Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Start each DAY with a smile....

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As my life returns back to NORMAL...
I'm learning that my
day begins with a SIMPLE expression...
A SMILE!

I'm smiling because things that I used to do...
like taking a bath,
walking down stairs,
going pee pee (without pain),
and of course...
spending time with my family...
doing all the FUN things we used to do...
are FINALLY happening again!

And I love to hear people saying,
"We've got Jana back!"

So when Ron and Cameron had last Friday off of work...
I couldn't wait to JUMP back on the boat!
They got to FISH...
I got to READ !
(Okay I didn't read...we were having so much fun talking!) 
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Ron was having fun FISHING...
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Cameron is always just FUN!
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I sure LOVE these two boys!
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I love the way they LOVE each other and 
LOVE being around each other! 
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I find myself now thinking of FIRSTS!
(meaning... my firsts since my medical crap began)
This was my FIRST time to be back on the boat!
This was my FIRST time to wear my cute NEW (not so new now!) boating hat!
This was my FIRST time to get back into my swimsuit!
This was my FIRST time to see my weight loss in a picture!
This was my FIRST time to see a SMILE back on my face!
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And it was the FIRST time that I began to FEEL
alive again!
I will always look at my life differently now..
and treasure each day,
by starting each day with a SMILE knowing that
I'm alive!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Travel Log - Day ONE

In the midst of my
CRAZY,
BUSY,
OVER-MEDICAL
summer...I can't believe I haven't BLOGGED any of it!
While I have to admit,
this summer didn't go as planned...
we still had some FUN times.
So this week...
I'm dedicating my BLOG
as a travel LOG...
(I'm rhyming again!)
to our FIRST trip of the summer...

UKRAINE!

Day 1-3:
Travel, Travel and MORE Travel.
Can I say...EXHAUSTION!
So we left for the airport at 10:30 P.M....
having both worked a FULL day so let's just say we've
already been up since 7 a.m..
We catch the plane at 12:40 a.m....
again...still haven't slept!
We land in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
which by the way isn't even on my itinerary...
where we spend 2 hours before loading a plane to
Detroit, Michigan.
We land again for another 1.5 hours before
getting on a plane to New York, NY. at noon the next day!
Other than a brief...a very brief snooze on the plane...
we still have not slept.
We did have a 4 hour lay over before we left for Kiev, Ukraine.
We tried to sleep...but not well.
After a 10 hour flight we land in Kiev.
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Cameron asked me what my 3 smells of Ukraine are...
and I can honestly say I smelled 2 of them as soon as we landed!
1.  Smoke and lots of it! Almost 85% of Ukrainian's smoke!
2.  Body odor! Most Ukrainian's don't bathe daily or wear deodorant!
Unfortunately we had another 6 hour lay over in Kiev before boarding a very small Ukrainian airline to Dnepropetrovsk...
our final destination. 
At this point...I can't decide if I'm MORE hungry,
or more tired!  
So we luckily had a little pizza place directly across the street from our hotel...we ate quickly...
and went to bed at 7:30 p.m. Ukraine time!
Exactly 50 hours since our LAST bedtime!
No wonder I was able to sleep for 12 hours straight!
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Postscript: I must mention that in the final pictures you will see Ron drinking the most AMAZING juice on the planet.  Cameron used to talk about it in his mission letters all the time.  We couldn't wait to try it...and we were NOT disappointed.  We just wish we could have brought some of this juice home!

Monday, September 20, 2010

A Different type of DAY...

was the kids' FIRST day of school.

Luckily for me...
my wonderful husband
did his best to do all the NORMAL beginning of the year activities.
He took the kids to 
MEET the TEACHER night,
(I was still in the hospital)
signed agendas, made lunches, made breakfast,
MADE ME 
breakfast in bed for many days,
did morning prayers
and still took time...for my sake
to take the DREADED first day of school pictures!
What a GUY!

Meanwhile, the kids were GREAT.
They didn't complain.
They asked me daily "how are you feeling?"
They found shoes, homework, food to eat and didn't have to
call me one TIME the first whole month of school.
NOW that is a MIRACLE!
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 Christopher - 8th GRADE
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Rachel - 6th GRADE
(with her Best Friends - Izzy and Summer)
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Katie - 4th GRADE
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Jacob - 1st GRADE

Postscript: It was REALLY hard for me to miss these moments with my kids.  The thing I realized and that is the blessing is that my kids' lives kept going on.  They still played with friends, went to activities and everything else kids do at their ages...
and while I know they were concerned about me,
they were able to KEEP moving forward!
One more BLESSING I'm able to find in all of this!
Good luck this year kiddos...I know you will do GREAT! 

Friday, September 10, 2010

My medical NIGHTMARE...

Eight weeks ago today...
my life changed FOREVER!
I am finally ready to tell my story of my
MEDICAL NIGHTMARE.
During a routine surgery where I was having a hysterectomy to
rid myself of the constant pain of endometrosis,
my gynecologist cut my ureter.
This is the tube between your kidney and bladder. 
(A tube I didn't REALLY know about until now!)
Somehow, I knew something was wrong...
right from the start.
Turns out GAS isn't my poison,
nor were my tests normal!
They just weren't looking in the right place!
The amazing part is that for FIVE days,
the only FIVE days
I had my children before SCHOOL was to start...
God blessed me with the ability to "change the course"
my body was heading to...
but only for FIVE days.
Those FIVE days were the best I've had in EIGHT weeks!
We managed to do everything we needed to do...
to have them ready for the FIRST day of school.
Then we dropped them off...
exactly two weeks after my first surgery,
to spend FIVE days with their dad.
And we headed to the cooler country of Arizona to spend the
weekend with NANA!
Only one hour after dropping the children off...
my PAIN began.
We managed to enjoy the cooler weather of Arizona for two days,
but I still knew SOMETHING was wrong.
Upon our return home,
thinking I must have the most horrible bladder infection...
I had Ron and Cameron take me to the hospital so I could
start on medication right away!
During that visit to the hospital....
after being hooked up to an IV,
I began screaming and crying in PAIN!
AGAIN...
I was told my TESTS were normal.
Except this time they found that my RIGHT kidney seemed to be
ENLARGED.
But they sent me home...
telling me to call the doctor in the morning.
I didn't sleep one wink...the pain was TOO much.
Ron reluctantly went to work,
I got a hold of my doctor who was heading into surgery...
told me to come in later,
but LATER couldn't wait.
I called my bestest friend LISA who was at my door in 15 minutes.
During that time, I received a text from Ron.
"Are you okay?"
My reply,
"NO".
He quickly called and I told him I was heading to the Emergency 
Room...again!
He met me there!
From this point on...the experience of the next FIVE days...
are too horrible for me to talk about yet!
I can only say,
that GOD gave me the amazing capacity to endure...
and to FORGET!
During that week, I experienced three failed surgical attempts at 
FIXING
the torn ureter.
The only relief I found was in a small box that produced the 
strongest PAIN medicine on the market...
and even then...
when I pushed the button,
it didn't always produce the meds my body was looking for...
and the LOVING grace of GOD
who never left my side...
and that made me feel that GOING to the other side...
might BE the better option!
One more surgery the next week...
FAILED again to fix the ureter.
We changed doctors and found the most amazing
UROLOGIST in Arizona!
Thirteen days later...he CUT me open,
CUT my bladder open,
CUT off the torn part of my ureter and sewed it all BACK
together!
WHEW....this surgery was intense...
and much more painful than the previous FIVE surgeries!
But I was FIXED...
and that gave me the HOPE I've needed to ENDURE!
I'm still trying to COPE with the idea,
that one small mistake...
created such a MAJOR ordeal,
and caused me the MOST pain I've ever endured in my LIFE!
But all I can do is FORGIVE...
and in doing so I will be WHOLE again...
in more ways than ONE!

Postscript: During this time, I did not take ONE single picture! I just couldn't stand to see the LOOK that might just be in my eyes if I did! So you will see no pictures of my LOVELY neuphrostomy bag that was attached to my kidney for two weeks or my Foley bag that I carried urine in for two weeks, or the weight loss of 10 lbs. produced from the weight loss diet from HELL!