Why I hate doctor's appointments...

Today was full of appointments for me. Really I only had 2, but you know how long to have to wait anytime you go to the doctor. Two appointments turned into a whole day!

You may remember I had surgery back in September... if not, and you want to read about it you can find the story here.

And for the entertaining pre and post surgery pictures click here.

Anyway, today I had a follow up mammogram...

That's about all I'll say about that. :)

Later in the day I had another appointment. Because it was the only appointment I could get on a fairly less hectic day, I couldn't be picky about the time. I had to pick up Chandler from school early and take her AND Riley to my appointment.

I'd like to tell you that this is how my kids acted the entire time...

40/365

Unfortunately, that would be a lie.

Because this is actually how they acted...

Ok, in all fairness to Chandler, Riley was really the only one acting this this.
However, Chandler did her fair share of pestering about how long it was taking for the doctor to see us.

Yes, Chandler it took a long time. I agree with you! *sigh* It always does.

Why am I choosing to embarrass myself?

I saw this posted on Heather's blog as well as Renata's blog... check them out!

15 years ago, I was...
*13 years old
*In the 8th grade at Osceola Middle School in Ocala, FL
*The drum major of our middle school band for the Ocala Christmas Parade
*playing the flute
(Sorry, no picture for this one... I honestly looked, but the 8th grade was such an awkward year... I probably burned all pictures from that time in my life!)

10 years ago, I was...
*18 years old
*A high school graduate... graduated with honors :)
*Spending my last summer at home doing community theatre
*Moving to Tennessee in the fall to attend Lee University
*Majoring in Music Education
*Playing the oboe in the Symphonic Band

That's me on the right

The only picture you may ever see of me dancing... I'm just to the right of "Frank Butler"
The show was "Annie Get Your Gun"

Freshman year of college in the Symphonic Band
That's Brandon sitting behind us... funny that we barely knew each other in the picture!

Me and Brandon coming home from a mission's trip to Brazil... we were only friends back then.

5 years ago, I was...
*23 years old
*Becoming a mom for the 1st time in January
*Married for 2 years
*Graduating with a Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration in May
*Spending 7 months as a stay at home mom after graduating

My first good look at Chandler

Chunky cheeks!

Graduation was extra special as a mom of a 4 month old baby girl!

Thanksgiving 2003

3 years ago, I was...
*25 years old
*Working as a Ministry Assistant at our church
*Married for 4 years
*Excited that we were buying our 1st house!

Our house just before we bought it
It looks different now :)

Chandler and Me December 2005... the pile of notebooks on the table reminds me of all the work I had to bring home with me!

1 year ago, I was...
*27 years old
*A mom of two beautiful girls
*Married for 6 years
*Staying at home full time!

Riley was born in March 2007

Just me: Mother's Day 2007

My Family on Thanksgiving 2007
Dad and Mom
My Sister,Erin, and her husband, Joel
Me, Brandon, Chandler and Riley

This past year, I was...
*watching my baby have surgery
*watching Chandler turn 5 years old
*watching Riley turn ONE!
*going to my 1st UGA football game
*becoming obsessed with Twilight
*off on an adventure to Australia!
*having life changing surgery
*learning to take time for myself.

Riley's cyst removal: January 2008

Chandler's 5th Birthday Photo Shoot

Riley's 1st Birthday Photo Shoot

Our 1st UGA football game!

My Twilight Obsession!

Me & Charlie the Koala in Sydney, Australia!

Me just before surgery

Just Me: October 2008

Good News, Good News!

My biopsy results came back negative. The "mass" that the doctor removed was benign. We are so relieved.
I have a follow up appointment in 3 weeks to make sure that everything is healing correctly.

Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement!!

I survived

I apologize in advance just in case this doesn't make sense...

I'm taking advantage of a few moments of some-what clear thinking... basically, my head is spinning a little slower than it was yesterday or even earlier today.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed, called, e-mailed, sent text messages, and left comments. You are all wonderful!

I'm feeling pretty good. I'm not in any pain thanks to my friend hydrocodone. However, hydrocodone makes me VERY sleepy and sometimes I can't tell if I'm thinking something or actually saying thoughts out loud. :)

Several times last night I looked at Brandon and said, "Did I just say something to you?" :)

Apparently a drugged Jennifer is a funny Jennifer.

I don't remember anything about yesterday after the nurse said, "And now we are going to give you something to help you relax."

Brandon talked to my doctor after the surgery and she said things went well. She had already talked to the pathologist and given him the biopsy sample. He would be working on it today and we should have the results at my appointment tomorrow... 2:15 in case you were wondering.

I've been sleeping A LOT! I'm a little dehydrated, but I'm trying to work on that.

Other than being sleepy, I'm in pretty good shape.

Brandon and Chandler have a field trip to the pumpkin patch tomorrow. Originally we thought I would be ok with watching Riley tomorrow, but now that we know just how loopy hydrocodone makes me, we are rethinking that!!

My meds are kicking in!!

MANY MANY MANY thanks to Amy Beth. Chandler LOVED hanging out with you yesterday. She has talked non-stop about the puppies, the BOY at your office, her school lunch that you made, and Cracker Barrel. YOU WERE A HIT!

Just for a few laughs....

Pre-Surgery

Post Surgery
My neck is stained orange from the Iodine.

Surgery Update

According to the extremely friendly (sarcasm... yes!) woman at the hospital, I have to report to the 5th floor tomorrow morning at 8:45 am... SHARP!

I feel like I've been apologizing a lot lately!

I'm just not into the blogging thing right now... I've got so much to catch up on, but it's going to have to wait just a bit longer.

My world has been turned upside down lately.

Before I left for Australia I went for a check up with my OB/GYN... the reason isn't really important at this point, but this is what it led to:
My doctor found a "mass" in my right breast. Now ladies, here's where I preach to you (and to myself) just a tad...
You know those "self breast exams" that your doctor reminds you to do at every appointment? Do you do them? I don't... well I should say, I didn't... I will now.
In my defense... my doctor told me that even if I had been doing them I may not have felt this particular "mass" because of it's location. STILL... DO YOUR EXAMS!

Fast forward to Tuesday, September 16th... I'm tired from traveling 2 days to get home from Australia, but I have an appointment with a Surgical Specialist. I called my AMAZING neighbor, Becky, (who always bails me out when I need somewhere to drop my kiddo) and I was off to have an ultrasound to determine what this "mass" could possibly be.

I had several ultrasounds during my two pregnancies so I didn't see any reason for Brandon to go with me.

Boy! I should have rethought that!
The ultrasound showed "questionable results". Results that made the doctor decided to do a biopsy... THAT DAY... THAT APPOINTMENT... IMMEDIATELY AFTER MY ULTRASOUND. We're talking, "don't even get up from the exam table... wait here, I'll be right back with a device that will inflict incredible pain on you."

People, it was BAD! You know how you think childbirth is the worst pain you'll ever endure? Well at the end of childbirth you have a beautiful baby to show for all of your work...
You know what you get at the end of a biopsy? Swelling, bruising, TONS of blood, an incision and 2 very LONG days to wait for results.
At one point I was crying and shaking so hard that I honestly did not think I was going to make it through this procedure without someone physically holding me to the table.
Now, ONE pass with the biopsy needle would have been tolerable... I had not one. Not two, but THREE passes. After the 2nd one I requested more drugs!
If you are interested in the "gory" details... shoot me an e-mail. I'll spare everyone else!

So, the biopsy results are expected back on that Thursday and my appointment is set for 3:00. On Wednesday my doctor calls me (personally, I might add... did I mention I really like this doctor!) to tell me that she talked to the guy over at pathology and so far the results are negative... HOWEVER, she talked to someone in radiology who suggested she order a mammogram.

Ok Ladies... All those who have had a mammogram say, "OUCH!" I had never had one before... I had heard it would be painful... Painful on a "normal" patient? Eh, slightly uncomfortable... Painful on a gal who had a biopsy 2 days earlier? HECK YEAH!
The girl that did my mammogram felt so bad... she had never had a patient who had had a biopsy first. She was trying to be extra careful, but let's face the facts here... she had to squeeze me to death and I had a fresh (attempting to heal) incision... anyone know what happened next?
Yep, the incision opened back up! Fresh blood. YUM!

So, I was more than a little sore on Thursday afternoon.

Just before 3:00, Brandon and I go to the hospital to pick up my mammogram films to take to my appointment. We met our WONDERFUL friend, Trish (who by the way is starting the adoption process... Good Luck Brian and Trish) who took my girls to McDonald's for a Happy Meal and some playtime. God bless Trish!
The doctor's appointment went something like this:
Biopsy results came back negative. YAY!
Mammogram results... eh. "A-typical results" I think, is the phrase she used.

The doctor thinks that the discrepancies in the tests may be due to the fact that the mammogram is showing the "a-typical results" in a very specific part of the "mass". She wants to get a biopsy from that particular area.

Next step... surgery.

This Wednesday, September 24 I will be going in for a Needle Localization and Extraction Biopsy.
The surgery is 2 steps. First (while I'm awake) they will go in and insert a wire guide into the specific area of the "mass" from which they want the biopsy.
The second part is when they will put me to sleep... they will go in, following the wire guide and extract a sample from the area pinpointed by the wire guide.

So, as a part of the process I had to go to the hospital today for my pre-op blood work and hospital registration.

This past week has really made me feel like a pincushion!

So there you have it. I think that's a pretty good excuse for being behind in my blogging.

I didn't post this for your pity, but I would appreciate all the prayers that you can spare over the next few days!

And if anyone has any experience with this sort of surgery, any info or suggestions you may have would be GREATLY appreciated!

"All I'm asking; is for a little..."

Nope, not respect... SLEEP!

Chandler was ALWAYS a good sleeper. She came out of the womb a good sleeper... of course the extreme case of jaundice helped. :)
As an infant she slept well, as a toddler she slept well and now as a pre-schooler she is still a pretty good sleeper. Like all kids, she has had her share of rough nights, but 99.9% of the time she's a good sleeper.
Riley... now she's a different story all together. She MAY sleep through the night 10% of the time. You may be thinking, "Come on Jen! She just had surgery!" Nope, that's not it. She was a crummy sleeper before the surgery!

• We've tried letting her sleep with us.
• We've tried feeding her in the middle of the night.
• We've tried going into her room, giving her a paci and a back rub and sneaking back out.
• We've tried the night light on.
• We've tried the night light off.
• We've tried a Bach CD playing softly.
• We've tried the Bach CD playing loudly.
  
• We've tried the Bach CD playing on repeat all night long.
• We've tried walking into her room, laying her down and walking right back out.
• We've tried rocking her in the middle of the night.

Last night we tried letting her scream herself back to sleep. We had tried it before. It worked and lasted for about a week, but then she was right back to waking up in the middle of the night.
When I finally woke up to the sound of her screaming (I can be a heavy sleeper at times) Brandon informed me that he had already been into her room once. She had been screaming for about 10 minutes and he would not be going back in there.
We decided to let her scream it out. I felt bad for Chandler (they share a room), but Chandler must have my "heavy sleeper gene" because, as far as we know, she never woke up... That's very surprising since Riley was screaming FULL FORCE for close to 45 minutes.
I've been told by several people that it takes 3 days to break a baby of a habit so I've already informed Chandler that she can sleep in the guest room tonight. :)

I guess we are in for 2 more nights of screaming!

If you've got suggestions on how to get her to sleep all night I would LOVE to hear them!!!!

Here's a picture of Riley from Sunday night. 6 days after surgery:

She still has the black eye!

You should have seen the other guy!

The title of this blog was inspired by my dad. :)

Riley looks like she was in a knock down drag out fist fight! It's getting better each day, but she's still pretty pitiful.

Yesterday morning when she woke up her eye was pretty much swollen shut.

By lunch time it was getting better and by the time we left for church last night it looked 10 times better. (Ignore the sweet potatoes and juice all over her clothes... she's a messy eater!)

Today it is bruised and swollen, but not swollen shut. She's pretty happy and active today. I couldn't keep her still long enough to get a good picture. She kept crawling to the camera!

So there she is, looking like a prize fighter!

Some of you were wondering how Riley slept after the surgery. When we got home from The Surgery Center she had a snack and took a 3 hour nap. She was worn out!!
That night she did GREAT! In fact, we ALL slept pretty good. She went down about 9:30 and slept all night. I think she woke up around 7:00... Brandon heard her "talking" to herself about that time, but she wasn't crying to get up yet.

Riley's Surgery :)

Well, it's all over and done with... and I hope I NEVER have to do something like this again!

Riley's surgery was a success. She won the hearts of all her nurses, her anesthesiologist and her doctor.

Everyone said she was great and did just wonderful!

Here she is getting her Pre-Surgery bath last night.

We arrived at the Surgery Center at 8:15 this morning. We got her all signed in. Pastor Jonathan (or as Chandler calls him, Pastor Jon-fin) was there as our "support team". He was great! Thanks Jonathan!!

They called us back to talk through the surgery. Riley got her gown (it was huge, but the smallest one they had... it made me sad. I kept thinking, "if she's too little for the gown, she's too little to be having surgery!")

I had to tie it super tight in the back just to make sure it didn't fall off of her shoulders!

We met the anesthesiologist, Jaclyn. She was great and made me feel a WHOLE lot better about leaving Riley. She showed me the instruments that she would be using and explained how they work and what Riley would be feeling.

They took her back to her room and we were left alone... I had to stop in the bathroom to dry my face before heading back to the waiting room.
This is where I'm extra thankful for Jonathan. We talked about the complications with his fence and how NOT to have a fence built. We talked about Royal Rangers. We talked about new cars and old cars... basically, we talked about everything BUT Riley's surgery. It made the time FLY by and before I knew it it was time to make a bottle for Riley to take to the recovery room.

Here she is "recovering". It was pitiful. She had that bandage on her head. The brown wrap is covering the IV. They told me that she kept chewing on the IV tube! She was still hooked up to all of the monitors. Her heart rate was almost 150 when we got in there.... she was MAD! After I held her and she calmed down a little and it went back down to 120.
She was anxious to get that IV out. When the nurse pulled the tape off Riley jerked her arm and the needle popped out making blood squirt everywhere!

Jonathan helped us load her up in the car and we headed home.

We had to make a stop at Walgreens for bandages, tylenol and a prescription ointment for the incision. Riley was ready to get home. Doesn't she look pitiful!!

Surgery did NOT have a profound effect on her appetite! The nurses fed her an 8oz bottle as soon as she woke up. When we got home she had some toasted corn cereal, a slice of bread and some apple juice.

Currently she's taking a good long nap. She is worn out.

Last night was a horrible night! She went to bed at 9:15, woke at 12:45 (45 minutes too late to eat... she wasn't allowed food after midnight) and didn't go back to sleep until 4:00am!!! Hopefully tonight will be better!

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes! We have the best family and friends in the world!

Update on Riley's Surgery

Riley's surgery has been scheduled for 8:30 tomorrow morning. Thank you to those of you who have left such kinds words of encouragement during this stressful time!

Surgery

Friends & Family,

Riley had an appointment this morning to have the cyst next to her eye examined. Because it has continued to grow over the past 6 months, the doctor told us that the best course of action would be to have it removed. We have known since last July that we would eventually be having this conversation, but we really thought we still might have several more months to make a decision.

However, that is not the case. The surgery has been scheduled for January 22. Yes, that is less than 2 weeks from today!
As of right now, I don't know the exact time. The Surgery Center schedules the times and I will probably not hear from them until the day before the surgery.

The doctor is confidant that Riley will do very well. She's very healthy and hasn't had any medical complications so everything looks pretty good. Of course she will be put to sleep (with a tube down her throat) so the doctor told us about all of the "potential hazards" of anesthesia. Those "potential hazards" are what make me so nervous!

The surgery is more intense than I thought it would be... we got a list of those potential hazards as well!! It's not as simple as going just under the skin and cutting it out. Apparently there will be a rather deep incision in order to get under the cyst. She will have 2 sets of stitches. One under the skin and one on the surface of the skin. Both sets of stitches will dissolve. That helps us avoid an appointment to have them removed! There will be blood work done after the cyst is removed to confirm that it is, in fact, a dermoid cyst and nothing more serious.

Chandler is not really sure about what is going on, but she knows something is going to happen to Riley. She has already started asking me questions. She's a smart girl and we know she would want to know what's going on so we'll probably sit down and talk with her in the next day or two.

Please keep Riley and our family in your prayers over the next few days.

Jennifer