3 of the boys Logan (6), Ridge (5), and our boy Chub (5) decided it was their turn. Of course none of us knew what to expect but it definitely WASN'T this!

Logan: Our skit is called "Roxanne"

Ridge: NO! It's called Rocks Sand!

Confused look between each other...Chub looking like he really could care less.

So they begin.....

Logan: ROXANNE!

Ridge: ROCKS SAND!

Logan: ROXANNE!
Ridge: ROCKS SAND!

Chub: You don't have to turn on your red light for Rocks Sand!

Yep! You read that right! All of us parents were of course only half paying attention wondering what their little skit was about when Chub busted out with that little gem! We all laughed so hard! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!?! Meanwhile the boys are still going strong in the background! We finally figured out that on the drive to hike Lake Barstow that afternoon Uncle Ryan was playing the song Roxanne in his truck! Hilarious!

The Unbroken Broken Leg!

Around 9:30 a.m. on the day we left for camping Ladybug was running up the stairs and tripped...she hit her shin on the stair and all heck broke loose from there! We all felt sympathy for her for a while and then asked her to move on with her life.....she wouldn't! Around 3 p.m. I walked into the living room and she was quietly sobbing, so even though she was walking gingerly on it and seemingly getting better as the day progressed I made an appointment to see the doc before we took off for the mountains! By 4:30 p.m. she was splinted, told to get crutches and come back 2 days later for a cast!

Obviously we figured so long camping trip for the girls....Nate wouldn't give up so easily! With the doc's permission he made an appointment for her to get her cast at the Bear Lake Memorial Hospital in Montpelier, Idaho two days later! It was 2 hrs and 15 min from our campground in WYOMING! We were given instructions to call the doctor the day before. So we set off for our five hour journey to the mountains! We carried her EXTREMELY carefully that first 24 hrs. The men in the family were awesome to move her around camp to be with the group, or get out of the sun or the shade or whatever! We quickly started calling her the Queen of Sheba!

This is a cute clip of Ladybug singing along to cousin Wyatt's ipod...enjoy!

In order to call the doc Nate had to drive TWO hrs round trip into Alpine, WY to get a cell signal. Happily we were told that he had consulted with some other doc's and they had determined that she hadn't broken it but just had a really bad BONE BRUISE! We were so happy she didn't need to ride almost 5 hrs round trip to get her cast. In fact, we removed the splint that night and immediately saw a dramatic improvement in her. `

She got up on her crutches and made her way around the camground, participated in a skit with the other girl cousins, learned how to use a pocket knife! She did great! Something tells me she will never forget her first camping trip!

Two Wheeling Chub!

All summer long we knew it was time to teach Chub how to ride a two wheeler...we just never found the right time! Well, we decided to bite the bullet up at Grey's. Chub decided his first morning there that he was ready. I will admit I was a little nervous having him learn on a rough dirt road, especially on the heels of Ladybug's leg the day before! But we pushed forward...he climbed on his cousins little two wheeler and declared he was ready! Boy was he! It was definitely NOT this easy with Tiny Man and Ladybug! He got on and started to pedal while I steadied him. He gained speed and seemed okay so I decided I would just let go and see what happened...he just took off! From that moment on it was difficult to get him off the thing and do something else! He was SO excited! Way to go Chub!
Right as I let go of him......look at him go!

Still going strong and steady.......
and he's off with the rest of the boys!

Here are just some random pictures of the trip for fun memories:

Nate's Surgery Update

Nate is finally out of surgery! He did great! He is still in Recovery. There was no permanent damage and nothing but the infected cyst....in other words NO CANCER! They had to remove 3-4 lymph nodes that were enlarged from the infection. It went great... they said to give him about 3 weeks and he will be good as new!

Updates

I thought I would take a second and update you on a few things. I just put a bunch of pictures on the computer from our camera and wanted to show you a few highlights of the last 3 weeks. Also, I wanted to update you on Nate and his neck situation. So, here goes.....

We went back to Huntsman for his post-op appointment and also to see his Oncologist on Tuesday. Both appointments went very well. His surgeon is pleased with how Nate responded to all of the antibiotics. He feels that enough of the infection and inflamation will be gone that we can go ahead with the second surgery on July 9th. We are grateful Nate will atleast get to enjoy the 4th of July weekend before round two of this speedbump! He didn't get much of a summer last year, thus the excitement! His Oncologist also said that Nate is doing well and is still in Remission. Another piece of news is that after his next CAT scan in July he gets to go FOUR months in between his CAT scans instead of three. Nate is very excited about that since drinking two containers of Barium drink is not the most pleasant thing in the world!

On May 27th, Ally and her best friend Emma teamed up together to compete in their schools Triathlon! They did great! Ally began by running the race, then Emma rode her bike and then together they ran the obstacle course will holding hands! Not an easy thing to do!


Ladybug "Explaining" to me HOW she ran the race!



On May 30th, my sisters Heidi and Jen, their daughters Megan and Shaylen came over and we made my kitchen a sticky mess while making Strawberry Jam. It was great fun spending time with these women in my kitchen. We had to send out for more strawberries before the end due to Shay and Megan eating our supply while supposedly cutting them! The pictures below show evidence of the infraction!



Just a really cute one of Chub!

And proof that chocolate DOESN'T always make it better!
Finally, highlights of Ethan's TENTH birthday! We celebrated a little on Monday with his requested dinner of Mac and Cheese with hot dogs. Yummy, I know! Followed up by a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday to You!" and the opening up of one present.
Mom and Tiny Man Ten Years and Two minutes after he was born!


The starter digital camera was a BIG hit!

To continue the celebration he invited 5 friends to go with our family to Toads Fun Zone for 2 hours of cake eating, presents, laser tag, arcade fun and mini golf! It was great, even with the heavy downpouring of rain and hail!


My favorite quote of the night was said by Ally. While we were getting all of the kids their mini golf equipment some of the others started without them. Once I caught up to them it became apparent that the kids weren't trying very hard. If the ball didn't go in the first try they would pick it up and drop it in the hole and move on to the next! Before the other kids had started they were already at the TENTH hole! Once I explained to the kids how to really play and convinced them to backtrack to the rest of the group and actually try this time Ally came up with this gem! As she threw her hands in the air in her most drama queen fashion she wailed, "But, Moooom! We're just KIDS!"

So there you have it! All caught up on the Mills crew! With just one more bit of news....
Chocolate really DOES make it all better!