Neck surgery

(pictures included in this post- you have been warned)

Today is Tuesday, 4 days after my neck surgery to remove a thyroglossal duct cyst and I am starting to feel a bit better. 

Friday morning I woke up to shower early since I knew that it would be a few days before I could get clean again. I drove out to the hospital by myself and arrived at 6am while CP stayed behind to get the kids to daycare (he took an Uber to the hospital). I had 1.5 hours of talking to nurses/doctors, getting prepped for surgery, and crying (and feeling stupid) because I was nervous that something was going to go wrong. I even started to write CP a "just in case I die" email but got interrupted by a nurse and never finished.) Before CP arrived I was given a sedative and I don't even remember being wheeled out of my room and into the operating room (7:30am).

Surgery went well (~two hours) and I woke up in recovery, crying a bit after I woke up because I was so happy that I was alive. I totally get that I was being over dramatic and there was a very small chance that something was going to go wrong, but I was emotional from my period and worried that I am pushing my luck with surgeries. That morning I realized that since CP and I have gotten engaged, I have had FIVE surgeries- three where I have had to go under general anesthesia (cyst removal in my back, fibroid/endo surgery, and now neck surgery) and two spinal/epidurals (c-sections). That is ridiculous!!! I consider myself a healthy person and yet FIVE surgeries since 2009??

Anyway, I slowly came out of anesthesia and started to suck on some ice chips, moving to dissolving a graham cracker in my mouth before I was moved to my own room. CP was able to join me and tell me how drop off had gone with the kids (Wes cried). We learned how to take care of the drain in my neck as I shook off the anesthesia, took a pain pill and I was headed home by 1:30. 

Home

CP dropped me at home as he grabbed lunch and pick up my medications from a pharmacy, I went upstairs to take a nap. Unfortunately when I woke up, despite elevating my head/neck, a bunch of blood had pooled. 

I called my doctor and sent some pictures because I was worried about what was going on. She let me know that there was a slight hole where the drain was coming out of my neck (see the tubing that ran into my shirt) and it likely was leaking blood onto the gauze. She had me take off the gauze and tape as she didn't want the steri strips and the stitches to be wet for the next week.

Here is what it looked like underneath:

CP picked up the kids from school as I rested on the couch. As soon as Wes got home he wanted me to pick him up (I'm not supposed to) and "play trains." Dinner that night was rough as it hurt to swallow. CP made chicken pho which was delicious, but I basically could only suck down some broth. Sleeping that night was rough because I slept elevated in the bed but a couple times during the night felt some blood dripping down my neck. I was also told to every once in a while squeeze the tubing down to the bulb to make sure that the blood/liquid was draining properly.

Saturday was more of the same- pain pills, resting, and having trouble eating while CP took the kids to the farmers market. I tried to nap but Izzy was making too much noise during her quiet time so I gave up after an hour. Pho went down slightly better than Friday night, but I still was having trouble with the noodles. Sleeping went a little better and CP was nice enough to sleep on the couch for a second night so that I could have the bed to myself, propped up.

Sunday I took a pain pill in the morning but decided that I was done with them. I just don't like the way that they make me feel. My mom picked up Izzy for a day in the city and a play (Peter Pan) and CP took Wes to see animals at a local attraction while I tried to rest, but really cleaned the kitchen and floors because they were really bothering me. I was able to get in touch with my doctor and because I was draining less than 30ml, she took the drain out that afternoon! She said that everything is looking good and that the fact that my neck is starting to itch is a really good sign. CP made chili and I was able to eat it. I am going to be so sick of soft foods and chili by the end of this!

Drain out and hole closed

Yesterday I had trouble getting up after helping CP get the kids out of bed and dressed so I slept until 9am and then dragged myself out of bed. I had a few conference calls and worked for 7 hours. 

Today I am a bit more swollen because I didn't elevate my head as much as I probably should have last night. The good news is that the lab results have come back from my cyst and it was benign! (It is rare for a thyroglossal duct cyst to be cancerous.) I will work from home all week, seeing the doctor for my post-op appointment on Friday. Hopefully my throat will start to feel normal soon!

Today

I’m okay

Posting because I am alive and made it through surgery! Currently in pain so I will update more later.

Freaking out

It's 10:20pm...the night before my neck surgery and I am freaking out. This surgery is certainly somewhat elective in that it is not an emergency (at least right now) and I am picking the date/time to get it done. I would rather have control over that instead of having to rush in for emergency surgery where I am possibly having trouble breathing because my cyst became infected. That being said, I am feeling super guilty that I am having the surgery because what if something happens to me? Wes, just turning two, wouldn't even remember his mother. Izzy probably would but how much would I screw up the kids if their mother went in for an elective surgery, said goodnight to them the night before, and then died on the operating table?

I know, this is all doom and gloom but I had similar worries when I was going in for my c-section with Wes. I mean, you never know if something is going to go wrong during surgery. (CP noted last night when I was talking to him about this that something could happen to me any day so why freak out about this? I agree to an extent...) This shouldn't be a scary surgery, but I am going under general anesthesia and there are always risks. 

However, there is nothing that I can do about it now. The surgery is tomorrow whether I like it or not. Please send good thoughts my way starting around 7:30am tomorrow for about two hours or so. I hope to be updating the blog at some point this weekend with my new large neck scar. If I never update this blog again, well, then you know that something went very wrong. I'm hoping that I am just freaking out for no reason whatsoever. Fingers crossed.

Wes turns 2!

We had a big weekend planned for Wes to celebrate his 2nd birthday. First up was going to see Thomas the Train at the IL Railway Museum. Wes is pretty obsessed with Thomas these days, asking to watch Thomas on tv when he thinks about it, asking for us to read him Thomas stories, and playing with train cars every chance he gets. Thankfully it stopped raining just before we pulled into the parking lot.

Daddy look it's Thomas!

Wes in the train car that Thomas "pulled." He was so happy.

Waving to Thomas as he pulls another ride while we eat lunch

Riding on the trolley- a 110 year old Chicago trolley car

Push up treat

Sleepy kids as we drive home. Izzy ended up losing her balloon outside the next day which was very traumatic for her.

 The museum had a tent full of Thomas stuff- tshirt, toys, etc. and my MIL had emailed me a few days beforehand to let me know that she had forgotten about Wes' birthday. She was mailing me a check so that we could get him something. We ended up getting him a Thomas tshirt, a wooden Thomas toy that works on our Brio train track, and a wooden Percy toy that also works on the track. Wes is now obsessed and constantly asks to "play trains."

Wes "playing trains"

On Sunday we continued the train theme. The day started with birthday balloons in Wes' crib.....

....continued with Wes "playing trains" again- this time in his birthday shirt....

.....Izzy gave Wes a birthday gift that she made for him at school (he was less than interested as TRAINS....

...we then headed to brunch with my parents, my sister/her husband at The Choo Choo Restaurant, a restaurant that brings you diner food via a train. Wes was excited every time the train came around to us.

The kids also enjoyed the $.25 train "ride" that moved back and forth at the restaurant.

Then we headed back home to open presents....

Wes loves his new big wheel

My parents (against our wishes) got Wes a motorized car

....and have some Thomas cake.

Wes is practicing blowing out the candles

Honestly this picture makes me giggle because he looks so chubby here!

And with that, my baby is TWO!

Checking in on 2018 goals

We are now halfway through the year so I thought that I would check in on my 2018 goals to see how I am doing.

1. Continue our part vegetarian lifestyle through the year. 

Wavering a bit. We have continued to not eat as much red meat but have started to eat more fish and chicken since CP joined Weight Watchers.

2. Continue to send paper cards to friends for their birthdays. 

On Track! 

3. The usual lose weight goal.

On Track! 

January- 1 lb

February- 2lb

March- 6lb

April- 3.5

May- 1

June- 6

Total over the last 6 months: 19.5 pounds!

Only 5.5 more pounds until I hit my first major goal!

4. Be more consistent with working out.

On Track! Currently working on the Beta section of Beachbody's T25 program and feeling stronger! Trying to figure out what program to work on next when I finish this one. Maybe do it over again? I really like the fact that it is only 30 minutes long.

5. Continue monthly dates with CP.

On Track! We just missed March (but made up for it with two dates in April). No dates planned for July but it will be hard to fit one in with our camping vacation, Wes' 2nd birthday this weekend, and then my surgery on the 20th.

6. Pay down our credit card debt.

Stalled! Our patio was finally completed and we had a few extra additions to our final amount due to the landscaper AND we bought new patio furniture so we are still working on this. 

7. Continue to be politically active and contact my elected officials when necessary.

On Track! Since joining the local Moms Demand Action group I have been busy contacting elected officials and going to marches. I have been calling our governor recently about a gun dealer licensing bill and calling elected officials about the immigrant family separations.

8. Create a better and more consistent bedtime routine.

Working on it!  This week I put myself to bed at 9pm and according to my Fitbit slept for 8 hours that night. It was glorious. I do try to head upstairs by 9:30...especially on the nights prior to getting up at 5am to work out.

9. Run in at least two races this year.

Not completed yet! Due to my left foot issue which is more than just plantar fasciitis (according to my physical therapist), I haven't run any races. I dropped out of Tough Mudder because I haven't run in 8 months and thought that starting up running right now before the race would be a good way to have foot problems again. Currently I don't have any pain while walking so it's getting better but I want to keep it that way for a few weeks before I test out any running. I would like to do the Hot Chocolate race later this year...I'm assuming that I would do the 5K version and not the 15K version though.

New patio

While we were away camping our landscaper finally finished our new patio! This is our one big house project this year and it was something that needed to be done because half of the old concrete patio was ripped up when we did our house renovation last year.

Here is what it looked like this spring:

Pretty sad right? And quite the muddy mess whenever it rained.

Here is what we were going for (sort of):

I happened to be home on the day that they started work because Wes was sick so I got to take a few "during" pictures.

Pouring sand

Leveled and pounded down sand

The next day the landscapers worked to install the Unilock pavers that look like bricks

Then they put in the white border and put together the arbor

Next they came back with plants- two big hydrangeas on each side of the arbor

New sod after leveling the ground (the lawn was too high)

New plants- tall grasses to the right, boxwoods to the left to hide the huge A/C

Finally, the final new patio with our new patio furniture!

Sorry for the rainy picture but this is looking out from our window in our family room

In the fall I will move two clematis plants from the backyard to each side of the arbor for some color. Izzy picked out banana cream shasta daisy plants for alongside of the garage which add some nice color as well. When the hydrangeas bloom they will look great, and then later this summer the rose of sharon tree on the right will bloom for a while. 

It's so nice to have a nice, new patio!

Door County Camping

I feel like it has been FOREVER since I wrote a blog post. It felt weird opening up Blogger to sit down and write but here I am! So, we just got back from a week long camping trip and I knew that it would be a lot of work with two small kids but holy hell was it a lot of work! I don't know that I am a week-long camping girl these days.

Get ready for a picture-heavy post....

The week before we left was crazy trying to pack everything up while I applied for a new job (!) and then had wine night at a friend's house the night before we left. Thankfully I didn't get too drunk that night because I took a quick shower before we were going to jump in the car and came downstairs to a toilet that had overflowed into the kitchen on the first floor and water dripping downstairs in the basement from the shower. I had scheduled a plumber to come after our vacation to rot out our pipes but clearly they would be coming too late. So before we left I mopped and cleaned up as best as we could and called for an emergency plumber.

Muffins before we leave

Our drive up to Door County, WI was uneventful. We set up our tent and then decided with our friends (who have a son two months older than Izzy and a daughter 10 months older than Wes) to head up to a beach as it was over 90 degrees. 

That night it was hard to sleep because it was super hot in the tent and it wasn't a normal sleeping situation for Wes, so he fell asleep with his knees on his cot, his head on my stomach before I moved him. 

The huge moth Izzy named "Messa" that hung outside the women's bathroom at the campsite

The next day we took a hike in the park that we were staying in (Potawatomi State Park) and then with the threat of rain, took the kids bowling. Despite it being Wes' first time bowling, he won! We also saw a bald eagle fly by our car.

Rocky beach at Potawatomi State Park

Sniffing a flower on our hike

Winner!

The following day we explored Cave Point County Park.

Putting together bling at the campsite

July 3rd we checked out Ridges Sanctuary Nature Preserve before another family with similar-aged kids joined us at the campsite.

Door County's version of American Ninja Warrior

For Fourth of July we decided to head to the beach in Peninsula State Park again for another beach day. At some point we noticed that Wes had a blister bite on his foot and it was all red so he got some Benadryl. We stayed until it rained, then headed back to our campsite....finding that although there was zero percent chance of rain in the forecast (so we left our rain fly down), there had been a torrential downpour. All three of our tents got wet, but ours was the worse. We decided to head to a hotel for the night and to dry everything at a nearby laundromat the following day. I also finally kicked a two day headache/migraine by loading up on Excedrin and Advil. We had planned on a nice dinner at the campsite but ended up going out for Mexican as it was the only place around that was open and had availability for 12 people.

I did not complain about sleeping in the hotel room that night, although I stayed in with Wes while he freaked out about the fireworks noise and CP took Izzy to see the fireworks (which she finally enjoyed this year!).

The next day after showering, bathing the kids, and eating a free hotel breakfast, we headed back to the campsite to hang up all of our wet things, try to clear the water out of the tent, and bring sopping wet clothes and sleeping bags to the laundromat. Afterwards all 12 of us headed to The Farm, a place where the kids could feed baby and adult animals. The kids loved it. 

Trying to dry out

Izzy milking a goat

Someone ready for corn to be thrown into his mouth

Wes feeding a baby goat- they were aggressive!

Izzy's favorite animal of the day? The kitten that she got to hold (and then wanted to take home). I told her no because we already have two cats and she didn't like that answer. One of the families headed home and we headed up to Door County Creamery with the other family for lunch. Everything on the menu was made with delicious cheese and we had homemade gelato afterwards. YUM.

Mmmmm gelato

When in Door County, you drink a cherry mimosa- cherry cider with champagne/prosecco. It was actually pretty good!

On the second family's last day (Friday) we decided to check out one of the towns (Fish Creek) so we walked around and into the shops before having lunch. They left for home afterwards, we headed back to our campsite to organize to leave the next morning.

Izzy was pretty excited about her new Cubs hat

The final night we ate at PC Junction, a restaurant where if you get a good seat, a train will deliver your food to you. We didn't get one of those seats, but Wes was pretty excited to go into the room a few times to see the train.

We had an uneventful drive back to our house on Saturday, came home and furiously tried to put stuff away before having the same two families over to our house to eat some food that we didn't get to eat while camping. 

Phew. Some notes:

*The kids were totally off their sleeping schedules. Naps (even Izzy!) were in the car driving between places and the kids were going to bed up to two hours later than usual because it was still bright out. It was hard to get them settled down.

Wes' new obsession- CARS

*Wes has no fear of bugs and literally wanted to touch every insect, spider, etc. that he saw.
*Because the kids' sleeping schedules were off, eating out was generally a nightmare. Then you add in extra kids...let's just say the adults needed alcohol.
*I came home and only weighed 1.5 pounds more than when I left which I considered a win. Trying to track while camping was going to be hard so I just tried to be mindful of what I was eating (but still had ice cream/smores when necessary). Thankfully we were walking around A LOT as well.
*Other than sleeping, the kids did great camping. Izzy had zero problems with the non-flushing campsite toilets.
*This was our first time up to Door County and it was gorgeous. Maybe not the best place to go camping, but I could see us heading up there again and staying in a rental house.