Livestrong

Tammie's post made me realize I need to brag on Micah. He participated in the 45 mile Lance Armstrong Livestrong race this weekend. And he made it! In just 4 1/2 hours. I was very impressed. He has been practicing, but honestly there are not many hills here like there are in Dripping Springs, at least not in our neighborhood. He estimated that he would finish in 4 hours, and I have to say he came pretty darn close. He breaked at each station, to stretch his back, etc. I am so thankful he did this so that he could finish with flying colors. He still can't feel his pinky...but everything else came home a-okay.

Go Micah!

Cholesterol Checked

I go in the morning to have my cholesterol checked. Please pray that everything will be normal and that the doctor will have no concerns.
Thanks!

Things I Love About the Fall....

• Spiced Chai
• Molasses cookies
• Cooler weather
• Breezy weather
• Falling leaves
• Curling up on the couch with a book
• Cuddling with the children
• Christmas is coming!
• Friends
• Knitting
• Pork Chops with Plum Sauce...oh, yes.

I love these thoughts

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/cms/you_fix_you_11043.htmlc

I Did It

I had my second procedure. And it's done and I'm back at home. Intense pain last night, but today I am good. Sore, but much, much better than last time. I actually emailed our small group during the procedure. Didn't have much to say, but I just thought it was cool that I was calm enough this time to do it. And I made myself ask for more pain killer time and time again. It was so hard for me. I realized I really wanted to grin and bare it so as not to disturb the doctor. Now, that's kind of messed up thinking.

I have 9 puncture sites this time. Unexpected, but I guess if he told me I would be pretty freaked out. I can't believe the vein that has caused me so much stinkin' grief for 12 years is gone! I am pretty excited about that. We celebrated afterward with a trip to Waterloo. The kids and I shared a hamburger and onion rings. It was nice to sit with them and talk and not worry about getting back for "school".

The freakiest part is that there were a series of blood clots in the vein from him closing off the upper vein. It had been causing me a lot of tenderness for the past month. He had to squeeze those out. Thankfully I was numbed though, so it didn't hurt. It just took a long time. There was no danger of them going anywhere because there was no vein for them to travel up to, but I thought it was pretty weird that my dad and I both had blood clots the same week! I feel so old! I still don't really get why he had to get them out if he was taking the vein out, too. He tried to explain, but you are either born with a medical brain or you're not.

The best part is that I only have to wear my compression stocking for 48 hours, so tomorrow afternoon I can take it off. Now, she did say I may not feel like taking them off. That leaves me suspicious. But oh well, I can be happy about it for now. And I'm still bleeding all over the place, so I really just don't see how this is going to work out. I can tell you this, after wearing them for one month straight (only for exercise the last two weeks) I was glad to shed them this past Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings for my run. And no pain. I couldn't believe it. And yet....

In two weeks I have another appt. I was so hopeful that I was going to be done. Maybe we could pray that he will look at it and say nothing else has to be done. That would be awesome!

Port A

We had a wonderful trip to Port A this weekend. We visited Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, La Bahia Mission, and the History and Science Museum of CC. We had to skip the free art museum and the discounted rates at the Aquarium due to multiple stomach bugs. However, we had a great time. The beaches are so beautiful there, and Rebecca caught a live sand dollar! Everyone squealed with delight. How nerdy us homeschoolers can be! Some of the dads caught live fish, and the kids made a sand tank to observe them. We captured a dead squid from a seagull, and someone was stung by a jellyfish. Another dad found a whole, live starfish on the beach. We had quite an exciting time seeing first hand all the things we have been studying. The weather was perfect. Not too hot, and not a bit chilly until the sun was completely gone. Even then it was not cold at all, just nice and perfect. The sand there is so dreamy.

Sunday, we drove around and showed the kids the Lichtenstein store and his great grandfather's house from 1909 or something. It was wonderfully fun or at least would have been if I hadn't felt sick.

Highlights:
At the Wildlife Refuge after walking 1-1/4 miles COVERED in mosquitoes...Blaine says, "I'm tired of being in grass!" We saw about 14 alligators jump into a marsh, a wild pig, havalenas (don't know how to spell), roseate spoonbills, and many other various sea birds that I couldn't begin to identify. I just enjoyed them this time, didn't try to identify them.

This week

All, please pray for my dad. He has been back home for a few weeks and really starting to feel a lot better since last week around Thursday. A few days ago he realized he was having a lot of pain in his leg and his arm. He went to the emergency room and they only looked at his arm but released him giving him another antibiotic. Well, he is already on an antibiotic, so he didn't even have it filled. He went to his regular doctor yesterday, and they looked at his leg. He has a small blood clot in his leg, a 2 on a scale of 1-10. But of course, no blood clot is good. They put him on blood thinners. This was surprising to my mom because they said he should be just fine since he is so active and already on aspirin daily. This time he forgot to have them look at his arm. Could you all please pray for him? And for me? And for my mom? We all need peace. Here it is 4 am, and I cannot sleep.

"Which of you can add one hour to his life by worrying?"

My mom feels frustrated because she wants him to take responsibility and remember these questions he needs to ask the doctor, yet I know how it is to walk in there and forget to ask something major. Also, I am praying for her to be informed because she needs to know a certain amount of information to be able to take good care of him. Please pray for her because she is wearying of the daily task and the many things that keep coming up.

So many things trouble my mind. I was denied life insurance. Somehow that is so not comforting! They said my cholesterol levels were too low. Don't even think about googling that because it can scare you pretty bad, which is part of why I can't sleep. I have never had my cholesterol screened before and am just kicking myself because my midwife is always telling me to do it. Micah's dad thought perhaps I had it done with some blood work last year, but I remember I did not fast and I am pretty sure you have to fast to have this done.

Next, my next vein procedure is on Friday. I am calling it a procedure because it helps me have a lot more peace. "Surgery" is just too major of a word for me right now. But you know what happened last time I was scheduled for a procedure on Friday? My dad went into ICU that Thursday before. So, I am on pins and needles. Health should not be such a major concern for someone at my age. I feel I am doing so much to be healthy, yet I know I could do so much more. I have really focused this week on losing weight. Having a stomach virus has helped that considerably! But at any rate, I am just very aware of the need to take care of myself not only for now but for later.

Signing off.

5 Steps

For all of you wanting to know that's about as far as I made it Saturday morning. Sometime early morning I couldn't sleep for excitement at the possibility of something so exciting happening in just a few hours only two blocks away. Life had been so...ugly...so overwhelming depressing at times. With my dad in the hospital and this vein thing I was down in the dumps all week and STRESSED out. Then Micah stirred in bed, so I did the unthinkable and asked him what he thought. He's my gauge, you know. He said so awake-like, "Honey, that's crazy." So that was that. I knew I shouldn't do it. Going against his advice would be like jumping off a cliff. I did walk though. In fact I had to or I may have involuntarily drove to the fire station for the dern race. I thought the best thing to do would be to go as far away from the car as possible, so I headed out on my 3 mile circuit. I walked 3 miles and attempted to run. I only made it five steps. Boy, my husband is smart. It just pulled too much and didn't feel good. I didn't like that at all. The doctor's say you CAN run. They just fail to tell you that you won't feel like it!

I walked 4 miles Sunday, trying to convince myself that this could be just as good as running. And reminding myself that we are working up to something here. And Sunday night I had to get out again and do a little 2 mile walk. My body was just full of energy with nowhere for it to go! I tried to run a block, walked a little and ran another block. So since then I have run 1 1/2 miles at the most for a total of 4 miles this whole week. It's not a lot, but it's something. And honestly I kind of pay for it with a little more bruising when I get done. But I've just got to get it out of my system. I cannot explain it, but it's just surprisingly horrible to have to sit around and not do much. To see people running, and really want to participate.

So, for now I have decided to wait until all of this surgery stuff is over before I race. We need to save the money anyway and not spend it on races. We'll see if I'm still singing the same tune next weekend when the next town over is having their 5 miler. Oh, I want to do that one so bad! What is wrong with me?