Monday, August 26, 2019

Lukas Opens His Quiet Book

I never posted these photos of Lucas opening his quiet book.
He loved the matching pillow I'd made him and pulled that out first.
But then he realized that there was something else inside the gift bag.
I love the look of excitement on Lukas' face!
With his daddy's help, he dove right into the pages.
The drum page, one I had just made up myself since Vanessa had wanted a musical theme, was a real pleaser.
Drumsticks!!
Lukas knew exactly what to do with them.
Luckily, that did not include his siblings' heads.
I'd put the piano keyboard/musical note paper page together from several ideas I saw online.
And the pony with the saddle in the barnwyard was fun, too. (This was my idea.)
The jellyfish page.
And the family favorite apple tree - my kids always want that page since it reminds them of Apple Jack and Granny Slash's orchard.
Fun times!
Curt does not like spiders at all, but I saw this page on Pinterest and decided to make it.
After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Ian and Mila finally got their chance to look at the quiet book.
Lukie sure loved those drumsticks!
And the pillow!
Quiet book #19 is a hit and in the books!

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Rough Time

It's been a rough, hard ten days since my surgery. Surgeons removed a mass the size of a baseball on my pancreas along with half my pancreas, my spleen, and some lymph nodes. The pathology report is not back yet, but my surgeon took clear margins, just in case, and thinks I will not be dealing with cancer treatments. Good news!
It's the hardest surgery I have ever had, and even though I did a lot of prep work ahead of time, it has still knocked me flat. (I can't help but wonder what I would feel like had I not prepared my body so well.)
I've  had so many ports and IVs that it seemed like everywhere I looked, there was some sort of tube. I lost track of how many I actually had.
 And there has been heavy bruising everywhere.
My sugar spiked at almost 400 and then bounced up and down for several days which meant I was getting finger sticks every two hours and insulin shots in my belly.
Fortunately my blood sugar has normalized as my pancreas has healed.
Tough as it was, I had excellent care during my six days in the hospital - everyone from the nurses, techs, food service, and custodians were kind and caring. If I rang the bell for a nurse, someone was there almost immediately.
One nurse even drew me a cute elephant to cheer me up. I had them leave it there my entire stay.

I'm home now and continuing to heal. I'm eight days post-op as I write, and I am moving around the house and even sitting out on our patio. Taking lots of naps throughout the day, but I am needing fewer as the days go by.  I haven't made it upstairs to my office yet as those stairs are too much for me at the moment, but I hope to do so in a day or two.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Crunch Time!

I've only got a few more days until my surgery and am in full-on crunch time mode. I sat down and made a list of things that I needed to get done before I head to Indianapolis as well as a packing list of things to take. I'm trying to accomplish several things a day so that if I have any last minute hiccups, it won't be cause for panic.

 I continue to do the body prep that the surgeon asked me to do. 
That includes drinking three of these prescription immunonutrition drinks every day. I really like them! (A good thing that I do; I have to drink them post-op, too!)
They have the coolest straw that comes attached to each box. It extends after you open it.
Mini lightsaber, anyone?
 I am swallowing the vitamins that the surgeon asked me to add into my diet.
And have added in the daily Kefir drink, too. (Luckily, I like it, too.) 
There are daily breathing exercises that I must do in order to prepare my lungs and strengthen my chest wall muscles. I've used a spirometer many times while in the hospital, but never as a part of getting ready for surgery.
I'm walking daily for thirty minutes to build muscles and stamina.
There's a lot of pretty scenery in Indiana - I've enjoyed getting out of hibernation to see it.

   Retail therapy is always fun, but in this case, it was a necessity, too.
I have had enough surgeries to know that, if you don't bring a robe to the hospital, then they will use a second hospital gown to cover your backside while the nurses walk you around in the hallway as part of your recovery. One hospital gown is enough for me, and so now I have a new robe.
One of my sisters did a little retail therapy, too, and bought sister bracelets for me, her, our other sister, and our sister-in-love. It says, "Always my sister, forever my friend." Sisters strong!!
I am a huge reader and always have a book going. (I'm currently reading Book 3, The Hero of Ages, from the Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson) Now I am loading my Kindle up with some new titles.
 I even washed Millie and Molly's dishes! That didn't really need to be done as a part of surgery prep, but I'd just steam mopped all the floors and decided to clean them, too while I was in a cleaning mood.
Fishy got a partial water change, a new filter, and a wipe down of the walls of her aquarium, both inside and out. Isn't she pretty? (She was about an inch and a half when I bought her as a pet for my classroom. Four years later, she's eight inches long and still growing!)
It's a little too early to make up some extra sugar water for the hummingbirds, but I did clean the feeders really well before refilling them.
And finally, a big part of my prep is going out to the barn and spending some time with my girl.


Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Groompa Camp - Popcornpalooza

Another Groompa Camp tradition is popcornpalooza.
Jessica first taught me about popcornpalooza; basically it is watching a movie together and eating popcorn that has had all kinds of goodies added to it. Skittles, M&Ms, marshmallows, gummy worms...
Needless to say, Groompa campers look forward to popcornpalooza time!
Ian's bowl was about half popcorn and half add-ins.
Aunt Lisa spread out a blanket for the kids to make it even a little more special.
Millie. Ever hopeful.
Groompa Camp 2019 was a huge success - we wore the kids out.


Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Groompa Camp - Stepping Stones

Making stepping stones during Groompa Camp is an annual tradition.
After an al fresco lunch on the back porch and putting Lukas down for his nap,
Boompa mixed up the concrete and we got started on our stones.
Mila is most definitely NOT a minimalist. Spare concrete? Shove a bauble into the space!
Ian (who IS a minimalist) made a large smiley face (on left) then helped me with mine.
A friend had sent me a rock from her pasture as a surgery good wish, so I made a stepping stone with a horseshoe and the rock.
More bling!

Ian and Mila's stones are for their new home, while mine is going into the front stepping stone garden.