Remember!! A person here in Lewistown is doing a fundraiser for us....how nice!!!!!
We still have about 2 Chicago trips that we need money for...so we're hoping this fundraiser will help a little.
Visit www.tastefullysimple.com/web/sruckman to help us out with surgery/insurance costs! Any questions...just ask!
Get whatever you want, put it in your cart, then click on the button that says Find Host (or something like that), put in my name: Merilee Vance, & then click Submit. Then just below that my name will pop up & you select me so that we'll get credit for it. It's that simple! But of course if you have a problem let me or Shannon know. (Shannon's info is at the top of the page when you click the link.)
Thanks so much for the support...we really do appreciate it. :)
Monday, February 14, 2011
To Nashville & back....& another fill!
Wow did this weekend ever go by fast!!!! It was here & gone before I even knew it. Boo! :) Let's see... Friday we got up early, had breakfast, then went & sat for the confrence/training. Mandisa was the first person out...oh I just love her. She's so amazing. If you don't remember who Mandisa is... she was on American Idol a few years back. She was a heavy girl back then & Simon Cowell said that she wasn't going to go anywhere cause she was so big & he was making fat jokes about her. Well she saw that on TV & she confronted him about it & told him that she'd forgiven him! She was eliminated unfortunately from American Idol. But she's since gone on to be an absolutely amazing singer...and she sings for the Lord. (She's also lost 100 pounds!) I've had the pleasure of seeing her a few times because of Women of Faith & she's just amazing. Then we were able to hear from some of the speakers, more singers, had some group leader training, had lunch, more training, singing, & hearing from more speakers.
We had a little break before dinner so a bunch of us went on the boat that they have there in the hotel. These are a couple pictures from that:
It was gorgeous. Nothing special cause it didn't go anywhere we couldn't see by walking around, but it was cool just to ride around on the boat. :)
For dinner we sat by other Billings group leaders & were fortunate enough to get to know a few of them. After dinner we were going to go & save seats for the concert that night. Remember the picture from the previous post of the room & how big it is. We heard once that there was 2,200 & once that there was 2,400 women...so you have to get there SUPER early to be able to get a good seat. So before dessert came a few of us went to get seats. Unfortunately the doors weren't open yet, but there were already people lined up by the doors! So we decided to wait. We knew it was going to be a good concert cause we hadn't heard from Sandi Patty yet...so we needed to sit close!
To make a long story short.....a worker finally came about 15 mins later (& by now it was packed by the doors) & he talks to us like we're kids. He says "Listen up! If you run, you will be kicked out & the doors will be shut! Do NOT run! You MUST walk!" LOL So everyone passed the message on & about 10 mins later he opened up the doors. It totally reminded me of a great Black Friday sale! Sooooo many women were literally speed-walking towards the front!!! Hahaha! It was hilarious. We ended up just about 7 rows from the front...which are GREAT seats so we were very happy with that.
The concert was great!! Sandi Patti sang, Mandisa sang...oh and the 2 of them sang Ode To Joy from the end of Sister Act 2. (If you haven't seen it...watch it & you'll see what I'm talking about...it was so great!) Then Selah came on & sang a few songs. We heard some more stories from other group leaders, too. It was a great night.
When we were done we wanted to go to a mexican restaurant so everyone else could have guacamole! So 7 of us went to Solario (I think that's what it was called). Six people grouped into 3 groups of 2 & shared Guacamole for 2. I had some tortilla soup...mmmmm. Then it was time for bed cause the next day was gonna be long for us.
We decided to skip breakfast, & instead we got a coffee, packed up our stuff, took it to the luggage holding area, & then went in for the closing sessions. It ended at noon, but mom & I had to get on the noon shuttle. We were trying our best to NOT be disappointed.... I mean, this was a free trip that we got! But 3 of us had to leave on Saturday, but everyone else from Billings got to leave on Sunday. :( So after the conference was over they took a tour of Nashville & then went to the Grand Ole Opry for a concert!!!!!!! I was so jealous! But that's ok...I got to come home & do a fill on Brooklyn's expanders & see my awesome family. :)
We had a pretty uneventful trip home. (Thank goodness.) And we got into Lewistown at about 9:30 pm...maybe? If I'm remembering right! Dustin had put the Emla on Brooklyn & then got her to sleep so she wouldn't pull at the dressing. I did the fill as soon as we got home & it went great. She didn't flinch when I poked her & we did soooo great!
I got 20 cc's in the scalp expander...so that one is at 95 cc's now. The front one got 25 cc's in it so now there's 100 cc's in that one!!! We're 1/3 of the way there! And we leave for Chicago in just 4 1/2 weeks, so we'll probably have to start doing the expansions more frequently than every week. We'll just have to see what the surgeon says.
Yesterday we did the photo shoot of Brooklyn for the 2nd cookbook: Brooklyn's Best Volume 2. Unfortunately...I had so much anxiety about it!! I needed a picture that was just as good as the picture on the cover of Volume 1...but that picture is SO amazing that n one thought it could happen. But I still had to try. We did get some great pictures for the back, but there weren't any that could go on the cover...so Friday we're going to do another one with some different ideas. I'll post some on here when we do the 2nd one.
So that's it for now. I'll post pictures of Brooklyn after the next fill this Saturday... :o)
We had a little break before dinner so a bunch of us went on the boat that they have there in the hotel. These are a couple pictures from that:
For dinner we sat by other Billings group leaders & were fortunate enough to get to know a few of them. After dinner we were going to go & save seats for the concert that night. Remember the picture from the previous post of the room & how big it is. We heard once that there was 2,200 & once that there was 2,400 women...so you have to get there SUPER early to be able to get a good seat. So before dessert came a few of us went to get seats. Unfortunately the doors weren't open yet, but there were already people lined up by the doors! So we decided to wait. We knew it was going to be a good concert cause we hadn't heard from Sandi Patty yet...so we needed to sit close!
To make a long story short.....a worker finally came about 15 mins later (& by now it was packed by the doors) & he talks to us like we're kids. He says "Listen up! If you run, you will be kicked out & the doors will be shut! Do NOT run! You MUST walk!" LOL So everyone passed the message on & about 10 mins later he opened up the doors. It totally reminded me of a great Black Friday sale! Sooooo many women were literally speed-walking towards the front!!! Hahaha! It was hilarious. We ended up just about 7 rows from the front...which are GREAT seats so we were very happy with that.
The concert was great!! Sandi Patti sang, Mandisa sang...oh and the 2 of them sang Ode To Joy from the end of Sister Act 2. (If you haven't seen it...watch it & you'll see what I'm talking about...it was so great!) Then Selah came on & sang a few songs. We heard some more stories from other group leaders, too. It was a great night.
When we were done we wanted to go to a mexican restaurant so everyone else could have guacamole! So 7 of us went to Solario (I think that's what it was called). Six people grouped into 3 groups of 2 & shared Guacamole for 2. I had some tortilla soup...mmmmm. Then it was time for bed cause the next day was gonna be long for us.
We decided to skip breakfast, & instead we got a coffee, packed up our stuff, took it to the luggage holding area, & then went in for the closing sessions. It ended at noon, but mom & I had to get on the noon shuttle. We were trying our best to NOT be disappointed.... I mean, this was a free trip that we got! But 3 of us had to leave on Saturday, but everyone else from Billings got to leave on Sunday. :( So after the conference was over they took a tour of Nashville & then went to the Grand Ole Opry for a concert!!!!!!! I was so jealous! But that's ok...I got to come home & do a fill on Brooklyn's expanders & see my awesome family. :)
We had a pretty uneventful trip home. (Thank goodness.) And we got into Lewistown at about 9:30 pm...maybe? If I'm remembering right! Dustin had put the Emla on Brooklyn & then got her to sleep so she wouldn't pull at the dressing. I did the fill as soon as we got home & it went great. She didn't flinch when I poked her & we did soooo great!
I got 20 cc's in the scalp expander...so that one is at 95 cc's now. The front one got 25 cc's in it so now there's 100 cc's in that one!!! We're 1/3 of the way there! And we leave for Chicago in just 4 1/2 weeks, so we'll probably have to start doing the expansions more frequently than every week. We'll just have to see what the surgeon says.
Yesterday we did the photo shoot of Brooklyn for the 2nd cookbook: Brooklyn's Best Volume 2. Unfortunately...I had so much anxiety about it!! I needed a picture that was just as good as the picture on the cover of Volume 1...but that picture is SO amazing that n one thought it could happen. But I still had to try. We did get some great pictures for the back, but there weren't any that could go on the cover...so Friday we're going to do another one with some different ideas. I'll post some on here when we do the 2nd one.
So that's it for now. I'll post pictures of Brooklyn after the next fill this Saturday... :o)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Welcome to Nashville, TN!!
This year alone I'm getting to add EIGHT new states to my list. That's EIGHT states that I'll be going to for the first time this year...how cool is that!? Seven of those states are because of our Chicago trips; but one of them is because of Women of Faith! I'll tell (those of you who don't know about WOF) more about it as it gets closer - April of this year. But for now All-Access is on my mind!
All-Access is a free weekend trip provided by Women of Faith (WOF). This is for group leaders only (those who sign up to bring 50 other women to a WOF). My mom has been doing this ever since I can remember, but this is just my 2nd (and last) year. Last All-Access was held in Dallas, TX. This year's All-Access is in Nashville, TN. WOF provides the airfare, hotel, & food for the whole weekend.
They had us travelling out of Billings at 7:30am, which means that we have to leave the day before, because no one in their right mind would wake up at 4am to drive 2 hrs to Billings to get on a plane. (Ok...well there's no way my mom or I will do that!) So we left Lewistown last night around 8pm, drove to Billings, & got a room. Well had we known that the front desk lady would put us on the 5:20am shuttle.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! We might as well have stayed at home in our own beds & gotten up at 4am...because that's what we had to do anyways!!!!!!
So we got up (Mom at about 4:15am & me about 4:30am) so we could get ready & get down for the 5 flippin 20 AM shuttle. You've got to be joking. There shouldn't even BE a 5:20am! Yeah so I'm really not a morning person. We were walking down the hall to the elevator when I realize it's going to be a very long trip. You see, my mom had the bright idea of us SHARING a suitcase so we didn't have to pay double the fee with the airline. Great idea.....IF YOUR SUITCASE WORKS!!!!!!!! Not so great of an idea if it's broken & I'm the one that has to carry it! Super. So the handle that you pull up is broken, so when I am wheeling it down the hall (and in the airports and in the HUGE hotel in Nashville) I have to totally bend over to hold it by the top handle that's attached to the actual suitcase. This makes me cranky cause I have to put both my carry-on & my purse on my left shoulder so that I can bend over to the right & drag this horrible piece of heaviness that we call a suitcase.
Ok so we get on the shuttle, drive up to the airport, check in, give the big x-ray people our broken bag (thank GOODNESS), & then start to go through security. Word of advise for any potential terrorists out there: NEVER START YOUR TRIP FROM BILLINGS, MT! THEY WILL ALWAYS CATCH YOU!!!!!!!!!! Never fail...my bags are always checked. Always. Not sometimes, not often....but ALWAYS!!!!!!! So here we go again...my mom puts her 40 things in FIVE bins...& I put my stuff in 2...just to have the big bad security lady tell me that everything has to be in it's own separate bin. THEN she takes my purse, puts it on it's SIDE, & proceedes to wiggle it around with her hand to get it as flat as possible. SERIOUSLY?! (Ok side note here...I am Miss Anal-Organized. There is a place for everything & everything has it's place. Good motto for me! So my checkbooks are in one place, my wallet is in another, my little pouches are in another, etc etc. My point is....I DON'T LIKE MY PURSE BEING SCREWED AROUND WITH!) Alright...so the big bad security lady totally messing up my purse was negative action #1. I proceed through security only to have them say "Excuse me, ma'am...is this your bag?" Yup...sure enough, they needed to search my purse. Go figure. What kind of a trip through the Billings airport would it be if they didn't search my purse. Go right ahead. UGH!
So...no weapons of mass destruction found there...& off we went. We went to the gate & I realized that this is the same gate we used to take when we'd take the little mini toothpicks they call a plane to Lewistown from Billings. That was by far the worst flight I'd ever taken. It was Aug 7, 1993 & my grandma & I were going home for me to meet my brother, Curtis, for the first time. This plane today was almost just as bad. They announced that it was our time & they said that you could take 1 personal item on the plane. Haha yeah right. I need my purse & I need my carry-on! I don't take a carry-on just to have it gate-checked. My mom does that, not me. ;) The lady told me that I'd have to gate-check my carry-on (with my laptop, Kindle, Nintendo DS, journal, all my flight/hotel info, etc in it). Grrrrr. Negative action #2. Hahaha I even tried to put them both on my shoulder so that she wouldn't notice....the little sneak. We walk out into the horribly cold morning only to find that the place where we drop off our bags is in a huge snow pile. Not happening. Thankfully there was another "pleasant" girl who took my bag & put it in a wheelchair that just happened to be sitting there!
I walk up the steps to this plane telling my mom that I'd rather just be shot now cause I really didn't want to go through the terror of free-falling through the sky in a mini-toothpick. But I got on anyways & took my seat. On the right side of the plane was just 1 seat but there were 2 on the left. I was in seat 1A. Lucky me. But thankfully no one was sitting next to me so I could freak out in 2 seats. I was surprised however to see that the airline has it's priorities in line:
Yes...that says that the Whisky is held with the Infant Flotation Devices....just to make that clear. And here is my mother all cozy in her seat:
They start the propellers & all I can think of is the movie The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds & Sandra Bullock. You know...when they're going to Sitka, Alaska? Yeah...that was my flight to Denver. The propellers made the plane move from side to side before we even left the ground. They made the seats & plane vibrate SO much. You know those vibrating belts that you put around your mid-section or your butt to make the fat go away... well I should be 100 pounds right now with how that plane was vibrating. I did what I do best though...pray. I prayed & prayed. And then I thanked Got when we landed safely on the ground. I did get a chuckle though when the pilot came on & said that now that he turned off the fasten seat belt sign that we could "Now move about the cabin". Um, excuse me mister pilot sir, but there are NINE rows in this plane.....WHERE ARE WE GONNA GO?!
So we landed, walked off the plane, got our stuff (yes, from the snow-covered ground), & speed-walked inside, and then walked alllllll the way down the hall to our next gate. Thankfully the rest of the trip was very uneventful. I "got" the middle seat (cause I'm a nice daughter & my mom wanted the window) and we arrived safely in Nashville. Thank you Lord.
We found baggage claim, got our broken bag, followed the other 40,000 women in their fine outfits to the busses, loaded up, & were driven to the Opryland Hotel. WOW...this place is phenomenal! It's huge, & gorgeous, & very big, & beautiful, & wow the floor plan! LOL We checked in, somehow found our room, unloaded our stuff, & were off! Mom had breakfast this AM but I hadn't eaten anything all day so both of us were pretty much famished. I took some pictures as we were exploring places to eat.
We found a make-your-own-burger place & sat down to eat. I never eat a whole burger. Never. Except for today. That thing was so good & I was literally starving to death, so I was eating it pretty fast. Well...until my permanent bottom retainer came off! LOL Yup...you read me right...the retainer that WAS along my bottom 5 teeth for the past SEVENTEEN years came off. I'd had one side of it glued back on about 5 times in the recent months; & just in the past couple days another chunk of the glue came off. I have an appt next week to get it fixed again...haha, I guess not anymore. I felt bad throwing that little piece of wire away. I mean...it was a part of me for so long...for as long as my brother has been alive! 17 years is a long time. LOL ok kidding...I pitched that thing in the trash so fast! But, for those of you who've had braces know, it feels soooo weird without it there. We walked around just a bit but came back to the room ASAP so I could brush my teeth. Ok enough about my mouth...
We went to the dinner reception but couldn't eat anything at all cause we were still so full from our 3:30pm "snack". Then the show started. Here's the room that the event is in:
...and that's only the left part of the room... This place is huge. And it's full of 2,200 women! It was short, but great. Natalie Grant opened the night with a little mini-concert. What a treat. She has the most amazing voice, & she's just so gorgeous too. This is the first time she's sang in front of an audience since her new daughter was born 7 weeks ago. Then 3 of the original 4 WOF speakers went up & just talked & answered questions. It was great, & hilarious! Then a 2-sister group, Mary Mary, performed for us all. They're just amazing to hear.
And now it's bed time. I need to type recipes like crazy but my eyes are pretty much red & blood shot cause I'm so tired...so off to bed I go. Tomorrow is a long, fun-filled day & I'm looking forward to it.
And of course I can't forget....today is my husband, Dustin's, birthday. Yes, I missed his birthday. Thankfully birthday's in his family aren't as big as in my family cause he was totally fine with me coming. I did give him his gift though before I left & told him not to open it until today. He got to spend the day with the girls, & they all had a great time together. ;o)
Here's to a good night's sleep - un-interrupted!!!
All-Access is a free weekend trip provided by Women of Faith (WOF). This is for group leaders only (those who sign up to bring 50 other women to a WOF). My mom has been doing this ever since I can remember, but this is just my 2nd (and last) year. Last All-Access was held in Dallas, TX. This year's All-Access is in Nashville, TN. WOF provides the airfare, hotel, & food for the whole weekend.
They had us travelling out of Billings at 7:30am, which means that we have to leave the day before, because no one in their right mind would wake up at 4am to drive 2 hrs to Billings to get on a plane. (Ok...well there's no way my mom or I will do that!) So we left Lewistown last night around 8pm, drove to Billings, & got a room. Well had we known that the front desk lady would put us on the 5:20am shuttle.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! We might as well have stayed at home in our own beds & gotten up at 4am...because that's what we had to do anyways!!!!!!
So we got up (Mom at about 4:15am & me about 4:30am) so we could get ready & get down for the 5 flippin 20 AM shuttle. You've got to be joking. There shouldn't even BE a 5:20am! Yeah so I'm really not a morning person. We were walking down the hall to the elevator when I realize it's going to be a very long trip. You see, my mom had the bright idea of us SHARING a suitcase so we didn't have to pay double the fee with the airline. Great idea.....IF YOUR SUITCASE WORKS!!!!!!!! Not so great of an idea if it's broken & I'm the one that has to carry it! Super. So the handle that you pull up is broken, so when I am wheeling it down the hall (and in the airports and in the HUGE hotel in Nashville) I have to totally bend over to hold it by the top handle that's attached to the actual suitcase. This makes me cranky cause I have to put both my carry-on & my purse on my left shoulder so that I can bend over to the right & drag this horrible piece of heaviness that we call a suitcase.
Ok so we get on the shuttle, drive up to the airport, check in, give the big x-ray people our broken bag (thank GOODNESS), & then start to go through security. Word of advise for any potential terrorists out there: NEVER START YOUR TRIP FROM BILLINGS, MT! THEY WILL ALWAYS CATCH YOU!!!!!!!!!! Never fail...my bags are always checked. Always. Not sometimes, not often....but ALWAYS!!!!!!! So here we go again...my mom puts her 40 things in FIVE bins...& I put my stuff in 2...just to have the big bad security lady tell me that everything has to be in it's own separate bin. THEN she takes my purse, puts it on it's SIDE, & proceedes to wiggle it around with her hand to get it as flat as possible. SERIOUSLY?! (Ok side note here...I am Miss Anal-Organized. There is a place for everything & everything has it's place. Good motto for me! So my checkbooks are in one place, my wallet is in another, my little pouches are in another, etc etc. My point is....I DON'T LIKE MY PURSE BEING SCREWED AROUND WITH!) Alright...so the big bad security lady totally messing up my purse was negative action #1. I proceed through security only to have them say "Excuse me, ma'am...is this your bag?" Yup...sure enough, they needed to search my purse. Go figure. What kind of a trip through the Billings airport would it be if they didn't search my purse. Go right ahead. UGH!
So...no weapons of mass destruction found there...& off we went. We went to the gate & I realized that this is the same gate we used to take when we'd take the little mini toothpicks they call a plane to Lewistown from Billings. That was by far the worst flight I'd ever taken. It was Aug 7, 1993 & my grandma & I were going home for me to meet my brother, Curtis, for the first time. This plane today was almost just as bad. They announced that it was our time & they said that you could take 1 personal item on the plane. Haha yeah right. I need my purse & I need my carry-on! I don't take a carry-on just to have it gate-checked. My mom does that, not me. ;) The lady told me that I'd have to gate-check my carry-on (with my laptop, Kindle, Nintendo DS, journal, all my flight/hotel info, etc in it). Grrrrr. Negative action #2. Hahaha I even tried to put them both on my shoulder so that she wouldn't notice....the little sneak. We walk out into the horribly cold morning only to find that the place where we drop off our bags is in a huge snow pile. Not happening. Thankfully there was another "pleasant" girl who took my bag & put it in a wheelchair that just happened to be sitting there!
I walk up the steps to this plane telling my mom that I'd rather just be shot now cause I really didn't want to go through the terror of free-falling through the sky in a mini-toothpick. But I got on anyways & took my seat. On the right side of the plane was just 1 seat but there were 2 on the left. I was in seat 1A. Lucky me. But thankfully no one was sitting next to me so I could freak out in 2 seats. I was surprised however to see that the airline has it's priorities in line:
So we landed, walked off the plane, got our stuff (yes, from the snow-covered ground), & speed-walked inside, and then walked alllllll the way down the hall to our next gate. Thankfully the rest of the trip was very uneventful. I "got" the middle seat (cause I'm a nice daughter & my mom wanted the window) and we arrived safely in Nashville. Thank you Lord.
We found baggage claim, got our broken bag, followed the other 40,000 women in their fine outfits to the busses, loaded up, & were driven to the Opryland Hotel. WOW...this place is phenomenal! It's huge, & gorgeous, & very big, & beautiful, & wow the floor plan! LOL We checked in, somehow found our room, unloaded our stuff, & were off! Mom had breakfast this AM but I hadn't eaten anything all day so both of us were pretty much famished. I took some pictures as we were exploring places to eat.
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| Some guest rooms & the little canal. You can ride a boat on it for just $9/person! ;) |
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| Delta Island - shops & restaurants. This is in a center area of the hotel. |
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| The Garden Conservatory - basically a garden with lots of plants & a walkway...but pretty cool! |
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| On our way to our dinner reception |
And now it's bed time. I need to type recipes like crazy but my eyes are pretty much red & blood shot cause I'm so tired...so off to bed I go. Tomorrow is a long, fun-filled day & I'm looking forward to it.
And of course I can't forget....today is my husband, Dustin's, birthday. Yes, I missed his birthday. Thankfully birthday's in his family aren't as big as in my family cause he was totally fine with me coming. I did give him his gift though before I left & told him not to open it until today. He got to spend the day with the girls, & they all had a great time together. ;o)
Here's to a good night's sleep - un-interrupted!!!
Monday, February 7, 2011
What a day!!!...and a birthday coming up!
First off...just 1 month from today...just 4 weeks from today...just 28 days from today.....BROOKLYN TURNS ONE!!!!!! It's not at all that I haven't enjoyed every minute we've spent with her, cause holy cow we certainly have. But I think that we've just been SO caught up in this whole nevus "thing" that her birthday has gotten here so FAST!!!!! I absolutely can't believe that it's here already. Just next week & I'll be getting the invites made & sent out! I can't believe how quickly it's come...and most of all, I can't believe that she's gonna be 1...I mean, she's just so darn small! Haha!
Ok and on to today. Wow...what a morning! First off, we got a call bright & early from my mom...at 7am! She said that she was starting to get a cough & wondered what to do. She's been coming over here to watch the girls when I have to work. Our supplier at work hasn't been there yet so I haven't gotten to order the masks yet and we didn't have any here at the house. Our "back-up" babysitter is out of town & I had to be at work cause my co-worker was gone & there's 2 providers there on Mondays. We had our fill-in nurse there but I still needed to be there since there were 2 providers. So basically we were 100% in a bind.
So once I fully woke up I realized that I'd gotten a couple masks to put in our office the other day. So I called her back & said to go by our office, right at 8am, get a mask, then come to our house. I'd be late, but at least Brooklyn wouldn't get sick. So my mom got to our house around 8:20am - mask in hand - & I left for work.
Can we say...HOLY SNOW BLIZZARDING STORM OF THE YEAR!!!!!! It was snowing so fast & so hard that I couldn't even see the road from our house. (Which is very visible from our house even when it's snowing on a "typical" day.) The wind was blowing horribly too, which caused major drifts even at 8am! I opened the garage door just to have snow POURING in. I left our driveway & headed down our gravel road, which the tracks from my mom coming just 5 mins prior, were totally blown away. I just took it slow & hoped that by driving on that road nearly everyday for the past 5-6 years gave me enough knowledge to remember where the road dropped off! I got on the main road & noticed that there was a very loud noise coming from the front of the car. Immediately I knew that it was cause so much snow had gotten on our mud flaps & they were rubbing against the tires. That's really what it sounded like. So I just took it slow...until it persisted & seemed to get slightly louder. I considered pulling over to kick the snow off, but I was already almost 1/2 hr late for work so I just kept going. I then realized that there was NO way that it could have been snow on the mud flaps cause I PARK IN THE GARAGE! Hmmmm....
So I got about 1/2 way to work & all of a sudden it hit me... Whenever we park in our garage, I'm on the right, & in order to get the 2 passenger side doors open fully I have to pull in to the garage & then crank the wheel to the left slightly. I've done this religiously every single time I pull in the garage.....EXCEPT for those few times that I know I won't have the girls with me. (Cause no needing the extra space on the passenger side if I'm not going to be opening those doors for the girls.) Makes sense, right?
So I pulled in the garage yesterday & knew that I wouldn't have the girls in the car this AM...I'd just be going to work cause my mom was coming over here to watch them. I remembered all this on my way to work this AM & remembered that when I pulled in the garage last night I pulled straight in; I didn't turn the wheel to the left. And what did I hear when I pulled straight in? CRACK!!!!!!!!!! There was a beer bottle that Dustin had dropped a while back & he hadn't cleaned up the glass! (Of course this is all his fault!!!) So yes....as I was driving to work this AM I realized a first had occurred for me....I had a flat tire. Well what on earth was I going to do in this weather?! I could have just stopped, but then what?! So I just continued on to work. I was already now more than 1/2 way there when I realized that it just HAD to be a flat. So I just went about 15-20mph the rest of the way to work.
I got there & could tell by my tracks that it was flat, then felt it & indeed....it was flat. I had gotten a phone call when I was just a block away from work from the nurse filling-in for us. The doctor I work for had told the other provider not to come in today, since she lives out of town & it would have been next to impossible for her to have gotten there. So there was no need for 2 nurses. She offered to stay so I could go home & take care of the girls so Brooklyn wouldn't get whatever my mom had. SUPER nice of her!! :)
I walked in to work, called Dustin, asked him what the heck I was supposed to do, then called the tire place. Oh and I guess a great thing to point out here is that we got 4 BRAND NEW tires on December 30th, then left for Chicago the next day! So these were 4 brand spankin new tires! :( The tire people said they'd come up & put air in it...just to last me long enough to get to them so they could take a look at the tire. I started walking out the door & realized then that I locked my keys in the car! Ha! Thank goodness I'd locked them in the car before because I learned to keep a spare in my jacket, which I conveniently had on! ;)
The tire people said that my tire was completely shot cause I'd driven on it (even though my drive to work is literally 6 minutes). So they put a "rental" on it (LOL - "rental" tires) & the new one will be here Thursday, weather permitting. UGH!
What a morning! Thankfully everything went fine once I got home!
Ok and on to today. Wow...what a morning! First off, we got a call bright & early from my mom...at 7am! She said that she was starting to get a cough & wondered what to do. She's been coming over here to watch the girls when I have to work. Our supplier at work hasn't been there yet so I haven't gotten to order the masks yet and we didn't have any here at the house. Our "back-up" babysitter is out of town & I had to be at work cause my co-worker was gone & there's 2 providers there on Mondays. We had our fill-in nurse there but I still needed to be there since there were 2 providers. So basically we were 100% in a bind.
So once I fully woke up I realized that I'd gotten a couple masks to put in our office the other day. So I called her back & said to go by our office, right at 8am, get a mask, then come to our house. I'd be late, but at least Brooklyn wouldn't get sick. So my mom got to our house around 8:20am - mask in hand - & I left for work.
Can we say...HOLY SNOW BLIZZARDING STORM OF THE YEAR!!!!!! It was snowing so fast & so hard that I couldn't even see the road from our house. (Which is very visible from our house even when it's snowing on a "typical" day.) The wind was blowing horribly too, which caused major drifts even at 8am! I opened the garage door just to have snow POURING in. I left our driveway & headed down our gravel road, which the tracks from my mom coming just 5 mins prior, were totally blown away. I just took it slow & hoped that by driving on that road nearly everyday for the past 5-6 years gave me enough knowledge to remember where the road dropped off! I got on the main road & noticed that there was a very loud noise coming from the front of the car. Immediately I knew that it was cause so much snow had gotten on our mud flaps & they were rubbing against the tires. That's really what it sounded like. So I just took it slow...until it persisted & seemed to get slightly louder. I considered pulling over to kick the snow off, but I was already almost 1/2 hr late for work so I just kept going. I then realized that there was NO way that it could have been snow on the mud flaps cause I PARK IN THE GARAGE! Hmmmm....
So I got about 1/2 way to work & all of a sudden it hit me... Whenever we park in our garage, I'm on the right, & in order to get the 2 passenger side doors open fully I have to pull in to the garage & then crank the wheel to the left slightly. I've done this religiously every single time I pull in the garage.....EXCEPT for those few times that I know I won't have the girls with me. (Cause no needing the extra space on the passenger side if I'm not going to be opening those doors for the girls.) Makes sense, right?
So I pulled in the garage yesterday & knew that I wouldn't have the girls in the car this AM...I'd just be going to work cause my mom was coming over here to watch them. I remembered all this on my way to work this AM & remembered that when I pulled in the garage last night I pulled straight in; I didn't turn the wheel to the left. And what did I hear when I pulled straight in? CRACK!!!!!!!!!! There was a beer bottle that Dustin had dropped a while back & he hadn't cleaned up the glass! (Of course this is all his fault!!!) So yes....as I was driving to work this AM I realized a first had occurred for me....I had a flat tire. Well what on earth was I going to do in this weather?! I could have just stopped, but then what?! So I just continued on to work. I was already now more than 1/2 way there when I realized that it just HAD to be a flat. So I just went about 15-20mph the rest of the way to work.
I got there & could tell by my tracks that it was flat, then felt it & indeed....it was flat. I had gotten a phone call when I was just a block away from work from the nurse filling-in for us. The doctor I work for had told the other provider not to come in today, since she lives out of town & it would have been next to impossible for her to have gotten there. So there was no need for 2 nurses. She offered to stay so I could go home & take care of the girls so Brooklyn wouldn't get whatever my mom had. SUPER nice of her!! :)
I walked in to work, called Dustin, asked him what the heck I was supposed to do, then called the tire place. Oh and I guess a great thing to point out here is that we got 4 BRAND NEW tires on December 30th, then left for Chicago the next day! So these were 4 brand spankin new tires! :( The tire people said they'd come up & put air in it...just to last me long enough to get to them so they could take a look at the tire. I started walking out the door & realized then that I locked my keys in the car! Ha! Thank goodness I'd locked them in the car before because I learned to keep a spare in my jacket, which I conveniently had on! ;)
The tire people said that my tire was completely shot cause I'd driven on it (even though my drive to work is literally 6 minutes). So they put a "rental" on it (LOL - "rental" tires) & the new one will be here Thursday, weather permitting. UGH!
What a morning! Thankfully everything went fine once I got home!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Our 2nd fill
Well not much has happened since I wrote last week. I started back to work, which was so great. Thanks to the doctor I work for, I was able to order a box of masks to have here at home, so we can still fill even if Dustin or I am sick. It was nice to get back in the swing of things at work. And I think everyone enjoyed having me back! Let's just say there was a lot of laughing & catching up!
Cali enjoyed being with Oma (my mom) while I was at work. Because Brooklyn can't get sick, my mom is being a savior & coming over here to watch the girls while I work. It's only been a week (and I only work part-time) but wow it's SO nice having her come over here, instead of me taking the girls to her! (I wonder what I can do to bribe her to keep this up even after the surgery????) ;o)
Speaking of my mom...her & I get to go to Nashville this coming week!! We are both group leaders with Women of Faith so we get a F-R-E-E trip, courtesy of Women of Faith. We got to go last year as well; we went to Dallas in January. This year it's at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. Airfare, hotel, AND food are all paid for by Women of Faith. I'm sure it'll be a very nice break for me. But please keep Dustin & the girls in your prayers. They'll be on their own from Wed night through later Sat evening.
On another note: We have another fundraiser going on for us right now! It's from the Tastefully Simple company. Go here to order: www.tastefullysimple.com/web/s
And our last news of the week...we did our 2nd fill today! I was going to wait until Dustin got off of work, but my mother-in-law called & said that she'd come over to help. So I quickly got the Emla cream on her & then tried my best to keep her arms away from the dressing on her head. It was a LONG hour! She was cranky cause she was tired, so she kept pulling at the dressing, & taking it off her head. Pretty frustrating!! But she eventually fell asleep. Unfortunately though, she didn't stay asleep. Dona was holding her while I did the scalp expander. She cried, but was alright & eventually settled down. I got 20 cc's in that one. Then I did the forehead expander & unfortunately for all of us, she felt the needle go in on that one. She fussed & cried & squirmed a lot. When she cries, it makes the expanders more red & harder than they really are cause of all the pressure. So I stopped at 17 cc's. After I cleaned up & Dona got her settled down I was toying with the idea of doing that forehead one again, cause it was soft again & I could tell it could have used more in it. But I didn't cause I didn't want her to be in pain again.
So now both expanders are equally filled at 75cc's! Here are a couple pictures taken about an hour after the fill.
And here she is directly after the fill...LOL she fell right back asleep!
She was pretty cranky when she got up, so I gave her Tylenol & she's now doing much better. But who can blame her...she just had 37 cc's added to her head weight!
Dustin's 2 aunts & uncle came to town this weekend to see Dustin's dad. It's been great seeing them. Brooklyn actually was taken out of the house for the very first time yesterday after being in the house since we got home from Chicago! Then tonight we went to Dustin's aunt's house...so she go to leave the house again. And tomorrow we're going to church! Out of the house 3 times in 3 days...she's certainly enjoyed it. :)
Next blog post...from Nashville!!
Cali enjoyed being with Oma (my mom) while I was at work. Because Brooklyn can't get sick, my mom is being a savior & coming over here to watch the girls while I work. It's only been a week (and I only work part-time) but wow it's SO nice having her come over here, instead of me taking the girls to her! (I wonder what I can do to bribe her to keep this up even after the surgery????) ;o)
Speaking of my mom...her & I get to go to Nashville this coming week!! We are both group leaders with Women of Faith so we get a F-R-E-E trip, courtesy of Women of Faith. We got to go last year as well; we went to Dallas in January. This year it's at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. Airfare, hotel, AND food are all paid for by Women of Faith. I'm sure it'll be a very nice break for me. But please keep Dustin & the girls in your prayers. They'll be on their own from Wed night through later Sat evening.
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| Cali - happy to be sitting with mom in the chair |
And our last news of the week...we did our 2nd fill today! I was going to wait until Dustin got off of work, but my mother-in-law called & said that she'd come over to help. So I quickly got the Emla cream on her & then tried my best to keep her arms away from the dressing on her head. It was a LONG hour! She was cranky cause she was tired, so she kept pulling at the dressing, & taking it off her head. Pretty frustrating!! But she eventually fell asleep. Unfortunately though, she didn't stay asleep. Dona was holding her while I did the scalp expander. She cried, but was alright & eventually settled down. I got 20 cc's in that one. Then I did the forehead expander & unfortunately for all of us, she felt the needle go in on that one. She fussed & cried & squirmed a lot. When she cries, it makes the expanders more red & harder than they really are cause of all the pressure. So I stopped at 17 cc's. After I cleaned up & Dona got her settled down I was toying with the idea of doing that forehead one again, cause it was soft again & I could tell it could have used more in it. But I didn't cause I didn't want her to be in pain again.
So now both expanders are equally filled at 75cc's! Here are a couple pictures taken about an hour after the fill.
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| Forehead expander |
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| Scalp expander |
Dustin's 2 aunts & uncle came to town this weekend to see Dustin's dad. It's been great seeing them. Brooklyn actually was taken out of the house for the very first time yesterday after being in the house since we got home from Chicago! Then tonight we went to Dustin's aunt's house...so she go to leave the house again. And tomorrow we're going to church! Out of the house 3 times in 3 days...she's certainly enjoyed it. :)
Next blog post...from Nashville!!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
A Surprising First Fill!!!
And finally....we get to do a fill at home! It was nice not being on hold anymore. We kind of waited till last minute to start the fill last night. We should have done it after Dustin got off work, but once he got home & we ate dinner, & then relaxed....the night was almost over before we knew it.
I'll describe a "typical" fill first...so that it won't be a foreign language when I talk about them.
First, I get out the Emla cream. This is a numbing cream that is put on Brooklyn's ports. This stays on for an hour in order to numb the area so that she doesn't feel the needle go in her skin. Once I gob on the cream I put a piece of saran wrap over it to keep it in place. Then the same dressing-type stuff (that she had over her head after surgery) goes on, around her head, to keep things in place.
While we're waiting for the hour to go by I get the supplies ready. There is a 30 mL syringe (with no needle), a swab to cleanse the area, the needle (which is very small), and the bag of saline. I fill the syringe with 30 mL's of saline & attach the needle...twice, get the air out of each syringe, & get 2 gauze pads.
Once the hour has gone by Dustin will hold Brooklyn & keep her attention. I take the saran wrap off, clean off the cream, & wipe both the ports with an alcohol swab. I decide which expander I want to fill first, then I take the antiseptic swab & clean off the port very well. Then I insert the needle in the center of the port until it hits the back of the port. I can now let go of the port & leave the needle in, but this is where Dustin needs to make sure that she doesn't move all that much. We have a little bit of tubing we can work with, but if she moves too much it'll jerk the needle right out of the port.
Once the needle is in I slowly inject the saline. While injecting the saline I make sure to keep an eye on the expander & on Brooklyn herself. If Brooklyn is doing ok, I keep going. If the expander doesn't get hard, I keep going. If the blood flow to the skin is good, I keep going. But as soon as one of those 3 criteria aren't met, I stop. Then I take the needle out & Dustin holds a gauze pad on the area to stop any slight bleeding. Then I do it all over again with the other port.
So!!! Now that I've explained a typical fill...
We started a little too late last night....or so we thought. We put the cream on her at 8:15pm. She started getting a little cranky so Dustin sat with her in the rocking chair & gave her a bottle....and she proceeded to fall asleep about 10 mins later. He said to me at about 8:45pm, "I wish we could just do it now while she's asleep." I then said to him that there's no way she'll stay asleep while we're doing it...that she'll wake up as soon as I start.
We still, though, decided at 9:15pm to do the fill in the living room instead of the kitchen where I had everything set up. So I brought all the stuff in the living room & Dustin rolled her over so I could see the ports. Still asleep. I took the saran wrap off & cleaned the ports with the alcohol swab. Still asleep. I decided to do the scalp expander first since it was very easy to see so I cleaned the swab & put the needle in. Still asleep!!! That expander had 40 mL's in it to start off with. I was able to get 15 in...so now there's 55 mL's. Still asleep.
Then we turned her a tiny bit & I did it all over again on the other side. Still asleep. The forehead expander had 38 mL's in & I got 20...so now there's 58 mL's in that one. And yes folks....STILL ASLEEP! I think it's the last time that will happen, but hey...maybe we'll wait till she falls asleep from now on!!!
Here she is afterwards:
And now...provided she's well...we'll do this all over again next Saturday.
I'll describe a "typical" fill first...so that it won't be a foreign language when I talk about them.
First, I get out the Emla cream. This is a numbing cream that is put on Brooklyn's ports. This stays on for an hour in order to numb the area so that she doesn't feel the needle go in her skin. Once I gob on the cream I put a piece of saran wrap over it to keep it in place. Then the same dressing-type stuff (that she had over her head after surgery) goes on, around her head, to keep things in place.
While we're waiting for the hour to go by I get the supplies ready. There is a 30 mL syringe (with no needle), a swab to cleanse the area, the needle (which is very small), and the bag of saline. I fill the syringe with 30 mL's of saline & attach the needle...twice, get the air out of each syringe, & get 2 gauze pads.
Once the hour has gone by Dustin will hold Brooklyn & keep her attention. I take the saran wrap off, clean off the cream, & wipe both the ports with an alcohol swab. I decide which expander I want to fill first, then I take the antiseptic swab & clean off the port very well. Then I insert the needle in the center of the port until it hits the back of the port. I can now let go of the port & leave the needle in, but this is where Dustin needs to make sure that she doesn't move all that much. We have a little bit of tubing we can work with, but if she moves too much it'll jerk the needle right out of the port.
Once the needle is in I slowly inject the saline. While injecting the saline I make sure to keep an eye on the expander & on Brooklyn herself. If Brooklyn is doing ok, I keep going. If the expander doesn't get hard, I keep going. If the blood flow to the skin is good, I keep going. But as soon as one of those 3 criteria aren't met, I stop. Then I take the needle out & Dustin holds a gauze pad on the area to stop any slight bleeding. Then I do it all over again with the other port.
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| A day or so before our first home expansion. |
We started a little too late last night....or so we thought. We put the cream on her at 8:15pm. She started getting a little cranky so Dustin sat with her in the rocking chair & gave her a bottle....and she proceeded to fall asleep about 10 mins later. He said to me at about 8:45pm, "I wish we could just do it now while she's asleep." I then said to him that there's no way she'll stay asleep while we're doing it...that she'll wake up as soon as I start.
We still, though, decided at 9:15pm to do the fill in the living room instead of the kitchen where I had everything set up. So I brought all the stuff in the living room & Dustin rolled her over so I could see the ports. Still asleep. I took the saran wrap off & cleaned the ports with the alcohol swab. Still asleep. I decided to do the scalp expander first since it was very easy to see so I cleaned the swab & put the needle in. Still asleep!!! That expander had 40 mL's in it to start off with. I was able to get 15 in...so now there's 55 mL's. Still asleep.
Then we turned her a tiny bit & I did it all over again on the other side. Still asleep. The forehead expander had 38 mL's in & I got 20...so now there's 58 mL's in that one. And yes folks....STILL ASLEEP! I think it's the last time that will happen, but hey...maybe we'll wait till she falls asleep from now on!!!
Here she is afterwards:
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| Forehead expander with a total of 58cc's in. |
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| Both expanders |
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Fundraiser!!!...& a little update...Oh...& good news!!
A great person here in Lewistown is doing a fundraiser for us!! 25% of the proceedes go to Brooklyn & her surgery fund!! The link is: http://www.tastefullysimple.com/web/sruckman Click on that, shop until your heart's content, then when you're checking out you search for my fundraiser by typing in my name. It's SUPER easy & the site is just great. :) If you have any questions, though, just let me know! Thanks to everyone for the support. This fundraiser is going until 2/28/11...just in time for our 2nd trip to Chicago.
And a little update on us...Haha...I have nothing to say! LOL That's just cause we haven't done anything. Dustin started back to work, & is glad to be back. He's not enjoying all the snow & cold weather, but he's glad to be back making money. I start back to work on Monday & let me tell you...I'm really looking forward to it. I need some adult interaction! I have enjoyed being home this whole week with the girls, but I need to get back to work. I need to have a reason to get up in the morning, get dressed, brush my teeth, & do something productive!!! I only work part-time, which works great for our family. When I go back to work my mom will be coming over here to watch the girls to lessen the chances that Brooklyn will get sick.
I'm basically just excited to get out of the house. We got home last Thursday & I've only been out of the house TWICE since then...that's TWICE in over a week! I took Cali to church last Sunday, had a Young Family Group get-together Wednesday night...and have been in the house ever since then... People...that's a week as of tomorrow! What the heck are we going to do though? There's no mall to walk around in, no parks for them to play at (that aren't covered in snow), nowhere we can just walk around. So we just sit at home. This is definitely a time when I wish we lived in a big city again.
And now for the good news: Right before I started typing this I had sent a quick update email to our surgeon. I sent it at 11:45am and at 11:45am he wrote me back!! Yeah...no kidding! I told him that Brooklyn is well, her rash is gone, & I'd feel comfortable (health-wise) to do it. He wrote back & said to "Go for it!" So we'll be doing our first fill tonight after Dustin gets home! Yay!!!! I feel like we're getting back on track...finally! I'll post again tonight or tomorrow to let everyone know how it went!! Here's to hoping for a good experience!!!!
And a little update on us...Haha...I have nothing to say! LOL That's just cause we haven't done anything. Dustin started back to work, & is glad to be back. He's not enjoying all the snow & cold weather, but he's glad to be back making money. I start back to work on Monday & let me tell you...I'm really looking forward to it. I need some adult interaction! I have enjoyed being home this whole week with the girls, but I need to get back to work. I need to have a reason to get up in the morning, get dressed, brush my teeth, & do something productive!!! I only work part-time, which works great for our family. When I go back to work my mom will be coming over here to watch the girls to lessen the chances that Brooklyn will get sick.
I'm basically just excited to get out of the house. We got home last Thursday & I've only been out of the house TWICE since then...that's TWICE in over a week! I took Cali to church last Sunday, had a Young Family Group get-together Wednesday night...and have been in the house ever since then... People...that's a week as of tomorrow! What the heck are we going to do though? There's no mall to walk around in, no parks for them to play at (that aren't covered in snow), nowhere we can just walk around. So we just sit at home. This is definitely a time when I wish we lived in a big city again.
And now for the good news: Right before I started typing this I had sent a quick update email to our surgeon. I sent it at 11:45am and at 11:45am he wrote me back!! Yeah...no kidding! I told him that Brooklyn is well, her rash is gone, & I'd feel comfortable (health-wise) to do it. He wrote back & said to "Go for it!" So we'll be doing our first fill tonight after Dustin gets home! Yay!!!! I feel like we're getting back on track...finally! I'll post again tonight or tomorrow to let everyone know how it went!! Here's to hoping for a good experience!!!!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Surgery #2 = 2 months from today..... & a big weight lifted
Surgery #2 is 2 weeks from today...provided we are able to get on (& stay on) track with these fills. We still haven't been able to do the fill here at home because Brooklyn is still just slightly sick. She feels fine...just slightly cranky compared to normal. The only "extra" thing is that she's been grabbing at the back of her neck...so much, infact that it's been causing a rash there. You can tell it really itches her & I have no idea why or how. I just feel so bad for her.
We woke up yesterday AM to this:
UGH! The picture is so "hazy" looking cause it was majorly blizzarding...HUGE FAT snowflakes. Yuck!
Since being home we've been pretty lazy, until today that is. We had friends of ours over Sat & Sun evenings. They have a daughter Cali's age so Cali just had a BALL playing with her. Here they are watching Mickey:
Also this weekend Daddy & Cali had a special "bonding" time:
Yes folks...he's painting her nails! :o)
Other than that, I started unpacking a little. I have found myself keeping the house just as clean & meticulous as our hotel room in Chicago, which is actually good cause we need this place as clean as possible for Brooklyn.
I had to make a sad phone call today. I had to call Cali's day care today & tell them that she can't go back until the end of March. I was so sad to do that...that I put it off until late afternoon. Cali only went 2 days a week, but oh my gosh did she ever LOVE it!!! She loved playing with her friends, loved her teachers, learned so much, & just flat out loved going. She hasn't really said anything about it, & I'm certainly not telling her...unless she asks. Today though we did happen to drive by her day care & she saw all the toys & yelled "Mom! Toys! Me...play...toys!!!" UGH! This is a part that I didn't think would happen. But she'll be able to go back once Dustin, Brooklyn, & I leave for Chicago in March. (She's staying home with my parents.)
Also today, I gave myself a little break. As many of you knew I'm going back to school for my Bachelor's in Nursing. The nursing program that I went to here in Lewistown is a 2-year Associate's program. You can go back for your Bachelor's if you want, & it's all online, which is super nice. It's a 4 semester program that I started Fall 2009. I was told the whole time by the BSN advisor that I'd be done after just the 4 semesters (Fall 2009, Spring, Summer, & Fall 2010). Well imagine my surprise when I was told that I needed FOUR more classes! UGH...needless to say, I was pretty upset that I was pretty much lied to this whole time. Long story short, after the Lewistown representative (who is fantastic!!) & the Dean of Nursing got together they figured out I just needed ONE more class, in the Cultural Diversity category. So I found a class that (of course) has absolutely NOTHING to do with nursing called Native Cultures of North America --- yeah, how fun & exciting right --- so I signed up for it for this semester. Well....of course I don't have to explain how much I do NOT have the time for a 15 week class. It's just one more thing on my plate that I just don't want there! Plus, with it not having anything to do with nursing, I just don't care!!! I wrote the professor & he said that he's teaching this class again with the same books for the 2nd summer session (a V-E-R-Y intense 3 1/2 week course that is literally one semester jammed into just 3 1/2 weeks) which starts July 11th. It'll get over the week that we're going to Chicago for Brooklyn's 3rd surgery. So it may be a bit busy with me packing for the trip, but I would much rather have a super busy 3 1/2 weeks instead of it dragging out & being busy & difficult for 15 weeks!!! Once I got off the phone today it was THE biggest weight lifted off my chest. Ahhhhh, one thing helping me breathe a bit better today...
Other than that nothing is going on here. Just waiting for Brooke to get better so we can resume the filling. Will write more when we have more exciting things going on!!
We woke up yesterday AM to this:
Since being home we've been pretty lazy, until today that is. We had friends of ours over Sat & Sun evenings. They have a daughter Cali's age so Cali just had a BALL playing with her. Here they are watching Mickey:
Also this weekend Daddy & Cali had a special "bonding" time:
Other than that, I started unpacking a little. I have found myself keeping the house just as clean & meticulous as our hotel room in Chicago, which is actually good cause we need this place as clean as possible for Brooklyn.
I had to make a sad phone call today. I had to call Cali's day care today & tell them that she can't go back until the end of March. I was so sad to do that...that I put it off until late afternoon. Cali only went 2 days a week, but oh my gosh did she ever LOVE it!!! She loved playing with her friends, loved her teachers, learned so much, & just flat out loved going. She hasn't really said anything about it, & I'm certainly not telling her...unless she asks. Today though we did happen to drive by her day care & she saw all the toys & yelled "Mom! Toys! Me...play...toys!!!" UGH! This is a part that I didn't think would happen. But she'll be able to go back once Dustin, Brooklyn, & I leave for Chicago in March. (She's staying home with my parents.)
Also today, I gave myself a little break. As many of you knew I'm going back to school for my Bachelor's in Nursing. The nursing program that I went to here in Lewistown is a 2-year Associate's program. You can go back for your Bachelor's if you want, & it's all online, which is super nice. It's a 4 semester program that I started Fall 2009. I was told the whole time by the BSN advisor that I'd be done after just the 4 semesters (Fall 2009, Spring, Summer, & Fall 2010). Well imagine my surprise when I was told that I needed FOUR more classes! UGH...needless to say, I was pretty upset that I was pretty much lied to this whole time. Long story short, after the Lewistown representative (who is fantastic!!) & the Dean of Nursing got together they figured out I just needed ONE more class, in the Cultural Diversity category. So I found a class that (of course) has absolutely NOTHING to do with nursing called Native Cultures of North America --- yeah, how fun & exciting right --- so I signed up for it for this semester. Well....of course I don't have to explain how much I do NOT have the time for a 15 week class. It's just one more thing on my plate that I just don't want there! Plus, with it not having anything to do with nursing, I just don't care!!! I wrote the professor & he said that he's teaching this class again with the same books for the 2nd summer session (a V-E-R-Y intense 3 1/2 week course that is literally one semester jammed into just 3 1/2 weeks) which starts July 11th. It'll get over the week that we're going to Chicago for Brooklyn's 3rd surgery. So it may be a bit busy with me packing for the trip, but I would much rather have a super busy 3 1/2 weeks instead of it dragging out & being busy & difficult for 15 weeks!!! Once I got off the phone today it was THE biggest weight lifted off my chest. Ahhhhh, one thing helping me breathe a bit better today...
Other than that nothing is going on here. Just waiting for Brooke to get better so we can resume the filling. Will write more when we have more exciting things going on!!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Setback #1 - Expander Fills Postponned
I'm calling this post Setback #1 because that's just where we're at. UGH!!! I've mentioned numerous times about the importance of Brooklyn staying healthy & the reasons why. She needs to stay well so that we can do the fills.
Brooklyn sick = NO expansion!
NO expansion = Severe delays in getting to the 250-300mL's that we need in each expander
Severe delays = postponning the next surgery.
This is NOT what we need to do. It is so important to keep her healthy so we can continue down the right path for this whole process. With that said, it IS ironic, I admit, that Dustin, Cali, & I are still getting over our colds. But what can you do? Unfortunately, as of yesterday, Brooklyn is now sick too. :(
I wrote her surgeon & asked "How 'sick' is too sick to do fills?" He said that even with the green goopy nose, we can't do it. Even though she's totally fine - feels fine, acts fine, no fever, no other symptoms, no nothing, JUST the icky nose...we STILL can't do the fills for at least a few days to a week, he said.
This picture shows her expanders & ports really well. You can see the forehead expander in her left forehead. The right back scalp is where the other one is. The port for the forehead expander is just right at her right temple. The port for the scalp expander is just above that in the picture (which is actually under her nevus). You can see the bumps for each of those. Those are where I put the needle to fill up the expanders.
SO! This emphasizes the importance of her staying well. Even a small icky nose is keeping us from doing a fill. This explains why she needs to stay well. Please, if you haven't already, re-read the post "A SPECIAL REQUEST" that I wrote a few days ago.
I really appreciate everyone's cooperation with this. And believe me, I'm counting down the days to when I can stop being so germ-o-phobic & get back to a "normal" life....until August anyways!
Brooklyn sick = NO expansion!
NO expansion = Severe delays in getting to the 250-300mL's that we need in each expander
Severe delays = postponning the next surgery.
This is NOT what we need to do. It is so important to keep her healthy so we can continue down the right path for this whole process. With that said, it IS ironic, I admit, that Dustin, Cali, & I are still getting over our colds. But what can you do? Unfortunately, as of yesterday, Brooklyn is now sick too. :(
I wrote her surgeon & asked "How 'sick' is too sick to do fills?" He said that even with the green goopy nose, we can't do it. Even though she's totally fine - feels fine, acts fine, no fever, no other symptoms, no nothing, JUST the icky nose...we STILL can't do the fills for at least a few days to a week, he said.
 |
| Happy girl - even with an icky nose. |
SO! This emphasizes the importance of her staying well. Even a small icky nose is keeping us from doing a fill. This explains why she needs to stay well. Please, if you haven't already, re-read the post "A SPECIAL REQUEST" that I wrote a few days ago.
I really appreciate everyone's cooperation with this. And believe me, I'm counting down the days to when I can stop being so germ-o-phobic & get back to a "normal" life....until August anyways!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Toto...we're not in Chicago anymore...
First off, I would appreciate it if everyone could re-read "A SPECIAL REQUEST" blog post that was written a few days ago. It's below.... Thanks!!
Ok...so we're home. I guess I'm just not as excited about it as everyone else is. It seems that everyone else is just so excited to get home after surgery. Now, while I was excited to sleep in my own bed, & excited for Cali to be home, I just didn't feel the whole "I-can't-wait-to-get-home" vibe that everyone else did. Could be that I'm not the biggest fan of where we live. Could be that having a "forced vacation" was actually kind of nice. Could be that being home means filling Brooklyn's 2 expanders & I'm SOOO not looking forward to them getting bigger & bigger & bigger...which means more stares. Could be that I'm just not up to being so anal about people being sick & getting her sick, which I hate. Could be that I just don't want to act like a germ-o-phobe, which is what we're forced to do. Could be that while we were gone life was kind of on hold, but now it has to resume. Could be that now that she has expanders in her head it's inevitable that she's going to have a 2nd surgery. Could be that there's just a slight twinge of regret still going on in my head. Could be ALL of these reasons all wrapped up into one. All I know is that there's something going on & I wasn't looking forward to being home.
This all was thrown into my face yesterday when we did finally step foot into our house, after being gone for 3 weeks to the day. I just got this overwhelming feeling of sadness....well maybe not sadness...but just a feeling of being VERY overwhelmed. I have SO much to do!!! Plus, the fact that I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by constantly asking if they're sick or have been around anyone that's sick. UGH!
Well I'll spare you anymore "diary sessions" & share a picture of Cali yesterday in the car:
She was so excited to get home she just couldn't stand it anymore!
We got up, ran to McDonalds for our coffee, oatmeal, & Cali's apples...only to get on the road & find out that they gave both Dustin & I a large coffee (when we'd ordered Medium's) but only put a "Medium" size amount of flavoring in it. Simply stated: they were terrible. Then they forgot my oatmeal. But thankfully they did give us 2 orders of Cali's apples instead of just 1 - so she was quite happy. She was eating apples in the picture above.
Dustin drove all day. We left Sheridan around 9am & got to Billings around 10:45am. Cali has been saying "Dawn" for the past 3 days so we just had to run by WalMart to see her Auntie Dawn. She was excited to see her in person finally!!! We got some carpet shampoo & fruit snacks & then went by Sears.
Back in November I wrote a few posts on our horrible picture experience at Sears. I'd written how much money it cost me, just to have bad pictures taken. So I'd cancelled the pictures & gotten my money back....remember??? Well imagine my surprise when I got a call from Sears in Billings saying that they had our pictures there & we needed to pick them up "because they've been here since the end of November & you really need to come get them". Hahaha....uhhhh ok then. Well just a few days ago I got another quite rude call...basically saying that these were our Christmas pictures & they've been there since the end of November & we need to come get them by Feb 4 or they'll be "Destroyed". LOL So after WalMart we went right on over to Sears & got our pictures....FREE pictures, mind you! :o)
Then we grabbed Wendy's, got gas, & headed for home. I'd said to Dustin right after we got to Billings that it was pretty weird being there....& I could only imagine how weird it'd be being back at home. And boy was it ever weird driving back into town. We had to rush back for Cali's 4pm appt at our doctor, so we didn't drive around or anything...just drove into town, got to our house, ran in, looked through the mail for about 10 mins, changed diapers, & then just 1/2 hr after getting home Cali & I went to the doctor. Whew!!! I didn't have a second to call the doctor to see if anyone there was sick, or if any patients had come in sick, so Dustin stayed home with Brooklyn.
We got there a little early so that we could go down the hall & say hi to "Gammy" (Dustin's mom) & then ran in my work for a few minutes to say hi. Everyone is anxious to see Brookie. Then we went to the doctor & came home (after running by the pharmacy to get Brooklyn's numbing cream that Dr. Bauer's office called in for her).
Cali was soooo excited to be home. She was running around playing with every toy she could get her hands on....& screaming!!! Oma (my mom), Uncle Mike, & Uncle Curt came over & Cali was so excited to see them. Brooklyn was also excited to be home. She was crawling around all over the place getting into whatever she could get into. Then Dustin's parents came over to say hi. And Auntie Marji came over with cousins Kobe & Taylor. So Cali had a ball playing with everyone.
It was an exhausting night...just cause we were so tired. We got dinner, & then everyone left & I went to bed at 8pm!! Unfortunately though, Brooklyn had another bad night. Every night since her surgery has been horrible. Last night though seemed even worse. She's just so restless...like she can't get comfortable. She'll wake up crying & crying. She tosses & turns like crazy also. We try feeding her, try comforting her, try giving her her paci, & try holding her. After about 1/2 hour each time she seems to settle down & sleep for about an hour. And then it all starts again. I wrote to everyone in the Nevus support group that we're in asking if anyone else has had this problem with their kids after having expanders inserted in their heads. I'm hoping that things will settle down now that we're home & getting back into a normal routine. Prayers & finger crossing would be appreciated!!! :o)
Today we're all attempting to get over our colds. Brooklyn is still on antibiotics, but we're still trying our best to not give this to her. Dustin is going to put up his makeshift "gate" on the stairs so she won't fall down them. We weren't going to put it up (& just teach her early) but with these expanders in, I don't want to risk that!! We're also going to borrow Dustin's mom's carpet shampooer & clean the carpet in the living room real good. And THEN, if we have enough time (& energy) we're going to change Cali's crib into a toddler bed. Brooklyn is now the proud owner of her brand new crib (thanks to Oma & Opa) so maybe we can even get that up too! :o) Projects projects....
Ok...so we're home. I guess I'm just not as excited about it as everyone else is. It seems that everyone else is just so excited to get home after surgery. Now, while I was excited to sleep in my own bed, & excited for Cali to be home, I just didn't feel the whole "I-can't-wait-to-get-home" vibe that everyone else did. Could be that I'm not the biggest fan of where we live. Could be that having a "forced vacation" was actually kind of nice. Could be that being home means filling Brooklyn's 2 expanders & I'm SOOO not looking forward to them getting bigger & bigger & bigger...which means more stares. Could be that I'm just not up to being so anal about people being sick & getting her sick, which I hate. Could be that I just don't want to act like a germ-o-phobe, which is what we're forced to do. Could be that while we were gone life was kind of on hold, but now it has to resume. Could be that now that she has expanders in her head it's inevitable that she's going to have a 2nd surgery. Could be that there's just a slight twinge of regret still going on in my head. Could be ALL of these reasons all wrapped up into one. All I know is that there's something going on & I wasn't looking forward to being home.
This all was thrown into my face yesterday when we did finally step foot into our house, after being gone for 3 weeks to the day. I just got this overwhelming feeling of sadness....well maybe not sadness...but just a feeling of being VERY overwhelmed. I have SO much to do!!! Plus, the fact that I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by constantly asking if they're sick or have been around anyone that's sick. UGH!
Well I'll spare you anymore "diary sessions" & share a picture of Cali yesterday in the car:
We got up, ran to McDonalds for our coffee, oatmeal, & Cali's apples...only to get on the road & find out that they gave both Dustin & I a large coffee (when we'd ordered Medium's) but only put a "Medium" size amount of flavoring in it. Simply stated: they were terrible. Then they forgot my oatmeal. But thankfully they did give us 2 orders of Cali's apples instead of just 1 - so she was quite happy. She was eating apples in the picture above.
Dustin drove all day. We left Sheridan around 9am & got to Billings around 10:45am. Cali has been saying "Dawn" for the past 3 days so we just had to run by WalMart to see her Auntie Dawn. She was excited to see her in person finally!!! We got some carpet shampoo & fruit snacks & then went by Sears.
Back in November I wrote a few posts on our horrible picture experience at Sears. I'd written how much money it cost me, just to have bad pictures taken. So I'd cancelled the pictures & gotten my money back....remember??? Well imagine my surprise when I got a call from Sears in Billings saying that they had our pictures there & we needed to pick them up "because they've been here since the end of November & you really need to come get them". Hahaha....uhhhh ok then. Well just a few days ago I got another quite rude call...basically saying that these were our Christmas pictures & they've been there since the end of November & we need to come get them by Feb 4 or they'll be "Destroyed". LOL So after WalMart we went right on over to Sears & got our pictures....FREE pictures, mind you! :o)
Then we grabbed Wendy's, got gas, & headed for home. I'd said to Dustin right after we got to Billings that it was pretty weird being there....& I could only imagine how weird it'd be being back at home. And boy was it ever weird driving back into town. We had to rush back for Cali's 4pm appt at our doctor, so we didn't drive around or anything...just drove into town, got to our house, ran in, looked through the mail for about 10 mins, changed diapers, & then just 1/2 hr after getting home Cali & I went to the doctor. Whew!!! I didn't have a second to call the doctor to see if anyone there was sick, or if any patients had come in sick, so Dustin stayed home with Brooklyn.
We got there a little early so that we could go down the hall & say hi to "Gammy" (Dustin's mom) & then ran in my work for a few minutes to say hi. Everyone is anxious to see Brookie. Then we went to the doctor & came home (after running by the pharmacy to get Brooklyn's numbing cream that Dr. Bauer's office called in for her).
Cali was soooo excited to be home. She was running around playing with every toy she could get her hands on....& screaming!!! Oma (my mom), Uncle Mike, & Uncle Curt came over & Cali was so excited to see them. Brooklyn was also excited to be home. She was crawling around all over the place getting into whatever she could get into. Then Dustin's parents came over to say hi. And Auntie Marji came over with cousins Kobe & Taylor. So Cali had a ball playing with everyone.
 |
| Brooklyn's happy to be home! |
Today we're all attempting to get over our colds. Brooklyn is still on antibiotics, but we're still trying our best to not give this to her. Dustin is going to put up his makeshift "gate" on the stairs so she won't fall down them. We weren't going to put it up (& just teach her early) but with these expanders in, I don't want to risk that!! We're also going to borrow Dustin's mom's carpet shampooer & clean the carpet in the living room real good. And THEN, if we have enough time (& energy) we're going to change Cali's crib into a toddler bed. Brooklyn is now the proud owner of her brand new crib (thanks to Oma & Opa) so maybe we can even get that up too! :o) Projects projects....
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