Eviction Notice

Along with the normal hustle and bustle of the holiday season we have had some added excitement. My poor little gallbladder is about done storing bile. As many of you know 5 years ago I had a major attack and was jumping through the hoops to have it taken out and I found out I was pregnant with Ethan. I planned on getting it done post-delivery. Then decided to put it off for just "a little while longer" because I was going to school. I was already an LPN and wanted to become an RN. Then I was in a new job, then I used my time off for a great big cross country vacation, then I got pregnant again, then another big vacation. During these long 5 years I have had a constant ache after eating (almost everything has at least a little fat that needs to be broken down) and multiple pretty bad attacks that have left me feeling very terrible.

So my poor sludgy gallbladder decided to take matters into her own hands. On black Friday I started to have a few pains and that night I became extremely sick. It started at my sister's house. The best part of this was she lives about 30 minutes from my house and she had no water. After an extremely rough night Clint took me to the ER. After quite a few pain meds, anti-nausea meds, a few liters of IV fluids and an incredibly long time on the stretcher we were sent home with orders to call "my favorite surgeon on Monday".

I called the surgeon that I saw 5 years ago. The receptionist politely said my file was "inactive". At work we decided this probably meant "non-compliant". Shortly after scheduling his nurse called to say that prior to seeing the doctor I should have a HIDA scan. Last time I saw him first then never had the scan. He was probably concerned that if too much time passed I would get pregnant or another life event would happen and I would again become "inactive". I had the scan and although my gallbladder does work she does not work very well. I was not surprised by these results and could have saved my insurance and myself a couple thousand dollar test by simply going to McDonald's and then they could watch me vomit, hold my stomach and moan in pain.

After failing my test I saw the surgeon for about 2 minutes and then scheduled the eviction. The surgery is a quick outpatient laproscopic procedure. I will have a few small incisions that are essentially super glued together. One of these incisions is in my belly button. I encouraged him to do a little reconstruction on my belly button. I had it pierced 4 pregnancies ago (need I say more?). I don't think he went for it....but a girl can only hope!

Wed will be the last day I am home to a cranky, ill mannered gallbladder with poor work ethic. My liver will do just fine on her own! I get 2 weeks off from work during this time I will get to stay home and relax and take it easy (minus the 4 kids all home for Christmas break). I have lots of family and friends that are pitching in and so it will be a breeze!

I am actually looking forward to feeling better. I am not looking forward to what may come out of my mouth while starting to go under. I can hear it now "You would not believe what this Pediatric nurse said...".

6 weeks in a nutshell

I can't believe it is already the middle of November. At some moments I (Patty) wonder where the year went and at other times I (Debbie) think it has been the longest year ever! Since Debbie is on a much needed vacation I will focus on the "holy heck this year is flying by!".

Some of the things that have happened so far this fall:

Mason - seems to be having a hard time when I work. He is fine at daycare or with his daddy, but when I come home he has serious breakdowns. It is usually worse my first day home and gradually gets better until I have to go back to work. He has become very fond of kisses. He loves to say "scuse you" whenever he or anyone else does anything that he things needs it (even if it is just a belly gurgling). He loves babies. He is very upset about potty training, some days are worse than others with this (he is the only one that thinks he should work on potty training). He gets upset if he pees in his diaper or if he can't pee in the toilet or if he pees on the floor. He tries to be a big help. If something spills on the floor he tries to wipe it up with whatever he can find (spills do include when he pees on the floor and anything includes my clean shirt that was folded and waiting to be put away and yes this was one incidence). He loves music. He sings when we listen to kids bop -Beattles or the Black Keys in the car. He loves my protein drinks and hides them in his changing table. He also loves to walk around with his hands in his pant pockets. He loves for things to be in place. He is also very particular and if he wants Mama to hand him something and Daddy hands it to him (or vice-versa) he throws a fit and no longer wants it. He likes to show you what he wants and will grab your hand to bring you in there. He has been having a hard time with allergies and we have started him on zyrtec. He doesn't like watery eyes or a boogery nose and will say "eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes" until you wipe his eyes. I can't believe he is almost 20 months old (he is my 4th kiddo I don't count in months anymore so I just had to figure this out).

Little Ethan is still the Hulk. He is a great big brother and is very patient with Mason. He is doing well in preschool and has made some good friends. There is a boy from last year that goes to a different school and a boy at day care that he calls "my best buddies". When he gets hurt he screams it is almost impossible to differentiate from serious injuries (when he fell on the corner of his UNO moo barn and had blood pouring from his forehead or if he just fell and got his hands dirty). He is one of the best sungglers ever! Ethan has always given the appearance of being a tough guy (when he was younger and he would get mad at you he would say "I'm gonna hit you, it will hurt") he is very sensitive to being reprimanded. He has an amazing imagination and is a gifted story teller. He got to go on his first hunt a few weeks ago and can't wait to go again. I treasure our time home together and I am truly dreading how sad I will be when he goes to kindergarten next year!

Mr Jacob is such a sweet guy! Everyday at recess he asks the aids if there is anything that he can do to help them. There is a new boy in his class and his teacher put him next to Jacob. Jacob has been very sweet to him even sharing his supplies when he doesn't have what he needs. Jacob also got to go on his first hunt and also loved it. Jacob loves to make people laugh and has a good sense of humor. He is learning that sometimes although it may be funny, making fun of someone can be hurtful (I remember learning this same lesson since I am a funny girl). He has also recently realized that Ethan is almost as tall as he is and at times struggles with this. We went to parent-teacher conferences last night and Jacob is doing wonderfully in school. He is a super speller almost always getting 9/8 on his tests and his bonus words are very hard! Some of them are: November, October, Autumn, Halloween. He is testing well into the 2nd grade for math and reading. He also has a love for music and desperately wants a drum set! He loves to walk around listening to his ipod. He played football this year and was quite the blocker (sometimes blocking his own team), he also scored an extra point! It was great to see the determination on his face when he played! Lots of the girls like Jacob one day when Noah told him that a girl in Jacob's class thought Jake was cute Jacob replied "A lot of girls think I'm cute".

Last but not least is our decade old Noah. We also had Noah's parent teacher conference last night. His teacher described each student with 3 words. Noah's were smart, polite and kind hearted. She reviewed his scores with us from his CRT tests and he scored almost perfect. He is often a "spelling-bee" which means he scored so well on the pre-test that he doesn't have any spelling homework for the week and he doesn't have to take the test on Friday. Noah is a great help at home and loves to help his Daddy make BBQ. He also loves everything hunting and fishing. He had a great football season! He scored 1-2 touchdowns each game, had a ton of yards, flags, interceptions and blocks for the season. It was great to watch him play. He is now playing basketball and has been having a great b-ball season.

The boys are growing so fast! We are truly blessed to have 4 incredible boys. It is wonderful watching the young men they are becoming!

Positive Patty and Downer Debbie

Normally I am an optimistic person. Each day I find much to be thankful. I truly am a blessed person. Once in awhile life gets a little crazy and I lose sight of Positive Patty and I become Debbie Downer.

I am pretty sure that exhaustion and hormones have nothing to do with this switch. I haven't been able to blog lately because Debbie makes it near impossible to think nice things. If I do think of something I am thankful for Debbie makes sure to attach something negative to ruin the whole thing. At work we have a white board and on this white board is an area that we write what we are thankful for. Usually I can think of a number of things to write. Sometimes they are profound and sometimes it was something funny that someone said and I am thankful that I will have that little gem to laugh about later (these are often courtesy of Mo...).

Today I am thankful to say that Debbie has gone on a much needed vacation and Patty is back. I got a couple good nights of sleep (even though one wasn't super great because Mason coughed so hard he threw up at 4am and decided it was time to stay awake, Patty doesn't mind). I also have great family and friends that are extra supportive when Debbie visits.

So now that Patty is back I will work on updating this blog more frequently!

Clint Cannon's series of unfortunate events

A few weeks ago started "Clint Cannon's series of unfortunate events". He started a welding program in August at the local collage. The first few weeks were book work then they started to weld. He purchased the required protective gear including a welding helmet they carried in the bookstore. It is the traditional helmet not an auto darkening helmet (this is important piece of info). During class he diligently practices his welds always wanting them to look better then they do. I think he may forget that he has only been doing this for a few weeks and it will take a lot of welds to make them perfect. One problem he has is that if he gets himself all set-up and has the helmet down and he goes to arc (guessing on technical terms, sometimes when he is telling me them my brain goes waaaa waaaa waaaa) it may have moved just a tiny bit making the weld less than what he hoped for. Sooo he decided to loosen his helmet so he could have the visor up and then when he was ready he could just nod and it would fall down and he wouldn't have to move his hand from the welder. He practiced this 10 or more times and it worked except for the time he actually started welding. That time it got hung up on one side and did not fall down to protect his eyes.

He got a flash burn which is a burn caused by the UV light or essentially a sunburn to his eyes. He was only able to see red out of his right eye and his left eye was about 50% limited in his vision. Of course during all of this I was at work. Friends took him to quick care then to the eye doctor and home. Prognosis -flash burn, Treatment - no light for 48 hours, eye patch to right eye, Tylenol 3 for pain, rest. We made it through the weekend (that I was suppose to work) with help from great co-workers and supervisor that let me do some creative changes. Monday his vision was better and by Tuesday it was really good.

Tuesday after class he decided to go to the gym. I was excited that he was feeling better and decided once he got home I would take a nap. After picking up Jake from school I found Clint lying on the floor in the bathroom sweating, pale and vomiting. He had no depth perception and vision was once again severely limited in his right eye. We took him to the eye doctor who said his eye was fine and it was something behind his eye. So 2 days later we had an appointment with his primary doc. She was concerned that it could be optic neuritis which can be a symptom of MS and multiple other things but to diagnosis it you need an MRI. It is also important that if it is optic neuritis you have treatment immediately. To make sure that Clint had his MRI that day he needed to be admitted to the hospital.

I was able to get Clint on the pediatric floor where I knew the nurses, they have nice big rooms for our half dozen children to be able to visit and since my mom was visiting I would be able to stay with him (in case he got scared in the middle of the night). He had an overnight stay and we found out that his optic nerve was good, he had a small pineal cyst, and his sinuses are very bad.
Yay for the optic nerve! The pineal cyst is very small, lots of people have them and are not a big deal and we knew his sinuses sucked. So if nothing is wrong with his brain but he still can't see it must be his eye, right?

Yeah not so much. We went to another opthamologist who did 3 hours of testing and his eye is fine. He suggested we see a neurologist (we had during admission) so we were unsure what to do next. After talking with the primary docs nurse he had an appointment on Monday (eye doc stuff was on Friday). So just wait.

Saturday vision still a little blurry but he was feeling good. We went to Aurora's birthday party had dinner with some family and had a great time. We got home late Saturday night and he slept until almost 10 Sunday. He got up and had breakfast complained of a headache and slept until 3. When he got up at 3 I knew what the current issue was he had a sinus infection. Symptoms - headache, sinus pressure, tired, very crabby, sore throat. Yesterday he woke up and also had a GI bug. AWESOME!

I took him back to his scheduled appointment and he indeed had a severe sinus infection. Now that all the bad stuff has been eliminated from his eye issue it may be caused by atypical migraines or his chronic sinus issues. Treatment - antibiotics, saline wash for sinuses, steroid spray for sinuses, singulair for allergies, motrin for swelling, norco for pain and wait. If his vision is better after the current sinus infection is under control then great, if not then we will try migraine treatment.

So now we will just wait and SEE :)

Monday Night Football

Football season is in full swing at the Cannon house. This is Noah's third year playing flag football with the salvation army program. They usually start the program when they are in second grade but this year the first graders are getting to play. It will be fun to watch Jacob play as well.

I feel that I have pretty fair expectations of how much athletic ability to expect from each age group. I know that the younger guys get board and may be dancing around in the back field. I also know that they will have simple plays and they will be hesitant this year. Each year they seem to grow into their bodies a little more and it sure makes a difference! The last few years Noah has really figured out how to use his long legs when running. Tonight he scored his first touchdown of the season and the only touchdown of the game. He ran for a total of about 110 yards with 85 of those being for his touchdown. It is fun to watch!

That being said I felt like I was going to have a brain aneurysm on the sidelines. I cheer for all of the kids and have been known to clap for either team if they do well. I also am very thankful for the coaches/referees that volunteer, but if you don't know the rules what are you doing on the field?? Most of our game was spent in huddles. There is a time limit on the amount you can spend in a huddle. Also no one knew if they were suppose to change directions at each quarter or just halftime...hello?! Even I knew the answer to that one. One very nice parent did volunteer to referee and he said that he was unsure of the rules, so he had the rule book in his hand and read it as he went.

At one point during the game the other coach did something that was illegal and then said "oh yeah I was suppose to say we were going to punt". smile, smile.

Yes when it comes to games I am a rule follower. Rules are for a reason. They make things fair. If everyone follows the rules then you won/lost fairly. I warned Clint that he may have to be the parent referee at Sat's game. He better brush up on his flag football rules....I will be watching!

Remembering Me

October 14th Noah will be 10. For the last 10 years I have had the most amazing job in the world! I have loved motherhood. I have loved my role of shaping these boys. Teaching them right from wrong, teaching them to love family, to care for others, among so many other things. It is a lot of work to raise good husbands and that is my goal. Some of the other roles I play on a daily basis: wife, housekeeper, chauffeur, nurse (at work and home), referee, teacher, hairdresser (mohawk, spiky or handsome), bather, butt wiper, entertainer, silly mama to only name a few.

My typical day off (from my paid job) goes like this: wake up, start coffee, cook breakfast, get Mason from bed and changed (the bigger boys have an alarm clock), take a shower, take Noah and Jake to school, start a load of laundry, eat a little breakfast, find something to entertain Mason, do breakfast dishes, more laundry, check my online banking (and a few minutes on facebook), change Mason's diaper, get Ethan from school, feed Ethan and Mason lunch, try to eat at the same time unless Mason is REALLY fussy, change Mason, put him to bed, do laundry, pick up the living room, (today I painted the dining room during naptime), sweep, laundry, continuing to find something for Ethan to do during quiet time, get Mason up from nap, change his diaper, get Jake from school, snack time and homework for Jake, if the weather is bad pick up Noah, Noah's homework, cook dinner, dishes, football practice, home, bath for Mason, Ethan and Jake shower then Noah showers, quick snack teeth brushing, story, bed.

So during these days I forget about me, I fill sippy cups and make lots of chocolate milk, I wipe butts, sing silly songs and do silly dances for the boys. I just want to start remembering me. Just for a little bit. Obviously this is a little difficult with days off like above and a full time career. Today I started making a list. A list of things I would like to do at some point just for me. Not only am I making the list, but I am going to start crossing things off.

Here are a few things on my list:

• learn Spanish
• take a photography class
• learn to scuba dive
• swim with a dolphin
• go sky diving
• learn to play the piano
• read 50 books of the BBC list of 100 books
• learn to make a killer cupcake...from scratch
• take a cake decorating class - fondant and gum paste

I have many more things on my list and I will continue to add to it as I think of more. I am very excited. I love all of the roles I play, but once in awhile I am going to work on remembering me.

Viva paper towels and sausage links

Yesterday I was thinking about Viva paper towels and sausage links. Or more accurately sausage links wrapped in viva paper towels. Crazy I know. The reason I was thinking about this was my Grandma would order an extra side of sausage links and then wrap them in her paper towel to take home. I always miss and think about my Grandma B. but this time of year is especially difficult. Tomorrow would have been her birthday. I wanted to write down a few things that remind me of one of the strongest women I was lucky enough to know and love!

• ked shoes
• Flathead lake
• 5th wheels
• Cheese ball puffs
• circus peanuts (the candy)
• RC cola
• Talk shows
• Game Show Network
• Yard ornaments (particularly burros)
• Native American dolls
• crochet blankets
• romance novels
• 8-tracks (I always wondered about her fat tapes in the Pontiac)
• Sweet peas
• Bright, tacky t-shirts
• any holiday decoration that sings/dances
• Halloween cupcakes
• Big Christmas trees
• Bon-bons
• Turkey and mayo sandwiches
• long fingernails
• sitting on the couch with your legs tucked underneath
• wordfinds/crosswords
• puzzles
• swap meets

So many more things that I had to stop (I actually can barely see the screen because of the tears).

My Grandma was such a strong, unselfish woman. I have so many wonderful memories from the time I was very little. I spent much of my summer camping with them and countless nights at their house for sleepovers. I know that she is in a better place but I still miss her! I fell blessed that I am her oldest grandchild. I knew her as a child and I also knew her as an adult. She was able to meet and hold 2 of my boys. I wish she could have met the other 2 and all of the other great-grandchildren yet to come (from the other grandkids....we are done :) ).

Thanks to her I have learned to love unconditionally, to care for my family no matter what. I have also learned to do things for myself to make me happy. Grandma you are always in my heart and I miss you!