And then there were 2...My great friends

And then there were 4...
When we arrived in Chicago there were 4 families here scheduled for surgery with Dr. Bauer. (Well 4 of us that are great friends that know each other. There are probably more here that we just don't know of...) Anyways, we had that get together on the 3rd, the day after we got here.

4 families attended:

The Nagel's: Mom Beth & Dad Carl (who unfortunatley wasn't able to come) have sons Lincoln & Sully. Lincoln is the older brother & Sully is the one who has had surgeries. He has a back nevus that goes to his neck. He's had 2 rounds so far (2 expander insertion surgeries - like Brooklyn just had, and then 2 removal surgeries). Beth decorated these cookies for the party...how adorable!!

And this is her son Super Sully:

This is why Beth is so great. Beth was the very first person I'd "met" on the Nevus Outreach Yahoo! Support Group. She welcomed me, answered some random questions of mine, & told me all about the cookbook that she made as a fundraiser. So she's the reason I did the cookbook. She has answered any questions I've had about anything, especially the cookbook! She also went solo to the Nevus Outreach Conference in Dallas & we were just a couple rooms away from each other, so we got a lot of time to get to know each other. She helped me "fix" my blog so it wasn't so boring, too! :o)

Follow the Nagel's progress here: http://newsfromthenagels.blogspot.com/
The Nagel's left Tues the 4th to head back home to the Sioux Falls, SD area.... And then there were 3.


The next family is the Melton's: Mom Christine & Dad Adam have older sister Katie & younger brother Joshua. Joshua is the nevus-owner in this family. Josh's surgery was just 1 week (to the day) before Brooke's. His nevus is also on his back, but instead of going north to the neck it goes south to his bottom. He had 2 expanders inserted in this surgery...& this one was also his first, just like Brooklyn.

I "met" Christine also on the NOI support group site. She, like Beth, also welcomed me. And she, like me, was also pretty new to the site. I could tell there was something about Christine that I liked...that she was a lot like me! LOL I was able to meet Christine, Adam, & Josh in person at the NOI conference as well. After the conference we talked a lot...through email & on the phone. She also decided to do a cookbook so we tackled the project together. It was so nice to have a partner in crime when working on the book. Any questions I'd had, she'd already found the answer to...& vice versa. She's pretty much just as anal/organized as I am...so it works out great! :o)

This is her husband Adam & their son Josh:

And here's Adam with Josh & Dustin with Brooklyn...& their capes of course! They love talking sports (the dads, not the babies)! :o)

Follow the Melton's progress here: http://www.journeyswithjoshua.com/

The Melton's left today to head home to Phoenix...And then there were 2.

One day a couple months ago Christine sent us all an email telling us about a new nevus family who she was made aware of. They live just 15 mins away from her (WOW!) and their son was born just days before Joshua (DOUBLE WOW!!). They are the Moller's: Mom Amie, Dad Bruce, older daughter Zoie, & younger son Zac. Zac is the nevus-owner (proudly nicknamed Wolfy) & his is also on his back but wraps around slightly to the front on one side. I added Amie as a friend on Facebook & we started writing back & forth. Then to all of our surprise, Zac's surgery was scheduled for the same day that Brooklyn's was!! This immediately connected us more, as we both needed to find hotels & both would be in the exact same boat at the exact same time! I hate that other families have to go through this, but am SO blessed that we have another family to go through this with together.

Here is Amie & Zac (aka Captain Happy) with his cape on:

We have spent the past couple months getting to know each other by checking out hotels, comparing prices, & finding stuff to do in the area to keep us occupied, since we'll both be here for 2 weeks. I "officially" met Amie Monday the 3rd, which was the day they got in. The hotel put us right next door to each other, which has been great. We made a pact just a day or so after getting here that we won't feel bad if our babies cry in the middle of the night...cause it's someone we know next door, not a perfect stranger. Our daughters have had a ball swimming together & playing with their babies (dolls...not their baby brother & sister...haha). Unfortunately because they live so far away in AZ, they had to fly so they could only bring a limited amount of things, so Zoie has had a blast coming over & watching movies with Cali & playing together with her toys. You've read all the things we've done together since we've been here so I won't repeat them...but it's definitely been so nice to have someone to talk to for me, someone for Dustin to watch football with, & someone for Cali to play with. Follow the Moller's progress here: http://checkingbackwithzac.blogspot.com/

Here's Brooklyn & I when she opened her cape:

And here's us all together:



In the back: Christine with Josh and Amie with Zac (and Zoie is in front of her!)
In the front: Beth (minus Sully) and Me with Brooklyn

So that's that. We're down to 2. The Moller's leave Monday & we're leaving Tuesday bright & early. We're busy planning again: on things that we can do to occupy our time before we leave!