Fresh Start

Happy New Year!!!

I thought this year was going to be the same as the others. I would make a few new years resolutions and then break them all by the 2nd week. I would have the same job and do the same things as I do now, day in and day out. I would count down to the exact hour (if I could) that I could leave this place.

But turns out this year is different!!!!! I will be making new years resolutions this year. However, they will be different. I was vowing to make my self a "healthier me." Yes I am going to work out, change my diet, brush my teeth before bed, floss, and take better care of myself. But i didn't set a time frame. It will be ongoing and not as hardcore as usual. This time (as i say every year) will be different!

I also can finally say that I got a new job! WOOO HOO!! I applied for a position at the Houston Hospital ( about 5 mins from our house) back in November. They waited a while to call me (about 3 weeks) but they finally did! I didn't even think twice about it! I have been wanting to get a job closer to home that way I can meet Dan for lunch or come home. (It's the little things). I will be the main Outpatient SLP with the hospital. I start on Jan 31st.

I hope this is the start I was looking for. I have been so....lost... the past few months. Just stuck in the same old rut doing the same old things. But I didn't have a way out so I was just sucking it up and going day-by-day to make it. But now I'm looking forward to something new and different. Something for me!

I will keep you posted on the new job! Until next time! :)

Grateful!

I haven't posted a lot since before Christmas... but a lot has happened!! I'll try to keep this short and sweet!

I am so grateful that I could go home for Christmas!! I had been asking for the time off for about 2 months but was unsure if I would get it until the beginning of December. Luckily, I found a great person that was willing to drive 2 hours to my building to cover my very small caseload. I thought it wasn't worth the drive, but he was glad to do it and glad to have something to do!

We went home for a week (Dec 22 thru Dec 29) and it went by so fast, as usual! We spent Christmas at Dan's parents house. We wanted to get there before his deployment to make sure he could spend time with his family. We also went to his Aunt and Uncle's house and his grandma's house. Then finally at his Father's house. Whew! It was the longest Christmas ever!

On the 26th, we drove to my sister's house! I surprised my whole extended family by showing up at our Christmas party. My dad lied to everyone and said "oh no, she can't come" so they were all surprised! Then we spent the rest of our time hanging out with my parents, friends, family, and of course my nephews!!! JT was beginning to walk shortly before we came so I got to see him take a few steps. Grant hasn't caught on to this whole walking thing yet. I may be biased, but I think my nephews are the cutest things in the whole world!!!  I hope to have some pictures up here sometime soon!

For New Years, we went to our friend's house, Rachel. It was low key, but very fun!!!! We have delicious snacks and good drinks! And of course, excellent company!!!

We had a very busy holiday season and we are glad to get back to the grind without all that hustle and bustle!!

I have so much more to tell you, but it can wait until my next post! Until next time!

Scar Tissue

Well I went to the doctor today and it was all good news! He was happy with how the incision looked and was amazed about the lack of swelling he saw. I guess he was excepting my neck to be big and giant. Although I think it is big, I guess he doesn't. He said the biopsy was normal! YAY!

Then the bad part happened. He took my stitches out. It really didn't hurt, but the whole time he was taking them out I was thinking about how they were coming out and it made me very light-headed. He had to almost stand me on my head for me to not pass out! lol. Oops!

But now that I have the stitches out, he gave me the go-ahead for working out and resuming normal activities. I have never wanted to hit the gym like I do now! Here is a picture of my incision with the stitches still in place.

I ran right out after my appointment to get mederma for this monster of a scar I'm going to have. I didn't realize how much that stuff cost. But I guess it will be worth it if it really does make this scar disappear!

I am glad all this stuff is behind me now. I just have recovery ahead of me!

Until next time! :)

Recovery Update

I thought I would update everyone with some details of the surgery and my recovery thus far.

Tuesday: The day of the surgery. We made it on time to our 6:00am appointment. They called me back and I had to get undressed and into a gown. It was FREEZING! Then I got a shot in my butt (which still hurts 4 days later) to give me dry mouth for the surgery. Then I had an IV put in place. I actually did good with this! I was nervous but they really did a good job with it! Then Dan came in. The first thing I did was cry. A nurse came in about 10 minutes later and saw I was scared to death and said she would be in to give me "something to calm me down." HA! I got that shot and about 2 seconds later I was in la-la land. I apparently told Dan I loved him, kissed him, and then went on my merry way back to the OR. I remember someone saying something about the medicine making me feel like I have a "heavy booty" or something. Then I do remember moving onto the operating table from my bed in the holding room. That is all I remember. I woke up in the recovery room and the  first thing I did was get sick. Twice. It was icky and hurt my throat REALLY bad. I got yet another shot in my butt for nausea/vomiting which put me out! I barely remember getting home. I told Dan he was bad at car transfers (haha the physical therapist in me) and asked my mom to help since that is what she does! I then slept ALLLLLL day. I woke up once to eat and had about half a cup of jello and a mug of chicken noodle soup. I could barely swallow and was in extreme pain. I didn't do much else this day.

Wednesday: I was feeling better today. I know I took some pain medicine and spent some time with my parents. They left this day, so I tried to stay awake long enough to see them out. They went to Zaxby's for lunch and I was able to eat some french fries and a milkshake. It hurt to chew but I managed. Again, took some more meds and was pretty much out of it the rest of the night. I also got to take a bath that night. Dan was so sweet and helped me into the tub and helped me wash my back. Then I managed to climb onto the kitchen counter to put my head into the sink so my hair could be washed. It made me feel much better but still not as good as a shower!

Thursday/Friday: I was feeling much better these two days. I was a little nauseated on Thursday but able to keep food down. Then on Friday I went out for the first time! It was nice to get out! I was starting to have cabin fever! We went to Olive Garden and then did a little shopping. I also took my bandage off on Friday night. It was starting to itch real bad and they told me after 4 days I could take it off. It looks okay. I look like I have a turkey neck (the Doctor said I would) and its still swollen. It's hard to sleep and I'm still sleeping at a 45 degree angle.

Saturday: Today Dan made me breakfast! He's the best! I had a turkey sausage, egg and cheese sandwich on a crossiant with fresh fruit! I was able to eat it all (slowly though) and it was pretty good! He's the best husband ever!!! So supportive in this whole thing! Tonight we are going to a Christmas party with our awesome tacky sweaters!!!! I am hoping to stay the whole time but we'll see how I feel!!!

Thanks for all the support, prayers, and well wishes! I will keep updating you with my recovery! I have a follow-up appointment on the 17th and will let you all know how it goes!!!

Until then! :)

surgery

I found out I will be having surgery on December 7th. It's about a week away. I'm SO nervous. All these thoughts are going through my head... I just keep telling everyone to pray for me and hope for a quick recovery. 

I'll blog more about my surgery later... like when i'm drugged up and have nothing else to do on my week off. I'm looking forward to that, but not the whole recovery thing. 

Our thanksgiving was spent in Warner Robins again with our Air Force Family. It was so generous of Matt and Mary to open up their house to us again! I had to work but we still made it to their house by 4:30. Dinner was delicious as usual. I made this new recipe i found.. pumpkin bars. I heard it on the radio. They were pretty much amazing. I will be making those again soon, i think.

I went out again for Black Friday. That was CRAZY. I got a little ridiculous this year and actually camped out at Target. We got there at 11:30 and I stayed until it opened at 4. The line nearly doubled in size in front of me as the time got closer to store opening. I guess some people just stood in line and saved spots for others who came right before it opened. What also made me mad was the group of 75 to 100 people that were in the parking lot at 3:45 waiting for the doors to open. They refused to wait in the back of the line. And wouldn't you know, when the doors opened, they bumrushed the doors and cut right in front of everyone. Go figure. But in my plan for revenge, I ran to the camera desk, hitting people with my basket and throwing bows. But i got what I wanted!!! Since my camera broke while we were in Key West, i decided to replace it with a new Canon camera. We wanted a DSLR but it just wasn't in the budget this year. I just got a regular digital camera, but it's can upgrade from the previous one. I also bought some other things, which I can't say because they are gifts! We made it back home at 5:45, ate breakfast, and went back to bed. I went back out shopping later that day and finished most of my shopping!

There are only 25 days until Christmas. Which means, only 25 days left to shop for everyone. If you subtract the 8 days I will be in recovery and the 2 days for travel, that doesn't leave many days. So I hope I can finish my shopping!!!! 

I will keep everyone updated on the surgery. Please say a prayer for me on Tuesday December 7th!

Until next time! :)

birth defect.

Well i was surprised to learn last week that i have a congenital anomalie. This is how it all started:

last year, when i first got military insurance, i went to the doctor for a physical. i had him check my throat because i kept feeling this lump in it and knew it just wans't right. he checked it and told me it was nothing. so i left it alone. then a couple months ago, i started to feel it again (i think because i was taking the vital stim course) and, again, knew it was not right. so i made an appointment.

i asked for a referred to an ENT when i called base to make an appointment. but that was a joke! i would have to been seen first by the base medical before i could be referred. so last monday i went for my appointment. i was so nervous because i just kept thinking the worst. while i was there, they did an ultrasound of my throat (the lump mainly) and ran some blood work.

figures that i would go on a week with a holiday (veteran's day). luckily the results of my ultrasound were ready by wednesday. the dx: thyroglossal duct cyst. what is that you may ask? well apparently when you are a fetus the thyroid gland "migrates" from your throat to your neck. if the duct doesn't close properly, a cyst can form. it can form when you are still in the womb, right after birth, or when you are a toddler. per the internet (probably wikipedia or something) the cysts usually happen in toddlers and "rarely" happen in adults. actually one website said "a Thyroglossal duct cyst is a rare but occasional cyst"... i'm wondering in what language that makes ANY sense at all. Regardless... the nurse interpreting the radiologist report said the dr. said i would need it to be removed and referred me for an ENT appointment. this is where it gets simply annoying.

why does it take so long to process a referral over the internet? aren't we moving forward with technology? not backward? the lady in the referral dept. told me that they were backed up due to the holiday. I wanted to punch her in her face. You should have planned for the holiday. It was not a surprise.. you knew it was coming, plan accordingly. now a snow day... maybe i could see how you could be backed up... but a federal holiday? come on.

so it's now a week and half since my initial appointment and i have yet to receive a referral to get my appointment. i called today to the ENT office and it still was not in yet. it's quite annoying and a giant waste of  time to follow the referral dept around to make sure they do their job. but that's what i plan on doing until i can get an appointment. meanwhile, the cyst has gotten a little bit bigger. the initial report said "it appears to be benign" but you never know. i'll just keep waiting and hoping to get this thing removed in the next month.

i'll keep you posted if i ever get my appointment! grrrr...
mood: annoyed. :/

until next time.

One year down, many more to come!

Well it's been one year!! We made the first milestone of our marriage! Let me take a minute to reflect on our first year of marriage... it's been trying at times, but then again, who's marriage is perfect? And to me, if you're marriage is perfect, then you don't live in real life. Everyone has their arguments and disagreements. If you don't disagree then, in my perspective, you aren't voicing you're opinion enough. Which brings me to my next order of business. In the next year I vow to communicate more with Dan. We are very open with one another, but sometimes if we have a disagreement, I just walk away without a discussion. Not anymore! This is what brings most couples down. But we have decided to open the lines of communication and not hold back.


This next year will be filled with many activities... good and not so fun....
1. We may not be able to go home for Christmas because of my work. I hate that is comes down to that, but if I have no one to cover my patients, then I can't leave. Simple enough. 
2. Dan will be deploying in March. Ick. Not looking forward to this but I know I can get through it.
3. Dan will be returning from deployment! YAY! Sometime in July. I"ll let you know of the date when I know it.
4. Europe. We are going to Europe if I have to kill someone. Ok maybe not that. But we have been discussing a trip to Europe since we moved here. Hopefully 2 weeks but not sure yet. Again, I'll keep you posted.


Those are the scheduled activities as of now. Dan recently found out that he did not get into AFIT, so alas, we will be here for another 2 years. Not my idea of fun, but I can't do anything about it. We discussed traveling to different areas of GA to site-see and do SOMETHING. Our weekends are filled with TV and cleaning. Not that I should neglect cleaning, but I would rather go somewhere other than in this house. So we have discussed camping trips and day trips to Atlanta. Something to get out of Warner Robins. I still have yet to find out how one person lives in this city for longer than a year. 


Here are some pics from our First Anniversary! Enjoy! I love Love!

Until next time!!! A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person