Last Post of 2009

Well, I'm about finished getting all ready to go out for the evening. David and I are going out with a group of friends and I'm the Designated Driver. I don't mind one bit because I haven't had a drink since my birthday dinner last June. Not that I was ever much of a drinker, but I sure don't need those empty calories. I've come too far in my weight-loss journey to start adding it back now. By being the DD I'm going to make a few bucks tonight. YAY! It's going to be so much fun! I'll try to make a post tomorrow about our magnificent evening.

I wish you all a SAFE, HEALTHY,

and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Family Photos

We had our family photos taken on 12/23/2009 by Holly Austin.

I LOVE them!!!

You can visit her site at portraitsbyhollyaustin.blogspot.com. I highly recommend her!

Good-Bye 2009!

I think it's safe to say that we're officially in our final hours of 2009.

Thank goodness!!!

I have mixed feelings about the past year, but that's life, right? While 2009 was a very difficult year, I do have much to be thankful for. I had some great accomplishments and made some wonderful memories.

2009 has flown by.... Thank you and good-bye!

Christmas Past & Present

We've been making positive changes this year.

I'm SUPER addicted to exercise and being HEALTHY!!!!

Christmas 2008

"With man this is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible."

- Matthew 19:26

"I Can Do ALL Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me"

- Philippians 4:13

Christmas 2009

ARE YOU READY TO RUN WITH ME???

Meaning of Christmas...

The real meaning for Christmas?

"For today in the city of David there has been born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

I pray that is the real meaning of Christmas for you!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Free CHRISTmas Music

I think YOU should go to www.lifechurch.tv/christmasmusic for FREE CHRISTMAS MUSIC. My friends, JT and Marcy, sing a couple of the songs. I went to UCO's School of Music with them. Ahhh, the memories. Enjoy!

Proud Sister!

I'm a proud sister!

My brother shot his first deer on December 1.

Way to go, bro!

I Registered!

I'm officially registered to run

the HALF MARATHON at the

10th Annual Oklahoma City

Memorial Marathon

on April 25, 2010.

13.1 MILES!

A Non-Turkey Thanksgiving

David and I weren't able to spend Thanksgiving with our families this year. We stayed back in St. Louis and celebrated together with our pup, Ethan. David wanted prime rib for Thanksgiving so that's what we had and it was wonderful. He did a great job preparing it for our feast. We also had garlic cheddar mashed potatoes, green beans, caesar salad, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Yum!

OUR 6LB PRIME RIB.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!

PRIME RIB: A BEAUTIFUL CUT

TWO THUMBS UP FOR MY NEW THANKSGIVING TRADITION.

FIT BEFORE FEAST!

I WENT FOR A NICE RUN BEFORE MY THANKSGIVING MEAL.

PRIME RIB WITH PENZEY'S ENGLISH PRIME RIB RUB

THANKSGIVING TABLE

ARTSY SHOT

ETHAN LOVED HIS FIRST PRIME RIB

DAVID'S GIANT PLATE

ETHAN MADE A HAPPY PLATE!

"Here's to all you poor fella's forced to choke down dry turkey today. Enjoy."

MY FANTASTIC VIEW!

MY SWEET PUP LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW

HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFULLY BLESSED THANKSGIVING THE ONES' YOU LOVE.

At A Stand Still

WARNING: Weight-Loss Rant!

I was doing such a great job with running, working out, and eating right which led to some great weight-loss. Darn it if that surgery didn't get the best of me!!!

About 2 weeks before my parathyroidectomy I came down with a horrible cold. I struggled to NOT workout because I didn't want to make matters worse. I was hoping that I'd only miss a week or so of working out versus a month. Making myself sicker was not a risk I was willing to take.

I wasn't completely recovered from my cold yet when I had my parathyroidectomy. I was still having some drainage issues. Well, my luck just doesn't seem to be getting any better. While I was in the hospital I gained 4 lbs. 4 POUNDS!!! That's a lot in just two days. I didn't actually eat a whole lot while I was in the hospital because my throat hurt so badly. I guess the weight gain came from all the fluids they pumped me up with and the lying around.

I'm trying my best to recover from this surgery and move on, but it's rough. I did not expect it to hurt this badly. I want to go for a run on Grant's Trail more than anything right now, but just the thought of it makes my neck ache. My head and neck still feels like it was bashed in with a baseball bat. I am sore!!! I quit taking my pain meds because they make me nauseous, but I may just have to look past that. I cannot live in pain!

Well, the scale was finally in my favor yesterday. I finally reached my pre-surgery weight. I've had a personal goal to lose another 15 by Christmas, but I don't know if that's a reasonable goal now. I don't want to make excuses for myself, but the parathyroidectomy really did set me back. Maybe it's time for me to reevaluate the situation and possibly change my goal date to Dec. 31st. I think losing 15 more pounds between now and 2010 sounds more reasonable. I don't know??!?!!

So I'm not sure what I'm going to do today. I should fight the urge to run and just go get on the bike at the gym. At least there wouldn't be a lot of head bobbing with the bike. I've just got to get back on the weight loss wagon and kick it into high gear. My personal 15lb goal would get me to a fantastic overall weight loss number for the year and would be one of the best Christmas gifts ever.

What do you think? Any suggestions???

A Real Pain In The Neck

This post is about my parathyroidectomy experience.

CAUTION: If you have a weak stomach, you won't want to read this.

Disclaimer: This may make zero sense because I'm still on pain meds and am pretty loopy.

= )

I arrived at the hospital last Thursday, Nov. 5 at about 11:40am. I met the entire team who would be working on me and they were awesome. They began prepping me for surgery right away and ran some labs to find my current calcium and PTH levels. I was wheeled back to the OR just before 2pm. I remember moving to the operating table, seeing the lights above, but that's about all. Thank goodness for modern medicine!

The surgeon removed my enlarged lower right parathyroid gland, froze it, and sliced it open only to realize that it wasn't the problem. While I was still opened up they pulled out the other right parathyroid gland and were right on that time. My PTH level was immediately in the normal range after they removed the 2nd right parathyroid.

During the surgery they took blood from my feet so they could run labs without being in the surgeons way near my head and arms. My right foot has 5 holes from the needles and a lot of bruising. It's very sore. My left foot only has a could of holes and some minor bruising. I thought this was odd because I'd never had blood taken out of my feet before this experience. I've been poked and prodded all over and have quite a few bruises.

I was in the Operating Room for over 2 1/2 hours. After they were finished the wheeled me to the recovery room. My memory of that is really foggy. All I can recall is having some ice chips and David talking to me.

They finally wheeled me to my private room at 6pm. The medical staff checked my vitals regularly and pumped me full of pain meds. Sadly, the morphine didn't work so well so they ended up switching me to something else. It tastes horrible, but it's better than trying to swallow something with a super sensitive sore throat. They ran labwork every few hours and my ionized calcium was too low. This kept me in the hospital for an additional night. It wasn't until Saturday morning that my left parathyroids decided to start working a little. The poor little guys have basically been dormant for over 6 1/2 years. That's a long time.

Other than having to stay 2 nights, my experience in the hospital really wasn't that bad. I guess it may be because I went in with low expectations. The food was tolerable (or maybe I was just really hungry), the staff was extremely nice, and my private room was clean. I never had to wait long when I called for a nurse either. Not that I ever want to go back to the hospital for anything, but I would feel comfortable going back if I had to. It also helped that my Mom was there with me the entire time. She was a Super Trooper and even stayed both nights with me. My Dad was there quite a bit too, but he also took care of the dogs which was a huge help. My Parents were lifesavers and I don't think David and I could have gone through this without them.

I'm so thankful for all the prayers, concern, and

encouragement from everyone.

I really appreciated all of the visits, phone calls,

cards, artwork, balloons, flowers, and hot meals.

I am truly blessed to have such wonderful

friends and family.

Here are a couple of photos of my new "beauty mark."

11/05/2009... A few hours after surgery

11/6/2009... The morning after surgery

My friend, Gretchen, made the comment that I'll

"always have a smile."

I thought that was cute and it's something

I'll always remember.

I finally received good news on Saturday morning. My ionized calcium level was safe enough for them to release me. It took a few hours for the nurse to discharge me. She had to gather all my paperwork, scripts, etc. She also had to remove my IV. I was so sick of having that thing in all the time! When she took it out she bandaged me well, but as we were going over the paperwork my blood began spraying everywhere. I'm not kidding! It got all over my jeans, bedding, and the floor. The nurse quickly yanked the bandage off and applied pressure with a new one. She said I had a nice 18-gauge IV in me. I guess that's a good thing, but it can be tough to bandage up. It definitely made for an interesting morning.

My entire neck is extremely sore and I can't move it much. All of my neck muscles are sore and bruises are starting to appear. My skin is sensitive from all of the pulling and tugging too. I was pretty naive about all of this and thought it would be a simple outpatient surgery with little pain, but I was completely wrong. It hurts!

Now, I think it's time for some more pain medication.....

Surgery Time

My surgery is tomorrow!

I'm holding together pretty well considering that I'm about to have my neck sliced open anywhere from 2-6 inches.

I'm so thankful to have a gracious God

who comforts me and gives me peace.

I have to be at the hospital at noon and the surgery is scheduled for 2pm.

Please pray for me, my surgeons, medical staff, and my family.

Thanks!

Love always,

Jenn

Fall Photos

I set my camera on my trusty tripod today and took some fall photos. Sadly none of the family photos turned out too well. Ethan wasn't in a cooperative mood today.

Here's a couple of individual shots of me and Dave.....

I wasn't going to shoot our family photos until closer to Christmas so we could put them in our Christmas Cards, but my upcoming surgery gave me a sense of urgency to take one last photo before I'm sporting a new "beauty mark." I'm having surgery this week! It was scheduled for 2 days before Thanksgiving, but they called to reschedule since my surgeon has decided to go out of town for that entire week.

I spent 5 hours at the doctor's office on Friday for my pre-op appointments. It included the normal office visit, visit with the anesthesiologist, poking and prodding, and more testing with the nuclear medicine department. My new "beauty marks" will make their appearance on Thursday, Nov. 5. Prayers would be greatly appreciated! ; )

1 More Down.....

David completed his Pediatrics clerkship on Thursday. He took the shelf exam on Friday and was home by noon. It was great!

I didn't sub on Friday due to a nagging cough and scratchy throat. Sadly, it hasn't gotten any better over the weekend. We've been trying to make the best out of my sickness by hanging out and running errands around town.

I went back home to OKC for a couple of days during Fall Break. It was very last minute, but it all worked out just fine. David was scheduled to be On-Call which means that I would have been by myself at home just about the entire time. That's not how I wanted to spend my Fall Break, so I searched for a decently priced plane ticket online. Thank goodness I found one!

My Dad picked me up from the airport and we went to visit my Mom at her work. She and her coworkers were happy to see me. After visiting them we headed back to my parents house where my bro and his fiance picked me up. We went to look at a place they were considering for their reception dinner. My bro gave his approval and they booked it. Hopefully this place won't go out of business like the place they had already booked. Luckily they're able to keep the wedding on the same date. I'm very happy about that.

My bro and his fiance dropped me back off at my parents home after our little adventure. I hung out there and played with my white furry brother (Jasper, their dog) until my Mom got home. We were all hungry so we went to Walmart to get salad supplies and to Papa Murphy's for some pizza. After we returned to the house I went for a run. It was so nice! I never noticed all the hills in their neighborhood before, but I sure noticed them when running. ha! Soon after my run, my bro and his fiance arrived and we all ate dinner together. They left shortly after dinner and my parents and I went to the Edmond SFHS Football Game. I just HAD to see my old HS band march at half-time. That's the only reason we even went. We showed up with about 7 minutes left in the 2nd quarter and the nice ladies working the gate let me in for free to see the band. I'm so thankful they let me do that. The band was as awesome as it's always been. I was hoping that seeing them march would give me my marching fix, but it only left me wanting more. Sadly I have to wait until next year.

My Mom took me shopping while I was in town. We went everywhere! I made a couple of purchases and she purchased a few staple items for me too. The things I'm most excited about are my new running shoes, dress shoes, dress pants, work shirt, and running shirts. We found some amazing sales while we were out too. It was a fabulous day! All of that shopping and running around town helped me lose a couple more pounds. I told my Mom that I should shop like that more often if I could keep dropping pounds like that. Too bad I couldn't afford that habit.

I went out for dinner with my parents that night. The restaurant was amazing! I have known the owner for a few years. She's incredibly talented. I wish I could have put her in my pocket and taken her home with me...... that's how great she is!

That's just a little summary of what's been going on with us. There are some other things that will be coming up soon, but I'll keep you posted on that at a later date.

David starts NEUROLOGY tomorrow.

Wish him LUCK!!!

Hope all is well!

Working Girl!

Flu season is here! That's bad for teachers who have the flu, but that's good for me.

Flu = Work = Money!!!

I subbed M-F last week. I taught 6th grade Math, Kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade (same class on Thursday and Friday). It was so much fun!

While I do enjoy working and having some sort of income, I do hope all the teachers I subbed for are feeling better.

I still hope next week will be as busy as this week. I am losing weight and needing to purchase some clothes that fit. = )

Boomer Sooner!

Oh, YES!!!

OU won the game against Baylor!

September Summary

I can hardly believe that September is almost over. So much has happened this month and I really haven't blogged about anything. The best way for me to update ya'll about recent happenings is to just post some pics with brief captions. If you're super interested in knowing more about something, then post a comment and I'll go more into detail.

Here we go.......

Schlafly's Art Outside 2009

I assisted my friend, Rachel (also a Med Wife), with her first art festival that ran from Sept. 11-13. Of course, I only helped her on the 11th while her hubby was in class. We spent 4 hours setting up her booth that day and then it opened for business. I enjoyed learning some of what artists go through at this sort of stuff. It was really hard work putting up the tent, display shelves, and lighting. I have to say that my favorite part of setting up was putting out her beautiful ceramics. I loved every single piece. Rachel is quite the artist!

2nd Annual Strides 4 Kids

Bagels from St. Louis Bread Company (aka Panera)

These are a must for after a race!

A couple of Med Wives and a tiny tot participated

in the 5K.

Way to represent, ladies!

Fuze was one of the sponsors. I just LOVE this stuff!

......And they're off!

The group of volunteers. Most of them are

Med Students and spouses.

Go SLU MED!

I was the official event photographer for the

Strides 4 Kids run that was held on

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. The money raised goes to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Great job to everyone who participated!

**I'll be posting all 900+ pics on my website soon. I'll provide the link soon, so stay posted!**

Great Forest Park Balloon Glow

My parents were in town Sept. 17-19. We had so much fun! On Sept. 17 we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. This is one of my favorite restaurants. I had a house salad, sirloin steak, and green beans. I suggested the sirloin beef tips with mashed potatoes for my parents and they were impressed. They don't usually go to Texas Roadhouse, but I wouldn't be surprised if they started going there more often. After dinner we went to hear the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra perform a free concert on Art Hill in Forest Park. The weather was perfect for an outdoor concert and the SLSO played magnificently! We took the pups and they also enjoyed the performance.

The next day was filled with shopping and spending time together. My parents treated us to a few things while we were shopping. I'm actually enjoying some if it right now in my coffee. I got a couple bottles of sugar free Torani syrup. Yum! Thanks for spoiling us, Mom & Dad! Ooh, and my Dad put a new watch battery in my Nike sports watch. I have about 3 sports watches and 10 casual/dress watches with dead batteries (yea, I sorta have a thing for watches... love 'em!). I'm not really worried about the majority of them since I'm not working a whole lot right now, but I am so glad I have a working watch to wear on my runs.We went to the Boathouse that evening for dinner and then walked over to the Great Balloon Glow in Forest Park. It was so neat! We've all been to balloon glow's before, but this one seemed so much better.

There were tons of balloons!

The next morning (Saturday) we went to try out Crepes in the City for breakfast. Wow! This place was amazing! I still can't stop thinking about how delicious everything tasted. The atmosphere was very relaxing too. This is definitely on my list of favorite places to eat. I can't wait to go again. Oh, and if you ever give this place a try, I highly suggest ordering the Zamba on the sun-dried tomato crepe. So good and decently low-carb.

My biggest loser plan is going really well. I wish I could lose weight faster, but that's just because I'm an American girl that wants instant gratification. I know it's not healthy to lose as fast as I'd like. I'm not posting numbers or anything, but I'm half-way to my goal. I'm down a few clothing sizes, my rings no longer fit, and most of my shoes sound like flip flops because my feet have shrunk at least 1/2 a size. I'm not complaining, I'm just sayin'. I had a gigantic pile of clothes that kept accumulating. Thankfully I was able to find a couple of accepting people to take it off my hands. I'm glad they were able to find some good use for all of my clothes that no longer fit. Several of the items still had tags on them. Lets just say that my approach to shopping is going to be completely different when I redo my wardrobe one of these days.

More on that later.

David finished outpatient pediatrics and his week in nursery. I'm so glad he survived. In case you didn't know, David isn't too fond of other peoples kids. Nothing personal, that's just how he is and he's always been that way. I am happy to report that he was successful in nursery and even changed

some diapers. That's a first!!!

David started inpatient pediatrics today. I'll try to keep you posted on that one.

I've been subbing a little bit here and there. Sadly, I didn't get a call today. Hopefully I'll get one tomorrow. I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday. That's gonna be interesting and probably determine what the next few months have in store for me. Wish me luck!

I am happy to report that I do have sub jobs booked for this Thursday, Friday, and Monday.

Thank goodness!

Well, my time is up and I need to get out and enjoy the weather. It's currently 59 degrees and windy here in St. Louis. It's actually what I call

"Oklahoma Windy!"

Love it!!!!

Time for a run! = )