What Happens When You Procrastinate

Last Tuesday I went in for my yearly woman exam. When I got there, they did the usual vitals and what not and then told me that it looked like I hadn't been in for my exam in five years. I was shocked. I looked at the nurse and said "No, are you sure?" She looked at my chart again and said "Yup, looks like 2005 was your last one". I started feeling nervous because five years is a long time to go and I kept going over it in my head. Why the heck had I let it go so long??
She took me back to the room and then Dr. B came in. He has been my Dr ever since I was pregnant with Caitlyn and I love him. He asked me how I've been and I told him I have apparently been very busy since I hadn't been in to see him for quite awhile. He laughed and said he knows how that can be. Then he proceeded to do the exam.
After he was finished, he told me to go ahead and schedule my appointment for a baseline mammogram. Both my grandmothers had breast cancer so he wants me to start early so he can monitor me. When he gave me the paper for scheduling, he said to make sure I got it done before five years. I laughed and promised I would.
Now the Dr's office uses the "if your test is normal, you won't hear from us" system. Friday of last week, I missed two calls from the office. They did leave a voicemail. I started panicking. I tried calling the office but it had already closed. I even had Charles call the answering service to see if he could get a hold of Dr B. but they told him that they only take calls of an emergency nature. Did they not understand that this was an emergency! How did they expect me to go all weekend long not knowing if something was wrong? Charles tried to reassure me several times that I was fine and not to worry. Easier said then done. I must have listened to the voicemail a hundred times, trying to decipher it. The nurse had said to call at my earliest convenience to go over my test results. Ok, earliest convenience. That could mean whenever I felt like it right. It didn't have a sense of urgency. Then I thought, well maybe they changed the procedure and they call with normal results as well. I clung to that hope all weekend long.
Monday morning, I was up at the crack of dawn and my stomach was all twisted in knots. The office opens at 8:30am and I was already dialing on the dot. It took me about four times before someone answered. Then I heard the dreaded words. "Your test came back abnormal" My stomach literally dropped. She then when on to explain what it means. What she didn't know is that I had already spent nearly the entire weekend googling and researching what an abnormal test means. So I already knew what to expect. I was in such a state of shock that I really didn't hear too much of what she said. She then told me I need to come back in for another exam and possible biopsy. The first available date was March 8th! March 8th?? Seriously. I asked her if it was ok to go that long. She said yes, but I was not convinced. Then she said it looked like they had a cancellation for 9:30 that day. I told her I'd take it. I was not going to wait a whole month.
It was already 9:00am and the office is about 20 minutes away so I had to run upstairs and get Carson out of bed and dressed in like a minute flat. He was all groggy and crabby but he at least cooperated. Charles drove us, thank goodness he hadn't left for work yet.

We arrived at the office with five minutes to spare. Signed in and was quickly led back to the room. Nurse took my blood pressure and noted that it was particularly high. You think? She then took me back to another room to await Dr. B.
Dr B. came in and as soon as I saw him, I burst into tears. He gave me a hug and told me everything was going to be fine. He said that the test showed abnormal cells and that it wasn't cancer but left untreated it could possibly turn into that. He basically equated it to going to the dentist and the dentist finding a cavity. He said we know what the problem is so we just have to fix it. He also said that of all the women he has seen that has what I do, that it has never progressed into cancer once they had treatment. He then did the exam and also a biopsy. He said once he gets the results from the biopsy he would call me and then let me know which sort of treatment I would have. There are four possible procedures. Two involve a trip to the surgery center where as he stated "they would give me a couple margarita's in my IV. Did I mention how much I love Dr. B.? After he talked to me and reassured me a dozen more times that everything would be ok, I felt relieved. I trust him completely and if he says I'll be ok, then I believe him. He always takes time to explain things until you fully understand and I never feel rushed when I see him. As I was leaving he told me that if I needed anything to call him right away. He made me promise I would.

So now I am patiently awaiting the results from the biopsy, and I'm actually calm about it. I know I am in good hands and have complete faith.

Baseball and College

It's been a pretty quiet week so far. Pre-baseball season activities are in full swing for Charles, Colton and Chandler. There have been practices practically every night. Charles asked Carson if he wanted to play T-ball this year. I held my breath waiting for the answer, which thankfully was "no". I don't know how we could handle four different schedules. We would never be home! I'm sure by next year, Carson will be interested.

Caitlyn sent in her application for the community college here in town. She wants to study Psychology. Her plans are to go to the community college for two years and then transfer to Ohio State. I'm so proud of her for finally getting her career goals in order. I'm sure her plans will change somewhere down the road but at least she is thinking about it. For awhile there we weren't sure if she had any goals. She never really talked about what she'd like to do. I remember being her age and not having a clue as to what direction I wanted my life to take. Looking back now, if someone had told me when I was 18 that in 20 years I would be married for almost 19 years and have four children, I would have told them they were crazy. Funny where life takes you.

Carson's new saying is "Tomorrow for sure" Every night before bed, he gives me a hug and a kiss. When daddy asks him for a hug and a kiss, he replies "tomorrow for sure". So silly! We weren't sure where he had learned that from until one morning we were having breakfast and Spongebob was on tv. During one of the episodes Patrick said that very line. Gotta love Spongebob.

Caitlyn Is Now Legal!

My Caitlyn turned 18 on Sunday. I'm still in shock as to how fast time has flown by. Seems like only yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Our first child. What's even scarier is that we were only two years older than the age she is now. Crazy!

Saturday night we took her to the Cheesecake Factory. She had never been so she was pretty excited. We only had to wait about an hour and a half which wasn't bad for a Saturday night. We were able to go hang out in Barnes and Noble until our table was ready, which was a relief since Carson is not a patient boy. Dinner was delicious and the waiters all came out to sing Happy Birthday. It was a fun night.

When we got home, we had cake and ice cream. Caitlyn is currently obsessed with zebra print so I had baked and decorated a cake with zebra stripes. I think it came out pretty well if I do say so myself. Especially since I am in no way a professional cake baker or decorator!

Now it's on to planning the next birthday which is Carson. He wants a Batman theme so I'm on the lookout for a Batman cake pan.

Looking thrilled at Barnes and Noble. She was starving.


Happy Girl


New Zebra purse stuffed with gift cards.


The Fam








The Cake- The middle is actually hot pink, it just looks orange in the picture.

Indoor Weekend

Due to the large amount of snow and how cold it was, the only place I ventured out to this weekend was the grocery store.
Friday night, Colton and I watched Terminator Salvation and Public Enemies. Charles was watching too, but not even halfway through Public Enemies, he fell asleep. How can anyone sleep with Johnny Depp on the screen??
Saturday, I spent cleaning up Carson's room. Which involves me just throwing everything into the closet. This is actually a daily event because just as soon as I have his room cleared, he gets into the closet and drags everything back out. I really need to go through all his toys and get rid of the one's he doesn't play with anymore.
Caitlyn, Cody and Colton (hey, I just realized that Cody fits right in with all the other C's in the family LOL) all went to see a movie Saturday night. They wanted to see Brothers, but ended up seeing The Blindside. They said it was a really good movie.
Sunday I made Brunch. This has become a new tradition. Colton has baseball practice early on Sunday's so it's perfect. I get to sleep in a little and then I start cooking around ten and have everything ready by the time he and Charles get home at eleven. I also decided that we would use the dining room on Sunday's, mainly because the room is only used on certain holiday's and it seems like such a waste of furniture not to use it more often. We have Sunday dinner in there as well. The kids feel all special because on holiday's they have to sit in the kitchen since there isn't enough room for everyone. Another bonus is I don't have to dust the table as much since it gets more use.
My New's Years resolution this year is to cook everyday and only eat out once a week. Usually we do pizza on Friday's. So far I've done really well. I've made some new recipes that have quickly become favorites.
More snow is being predicted this week. Next weekend is Caitlyn's 18th birthday so I'm hoping it won't be too bad since we are taking her out for dinner. She actually gets to celebrate her birthday all weekend long because Cody is taking her out Sunday so we are taking her out either Friday or Saturday depending on which day she has to work. Busy weekend for her!

Snow Day

This is what we woke up to this morning....













That and the sound of happy children who did not have to go to school today.



This is how Colton goes out to retrieve the garbage cans in the freezing cold....




Brilliant isn't he??!