Ogden 26.2: Week SIX

Well, up until today, I was on track with my plan for Week 6.

On Tuesday, I did speedwork.  Wednesday was a struggle, but I think it's because I was alone.  And I couldn't get my legs to move!  Thursday, I did some more speedwork on the treadmill.

This morning I was supposed to go to Orem and do 9 miles with the RA clan.  I was SO looking forward to it, as always.  But I woke up at midnight with a headache, sore throat and awful body aches.  I tossed and turned the rest of the night, and when my alarm went off at 6 am, I knew I wasn't going anywhere.  I was so disappointed!  My body just crashed.  I'm grateful today was "only 9 miles" (ha!) instead of a double digit run, but I'm still hoping this doesn't set me back too much.  I'm going to rest up this weekend and hopefully be ready to go by Tuesday.

Surgery!

WARNING:  Graphic photos are at the bottom of this post.  Do not view if it will make you sick!

About a month ago, I felt a weird lump along the top of my shoulder.  It was pretty large.  I showed Nate, and he was immediately pretty worried.  It felt more like a muscle mass, so I wondered if I had strained it or something.  A few days later, I had a member of my Stake presidency, who is a surgeon, look at it after Church, and he immediately wanted an MRI.  That freaked me out!  I'm not going to lie!

The next morning, I went to see my family doctor, Dr. Clark.  He didn't seem AS urgent and ordered an ultrasound instead.  He, too, thought it might be some sort of inflamed muscle.  That calmed my nerves quite a bit.  Well, the ultrasound ended up showing a lipoma, which is nothing more than a fatty tumor or mass.  NOT dangerous!  I was sooo relieved, and so was my family!  Dr. Clark wanted me to sit on it for a month and then re-evaluate, but I just wanted it gone!  

So I showed it to my dad, and he agreed.  He hooked me up with Dr. Brian Gill, a general surgeon in Provo.  I met with him last week, and he was absolutely WONDERFUL.  Very kind and comforting!  Surgery was scheduled for yesterday morning at 7:30 am.  It went perfectly!

We left here at 5 am and drove down.  A big thank you to Robyn for coming over that early to be with the kids!!  When we got there, they did blood work and vital signs and got my IV started.  My gown is called a "Bair Paw" system, where you hook it up to a hose, and it blows warm air all over you, like you're sitting in a big warm bag.  It was SO awesome, haha!  I want one!  Much better than a heated blanket.

The nurse had Nate draw a red circle around the lump, just to be safe.  That would be awful if they did the wrong shoulder! :)  I said goodbye to him then, and was taken to the "holding room".  This is where you go to meet your anesthetist and go to surgery.  That room sort of freaked me out.  It was full of patients, and some of them were already out of it from the Versed drug (the knock you out med that calms you way down).  I don't know, I just didn't like it in there!   But luckily my dad came in to visit me there!  

I was actually having the surgery done in HIS operating room, where he does all of his surgeries every Tuesday.  It was SO SO comforting having him with me the whole time.  He was the last person I saw before I was OUT.

When I woke up, I was obviously out of it for awhile.  I just sipped apple juice and tried to have coherent conversations with Nate.  My dad and Dr. Gill both said the surgery went perfectly!  Yay!  The lipoma measured about 5 cm, so it was a good size.  I immediately felt that getting it removed and not waiting had been the right decision.  My dad took some photos during the procedure, which I had asked him to!  I'm sort of morbid, but I wanted to see!  

First of all though, my friend, Josh, had named my tumor.  'Timmy the Tumor'.  He came up with it while we were running the Thankful 13.  Hilarious.  He even drew this, and we got quite the laugh out of it!

HAHA!

Anyway, so here are a few pictures from yesterday.  

My doctor's name is Brian Gill.  When he met me in the holding room, he wrote a B on the tumor, and it made me laugh.  He said it was for "Brian", but I'll pretend it was for "Becca".  :)  This is such an unflattering picture of me....ha!

STOP HERE if you don't want to see the gory stuff!!!

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So there you have it!  So long, Timmy! 

I'm so grateful that it didn't end up being anything worse.  They are still going to send Timmy to the lab to be tested, but it's pretty much been confirmed by ultrasound that he's just a fatty blob.

So glad that's over.  Time to recover and enjoy the Holidays!  Another big thank you to Robyn, Nate, Noelle and the several others for helping out and letting me rest!

Still Here

I'm still sick.  So is Claire.  And Nate, a little bit.  This stomach bug will not go away!  I didn't get to see DeAnn, and she flew home this morning.  So disappointing!  I'm hoping to go visit her again so we can make up for this failed trip.

I'm speaking in Church next week on the Book of Mormon.  I'm excited!  My favorite topic.  I only get 10 minutes though.  With any other topic, that would be great, but with the Book of Mormon, I could ramble for hours.  I am loving how I am studying it right now.  I will tell you all about it when I'm done!

Today for Church, Noelle and Sarah were kind enough to each take a kid.  Allie came home with the sweetest birthday gift from the Primary Presidency. I love it!  It's so thoughtful, and such a cute addition to her bedroom.  Thank you, Cassie & Sarah!

Nate made dinner for the kids tonight.  We just keep taking turns napping and then using all of our energy to take care of the kids and clean until we collapse into bed again.  We've managed to keep the house clean and got all the blankets/sheets washed and hopefully gotten this bug OUT of our house.  Team work!!

Ugh

Yesterday goes down as one of the worst of my life.  SO SO SO sick.  Then Roo caught it at 9 pm last night.  And Nate's turn came this morning.

Ugh.

We are a pathetic family right now.

Have I spent ANY time with DeAnn?

No.

:(

I basically have not run in weeks.  BUT I have been working my arms and abs to death!  I'm actually grateful I've had this excuse to have to focus more on my strength training.  I know how important it is, but I always shrugged it off, just counting my running as my exercising.  Well...never again!  I feel great!  My triceps and obliques are burning, and it's so good for me.  Hoping to have awesome arms by Summer.  Let me know if you want the online videos I've been using.  Good stuff.

Roo has been loving her birthday loot:

So happy this little Roo has cowgirl boots again!  Her trademark!

Cam and Claire have been sick.  Yesterday was AWFUL.  On a whim yesterday morning, I moved all of our furniture from the kitchen and bathroom and scrubbed the floors.  And the hall.  I sweep a lot, but I'm not the best at scrubbing!  My house smelled amazing, and my floors were so sparkly and nice.  Then...BAM.  Claire puked all over her bed, and then the kitchen floor.  Poor girl.  So I kept her home with me, while Nate took Cam and Roo to Jungle Jims for Roo's birthday.  I was sad to miss that.  But then about 15 seconds after they walked in the door, Cam ran into the hallway and threw up.  And then again in the bathroom.  Seriously.  Goodbye floors.  Poor kids!  It was SO nasty.  My kids get colds every so often, but they rarely throw up.  I'm so glad, because I do NOT handle it well.  Luckily we had a smooth night, and other than being a little tired, they both seem fine today.  And fingers crossed that Roo, Nate and I don't get it, too.  I have been sanitizing doorknobs and anything I can think of that they touch.

I'm leaving in about an hour to go pick up DeAnn from the airport!  Downeast, Old Navy, and BYU Basketball, here we come!!!!!

Peace

I'm feeling better.  Prayer and studying the Book of Mormon have allowed the Spirit to bring me peace.  This time around, I'm slowing my reading down a little and focusing on some topics and labeling.  I can tell that the Lord has been granting me more clarity and a more "mature" view on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I understand the scriptures better now than I ever have.  I cannot get enough...

On Sunday evening, Ashley and Robert had us over for hot chocolate, gingerbread cookies and our gift exchange.  Hoping to make a tradition out of that!  They have become like family to us this past year, and we love them so much.

Nate has been enjoying his break from school.  I haven't felt well all week, so we've just been hanging out here.  This nagging head cold has kept me from running, and I feel so antsy and sluggish!  Nate ran 7 miles the other day though!  He rocks.  My world.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas!  Our countdown chain is short, I'm finished with shopping/wrapping gifts, and so I'm hoping to finish up the week with some baking, if I can feel better! 

Cameron's latest obsession is Ninjago.  See, he cut his Spiderman mask to become a Ninjago mask.  He's so creative and intense...never know what he'll be into next!  I love that about him!

Darth Claire.

Pretty Roo with long hair.

Claire in a Cart.  She likes to go fast.

Claire in a Basket.

My early Christmas present.  It inspires me.  And the navy jersey fabric is SO comfy.

End of Year Bugs

The past few days have been sort of lame.  We all have colds, which is never fun.  We are all going stir crazy!  I came down with mastitis on Wednesday too.  That is the worst!  It's amazing how fast it comes on and how horrible it makes you feel!  Sadly, I was expecting to get it at some point, since I got it so many times with Roo, so I already had a prescription on hold waiting for me.  I like to get on antibiotics FAST with that, so I feel better quicker.  Luckily Nate was able to take some time off work and help me out.  Feeling a little better today, thank goodness!

Speaking of that, Claire has been nursing NONSTOP the past few days.  She usually eats on one side about every 3 hours.  For the past few days, she has been nursing on both sides about every 2 hours.  It never ceases to amaze me how breastfeeding works and how perfectly the baby and mother can work together as baby's needs change.  I can't believe she'll be starting solids in just a month!!

Michelle and Sam are both still in town, so last night we went with to Desert Star.  I LOVE their plays, so much fun!  At the end, the cast always sings a bunch of songs.  Last night, all of the guys came out in tutus and danced to Nutcracker music.  I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!  So hilarious.

Relaxing today and getting my house back in order before we head to Salem for the long weekend.  I am meeting my dear friend, Lesley, today for the first time, and I am so excited!  More on that later.  Nate is having Sam and Andrew over tonight for a video game party.  He bought a Kinnect with his Christmas money, and it is really cool. 

Claire does this hilarious thing where she'll grab our noses and squeal really loud.  It makes Cameron practically fall over with laughter! 

Sick Day

Lingering Utah winter snowy weather = Lingering sick bugs = Annoying!!

Here is what "Mom is sick today" means at the Wood home:

*The television is on from approximately 7 am until 7 pm.  So are the computers.

*Cameron pours water all over the kitchen floor and drives his cars through it...which is fine with me because that's about the only cleaning that's been going on around here so far this week.

*I drop Cameron off at school wearing Nate's t-shirt and under-eye black mascara smudges....avoid all eye contact with his teachers/fellow parents as I kiss the top of Cam's head goodbye.

*Roo wears no pants all day.

*My ever-pressing library, bank, dry cleaning & wal-mart errands get pushed back another day.  Again.

*Roo and I snuggle on the sofa listening to the hailstorm while we wait to go pick up Cam.  She can't breathe through her nose, I can't turn my head cuz my throat hurts.  We're a sad pair.

*I text Nate and tell him to come home from work early and cook some tomato soup.  So he is.  I love him (and his boss).

*I spend lots of time thinking about my baby and his/her name and start my early mental checklist of things to slowly start stocking up on (diapers, nursing pads) and things I need to buy (onesies if it's a girl, socks if it's a boy, burp cloths, binkies) and things to do this summer (set up new bassinet bouncer, wash/organize clothes, school shopping for Cam).

*I read through blog entries from a few years ago and can't believe how fast time flies and how big my babies are getting.