me to a T - Tracey Odachowski

I was sitting in the NICU, having my first glimpse of my newborn son with tubes and wires. Thank you, God, those tubes only lasted a few hours. And three days later we took him home. Lightly put, as Gabe’s teacher, Mrs. Bennett, said today, “Five years ago today, God blessed a family with a beautiful baby.” (of course, Chris quickly whispered, “and cursed them every day since.”) Just kidding - he has been an utter blessing, though I could have done without the five months of colic.

About Friday…it was a great day. I just didn’t get the chance to post it all then. Friday, I met the new love of my life - my orthopedist! And for the first time in 1 1/2 years of pain, I finally have ANSWERS!!! PROGRESS!!! RESULTS!!! A PLAN!!!

First things first - about the tumor on my leg. I got to see it (on the MRIs and X-rays) - kind of freaky. You can see my femur (large bone in upper portion of the leg), and then there is the white mass in the middle of it. On cross section in the MRIs, it fills the bone marrow cavity. But it has clean edges, which is a good sign - most likely benign. Dr Reed estimated it to be about 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches. So, tomorrow I have to call to get a bone scan scheduled. This is a scan during which they inject dye into my vein which is taken up by the tumor. Then the 1st scan. A few hours later, they scan again to see how much it ‘took’. This will indicate whether it is metabolically active. We don’t want it to be! If it is showing activity, I will meet with an orthopedic oncologist and go from there. If not, we will leave well enough alone and check it every six months to monitor for growth/changes. Let’s pray for the latter, ok??? But Dr Reed is very optimistic. A bit concerned that the area aches every once in a while, but things should be good. So, let’s stick w/ that idea b/c I’m in a good mood and want to be positive.

So, now on to the great part about Friday. She knows what is wrong with me! And she is supportive! And she is getting stuff DONE! Man, this chick rocks! Really - when I walked in there Friday, I truly was reaching the edge of what I could handle mentally from this whole crap w/ my hip and back. The disability denial; my regular practioner not always the best; 2 failed injections into my hip to try to reduce the pain…shall I go on? Nah…let’s get to the good news. According to her, I have Sacroiliac joint dysfunction. Let me break that down…you know the 2 dimples you have at the base of your back/top of your butt?? (c’mon, even skinny people have these, not just me!) Ok - that is the SI joint. Usually, this joint has VERY little movement. However, during pregnancy, the joint relaxes to accomodate the baby. AFterwards, it usually goes back to normal. But mine was so severe and the nerve irritation in the area so bad during Emily’s pregnancy, it’s still around. Add to that the fact that it has been misdiagnosed, mismanaged, and even more irritated over the past year, it is still here in full force.

So…progress…physical therapy in the military sucks. It is no where NEAR the caliber of therapy I was receiving while I was in California. Here, it was actually made worse. Dr Reed got around this by also stating that I have pelvic floor dysfunction. Let’s not get into all that…I’ll just simplify it by saying the military doesn’t do therapy for that, so it imediately gets refered to the network (i.e., civilian therapists). I get to find a therapist that specializes in treatment for my disorder, AND is close to my home. YAY! Can you give me a HALELUHAH!!!

Also, The Most Excellent Dr Reed as specifically stated on my evaluation “pt not able to return to work as a nurse estimated will be unable to return for approx 6-9months more months.” Take that disability insurance. Believe me now??? Ok - it really sucks that I STILL can’t return to work as I’m really itching to, but at least now, hopefully, that little statement will help me win my appeal and I can get paid again. And we can go out to dinner again. And did I mention that I’d really love to have a cleaning service come in here? Just once???

More about the fabulous Dr Reed - she even gave me her pager number and email address. Ok. This just DOESN’T happen at the military doctors, so this is unprecedented. Did I mention how much I am in love with this woman? I think she must have thought I was crazy. But she was pretty crazy, too. My kind of woman. Laughed and cursed the whole time I was in there. She was good therapy. So, this week, wish me luck…the writing of the disability appeal letter finally begins.

Ok, Eddie…I didn’t mention Battlestar in my last post. That would be because it wasn’t ON yet when I posted! Ahh, yes, if you look at the time of the post, it is 38 minutes after it ended, but, alas, the time on this thing is 4 hours off, and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out the code to change it. So, here it is…you see, folks, my sci-fi-crazed hubby has made me obsessed w/ Sci-Fi channel’s series “Battlestar Gallactica.” And, besides the fact that there is some great eye candy on there, it’s a pretty darn good series! We just can’t wait for Friday nights to roll around! Accept, of course, when they break the bad news to you that the season is over in SEPTEMBER and won’t be back on again until JANUARY!!!!! FRACK! (yup - that’s how the get away w/ ‘cursing’ on television - they say ‘frack’ instead of another word. I kind of like it! Cracks me up!) So, go ahead. Make fun of me - I’m a sci-fi freak and I LIKE it!!!

Ok…I have rambled enough. This is so long I doubt anyone will read it! Nighty night!!!

Ok. For those who don’t know, I am the self-proclaimed pumpkin queen! MMMM!!! So, as much as I dislike the actual cold weather, I look forward to fall b/c I know I can satisfy my inner pumpkin child! So, I will try to keep everyone updated on all of the current pumpkin sightings in the world!!!

The latest: Pumkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Frappuccino at Starbucks!!! Oh, and for you ‘I only drink low-fat’ people…The wonderful girl at the Buck yesterday happily made mine lowfat by mixing the pumpkin frap mix w/ the lowfat coffee frap mix. While it was quite good, I later realized that it would have ROCKED if it had been mixed w/ the lowfat CARAMEL mix!!! Next visit….or maybe I’ll hit the drive-thru for breakfast tomorrow…

I feel like I’m neglecting the blog this week! Well, I am, really. Super busy this week. Thankfully, I have tons of projects for Creating Keepsakes due, so I’m busy working on those. Not to mention a couple of other little scrapping things that I would like to get done. But, alas, deadlines loom.

Of course, it doesn’t help that this week I just plain hurt. Poor Emily just loves to be held, and it gets a bit hard sometimes. Add in having to bend over to pick a ton of toys up off of the floor every day, and it equals one hurt mama. Vicodin just isn’t doing it this week. But, I have 5, yes 5, doctor appointments next week, so maybe we will find out more. Including the first appointment w/ an orthopedic surgeon, so perhaps he will be able to shed some light on the situation w/ this mass in my leg. Ugh. No one who is 29 years old should be worrying about crap like this. Not to mention, I’m starting to realize just how much OLDER I look in the past 1 1/2 years - this stuff really has aged me. I’m ready to start looking, and feeling, young again!

Sorry - I guess that is most of what is on my mind lately. Kind of boring to read about, I guess. But, I’m just keeping my chin up!!! What else can I do??

On to cuter things…I’ll leave you w/ this…my new favorite page. Isn’t she just darling???

Well, Ophelia is on the way. But things *should* be ok. So that’s the bad news. The bad good news is that the Left MRA came back negative. Good that it is negative, bad that we STILL don’t know what is wrong. Ugh.

The good news is that I decided to start a Thought of the Week. It won’t always be as complicated as this one, but I like how this one made me think of my school days. So, if you blog, feel free to cut and paste and think back to your school days, too!!! So, without further ado, the first weekly thought of the day!!!

• What were your favorite and least favorite subjects? Why?
-favorite - Choir. By Far. Wish I could still be in that class. I love to sing. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mrs. Wright (now known as Mrs. Jones!!!) She’s the Queen Bee!!! Also, human biology. This was one of those easy classes I took my senior year that really clinched me becoming a nurse; least favorite - Geometry. not because i did bad, because I actually got an A. Math was one of my best subjets (680 on my SATs!). But this one I hated b/c of Mrs Heher! UGH! That woman was the devil incarnate! Although Josh Spinak made this class alot of fun - man, we came up w/ some of the best jokes in that class!

• Who was your favorite teacher? How did he or she inspire you?
-Back to Mrs Wright on this one. That woman has such strength. And she is the only teacher I know that could discipline you and you actually feel bad about it; and WANT to do better! You WANTED to make her happy. She is awesome. I went through so much with her - her husband passed away the first day of my sophomore year. Our class just seemed to be so close with her. Gosh, I miss seeing her. Really need to make it back to Parkside for a concert…
Oh, and if Peter is reading this, you were my favorite college teacher!!! I mean, heck, you trusted me w/ your daughter!! Although, there was something about being lectured about Genetics over dinner that was annoying. But if you fix me some risotto, you can lecture anything!!! I REALLY miss your risotto!!!

• Who were your school friends? Are you still in touch with them?
This is sad, but the only person (besides family) that I keep in touch w/ from HS is Gretchen! And I REALLY need to go visit her! Thank goodness for email. But college was wonderful for me. REally made some lifeling friends there. Between the ‘8 is enough’ girls, Stacy, Michelle…the list just goes on. I mean, we have a hierarchy of marriages that were a direct result of the one before it!

• Were you popular? Were you unpopular? How has this affected your feelings about yourself in your adulthood?
I was always one of those tweenies. Not exactly the totally popular crowd, not the unpopular one either. I was the one that made friends with just about anybody. Of course, there was the strange fluke that nominated me as the “Biggest Airhead” of the Senior Class…still can’t figure out how I beat Jenny Morris on that one! And my college wasn’t really one that separated it much. But I suppose I was pretty popular there - class secretary, IOC secretary… As far as how it has affected me now…Don’t really know that it has. I love the friends that I made, and I wouldn’t change it.

• Were you involved in extracurricular activities? Are you still interested in those kinds of activities?
Oh, good grief, what WASN’T I in??? Hockey, cheerleading, choir, drama, track and field, all sorts of clubs, gosh, I don’t even remember them all. I’d have to pull out my yearbook. Hockey and choir interests are the ones that have stuck with me. I always loved doing all of the school artsy projects, too - just a precursor to my scrapping, I guess. Like the big sunset mural I painted for one of my college dances!!

• If you could re-live your school days, what would you change?
Not a darn thing. I can’t change the way people reacted to me, and why should I change myself? Ok…I wish I had better self-esteem back then. It has taken a while to build that up in my adult years. And I think w/ better self-esteem I wouldn’t have had such a temper in college and would have avoided alot of situations that I wish I could forget. But, thankfully, all of those situations have been resolved. Adulthood is a good thing.

Check it out! One of my latest projects…I designed a kit for the Home Scrap Club. So much fun!!!

Home Scrap Club @ My Scrapbook Nook

Random things heard today from Gabe in the Odie Household…

“Daddy, Chewbacca will handle it.”

“Mommy, I want you to take a nap. I’ll tuck you in.”

hehe…Chris and I just got alot of laughs out of him today. I know there were tons more, but I can’t think right now. These definitely were some of the best, though.

Highs…got a lot of great assignments for the mags this week. VERY excited to do some of them! And, money right now is a VERY good thing.

Lows…getting down again waiting for all of these crazy test results. I went back to Portsmouth today to have the MRA of my right hip -all went well. But I was hoping that they would have the results of the left hip one…the one that hurst…nope. Evidentally it has been ‘examined’ but not ‘transcribed’. Annoying. Very annoying. So, now I have to wait another week or more. I just want to know. Though, the same doctor who injected the dye last week did it today also and said that, on his end at least, (which, is pretty much just an xray), it looked fine. Which, really, isn’t what I want to hear. I need an answer. I need a reason WHY I’ve been hurting for 1 1/2 years. Why I’m limping across my house. It is NOT all in my head. I FEEL it. And SOMEBODY needs to tell me WHY.

So, I sit and wait, still on the other side of the stethoscope. Very annoyed.

Look at this!

Scrapvillage.com

(scroll to the bottom of the page!)

AND THIS!

Featured Artist - MEEEE!!!!!!

HOW COOL IS THAT??!?!?!?!?!

What an honor! I am soooooo crying over what some of the City Planners had to say about my work. Kind of makes me look at my work in an entirely different way - helps me realize just what is unique about my scrapping. Oh, my chest is just swelling with pride right now!!! Had to share!

Whew! I’m finally back to the computer. After a day of running around Friday, and a day-long party Saturday, I took the last to days to recoup. Ah…rested now. It was hard on me, but oh so much fun. Being with family is always wonderful. And I just LOVE throwing parties! This one went great. When Gabe couldn’t seem to figure out what theme he wanted for his party, we decided LUAU!! Ok. This is THE quintesential Odachowski party theme from now on. Everyone even dressed the part! Hawaiian shirts EVERYWHERE, baby! Even Chris bought one! (that’s a big thing - trust me). I was lucky enough to find an hibiscus hat, and the kids had stuff in their closet already that were perfect.

But, in all of my planning and telling people to dress the part did I EVER expect this to show up at my house:

BWAAAA HAAA HAAAA!!! Ok. Eddie went a LITTLE overboard - but HILARIOUS! But, man - tan that belly! Gabe kept telling him that his coconuts were for girls. (hehe) And Cathy, without even thinking told him she wanted to take a picture of his ‘chestnuts.’ Now, she just thought she was saying the wrong kind of nuts…I call it a Freudian slip!!! Get it? Chest-nuts??? hehe

Anyway, here are a few more pics…me w/ both kids in front of Gabe’s cake; And the ever popular 1st birthday cake fiasco pic. Chris even decided to give her TWO pieces! Yeah, she’s in love w/ that stuff! Cries for some every time we bring leftovers out of the fridge!

And, after receiving a bunch of gift cards, Gabe went on his first shopping spree today and got 2 Thomas trains, his first globe of the world, a Matchbox plane, and Cheetos. (Yes, the boy wanted Cheetos)! Emily got new shoes. Nothing else yet - I was done with shopping at that point.

So, that’s our weekend in a VERY small nutshell. Happy Labor Day!