Ditto Kelli...

So I just read Kelli's latest post and I say, "Ditto". Every time I sit down to fill you in on all that's happened since surgery, something else takes over my brain and since I can only focus on one thing at a time these days, the blog goes (again) to the back burner.

So, as a quick summary (while my brain is focused here) I had the surgery, but it didn't accomplish much. The problem wasn't in the tube leading into my kidney, it is in the condition of my kidneys in general, and while my doctor and very good friend tried his best to make it better, I ended up septic in the hospital with
peylonephritis. It was not fun. I don't every want to do it again. And the doctor says that because of this development, he won't do that surgery on me again. Which means, the next time I am blocked, well, I'm not sure what we'll do about it...sigh. But I'm better now, and that was just an update for those who have been wondering what happened to me after surgery.

Now, on to one of the other things that keeps me away from the blogoverse...my daughter's dance schedule. She was in 11 different dances in this year's Spring Show. She is taking 11 classes this year including the performance troupe at our studio which participates in MANY performances and competitions throughout the year. For those of you who think that is too much, and I should lighten her schedule, here is how the conversation went in the car last week:

Maddie: Mom, what am I going to do for dance for the next 2 weeks until summer classes start?

Me: Well, I can just take you up to the studio and you can practice whatever you want while I work.

Maddie: But I NEED a teacher to teach me!

Me: Don't you just want to enjoy a little break before you start up again?

Maddie: NEVER!!!

And this year she choreographed her solo for troupe tryouts completely on her own. She chose the song and planned the entire thing by herself. I didn't even get to see it until the day before the tryouts. I do have a video taken while she was still working out the choreography. It's not danced full out as she was still figuring out parts of it, but it will give you an idea of what kind of dancer she wants to be...and why I don't mind taking her to the dance studio almost every.single.day.

FINALLY got the video to work!

Ups and Downs and All Arounds...

I haven't been here in a week or three. Yes, I've been busy, but it's more than that. I've made cookies and cakes, I've knitted socks and ninja masks, and I've traveled and chaperoned the most amazing group of dancers EVER. Yes, I've been busy, but the reason I haven't been here is not the busyness of life. It's the in-between stuff.

I've been having kidney troubles again. And while I've managed to fulfill my responsibilities thus far, in between each of those events, I've been crashed on the couch...recovering. Last weekend, while I was in San Antonio for the ShowStoppers Dance Competition with the girl, it became unbearable and I knew that something would have to be done--soon. So, I am here to announce that I am having surgery to remove blockages in my kidneys tomorrow, March 1st at 3:00pm CST. If ya'll want to say a prayer, that would be awesome.

However, my problems are NOTHING compared to my friend, Kelli. In my last post, I wrote that after 5 agonizing years, a possible donor was found to give Kelli a new kidney. Yesterday, that donor was rejected. She was the last one on a list that began with 50 or so candidates, and they turned her away. The search begins again. My heart is broken for my friend and her family. So while you're saying those prayers, please send one up for her as well, and if you've ever considered being a living kidney donor, please, please, please head on over to No comments:

Please Help Spread the Word!

My dear friend,Kelli got some more bad news last week regarding her quest for a new kidney. The living donor that was looking so promising has been ruled out, and they are running out of people to be tested. This is just one in a several setbacks Kelli has faced on this journey, and she reveals many of them, including how YOU might possibly help in this post. If you can't do anything else, could you please help by spreading the word through your Twitter, Facebook, and blogs? You never know who is out there reading who may be able to save the life of one of my best- friends-that-I've-never-met. :)

Thank you so much!

Are You Looking for an Update?H

Hello all my Bloggy-Friends!

I thought I'd take a minute and give a quick update for those who don't follow me on Twitter.

The surgery was a week ago last Thursday, and when I woke up, my doctor was there telling me that he had "stirred up a hornet's nest". Not sure what that meant, but judging from the rough recovery I've had, I don't think it was good!

All I know right now is that I'm still not up to snuff, and my kidneys are in pretty bad shape and it looks like I'll be going to Dallas soon to see yet another specialist for yet another proceedure. I don't have the details on that yet, though.

Anyway, tomorrow I go back in for my "post-op" appointment and see where we go from here.

Thanks for checking in on me, and I hope to be back soon!

The Update....FINALLY!

Okay, so I've had a bunch of blog posts rolling around in my head, but the questions I keep getting from everyone are about my dr.'s appointments and my health issues. So I decided to get the update written and out of the way, so I can get back to more fun blogging stuff!

Okay, so I left you all with a brief synopsis of my particular kidney disease and the fact that I was feeling blah and my feet and legs were swollen, and I was basically pretty miserable.... right?

So, I went to my doctor in Dallas to get the results of my kidney function test, and he seemed pretty pleased with most of my test results. He basically has a chart with what my results were when I first came to him, and what they are now and he compares the two. Most everything was holding steady, so he was satisfied with that. My GFR (which is some formula that they use to determine kidney function) had dropped 9%, but it was still 1% higher than it was when I first started going to him. So basically, I'm still considered stage 2 chronic kidney disease and since the goal is to keep me from going into stage 3, he's happy. He did add a vitamin D3 to my list of pills to take because he said I was pretty low on that, and he recommended that I see my local urologist because he suspected that the drop in function and my other symptoms suggested that I had a kidney stone...although he can't seem to understand why I'm still getting them when I'm on this medicine, and this diet. (Because I'm special...that's why!) He also suggested that I see an internist to try to figure out why my blood pressure has been so high...ugh.

I made the appointment with my urologist, but decided to discuss the blood pressure issue with him rather than trying to find an internist. (Seriously, do I need another dr.?) The urologist did a CaT scan and discovered that I did, in fact, have a kidney stone...or three. Uh-huh, he said, "There are at least 3 stones in there that I can see." The good news is that they are "free floating" which means that they are not blocking anything at the moment, so they can be left alone for now....or, in other words, no surgery at this time. And in regard to the whole blood pressure thing...he said I could just go to my regular family doctor rather than an internist. He also suggested that I do so right away...

(Now here, is where we must take a little bunny-path... about 10 years ago, one of my drs. told me that they had started prescribing blood-pressure meds to patients who got multiple kidney stones and it seemed to be helping to prevent them. HOWEVER, for most of my life, my blood pressure has been extremely low and putting me on a medication that would lower it wasn't an option. In fact the only time my blood pressure has ever been even slightly elevated was right before a kidney surgery when I was almost totally blocked. That was when I was told that I needed to check it regularly because a rise in blood pressure could indicate the onset of kidney failure. Okay, we can go back to our regular path now...bunny path has ended.)

....as it turns out, it's a two-way street between the blood pressure and the kidney function. Just as poor kidney function can increase blood pressure, high blood pressure can cause reduced kidney function. Either way about it, my blood pressure was so high that my doctor recommended a very aggressive approach to lowering it....sigh. So, I am now taking ANOTHER pill to regulate my blood pressure, and he told me I needed to beef up my running and to add distance...2 miles wasn't good enough....BIG sigh.(this dude seriously runs MUCH faster than I do!)

I'm still having the kidney pain off and on (but the dr. gave me medicine for that, so it's better) and I am still swollen, though not as bad as before. The good news is that since I got my blood pressure down, I have felt a hundred times better! I'm not sluggish or tired all the time any more and the chest pains are gone. AND hopefully, the blood pressure medicine will also help prevent me from forming stones in the future.

So, does everyone feel all caught up now? Did I answer all of your questions? ....Whew! I'm tired just typing it all out! I think I'll call it a day.

Thanks for checking in on me!

Questions, Answers, and a Few More Questions...

I know that many of you are wondering why I haven't been around much lately. That is a complicated question with more than one answer. The easiest answer is that I've had writer's block. I look at my days lately, and I can't think of a single thing to share with Blogland.

Which leads to the second question..."Why the block?" I'm not really sure, but I know that I "just don't feel right" and that feeling has been building for awhile. It started sometime last summer when I just couldn't make myself get up and run in the mornings any longer. I didn't necessarily feel bad, I just "didn't feel right".

If you've been around for awhile, you know that I've had one or two or 6 surgeries in my time. Mostly they have been kidney related, but I also suffer from endometriosis. You also know that I'm on a fairly strict diet for chronic kidney disease. One would think that with the number of things I'm not allowed to eat, my weight would not be an issue...sadly, that is not the case. After spending more than half of my life pretty much under-weight, the past 10-15 years have progressed to being the actual correct weight, to being 15-20 pounds over weight...yikes! During those years, I went up and down mainly due to my activity level at the time, or whether or not I was pregnant (I actually LOST weight with all but my last pregnancy...I know! I used to call it my favorite diet plan, 'cause when it was all done, I got a kid as a bonus!). I took up running in between kids 3 and 4, but quit after my first miscarriage because I was afraid the running had caused me to lose my baby. Even after I lost a 2nd baby and discovered that it was endometriosis to blame, I still didn't run, until well after I had safely delivered that 4th baby. I just never felt up to it after he was born.

My latest kidney related surgery was in May of 2007. After I recovered from that one, I felt so much better that I began running again after several years. I felt great, and I lost 18 pounds that year. I was 3-5 pounds away from being back to my college/ideal weight, and my last kidney function test was the best I've ever had, and my specialist thought it would be okay for me to wait a whole year before I needed to be tested again. (I had been testing every 3 to 6 months while my medication levels were being figured out.) I felt like I had finally found the right dosage of medication, the right diet, and a good level of exercise to live a "normal" life.

Then last summer, the old lethargy began to return. I "just didn't feel like it" whenever it was time to run. I have started and stopped again a few times since then. Basically I had some good days, and some bad days. For awhile, it was more good than bad, and I'm always happy for that. But as fall came around, I was feeling more and more tired, and even though I still had more good days than bad, the bad were starting to catch up, my legs were starting to swell significantly again, my osteopenia has spread and I showed two areas of full blown osteoporosis in my spine, and my blood pressure was high, and I've found 12 of those lost pounds...sigh.

In December, the pain started and I figured it was time for another surgery. Hey, I'd made it more than a year since the last one, and that was pretty good! I decided to wait until January to talk to my surgeon for multiple reasons: holidays, kids' activities, insurance, etc. Then, January came along, and the pain was gone. The first week in January was also the scheduled time for my next kidney function test, so I felt it only made sense to get the results of that and have them in hand when I discussed the possibility of another surgery with my local doctor.

So here we are...

Next Wednesday I will drive to Dallas to get the results of my latest tests and make a plan from there. On the one hand, I feel like I'd like the results to be poor. I know that sounds strange, but I'd like there to be a reason that I feel this way. Preferably a fixable reason, but a reason. On the other hand, the idea that I'm losing more of my kidney function is scary. From everything I've read about this disease, the calcification in my kidneys will potentially harm the healthy kidney cells and cause progressive kidney failure. The hope was that with the medication, we could greatly slow it down if not stop it altogether. We determined after the first year on the meds that the damage I had would not reverse or get better. The damage was done, but the two kidneys together were still getting the job done.

Some of the symptoms of chronic kidney failure are muscle weakness, tiredness, and the inability to concentrate. Which is exactly how I feel, and why I have had the writer's block. I just can't seem to get motivated, and when I do try to write, I can't think. (For those of you who know me IRL, I know you're thinking "Um, so what's new?")

I also need to mention here, that my local doctor, who first discovered the calcification of my kidneys told me that just looking at them, he can't believe they function as well as they do. I believe that's a miracle from God, and a direct result of all the prayers that have gone up on my behalf over the years. I know He's taking care of me, and I'm not afraid. I just want to feel better.

I get a lot of questions about my particular kidney disease, which is called Renal Tubular Acidosis, so I am working on gathering what information I can find and posting a link on my sidebar that I can refer people to. After all I've read, I'm a tad confused about exactly what type of this disease I have (there are 4 types), so I plan to talk to my dr. about that when I see him next week. In the meantime, I did find a pretty good "overview" of this disease and have placed a button in the sidebar. As I gather information, and figure out how to save it all in one link, I'll add it to the button.

I hope I have answered some of the questions that you have been asking, and I hope to be back and writing my usual drivel very soon! Yes, I know I write drivel, but it's my drivel, and it's my blog, so I can write whatever I like!



Thanks for the concern, and the prayers. I really appreciate you all!

Long Time....No Blog.....

Well hello everyone!

I know it's been forever since I've found some time to write a post. And no, I don't have the time right now either, but I'm doing it anyway because I'm rebellious and stuff.

So, let's do a quick update shall we?

1) February 2nd was my one year blogoversary! Yep, I completely missed it...'cause I was busy. So, happy late blogoversary to me I guess! I know you're supposed to do some sort of special post on your first blogoversary, and tell all kinds of stuff about yourself, but seriously, I can't think of anything that I haven't already told you all...so, I'm going to join the masses who have been participating in the "Ask me anything" extravaganza. So, you all can ask me anything you like, and I'll answer...I promise...unless you ask me something I don't want you to know, LOL!

2) You may recall that last year for Valentine's Day, I got a dishwasher. This year, you'll never guess what I got...

That's right, David finally pooped in the potty! (Yes, it was actually a picture of him with his poopies, but I "PhotoShopped" it to make it bloggable) The last frontier of potty training has been conquered, and we are now officially a BIG BOY!!! We even go out of the house in our big boy pants! Yippee!! Yahoo!! And Hallelujah!!!

3) I had my 6 month checkup with my kidney specialist last month, and I finally got a decent report back. For those of you who are new, I have this kidney disease which requires that I take medication 5 times a day, and get regular kidney function and bone density tests done. I have the Type I--Distal RTA version. Anyway, I've been having to go up to Dallas every 6 months for testing and adjusting of my medication. We have been working for over a year, trying to get the levels just right. While they are not yet quite what we were at first shooting for, my doctor has decided that we're good enough, and we're going to stick with 5 pills a day, and I can wait a whole year before I have to go back and be re-tested! Here's what I didn't know...the medicine can cause me to get a different kind of kidney stone than I normally get because of the disease, so they don't want to give me too much of it. And that leads me to...

4) I currently have a kidney stone...sigh. I've been having pain off and on for about a month, but in the past two weeks, it's pretty consistent which just leads me to conclude that I do have another stone...ugh! If you wouldn't mind praying that it would pass on it's own, I'd appreciate it. I'm not in the mood for another surgery right now, and besides, I'm too busy, and I can't afford it. Which leads me to....

5) My husband is wearing a specialized brace on his left hand because he apparently had an old injury to that hand that had built up calcium deposits, and then he somehow knocked said deposits off leaving the area inflamed and causing him so much pain that he couldn't even turn a doorknob. I took him to the Urgent Care Center over the weekend, and they thought it might be broken, but referred him to an Orthopedic Specialist. The Specialist is the one who came up with the above diagnosis and gave him the special brace and prescribed a week of steroid treatments. If the steroids work and the pain goes away, he doesn't have to go back, but if it doesn't, he goes back to the orthopedist next week to try something else. So, while you're praying, if you could just pray that the steroids work, that would be just great! You see, I'm normally the one who racks up the medical bills around here, and he's using up all my medical fund money for himself!

6) Let's move on to happier things shall we? Let's update on the kids! The oldest three are all taking gymnastics, which by the way is my favorite of all their activities. At gymnastics, there are no parents allowed. So, I sit in my van, put a movie on for the little boy, and I READ A BOOK for 45 uninterrupted minutes! It's heaven I tell you, heaven.

And baseball season officially starts this weekend. We've been having practice all month, but the first tournament in this weekend. I only have Benji playing this year, so I'll get to attend every game and not have to feel bad about missing someone else's!

7) Finally, the annual cake show was this weekend, and I know I told you all that I was going to enter the diaper bag cake this year, but I didn't enter anything because it's just been so busy around here trying to keep up with school, and me being in pain and all with this kidney stone. However, I did get to meet Tracye in real life! She and I met here on the blog, and since she lives only a couple of hours from here, I invited her to the cake show, and not only did she come, she entered the competition! She entered this cake...(and yes, she checked first to make sure I wasn't entering mine)

Isn't that amazing? Can you believe she didn't win anything with that cake? I'm telling you, the competition is fierce at those shows! In the next few days, I'll post some pictures of some of my favorites and what prizes, if any, they won.

8) Finally, I've been reading some really good books lately that I thought I'd recommend to you all. I absolutely LOVED "The Christmas Blessing" by Donna VanLiere. It is the sequel to "The Christmas Shoes" and it's filled with the miracles of God, and running...two of my favorite things! I've also just finished another Angela Hunt book titled "The Note". It was very different from "Doesn't She Look Natural", but it was really, really, good. I've been told it's a movie too, so I'll have to check that out. Next on my list is "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs. It comes recommended by Barb so I'm really looking forward to reading it. I've also been invited to join in a blog book tour, so I'm going to jump at the chance, and I'm sure I'll have lots of book reviews and giveaways to go along with that coming soon!

So, that's it for now. I've been sitting here on my behind for way too long. I have not yet mastered the 10 minute post a'la Barb. I really need to learn how to write one of those, LOL!

Kelli Needs Our Help!

Hello everyone! I had a Wordless Wednesday in mind for today, and then I had a whole other post in my head to write, but this morning, I read that Kelli is moving back onto the kidney transplant list and she needs our help to find a donor.




Kelli is one of my very favorite blogging friends, and we share a history of kidney troubles. Unfortunately, Kelli is on daily dialysis and is in need of a kidney transplant. She'd really like to have a living donor, and although she never thought she'd do it (and really didn't want to), she has come to us for help in finding one. I know that she was hoping to just live with the dialysis until a kidney became available, and she was willing to just wait her turn. Since she has come forward asking for help in finding a donor, I know that this means the dialysis is no longer working well enough, and things are probably getting a bit scary for her and her family. All that to say, we are trying to get the word out to find a living kidney donor for our sweet friend, Kelli! She needs someone with a blood type of "A" or "O". I'm an "O", but since I have kidney disease myself, I'm not an option. Her amazing husband isn't a match, and her children are too young to be donors. She has no other family options, so it is up to a stranger to help her.

So, if you have a blog, please go here and grab the button, and post it on your blog. We're hoping that someone will see this and be able to donate a kidney for Kelli. And when you're all done with that, head on over to Living In Grace and get to know Kelli for yourself if you don't already. She is an amazing woman and so FUNNY! Trust me, you will not be sorry. And if you have time to hunt through her archives, look for the story about being stopped by security in the airport...it's a classic!

Doing The Happy Dance....although slowly and with no sudden movements!

The Doctor Man gave me permission to remove my stent today...YEE-HAW!!! SOOOOO glad to have that thing out! However, it will take a little while for the feeling of it to go away. It still feels like it's in there, but I know that will go away soon. Until then, I'm going to stay here in my spot on the couch where I have lived for the past week and do things I can do while sitting! But just knowing that by the time I wake up tomorrow, I should feel a LOT better, has me doing the happy dance....from a sitting position of course!

Now, for a little bit of Bloggy Business...Chilihead has started a little Bloggy Carnival of sorts and we are all invited to participate! She has posted on her blog some questions regarding our blogging histories and such, and the plan is for everyone to answer those questions in a post on Monday, June 11th. After you've published your post, go to Chilihead's site and sign the Mr. Linky linking back to your post. Then run around and read everyone else's answers! Doesn't that sound like fun? Okay, so get out of here and go get started! You can go here for all the details as well as the questions you need to answer. I have been on this couch for quite some time, so I am looking forward to getting out to the Carnival, and it will be soooo much more fun if we all go together!

Well, I have some laundry to fold (unfortunately I can fold laundry from my spot here on the couch...sigh.) I'll post on our weekend at the Dude Ranch soon, I promise!

I'm baaack.....sort of....

Well, I'm back from surgery, and back from our trip to the Dude Ranch, but I'm not quite back to myself yet. The pain has greatly reduced, in fact, I'm back to merely my "pre-surgery" pain...in other words, we didn't find the problem....sigh. I still have the stent and that is uncomfortable, but not so bad that I'm wanting to rip it out. It was really bad at first, but I'm starting to get used to it...as much as you can get used to a rubber tube in your kidney...

So, for those who asked...because I was having pain in my kidneys, swelling in my feet, and numbness in my hands, it was suspected that I had a stone or some other kind of blockage in the tubes coming out of my kidneys. Although the only stones that showed up on the CT scan were actually still inside the kidneys, it was still suspected that there must be some sort of blockage: a small stone, scar tissue, swelling....something. So, the surgery was to look inside both of the tubes and clear out or repair whatever was causing the trouble. Both tubes, however, looked fine. So, Mr. Doctor-man went on up and looked into the kidneys themselves. He found a pretty good sized stone, and broke it up and removed it. He also said there were several imbedded in the kidneys that he couldn't get out. So, he left the stent in the kidney to allow any missed pieces of that broken stone to come out easily, and to keep the tube open in case there was any post-surgery swelling, etc.

Now, in the past when I have had a stent, aside from the discomfort of the stent itself, I felt immediate relief. This time I actually felt worse. The pain in my kidneys was incredible and the stent was sooooo uncomfortable. I am assuming that because we were actually digging around in the kidneys perhaps there was some post-op swelling that I didn't have before when they stayed in the tubes themselves and didn't go into the actual kidneys. That's my guess anyway...I have no medical knowledge or explanation for it.

So, now we will need to find out why my kidneys are hurting if they aren't, in fact, blocked. I have a kidney function test scheduled toward the end of the month, so that will tell us if I've lost any function in the past 6 months. That would be another explanation for the symptoms I'm afraid. It could also be from the calcifications that have essentially caused my kidneys to harden. The doctor said he really couldn't tell if the hardening had changed at all, or not, but the medicine I'm on should be keeping it from any worse. So, now it's just wait and see I guess, on if the pain continues to subside as I recover from the surgery, or if it remains the way it was pre-op.

I truly appreciate all the prayers on my behalf. And yes, I had to fork out the $1236.98 when I got there, but they promised to keep trying to run the insurance card and then cancel my other payment if it went through. So far, that first payment hasn't been cancelled, so I guess I have to contact the insurance company...again, and find out what's going on....sigh.

So, I'm off to insurance land now, and then a little rest before my little man comes back from his exile at grandma's house. I just wasn't able to take care of him at the Dude Ranch, so he's been spoiled at grandma's for 5 days now, and I don't care how I feel, I WANT HIM BACK!!! I need those chubby little arms squeezing tight around my neck, 'cause really, that is the best medicine in the whole world!

Post Surgery Update

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Hair-Raising Day....

Yes, I got my hair done. No, I'm not doing the happy dance quite so much anymore. May I just say that I miss my friend Candy who used to do my hair? I mean I really, really, miss her! That said, I guess it's not horrible. It's just a bit more "hip" than I am. It's not so much "frosted" as it is streaked. It looked pretty good when it was wet, but once she dried it, it became a LOT more platinum and a LOT more stripey than I really like it.

And the cut is just weird. The idea was to trim off about 3 inches and then add some long layers to frame my face and give me some more options when I wear it up... The reality is that there is a distinct line across my hair separating the longer section from the shorter section...sigh.

On the brighter side, the man likes it. When I told him that I hated it, he said, "I think it looks good. It looks, you know, kinda like the way they do it now. I actually like it...a lot. It's kinda s*xy." And THAT ladies is why I married that man....well, that and the fact that he makes pretty babies and has great legs!

As for the continuing saga of my kidney surgery...yes, we're having it as planned, however, two different people wimped out and cancelled theirs, so mine got moved up and I have to be at the hospital at 6:00 IN THE MORNING!!! Have I mentioned that I'm not exactly a morning-type of person? Well, I'm not. And all I've got to say is that they are very lucky that they will be providing me with an hour or so of deep uninterupted sleep, or I would totally rebel! Yes, I am looking forward to the sleep. I am not looking forward to when they will forcibly wake me from said sleep and make me go home. You would think they would take pity on the poor mother of 4 kids and let her get a little extra sleep in! Then again, they charge by the half-hour, so I guess it's a good thing that they will wake me up and force me out!

One thing you can all pray for (besides the obvious-a successful outcome to the surgery) is that the payment will go through in the morning. Today, the insurance company was having issues with their computers and the payment wouldn't go through even though I have the money in my account there. If it doesn't go through tomorrow morning at 6:00am, I will have to find another method of payment BEFORE I can have my surgery. I don't know about you, but I don't keep $1200+ dollars in my purse...or in my bank account for that matter! So, I'd appreciate any prayers that it will all work out in the morning as planned.

Now, I need to get to bed. I have a lot to do tomorrow before I go in, and I'm in too much pain to do any of it now, so I'll crash for now and get up early in the morning to get stuff done before I go. And hopefully I'll be feeling a whole lot better and be relatively pain free in a day or two. :)

I don't know if I'll be back to update tomorrow or not, and I don't know if the place we are going for the weekend will have internet access or not, but I'll update as soon as I possibly can to make sure you all know how the surgery went and, of course, to post a picture of my hair...such as it is!

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig...

Well, we made it home while it was still technically yesterday. :) We were just having so much fun that it was hard to leave!

On the kidney surgery front, you may be interested to know that once I got home, I tried to call the various employees of the various hospitals/doctor's offices, etc. that called ME a bazillion times at least 3 times a day while I was gone, to try to get me to pay my bill, because, you know, they need to make sure they get their money before I go under...just in case. Anyway, I called twice to pay those bills, since I don't want anyone who might be holding a knife to be angry with me, :) but all I got was put on hold and then hung up on...I guess they don't need that money so much after all... AND I still haven't heard the radiologist's report on the whole matter. I think tomorrow I'll call and make sure we're actually going through with the surgery, and then I'll try to pay for it.

Now, I have a little personal business to take care of if you don't mind...I have been checking my sitemeter, mapstats, etc. over the past few days to see who is visiting me here in bloggy land, 'cause the site meter says that I get about 20-30 people a day, and yet I have only 1 or 2 comments......ahem! So, I was just checking on all you lurkers out there, and I discovered that someone from East Grand Forks, Minn. has been here recently....now honestly, that has to be a relative of mine. Who else in East Grand Forks would read this thing? SOOOOO, someone needs to own up and leave a comment to let me know you're here, because seriously, the curiosity is getting the best of me...and you KNOW what happened to that cat!!!

Now, sadly, that's about all I have to say...how sad is that? I didn't make any cakes today. I didn't take any pictures of the kids being cute today. And nothing remotely amusing happened around here today. Sigh. I think I'm going to give it up for tonight and go to bed. I am finally getting my hair cut and highlighted tomorrow... *doing the happy dance*... and I fully intend to update my profile picture with my newly highlighted do as soon as possible. Maybe I'll even put on my chef's coat for the picture and be all professional about it...LOL!

So, tomorrow promises to be a little better, blog-fodder-wise...and who knows, I might just get ahold of someone from the surgery center who wants to take my money! I'll be sure and let you know about that when it happens!

In the meantime, keep praying for Kelli, and Heather, and Baby Ethan. They are all still in the middle of their battles. And as always, thanks for stopping by...

Scan Results

Hello everyone. I know you are all on the edge of your seats wondering how my scan went...

Not as well as I had hoped. I was hoping to hear "Oh yes, there is a big, giant stone in each kidney, and we'll just go on it and take those out." Unfortunately, what I got was, "Well, with the naked eye, I can see that there are definitely stones in the kidneys, but we don't see anything large blocking the tubes. We'll have to wait for the radiologist to read the scan and let us know if there are some smaller ones in there or not." And then, when I asked about the calcifications on my kidneys, I got this, "Well, there are a lot. I'm not going to comment until we hear from the radiologist who will compare them to the last scan. He will be able to tell us if there has been any change. I just know there are A LOT of them."

So, I'm still waiting...he kept my surgery scheduled for next week pending the report from the radiologist. Really, if there are stones in the kidneys, I'd just as soon have them go on in and take them out before they try to pass and send me into a Vicodin eating frenzy. Also, if there isn't anything blocking the kidney flow, then we have to look elsewhere for the cause of the pain and other symptoms. I don't know if just having hardened kidneys would make them hurt or not. I do know that while all of my symptoms are common with stones, they are also common with chronic kidney failure. I'm obviously NOT in acute kidney failure right now, but chronic kidney failure means that I would be losing function a little at a time. That is also one of the possibilities with the kidney disease that I have. I had thought that with the medication and new diet, we had caught it in time. I guess we're going to find out whether or not that is true.

If the calcifications on my kidneys have increased, then we don't have things under control. I have another full kidney function test scheduled for the middle of June and that will tell us if my function has dropped off at all. In the meantime, I'm still just waiting. I'm still hurting, but it's more of just an aggravation at this point. It's been way worse many times before. The swelling goes down if I stay off my feet...HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But the numbness in my hands isn't as bad as it was, so that's a good thing.

Well, I'm off to get my very busy day started, and to drink some water! I'll update when I know more.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Big Shocker...

Well, I had planned to stop in here for just a minute to give you the weekend wind-up and let you know that I may be MIA for a day or two while I try to get way too much stuff done in a very small amount of time...but then, I signed on only to discover that this is my 100th post! Wow, that's a whole lot of writing for someone with nothing to say except that the house is a mess, and the kids are driving my crazy, but, hey, I baked a cake, look!

So, I thought I would commemorate this occasion by FINALLY posting those 7 random things about me that you are just dying to find out....oh, you are going to be sooo disappointed....

1. My first record purchase ever was "Billy Don't be a Hero" by Bo Donaldson on a, um, 45. And in the interest of full disclosure, I also bought David Soul's "Don't Give Up on Us Baby", also a 45.

2. I have a BA degree in Bible Theology.

3. I actually LOVE to clean...really, I'd be steam cleaning carpets and scrubbing floors on my hands and knees in a heartbeat...if I didn't have to pick up all the STUFF first! I love to clean stuff, I HATE to pick up stuff. I go from one activity or project to another, and tend to leave out the stuff from the first project to be dealt with later...eventually, the stuff takes control and I must stop all other activities to regain control. Once things are in control however, I tend to vacuum the living room at least once a day, and mop the kitchen EVERY time something gets on it, even if it is 3 times in one day! I know, I'm a total paradox, but I like cleaning things that aren't dirty. Once it gets dirty, it's so much more unpleasant, I tend to put it off until I'm in danger of losing the kids to Child Protective Services!

4. I own a DVD copy of Lisa Whelchel's first movie, "The Double McGuffin" AND a copy of her record album (this one is a 33 LP by the way).

5. I used to want to write and publish my own curriculum for Kindergarten thru Third Grade...now, I look for the curriculum with the least amount of teacher prep! Our current curriculum is on the computer, so it even grades it for me, and produces a report card all by itself!

6. I paid for my last 3 years of college tuition and room/board with a singing scholarship, and got to travel around the southeastern United States singing with the "Trinity Singers". We even got to sing on a 5 day cruise through the Caribbean the summer after my senior year.

7. You know how some people are starters, but not finishers, and some people are slow getting started, but finish well? I'm a middler. I hate to start anything. The thought of getting up and cutting out 3 dozen cookies later today is putting me in a funk...however, once I start something, I really enjoy doing it. Even dishes, and laundry. I'll be washing dishes, or folding laundry and think to myself, why did I put this off for so long? Or I'll be decorating a cake or cookies and wish I had nothing else to do all day. But then comes the finishing, doing the dishes AFTER baking the cookies, putting away the dishes after getting them washed, putting away all that clean and folded laundry...I HATE all of it. So, if I could find someone who would start my projects for me, and then come in and finish them up...well THAT would be a match made in heaven!

So there you have it, and if you haven't done this particular meme yet, consider yourself tagged, and be sure and leave me a comment, so I can come and check out your list!

And now, because I think some of you may revolt and not visit me again if I don't post the pictures of this weekend's cakes, I'll go ahead and do that now.

Here is little D with his birthday cake. I know, I know, it's way too plain. But really, we were in the middle of a baseball tournament, I had four other cakes to do, and this was just for his actual birthday with just his brothers and sisters. I make Thomas Cookies for his little party at the park on Saturday. Besides, he didn't give a flip about the cake. He just LOVED that little Thomas that actually rode around on that track on top of the cake. Believe me, it was the perfect cake for the little man!



And here are the roller skate with the rainbow wheels for a little girl's skating party, the diaper for a diapers only shower, and the cowboy hat for the little boy's western party (complete with horses in their backyard I might add). I forgot to take a picture of the back of the hat which had that twisted rope thing tied in a knot and hanging off the brim.





And now, if there are any men reading this...you will probably want to run, run from the computer, NOW! I will not be posting this cake on my regular website where people go to order my cakes, however, I knew you ladies would want to see it. This cake was made for a friend who was giving a "Coming Out Party" to another lady who was having a hysterectomy after years and years of problems. They wanted to lighten up the experience for her and give her some good memories of the whole thing to counter the pain and sorrow that will inevitably rear their ugly heads. So, I agreed to make the cake...and this is a first for me, but honestly, I had fun with this one! And the next time someone wants to know 7 random things about me, I can say, "Well, I once made a uterus cake, complete with ovaries!!!



And now, I really must be going. I have a very full week with a To Do List a mile long, and in exactly 2 hours, I'll be in a CT machine having my insides scanned to check my kidneys for blockages. If one is found, I will have surgery in a little less than two weeks to remove said blockage and have a stint put it for who knows how long...ugh. However, a blockage is really the best case scenario. If there is no blockage, then we must look elsewhere for the cause of this pain, swelling, numbness etc. Really, as much as I hate them, kidney stones would be the best thing.

Anyway, I'll be a bit scarce at least for today and tomorrow. (I'll do a quick post later when I know the results of the scan, just so you're not all wondering....I hate not knowing stuff, so I figure you do too!) But I'll be back on Wednesday or Thursday for sure with a list of all I'm sure I will have accomplished by then and pictures to prove it!

Thanks for stopping by, and yes, I'll take any prayers you choose to send up on my behalf. :)