What is That?!

So I am going to come clean as to where I have been the last couple of weeks. I wish I would be confessing the GPS coordinates of a top secret tropical island or that I could type that I hit the Powerball and have been shopping my life away, but I haven’t. For the last three weeks, I have been on a roller coaster ride I hope none of you ever have to pay admission for.

Some of you already know what I am going to type, you found our through me or from someone who thought it was their story to tell, some of you will be reading the details for the first time, I am sorry that I didn’t call you and tell you myself, but the thought making more than three calls having to tell this story over and over and tell you ‘I don’t know’ to all your questions, was and is too much to bear. So here I go.

Three weeks ago I made an appointment with my Dr. to discuss some pain I have been experiencing in my left knee. Back in high school I had two knee surgeries to remove loose bodies, so naturally I internally concluded this was the same issue, I would need a simple day surgery to have them removed, I would be out of commission for a couple days, and that would be it. My Dr. seemed to agree and referred me to the same Orthopedic Dr who performed my last two surgeries. The following week I had an appointment with the Orthopedic who reviewed my chart, felt around my knee cap, asked about my pain, which I described as a dull pain I would feel behind my knee cap when climbing stairs, sometimes when I walked, and definitely when I was shaking my groove thing with Miss. E in the living room.

He too had pretty much reached the same conclusion I had, but sent me for an x-ray just the same. So I moseyed on over to the next room and had some x-rays done. Went back into his room to review them (I have to chime in here and just comment on how awesome that is, instant x-rays!). So we sat there together and looked at the x-rays on the monitor. He kept zooming in on what looked like a ‘whiter’ spot on my bone. I asked ‘”what’s that?” to which he responded “I don’t know, but I am going to send you for an MRI so we can find out.” Still no reason to pull the alarm, so we scheduled the MRI for that Friday and scheduled a follow up to go over the MRI for the following week.

So the following week comes and next thing I know it’s time for my follow up appointment. I get out of bed the same way I do everyday, get ready, drop E off at daycare, my car breaks down in the driveway at daycare, I catch a ride in town with one of the Mom’s from daycare, and I am sitting at the Dr.’s office waiting for them to call my name. I sit there mad at my car, cursing my decision to wear shirt I put on, wondering whether or not I took the chicken out of the freezer before I left, how am I going to get home, and then they call my name.

I enter the same little room I was in before and the same Dr. comes in, looks at me and goes “why are you here”, haha not really, but I tell him and he logs on the computer and brings up my MRI. I am sitting beside the computer monitor and am trying to look at the screen out of the corner of my eye. Now, I am no bone doctor, but what I saw on that screen I knew… was not right and by the way he scratched his head and kept clicking on the screen, I knew the thought the same thing.

So I asked what any of you would have asked, ‘what is that?!’ what he responded with ripped the stomach out of my body and smacked me upside the face with a 2”X6”. “You have a tumor in your femur bone.” He went on to talk about the location of the tumor in my bone, biopsy, and then he used the “C” word... it's all fun and games until someone pulls out the "C" word. No, not that “C” word, jesh, you kiss your Momma with that mouth!! Cancer.

Just like that, done, D.O.N.E.. I was done. Checked out, bill please… Just like that, my world changed forever - cancer. In that split second I couldn’t have told you what I had on, what kind of car I drove (or didn’t drive) and if you asked me about supper I would have just stared at you totally blank. Cancer.

After I came back to, I heard the Dr. say that he was going to refer me to another Orthopedic in his office for a second opinion because to be quite frank, he said he hasn’t seem many of these. Gave me my papers and I walked out of the office. (yes, I made arrangements to get back to work and thankfully my Mom drove me home after work.)

I said this earlier, I am no Dr. but if I was, after telling a patient they have a tumor in their bone, I would immediately contact their internet service provider and insist on their internet connection be terminated until a proper diagnosis has been made. In a time like that, google + finger tips = the devil!

I had an appointment with the second Orthopedic who went over the MRI with me and gave me some more information. He did point out that the tumor had a nice black ‘wall’ around it, which indicated that it was slow growing and that cancerous tumors typically have ‘tentacles’ that reach out. Mine didn’t have any of that - phew! After seeing the MRI for the second time on the screen, it sort of erased any of the denial I had been experiencing in the days before. Your mind plays crazy games on you… maybe they got the MRI mixed up with someone else, cancer - that doesn’t happen to ME, only to someone’s step-mom’s cousin in Utah. I have a birthday party to plan in couple months, OMG my hair is going to fall out, I can't miss my daughter's wedding… seriously you can only imagine.

This past Tuesday I had a needle biopsy performed and after two painfully long days received the results of my biopsy. I am so happy to type I do NOT have cancer. My eyes fill with tears of joy and despair of what it could have been. This one hit way too close to home. Now I am still not out of the woods yet, I have another follow up appointment this week to see what my options are, I have already been warned that one of the options is major surgery that could put me out for 6-8 months, which will stink. But you know what, ANYTHING ANYTHING ANYTHING will be better than what it could have been.


Side Note: I really debated whether or not to type about this on my blog (of all places), but I wanted to set the record straight and update you on what is going on in my life. Maybe you have had something similar happen to you or someone you know, maybe you can e-mail me and we can chat about it. The older I get, I am finding out that I am never alone, someone is/has/or will go through similar things I experience, maybe this is one of them. This is not going away overnight, so I will warn you now that you may see some more posts about this. In the mean time, go live your life, hug your baby a little tighter, tell you husband/wife that you love them, call your grandparents and tell them what you did this week (they would love it), take 10 minutes out of TODAY and do something you WANT to do. Life is too short to do anything else.

Friday's Question

What is your favorite part of Easter?

Friday's Question

What are you looking forward to?

First Best Friends

Most of my fondest memories growing up were created with a little help from my cousins. I am lucky in the sense that I have many cousins; in all age groups. I have some that are many years older than me, some are around my own age, and then I have some that are young enough to be my children. Cousins are the best!

Cousins made camping, snow days, summer vacations, Christmas, sleepovers, and Sunday school FUN! Ahhh, we had so much fun. My brothers and I grew up right down the road from some of our cousins, we did everything together, I don’t think I have a single memory from ages 5-12 where they were not in it. We lived on the same camp road and knowing that at any time of the day, they were willing to meet us half way, was awesome!

Many years later I find myself living, once again, on a camp road not far from my sister and brother-in-law and my niece and nephew, aka Miss. E's COUSINS!! Sweet Pea is getting to the age where she loves, loves, loves playing with all her cousins and now that she is upright and mobile, her cousins love, love, love to play with her. It is so fun to watch them play, it brings me back (ah-hem) many years ago when I would play with my cousins... I can't help but to smile when I think of the memories they will create in the years to come.

Cousins are the best!

They make the best play pals.

They are the best keepers of inside jokes.

They teach you new things.

They are encouraging.

They are there to give you that little push you need.

They are your best cheerleaders.

They are your first best friends.





Happy Sunday!

Plop, Drop, and Kurplop

Once upon a time there was a glass jar that sat on a shelf above my washer and dryer. Everyday, pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and the occasional one dollar bill would plop, drop, and kurplop in the jar. The loot would mound with each passing day. After a few months the cha ching would spill over the sides of the jar! Antsy as a 4 year old ready to tear open her birthday presents, I would bring the container into the kitchen to dump my reward all over the table and then I would commence to Rollllll… Rolllll… Roll up my laundry loooot! Yep, every couple of months I would roll anywhere between $75-100 of ME money. That’s right, some call it pocket change, I would call it a facial!


That was until… someone in the house got a real piggy bank…

Darn piggy bank is cutting into the only thing that motivates me to do the laundry. But I have to admit, since this pig was carried into the house and devoured its first $.57 of MY pocket change, it has been so much fun watching Miss. E learn how 1) beg for money and 2) to put the change in the money slot.
 
Each night when my husband gets home, one of the first things he does is empty out his pockets on the counter. She will be in the other room and come running out at the first sound of change hitting the surface. She will run up to him, hands spread out, and will go "money, money" which  sounds like "honey, honey" it is simply the best (boy that's my second Tina Turner music quote of this post, was anyone else counting?). Then watching her run to the piggy bank and concentrate on putting the tiny piece of change into the equally tiny money slot, is priceless.
 
 

opt, I dropped it...

oh man... where did it go?

got it!

See what I mean? Too cute to be jealous right? I guess I can go another 16 years until my next facial.

Happy Tuesday!

Cookie + Another Cookie = Amazing

One of the best wedding gifts I received is not sitting on a shelf, hanging on a wall, or accumulating interest in some bank, but can be found in the Betty Crocker Cookbook, Bridal Edition (B.C.B.E.). Located on page 146 is the best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I have ever used. It wasn’t until about a year ago when I found this recipe and it forever changed my life… You see, in the past I have tried baking chocolate chip cookies, but they have never been easy on the palette. They have either come out too hard, too flat, too crumbly, or just plain too gross! So for years I forwent feeding my trash can another batch of cookies and resorted to the practical refrigerated cookie dough you can buy at the store. No complaints, they were good. They got the job done, but I longed for something more.

So a year ago I opened my B.C.B.E. cookbook and while perusing the cookie section I saw a “Learn with Betty - Softening Butter" tutorial on page 138. Come to find out the secret to the perfect cookie is all in the BUDDAH! Yep, the butter. I had always thought that the term ‘softened’ butter meant melted butter, PFFF, I was such a novice back then. Come to find out ‘softened’ means like soft to the touch - DUH! I flipped a few more pages and on page 146 spotted THE Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that is exactly what my taste buds have been longing for and my jeans have been dreading!

I make this cookie at least once a month, sometimes I make too many and send a batch or five to daycare with my daughter, other times I share the calories at work, and every once in a while I will hoard the entire loot for myself - hehehe!

I saw in a blog where they had baked a chocolate chip cookie on top of an Oreo and thought "I have to try that." So this weekend I did. And this is how it went down.

 PLUS

Followed by a little scoop of dough on top of an Oreo:

For the record, eating them like the picture above is equally as satisfying  as waiting until they are baked. Trust me... I know.

Put them in the oven for 13-14 minutes and this is what will be staring you right in the face:

Walah! Put them in a tupperware dish, bring them to work and your status among your co-workers goes from zero to hero before you even log into your e-mail.

Okay, Okay, I know you are all dripping in drool for the B.C.B.E. recipe, so here it is:

Pre-heat oven at 375.

3/4 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1 cup butter - softened (which means soft to the touch)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 bag of chocolate chips

Beat sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in chocolate chips. Bake for 8-10 minutes. BUT if you are going to try making these with the Oreo's, you need to bake them for about 13-14 minutes or until the cookie oozes over the Oreo.

Happy Monday!

Friday's Question

What is your favorite fruit?

Just because they are covered in decadent milk chocolate, does not compromise the fact that underneath all that silky smooth cocoa this a fruit!