Finally liquids

 

Yesterday they started potassium. I had two bags. This morning they tried to start a third but my vein blew and the saline and potassium started just going into my arm, so they stopped iv. I am currently waiting for someone to come and run another iv so we can start the saline, and potassium back up. My arm is a bit swollen. It’s almost time for another antibiotic bag as well. On a good note, they are going to let me try clear liquids today.

They forgot to bring me lunch so they scrambled to get me broth tea and ice for my ginger ale

My feast and the first time having Ensure. This apple tastes pretty good

Letter from my granddaughter

 

The letter my granddaughter Lilly sent me, she was crushed that she was too young to visit me. She even made us into two Narnia Characters. These are memories to last a lifetime. Feeling blessed.

The mirage of an Oasis

 

Finally, they are letting me have clear liquids. Apple juice, water, and ginger ale.

Update: Shortly after they gave me liquids they took them back away someone made a mistake. So I am back to no solids or liquids only iv fluids, antibiotics, and the small sips of water to take any of the pill forms of medications that I am on. I can’t even chew gum because it stimulates my belly and colon. My mouth and throat are so dry.

At least I have lip balm to keep my lips moist. I had a very uncomfortable night but did get a few hours of sleep. The team and my Drs checked on me this morning they want the antibiotics to get a good hold before reintroducing liquids or solids so not sure how long this stay will be. Thank you to everyone for the calls, texts, comments, and prayers. They mean so much. Hugs

They are keeping me in the hospital

 Update, they are keeping me, I have another infection (diverticulitis), another mass that wasn’t picked up during my colonoscopy in August in my sigmoid. They have to move my cancer removal (right side) operation further out to let me heal unless there is an emergency. I have had two different cat scans, a leg ultrasound, blood, and urine taken. Had new specialists, teams of specialists, surgical teams, and most of my Drs checking in on me, either by phone or actually visiting, even those who don’t practice here. I feel I am in good hands and blessed. The road isn’t always easy but glad to be taking this journey with Jesus by my side.

Sent to the ER

     I wasn't feeling well when I saw the Gastroenterologist last Tuesday, they were hoping it was just the new foods introduced causing my colon to work harder but it has gotten progressively worse even with going back to a low residue diet, so they want me to go to the ER at Albany Medical Center just in case. My daughter is on her way to take me.

    While I am waiting for my daughter to pick me up to go to the Er. I thought I would update the plan. Like I said I saw my Gastroentrolgist last Tuesday and that visit went ok, it was just talking about our next steps with them, our next appointment, what to do if I get sick, and setting up an appointment for Dennis to be seen next time we go in. Just so you know the age is 45 now not 50 to get a colonoscopy.         

Wednesday the surgeon's office called to set up testing to see just where the cancer is and if it has spread. Thursday my surgeon called to let us know that the second pathologist confirmed that it is Cancer and wanted to set up my operation date for early October.

    His plan is to use the robot to do my operation if applicable, which is also depending on if the Gynocologist wants my ovaries removed, or if I have a bleed or any other complications, I might lose my colon and end up with a bag, then he would have to do a larger incision. I also have to go for an ultrasound of my legs to check for any blood clots before the surgery as well as having a covid test.

    As of right now I also have to go into the hospital 2 days prior to the operation so that they can start my IV for my bleeding disorder. They are going on at least a nine-day stay with no complications. Of course, right now with me not feeling well I might just be in there until I heal after the big operation so I, Dennis, or my daughter Nesie will be updating everyone as much as they can when I am unable to. I am taking my phone, tablet, and charging cords so I can update as much as I can. Keep the prayers coming. Hugs.

Health Update

 Between homeschooling, family day, Narnia Night, and having my granddaughter over for the weekend, we have been super busy. Also, we were hit with a lot of information and are still sorting things out. First of all, when they find cancer they like to come up with a plan within the first 30 days. Because of my other health issues, it will take a bit more time to sort out.

I have to get my Gynecologist to contact my Surgeon to see what his plan for the growth on my ovaries will be. When and if they cut me they want it to be once. My biopsies have been sent to a second pathologist for more testing. Also, I have to have more tests to make sure my cancer has not spread. They don't want to do anything with my diverticulitis right now unless it is an emergency and I was told I could eat anything as the seeds, nuts, etc are only a myth (so many Dr.'s and patients disagree with this).

We talked about weight loss surgery but we have kept food diaries in the past and I eat less than most people so my weight gain doesn't match my intake, so maybe more movement is needed which has gotten seriously less over the last 13 years due to pain from my fibromyalgia, back, and of course more weight gain from not moving as much. There just isn't an easy answer to all of this. To be quite honest it seems like we don't have all of the information we need yet. So until the Dr.'s talk, the results from the pathology come back, and I get more testing we are at a standstill.

I am sorry I don't have any better news, my health issues just make it extremely hard for the Dr.'s to come up with a plan to treat or medicate me. I hope to have more of an update in the coming weeks. I am scared, this isn't easy on me or my family. We are just praying and taking one day at a time, enjoying the time we have together, and finding joy in each day, until we can take the next step. Thank you to everyone who keeps asking how we are doing and for updates. Keep the prayers coming. Hugs.

At a standstill

    Between homeschooling, family day, Narnia Night, and having my granddaughter over for the weekend, we have been super busy. Also, we were hit with a lot of information and are still sorting things out.

    First of all, when they find cancer they like to come up with a plan within the first 30 days. Because of my other health issues, it will take a bit more time to sort out. I have to get my Gynecologist to contact my Surgeon to see what his plan for the growth on my ovaries will be.

    When and if they cut me they want it to be once. My biopsies have been sent to a second pathologist for more testing. Also, I have to have more tests to make sure my cancer has not spread. They don't want to do anything with my diverticulitis right now unless it is an emergency and I was told I could eat anything as the seeds, nuts, etc are only a myth (so many doctors and patients disagree with this).

    We talked about weight loss surgery but we have kept food diaries in the past and I eat less than most people so my weight gain doesn't match my intake, so maybe more movement is needed which has gotten seriously less over the last 13 years due to pain from my fibromyalgia, back, and of course more weight gain from not moving as much. There just isn't an easy answer to all of this.

    To be quite honest it seems like we don't have all of the information we need yet. So until the doctor's talk, the results from the pathology come back, and I get more testing we are at a standstill. I am sorry I don't have any better news, my health issues just make it extremely hard for the doctors to come up with a plan to treat or medicate me.

    I hope to have more of an update in the coming weeks. I am scared, this isn't easy on me or my family. We are just praying and taking one day at a time, enjoying the time we have together, and finding joy in each day, until we can take the next step. Thank you to everyone who keeps asking how we are doing and for updates. Keep the prayers coming. Hugs.

Not just any Pop it

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So the girls and I mean all of the girls in our family love these Pop Its, so when I saw it in a game form I knew we needed to have one so I placed it on my wishlist. Low and behold one of the companies wanted a review so who am I to turn them down when I knew this would give some cheer to two of my favorite girls. Luckily my granddaughter was over this weekend so they both were able to open this surprise together. They were really excited, just check out my video here.

Years ago we had a small circle pop it game, you know way before they became popular. Now we see them everywhere but there are only a few that caught my eye. This one is one of them. I am so glad they are enjoying the time together while playing a new game together.

Being only three years apart they still like a lot of the same things which makes gift-giving really easy. I like easy and I love making them smile.

If you are interested in this pop it game which included a set of dice check it out below.

Narnia Night

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Some of you might remember that we started family reading. Kind of like a book club for our family so we could read the same book at the same time.  We usually have discussions on it and when there is a movie we would also celebrate the ending of the book with the movie and then critique it to see which parts we liked best. Spoiler for our family it is usually the book that wins. 

Our first book was "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" written by C.S. Lewis. You can read all about why we started family reading here. We just finished reading it this last week and set Friday as our movie night to enjoy the book we read in movie form. We chose the 2005 version. We also ordered Turkish delight to have as a treat during the movie as a surprise for my daughter. 

We bought both the fruit and nut versions of Turkish Delight because we couldn't decide. 

My daughter called earlier asking us to watch my grand daughter for the weekend we call her Beaner. Of course we said yes. We enjoy almost all of the time we have with our grand daughter. My hsuabnd and I had decided earlier in the week as we were nearing the end of the book that we would make it a themed night so we served buttered toast with Sardines, cut up boiled eggs, and tea as well,  before we pulled out the Turkish Delight just as Edmund was about to bite into his piece. 

My grand daughter really was excited about everything and wished she had read with us over the summer. We told her she could still read the next book we pick out with us. We now have really neat gadgets and apps like facebook messenger, zoom, etc to be able to do everything in real time together. This whole thing really got my daughter excited about reading more books as well. 

We are going to go back and read book one in the series since for some reason I didn't know that this wasn't the first book. That is OK though, sometimes that is just how you find a new author to read, and then go back and read all or most of their books. I can't count how many authors and book series I started in the wrong order and have gone back and read them in order, and then picked up other series they have written and read those as well. 

Was Family Reading worth it? For us it really was and I hope to enjoy many more books with my family in the years to come. Here is to a new family tradition. Are there any new tradtions you have added over the last year? 

Aging and changing up your skin care routine.

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Getting older has many challenges. One of them are menopause or in my case perimenopause. On top of that add hypothyroidism. Saying my body has been through a lot this last year is just a small view into the whole picture. So here I am changing up all of my lotions because my skin is just so dry. On some areas of my body you can actually peel inches of skin off at a time. Gross I know. 

With my feet I have found that they also needed a new cream. My tried and true just isn't up to par against this new stage in my skin life. I was happy to be able to try out pureauty naturals foot cream. Below you can see day one and day nine of my foot cream. 

Yes I know others have much worse dry skin then this but my feet were actually the last part of my body to start drying out. I believe in working to stop things before they get out hand. I found this cream much less creamy then what I had been using making me doubt it would work but low and behold it is getting the job done. 

 

Overall I was very happy with this cream and found the best time to put it on was after washing and drying my feet. I usually put it on before turning in for the night so it can work while I sleep. What I love about this cream is that it is made in the USA and is animal cruelity free. 

Currently I have been trying out lotions and creams for my body, hands, feet, and face to see what will work best for my aging skin. I think we have most of them narrowed down but I can say what works for one person may not work for you. Everyone I have spoken to has suggested a different cream or lotion to try that worked best for them. Hardly any of them worked for me. 

No one suggested this for my feet I found it by doing this review. You just never know where you answers will come from. If you are dealing with dry skin don't give up there has to be a product out there that will work for you. 

If you would like to try pureauty naturals foot cream check it out here. 

Wet or Dry it does the job

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I am always on the lookout for a wet/dry mop that will work on our floors. This one from Reenliv is a good one. We really like how it came with three re-usable pads which can be washed and used over and over again. Another thing this wet/dry mop has that others don't have is a built in wringer which is great if you are using it fully saturated. Our other mop does not have this option but it does have a sprayer attached which is awesome that this one does not have. 

The only problem we really had with this is that the mop will not fit into a regular mop bucket. It is just too tall. You would need  one of those tall utility buckets like you see on construction sites to be able to use this right or maybe a tall wastebasket. Other then that it is a good item. I love how it rotates so that it takes up less room when being stored. 

In our home we use this mainly for just collecting dust from under the beds and furniture, but we always know that if our other mop breaks this can quickly take its place as both the wet/dry mop that it was meant to be. Check it out at Amazon.

 

From Dry to Supple

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 My daughter has been dealing with sore dry cracked lips. It really came out of no where an in the middle of the summer. Nothing seemed to be working. We were lucky enough to be able to try out pureauty naturals collagen lip mask which if you look from the first treatment to day 9 of treatment you can see just how much her lips have healed. 

Of course I am no scientist to know if the lip mask really did anything or not but we were using our regular lip balms with no results and the pictures and her smile are enough for me to encourage me to keep this on hand in the future just in case. 

We love that it is made in the USA, is cruelty free, and is easy to apply. It has a minty scent but didn't cause any irritation to my daughter while using which is a big factor when you are trying to heal something. Lips are so delicate. 

If you are interested check it out by clicking the product picture below or at the top of the post.