Sunday, December 31, 2006

John Edwards - Off To A Good Start!!!





I did it!!




My surgery was December 27th at 1pm. It's now December 31st and I am just now updating my blog. I'm not yet at a point where I would say "I'd do it again in a heartbeat" but I am sure I will be at that point once I get this dog gone jp tube taken out of my abbdomen.

Dr. Boyce is a wonderful, thorough surgeon. I can't believe that I was not more nervous than I was. Don got to stay with me until they took me to the holding area. When they took me to the holding area and away from Don, I briefly got nervous. But, once I was in the holding area - there was the nicest nurse and the craziest guy named Alex. He had me cracking up and giggling the whole time I was there.

Once I was in the operating room - the team seemed so "together and so professional". I was asking about Dr. Williams because I knew he assisted Dr. Boyce a lot and they told me that he was doing another procedure and that they had me well covered and I would be well cared for.

The nurse put the mask on my face and told me I'd be asleep in about 3 minutes. Then she told me, in about 2 minutes.... that is the last thing I remember until there was Don and Lisa and I needed to pee. They kept telling me to go ahead - that I had the cathertar. I wanted that GONE! So I wanted to get up and get walking. Once you walk 100 ft. you can loose the cathetar.

I barely remember them removing it but I remember being glad that it was gone. :)

Dr. Boyce came in the next morning at 7:30 and explained to me that there had been a complication and that my surgery had been difficult. He told me that my small intestine was shorter than average so he had to stretch it to meet my new stomach and that was going to change my planned diet by a few days. No protein drinks, just clear liquids.

I got walking. Several people visited that day. I'm blessed to have good friends and people that care about me so much. I wish it had worked out for my Mom and Aunt Linda to have come.

The next morning, Dr. Boyce was in my room at 6:30am. Bright and Early!!! He was glad to see that I was awake and sitting up. It wasn't exactly by choice but I didn't tell him that! :) He thinks that I am going to do WONDERFULLY! I think I will too, once I get this JP Drain out!!

I had the nurse from %#@ Thursday night. She was horrible to Don. I would get up to go to the bathroom, which was an ever lovin' production. Don would have to disconnect the air pressure booties that rubbed my feet to help prevent blood clots, he would have to disconnect my iv, help me with my JP Drain - all to go to the bathroom or walk. AND it never failed, ever time we did this - whether it was to walk or go to the bathroom, she'd come in right as we got back to my chair or bed and start fussing at Don for me not being hooked up.

She also reconnected me to the pulse ox machine which was a pain. She did so for "her own piece of mind" even though my o2 levels never were below 96.

Friday was a new day and I got to go home. There truly is no place like home. And three days in the hospital will definately make you appreciate that. Things have been going fairly well. I have had a tremendous amount of gas. I have been getting very close to getting my liquids in but not quite 64oz. I felt a lot better once I started getting the protein in the atkins drinks.
Don's going to try putting the flavorless protein in some sugar free jello and see how that does.

Don has been amazing. He is truly the best husband any one could hope for. He has helped me do everything from bathe to go to the bathroom. He strips my jp drain and changes the dressing. He gets my fluids every 15 minutes and keeps the logs of my input and output. He measures input and output and keeps that log. He helps me do my arm and leg exercises and keeps that log.

He started drinking slim fast and eathing healthy choice meals. I know he is going to loose weight right along with me. Hopefully, by the time we are in NY during spring break for his week long class - we will be 40-50 lbs lighter.

Katie is going back and forth. One minute she is concerned about me and wants to help Don and the next minute she is in her own little world wanting to play video games and listen to her ipod. I guess that is typical for a 7 year old. She was very loving before I went to the hospital though. She was worried.

I guess that is it for now. I miss being on the go, working on my eBay store, seeing my Sunny girl, Sam and I am very anxious to get on the move again. I'm anxious for Kelly to get me a plan to follow after month one!

This is the last day of 2006. It is Don's and my 15th wedding anniversary. It's also the start of a brand new life. I will face 2007 with excitement and courage to have new resolutions to my life that I will actually be able to keep. I want to get healthier. I want to be a better wife and mother. I want to enjoy small things and not worry so much about big or small things. I want to enjoy my animals - all six of them. I want to enjoy life!!! :)

LA :)

Monday, December 25, 2006

Our Christmas!


We had a wonderful Christmas day! We all three were exhausted and stayed in our grubbies all day. We didn't eat a fancy dinner. We didn't go out visiting. But, we did have a nice relaxing day playing with new toys. For our family - it worked just fine.

Katie did not get to go to the mall and see Santa this year. We just ran out of hours in the day and days in the week. We were driving around with Dad, Marilyn and Gran looking at Christmas lights last night and we were in AC's neighborhood because there are always beautiful decorations over there. We were on a dead end culdesac and all of a sudden - there was Santa. He was in a beautiful Santa suit, deep rich Santa voice and we pulled up to him and he was so kind with Katie. He asked her if she'd been good and she said "Yeeeesssss, Santa"....."well, mostly". :) He asked her to leave him out some milk and he'd be by later... It was the neatest thing.

Katie got her Butterscotch pony that she was hoping for SO MUCH and a gameboy! Don got a Playstation 3 and a TIVO High Def, which were total surprises for him. I got the Parelli Horsemanship items that I really wanted, some scrapbook kits, some Brighton jewelry that I love and a beautiful necklace from Don.

I woke up at 5am and tried to get MomMom on our family's "Christmas Gift" game that we've always had - but she was up, awake and I had no chance!! However, when I was talking to them later in the day - Don picked up the phone and was sneaky and got her! :)

We enjoyed spending the day together. That is definitely another thing that Christmas is about.

The Arrival

I don't currently attend church or have an affiliation with any religious organization. I find it appalling how the religious right and the evangelical movement in this country has presumed to have made themselves comfortable dictating policy in our government, especially when many of the leaders and those who step forward and condemn how "the common man lives" - are hiding many skeletons in their own closet.

Religion and politics were never meant to mix. We believe whole heartedly in the gospel but refuse to go to church and be told how to vote, who to vote for or that "our eternal home is on the line if we don't vote how God wishes".

That being said, I have a very firm faith in My Lord and I have a personal relationship with him. He lives in my heart, my family's hearts and we try to remain firm in our faith even though we seem to be going it alone at times.

The following is my all time favorite story of Jesus' birth. It was the first story that made his birth and the fact that he did actually come to earth for us - seem real.


THE ARRIVAL by Max Lucado
The noise and the bustle began earlier than usual in the village. As night gave way to dawn, people were already on the streets. Vendors were positioning themselves on the corners of the most heavily traveled avenues. Store owners were unlocking the doors to their shops. Children were awakened by the excited barking of the street dogs and the complaints of donkeys pulling carts.

The owner of the inn had awakened earlier than most in the town. After all, the inn was full, all the beds taken. Every available mat or blanket had been put to use. Soon all the customers would be stirring and there would be a lot of work to do. One’s imagination is kindled thinking about the conversation of the innkeeper and his
family at the breakfast table. Did anyone mention the arrival of the young couple the night before? Did anyone comment on the pregnancy of the girl on the donkey? Perhaps. Perhaps someone raised the subject. But, at best, it was raised, not discussed. There was nothing that novel about them. They were, possibly, one of several families turned away that night. Besides, who had time to talk about them when there was so much excitement in the air?

Augustus did the economy of Bethlehem a favor when he decreed that a census should be taken. Who could remember when such commerce had hit the village? No, it is doubtful that anyone mentioned the couple’s arrival or wondered about the condition of the girl. They were too busy. The day was upon them. The day’s bread had to be made. The morning’s chores had to be done. There was too much to do to imagine that the impossible had occurred.

God had entered the world as a baby.


Yet, were someone to chance upon the sheep stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem that
morning, what a peculiar scene they would behold. The stable stinks like all stables do. The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air. The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor. A more lowly place of birth could not exist. Off to one side sit a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him—so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.

Near the young mother sits the weary father. If anyone is dozing, he is. He can’t
remember the last time he sat down. And now that the excitement has subsided a bit, now that Mary and the baby are comfortable, he leans against the wall of the stable and feels his eyes grow heavy. He still hasn’t figured it all out. The mystery of the event still puzzles him. But he hasn’t the energy to wrestle with the questions. What’s important is that the baby is fine and that Mary is safe. As sleep comes, he remembers the name the angel told him to use . . . Jesus. "We will call him Jesus."
Wide awake is Mary. My, how young she looks! Her head rests on the soft leather of
Joseph’s saddle. The pain has been eclipsed by wonder. She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can’t take her eyes off him.

Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel, “His kingdom will never end.” He looks anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. And he is absolutely dependent upon Mary for his well-being.
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat.
Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.

She touches the face of the infant-God. How long was your journey!

This baby had overlooked the universe. These rags keeping him warm were the robes of
eternity. His golden throne room had been abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. And worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds.
Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility. Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking.

Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Well, It's Official!!


My surgery date has been set and I am at the point of no return!! I will be starting 2007 with a New Year's Resolution to loose weight that I will actually be able to keep! For those of you who don't know, I am having the laproscopic gastric-bypass surgery.
I am excited and nervous!! But, after finding out all the information, having my consultation with the surgeon, meeting with the dietitian, and the exercise physiologist - I am so excited!!! My initial weight loss should be drastic and fast!
I am going to update everything on this blog. I am going to try to do so daily. Don is making like a video documentary.

Here is a before picture of me with Katie. I think this is 12 pounds less of my heaviest weight ever.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

It's A Wonderful Life?


It's A Wonderful Life is truly one of my all time favorite movies. Sometimes the holiday season gets jam packed with activities and I end up watching it while I am wrapping Christmas presents but I always try to watch it and White Christmas once during the lead up to Christmas.

Well, I need to drop everything sometime during the next 24-hours and watch this movie. Jimmy Stewart is just awesome and I love the lesson that in this movie. Poor guy, he is always giving and somewhere tucked in the back of his mind are the things he thought he really wanted out of life... and then he gets a glimpse of how very different his life COULD have been... and it shakes him up and makes him realize how truly blessed he is - even though his life didn't quite turn out like he thought it was going to.

Well, I've been slowly getting completely and totally overwhelmed the past few weeks. I began the formal process of trying to get approval for gastric bypass surgery on October 20 of this year. Well, it's good that you have to do so MUCH STUFF for this approval to happen - because it ensures that you are making the right decision but - once things were really in place to go forward - I've been swamped with doctor's appointments, psychological appointments, nutritionist, support groups, etc. My surgery has finally been approved and should happen in the next four weeks. I'm very excited and scared! It's a HUGE step - many people think it's the "easy way" out but that is so not the case.

Aditionally, I have my eBay store which has taken off like a rocket - which is good, right!? I went to an ebay seminar with Lynn Dralle in Los Angeles back in November and came home with a wealth of knowledge, put it into action and WOW!!! I'm just a little online eBay store and my sales have been astronomical for a one gal show the past two months. But, that's just it - I'm a one gal show, except Don helps me with some shipping.

THEN, there is AC. His life has been a crazy whirlwind since his month long European trip this summer. He's fought stage 3 melanoma and dealth with Maxine's spinal/nuerological problems. But, now it is year end and we are swamped trying to get everything done that has to be done... so he's on top of me almost 24/7.

THEN, my family and friends. They should come first and somehow, the past month, I feel like that hasn't been the case. I had worked so hard to get Katie into STAR (www.rideatstar.org). I have had her on the waiting list since she was three and she is now 7 1/2. So, she finally got in and she's been four times and I haven't gone with her yet. I am going today and I'm very excited, because Don has been telling me how incredible it is.

We put our tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving which is our tradition. But, we've yet to decorate it - which is not our tradition. I haven't done anything to our house to make it feel like Christmas. I've done every bit of my shopping online this year except a few minor things last Wednesday night. If I could grocery shop online without it costing a fortune, I'd do that too!

I keep telling myself... just hang in there. In three months, I'll be able to hop right up on Sunny or Sam and go galloping across the pasture with the wind in my hair and there is no stress on the back of a horse.

What's that Will Roger's saying?...."The best thing for the inside of a human is the outside of a horse." That is totally true. Sunny, Sam, Pretty Girl, Zipper, Oz... All of our favorite horses have made a HUGE difference in mine and Katie's life. Don wont admit it - but it has for him too! :)

More later...
LA :)

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Oh What A Night, Late December...


I love that old Four Seasons song "Oh What A Night"... late December back in 63, what a very special time for me.... well, it isn't 1963 or even 2003 but that song has been going through my head tonight. We had such a nice family night tonight and we all really started getting the Christmas spirit so it was just a great time.

Don was off the past three days and tonight was just planned to be "errand night". We picked Katie up and headed off to get her and Don a haircut. We were all three in great moods. Katie's hair has been looking pretty straggly lately and we've been debating whether to continue letting it grow or to cut it short. Well, she has started really getting into "hairstyles" and wanting to have her hair braided and twisted... so of course - she DID NOT want a hair cut. So, we compromised on a trim.

Don's hair was starting to curl so there was no compromising there... he was getting a cut. :)

Anyway, we get to the hair salon and Kim, the gal that was gonna cut Katie's hair was so nice. Katie gets up in the chair and starts telling her that she wants twists and curls. Kim starts trimming her hair and Katie says "are you listening to me?". A few minutes later, Katie decided that she didn't like the amount of hair she was seeing fall to the ground and she told Kim "I'm getting really mad at you... I need to get down now." Maybe it was one of those things you just had to be there for, but it was just funny. Cracked us all up.

Other than that - we just went to Ross and Target and got Christmas and winter related items. Then we ate at O'Charley's for dinner. First time we'd been there in years!! Katie had never been there. But, we were laughing and cutting up and teasing Don about having beets for Christmas... (inside joke).

The holiday shoppers were in hibernation tonight. Turkey Creek Pavillion, which on a normal weekday evening, is swamped - was just not busy at all. It was odd.

Well, it's 10:50 and Katie is finally sound asleep. It always takes her a long time to go to sleep when we are out at night. We were out pretty late too... 8pm. Oohhhhh!! ;)

Tomorrow is a full day... ACM's until 2:30 and then I grab Katie and we are on our way to STAR (http://www.rideatstar.org/) and after that - we go see Sunny and Sam and then it will be days end again! Man, time is flyin....

Til next time!
LA :)

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

New Kid On The Block

I am totally new to doing this. Everyone says that you HAVE to have a blog these days so I am going to give it a try.

I am a 39 year old SAHM mostly. I do work outside the home 12 hours a week while my daughter Katie is in school. I also have recently started running an eBay store, Tennessee Treasures by Leeann. http://stores.ebay.com/Tennessee-Treasures-by-Leeann

I also am a very frustrated scrapbooker. I love scrapbooking and I'm frustrated because I never seem to make time anymore to scrapbook. It is a total relaxation to me - it's as good as spending a day at the spa and I have a ton of supplies to it's just very sad that I don't make it a higher priority.

I love my family. I have a wonderful husband, Don. When I say he is wonderful, I don't just mean typical wonderful but extroadinarily wonderful. He is very loving, special and giving. He is also an incredible father.

We adopted a little girl seven years ago. Her name is Katie and she was definitely heaven sent. We've had her since she was six months old and it's amazing what God can do. She is so much a product of my husband and me - even though she doesn't have our "genes". Especially, my husband. She even looks a lot like him. She has some special needs and we've been through a lot as a result of those special needs - some are medical, some emotional and mental. But, we couldn't love her anymore if we wanted to.

She is in the first grade and she is doing wonderfully. She excels in so many areas. She is sweet and kind and has the kindest heart. I love watching her grow up and I am truly blessed that God picked me to be her mom.


I also love photography, horses and dogs. Animals are a very big part of our lives. Much of this is due to Katie and what has been best for her. It became obvious to us by the time she was 4, if not younger, that animals were very good for her. She has a connection with them. We had two dogs when we brought Katie home. A Maltese named Maggie and a Golden Retriever named Brinkley.

Since, we got a Puggle (a designer mutt - he's a pug and a beagle mix) in November 2005. I hate to say that I have favorites but he is my little guy. I've always been a "foofy dog" kind of dog lover. But, Hogan and his cute face, floppy ears and loving, loyal nature captured my heart immediately. My mom calls him my hound dog, which drives me crazy (lol) but I guess that's what he really is.

Our fourth dog was not intended. I thought people only had children by accident..."oops". You know, "our last child, johnny, he's wonderful but we just didn't 'plan' on him". Well, that would be Sophie, the Lhaso Apso. She's sweet and cute and very loving but we aren't totally off our rockers - we never would have planned to get a fourth dog (getting Hogan was pushing it for my husband). However, Sophie was intended to be my grandmother's puppy after she lost her 14 year old Maltese, Molly. She still isn't ready for Sophie... maybe one day.

AND, we have two horses. Sunny, my beautiful 9 year old Belgian mare. And, Sam - our humorous and skittish Halflinger.

Well, I've rambled on and I am sure I will do it again. This might actually be kind of fun.

More tomorrow!

Remember that a good memory is one that can remember the day's blessings and forget the day's troubles...

LA :) (Leeann)