The new school room

We finally finished the school room this weekend and the kids love it! Shaw took the dining room table apart and put it in the attic. Then, we put the desks together, one for each kids. They were SOO excited about them. Then, in the afternoon, we went to Lowe's and picked out a ceiling fan with lights for the schoolroom too. Shaw took the chandelier down (remember it was a dining room). The only thing left that resembles a dining room is the wallpaper, which I am not going to take down right now. It still looks great, I think. Tell me what you think. Do u think the wallpaper will be distracting? I had thought about putting up that big roll paper over it in a solid color, but am not sure if it is really necessary.

On a different subject, tomorrow, I have an appt with the GYN/oncologist in Savannah, GA. We are going to discuss my options concerning having my ovaries out. My medical oncologist here feels strongly that I either get them removed soon or start taking tomoxaphin, which is a chemo drug that basically blocks all estrogen production. I am not going to take this drug, because of all of the side effects, including uterine cancer. It is not recommended that I have any more children, but I am not going to pretend that we had not already come to that conclusion ourselves either. I know that having my ovaries removed will put me into menopause, and I am not crazy about it. I need them out for 2 reasons: 1) to decrease my risk of having a recurrence of breast cancer and 2) because my risk of ovarian cancer being that I am positive for the BRCA-1 mutation. I am hoping to have this surgery the first part of November, because Shaw will be on vacation. I will not need to be out of work long, and may be able to rearrange my scheduled so I don's miss any shifts at all. My plastic surgeon, whom I saw on friday, wants to do my final reconstruction surgery mid December. I wanted to wait until the spring, but he insisted that it would be better then. So, i should have all my surgeries done in 10 months total! I will be happy with that, I guess.

Thanks for everyone's prayers this weekend, as it is the anniversary of Matthew's death today. It has been 15 years. It doesn't seem like that in some ways, but in others it seems like a lifetime ago. I was 19 years old not even in nursing school yet. I have graduated from college, met and married my fabo husband Shaw, had 2 beautiful boys, 3 miscarriages, and breast cancer. Those are only a few things. Most of my good friends now didn't even know Matthew. I feel very supported and loved though, as they seem to understand the loss. Avery mostly looks like Cristina and Mamu mostly looks like me, but every now and then, I catch a glimpse of Matthew and the joy that he had in his heart, when I look in their little faces. It takes my breath away and brings teats to my eyes. Even they seem to understand my loss and ask questions about him all the time. It seems like we talk about him daily almost, and it makes me happy for them to know about the uncle that they will never meet on this earth. The uncle who would have been totally enamored of them. It also opens up so many conversations about death, heaven, and our Saviour. Glory has been and continues to be brought to Jesus through Matthew's death, even to my children. I praise God for my brother's ongoing witness and all the chances that I have and will have to share about God's wonderful love and His Son to my sweet babies.

I am taking the kids tomorrow and then after the appt taking them to Chuckie Cheese. They have been asking to go, so I am meeting a friend of mine there. There is also VBS this week, so we are going to busy....

July 4th and back to work

For july 4th my mother-in-law, Mary, and my little niece, Rebekah, came to spend a few days here. Our babysitter and good friend, Sally, and her parents had a cook out by their pool. We went to that and the kids had an awesome time swimming and eating. I still cannot get in the water because I have one remaining drain. We had a great time visiting and eating awesome food. My niece, Rebekah, is so sweet and the boys had a great time playing with her. After the cook out, we came home for a little rest and then headed out for the fireworks. We parked and sat in the yard of our church and had a great view. The kids loved them and said that they were not too loud. The kids sat in front of us on the ground and we got some great pics!

With Sally

Sweet cousins at the fireworks

The next Sunday I went back to work. It went ok. We were really busy, but I am orienting one our new nurses for the next 3 to 4 weeks, so that helped. She has already been on day shift for 2 months, so really she just needs a little help with paperwork and for me to be a sounding board and given direction a little. I really worked her too! She was awesome! She just kept taking everything I gave her. He name is Marti, and she has been a nurse for 2 years in ICU. My back did start hurting after about 6 hours of us busting it, but then we had a chance to sit down for a little while and talk. I took some Motrin, and my back felt better. I still have my drain, but I go back Friday, so maybe it will come out. I really missed the kids, but they had fun with Shaw. We are going to start getting back to our normal routine soon.

I turned the playroom (previously the dining room) into the school room, AND I LOVE IT! I ordered 2 new desks for the kids and am going to move the dining room table to the attic, hopefully. I will post pics when it is all done. I am so excited about it! We are going to start August first with all the public schools here, and it will give us more freedom throughout the year.

All in all, I am doing really well and am just moving forward. i am going to see the GYN oncologist soon I hope. All my records are being faxed there today. Will let everyone know how that goes. Hope everyone else is well, and will post soon about the schoolroom and the kids well visits this year!

Fun at home

Well, my surgery was done on June 15th and everything went well. I had the latissimus dorsi FLAP surgery done on the left side only. All the doctors suggested we take more skin off the left side, just in case there was some cancer in it and to widen the clear margin. The surgery was at 730am and my parents and sister Jennifer came with 2 of hers, Will and Wyatt. The surgery only took a couple of hours and I actually went back to Labor and Delivery, so that I could make sure to get a bed. Isn't that hilarious! It was nice to have my friends take care of me. I didn't have that much pain until I started with a migraine about 3 am. I went home around 9am and then my migraine got killer. It lasted about 3-4 days, and thankfully, my family and church family were there to help. My church provided meals for like 21/2 weeks, so that was nice. Once my migraine cleared, I started enjoying being home.

Avery and I had already finished school, so we have done some fun projects that we had not had a chance to do. We planted some carrots and onions, we made Indian costumes and headdresses, made cake and cookies, etc. Of course, we have done swimming and Monkey Joe's a couple of times too. Last Thursday, we checked out the "dinosaur exhibit" at Georgia Southern, if you can call it that. It looked like what it really was, was trying to find a link between whales and water dinosaurs. Whatever, the kids had fun. They had a space room too that they liked. I went with my friend April and her little boy Drew and we also brought Nic's little boy Benny. These are Avery's two best friends. They all had a great time, even Matthew seemed to enjoy himself.

We have 3 puppies left from the original 6, so hopefully they will be gone soon. Even the kids are starting to get aggravated with them. They jump, scratch, and bite. Since there are 3 of them, it is overwhelming when you are trying to walk or for the kids to play outside.

I go back to work next Sunday, so I have one more week, then back to reality. I am still sore, but am hoping I will still be able to go back then. I have so enjoyed being home with them though. We are having such a good time. I am enclosing a few pics of just summer things that we have done.

Thank you for everyone's prayers and support during this time. I really am doing well, and will have one more surgery this year in September. The both oncologists have suggested that I should have my ovaries removed this year. I am going to see the GYN oncologist in Savannah to see what his opinion is, and for him to do it maybe. Then, I will be done for probably a year at least. The pathology came back on the skin as negative for cancer, so that is also good news.

Here are the pictures: The one with the puppy is with the little boy of a friend of mine, Lisa, who came and got two of the puppies. This one they named Coco and was for her little boy, Carter. The kids were so glad that she was going to be taken good care of.