Dustpan Fun

Yesterday Decaf was playing in the kitchen and decided to climb into the dustpan. Of course, being the obsessive compulsive clean freak blogger that I am I ran for my camera. Then hubby came in and added a little fun.

Only the finest in entertainment for us!

Christmas

A couple pics and videos from Christmas.

My crazy, wonderful son with the Thomas gift he wanted most of all.

My daughter, now a year old, with her new baby doll.

Latte playing with a Wii knock-off my sister got her kids. You might be able to tell he really had to go to the bathroom but didn't want to take a break to go.




Decaf riding on a pink pony. Watch how she hangs her tongue out. :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We did! We have great family and so much to be thankful for. Oh, and my little Decaf started walking on Christmas Eve!!!

As I was saying...

Tonight I ran some errands with my mom and we had the kids with us. Our first stop was Arbys and at the drive-thru I started saying I wanted a number 7 with coke when a 3 year old voice from the back seat yelled, "Grande Hot Mocha!"

Busted! Again! Maybe they can hook me up to this at the hospital. :)

For the record, much of my buying comes from gift cards or Mom splurging when we're out together. Also, I figured posting about Starbucks two days in a row was more fun than posting about how in 20 days I'll be on a heart-lung machine for 6 hours while my heart is stopped.

AHHH!!!!!

So I'm keeping it light while I can. :)

You know you're hooked when....

Tonight I had to run a couple errands and I did NOT stop at Starbucks.

oh wait, this is Thursday...

Tonight while running errands I went through the drive-thru at Starbucks. Usually I have my son with me and I get him a cup of whip cream with a spoon. (see this post) Tonight he was home with Daddy and I didn't request the whip cream. I ordered my drink (Peppermint Mocha Twist Frappuccino) and one to bring back to my mom. At the window she took my money, handed me my drink and napkins, and then I remembered the whip cream. If he's not there I take a cup home to him. So I said, "Oh, I forgot to ask for some whip cream." And her reply was...

"I thought you looked familiar."

Now, this Starbucks is in a small town with a ginormous university. They must serve LOTS of people every day. Yet somehow I'm in there enough to have left an impression. Surely I'm not the only one who orders a side of whip cream? I don't know, maybe? But if I'm in there enough to "look familiar" when they see so many people each day, then I think I can narrow down where these few extra pounds have come from. :)

For a chance to get your own Starbucks card check out this giveaway, but be sure to do it quickly! It ends tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday

This Wordless Wednesday is a little different than some. That's because I finally have a surgery date!!! Surgery will be Jan.8th. I have to go to Charleston on the 6th for a CT Angiogram and pre-op work-up. We'll just hang out there the 7th and be admitted the 8th. Surgery will be about 6 hours long, maybe longer depending on the scar tissue they might run in to. 2 nights in ICU then about 5 nights in a private room.

So here's some pictures of the hospital. It's actually not the whole hospital, just the heart and vascular center.


Now that I have a surgery date I'm nervous and having anxiety issues. It's what I've been waiting for but now I'm not sure I'm ready. Keep praying for me!

Random Thoughts

My kids are finally home. They spent 2 weeks at my mother-in-laws. It started out as 1 week but circumstances turned it into 2 weeks. That's half a month!! We missed them so much. They had lots of fun and my son had to be begged to even talk to us on the phone. It's actually good knowing they aren't crying and missing us or I'd feel horrible about leaving them. They'll end up going back when I have my surgery.

My son picked up a new word while at his Granny's. "Ain't" He uses it "correctly" too. And he's asked me 52 times since he got home Sunday night for some candy. Hmmm...I'm guessing there was plenty at Granny's house. I keep telling him he can't have any. Finally in a very exasperated tone he asked, "Well, at least do we have any in the house?!" As if just knowing it's in the house will help.

I should know today when my surgery is scheduled. The doctor's assistant called me yesterday to let me know they'd be calling today. :) She didn't want to leave me hanging. She asked if I'd thought of any questions and the only one I had was, "How long after surgery until I can lift things, like my children?" She said that they recommend nothing over 10 pounds for 6-8 weeks!!! That was disappointing to hear. We'll have to do lots of gentle snuggling in bed. I have no idea how to get my son to snuggle gently. We'll see....

Our Trip to MUSC

We had a long day yesterday down to Charleston and back. The surgeon was kind and went over things thoroughly. He is 95% sure he can repair my valve. However the unknown factor is how much scar tissue he'll find from my 1st surgery that will hinder a repair.

He went over my replacement options in some more detail. For the tissue valve they would use a calf valve. It averages 5-10 years before needing to be replaced. Then my 3rd surgery would carry more risk. He said they don't have many patients that get 3 or more surgeries so they don't have as exact statistics. He said the 5-10 years is an average and depends on my body. Some will only last 2 years and he's had some last almost 20. One good thing was that he also said that pregnancy wouldn't speed up how quickly it wore out.

With a mechanical valve I wouldn't need any more surgeries. I would be on an oral blood thinner for live. I could possibly get pregnant but would have to switch over to a daily injection before I tried to get pregnant and throughout the pregnancy. It also carries some fetal risk. He said that 1-2% of the people on blood thinners die each year from complications. If I fell and skinned my knee while playing soccer with my son, not such a big deal. If I fell and hit my head it could cause fatal bleeding into my brain. So no horses, bicycles, contact sports (not that I play any!), etc.

So now I have more info to help me make this decision that I hate having to make. Yet, it has to be decided before I go to surgery. Our big prayer is for REPAIR!!!! That being said, I'll have my surgery in January. They will contact me the beginning of next week to set up the date. He wanted to give me some time to think of more questions. I will be 1 week in the hospital, 2 weeks at home doing nothing, 4 weeks getting back to doing stuff then 6 months until I really feel normal. He said by 8 weeks post-op I'll feel 90% back to normal but that last 10% takes up to 6 months.

So please continue to pray. I've already told my hubby he'll have to blog for me while I'm in the hospital. :) Gotta keep everyone up to date.