Shoot patoot and music fruit

Gary helps Olea shoot, Olea adores this stuff
and Gary does well to include her.

Me, with two teachers... I have done it before,
and am not bad, just couldn't remember how to get it all ready.

Mike, Cyndi and my mommy

Coretta, Lilly, Mike, Cyndi, and Dani.

Before my surgery we went to the hills with our friends Cyndi and Mike for some bow fun. We even got my lovely mother to try it. She is the only one of us who remembered her camera, which had low batteries, though Cyndi and I got our cameras out to take, we had our minds on children, and thus forgot the cameras. (the children all made it, success!) It was pretty cold and windy so we girls took the kids back early and left the guys to the guns.
We were trying to get Gary and Mike to "Indian shoot" on one leg, but Gary couldn't figure it out under pressure, it was most humorous to me. He makes me laugh too much. Lately with the surgery sites healing laughing rather hurts and I just can't pretend Gary isn't funny.

The other day Gary told me he read something about people getting addicted to Lortab, a pain med I am currently taking. This of course gets my mind going... but last night I couldn't go to sleep (and hadn't taken a Lortab) and so I was like, "Gary I can't got to sleep, am I addicted?"
"No, he wouldn't have perscribed you enough to get addicted."
"Then how to people get addicted?"
"Go to sleep."
but I want to know.

I am listening to Gina's play list at the moment and it is reminding me of getting the MRI. I listened to a Micheal Buble album and it was interesting to concentrate through the noise of the MRI to listen to the music. I think now I will most often remember the MRI when I listen to him. It seems that way with music, I attach quite a memory to the first or at least most memorable time when I heard the song or album. Like Bon Jovi's new song Everyday: Gary and I were at Down East Outlet buying maternity shirts. Rush, Spirit of Radio, sitting in my parent's basement listening to my Dad's records, he liked to collect them and he had Spirit of Radio. Queensryche Hear in the new frontier: the bedroom I shared with my sister while we were in High school, standing next to our bunk bed chatting with her while she looked at the lyric book. Peter's Girl, by a Twin Falls local group called Standards: Gary sang it to me when he proposed outside of the Logan temple on the night of our sibling Gingerbread house party. Ginblossoms 29, when I shared a room with my second oldest sister Derolene, right after she got her new stereo listening to the album with her. Mr.Big, To be with you: curled over a small tape player with Lindi in the middle of our bedroom floor when I was in third grade. Lindi had just bought the tape album and we were totally killed by how "noisy" the music on the rest of the album was. I also believe this was before we replaced the carpet in that room.

The day after

TA-DA!
I'm still alive and I don't have cancer. The surgery went well. I'm feeling pretty good, on drugs... that is. It was a short surgery probably only about an hour. It's all the prep and the waking up that takes long. The surgeon took a picture for me. Though when the nurse showed it to me I was still really blurry eyed. So on my follow up the surgeon can explain and show it to me. I guess the Surgeon meant total time 4-6 hours not the actual procedure, which he said he estimated about 45 mins right before I went out.
I need to go back to bed.

Survey

Where were you born? Logan, UT
Middle name: Dee

How old will you be this year? 26
Nicknames: DeeDee, Deeds, Munko-chunks, Coretti-Confetti
Are you taller than your mother or father? taller than my mom, I'm their hights averaged pretty much.
Do you cry often during movies? Rarely
What is your biggest pet peeve? Wet socks
Favorite color: periwinkle
Favorite foods: homemade wheat bread, apples, nectarines (almost any fresh fruit) cheese
Favorite restaurants: olive garden, Bombay House (India, Indian food, haven't tried it you should, it's wonderful)
Favorite beverage: beberage: fresca drink: water
Favorite cold cereal: Quaker Wheat squares I think they are called, I am a visual person, I know what the box looks like
Favorite smells: fresh baked bread
Favorite time of day: evening when Gary is home
What brand of shampoo/conditioner do you use? currently Dove
Favorite make-up products? currently use Mary Kay because my sister sells it.
How many pillows do you sleep with? Currently 1, sometimes three.
Do you play an instrument? no
Have you ever been skinny dipping? ya, but does it really count if it was in a cold stream with my husband? I think yes.
Did you do any sports in High School? I ran track, I was awesome, the end
What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Horton Hears a Who. Very fun.
What is your favorite article of clothing? the kind that covers my body
What is your dream vacation? Europe with Gary, Switzerland, Ireland and Germany specifically
If you were an animal what would you be? a monkey because I think they are funny I guess
What is your favorite "me-time" activity? art, reading, computer time, designing
Favorite TV shows: Arrested Development, The Office, My Name is Earl but we don't have TV signal or cable now so I see what I do via internet stream.
What is your dream car? VW Jetta. they are cute and get 65 mpg
What is one of your weaknesses? I don't do well under pressure of time.
What do you fix for dinner when there's nothing to fix? hmmm how can I fix anything if there is nothing to fix? Depends what nothing is left to use. I get pretty creative when I need to.
If you could live in a different decade/era which one would it be? a the dark ages prolly... but I'd just have to be a princess or something, even then the hygiene would really not do
Do you consider yourself outgoing? after a point
What is something you are constantly working on? a new project, being a better mom, not being annoyed when my husband gets sick, because I am sick all the time and he puts up with me
Any hidden talents? poetry, Tatting, I think I learn hand skills pretty fast, I can knit, and crochet as well. Most people know about my art so it's not hidden
What is a word or phrase you overuse? It's possible Pig. (princess bride)
What was the hardest thing that happened to you this past year? medical garbage It's always one thing or another.
What is the best thing that happened to you this past year? baby boy
What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year? a lot of things heheheh (trying to hurry now)
The best piece of advice you learned this past year? I'm out of school what are you talking about? My Olea is MORE. She just takes more than the average kid. Not advice but advice and learn, it's not the best question... so not my best answer.
Who are the 7 people you are going to tag to do this survey? Whoever wants to play!

At the end of the survey post a picture of you that was taken within the last week.
Gary and I at some sports grill before taking Olea to Disney Princesses on Ice. The lame place didn't validate parking. Never going there again.

Names in all Silliness

I was tagged by Gina
I did this with Gary

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Chester Mazda Shelly Mazda
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Vanilla PB Napoleon Grashopper
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
C-Lou G-Lou
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Periwinkle Monkey Silver Squirrel
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) -
Dee Smithfield Byron Twin
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Louco Lougar (which shounds like Loogie and booger, in case you didn't notice)
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Lavender Fresca The Yellow Pepper
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Walter Edwin Gerald Byron
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
Heavenly Skittles Moves Mamba hahhaha
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Leone Herald (I used my grandmother's middle name since my mom was jipped in that area) Willie Nickles
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Larsen Logan Larsen Louisville
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Autumn Calla Lily Winter Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Nectarine Beltsy Peach Socksy
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Peach Willow Yogurt Maple
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Drawing Sunshine Tour
The Motorcycle Hail Tour

Monster Tumor perhaps

We had surgery consultation today. I like the guy he was nice, listened well and explained well. You could tell he was busy but still gave me more than the time of day. I have heard good about his surgery skills as well. Not sure on his skills with numchucks... but I don't think I will be in need of that.

He said he doubted I had cancer but more likely a Teratoma, (don't look up the pictures on the internet... it's nasty... we did that right before dinner, bad idea). The name basically means derived from Greek: Monster Tumor. A good description. So we'll see what he finds when he gets in there Monday. It was funny he was basically going over the possible scenarios and started to ask it was wanted time to think about it, and cut him off, "Oh no, we've thought about it for a few months." He was saying two weeks out and Gary asked him, "You do it up in SLC too right?" I told him where we live it's basically the same distance either way so... And so Surgery is Monday the 24th. I've never been so excited for a surgery. Silly I know.

Tonight I made a quiche, a French dish. Lovely eggy and cheesy. It takes a while to make but it's worth it. Especially if you don't go cheap on the cheese. And really, why would you go cheap on cheese. Cheese is the food of the gods... hmm Going back to the Greek I guess.

Oh, so over the St. Patrick's day weekend, yes, I am giving it a whole weekend, Gary's parents were down and I made us Irish shirts, since Gary's mom is. That's what the picture is. You can't really read it prolly, so I will tell you. "I'm with Irish" My father in Law, who obviously is married to my mother in law who is "I'm Irish". Zurich and Olea are "I'm quarter Irish" and for those who are mentally impaired, or I guess mathematically, like me, the shamrock is only filled in on one leaf, hence quarter. Gary is "I'm half Irish" and I am "I'm with Irish." Which Gary pointed out could mean I am impregnated by an Irishman... However I don't think we can really call the tumor a pregnancy, or blame it on my half Irishman. :) We wore the shirts to Disney Princesses on Ice. I'm feeling all loved that everyone humored me so.

ps Aaron you are welcome to leave comments. :) Special invite. ohhh

Twiddling thumbs

Maybe I'm the only one... but I only hit my thumbs together when I try to twiddle them. Now the word twiddle sounds dirty to me.... hmm moving on.

Gary should by in an airplane now flying home from a short business trip in Louisville KY. He was pretty excited to get Olea a baseball bat (Louisville Slugger) with her name on it. The fact that she is a girl doesn't phase him, and I love that. She is turning out to be quite a little athletic princess. After we got off the phone I considered the fact that he has a son now and still he likes to get things for Olea because she can love them and play with them now.

Olea is finishing watching "Sailor Moon" Heaven forbid I have to watch it one more time. I promised I would watch it with her one night in an attempt to get her to bed, it was successful but tonight she wanted me to watch the forbidden Anime with her again. I can't. I just can't. We are taking it back to the library the first chance I get. I negotiated the Barney video out of the bag before we went to check out but couldn't win on this one and as Zurich's teeth (or lack htere of) were making him rather fussy I was in a hurry to get out of there.

Even though I am all day without Gary it seems different during the day when I know Gary is out of town. I find myself mentally twiddling my thumbs. It seems rather worthless to make a decent meal since Olea won't eat it and I don't feel like eating lately. It's just not worth the effort.

So, Olea finds ways to entertain herself, this includes putting her crown on Zurich and dancing for him while I was preparing my Sunbeam lesson. Heaven help me. Thankfully my Olea who is a Sunbeam is a good girl at church... but not in my class.

it ain't no baby... it's a monster

For someone coming in the middle of all this... well confusing I suppose.
quick recap:
After I had my baby I went in for postpartum visit and complained of abdominal pain. After an ultrasound they ordered an MRI with contrast dye. Then a CA 125, another ultrasound, then AFP-serum tumor marker, Quantitative HCG and LDH. Only the AFP was elevated, and I don't know what it means other than I suddenly MUST have surgery by the cancer specialists, rather than a reg doctor to have the mass removed.

I asked for a print out of the last ultrasound I had. The tech looked at me like I was crazy. Well heck, it ain't no baby but I still made it. :) It shows multiple cysts surrounding a mixed tissue mass. The combined mass is about 7-8 cm in three dimensions. A normal ovary is about 1-2cm. The MRI couldn't distinguish my ovary from all the other stuff. Looks like I will be loosing that one.

I have my surgery consult next wed and hopefully the surgery after that and the end of the month. I feel a lot better knowing that finally we seem to be getting somewhere... at least so far as getting this pain causing mass out of me.

AFP alpha-fetoprotein

Though generally I am loosing baby weight I don't feel fab because of the belly bulge that is not due to the baby but rather my ovarian cyst. It's great when my almost 4 year old says, "that's funny, you have a big fat belly, you gotta stop eating dinner." Doc called today said that all the tests came back normal except for one the AFP was high. I have yet to get the NUMBER. The AFP most women who have recently had a baby know this as the birth defects test.
"It screens for spina bifida and anencephaly. An AFP test can also be done as part of a screening test to find other chromosomal problems, such as Down syndrome (trisomy 21) or Edward syndrome (trisomy 18). An AFP test can find an omphalocele, a congenital problem in which some of the baby's intestines stick out through the belly wall. source

Since the AFP was high I don't sound like a have an option on the surgery. A normal AFP is <5.4

The doctor asked for my schedule so he could call the cancer guys in SLC and set up an appointment but I never heard back today. So I told Gary to go ahead and tell his boss he could go on the business trip he was asked to go on this week. Wed and Thurs. So hopefully the doc doesn't call back tomorrow and want to set something up for Wednesday. I just figured that he hadn't called back yet so it wasn't likely this week. I just hate how everything seems to be on hold because of this thing and we still don't seem to be any closer to getting it resolved. So I figured I would make the call on him going on this trip.

I am so tired of it.

Boonies

We live pretty far out from civilization and often when I have a Doctor's apt I stop it at my friend's house near where we used to live. Since we live so far out in order to get any visit time in she usually feeds us one meal or the other. I've had a lot of Dr appointments lately and feel bad my friend is feeding us dinner so much. She makes it seem like so not a big deal but I just hope she isn't feeling taken advantage of. We'd feed them if they made it out into the boonies more often...

rear end

I have never been pulled over. I have never been in an accident... till yesterday. Although thankfully it was not really anything to speak of, I still was rear ended. I was annoyed though because the guy seemed to be taking advantage of the fact that I was a young mother, female whatever, he didn't get out of his car for the longest time... was still on his phone (as he was when he ran into us). He seemed to be trying to convince me that I didn't need to get his info or anything because, "I really thought I missed you... I don't see anything wrong" etc. Well we felt it and we heard it. I don't handle things like this all that well and was grateful for my little tracfone. I called Gary and in a panic, " I just got rear ended, what do I do? He's not getting out of his car!" To top it off I was a block or so away from where I was going to a doc apt to find out my results of a CA125 cancer protein screening test and was already going to be late. (We live way far away from the office now that we moved).

The CA 125 ended up being normal but I still will have surgery since my mixed tissue/ cyst is not going down. Anything under 35 is normal, mine was 17.8. I am waiting to hear back from the doc on who will actually perform the surgery, a reg OB GYN or cancer OB GYN. I am so ready to be done with the whole thing and be a functional person again.

tada so here's the switcheroo I didn't like my old blog page. it begins again