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! ; )