Tap, Tap, Tap.......Hello, is anyone out there?

Well 2007 turned out to be an exciting year in more ways than one. Here is a recap:

1. Celebrated my 40th birthday on April 18th.
2. Got my Ravelry invite on June 21st.
   
3. Celebrated my 6th wedding anniversary with my wonderful hubby on June 29th.
4. Had my appendix and an ovarian cyst removed in July.
5. Built a retaining wall on the south end of our property in August.
   
6. Found out that my hubby and I are going to be grandparents in June 2008.
7. Spent a couple of days in the hospital due to a heart condition and started heart meds on December 11th.
8. Got a new puppy on December 17th (see pics below)

What an eventful year! Some of it was good, bad, and ugly!

So in 2008 I already know that I will be turning 41, not that big of a deal. My hubby and I will become grandparents for the first time by my hubby's daughter. We will celebrate our 7th anniversary. We are planning a trip to Texas to visit my family this spring. We are going to sell our Expedition and get a more fuel efficient car (we are thinking about a Prius). I will be seeing a cardiologist in Eugene the beginning of February. And the biggest life altering thing that will happen to me in 2008 is........I am getting braces! I have needed to get braces since I was in high school but it was something that my parents couldn't afford to do. My husband and I have great dental coverage right now that includes orthodontics plus I have great benefits through work that reimburse me for my medical and dental expenses, so we just couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I know I haven't mentioned anything about knitting yet. Well in 2007 I did complete a pair of socks! I had a ton of WIP's. Some will be frogged and some will get finished this year. I will post pics and the line up in a future post. I plan to do much more knitting and crocheting this year. 2007 seemed to have too many distractions.

And now for what you all have been waiting for.........I introduce to you........

Gracie



Gracie is half Chocolate Lab and half Weimaraner. She was born on October 27, 2007. She just turned 9 weeks old. She is very smart. She is completely house broke and knows the commands; sit, stay and down. My hubby is planning to train her to be a bird dog for hunting (we'll see how that goes).

I hope to be a much better blogger this year.

Back and better than ever

I am back and better than ever. I had my post-op appt. with the surgeon and it turns out that my appendix was the major problem and the cyst was just a bonus. Apparently, I have been suffering from a chronic appendicitis. The surgeon said that I have probably been suffering from it for the past 3 or 4 years.

Last week was my first full week back at work. It was good to be back but also exhausting at the same time. I played a little golf this week too just to get my game back. I would say that it is coming along quite nicely as I shot a 51 yesterday for 9 holes. Not quite Tiger Woods or Anika Sorenstam but pretty good for me since I just started playing in May.

I really haven't been doing much in the way of knitting lately. I think it's because it has been so hot. I do have one sock finished and I started the second one. I will post pics later in the week. I am going to hurry up and get the Indigo Ripples Skirt finished. I have totally neglected it. I also have something really cool to share with all of you. My daughter took wood shop class last spring and made me a really cool chest for me to store my yarn in. Take a look!

Isn't it cool?! This thing is huge! She even made a tray that slides back and forth so I can see all my yarn.

Recovering

Well I am home now, recovering from my day surgery. Everything went well. The only complaint I really have, is that they rushed me out of there so quickly. I think I can still hear them saying "NEXT!" The day after surgery was really rough. I was really nauseated and ended up getting sick. Hubby made a call to the surgeon's office and they called in a script for an anti-nausea med. I am doing much better today. I am off the pain medication and only taking Tylenol and ibuprofen for the pain.

They did take my appendix and they found the culprit of my pain and agony for the past couple of weeks. It was a HUGE cyst on my right ovary. You can see a picture of the cyst by clicking the word cyst in this post. Yes, they took a picture of it for my scrapbook.

Updated on Monday, July 23, 2007.

I scanned the photo of the cyst today and you can see it by clicking here--------> CYST

Appendectomy

Just a quick update because I feel absolutely lousy. I went to the OBGYN yesterday and she said that I am not having problems with my ovaries due to cysts. She felt it was my appendix and referred me to a surgeon. I saw the surgeon today and he felt it was my appendix also. I am scheduled for surgery on Thursday at noon. He will also do some exploring while he is in there.

It's not a boy....

It's not a boy, it's not a girl, it's an..............ovarian cyst! That was what was found during the CT. I have to see my OBGYN on Monday to find out what the plan of action is going to be. Surgery is not out of the picture yet. I will know more on Monday.

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

I'm a Mystery

I haven't been feeling very well for the past few days. It started with a pain in my lower right abdomen. The pain comes and goes and is accompanied by nausea and fever that comes and goes.

I have been spending the past couple of days in the urgent care to figure out what is going on. My white blood cell count jumped from 7000 to 10000 and back down to 7000 today. I had a limited Appy CT Scan on Tuesday that said that everything looked okay, I still have pain in my LRQ (lower right quadrant). I am going in for a complete abdominal/pelvic CT study with contrast this afternoon. Hopefully this will tell us what is going on.

I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on so you all knew why I haven't been posting on here for a while.

Mammogram results are in!

I had my repeat mammogram of my left breast yesterday and the good news is that the spot they needed to recheck was just normal breast tissue.

I was very nervous about getting the results of this mammogram, in fact I would say that I was actually dreading hearing the results.

This mammogram was much more painful than the first one. They use a special plate that really squishes the area of the breast that they need to look at. I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. After it was over the tech asked me to have a seat while she went to talk to the radiologist to make sure she got a good picture. While I was waiting I thought about what would have happened if I had passed out. Let me tell you, the picture in my head was not pretty. Imagine my limp body hanging by my left breast that was being held by the mammography machine like a vice. Anyway, the tech came back and told me that she got a good picture and proceeded to tell me what the radiologist said, and I quote "he said that he thinks the spot they were looking at was just normal breast tissue." Excuse me?!!! "He thinks?!!" I asked her to go back to the radiologist and get clarification. She came back and told me that he said "the spot is just normal breast tissue and we will be sending a report to your doctor within 3 days."

I was very relieved after hearing this news. I urge everyone to do regular self breast exams and even though the mammograms are uncomfortable(painful) to get theirs done. For more on breast cancer awareness visit the Susan G. Komen website at http://www.komen.org/index.htm

FO's as promissed!

I know I am a couple days late getting these pictures posted, but better late than never. This last week has been kind of crazy for me. I received some not such great news on Friday. My mammogram came back abnormal and I have to go back in for another one. They spotted a change in my left breast since my previous mammogram 2 years ago. So on the 17th I get to have another mammogram. I am trying to stay positive about this and I am not going to dwell on it. There isn't really anything I can do right now anyway.

Here is the finished Kitty Pi, pre and post felted. I had to have a stern talk with Willow and was finally able to get her to agree to use it. She is getting used to it now and I think she actually likes it.

I have been working on some preemie beanies for Julie. She is sending them to the St. Charles Hospital NICU. Here are the ones I made and sent her.

UTI's Suck

I have been feeling under the weather for about a week so, I decided to go to the doctor yesterday morning. I explained my symptoms to my doctor and he did a urinalysis and it was positive for a UTI (urinary track infection). I went ahead and went to work afterwards, but I was miserable all day and by the time I got home it was all I could do to eat dinner. After dinner I went straight to bed and turned a movie on and I think I remember watching about the first 15 minutes of it before I fell asleep. Thank goodness I am feeling better today.