Messy Wing Night & Medical Update

Tonight while eating dinner we discovered another way on how Nicholas is so much like Kevin! It really is quite frightening to be honest. Kevin and I have always been huge fans of either making wings or ordering some. The girls like them, but it's not something they go out of their way to ask for. Nicholas LOVES chicken, especially wings! Tonight for dinner we grilled some awesome wings! Of course, Kevin always makes his own mix of sauces...never tasting the same but always amazingly tasty! Tonight was absolutely no different. All three kids inhaled the wings. Nic decided to literally eat everything off the bone and pretty much lick it clean. I was quite grossed out when I heard a "crunch" from him taking a piece of the bone off. Yuck! I had to start taking bones away before he ended up choking himself. Caitlin and Nic we so overly messy once finished. Of course Caitlin went into the bathroom to wash her hands and face, while Nic had other plans. He decided to lick every single finger then even started licking his palms. I was able to take pictures of Nicholas while he was chowing down and Caitlin's messiness after eating, but wasn't able to get one of Bre.

Medical Updates:


Let's just start with, we have a very busy summer on our hands now! On Saturday I go in for my spinal surgery at six in the morning. The procedure itself should take less than an hour, but we will have to spend a little time before and a couple hours after in recovery, then I should be on my way home. As of right now, they are planning on it being an outpatient procedure, but are fully aware of my medical conditions, so if need be, they will admit me. They will be monitoring me with more machines and doctors than they typically do because of my kidneys and overall health. My kidney function came back today in the normal range! Yay. That is always nice to see. However, as we all know, that can change in a matter of minutes with my condition. Please say a prayer. My thyroid panel also came back in the normal range, which means that I can go through with this procedure. If it ever comes back abnormal, I have to wait until I am in the normal range for at least six weeks unless it is an emergency since I do not have a thyroid gland. We learned this the hard way in 2005 when I had to have an emergency laparoscopy from multiple ovarian cysts that ruptured at one time. I was sent to ICU following the procedure. We were in Germany at the time. They were not able to get me to wake up after the surgery due to my health. It was pretty scary. It took more than half the day of me being closely monitored in ICU before they could take me to my room. I don't remember much about it at all, but I do know that Kevin was freaking out because they told him to expect me in a little over an hour and it was HOURS later. Yes, we were at a German hospital, so the language barrier made it difficult at times. Unstable thyroid panels can send a person into a coma from the anesthesia. Needless to say, I am sure you all understand my excitement now over my levels being normal. I have to have them checked every six to eight weeks, which is quite often. The only somewhat worrisome part on my labs was my RBC (red blood count). It is showing I am still anemic. I just haven't been able to keep it up and normal since I went into kidney failure the first time in August. It's very frustrating and really upsets me to be honest. But, that is a different topic for a different day. After my surgery, the full recovery takes between six months to a year! Not looking forward to that, but I will say it will be better to be in pain while recovering than to experience the pain I am now with nothing to look forward to.

On Friday I had to have two biopsies, one on my face and the other on my shoulder. If you have never had to have that done by a dermatologist, feel lucky! The numbing injection BURNS like crazy! I now know exactly what Kev was talking about when he had his done earlier this year. Insane! Anyhow, the doctor wasn't too concerned about the spot on my jaw line, but was somewhat concerned about the spot on my shoulder and mentioned Basal Cell Carcinoma. I should know something by Friday on each one. I am praying that it is benign, like he said it probably is. One skin cancer person is enough. Kev's surgery was a success to remove another spot of Squamous Cell Carcinoma! His face and scar look great!

Kevin saw his neurosurgeon today and disc replacement surgery has been scheduled for later next month. They are replacing his C4 and C5 discs and doing a fusion on the area directly below it. He is looking forward to the surgery and the fact that soon he will feel much better. In 2007 he was thrown from the turret of his vehicle while gunning after they were hit with an IED. During this time, he broke his elbow, messed up his back, busted the front top portion of his head, and now has permanent TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) from it. *This is what caused he permanent nerve damage in both arms that led to the ulnar nerve replacement surgeries at the end of 2009. His arms are so much better! His left arm is great, but his right arm isn't as strong as we hoped it would be. He is able to open and close both hands again and does have feeling back for the most part.* Back to the disc replacement. The recovery is about 6-8 weeks overall. The first few days will be somewhat hard and he will stay overnight in the hospital the night of the procedure. I can't wait for Kev to get through the recovery and to see him without being in so much pain all the time! I am ready to take on this recovery with him just to see him in a better condition!

As far as my pelvic/abdominal issues, the surgeon I was sent to explained that this surgery is even too much and complicated for him. I am seeing my GYN on July 7 to see what our next plan of action is. She may want to do a clean up laparoscopy because the adhesions need to be cleaned out again. She has already mentioned that. I will update on here as soon as I hear something in a couple weeks!

The summer may be busy, but I have no doubts over it and know Kevin and I can tackle it head on!

On a bright note, this month marks eleven years of Kevin and I being together. How awesome is that?!?! At the end of the day, I can honestly say, our marriage and relationship is better now than it has ever been. It's an amazing thing to look at my husband eleven years later and feel more in love than ever before! We sure have come a long ways!