November

I can't believe it's already November! This year is whizzing right by! Christmas is going to be here before we know it!

As most all of you probably already know, my biopsy results came back GREAT! It was a cyst and I was never so relieved to hear that news in all my life! That was one of the worst things I think I have gone through and I pray I never have to do that again!!!

We continue to be busy here. We had a wonderful Halloween with beautiful weather. We couldn't have asked for much better. The kids had a good time. Many of our friends that we drive to their house to trick or treat had called or emailed to tell us they wouldn't be home on Halloween. There was a big event at the Civic Center with the Prairie Home Companion radio show. So, we didn't have as many houses to drive to this year, so the kids enjoyed walking around the neighborhood with their good friends/neighbors, Hallie and Erik. We did drive to a couple houses as Emma wanted to trick or treat at her teacher's house. While we were out and about Gage suggested we go trick or treat at the Governor's residence. He said, "I heard they give out whole candy bars!" It wasn't too late, so we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Gage was disappointed that the Governor didn't actually answer the door, it was his wife Mikey. He was also disappointed that he just got a single Reeses peanut butter cup. LOL! I don't know for sure what he was expecting overall, but I think it was a bit of a letdown. At least we went so he could see that for himself.

We went to Tuttle yesterday afternoon to wash sheets, make beds and clean out the refrigerator of any expired items. There are some people coming to North Dakota to film the DU Television Show. Scott will be guiding them on the hunt. I wasn't sure why he was doing all the cleaning that he was doing yesterday until he mentioned that the donor that they are taking out to hunt for the television show was a $20,000,000 donor. He is the CEO of a big company that you may know as Bayer. (As in the Bayer aspirin)!!! I told Scott I didn't want to burst his bubble, but that no amount of cleaning he could do would make his Hotel de Tuttle Duck Shack look good to someone who can just give DU $20,000,000!!!!! He did his best to get it cleaned up; however. Needless to say, this will take Scott away from home for most of the week. I will be SO GLAD when WINTER gets here and freezes everything up! Bring it on Mother Nature!!! :-)

I learned at school last week that Gage missed his LoS (Levels of Service) reading class. After asking him why, I learned that I must be enabling Gage a bit too much. He admitted that he had no idea what day or time he even had this special class, that he relies on a fellow classmate to tell him when to go. He said that his classmate was mad at him on this particular day and decided not to tell Gage that they had reading class. After talking to Gage's teacher and LoS teacher, they said they would put a reminder note on Gage's desk. I hope this works! I also decided to get him a watch with an alarm that will hopefully help as well! He wore the watch to school on Friday and when I asked him where it was, when I noticed it wasn't on his wrist, he said he left it at school because it wasn't set right so he just took it off. UGH! He can't seem to remember any of these little details and it is driving me NUTS! We went in early this morning so I could get the watch and get it set to the correct time, date and alarm time, so we'll see how this reminder works. I sure didn't know that he was missing class, but am thankful that I just happened to be in the hallway when another friend of Gage's said, "Hey Gage! You missed reading class!" Oh, what you can learn about your children just by walking in the halls of the school! I guess I am going to have to make the kids a little more responsible about the date and activities they have going on, so they will not just take for granted that someone else is just going to take care of it for them!!

Overdue for an update

Sorry I've been negligent in the blog-updating department. Not only have I had alot to worry about, I've just had alot going on! It's been crazy here! Where do I start?

One week ago today, poor little Emma woke up with a temperature of 103. I kept her home from school that day and thought little of it. We just kind of hung around on Saturday and then on Sunday she was fine. We went to church and also had a fun afternoon at Papa's Pumpkin Patch in 80 degree weather!! Monday morning after waking the kids up, Gage comes upstairs crying and telling me his eyes hurt. I thought that was a little weird, and when I leaned my head against the side of his, I noticed he felt warm. Not good! He was scheduled to get his tonsils out the next day and I knew that if he had a temperature, they would not do it. I had all kinds of crazy thoughts floating around in my head, like not telling anyone, etc. etc. However, my gut instinct was telling me I better do the right thing. I called up the Surgicenter to notify them of the low-grade temp, as it said to do in my instruction booklet. Of course they said I would have to have him cleared by our family doctor in order for him to continue with the surgery. I kept him home from school and spent the morning on the phone trying to get an appointment with our pediatrician. I finally got in touch with someone and got an appointment for 10:40. After sitting in the waiting room for literally an hour, we finally made it in to see the doctor. Because there were tons of kids sick with the H1N1 (swine) flu, they sent Gage to the lab to be tested for it. There had been 118 kids sick from Northridge school the past couple of days, and there were 3 other families we knew from Northridge that came into the doctor's office while we were waiting. Later that afternoon, they called us to tell us that he tested positive for influenza A, which they said most likely is the H1N1 (swine) flu. UGH! Needless to say, his tonsillectomy was cancelled. I was sad about that because he would have missed less school if we could have done it this week since we have a 4-day weekend because of Teacher Convention. Oh well. Everything happens for a reason, right? I think I was actually a little bit relieved, because I was scheduled for an outpatient procedure just 2 days later.

When I went in to consult with the surgeon a week and a half ago, he gave me a couple of options on what we could do. The first option was to do a core needle biopsy. The second was a wire-guided excisional biopsy. Even though the latter is a bit more invasive, we chose that direction because it gives more definitive results. I had the procedure done yesterday and will have to wait until Tuesday for any results. The first part of this excisional biopsy was performed in the radiology department where they used mammography to locate the site of the nodule so they could insert a wire through a needle into the area so the doctor could open up the breast and excise the tissue around the end of the wire. As gruesome as it all sounds, it wasn't all that bad. I have very little, to almost no, post-op incisional pain. It was a very weird feeling as I was lying on the operating table looking around at all of the lights and equipment and the next thing I know, I hear the doctor talking as he is finishing up the procedure. I immediately started asking questions, like "What did you find?" etc, etc. Even though I can't really remember what he said, I do remember them showing me the tissue they excised that was in a little ziploc bag. Apparently he told Scott that he didn't think it looked bad, but that we would have to wait until Tuesday for the results. We've been waiting for 3 1/2 weeks, so what's another 5 days?

Scott has been VERY busy lately with work and guiding DU donors on hunts. It has been very difficult for me not having him here. He later claimed that his way of dealing with all of this was by staying busy to keep his mind off things. Unfortunately that wasn't what I was needing, but hopefully all of this will be in the past come Tuesday when we get final results. I have quite a few doctor's appointments coming up this next week. I am to see the Bone and Joint doctor for my shoulder, I am to see my doctor to talk about the Holter monitor study and then return for a follow-up with the surgeon on Friday to make sure the incision is looking okay. I am sure going to hate it when all of these medical bills start making their way to our mailbox! I'm hoping to get all of this overwith and get on with life. It's been a little hard to focus lately, as you can imagine!

Waiting

I think waiting is about one of the worst things in the world. I can't stand waiting. I've never been known for my "patience". Sometimes I can hide it better than others; however.

In my last post I mentioned all of the tests I have had to undergo recently. I have finally gotten some results back from a few of them. The MRI of my left shoulder showed I have a torn labrum and 2 labral cysts (that's not to be confused with labia or labial) which is part of the rotator cuff. I have no idea when I injured it and I have to go in to see the Bone and Joint doctor on Thursday to see what to do about it.

I was told when I turned in my Holter monitor that it could be 10 days before I get those results.

I also had the special view mammogram and ultrasound last Thursday. When I was in with the mammogram tech I asked her when I would get the results and she told me the office would probably call me the next day with them. When I told her they didn't call me with the first set of results, she suggested that I call them the next day. The ultrasound tech gave me absolutely no information at all. I know they can't, but she could at least TALK to ease the nerves a little! Maybe ask me how my day was or SOMETHING? At this point I am a little frustrated and thought I would attempt to get any information she would give me (which was nothing). I asked her a few questions like, "Have you found it yet?" "How will the doctor know by looking at that black area what this is?" "What do you think it is?" "If this turns out to be something, what will be the next step?" And of course, as I said, I got no answers. Well, I did get one answer and what was, "I can't tell you that, you'll have to get that information from your doctor." BLAH BLAH BLAH! When I got home and after talking to a friend, she suggested I call the office and demand results. Well, you know me. That isn't something I would normally do. However, the waiting is driving me absolutely crazy! I called the office and ended up getting the answering machine for the nurse. I was really upset when I learned by listening to the message that they would not be in the office on Friday, which meant if I didn't get answers then, I would have to wait the entire weekend. I left a message and I'm sure when they listened to it they probably were afraid to call me. It was a combination of mad and sad that I'm sure wasn't making them want to call me back anytime soon! After awhile, I decided to call back to see if there was even anyone in the office. When the nurse answered, and when I said, "This is Stacy Stephens" she says, "OH! Stacy! I have all of your results on Dawn's desk and she will be calling you shortly." THANK GOODNESS! It was probably within 10 minutes or so when the doctor (nurse practitioner) called me back. It wasn't the news I wanted to hear. The results of the mammogram and ultrasound suggested further evaluation yet. She said I would need to come in for an ultrasound guided aspiration (I think). It really is true, what you see in the movies, when someone gets that awful diagnosis, you truly don't hear much of what is said after that. She told me not to "freak out", that's easy for her to say, and she thought they were just being cautious since I have a family history of breast cancer with my sister. She told me she would talk to the surgeon and call me back Friday to let me know if they would be doing it in the office or in the OR. More waiting! She did get me called back on Friday and I had to be connected with the surgeon's office to schedule a consultation. More waiting! I talked to them and have my appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:45. Yet more waiting! UGH! I'm not sure if I can take much more waiting. I just want to know, one way or the other, what this is! Needless to say, I have been quite full of emotions. The worst part is, I know that when I see them tomorrow, I am then going to have to do MORE WAITING for the appointment when they do the procedure. Then, more waiting, to get those results. Please pray with me that I get the results at that point, and don't have to wait for yet another test to determine what this is! Did I mention that I can't stand waiting?

Falling apart

I'm wondering if the body starts falling apart at 40? If so, I'm a few years ahead of schedule. UGH! I have been having a few "aches and pains" that I decided to let the nurse practitioner know about when I went for my annual exam. Now I am wishing I hadn't done that. I felt a bit like a hypochondriac as I wrote down a list of the things I wanted to mention at my appointment. Some of those things I "complained" about are my left shoulder that has been hurting for quite some time and has progressively gotten worse. I've thought that maybe it is a rotator cuff injury and thought maybe I shouldn't let it go any longer, in case it could get fixed before it gets worse. The other complaint I had was heart palpitations. I have had them in the past and it was assumed that they were due to caffeine intake or anxiety/stress, as it was back when I was working. I've had them off and on an infrequent basis, but it seems that lately they have increased to where I was starting to worry about why I was having so many. My nurse practitioner sent me to another doctor, in family medicine, since OB/Gyn is her specialty. I've never even really been to a general practitioner since we've been here because I haven't really had a need. I also had requested to have my cholesterol checked and a mammogram, since my last one was a couple of years ago.

Well, a week ago yesterday I went to an internal medicine doctor for the shoulder pain and heart palpitations. She ordered an MRI of my shoulder and a 48 hour Holter Monitor study for my palpitations. I did the MRI last week and haven't heard anything yet. I went in this morning to have the Holter monitor put on and am feeling pretty stupid having it attached since I haven't had any noticeable palpitations since Friday, and on that day, had about 5 or so. I'm also not thrilled that one of the leads is almost right in the middle of my neck, at the collarbone level and will be hard to hide. I'm sure I will have lots of people asking what it is and I'd prefer not to have to tell everyone about it. A turtleneck would cover it, but I don't care much for them.

I had my cholesterol checked at my original appointment and it came back perfect, so I was happy about that. I had my mammogram a few days after that appointment and was just notified, by letter, by the radiologist, that there were some findings that suggested further evaluation and they wanted me to call to schedule a special view mammogram and ultrasound of the area. I still have not had a call from the nurse practitioner regarding such, and am wondering if she is just being negligent in contacting me, or if it is really nothing to worry about? Well, needless to say, I am worrying about it. My appointment for those 2 tests is on Thursday afternoon and I guess I will have to suffer with worry for a couple of more days.

I think I am just starting to fall apart and I just don't like it, not one single bit! I'm praying all of this turns out to be nothing! I am hoping that you will pray for the same.

Stephens' Happenings

The thing I like least about this time of year is all of the fundraisers that are going on! We just finished a school PTO fundraiser and tomorrow starts the Cub Scout popcorn fundraiser then the Girl Scouts start their magazines/nuts and chocolate sales on Friday. UGH! And, not to mention Emma's gymnastics does a fundraiser too! I usually don't participate in that one though. When, and if, Emma decides gymnastics is her thing, then we'll take part in their fundraisers. We just have too many of them going on and, have I ever mentioned, I HATE selling things. We do give the Cub Scout and Girl Scout fundraisers our full attention; however.

I seem to have caught a cold. Gage and Emma have been having a stuffed up nose and some sniffles and now I seem to have caught it. I'm hoping it is short-lived. My nose looks like rudolph's right now with all the blowing I've been doing.

We have a birthday coming up pretty soon! I am so excited with Gage's choice about birthday activities. The past 2 years we've have about 10-14 boys come home from school with us to celebrate his big day, but this year he decided that he wanted to go to Legoland in Minneapolis! I'm sure it will end up being more expensive, alot more expensive, but definitely MORE fun and memorable. I will admit that I'm feeling a little guilty about not making a cake. I guess I will end up doing that at a later date. We can't have a birthday without cake! And, I figure if I make a Lego block for a cake, that can't be too awfully difficult, can it? I've been trying to search the web for information about The Mall of America. We've never been, and I must admit that I'm just about as excited as Gage and Emma are! They will be getting to miss an afternoon of school, so I know they are excited about that. We did tell Gage that he could invite a friend to go with us, to help him celebrate his special day, so he chose to take his buddy TJ. I'm sure they'll be wondering what's going on when I sign 3 of them out of school for an afternoon! LOL!

We are finally having some nice and cool fall weather! Our summer temperatures came late this year. If we could only be spared the wind, it would be perfect, in my opinion!

Last night we attended Gage's Taekwondo testing. He is now an orange belt and very proud of it! We were very proud of him and the smile/smirk he had on his face when he was returning to his spot after receiving his orange belt was priceless. I took several pictures that I plan to get posted on Facebook sometime. I'm so excited that he has found something that he really enjoys. Or at least for the time being, anyway. In a year or so I will probably be hearing it from Emma, that she wants to join too. And how will I be able to argue her learning self-defense? Unfortunately they don't provide a second child discount. However, they will provide a discount to the third family member enrolled. But at $89/month/kid, who could even afford the discount on the 3rd?

That's all I have for now! Be sure to let me know if any of you would like to buy some popcorn or nuts or renew any magazines! :-)

Today is the season opener for hunting widows.

As you can see, I have not yet established a blogging routine. Sorry!! I'll surely figure it out sometime soon?

Today is the season opener for hunting widows. Not too excited about that, but what can I do? Scott left last night for a week long hunting trip to Canada. I really don't think I would be quite as resentful about it, as I am, if I had been consulted about it before the trip was set in stone. I seem to be the last one to know about anything that is going on in Scott's life these days. So, if any of you have any insight, feel free to share! I suppose I can stay up-to-date as well as any of you by following him on Facebook.

Today was the first morning of the new Sunday School year. The kids were excited about starting back up. Emma was especially excited to start the rotation in the kitchen. They made chocolate chip pancakes and brought home a big ziploc full of the mix to make at home. She has been interested in making breakfast the past few mornings. This morning she made breakfast for all 3 of us and decided that was ALOT of work! :-)

As we were sitting in church I happened to notice both Gage and Emma had dirty fingernails. YUCK! For some reason, dirty fingernails have become something I despise. I suppose because I feel it is a reflection on me. I will admit that neither one of them had a bath last night, only because it was late when we got home and Scott was in a big hurry to get left for his big week of hunting FUN. When Emma asked me if she could go to the bathroom during church, I told her to be sure and wash her hands well AND her fingernails. I wonder how many people actually notice kids with dirty fingernails? I don't know that I've really ever noticed other kids' fingernails, but that might be because they aren't dirty? It just makes me cringe thinking of them. I'm sure the kids are hoping this isn't my new obsession.

We had a busy week and have another busy week coming up. Mondays are very hectic for us, which is all my fault. I thought I would rather have 1 or 2 busier days than having something going on every night of the week. And, I think I would rather have it that way, at least until Monday rolls around again. :-) It's not quite as bad as a co-parent, but I'm sure tomorrow as a single parent, it won't be as easy to manage. Sometimes though, things go smoother as a single parent, because I just know I have to do it myself and I am on a mission to get it done, rather than assuming I might have help, then not receive as much as I had anticipated.

I have been working at the school quite a bit these past few weeks. I have enjoyed it up until a couple of days ago when I was given the task of finding my own sub when I told them I wouldn't be able to sub (there's the keyword in this story) on Monday because I am going on Emma's class field trip to Papa's Pumpkin Patch. I wasn't aware, that as a sub, it was my job to find a sub. After stewing about it all day on Friday, I decided to send an email to the PIC (person in charge) and let her know how I felt about the situation. Apparently I did a fairly good job at getting my words out, as I received a voice mail within 10 minutes of hitting send, with an apology for being so "presumptuous". I am still going to try and find my own sub for tomorrow, since I said I would. However, I am not liking it. That was one of the reasons I didn't take the job when it was offered to me before school started, because I didn't want to have to worry about that stuff when the kids have activities going on at school that I want to be a part of. I am not very good at asking other people to do things for me. While I'm thinking about that, I should probably get to work on it!! However, I only have names and numbers for 2 different people, so if I strike out, I guess I will turn the job back over to the PIC, who should be the one doing it in the first place.

I am being summoned upstairs for a big game of Star Wars Monopoly. I should be going for now and may the force be with you! :-)

September is here!

I knew it had been awhile since my last post, but I didn't realize that it was way back in August! I just need to get into a routine and then STICK TO IT!

We have been quite busy here with all of our fall activities starting up. Gage is in Tae Kwon Do on Mon and Thurs evenings and is also in Cub Scouts again this year. Emma is in gymnastics on Mondays and dance on Wednesdays and also in Girl Scouts. I am playing volleyball on Monday nights in an adult women's park and rec team that starts up next Monday. Let me just say that we are going to be BUSY on Mondays! I guess I'd rather have it that way than have something going on every night of the week.

We had a good Labor Day weekend. We spent Friday and Saturday night in Tuttle and came back on Sunday so the kids could do a double sleepover at some friends' house. It was very strange not having either one of them around Sunday evening. We decided to go to the movie and saw The Time Traveler's Wife. It was a good movie and it is SO MUCH CHEAPER going with just 2 of us, versus all 4 of us! We came home and then watched another movie I had from Netflix.

Monday was spent trying to get things organized in the basement and garage. I have everything moved up to the garage and we are going to try and have a garage sale sometime soon. We decided that we would put all of the money we make in our Disney World savings jar. It has been a lot of fun having the jar, knowing what the money that goes into it is going to be used for. The kids have been willingly putting money into the jar and shockingly, so has Scott! I hardly ever have cash on me, and now I never will because I will just stick it into the jug. I have no idea how much we have stuck in it already, but I know it has to be nearing $300!! We're on our way. The kids are totally excited about it and I think this is what we are going to do for any big thing we decide we want to do. It will give all of us a sense of pride knowing that each one of us contributed to this to make it happen. Now, whether it will take one or two years to get the money saved, I don't know. At the rate we're going right now, I'd guess 1, but we'll see it the excitement fizzles out.

Gage woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat. He didn't have any other symptoms and his tonsils weren't really very red, so I thought maybe he just slept with his mouth open and dried his tonsils out and made them sore. He wanted to go to school so he could see the President give his address to the kids, but come 10a, I had a call from his teacher telling me he wasn't feeling well and that his stomach was bothering him. I went to pick him up at the school and I could tell he wasn't feeling well. He came home and put on his pj's and laid down on the couch all afternoon. He threw up several times, so I know his stomach was really bothering him. He seemed to feel better around supper time and this morning said he was feeling great, so I sent him to school. I haven't had any calls yet, so I'm assuming he's doing fine. Must have been a 24 hour bug or something? I'm praying that none of us contract the swine flu that is going around. Gage is scheduled to see the ENT doctor next week to schedule a time to get his tonsils out. I'm hoping we can do that the 22nd or so of October during the 4 day weekend of Teacher's Conventions here in ND. That way he won't miss as much school. We'll have to wait until after his birthday for sure, which is sneaking right up on us! This year Gage has opted out of having a birthday party and instead wants to go to Minneapolis to the Mall of America and go to Lego Land. I have no idea what that will be like as I have never been there before. I'm sure it will be hard to do that over just the weekend, but we'll give it a try. He gets to invite one friend to go along with us. I guess I'll have to make his birthday cake before we go. Maybe he'll just want a big lego block cake this year? That shouldn't be too hard to make!? Or should it?

This past weekend we banded ducks near Tuttle and had a fun time. I posted tons of pictures on Facebook as you have probably already seen. We had some really good ones turn out. If you haven't checked them out yet, you'll have to do that.

We have our first Daisy Scout meeting scheduled for tomorrow after school. I'm hoping for a great Scouting year with both the Cub Scouts and Daisies. It's going to be a busy one, I do know that!