The Plan

So I've been waiting to post this for a week now and today I finally got the final piece of the puzzle.  Let me back up. 

Remember when I was in the hospital last month?  See here and here if needed.  Well since then, I've been home and on steroids.  I had a doctor's appointment on June 24, and at that time he started to taper my steroid dosage and scheduled a CT scan on July 15 and a colonoscopy on July 16.  The CT was no problem. I had to be at the outpatient imagining center at 8 am, I drank the drink (which was just 32 oz of metallic tasting water), got the scan, and I was at work by 10:30.  

Yep, selfie in the waiting room.  I'm so cool.

That night my mother in law took Sara Kate because I knew I would be in no business to parent, as I had to do the dreaded colon cleanse.  Remember the gallon of prep I had to drink in the hospital before the first scope?  

 

Yeah. Not cool.  Well this time it wasn't a gallon, thankfully.  It was 2-16 oz drinks of pure horribleness, which were consumed 5 hours apart, and each was followed by 32 oz of water within the hour.  

2 of these mixed with water, followed by 32 oz of water

I was using Diet Coke as a chaser (the lemonade in the background did NOT work and I didn't have anything else here) and I tried envision myself as a colon cleansing 'STAR' (thank you Diet Coke for your inspiration) whilst chasing...alas, it didn't work, HA!

I can't describe how awful this stuff is.  Like bad, salty cough syrup with the worst after taste you can imagine. Actually, that description doesn't even begin to describe how bad it was.  I finally went to bed about 1:30 am and was up at 4:30 am because we had to be at the hospital at 6 am.

 

I got checked in and was in the room by 7:00.

More selfie fun.  This is my 'ET Phone Home' finger.

While we waited, I had no cell reception but I learned how to do a panorama with my phone.  Again, I'm so cool.  HA!!  So here's the colonoscopy room (minus what was behind my bed) if anyone is interested!

 The scope was scheduled for 7:30 and Dr. Rogers finally came in around 8 (which was good because I wasn't expecting to see him before the procedure).  He told us (me and mom) the CT showed the right side of my colon looks much better and the left side is the bad side, the diseased side, and that's the side with the stricture.  His thought was he would be removing the left side, but he said, "lets see what the scope shows."  Well, turns out colonoscopy #2 was just like colonoscopy #1...he couldn't get through the stricture, therefore it couldn't be completed.  He told me at my appointment in June that hopefully the steroids would 'soften it' and he could try to use a balloon to push through, but the stricture wasn't softened by the steroids and it was so hard and fibrous he was afraid of tearing something so the balloon wasn't an option.  So I suppose the status rest of my colon remains a mystery (apart from what they can see on the CT).  I was told his office would call me the next day to schedule surgery, and if they didn't call I was to call them.  So Thursday I waited and waited and finally called them about 3:30.  Turns out their 'scheduler' was out until Monday so she would call me then.  Great, waiting through the weekend.  Awesome.  Not. Oh well. Weekend fun still ensued, despite my wait, thanks to this cutie...

 

 And thanks to my awesome mama who stayed through the weekend.

Monday came and went, Tuesday came and went, and I finally called them back Wednesday afternoon.  Well their scheduler was still out, due to sickness.  Frustration!!  That is a circumstance beyond anyone's control but it still upset me.  Never thought this "little" colon problem would drag out all summer.  They finally called this afternoon, with their first available surgery on August 18.  Nope, not gonna work...that's the first day of school.  She gave me a couple of other options, I called Chris, and we decided on August 22 as D-Day.  

So I have surgery scheduled on August 22, with a pre-op appointment on August 20 at the hospital and a pre-op appointment with Dr. Rogers on the same day.  So that's the plan.  In the meantime, I've tapered completely off my steroids, which is good, but it makes me nervous at the same time.  I'm definitely ready for the wacky steroid side effects to be gone (night sweats, being wired, hungry all the time, and the 2 worst side effects at the moment in my mind are fat face and swollen, puffy stomach thanks to the 'fat deposits' steroids cause...and no amount of running or sit ups are helping that!), but I hope nothing flares up in the next month while I'm on no medicine and waiting for surgery.  So that's that!  I'm relieved it's scheduled, but all of a sudden I'm quite nervous and scared.  The only surgery I've ever had was tubes in my ears and adenoids out when I was 4.  My mind set all along has been there's no need to dwell on the negatives because what's going to be will be.  So I'll continue to try to stay in a positive place throughout the next month.

An office selfie post phone call from the doctor's office because...well, why not...this blog is full of goofy selfie's! :-)

Your prayers are still very much appreciated, and I'll keep the blog updated!

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  

-Philippians 4:6-7

4th of July Weekend

I know I'm a couple days behind, but a super fun weekend has come and gone.  In fact, it was so much fun!  Chris found it to be exhausting, but I found it to be quiet relaxing.  Maybe that's because I'm still hyped up on steroids, ha!!  I got off work early Thursday and picked Sara Kate up from school.  We came home, had dinner and went to dance, before heading to the Northwest Arkansas mall to see the firework show! We met up with our sweet friends, the Vann's, and we sat in a field beside the movie theatre.  It was a great location!  Sara Kate was so excited to see Landry and watch the fireworks with her.  I love these sweet girls so much. They are so precious together.  Sara Kate brought her princesses so they could play while they waited.  And once the fireworks started they sat together and ate popcorn. 

 

Love this picture!!

 

This was our second year to go watch the firework show at the mall, and I'd say it's a great tradition we'll continue in future years!

Friday morning we were up, playing early, and waiting for some very special visitors.  My brother and sister-in-law were coming for a visit from Memphis!  We haven't seen them since Christmas so we were all very excited.  I didn't tell Sara Kate they were coming, but once they got here she started being so goofy and showing off because she was so excited.  We cooked some burgers for lunch before heading out for a fun pool day.

Happy Independence Day from the Michaels family!

Remember my blog from a couple of weeks ago about the little girl who was terrified to get off the steps and clung to me like a monkey??  Well that girl is GONE!!  In the last 2 weeks we have made MAJOR progress on the swimming front.  She's swimming by herself, jumping off the side, and even jumping off the diving board all by herself!!  I am SO proud of her!  

 

We spent a couple hours at the pool swimming before it started clouding over pretty good.  We stopped for ice cream on the way home before spending the evening at home cooking out, eating yummy food, and listening to the war zone that was our neighborhood thanks to everyone shooting off fireworks! Sara Kate was exhausted so I had her in bed by 8:30, before the fireworks started going off around us, and thankfully she slept right through it all!

Saturday morning we had a little bit of lazy time before Uncle Phil and Aunt Holly got to see Sara Kate in action in her gymnastics class.  No pictures but she did get a ribbon for being a great listener that said 'I did my best for the Williams Center.'  She was proud of her 'rivvon,' as she called it.  We had a nice lunch downtown at Loafin' Joe's (if you haven't been there, go!  They make their own potato chips and bread...yum!), before doing a little shopping.

And after naps, it was time for more swimming!!  Once again, we had another great afternoon at the pool.

 

And once again, Sara Kate did amazing, swimming all over and going off the diving board over and over and over and over and over and over again.  These still shots crack me up, especially the tongue out, ha!!

 

And because I'm a proud mama, we have more video too. :-)

And because Chris is a proud daddy, he took video in slow motion that he's pretty proud of!

We took our left over BBQ from Friday night with us to the pool and shared it with our friends, the Morton's, whose pool we had been crashing all weekend.  We had a lovely visit and Sara Kate had fun in 'Mrs. Jane's house!'  We were in the back yard and she sat on this green bench and said, 'Mommy, look at this pretty green bench.  I'm going to sit on it and I want you to take my picture.  It's so pretty and it'll be such a cute picture.'  HAHA!!!  Ok baby girl, whatever you say! :-)

We got home in time for bath and another early bed time, before the fireworks started up again in our neighborhood.  I'm such a old lady when it comes to fireworks, ha!!

Sunday morning brought a lovely church service, brunch, and having to say goodbye to Uncle Phil and Aunt Holly.  We were sad to see them go, but we had an amazing weekend with them, and we're so thankful they came to visit.  I know Sara Kate had a blast with them.

So that was our super fun weekend.  I'm already looking forward to the next holiday weekend and a trip to Memphis soon to visit Phillip and Holly!