Thank a Soldier

My Dad in Korea Watch HERE

Another Busy Week but No Baby

The week started off with me using a third of my liquid esophagus medicine in 6 days. It's suppose to last for thirty days and at this rate I won't even be close to having enough and with a $50 Co-Pay it irritates me to say the least.

With the warmer weather comes strawberry picking season. We put it off last year and missed the whole two week picking season so we were out there on the first day . . . the second day . . . the third day. Now they know us on sight. We still aren't tired of them

Later in the week Ella thought we should have a tea party. Sammi kept spilling the "tea" so I just pulled her chair into the living room and let her join us then Ella took a couple of pictures.

The next day she thought we should snack outside

and pulled out every unhealthy snack we had in the house.

We also spent some time putting together this 150 piece puzzle.

She did most of it herself!

We ended the week with a week end trip to PA to see Tom's stepfather (That sounds so weird but I think "his mom's husband" sound impersonal. They were married after Tom left home so we never really got close to him). He had a near death experience with an aneurysm (only 1 in 10 live through this type) but he is doing so well we saw him come home.

Charlie only lives about 2 and a half hours from PA so

I called him and had them meet us there for the day. It was nice to get in a quick visit with Wyatt. Great Grandpap & Great Grandma were happy to see him too.

There's always got to be a cookie involved.

While we were in PA we got a call from Jennifer saying she was on the way to the hospital. Her due date is May 28th and after a nap she had some bleeding and the baby hadn't been moving. We were all scared for a while but after a trip to the hospital they decided that it was just normal signs of imminent labor so then we got excited. We made it home in record time and took possession of this big boy

Labor didn't happen last night so we had to give him back. Hopefully my next post will be about the birth of his sister.

My Endoscopy

Tom got tired of seeing me stop and catch my breath or run to the bathroom after a single bite of food and made me get an endoscopy. I had been diagnosed with GERD many years ago and have taken medication on and off but really figured "it's just heartburn". Guess what? NOT SO
The doctor's actual words were "You're a mess". The three major problems were A large hernia in my chest hence the chest pains and shortness of breath. I'll have to have this operated on but he wants to clear up my esophagus first.

This is what my esophagus looks like. He diagnosed me with Barrett's Esophagus and did a biopsy. He said he would call if it came back as cancer and it's been a week so no news is good news. He has me on a couple of medications, one (with a $50 co pay!) is a liquid that I have to take 30 minutes after every meal. What a pain since I don't eat three large meals but munch all day because of . . .

my stricture which is a closing of the esophagus which doesn't let food all the way through hence the constant reflux & nausea with most foods. Some things settle really well, mostly bakery (bread & DONUTS) right now. He suggested an "anti-reflux"diet which among other things says to stop drinking coffee and alcohol and eating chocolate. The alcohol isn't a problem and I should have known this since it burns as it goes down but the coffee and chocolate is a problem that I'm working through.

I also need to have a couple of tests done on my stomach to see why it's backing up. Those tests are somewhat invasive and I have them scheduled for June 7th and 8th and a follow up endoscopy on June 9th.

I was shocked that I was such a mess. I let my family know and they told me to be a little more serious about my diagnosis. It wasn't until I was talking to my sister that it hit me that all this seems so very familiar to me because three years ago when my father was in the hospital for routine surgery they tore his esophagus and the pictures they took looked very much like mine and the tests and the procedures they are talking about doing are the same as they did for him. I didn't want to compare the two because his was so much more serious because of the tear and the lack of the doctors to recognize the tear until his chest was full of everything he was eating and drinking and of course the fact that it killed him. I do wonder though how long he had the ulcers and if it ever gave him pain that he ignored.

What a Difference a Year Makes

This( click HERE) was us last Mother's Day. It was also my 50th birthday and all I wanted as a gift was to be together. Thomas took some bautiful pictures and made a slide show and it WAS the best gift ever. We ALL returned to the same place this year and Thomas once again took pictures for us. We have one more person this year and will have two more next year.

Let us know which picture you think should be

hanging on our wall

1443