Monday, December 27, 2010

Upon a new year

Well as this year winds down, I am reminded of all that I have been through. We breezed past Darren's one year post leg breakage without any recurrence. I now know why :0) We survived another Christmas and the boys were completely spoiled, so was I. We have plans for the upcoming year that we are looking forward to, and before we know it, they will be upon us. We get to celebrate Kadin's first birthday and my first tumor free birthday. Busy February for us. We hope and pray that I am eating and not food dependent by the end of 2011, so we can take a much needed vacation. We plan to head back to OHSU around March to do some more surgery (Oh, yeah!) and of course we plan to enjoy spring and summer to its fullest.

Recap on last post : trip to OHSU - we were gone for 4 days and while there, did a variety of stuff. I was scoped twice, had a swallow study, did vital stem and biofeedback twice, had a collagen injection through my throat and into my still paralyzed left vocal chord. I am looking at having surgery to permanently midline my left vocal chord and surgery to stretch my esophagus and inject the bar above it with botox. Are you scratching your head with confusion? Don't it isn't that complicated - they think that my esophagus, which the normal person used to swallow down into their stomach is either slow in my case or very tight and this surgery will help to relax it so that I should be able to swallow larger amounts. I also have exercises to strengthen my neck muscles which will aid in my swallow. I JUST WANT TO EAT! Chewing and spitting is gross and frustrates me from time to time. So we press on and pray that this will resolve soon. I am still doing physical therapy and have increased my workouts to double three times a week which has made me stronger and has forced me down to a weight I haven't seen since Jr. High. I need to start eating so my poor body gets something good.

I will share my most positive moment from OHSU per my Mom's request. It rained a lot while we were in Oregon and the morning I was to see Dr. Flint, the swallowing voice Guru, it was no different. As I sat and waited to be seen, the rain ended and a beautiful rainb0w appeared. For those of you who don't know a rainbow stands for God's promise to never flood the earth. I took it as God's promise to me, to never flood me and to give me the desires of my heart, eating and walking better. God is so good - I needed that reaffirmation and He made himself be known.

Happy New Year! May this be an incredible year that you take full advantage of. Blessings to you and your family. Thanks for the love, support, prayers and concern this past year. I appreciate it all. Please keep it up!

Blessings.

Friday, December 10, 2010

A new adventure is upon me...

In a few days, I head to OHSU in Portland, OR to get a second opinion on my swallow and speech. I secretly hope for a quick fix but in reality I know that is really reaching for the stars. I know that I will complete a variety of tests, of which, I hope that I am able to gain some insight. I have an appointment with a swallowing/speech expert and a speech pathologist too. I look forward to gaining knowledge and spending some time with Darren. I will surely miss my boys who we have elected to leave at home with two of their three grandma's. This will be my first time away from them since my hospitalization and that has definitely impacted me and Zach, which is even harder on me. I think it would be easier if it were a pleasure trip but it feels like there is so much weight put on this trip. I right arm is acting up so we are expecting something.

Thank you again for your prayers and love.

Blessings.