Brenda's Graduation

For the last year Brenda would constantly remind me that she was a senior now and that she was going to graduate from High School. For those of you who know Brenda, this is nothing new. She always reminds me how old she is going to be at her next birthday, tells me that any food we are talking about is her "favorite food" and that anyone that she talks to at school, church or out in the community is her "best friend". (We usually have the same conversation over and over again, it gets old sometimes but I still love her) With the constant reminder that she was a senior, I've still been hoping that this day would not come (for at least another year or too.....because that means that I'm getting older!) We finally got Brenda's senior pictures done the beginning of May. We had my parent's neighbor and our friend Jolyn take Brenda's pictures because she new how to deal with Brenda. Brenda likes getting her pictures taken, but it's usually in the pose that she wants and she also has a very short attention span. Jolyn did an awesome job with her pictures! Here are some of my favorite ones:

Brenda's graduation was on May 28 at the Idaho Center. She was soooo excited about it, although I think she was more excited that we were going to have a party afterwards for her than she was about the actual graduation. Anyway, I was worried that she would have a hard time sitting through the graduation ceremony....in a way she did. She knew where we were sitting and about every 5 min. she would look up to us and start waving her hands above her head at us. It was really cute. After she walked across the stage she got to walk through a line of teachers who were there to congratulate the graduates, which she was very excited about because she loves giving hugs...I think that she hugged at least 1/2 of the teachers. When the students went to move their tassels, Brenda knew that right after that they got to throw their hats...so she took her hat off early and waited patiently for the chance to throw her hat. I loved it!

After the graduation ceremony was over and we got a few pictures we all headed to our house to have a BBQ for Brenda. Grandma & Grandpa Ward came as well as our cousin Mary and her 3 kids. My friend Crystal also came over (who is really good with Brenda and is her "best friend") Overall it was a fun night, especially for Brenda!!! Here are some of the pictures from the night...sorry about them being in random order.

Congrats Brenda! I love you!!!

Dad, Curtis and I during the ceremony

All smiles!

Some of the party decorations at our house

Very cute picture of Brenda & Nicole

"I'm SO happy!!!"

Brenda with Grandma Myers

(Grandma had another graduation to attend right after Brenda's for our cousin Kody. Lucky for Grandma it was also at the Idaho Center...unfortunately it made for a long day there...but she made it to both of them. Sorry we missed your graduation Kody! Congrats to you too!!!)

"I'm all graduated now!"

The proud Dad

Sam made this AWESOME cake for Brenda!

Family picture after our BBQ with our cousin Mary and her 3 kidos.

CF Great Strides Walk 2010

With the crazy year that I've had this year the CF walk seemed to sneek up on me. Of course I always know that it is in May, but I thought that it was the last Saturday of May. (I'm not the only one who thought that, a few other people that I know that walk it every year thought so too) Anyway, Mother's Day weekend I finally got around to having time (and remembered) to register for the walk. That is when I realized that it was in 2 weeks! AHHHH! Oh well, no worries right? I was not worried about trying to raise a bunch of money or getting people to walk with me, this year I mostly just wanted to walk and finish it (here in Boise the walk is around 1 1/2 miles and is a very pretty nature walk). In an effort to get the word out and to try and get some money raised, I did put the walk on Facebook. (which turns out to be a GREAT way to get people involved!!!)

I was surprised when Curtis' sister said that they were thinking about coming up to walk with us. Heather said that Ben's work also does matching donations, so they were working on that. I also had some ladies in the ward that told me they wanted to come to the walk too. Some of the ladies posted something about the CF walk on FB and one of them had a friend in New Jersey that donated to my team. My best friend Shasta usually comes to the walk every year and I was afraid that with such short notice of the date change that she wouldn't be able to come, but she was free! Yahoo!!! (although the poor thing got food poisining the night before and was too sick to come and walk...but I know her heart was there with me!!) After all that, I felt like it was my birthday all over again and I was really excited to go to the walk.

With not much effort this year, we were able to have the biggest team that I've ever had walk with us. We also were able to raise around $750....in 2 weeks, that is really not bad at all!!!

Usually the weather at the CF walk is hot and the cotton from the cotton trees is flying everywhere. This year it was the opposite! It was freezing! I think it was around 45 degrees, the wind was blowing, and it was threatining to rain. Really it was great walking weather. I was really only cold when I wasn't moving....which was mostly after I finished walking and was trying to eat and listen to the numbers for the raffle prizes.

How did I do this year? Good. I started out carrying my oxygen, but soon realized that I had to have someone else carry it if I was going to have a chance at walking the whole thing. About 10 min. into the walk I had to stop and rest because Heather noticed that my lips were blue (and it was not because I was cold). I did know that I was having a hard time breathing, but seriously I've had a hard time breathing for most of this year so I wasn't thinking about it too much. I was determined to keep up with everyone and that is really all I was thinking about. I was a little disappointed that I had to slow down, but when I realized that I still had 5 or 6 people still walking with me and reasuring me the whole time then I was fine. At the half way mark I had to hold onto Heather to keep my balance, but I kept walking! I was in the last group to finish the walk but that's ok because I DID IT!! Besides, it's not about winning the race or finishing first, it's all about finishing. The fact that I finished the 1 1/2 miles this year was a HUGE accomplishment for me. (yes, I was exhausted the rest of the day....but I finished the walk :-)

2010 Team Sister's
Curtis, Heather, Matthew & I up at the registration table

My friend Rochelle & I

Right at the beginning of the walk

Rochelle, Kristy, Nicole, Curtis & I

A view of all the walkers at the start. This year we had more walkers than we've ever had here in Boise....well at least in the 5 yrs I've been doing it, it was the biggest group I've ever seen.

Ben & Curtis

Heather & Brenda

My cute nephew Spencer holding the umbrella

Sam trying to stay warm....yes it really is that COLD!

Trying to stay warm

My cute nephew Matthew

"Aunt Sara, I love you and I'm excited for next year's CF walk!"

I'm excited for 2011 CF Great Strides Walk too! It should be tons of fun!!!

Ethan's Baptism

My little boy that I started watching when he was 3 months old recently turned 8. (I can't believe that he is 8 now....I remember when he was first learning how to talk.....man how the time flies!) It was a wonderful sweet experience to watch Ethan dressed in white, enter the waters of baptism and then later recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Ethan is such a kind loving boy and he always brightens my day when I get to see him. :o) Thank you Ethan for letting me be a part of your special day! Aidan, I'm looking forward to your special day in 2 yrs!!!

Ethan & Aidan
I love this picture!!!
His aunt did an awesome job on the cake too!

When I asked him if we could get a picture together he said "Sure, lets go get our picture taken in front of the picture of Heavenly Father!" Oh, how I love this boy!!

Fun Entertainment

Last month Curtis and I went and watched a TaVaci spring performance/concert. TaVaci is a singing and dancing group for kids pre-school to 6th grade. We went to watch Ethan & Aidan perform in their first performance. It was great! The kids sang some pretty fun songs and they had actions to go right along with them. I think I was laughing most of the night because of the song, the actions, or some of the funny things that the kids were doing. The boys did great and were very well behaved up there. Here is a clip from the last song....the song was great, but the boy in the very front in the middle makes this absolutely funny! :o)

G-tube update

I'm finally getting around to updating about how my g-tube is working. I had a peg-tube placed on April 6th. This procedure was done as an outpatient procedure and was one of the worst experiences I've ever had. (I'll spare you the details) They placed the peg-tube in first and then after the site has healed, then they change it out for the g-tube button. Here is a picture of what the peg-tube looks like: (sorry if this makes you queasy....the gauze around it helps it to not look bad...I promise!)
Healing from this procedure was an adventure. The GI dr. said that I would only be in pain for about 2-3 days...but when you have CF and you cough all the time it takes a lot longer! The first couple of days I could hardly move with out being in pain. Finally after 2 1/2 weeks, it didn't hurt when I coughed. After about 3 1/2 weeks it finally didn't hurt when my tube was touched or moved. Constantly dealing with a 10in. tube hanging out of my stomach was very interesting, but I quickly learned how to deal with it. Hooking up to and flushing the tube was also lots of fun. The tube constantly had some of my stomach contents in it and if we were not careful, they would come "spilling out" of the end of the tube when we opened it to flush or connect the tubing for my feedings. (gross I know, but it's part of the package when you get a feeding tube) Another adventure was that the first couple of weeks I had to sleep at a 30 degree angle. This was because the formula can cause reflux problems and could also end up in my airways. I didn't mind at first because it hurt to lay flat. My doctor gave me the go-ahead to sleep flat after a few weeks, as long as I didn't have reflux or breathing problems. Thankfully I tolerate the formula well, so I can now sleep flat and on my side. :o)

This is the formula, or medical food that we are using. In one can it has 375 calories, 14g of fat, 47g of carbohydrates, 16.9 g of protein and has lots of other vitamins and minerals in 1 can. We started off with 2 cans a night with the intent to work our way up to 4 cans a night. When we started to look up information about getting a g-tube and the formula, I had a heart attack with the cost of this stuff. Of course, our insurance would pay for the procedure and all of the supplies needed, but not pay a penny towards the medical food (unless I was under the age of 2!). Peptamen 1.5 is one of the most expensive ones. It is around $219 for 24 cans. So you can imagine how expensive it would be if we did 4 cans a night....ahhh!!! Thankfully I started to gain weight with using 2 cans a night in 1 1/2 weeks, so my doctor didn't want to increase how much we were using because it was working and he wanted to help save us money. Soon we will be switching to a different kind of formula that would still have the nutrients that I need at a fraction of the cost. I'm not sure what we will be using. We got samples of several different formulas this week and we'll begin seeing what I tolerate before we completely switch.

Here is my new "buddy" at night. The pump is small and very quiet. Unfortunately the tubing with the bag is not very long, so the pump has to be right next to my side of the bed. It is a little annoying to have the feeding tube tubing and the oxygen tubing all night long, but I've slept with oxygen at night for over 9 yrs and have been on IV meds too many times to count, so I am use to all of the tubing.

This is my "4th meal". Curtis has taken great pride in preparing my tube feedings each night. He says that he now "cooks for me everyday, making me a gourmet meal every night that has complete balanced nutrition" Dork! All he does is shake up two cans, dump them into the bag, prime the tubing and I'm all ready to go. I'm so glad that I don't have to taste this stuff. It smells gross, even the vanilla flavored formula. So while you could say that I eat all night long, I prefer to think of it as digesting all night long. Eating is when you put food into your mouth, chew, swallow and then digest.

How is my weight? I gained 7 lbs in 5 weeks! I'm now up to 120lbs (which is 10lbs heavier than my lowest weight this year!) Ideally we would like me to gain another 5-10lbs. Since I'm short, my ideal body weight is around 125lbs. I would like to try to get to 130lbs at least. I have been there before, and I would like to be at the higher end just so that when I do get sick and lose weight, it won't be too bad. We are still doing just 2 cans a night. Since it takes 7-8 hrs to get my 700 calories, I wake up hungry, which then translates to me eating more during the day. I didn't realize just how much I was stressing about trying to eat everyday before. Now I no longer worry about it. I eat when I'm hungry and when I want to. I have more energy and I feel better. Best of all, my clothes are starting to fit again! Even with only gaining 7lbs, people are noticing. Many people, especially those at church who've been watching and helping us during all of this, have said how much better I look. :o)

So even though it's been painful and we're still working out some small problems as they come along, it was definitely worth getting the feeding tube. I recently got my peg-tube converted to the button, but I'll wait to share pictures of how that looks after I've healed a little more.

Trying to catch up....

With everything that has been going on, I've neglected my blog. If you want to read about what's going on in a cronological order, you'll have to start reading with my oxygen post a little lower on the page and then work your way up. Of course, I've had technical difficulties while trying to post all of this....so it may take me a little bit longer to get some new posts up (or it could be that I'm really a blonde today and can't figure things out....) Anyway, sorry there are some long posts. My blog is currently my journal, and as much as I try to keep it short....well, it just doesn't seem to happen. I'll try to post more (with some pictures) soon! :o)

Feeding Tube

Over the last 5 yrs my weight has been slowly dropping. There are several factors that play into this. Obviously the big one is that I have CF, which means that I don’t absorb fat, vitamins and other nutrients very well. To help with this problem I take pancreatic enzymes to help digest my food to get the nutrients that I need. Because of this, people with CF often require 20-100% more calories than individuals without CF. The other major factor to my weight loss is lung infections. When I’m sick my body (just like everyone else) burns calories faster and more energy is burned with labored breathing, so I need extra calories to make up for this. That’s easier said than done….how many people feel like eating when they are sick, yet that is when it is most important to eat?! Add into that equation the antibiotics that I take. Most of them make food not taste good, messes with my heartburn, and (one of them) gives me horrible diarrhea…..which overall makes me not really want to eat. When I do get sick, I tend to drop 5 lbs really fast, maintain while on antibiotics, and then slowly start to regain after I’m off antibiotics and feeling better. When I have short period of time in between antibiotic therapy this really doesn’t help my weight gain. (as evident with the sick winter that I have had)

What have I been doing to gain weight? For a long time I have been forcing myself to eat, which is NOT easy when food doesn’t sound &/or taste good. For over a year I have also been taking an appetite stimulant pill in hopes that I would eat because I felt hungry. I have also been drinking some high calorie shakes (mostly Scandi-shakes that contain 600 calories per 8 oz). Even with all of my efforts, I have not been able to gain the needed weight. Before I got really sick, my weight was around 122 lbs (my highest weight in the last 8 yrs was 132 lbs), this year my lowest weight has been 110 lbs.

Anyway, after all that I have been through over the last several months, my lung function is still low Even after having a month to heal from my lung surgery and doing all I could at home to help, my PFTs are still around 30%. At this time Perry (my CF Dr.) suggested that we look into getting a feeding tube to help me gain weight. He reassured me that he knew that I was doing all that I could to gain the weight and he applauded my efforts to take care of myself. He then gave me the pros and cons of having a feeding tube and suggested that we do it soon, but he told me that it was my decision and that I needed to go home and discuss it with Curtis. So after some research, lots of prayer, and discussing this together with Curtis, we decided that I did need to get a feeding tube to help me gain the weight.

So, why a feeding tube? It’s a way to get an extra 1,000-2,000 calories while I sleep. It relives the pressure and worry to eat as much as I can during the day when I really don’t feel like it. Obviously I’m still going to eat during the day, but I don’t have to constantly force myself to eat. (I do still really like food!) Through research that I’ve done, I learned that the benefits of tube feeding include: fewer illnesses, stabilization of lung function, more energy, better mood, fewer fights over eating, increased appetite and less worry over weight. All good things in my book!!!! Some of the drawbacks to tube feeding include: having and healing from the procedure to put the tube into my stomach, doing “one more thing” to take care of myself, and of course there is always the insurance issue….not fun, but all do-able!

How do I feel about all of this? Pretty good actually! For a long time I said that I would do anything I could to keep from getting a feeding tube. However, after battling with my weight for a while, I did start to change my mind. Curtis and I read an article back in December about CF nutrition and feeding tubes. The article listed all of the benefits of feeding tubes that I mentioned earlier. I remember thinking at that time: “Maybe this is something that we should look into.” When Perry mentioned it a few months later I was already thinking about it and felt like the Lord had been preparing me for this. Once Curtis and I researched and prayed about it, I knew that we were making the right decision. My stress level has gone down because I know that I don’t have to constantly worry about food anymore. The one thing that was really hard for me to hear is that I won’t be able to be pregnant if I have a feeding tube (as I would be getting a gastric tube in my stomach and not the one that you put down your nose every night). I know that after a while that we could remove the g-tube and then maybe I could get pregnant….but I also know how much it’s going to help me when I’m sick and on antibiotics and need the extra calories. I have faith that we will be able to have kids someday, even if it is through adoption. I don’t know when it will happen, but I do know that we will be blessed to be parent’s one day. (until then I get to love my nephew’s and all of the babies and kids around me and give them back to their parents when I’m done…..I think it’s a good arrangement!)

As most of you already know, I did get my g-tube placed on April 6th. I’ll post about how things are going soon!!

29th Birthday

I turned 29 this year….holy cow, I really don’t feel like I’m that old! Part of me still thinks of myself as being only 20, but on the days that I really don’t feel good, I feel much older than my 29 yrs. Anyway, after all that I have been through this year I was not really looking forward to my birthday. I was afraid to plan anything fun and exciting because there was a chance that those would change. Despite all of that, I had family and friends who were determined that I would have a good birthday anyway.

The festivities started off a week before my birthday when we had dinner with my family. Since I was in the hospital during my sister Sam’s birthday, we ended up celebrating her birthday with the family late….and since we had to reschedule (again because of my health) we decided that we would just celebrate our birthdays together. We had my whole family over, along with my Grandma and Grandpa Ward. It was fun to visit with my family and enjoy each other’s company.

The day before my birthday, my neighbor threw a party for me at her house and invited some other ladies in the ward. One of them cooked an Angel Food cake, and they lit candles and sang to me. I even had presents….lotions, a book, and lots of chocolate! It was so nice to get out of the house and to visit with some wonderful and dear friends. (pictures below...)

On my birthday I went to work for the last time to turn in all of my paperwork. I was sad to be leaving, but I know that it is the right thing to do. Since my birthday was on Wednesday and Curtis has scouts/mutual that night and I’ve been so sick, we didn’t plan anything. Curtis did surprise me with a dozen roses when he came home from work. They were beautiful!!! I then went to a YW program in Kuna, where my sister Brenda was getting recognized for earning her YW Recognition award. (It was really cute, they had interviewed all of the girls and asked them what their favorite project was and how that helped them to draw closer to Christ and the Temple. Brenda was so excited to talk about the blanket that “her sister Sara helped her learn how to make.” I’m glad that she really liked that project, it was fun to do with her.) After the mutual activities for the evening, we spend some time with Curtis’ family to celebrate my birthday by visiting and opening presents. Curtis and I celebrated my birthday on the weekend by going out to dinner at Johnny Carino’s. Even though I wasn’t excited about my birthday this year (like I am most years) it did end up turning out pretty good. :o)

I hope that 29 is a fun and healthy year!!!!

(on a side note: I did take my oxygen off to blow out my candles. When I feel better I do want to try and blow out 29 candles instead of just 2.)

Oxygen

The first week after having my 4th lung surgery was hard. I was often in pain and even something as simple as walking to the bathroom would exhaust me. Since I had been through this surgery and recovery before, I was not too surprised by this. I didn’t have a problem taking it easy. We were also very blessed to have help from family and many sisters in our ward who helped to clean and who brought dinner to us.

A week after my surgery I was back at the doctor for a check-up. This time I was seeing my regular CF doctor (Perry Brown) who had been out of town when I was coughing up blood and had surgery. As expected my lung function was back down and my weight was still low. My oxygen was also low (barley 90% at rest), which made sense (given everything that I had just been through) but for some reason I was not expecting that. Perry was concerned with everything being low, but knew that it was expected, especially since this was my 4th bronchial embolization. Our big concern was my oxygen level…so he had me walk around the office for a few minutes and we monitored my oxygen saturation. It dropped as low as 84% and never went above 88% while I was walking (and it was a slow walk…nothing too strenuous). Hmmm, no wonder I was continually exhausted! With this information it was decided that I needed to go on full-time oxygen, at least temporarily. Perry reassured me that what I really needed was time for my body to heal. I need time to work on eating more and gaining the weight that I’ve lost over the last several months. ..time to be on oxygen full time to help my lungs to heal. Time…..

I left the office knowing that the logical thing was to go on oxygen full time, but emotionally I was very upset by it. I cried all the way home. I cried when I got home. One of my wonderful visiting teachers came over to my house and she let me cry to her and tell her all about how upset I was by this decision. I was frustrated because I didn’t want to deal with all of the looks and questions that I would get from people. Wearing oxygen is a constant visible reminder that I’m not doing well inside my body. It reminded me of all of my CF friends who have passed away and how they were on oxygen full time before they passed away. It was one more thing that I would have to deal with on top of an already full schedule of trying to take care of myself. I was upset because I didn’t go back to the doctor for 2 weeks and that meant that I was going to be on oxygen full time on my birthday. I always have known that at some point in my life I would be on oxygen full time, but that always seemed so far away and here it was right before my 29th birthday. I was frustrated that a few people that I had told about it told me to stop complaining and to be happy and to look at the bright side of things. I felt like no matter what I said they didn’t understand. My wonderful visiting teacher listened to me and validated all of my feelings. (she had breast cancer a few years ago and knew a little about what I’m going through emotionally) We talked about how it’s ok that I feel down and depressed about it. We talked about how when you have a chronic illness it’s hard to accept when you move up the ladder in the progression and severity of the disease. It was all ok that I was upset and that I needed to get all of the emotion out and not keep it bottled up inside. She also validated that I needed to be ok with it before I could deal with the “rest of the world” and the questions that I could get from people who just didn’t understand and/or wanted to help. What a blessing she was to me that day and such a wonderful tender mercy that the Lord had given to me!!! After our visit I felt much better and could see the silver lining in this “new adventure”.

So my new adventure is living with some “new accessories”, having a constant “tail”, and carrying a “pet” with me whenever I leave the house. The first week was hard for me, but I had constant love and support from everyone around me. I definitely haven’t let wearing oxygen slow me down. I carry it with me everywhere. Now it’s just a part of who I am. I’m not sure how long I’m going to have to wear it full time, but it doesn’t matter. It has helped me to feel better, so that is all that matters! (and the fact that I don’t have to be in the hospital just to wear it…definitely a huge plus!)

Testimony Building Experiences

I know that I haven’t written much on our blog the last several months. Mostly it’s been because we’ve been so busy and I’ve been sick. Warning: this is long!!! Here is a summary of the last 3 months:

The middle of December I got sick and had to go on home IVs and oral antibiotics. Christmas was fun, we had both sides of the family over at our house on Christmas Day, my family was here early for breakfast and presents, and then Curtis’ family was here for presents and dinner. While Curtis’ sister & family were here for the week, we got to babysit and play with our 2 cute nephews. Lots of fun!!

I got off all antibiotics on Jan. 9th and 3 days later when I was back at the doctor’s office I was sick again and right back to where I was a month ago when we started all the antibiotics. The last day of my IVs, my port had completely stopped working. We had a bunch of tests done that week to 1) see why it wasn’t working and if we could get it to work and 2) to find out if there were other reasons why I had done a complete turn- around so fast. (FYI-a port, or Porta-Cath, is a very long lasting central line that is completely under the skin. When it’s time for IV use I just insert a needle into the drum of the catheter and we’re ready to go. This is very nice since we don’t have to find and poke my veins for IV use!) The next week (Jan 18th) I went back into the office and went straight to the hospital. My oxygen was low and my breathing test was down to 30%. I had no objections to this because I felt that bad. I was also quite depressed because of being sick for so long.

My hospital visit was long and busy. I was on oxygen 24 hrs for almost 5 days, I had surgery to remove my port (which I’d had for 9 ½ yrs….apparently a new record. Most only last 5 yrs. It sounds like it had started to fall apart because it had been inside my body for so long). I had a PICC line placed in my arm for my IVs, which I was getting every 4 hrs! I also did breathing treatments/airway clearance with respiratory 4 times a day. I was also supposed to eat all the time (kinda hard when food doesn’t taste good and I have no appetite.) And I was supposed to get rest during all of this???? (I did get lots of rest in between and it was very nice!) The last day I was in I had surgery to place a new port that is now on the opposite side of where my old one was. I was in for a total of 11 days and boy was I ready to come home!!! I felt great mentally and physically. I didn’t even feel this good at Christmas.

After my hospital stay I had to recover from the surgery to put the new port in….which was VERY painful, and try to work up to my “normal” schedule of doing things. 2 weeks after getting out of the hospital I was able to get off my IV and oral antibiotics and was starting to feel like my normal self again. Yahoo!!!! This brings us up to Fri. Feb. 12th.

Fri. night I coughed up some blood. Not too alarming since it happens at least once every couple of months. Saturday afternoon it started again. By Saturday evening I could hardly walk around without coughing up blood and doing my normal breathing treatments and airway clearance caused the same problem. Curtis called a member of the bishopric to come and help give me a blessing. In my blessing I was blessed to have peace, that I would be able to sleep, and that the Lord knew what I was going through and that he was with me every moment helping me to get through this. This helped both Curtis and I to feel better. After eating our dinner, cheese fondue with yummy dippings (which Curtis made all by himself) we went to bed. Sunday morning Curtis went to his 8 am mtg. and I got up to do a breathing treatment and was still coughing up blood. When he got home at 9, we both knew that I needed to go to the ER and be admitted.

We got right into an ER “room” and were there for 4 hrs before they admitted me as a patient. I was put on oxygen, had a chest x-ray, blood tests, a CT-scan with contrast dye, an ultrasound of my arms, neck and legs to see if I had blood clots, and an endoscopy (or tube down my nose into my lungs) to find where the bleeding was. It was then determined that I needed to have a bronchial artery embolization to stop the bleeding. Basically I had some blood vessels that were leaking in my lungs and we needed to stop it. I was finally given to ok to eat at 6:30 pm and was also given 2 bags of plasma because my levels were low. All of this made for a VERY long day. This was not how I had planned on spending my Valentine’s Day, nor was it romantic….but I was able to have Curtis with me all day, so that made it worth it.

Monday morning at 8:30 I was taken down to surgery to have my 4th embolization done. They went in through my femoral vein/artery (I can’t remember which one) on my right side and up into my lungs. While inside they found the major area that I was bleeding from and placed 6 coils inside some of my blood vessels to seal the leak and stop the bleeding. This took about 1 ½ hrs. Everything ran smoothly, but because I had started coughing really hard a couple of times during the procedure (yes I was alert and awake, but sedated) there was concern that I could pop the opening up that they had created and I could lose a lot of blood. So I had to lay flat for about 1 ½ hrs and then could have my head at a 30 degree angle for the next 7 hours and every time I coughed/sneezed I had to put pressure over my incision to make sure that didn’t happen. I was able to move around VERY slowly by Monday night and was released to come home Tuesday late afternoon with strict orders to take it easy and not over exert myself. Don’t worry, I’m not. I have absolutely no energy and am easily exhausted. My lungs are sore and my leg is sore, but it gets better a little each day.

Blessings: Even though the last couple of months have been a huge trial for me, I know that I’m being blessed. My testimony of the power of the priesthood is stronger. I know and have felt the Lord helping me through each moment. He has carried me each time I have struggled to breathe. He has carried me through each moment of the day and night. He has been with me to keep me calm through all of the various tests I’ve had done, the 3 different surgeries I’ve had in the last month, and the many long days in the hospital. He has been with me when I was scared and felt alone. He has been with Curtis and helped him to stay calm, take care of me, and to be able to keep up with work and scouts. He has helped Curtis and I to grow closer together. He has blessed me with wonderful family members and ward members who come over and clean my house, bring dinner over, and help cheer me up. To sum it up: I know that my Redeemer lives to comfort me when faint… to hear my soul’s complaint… to wipe away my tears…He lives to grant me daily breath…He lives and loves me to the end…He lives and I shall conquer death! This all has been a great testimony building experience for us.

Where have the Cahoon's gone?

"Oh where, oh where have the Cahoon's gone,
Oh where, oh where can they be?
With the cute short blonde and the tall bald man,
Oh where, oh where can they be????"

Yes, that was me singing a new song that I thought of last night (to the tune of "Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone"). It is a little dumb, but it made me chuckle. So now for the question you've all been asking: Where have the Cahoon's gone and what have they been up to? I know...I haven't been blogging and I'm sure you're wondering what is going on with us. As usual, we've been quite busy and time seems to get faster all the time. (I swear it was just October 1st yesterday...)

I have tons to blog about but I have many reasons for not blogging (with only some of them listed here):
1) I had sinus surgery in October so I was preparing for that and then recovering from it.
2) We've celebrated 4 birthday's in my family since I last posted.
3) I've had reviews to write, changes to make to plans, and weekly paperwork to write up for work (which is more of a priority than blogging).
4) I'm trying to leave the computer available to Sam when she is home so that she can use it to do all of the homework that she has.
5) The final reason is because I'm trying not to spend all of my time on the computer....so I've tried to limit myself the the amount of computer time I have each day. While I don't have a "magic number" for how long I can be on, I do try and limit the amount of time I'm on facebook, reading others blogs, checking & writing emails and all together sitting in front of the computer. I do have lots still to do on the computer as I need to use it for work and my callings (Ward bulletin & Ward historian) and it all never ends!

I will do my best to catch up on blogging....it just may take me another week or two (or maybe for Christmas to be over...) for me to be able to have the time I need to catch up. We'll see how I do...wish me luck!

Catching Up

Ok, so I thought that I would be really good at blogging...but this summer was crazy busy with both of us working, scouting things, and me being sick. So here I am, posting 11 new blog entries in one day. Since this is like my journal at the moment, I really wanted to get these posts up. Yes, they are kinda long and have lots of pictures, but there was a lot that went on this summer with lots of fun memories too. Enjoy!

Temple Square

Our last day of our weekend get-away, we went to Temple Square. Heather, Ben, Spencer and Matthew came with us too. It was such a beautiful day! We didn’t stop and look at a lot of things, but we enjoyed trying to keep Spencer occupied. We found and stopped at almost anything water related (fountains, creek, pool) that we could find and it was soooo much fun to watch his excitement. Thanks for the fun enjoyable day!

Ben putting air in the tires while Spencer shows

Matthew how to drive the stroller

One of many stops along the creek in front of the Conference Center

At the reflecting pool

"I could stay here forever, this is fun!"

Salt Lake Temple and reflecting pool

my angel

some of the beautiful flowers at Temple Square

"Hello Aunt Sara!"

riding the escalator...."can we ride it again Mom?"

After eating lunch, he had fun playing on these

"I just won the race....Yahoo!"

This represents our marriage...

Curtis, Sara & Christ

Shores' family photo
What a cute family!!!

Cahoon family photo

Weekend get-away at SLC

After a very busy summer, Curtis and I were able to finally find a weekend to get away together. To save on money, we decided to go and visit his sister Heather and use her “guest suite” over Labor Day weekend. While we were there we had fun visiting, watching college football, and playing with our nephews. When we first got there Spencer saw me and said “Curtis?” and started looking around for his uncle. Uncle Curtis and Spencer were buddies most of the weekend playing with blocks, spelling words, rolling cars and balls down a long tube, and playing horsey. I did play with Spencer some, but most of my time I was playing with Matthew. All I had to do was look at him and say “hello handsome” and he would light up with a huge smile. I love it!!

playing with the tube

Spencer tried to give Uncle Curtis a horsey ride,
then ran away laughing!

non-stop laughter

the horsey and his boy

snuggling w/Uncle Curtis

5 months old

Spencer has such strong muscles!!

Watching Aunt Sara doing morning treatments....

not really sure what to think about it...

a future missionary....so handsome!!

While we were in SLC, we went and visited my CF Camp Grandma, Carol Wood. My earliest memories of Carol were when she came up to Boise with the CF doctors from Salt Lake when I was around 6 yrs old. When I started to go to CF camp when I was 11, she was there too. Carol would stay up all night with us playing games and she participated in all of the other various activities that we had. Carol had a way to make every CFer feel important and loved. They no longer do CF camp, so I don’t get to see her as much. I think the last time I saw her was about 8 yrs ago when I was at a funeral for one of my CF camp friends. Even though I don’t see Carol much, she still sends me a card at Christmas, and other important events in my life. I was so excited to go and visit her and for her to met Curtis.

We went to Carol’s Sunday night and visited with her for about 2 hrs. It was fun catching up on how she and other CF camp people are doing and reminiscing about the fun times we had at camp. Carol loved getting to know Curtis and instantly loved him. I wish we would have been able to spend more time with her, but I know I can call, write letters, and stop by and visit her when I’m down in the SLC area.

Carol Wood & I

Sweet Corn

This year my Grandma Myers called and asked if we wanted any sweet corn that my uncle grew on the farm for the family. I was soooo excited! Before my Grandpa Myers passed way and he did all the farming, he planted sweet corn for the family every year. Since his passing, we haven’t had any sweet corn from the farm. Sweet corn is sooo yummy and it’s also great frozen. So Curtis and I went out to New Plymouth on Aug. 17th and Grandma took us to the field and helped us pick about 100 ears of corn. On Aug. 18th, Curtis’ Dad & brother Tim came over so that we could have a “corn party”. I had the men shucking the corn and I boiled it and cooled it. Then we cut it off the cob, measured it and put it into bags so that we could freeze it. It took us about 2 hrs from start to finish. We cooked about 93 ears of corn and got 33 bags that had about 1 ½ cups of corn in them. I know that I’m not in any of the pictures, only because I was the one taking them and was the boss of the whole operation. Thanks Chuck, Tim, and Curtis for all your help! I can’t wait to eat yummy corn all winter!

Chuck & Tim working hard

cooking the corn

Tim & Curtis....goofballs!

Finishing up at the end

(I was extremely tired by this point and let them take over)

The finished product

(please forgive the messy table)